A tainted, cold light tore through the air as the sharp claws of three Kobolds lunged for Lin Qingyue's throat.
Lin Qingyue moved.
The serene, detached expression on her face didn't even flicker. She even let out a lazy sigh.
"...I knew it."
But her movements were a stunning contrast to her languid demeanor.
She didn't retreat—she advanced!
Stepping forward, she lowered her body, her center of gravity dropping instantly.
She gripped the magnificent staff, inlaid with pink crystals, in one hand with textbook-perfect form.
The tip pointed forward.
The staff and her arm formed a straight, deadly line of attack.
This wasn't a caster preparing to chant.
This was the opening stance of spear combat!
Swish! Swish! Swish!
The staff's tip ripped through the air, producing three sharp, piercing sounds that almost merged into a single continuous shriek.
Three afterimages flashed past, precisely "dotting" the exact center of each Kobold's chest.
It wasn't a strike; it was a puncture.
As if an invisible needle had instantly pierced their cores.
Lightning-fast, yet possessing an eerie elegance.
Thud, thud, thud.
The three Kobolds' ferocious charge froze mid-air in a bizarre tableau.
The crimson frenzy in their eyes vanished as swiftly as a popped balloon, replaced by a lifeless gray.
Then, the three bodies fell backward, stiff as boards, hitting the ground with a final thud.
No wounds marred their flesh.
Not a single drop of blood was spilled.
Yet the candle of life had been precisely snuffed out.
However, the battlefield's situation didn't improve.
A bloody switch had been flipped.
From the depths of the cavern, more Kobolds charged out, their eyes blazing red. They completely ignored the Shield Warrior and Ice Mage who were slaughtering their kin, shoving aside their own comrades and even enduring arrows from the Ranger.
Their target was unprecedentedly unified.
The pink-haired girl!
"You've got to be kidding me, sir," Lin Xiyue grumbled, smashing a Kobold that had frantically tried to bypass her and rush her sister. The Shield Charge shattered its bones. "Did my sis coat her hair in Kobold pheromones?! No matter how much I taunt, I can't pull their aggro!"
Su Wan's fingertips conjured three sharp ice spikes, pinning a Kobold that had broken through the defensive line to the ground. Her voice held a trace of uncontrollable astonishment.
"It seems that in their aesthetic system, pink is the highest priority."
"This is ridiculous!"
Xia Lian fired a precise arrow through a Kobold's knee, halting its charge. Her expression was on the verge of collapse. "Are these Dungeon rules completely insane?! This is literally death by beauty!"
The entire cavern descended into a combat rhythm that was both comical and extremely dangerous.
Su Wan was forced to switch from a damage dealer to an interceptor, working frantically with Lin Xiyue to control the battlefield.
Xia Lian's pressure to pick off targets skyrocketed; her arrows flew without pause.
As for Lin Qingyue...
She had become the busiest "mobile attraction" on the field, endlessly "welcoming" the "rabid fans" drawn to her pink hair.
Thud! Thud!
Lin Qingyue swung her staff again, sweeping it horizontally to strike the temples of two lunging Kobolds with pinpoint accuracy.
The two bodies flew sideways as if hit by a high-speed train, splattering against the cavern wall into a blurry mess of gore.
She tilted her head slightly, dodging a spray of blood, her tone finally tinged with undeniable exasperation.
"Hey, can you guys step it up?"
"I'm about to become a VIP express checkout lane over here."
She paused, her gaze sweeping over her sister, who was currently swarmed by monsters.
"Xiyue, if you can't hold the line, I'll find a moment to cast a Cleanse Spell on you too. I guarantee you'll get the same treatment as me."
"Don't! I was wrong, I was wrong! Sis, I'm already burning my life force!"
Lin Xiyue let out a desperate roar as [Holy Shield Charge] erupted, the golden halo finally clearing a small vacuum around her.
Meanwhile, a giant question mark popped into Su Wan and Xia Lian's minds.
Taunt... what does that have to do with a Cleanse Spell?
A few minutes later, the absurd battle finally ended.
The cavern floor was littered with Kobold corpses. At least a third of them had fallen while charging toward Lin Qingyue, true "martyrs of the pink faith."
[Ding! The Host's Appearance has been acknowledged by a non-human race. Elation Value +233!]
Shut up! Who wants acknowledgment from Kobolds?!
Xia Lian leaned on her knees, gasping for air, sweat plastering her bangs to her forehead.
Her gaze, incredibly complex, fell upon Lin Qingyue.
More precisely, it fell upon that head of pink hair.
After such a fierce battle, her long hair remained impossibly fluffy and smooth. In the dim cavern, it even glowed with a ridiculous, hazy softness.
The strands were so silky and neat they looked as if she had just received a full set of top-tier hair treatments.
