Night Battle (Mid)

In the hazy night, nine-colored thick smoke gently rolled and churned under the breeze. The surroundings were deathly silent, everything seemingly as peaceful and tranquil as ever... But the heavy killing intent shrouded in darkness was silently proclaiming what an unusual and terrifying night this was!

The prolonged standoff Punk had envisioned didn't materialize. Almost the moment Punk finished his misdirection setup, a faint but very distinct shadow energy fluctuation drifted from the east, outside the smoke...

"Damn it!" Punk cursed inwardly. Without the System's analysis, he knew what the rogue had done. She had just used a signature rogue skill – Shadow Step!

The Shadow Plane could be considered the inverse of the Faerun plane. Its direct manifestation was the colorful, real plane, while its inverse manifestation was the mysterious Shadow Plane. The rogue's Shadow Step skill consumed a large amount of shadow energy, allowing the body to briefly enter the Shadow Plane. This brief entry time generally did not exceed two seconds, so the primary use of this skill was to dodge attacks with immense power. However, now, this rogue was using it to confirm Punk's location!

The magical smoke created by Punk could not spread into the Shadow Plane. If the enemy could pinpoint his location within the Shadow Plane, then the smoke's concealment would be meaningless!

As expected, in the very next instant, Punk felt a chilling energy attach itself to him. This was the rogue's tracking skill – Shadow Attachment. With this "positioning navigation" of shadow energy, it was as easy as pie for the rogue to find Punk in the dense smoke!

Although the enemy only had time to cast a relatively low-level tracking skill, which could be completely dispelled with a single "Lesser Dispel," Punk didn't believe the enemy would wait for him to cast the dispel.

In a flash of lightning, Punk, having been located, decisively ordered all the Mana Aberrations to self-destruct immediately. The violent blast wave from the terrifying mana explosion instantly blew away all the smoke. The flat ground was blasted with roaring and trembling, creating several huge craters. A tide of light blue energy engulfed the entire area for a time!

This large-scale explosion even engulfed Punk and Kane within it. However, both Punk and Kane possessed powerful enough defensive measures to withstand the continuous impact of the energy tide. But if it were the fragile rogue... Even while charging towards Punk, she had keenly sensed the abnormal energy fluctuations of the aberrations and evaded them in time. Still, being hit by the residual energy waves would not be pleasant. Moreover... most importantly... she couldn't conceal her figure amidst the violent shockwave!

"Hah!!!"

Kane, who had been carefully sensing energy changes with his battle qi, instantly locked onto a location where the energy fluctuations were clearly experiencing some unusual obstruction. The suppressed battle qi in every inch of his muscles erupted violently. The Charge battle skill instantly began to operate at full power. Kane stomped his foot hard, and accompanied by an impact wave tinged pale yellow by the overflowing battle qi, Kane, like a bullet fired from a gun, arrived at his target in a fleeting golden flash.

"Boom!!!"

A massive roar exploded in the night sky. A surge of air mixed with shattered gravel swept out from where Kane's lance had struck. Standing in the huge impact crater, Kane lightly shook his steel lance, which was almost incandescent. Due to the intense friction with the air, the armor on Kane's body had turned crimson and hot.

If this strike had hit the target, the enemy, as a rogue, would undoubtedly have been reduced to a splatter of blood and flesh.

But the result was regrettable. Punk's magic-infused eyes clearly captured a graceful figure entwined with shadows, flashing away like an illusion just before Kane's lance arrived...

"You thought you could still hide? Once you're out, don't even think about going back!"

The System keenly sensed faint shadow fluctuations beginning to appear on the enemy's body again. A sharp, cold glint flashed in Punk's eyes. He said in a low voice, aiming the spell in his hand at the rogue whose figure had been exposed!

"Abnormal Lightning." With the System's assistance, Punk had already completed the construction of this spell the moment Kane charged out. As soon as a mass of Aether Energy was summoned, it began to be converted into chaotic, explosive energy lightning at an astonishing speed. As Punk released his control and restraint over it, this terrifying energy mass, which continuously released colorful lightning, instantly shot out. A blinding lightning bolt, emitting a piercing crackle, instantly enveloped the rogue's body at the speed of light. The violent discharge left crisscrossing scorched marks on a large area of the surrounding land!

While the spell's speed was the speed of light, Punk's casting was not. The rogue, the moment she dodged Kane's attack, had sensed the explosive energy gathering in Punk's hand. Therefore, she immediately disregarded her body's load and used the Shadow Realm Incursion skill again. With the help of this powerful evasion method, she once again avoided the fatal blow!

"Something's wrong!" Punk frowned. Even if the enemy used Shadow Plane Dive to evade again, she would still be locked onto by Punk and Kane when she emerged. Escaping into the Shadow Plane to hide at this point was useless, other than delaying her death by a short while. Punk and Kane's follow-up attacks were already poised. When the enemy reappeared in the real plane, she would be unable to dodge the next wave of attacks. If she dared to use Shadow Plane Dive a third time, then there would be no need for an attack. A Journeyman Level rogue using such a high-load, high-consumption skill like Shadow Plane Dive in such a short period would definitely fall unconscious. At that time, Punk and Kane wouldn't have to continue fighting; instead, they could capture her alive.

Because of this, it was more reasonable for the enemy to endure the heavy damage when facing Punk's attack, as that still offered a sliver of hope for escape...

"Absolutely not right. The enemy isn't some rookie who just stepped out. She shouldn't be throwing away her last chance of escape because of such a low-level mistake." Thinking this, Punk's mind sharpened. He decisively dispelled the second "Abnormal Lightning" that was already prepared in his hand. His intuition, honed from frequently using Divination Spells, told him that the one in danger now was not the rogue who had consumed more than two-thirds of her shadow energy, but rather the seemingly victorious Punk and Kane themselves!

Gloomy clouds had, without anyone noticing, hidden the brightest moon, Gaal. The silence in the dark night didn't last long. Before the enemy could reappear from the shadows, danger descended without warning along with the gentle breeze!

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