Golden banners cleared the path, flanked by an honor guard.
No matter how wildly the audience cheered and clamored, the members of the Combat Club remained silent. The atmosphere was solemn and grave as the procession slowly marched forward.
Standing at the very center of the procession was a tall, exquisitely beautiful figure, drawing the gaze of everyone in the venue.
The dome of the venue was wide open, and brilliant sunlight cascaded down upon her shoulders.
It made her long hair look like a cascading golden waterfall, as if a miniature sun had risen from the earth, dazzling and brilliant.
The crowd was utterly captivated, and Bai Xiaodu was no exception, completely mesmerized.
Although he didn't join in on the wild screaming, his eyes were glued to her, unable to look away.
Aurelia had a tall, slender figure and a calm, indifferent expression. Her skin was a cold, pure porcelain white, translucent and completely flawless.
Her emerald eyes were crystal clear and lustrous, pure and immaculate, like a piece of pristine, dust-free jade.
She wore a short, pure white silk robe over a form-fitting, dark black leather dress. Layered plates of gold-patterned armor covered her waist, arms, and shoulders, forming a set of light plate armor with sharp, cold contours that radiated a chilling, lethal aura.
The contours of her face were like a perfect sculpture, with sharp and delicate lines where any change, no matter how small, would ruin its natural harmony.
Beneath the sunlight, her beauty was breathtaking, making one forget to breathe.
Her golden fox tail swayed in the wind, each strand of hair gleaming in the sunlight as if spun from actual threads of fine gold.
She was noble, elegant, and utterly ethereal.
Bai Xiaodu couldn't help but marvel in his heart. Just standing there, Aurelia was a perfect masterpiece of art.
However...
Bai Xiaodu pinched himself hard. The sharp pain snapped him out of his daze, and he forced his gaze away.
He cursed inwardly.
Damn it, I fell for it.
Her Charm attribute was probably terrifyingly high, to the point where her passive aura automatically triggered an effect similar to Friendship.
His own attribute sheet was already quite high among transcendents, especially after his recent point allocations, yet even he couldn't avoid being briefly crowd-controlled.
Combining her appearance with that plate armor, Bai Xiaodu had already deduced her class.
A Paladin.
Bound by oaths and faith, they wielded the terrifying power of the Holy Light, capable of striking fear into the hearts of all evil and undead creatures.
Their main attributes were Strength and Charm.
They could tank, deal damage, and even heal decently—a classic jack-of-all-trades melee class.
This kind of aura and pressure meant she was likely a whole major realm above him.
Only Director-General Shen had ever given him such an intense feeling of pressure. This Paladin was probably a Domain Lord as well.
Bai Xiaodu glanced at the surrounding crowd again.
They were cheering with pure fanatical frenzy, swaying their bodies to the rhythm of the procession's march like people possessed.
Some had even fainted from pure excitement, while the remaining audience members simply ignored them and continued to cheer.
They had all been utterly brainwashed.
Bai Xiaodu even suspected that if Aurelia were to start a cult right then and there, she would easily amass a massive following of fanatical believers.
The Combat Club's procession continued forward, but Aurelia suddenly stopped in the middle of the stage.
She turned around, facing the section of the audience where Bai Xiaodu was standing.
This side was packed with fanatical supporters of the Combat Club, waving their clappers and wearing their custom headbands. It was likely a pre-scripted speech.
But they were playing their roles a little too convincingly.
The air in front of her delicate face began to warp, a clear sign that she was preparing to cast an amplification spell for her speech.
Seeing this legendary goddess preparing to speak in person, the atmosphere in the venue instantly exploded with excitement.
And then, the venue literally exploded.
Bang!
The soil and rock that had been forced into the shape of a mountain by the earth shaping technique could no longer withstand the consecutive Fireballs detonating inside it. Massive cracks rapidly spiderwebbed across its colossal structure.
A scorching wave of heat instantly shook the entire venue!
