Chapter 65 | The Witch's Golden Trait? This Villain Farms It First!

“Click—”

A faint sound of interlocking gears suddenly echoed from deep within the stone chamber.

Lynn, who was still immersed in his beautiful vision of the future, paused.

The “Queen” puppet, seated upon the high-backed chair, had raised her head at some point. A crack slowly split open in the center of her blank, pale porcelain face.

A crimson glimmer lit up from within.

【Image recording behavior detected.】

【Unauthorized preservation of the Queen's image without royal court permission.】

【Verdict: Lese-majesty.】

“...” Lynn looked down at the recording crystal he had just pocketed.

Come on, bro. I was taking photos of the blue-haired girl next to me. Don't try to force your way into the shot, you blank-faced puppet.

“Pfft—” Anna let out an involuntary laugh.

“Student Lynn.”

With the corners of her eyes curved, her face was a picture of pure schadenfreude. “It seems a certain grand photographer who loves to record the beautiful moments in life has run into some trouble~”

“Don't celebrate too early.” Lynn lifted his chin, pointing at the twelve soldier statues whose eyes had lit up simultaneously.

“The verdict mentioned the royal court, and we are both trespassers here.”

The smile on Anna's face stiffened slightly.

The next moment, a dull, thunderous boom suddenly erupted within the stone chamber.

“Boom—!”

The secret passage they had entered through slammed shut. The alternating black and white chessboard tiles sank one by one, and the twelve stone soldiers around them took a synchronized step forward.

【Queen's Guardian protocol activated.】

【Purging all intruders.】

Anna: “...”

Master Kazer, it seems your research budget for next year really needs a thorough audit.

“Sasha, I'll leave the three on the left to you.”

Lynn drew the longsword from his waist, crimson flames blazing fiercely along the blade.

The next second, the four statues in the very front shattered the floor tiles, rushing forward with swords in hand.

Lynn swept his sword horizontally. Crimson fire erupted along the blade, clashing head-on with a stone sword.

“Boom—!”

The soldier at the very front was blown back by the strike. Before he could catch his breath, the other three statues closed in from both sides.

“Duck!” Anna's warning voice rang out.

Without looking back, Lynn ducked.

A slender bolt of lightning zipped right over his head, landing precisely on the knee of the statue on the left.

“Crack!”

The stone joint shattered instantly. The massive statue wobbled, stumbling into a comical tap dance before losing its balance and crashing heavily to its knees.

Using the momentum, Lynn spun around. His burning blade swept out horizontally, slicing its head clean off.

“Nice coordination.”

“It's only because you are so agile, Student Lynn. I merely provided a negligible amount of help.”

After a round of mutual flattery, several small lightning bolts condensed in Anna's hand once more.

Well controlled, absolutely perfect. Anna nodded inwardly.

The power wasn't overly exaggerated, yet it was just enough to disrupt the statues' movements.

Not too much, not too little—the standard strength of an "excellent student"~

‘But... to think that at the level of a first-year excellent student, just dealing with these obvious small-fry guards would be this difficult...’

This really wasn't a trial meant for new students, was it? Just which unreliable senior did this guy get his information from?

Even as she pondered, her hands didn't stop.

The continuously fired lightning bolts accurately struck the joints of the incoming statues time and again. Meanwhile, as if Lynn knew exactly where her attacks would land beforehand, his flame-engulfed blade would follow immediately whenever the purple electricity exploded.

The lightning tore open the gaps, while the fire delivered the finishing blows.

“Boom—!”

Another stone statue crashed to the ground.

Its heavy body smashed wide cracks into the chessboard, sending shattered stone fragments rolling to Anna's feet.

She didn't even have to take a single step.

Because any flying stone debris was turned to dust before it could even get within ten meters of her.

The airtight net of sword light woven by the young man blocked every possible attack.

Holding his sword with one hand by his side, he let out a carefree, spirited laugh.

Slash.

Evade.

The burning blade drew one crimson arc after another.

“Sasha, on your right.”

“Got it.”

Anna pointed, and a purple lightning bolt pierced cleanly through the ankle of the statue on the right. Without even looking, Lynn lunged through the opening left by her magic, bisecting the statue at the waist with a single slash.

