Lynch's opening move was, naturally, the Level 1 Weakness Curse he excelled at.
But to his absolute surprise, the Necromancer's reaction was incredibly fast. Even in a state of extreme excitement, the man had maintained a sliver of vigilance toward his surroundings.
The moment Lynch's Weakness Curse flew out, he sprang up like a startled rabbit, displaying an agility completely unlike a Necromancer who dealt with corpses year-round. Fortunately, the curse flew at breakneck speed. Combined with the advantage of Lynch's sneak attack, the pale cluster of light bypassed the opponent's Spiritual Power interference and sank smoothly into his body.
Visible to the naked eye, the opponent's figure stiffened. His movements noticeably slowed, becoming sluggish and weak.
"Got him!" Lynch rejoiced wildly.
Thanks to his tall, sturdy physique and the reaction speed honed from constant brawls with those guys from the Holy Light System, he acted instantly. At the exact same time he cast the curse, he unhesitatingly tossed aside his cumbersome, eerie Magic Staff. Backhanding the thick, solid bone club from the grasp of the Fishman leader Skeleton, he charged straight out of the thorny bushes where he had been hiding, pouncing like a starving tiger onto its prey.
RIP!
The tough, barbed thorns tore through his black robes, leaving burning, bloody scratches across his arms and face. He did not care in the slightest. His bloodshot eyes were fixated solely on the staggering, cursed Necromancer. At this point, there was no room to back down. It was either kill or be killed.
Meanwhile, under the command of Lynch's Spiritual Power, the entire lurking Skeleton Corps violently sprang into action.
RUSTLE RUSTLE RUSTLE!
A massive horde of Fishman Skeletons swarmed out from the piles of rotting leaves and dense bushes, charging forward in unison under Bone Jade's lead. Eight humanoid Skeleton Guards and two elite Fishman Skeletons also dashed out of the shrubs under Lynch's direction. Like a premeditated Undead ambush, they broke out of their hiding spots in an instant, surging toward the Necromancer with overwhelming murderous intent.
This sudden turn of events clearly exceeded the Necromancer's expectations. Even with his ruthless cunning, he showed obvious signs of panic.
"This is an uninhabited wilderness! How could there be a fully organized Undead army lying in ambush?!" he thought. His first reaction was that this was a trap. No wonder those Holy Light brats had run in this direction as if their lives depended on it!
He had been too careless!
His second reaction was to run! To flee this place immediately.
Fighting through the enervating weakness in his body, he frantically used his Spiritual Power to command all his Skeletons to converge and form a defensive line around him. Meanwhile, he gritted his teeth and stumbled in an attempt to escape in the opposite direction.
But how could Lynch let him have his way?
A mere seven or eight paces separated the two. With a physical constitution capable of brawling with Holy Knight apprentices, an all-out burst of speed allowed Lynch to close the distance in the blink of an eye. With a ferocious pounce, Lynch viciously pinned the weakened Necromancer to the ground. He then hoisted the bone club, bringing it down hard on the hooded head.
THUD!
A dull, heavy impact echoed, accompanied by the distinct CRACK of shattering bone. However, the Necromancer beneath him merely let out a muffled groan. Shaking his head, he actually continued to struggle desperately, trying to shove Lynch off.
"Holy shit!" Lynch was startled. "Is this guy's head really that hard?!" he thought.
But a moment later, he discovered the truth. Beneath the hood that had been thrown back during the struggle, the man's head and vital spots were covered by a thin layer of tightly interlocking, tiny bone fragments—the Skeleton Armor.
Good lord, this guy was truly terrified of dying! Despite hiding within a pile of Skeletons all this time, he had still not forgotten to cast the Undead System defensive Magic, Skeleton Armor Skill, on himself.
Fortunately, Lynch's strike just now had been incredibly forceful, cracking the Skeleton Armor on his head. Having taken such a heavy blow, the guy was visibly dizzy, and the intensity of his struggles had weakened significantly.
Lynch felt a bit more at ease. This was the common flaw of Magic System classes; no matter how strong their abilities were, their physical bodies remained inherently fragile. If it had been a veteran Tier One Holy Knight, let alone knocking them out, Lynch might not even have been able to leave a dent.
