Irene's shirt had been cut open, revealing snow-white skin and even a hint of the top curve of her right breast. She was embarrassed and panicked, squealing in fright. The white expanse drew the rapturous glances of all the surrounding male students.
Irene was a finely built girl to begin with. Her beauty was enhanced by a subtle, regal bearing that projected an awe-inspiring and untouchable feeling. The male students who were closest to her happened to be in the stage of life where they were insatiably curious about girls, and so forgot to put themselves forward to help her.
By the time everyone realised that the little skeleton was about to move again, it was too late to stop her. The little skeleton had already raised the glowing black bone dagger towards Irene. No one dared to move for fear of hurting Irene with their light magic.
A feeling of desperation and helplessness rose in Irene's heart as she looked into the skeleton's grey, hollow eye sockets. It seemed frozen in fear as it sat motionless.
Irene watched the small skeleton with a sad expression on her face, her dagger raised in the air. Who would have thought that her end would come at the hands of a despised, dark creature, and one of the weakest to boot! It was truly pathetic.
Slash...
Irene felt a cool breeze on her right hip and thought she'd been stabbed, but when she looked down she realised she wasn't hurt. Rather, the magic robe had been slashed from her right waist to her calf, exposing even more skin.
A firm and smooth waist, supple and glistening strong legs, all revealed this time. Even the tiniest bit of pale green silk underwear could be seen through the cut. Irene could hear some of the surrounding male students swallowing loudly, as well as the chatter of the female students.
"Ah..."
Though it would be a terrible thing if the skeleton killed her with one blow, it was worse than death to be stripped of her clothes under the hungry eyes of her peers. A piercing scream came from Irene's mouth as she scrambled away, desperately trying to cover herself.
"What... what's wrong with that skeleton? Why is it concentrating on destroying Irene's clothes?"
"Stop staring! Hurry up and destroy it!"
The students of Light finally came to their senses amidst the chatter of the crowd and began to raise their arms, ready to cast spells to attack the small skeleton.
After this attack, the skeleton again stood dumbly, as if it needed constant commands from Han Shuo to know what to do. Han Shuo began to stress inwardly as he saw the skeleton just standing there. He didn't know what to do.
Lisa, who was standing to the side, was about to say something, but hesitated after seeing such a large portion of Irene's robe destroyed.
"Damned dark creature, how dare you attack the beautiful Miss Irene! Take your punishment from me, Sergeant Knight Claude!" At that moment, a figure ran in from the distance. Because of his speed, Claude had appeared next to the little skeleton as soon as he had finished speaking.
As soon as he arrived, Claude shot agilely at the little skeleton. A beam of pale green light shot out of his right fist and landed firmly on the unsuspecting skeleton. The skeleton flew up and out, landing on the ground with a clatter.
"Beautiful Miss Irene, you suffered because I was late!" Claude said humbly, bowing to Irene after sending the skeleton flying.
Claude was 18 and had his silver hair tied back in a ponytail that fell carelessly down his back. He wore an all-white training robe and was exceptionally handsome. Many of the Light Major girls blushed at his appearance and began to whisper to each other.
"Wow! It's Claude! He's only 18, but he's already a Sergeant-level Knight and the youngest son of the Empire's Gryphon Legion Chief. He's so amazing!"
"You're so boy-crazy, Claude likes Irene. You come from a small family and you're not as beautiful as Irene, he'd never be interested in you."
The girls in the light major began to talk in hushed tones and to cast sly glances at Claude, as if he were the man of their dreams, their prince on a white horse. The male students, on the other hand, regarded him with looks that alternated between hatred and fear.
As the surrounding crowd muttered, the small skeleton that had been sent flying stood up shakily, his chest shaking with the rest of his body.
Irene was completely drenched and frantically protecting her upper and lower body, her face flushed with embarrassment. But she heaved a sigh of relief when Claude appeared. She was about to respond to his greeting when she glanced over Claude's shoulder and saw the skeleton slowly clambering back up. Her haughty face instantly changed to one of panic and disgust. Irene pointed behind Claude and said hastily, "Claude, I'll agree to have dinner with you if you destroy that ugly, dark creature.
Claude turned his head when he heard Irene's words and uttered a soft "eh?" of surprise. It seemed he hadn't thought the skeleton would survive. He turned around, flashed a small sunny smile and bowed, "It is an honour to serve you".
Claude's demeanour changed abruptly as he turned away. The urbane grace he'd just displayed faded, replaced by a sharp look that shot out of his eyes. He struck again with his right fist, and the pale green light once more shot rapidly towards the small skeleton.
Who would have thought that a thin, frail body would suddenly rush in from the left. It happened to stop right in front of the little skeleton. The pale green light from Claude's fist landed firmly on the frail body.
Bam! and the thin body stumbled a few steps backwards, threw its head back and fell to the ground.