Bai Xiaodu immediately whipped his head toward the source.
Goddammit, I knew combining spells like that would cause problems!
And look at that, it actually blew up!
“Oh no, quick, stabilize it! Stop staring at Lady Aurelia, you idiots!”
“We're screwed, we're totally screwed!”
The members of the Magic Club, who hadn't completely exited yet, panicked and screamed in terror.
Mages were naturally proud of the spells they mastered. They had rehearsed this performance dozens of times before the official opening ceremony, and not once had anything gone wrong. But nobody had anticipated that Aurelia would be the variable that ruined it all!
The member responsible for maintaining the earth shaping spell had merely glanced back and gotten dazed by her beauty for a brief moment, but that split-second lapse was all it took for the stone structure to lose its stability.
The first to react immediately tried to use spell runes to piece it back together, but it was already too late.
The artificial volcano was simply too massive, and its entire surface was already riddled with glowing, molten-red fissures.
Trying to patch it up now was as laughably futile as putting a band-aid on a sinking ship.
Every attempt to reconstruct the stone was instantly blown outward. Multiple streams of lava erupted violently, swelling with immense force. It looked like a giant bomb that could detonate at any second.
The figure standing on the eastern side cried out in despair.
“I can't hold it anymore! Run! The rest of you, get the audience out of here!”
They were finished.
They had intended to show off their ultimate skills to the freshmen and put on an impressive display. Instead, they had laid a massive, glowing red turd right in front of everyone!
After a disaster like this, punishment was guaranteed. If any of the incoming freshmen got hurt, the university administration would definitely show no mercy!
Looking at the volcano that was on the verge of exploding, Bai Xiaodu had absolutely no intention of getting closer.
The weakest part of the volcano's structure wasn't facing his direction. At most, he would only have to deal with some splashing lava, which wasn't a big deal.
Bai Xiaodu even took the initiative to back up a few more steps.
Why should he care? This annoying combination spell was not something easy to block.
Bai Xiaodu looked over at the section that was about to bear the brunt of the blast, raising an eyebrow with a hint of amusement in his wine-red eyes. Now, let's see if some heroic freshman would step up to save the day...
“Hiss!!!”
Although it was a hiss, the tone was incredibly familiar. Bai Xiaodu's pupils dilated.
Not far away, an orange cat demihuman's fur was completely puffed up, his spine tensed to the limit.
His normally cute face was distorted with terror, filled with deep dread and panic.
It was Lott!
Damn it, now I remember!
This cat had been following the volcano wherever it went just to study the club's combination magic.
What a jinx of a kid!
Sighing helplessly, Bai Xiaodu began channeling a spell rune with his hand, keeping his eyes locked onto the scene.
Boom!!!
The volcano finally exploded completely, spewing out torrents of deep crimson fire.
The figure on the eastern side had done his best, thickening the earth walls on three sides.
This left only one side to vent the terrifying force of the fire magic, preventing it from harming a larger crowd.
But obviously, those facing this vulnerable side would suffer the worst of the impact.
Acting purely on instinct, the terrified Lott clumsily turned around to run.
But a Mage Apprentice couldn't run very fast, and he hadn't learned any defensive spells.
Even though a few club members had rushed over to cast a mass haste spell, he was still the slowest among the fleeing crowd.
The scorching heatwave was practically nipping at his face. Terrified, Lott's legs gave out, and he collapsed flat onto the ground.
Yet he didn't give up. He scrambled on all fours, desperately crawling away with everything he had.
Tears and snot streamed down his face. Lott was naturally a coward—even his practical combat training had been limited to pre-selected, docile herbivores. He had never seen a disaster of this scale.
The sky was filled with raining fire, hurtling toward him like tens of thousands of flaming arrows tearing through the air.
Lott wailed at the top of his lungs.
“No! No!”
But in the next second, through his tear-filled, blurry vision...
...
A silver figure, wrapped in a howling gale, descended from the heavens!
Rate on N.U.
