Newbie Guardians

Chapter 37 Each Takes a Step Back

Mu Lingshan knew she couldn't afford to escalate the situation, so she quickly pressed her advantage:

"You want to stay with him, and he's already agreed. So let's compromise! You can't force him to marry you, and he can't refuse your protection."

Elise was secretly surprised. This little girl actually figured out I wanted to protect him? She could only nod in agreement.

"I need to keep an eye on him at all times; that cannot change!"

Huang Shen looked surprised; her deskmate was so clever, easily solving her biggest problem. So she readily replied:

"I agree! You can come with me."

Hannah panicked when she heard this.

"I want to follow you too!"

Huang Xin looked at Hannah and smiled:

"Of course! You're one of my best friends."

Upon hearing this, Mu Lingshan felt a sense of relief; if it was just a partner, that wasn't so bad. But then she thought, "They've already hugged, and he still says they're just partners! This man is a liar!" Instantly, she gritted her teeth, a cold glint flashing in her eyes.

Huang Xin turned around, intending to thank Mu Lingshan, but was startled by the chilling aura emanating from her, instantly rendering her speechless. Then she thought about it again, and realized that was right; this was how her ice-cold deskmate should be.

Two kilometers away, a short, pale-faced man stood on a mound, with a square table in front of him, on which were placed various strange objects and an incense burner. This was a secret offering table made by the Gu Sect, used for casting spells.

He was Elder Ghost, whose real name was unknown to anyone, even he himself couldn't remember it. He was one of the nine elders of the Gu Sect, ranking ninth, the weakest in strength, yet also the most ruthless and vicious. His greatest hobby was killing and refining corpses; to him, living people were merely a pile of materials.

Behind the Ghost Elder stood two humanoid monsters, Wang Wei and Hu Jie, who had been executed in the academy's competition. After being corrupted by Gu, they were completely unrecognizable and their original appearances were no longer discernible.

Wang Wei merged with both a beetle and a mantis, his entire body covered in two-centimeter-thick dark brown skin, covered with granular keratin, making it appear incredibly hard. His arms transformed into mantis forelimbs, with thick upper arms and a row of triangular black barbs on the inside of the forearms, and his fingers transformed into two sharp claws. His thighs were thick and powerful, and his toes were hook-shaped, somewhat like running spikes.

Hu Jie fused with both a poisonous bee and an exploding gu, growing wings on his back and having his abdomen filled with venom. His self-destruction was extremely powerful and would also produce a large amount of deadly poisonous mist.

The ghost elder chanted incantations, and the white smoke from the incense burner continuously transformed into wisps of black mist, which flowed into the bodies of the two monsters.

After absorbing the black energy, the monster became enraged. Wang Wei roared and charged forward at incredible speed. Hu Jie continued to greedily absorb the black energy, accumulating power.

Two minutes later, Wang Wei saw Jin Jun and the others, and an instinctive, urgent urge to destroy surged within him; he wanted nothing more than to tear all the living people to shreds. He let out a low, chuckling growl and excitedly accelerated once more.

Huang Xin was recounting his experiences to Jin Jun and others when he suddenly sensed a tremendous crisis rapidly approaching and quickly shouted a warning:

"Be careful!"

Jin Jun reacted extremely quickly, gripping his spear tightly, activating defensive mode, and launching an attack on the charging monster. With a loud bang, Jin Jun's spear was first bent into a U-shape, and then he and his spear were thrown more than ten meters away.

His teammates quickly provided support, unleashing the Five Thunderbolts and the Whirlwind simultaneously at Wang Wei. Five bolts of lightning struck him first, causing him to tremble violently for only half a second before he recovered from the paralysis. He then dropped to the ground, his claws gripping the earth to withstand the Whirlwind's attack. After the whirlwind dissipated, he propelled himself forward with a powerful leap, charging towards Mu Lingshan, who was using her Ice Spike skill. Although Wang Wei had been corrupted by the Gu, he still retained some memories of his past life and knew that this was his target. He swung his right arm in mid-air, aiming a vicious slash at Mu Lingshan's neck.

Mu Lingshan was forced to interrupt her spellcasting and instinctively took two steps back. Neither water nor ice magic has the ability to teleport, and the opponent was too fast. She didn't have time to summon a water shield and could only watch the long, blade-like arm getting closer and closer, her eyes filled with despair and resentment. She never expected that she would be the first to fall.

"Huang Xin!"

Hannah was extremely anxious!

"don't want!"

Elise also exclaimed loudly. The moment the monster appeared, she had already recalled Amoniko, ready to protect Huang Xin at any time. She never expected that this guy would be so reckless as to rush over and die.

Huang Xin unleashed a burst of energy from the soles of his feet, sending Mu Lingshan flying seven or eight meters like a cannonball. She crashed heavily onto the grass, tumbling twice more. A metallic taste filled her throat; clearly, the impact had seriously injured her. Ignoring her own injuries, she anxiously turned back, only to be utterly terrified and nearly faint.

A head flew high into the air, tracing a long parabola before landing with a thud in the grass, rolling three or four meters before coming to a stop. Thud! The headless corpse also fell heavily to the ground.

"He...is dead...he's really dead!"

Mu Lingshan felt as if her heart was being torn apart, and tears streamed down her face.

"Elise! Thank you for saving me again!"

It was Huang Xin's voice. Mu Lingshan looked over with teary eyes, and sure enough, Huang Xin was still standing there. The one who had just died was Amoniko, but upon closer inspection, her head and body had vanished. The monster had been dragged over by Teacher Liu Chuanqi, and they were locked in combat.

"Great! He's not dead!"

Mu Lingshan stood up, quickly adjusted her condition, first summoning a water shield, then healing herself. The situation had been too urgent; she hadn't expected her opponent to be so powerful, almost killing her in just one round.

Teammates took turns using their skills to support Teacher Liu, but Teacher Liu shouted,

"Don't worry about me, go and control the century-old zombie."

Everyone suddenly realized that Amoniko had disappeared, and the century-old zombie was about to break free. They rushed towards the zombie, but thankfully, the soil where it had been driven into the ground was very firm, and the zombie only had its head sticking out; its neck and below were still buried in the ground.

Elise sighed:

"My summoning skills won't be available for another ten minutes, after that I'll only have powerful healing and detoxification skills left."

Jin Jun took out a heavy-looking spiked club and, with all his might, began smashing it repeatedly against the zombie's head, knocking it down a few centimeters. At this rate, it shouldn't be free for a while. Huang Shen saw the veins bulging on Jin Jun's arms, knowing that each strike was incredibly strenuous, and asked in a low voice:

"Brother Jin, how long can you hold on?"

Jin Jun gritted his teeth and answered:

"I don't know, but five minutes should be fine."

Five minutes is clearly not enough, what should we do?

Huang Xin looked at his teammates, Cheng Ziyu and Liu Hanqin both shook their heads, indicating that their spells could not trap the zombies.

Mu Lingshan was trying to see if the Ice Spike skill would be effective against the zombie. She quickly chanted an incantation, and a large number of ice spikes struck the zombie's head. Thirty seconds later, in the center of the thick ice shards, the zombie stubbornly tilted its head back, trying its best to push upwards. Clearly, the Ice Spike skill had no effect.

From the moment Huang Xin rushed to his death until now, Hanna had remained silent, holding his hand tightly, as if afraid she would also go to her death at any moment. She slowly spoke:

"I can try! But, Huang Xin, you must promise me you'll be alright!"

"I promise! I'll be fine!"

"If you die, I'll die with you!"

Hannah released her grip, activated her transformation skill, and walked towards the monster trapped by Teacher Liu.