These stray thoughts flashed through his mind as quick as lightning. It was time to capitalize on his vulnerability and end his life. A vicious glint flashed through Lynch's eyes once more as he hoisted the thick bone club high into the air.
But just as he prepared to swing it down, another sudden change occurred. On the Necromancer's skeletal finger, an inconspicuous bone ring suddenly flashed with a pale light. A Weakness Curse materialized instantly, sinking right into Lynch's body at point-blank range.
It was actually a Magic Ring capable of instantly casting a Weakness Curse!
"Oh, crap!"
Lynch was instantly horrified. He felt an intense wave of weakness wash over his entire body like a tidal wave. His limbs turned limp and powerless in a heartbeat, and he nearly lost his grip on the thick bone club in his hands.
What made his blood run cold was that the guy's most loyal reinforcements had already arrived. Leading the charge were the two Netherworld Skeleton Soldiers, whose auras were drastically more formidable than Bone Jade's. They were fast, agile, and possessed basic intelligence. Even without the Necromancer's command, they reacted immediately, instinctively rushing over to save their master. They lunged fiercely from the left and the right, their sharp Bone Blades aimed directly at Lynch's back.
In the nick of time, Lynch's guards finally joined the fray.
The fastest was the short and stout Fishman leader Skeleton. Even though it no longer had a weapon in its hands, it still had its body. Like a brutish lump of potato, it slammed ruthlessly into one of the Netherworld Skeletons, knocking it off balance and instantly wrapping itself around the enemy in a death grip.
Lynch's remaining eight humanoid Skeleton Guards arrived shortly after. They swarmed in, using their bodies and battered weapons to tie down the other Netherworld Skeleton that was eager to save its master.
Meanwhile, the Fishman Priest Skeleton hid in the rear, condensing slender Water Arrows at the tip of its Magic Staff. It fired them one by one at the entangled enemies. Although the power was weak and merely scratched the opponents' bones, it barely managed to serve as a distraction, stalling their advance.
Simultaneously, Bone Jade also led its troops of thirty Fishman Skeletons to surround the area. Using their fragile bodies, they fearlessly blocked the tidal-wave-like assault of the opponent's dozens of humanoid Skeletons.
The battlefield plunged into utter chaos in an instant.
"Good opportunity," Lynch thought. He knew that his Skeleton army was vastly inferior to the opponent's in both quality and quantity; they wouldn't be able to hold out for long.
Fighting the debilitating weakness spreading throughout his body, he gritted his teeth, mustered all his remaining strength, and swung viciously at the head of the Necromancer pinned beneath him.
One strike. Another. And another.
THUD! THUD! CRACK!
"So what if it's a Weakness Curse? We're both weakened now!" Lynch roared furiously in his heart as he struck with savage intensity. "But I'm young, strong, and physically built! My foundation is just way thicker than yours!"
Moreover, Lynch was surprisingly familiar with this combat style of slugging it out with brute force and willpower while enduring a weakened state. Because that was the exact same damn way he used to brawl with the Holy Knight apprentices!
Evidently, the Necromancer firmly pinned beneath Lynch was far inferior in both physical constitution and his proficiency in the 'business' of hand-to-hand combat. Even though there was still some residual Skeleton Armor on his head helping to block the damage, this spell's primary function was to deflect ranged arrows and prevent sneak attacks. It was never designed for a Necromancer to use in close-quarters melee brawls.
SMASH! SMASH! SMASH!
Following several heavy, crushing blows, the remaining Skeleton Armor on his head finally reached its breaking point and shattered completely. Immediately after, it was his fragile skull that bore the brunt of the direct impact.
As it turned out, in the face of pure physical trauma, the skull of a Tier One Peak Necromancer wasn't necessarily any harder than that of a Knight apprentice.
SPLAT!
With Lynch's final, all-out strike, the Necromancer's body suddenly stiffened. His skull burst open like a ripe watermelon. A mixture of red and white matter, along with jagged bone fragments, splattered outward, spraying all over Lynch's face.