Their coordination was so natural—like old friends who had known each other for years and understood each other's strengths perfectly—that even Anna herself was momentarily dazed.

‘No... rather than mutual coordination, this is clearly...’

One-sided accommodation!

She suddenly looked up, her light purple eyes gazing in surprise and doubt at the man's calm, nonchalant back.

From beginning to end, this guy had been accommodating her pace. As for himself... he was like a plug-and-play screw, perfectly fitting the rhythm of every attack.

Is this even possible?

This is clearly the first time he and I have fought together...

“Only three left.”

Lynn parried an incoming stone blade horizontally, his effortless tone carrying a hint of teasing.

“Can you keep going, Sasha?”

Anna raised her brow.

What a joke. In a battle of this level, let alone five, even if fifty more came, she would—

“I can hold on a bit longer, I suppose.”

She swallowed the second half of her sentence just in time, replacing it with an answer more fitting for "Sasha."

Anna raised her hand again, but this time, her gaze fell upon the back of the young man standing in front of her, and she was inexplicably reminded of someone else.

Little Pera.

After returning from the North, Veronica had also mentioned similar things to her countless times.

“Nana, you have no idea. When that guy from the Order rushed at me back then, Lynn just blocked him like this right in front of me.”

“Even though he could get hurt himself, he always acts like he doesn't care at all.”

“He's really stupid, isn't he?”

Every time she reached this part, the blonde dumpling would complain.

Yet those deep blue eyes of hers would shine so brightly, as if filled with stars.

At that time, Anna only thought her friend had been fooled by Lynn's sweet talk again.

Standing in front of someone else, protecting them.

That was nothing more than a cliché trope that had been overused to death in noble storybooks. What was there to be so obsessed with?

Was little Pera a bit of a hopeless romantic?

Yet at this very moment, watching the calm back in front of her, Anna understood a little.

‘...So this is what it feels like... to be protected from behind.’

The lightning bolt in Anna's hand faltered slightly.

If little Pera knew... that she was currently fighting side-by-side with the man she constantly thought about, and was even being protected by him like this—

An inexplicable sense of guilt surged in her heart once more.

Wait. What exactly did she have to feel guilty about? She hadn't done anything to betray little Pera!

This was just a normal collaboration between classmates.

As normal as normal could be!

“Sasha!” Lynn's sharp shout suddenly rang out.

Anna snapped out of it.

A stone statue that had previously fallen had somehow crawled back up from a crack in the chessboard.

Without making a single sound, it had already raised its heavy stone sword high, slashing down ruthlessly toward Anna's defenseless back.

No, at this distance, it was impossible to dodge with the strength of an "excellent student"!

Anna's pupils contracted. She instinctively wanted to activate her 【Blazing Slit Pupils】, and violent lightning was already poised to erupt within her body.

But right before her mana was about to burst forth—

A flash of crimson sword light suddenly swept past her side.

“Clang—!”

Sparks flew in all directions.

The slender silver sword firmly blocked the hideous, giant blade. The man's not-so-broad back was covered in a bit of dust, looking slightly disheveled.

Lynn had returned to her side at some point. Holding his sword with one hand, he forcefully blocked the stone blade, which weighed hundreds of jin.

The immense force caused the chessboard beneath his feet to shatter inch by inch, and his arm trembled slightly under the impact.

“A battle is no time for you to space out!”

It wasn't his usual teasing tone, nor was it his helpless whining when playing around.

His serious words were so cold they felt somewhat foreign, and his eyes, filled with frustration at her lack of focus, glared at her fiercely.

【Emotion Points +200】

“I...” Anna opened her mouth, but was quickly and rudely cut off by an unquestionable rebuttal.

“Save the useless talk for after the fight!”

Lynn suddenly exerted upward force, parrying the giant sword from the stone statue's hand. He then spun his body with the momentum, and crimson flames erupted violently along his blade.

【Azure Rondo】 50% load.

“Get lost!”

He slashed horizontally.

The stone statue's hard body was cut in half at the waist. Its upper torso spun as it flew backward, crashing into a pile of shattered fragments in the distance.