Chapter 454 - 142: Two Moms! Here Comes a Big One

Chapter 454: Chapter 142: Two Moms! Here Comes a Big One

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When the assistant instructors tallying the points saw this, their hands froze in mid-air.

The terrifying pressure lingering on the ear, along with the faint traces of Abyssal Demonic Qi, were undeniable proof of the creature’s fearsome power when it was alive. It had clearly been an Overlord Level existence, standing at the very top of the Silent Island’s food chain!

"H-How on earth did that kid manage that?" an instructor from the Imperial Capital Academy exclaimed, his eyes nearly popping out as he watched through a Water Mirror Skill. "And look at him! He’s still so calm and composed, as if he barely expended any energy..."

He then recalled the few Tier Four Gnoll right ears that Ophelia and the others had turned in earlier. Some had belonged to Gnoll Warriors, others to Gnoll Warlocks, and one even came from a Gnoll Shaman.

’Could that kid, Lynch, have actually led his group to completely annihilate the Skull-Breaking Tribe, the strongest power on Silent Island?’

That was the Skull-Breaking Tribe!

The tribe was entrenched in the deepest part of the island, a terrifying power that even Tier Four Magical Beasts dared not provoke. Not only did it have a Tier Five Chieftain presiding over it, but it also commanded as many as twenty or thirty elite Tier Three and Tier Four warriors. It was the undisputed overlord of the entire Silent Island.

Now, they were all gone.

For a moment, Archmage Buddy’s eyes went vacant. The idea of students from the Imperial Capital Academy sweeping the other two academies, the plan to absorb Hurst Academy and seize the legacy of the Undead System... all of it had been reduced to empty talk and a complete joke by Lynch’s repeated blows.

He even suspected this was all part of Lynch’s plan.

’From the moment that guy stepped off the Goblin Airship, or maybe even earlier, he had already laid out a step-by-step plan to crush the Imperial Capital Academy. First, he played weak with a score of zero, luring Carl and the others to surround him, only to turn the tables on them.’

’Then, he secretly organized the students from Hurst Academy to sweep through the black-level zones and dominate the rankings. And now, by producing the right ear of a Tier Five Gnoll Chieftain, he had delivered a vicious slap across my face from afar!’

’That kid is absolutely doing this on purpose!’

’This kid... he’s getting back at me for tacitly allowing Carl’s group to ambush him,’ Archmage Buddy thought, a storm of shock and anger brewing within him. ’He’s telling me that even if I resort to underhanded tricks, he can still crush me openly and legitimately.’

If he could, Archmage Buddy would have loved to slap Lynch to death with a single strike. But unfortunately, he couldn’t.

Not only that, but after the examination, he would have to personally present Lynch with the top prize. He’d even have to plaster on a smile, offer words of encouragement, and spout nonsense like, "You are a pillar of the Empire’s future," and "A role model for the younger generation."

The very thought made Buddy’s gut twist with regret.

’Why did I have to get involved in this mess?’ he lamented. ’The Imperial Capital Academy has several High-Tier Archmages, but I just had to be the one to grab this team leader assignment...’

The Elf instructor from Silver Moon Academy wore an equally complex expression, the corners of her mouth twitching in anguish.

It was important to understand that Silent Island was, in fact, the private property of Silver Moon Academy.

The distribution of monsters and the ecological balance on the island were the result of centuries of fine-tuning and control by the academy. It was a Holy Land designated specifically for their graduation examinations.

Silver Moon Academy only had three such "cultivated" examination grounds. They were typically used in rotation every three years and were otherwise meticulously maintained.

But this time, Lynch had practically annihilated the ecosystem of Silent Island!

With the Tier Five Chieftain dead, the Tier Four elites slaughtered, and the majority of the Tier Threes swept away... the Skull-Breaking Tribe had been well and truly erased from the island.

After what it had been through, it was unthinkable that the island could recover enough to be used as an examination ground again without several decades of rest and recuperation.

’My island... My Silent Island...’

As an Elf with a long lifespan who had long participated in maintaining the island’s ecosystem, the instructor couldn’t help but clutch her chest, a sharp, twisting pain seizing her heart. ’Is this kid... here to take an exam, or to exterminate an entire population?’

「At the same time.」

「At the scoring point.」

Seeing the dumbstruck assistant instructors, Lynch couldn’t help but wave the enormous ear in his hand and offer a friendly reminder. "Instructors? Could you please do me a favor and ask? How many points is a Tier Five worth? If Archmage Buddy didn’t set a rule for it beforehand, then... how about we discuss a number now?"

"D-discuss... now?" an assistant instructor stammered, cold sweat beading on his forehead.

’How the hell are we supposed to discuss this? A Tier Five kill has never happened in any of the previous years! How many points would that even be? One hundred thousand? Two hundred thousand? Or should we just declare him the champion on the spot?’

As for Ailendra Moon Language, she was completely numb. She glanced at the enormous ear in Lynch’s hand, then back at her own Tier Four one, and suddenly, her entire "black-level zone adventure" felt like a complete joke.

"So... he was just playing the whole time..." Ailendra said with a bitter smile. "We were fighting for our lives, and he was just... playing along with us."

In truth, she had no idea that Lynch wasn’t playing around at all. He was simply carrying out a task for his beautiful mentor.

If his mentor, Annabella, hadn’t specifically written him a letter insisting he make a big splash, foil the Imperial Capital Academy’s conspiracy, and viciously slap them in the face, why would Lynch, with his current temperament, have bothered with such a roundabout scheme?

However, what was done was done.

No matter how tumultuous the assistant instructors felt, they ultimately had to report the situation to their superiors.