Xia Lian swallowed hard. In a solemn tone, as if discussing life's deepest philosophies, she spoke cautiously.
"Sister Qingyue..."
"From now on, when we go into dungeons... maybe... we should wear a helmet?"
Lin Qingyue: "..."
The moment Xia Lian finished speaking, Lin Xiyue and Su Wan's gazes snapped toward them.
Their eyes held the same desperate plea of survivors who had just cheated death.
Wear a helmet!
Or even a hood!
Please!
This wasn't a case of "the higher your Appearance, the more likely you are to be attacked."
This was clearly "the higher your Appearance, the sooner you die!"
A few more rounds of this forced taunt, and every tank and crowd controller in their party would drop dead from overwork on the spot.
"Yeah, Sis," Lin Xiyue leaned weakly against the wall, still shaken. "For the future of our team, please sacrifice your hairstyle."
Su Wan said nothing.
But her usually icy, serene face was now etched with clear agreement.
The aloof Ice Mage could no longer maintain her composure.
Her gaze swept subtly over Lin Qingyue's magnificent staff, a flicker of scrutiny in her eyes.
Those moves just now... clean, efficient, without a single wasted motion. That's definitely not the skill set of a Priest.
Lin Qingyue looked at the three pairs of pleading eyes, sighed in resignation, and finally relented. "Fine, fine. We'll figure it out next time."
With the battle over, it was time to clean up the battlefield—standard procedure.
The four began searching the kobold corpses and the crude cavern, hoping to find valuable loot or intelligence.
"These kobolds are dirt poor," Lin Xiyue kicked aside a corpse, finding only a few bone fragments. "Can't even squeeze a single copper coin out of them."
"Nothing over here either, just a pile of rotting meat and trash," Xia Lian reported, shaking her head from the other side of the cavern.
"Wait," Su Wan's voice came from the deepest corner of the cavern. "There's something here."
The others immediately gathered around her.
It was a corner casually covered by a few tattered animal hides. Su Wan used an ice spike to lift them, revealing a satchel wrapped in rough leather.
The satchel wasn't large, but it was tightly bound.
Xia Lian stepped forward, cut the ropes with her dagger, and spread the contents open.
Inside were no treasures or magical items, but supplies that clearly belonged to a human.
A half-empty leather waterskin, a few pieces of black bread gnawed down to the corners, and a burnt-out torch.
Beside these items, a gold tooth glinted faintly in the dim light.
"These are human remains," Xia Lian's tone grew somber. "It seems someone was here before us and met a grim fate."
Lin Xiyue picked up the gold tooth and weighed it in her palm. "Someone who could afford a gold tooth must have been a fairly well-off adventurer. What a shame."
"Judging by the decay of these supplies, it hasn't been too long," Su Wan analyzed. "This at least proves there are traces of other human activity in this Dungeon."
Lin Qingyue stared at the items in the satchel, her gaze fixed on the style of the black bread and the design of the waterskin.
A feeling, both familiar and distant, washed over her memories.
She said nothing more, simply pocketing the gold tooth.
"Let's go," she said. "There's nothing left for us here."
"We need to find a safe place as soon as possible, preferably a human town."
The four left the foul-smelling Kobold Mine, and only when they breathed the fresh air outside did their tense nerves truly relax.
They continued along the path at the foot of the mountain for another half hour before the landscape suddenly opened up.
A wide dirt road, clearly man-made and worn by countless wagon wheels, appeared before them.
"A road!" Lin Xiyue's spirits lifted. "If we follow it, we're sure to find a village or town!"
This was excellent news. It meant they no longer had to wander aimlessly through the wilderness like headless flies.
The four stepped onto the road, following the side with the deeper ruts.
After another hour, the silhouette of buildings gradually came into view on the horizon.
It was a small town, surrounded by a crude wooden fence and arrow towers.
At the town gate, a blue banner emblazoned with a golden lion snapped in the wind.
As they drew closer, the town's details became clearer.
Stone-block foundations supported two-story buildings with white walls crisscrossed by dark wooden beams. There was also an iconic inn, its entrance marked by a hanging wooden tankard sign.
Several human guards, clad in chainmail and armed with longswords, patrolled the town gate. They cast wary, scrutinizing glances at Lin Qingyue's approaching group but didn't step forward to question them.
Xia Lian and Lin Xiyue both breathed sighs of relief. Finding a human settlement meant safety and supplies.
Su Wan, meanwhile, observed the town's architectural style with the detached curiosity of an academic researcher.
Only Lin Qingyue...
...had stopped walking.
She stared at the blue banner with the golden lion, whipping wildly in the wind.
She stared at the inn sign, nearly identical to the one etched in her memory.
She stared at the all-too-familiar insignia on the guards' armor.
Her entire body froze.