"Huh? Who is this messenger boy? Why did he suddenly rush out?" Cries of surprise came from all directions.
"Damn it, Bryan, have you gone mad?" Jack was simply stunned and howled with a face full of tragic pain.
Lisa was also taken aback as she looked at Han Shuo who had suddenly rushed out and dealt the blow to the skeleton.
What followed was an even more surprising turn of events. The pale green light connected directly with Han Shuo, but he didn't cough up blood and die instantly. Rather, like the skeleton, he stood up shakily with a silly, naive expression on his face.
As for the little skeleton, it suddenly turned around. He had been swaying back and forth, but then he turned abruptly, bent his legs and sprang towards the necromancer's quarters before anyone could react.
As for Claude, the attacker, he suddenly stumbled over his feet and sat on the ground for no apparent reason. He panted heavily a few times before getting to his feet, as if he had just overexerted himself, but once up his chiseled features wore an expression of disbelief and shock. He cast a strange glance at Han Shuo, who was still out of his mind.
The person in question, Han Shuo, wasn't exactly putting on an act with the confusion flashing across his face. When Claude's pale green light had passed directly through his body into his chest, Han Shuo had felt a piercing pain in his heart. He almost thought he had died.
Han Shuo's mental strength might have been affected by the circumstances at that moment, and he successfully gave the little skeleton another command to 'retreat with all haste'. To avoid detection, he told the skeleton to take cover in the Academy's rubbish dump.
But what was most incredible to Han Shuo was that he had felt his Magic Yuan surround and enclose the pale green light as it had travelled into his body. The magic yuan had completely immobilised the light, preventing it from wreaking havoc within.
"Bryan, what are you doing here?" Lisa finally found her voice and shouted at Han Shuo.
Han Shuo had no idea what was going on inside his body at that moment. All he could feel was a slight heaviness in his chest from the magical yuan surrounding the pale green light. After the initial pain he had felt earlier, his body hadn't really suffered much damage.
But in the eyes of others, Han Shuo was completely mad. He couldn't even hear other people's questions. The blank expression and naive smile on his face further cemented his identity as a madman.
"Oh, it's the crazy messenger boy of the Necromancy Major. No wonder he was such an idiot!"
"Yes indeed, only an idiot would have rushed out in front of Claude's attack at that moment!"
Little Fatty Jack's legs were shaking like crazy, but he eventually made his way over to Han Shuo and began to pull him away by the arm. He said, "Bryan, what are you doing here? It's no fun here. Come on, let's go back."
"Just a second!" Claude spoke up suddenly at that moment, his eyes fixed on Han Shuo. Aside from the fact that the little skeleton had run away for a second, he wondered why he suddenly felt his combat aura (TL note: mental strength equivalent for knights) disappear. What was going on? Had he made a mistake?
He had only used his Battle Aura in one blow, he shouldn't have been tired. He'd even fallen, this was really too weird. Did this errand boy have some kind of evil magic? No way, he was just an errand boy. That would be way too weird. He must be mistaken.
"Noble and mighty Knight Claude, you wouldn't pick a fight with an errand boy, would you? Not to mention that this messenger boy is crazy, that doesn't seem to fit with your noble self?" Oddly enough, it was Lisa who spoke up for Han Shuo.
Claude bowed to Lisa from a distance when he heard her words, then gave Han Shuo a deep look. He nodded, "You may leave!"
"The two errand boys may leave, but Lisa, you summoned that filthy skeleton warrior and ruined my clothes. You owe me an explanation." Irene had found a billowing white robe and pulled it over her. She'd recovered from her panic and shock and gave Lisa a cold look.
"What does this have to do with me? I didn't conjure that strange black skeleton, otherwise why wouldn't I be able to control it? It sneaked into my room at night and kicked me twice. I'm the victim here too. Lisa gave a slight snort and also reacted coldly.
"How is that possible? If not you, then who? It must be one of your necromancy masters. Whoever he is, I'll find him and make him pay!" Irene flew into a rage.
"Hoo... ah... Bach, when .... threw away trash, I saw him run... run out of Bach's room." Han Shuo smiled vacantly and seemed to have trouble communicating as he stammered out a few words, but it was enough for the others to understand his meaning.
"Huh. So it was him. He must be trying to get revenge for me beating him up!" Lisa's face darkened and she bit off her words.
On the other side, Irene's face also wore an angry expression as she gritted her teeth. The bells, signalling the start of classes, rang out just as the two were about to track down Bach and make him pay. Everyone in the room jumped when they heard the bells, with the Light and Necromancy majors running off to their respective areas.
Only Han Shuo and Jack remained, standing mute. Han Shuo smiled "dumbly" and said to Jack, "Bach is screwed.
Jack nodded his head emphatically in full agreement, "Yes, this time he's really screwed!"