The Mage Shield, brimming with circulating magic power, slowly revolved around Punk. Kane's Light Battle Qi illuminated a small patch of the night, wrapping it in a lingering glow. Just as this eternal silence seemed as though it would continue without end...
"Ding!!"
From the distant darkness, a slender, sharp dagger shot toward him. Its tip, dyed pitch-black by shadow energy, struck Punk's Mage Shield fiercely. The dagger gave a crisp tremble! The mysterious runes flowing across the Mage Shield flickered faintly. The energy barrier easily deflected the attack without suffering any damage.
Punk's expression tightened. As a low, indistinct chant vanished in an instant, Punk cast his spell—Lesser Shockwave Cut—in barely a second. Dozens of pale Aether Energy blades, vibrating at high frequencies and emitting ear-piercing hums, appeared out of thin air beyond the Mage Shield. At Punk's command, all the energy blades shot toward a point in the deep darkness. The dense blades shredded the fan-shaped ground within a forty-five-degree angle in that direction. The blades embedded in the earth continued vibrating at high frequency, instantly reducing the hard rocks nearby into dust and fragments that flew into the air.
But... it had no effect. The spell had struck nothing but empty air, wasting magic power for nothing. Although the enemy had briefly exposed their position when attacking, neither Punk nor Kane dared pursue them, because an even more terrifying stealthy foe was still lurking in the dark night, waiting for an opportunity!
Feeling the little magic power he had left, Punk realized that the powerful defensive barrier of the Mage Shield would not last much longer...
At that moment, Kane, glowing like a light bulb, suddenly turned around. He lightly bared his teeth and gave Punk an ordinary smile mixed with an unmistakable chill.
"Say, Punk! I heard... that people who are usually cowardly and timid can instead unleash unimaginable strength when faced with life and death~ What do you~ think~~?"
"At least, that's how it's written in knight novels!"
Punk did not even look at him. Kane's thoughts happened to align perfectly with his own, but that was only natural. There were no unnecessary options in their current situation, and coming up with such a "brilliant plan" was hardly worth showing off. He gently stroked his broken staff. His eyes now held only endless depth and distance, along with endless bone-piercing coldness!
"Then today~ we can test whether knight novels are true!"
Kane's eyes instantly filled with excitement and hysteria. He opened his mouth in a cold smile, swiftly turned around, and viciously, without hesitation or mercy... drove his radiant lance into Putt's lower abdomen. The lance tore a horrifying wound through Putt's belly, and vast amounts of blood swiftly dyed the grass beneath Kane and Punk's feet red!
Ignoring Putt's disbelieving gaze, Kane wore an almost perfect gentle smile like that of a kindly older brother next door as he poured a great deal of violent Light Battle Qi through the lance into Putt's body—Battle Qi that could temporarily increase Putt's physical strength!
Putt fell dazedly onto the ground soaked in his own blood. He did not scream or curse. There was only disbelief... practically written across his face. He could not believe that the "companion" he trusted had suddenly ambushed him.
Kane yanked the lance from Putt's stomach. Spraying blood stained half of Kane's armor red, while droplets of blood on the lance fell from its tip into the dust. Bright, dazzling Battle Qi refracted through the blood droplets, sketching a crimson silhouette...
Punk coldly glanced at Putt, who was clutching his wound and trembling slightly. It had to be said that Kane had controlled his strike well. The wound caused by the lance had rendered Putt, who only knew a few acceleration spells, incapable of moving. The Battle Qi injected into him would keep Putt conscious even if he lost a great deal of blood, at least until it was exhausted. The precisely severed artery would ensure that Putt lost most of his blood in a short time. Once Kane's infused Battle Qi was spent, Putt would immediately die. As two stealthy foes without healing methods like a priest's, they could only obtain a corpse rather than a useful captive!
Kane rested his lance on his shoulder and tilted his head slightly toward Punk, as if saying, "I've gone this far. It's time for you to show some sincerity too."
Punk still ignored Kane. He looked at Putt, who remained frozen in stunned disbelief, but felt nothing at all. He felt neither guilt nor sorrow over a companion dying in his scheme, nor Kane's excitement and thrill at seeing his plot succeed. There was only one simple feeling—Ah, something alive has died.
He lightly shrugged, offering Putt a token gesture of "sympathy" and mockery, then cast Mage Armor and several protective spells on him. Of course, this was not because Punk's conscience had suddenly stirred. He merely needed Putt to endure a few more strikes from the enemy and delay them as much as possible!
Although Punk and Kane's actions had been complicated and meticulous, they were completed within only a few seconds. Once their preparations were finished, they immediately dismissed their highly draining defensive measures, explosively unleashed the spells and combat techniques they had prepared, and sprinted with all their strength toward distant Konola City, leaving behind Putt, who had curled into a ball from the agony throughout his body and begun to groan—without a shred of concern!
With Putt lying on the ground, the enemy would absolutely not dare pursue the two of them openly and recklessly. Doing so would cruelly expose their backs and weaknesses before Putt. No one could be certain that his cowardice was not merely an act of pretending to be weak, nor could anyone guarantee that Punk and Kane's "ruthlessness" was not a deliberately staged self-inflicted ruse. If they did not want to turn around and suddenly get hit by a Lesser Fireball, they had to deal with poor Putt first—the Putt who "seemed" to have already lost his ability to fight.
"This world is cruel like this. Unless one transcends the world, otherwise... no one can do anything about it."
Wrapped in a transparent force field that eliminated resistance, Punk watched the moonlit scenery around him blur into indistinct streaks of paint as it raced backward at high speed. His tremendous velocity stirred up powerful winds. Punk streaked over the tender grass and flowers, mercilessly snapping their stems and leaves and easily crushing their roots. The once tranquil grassland was now left with nothing but broken, withered remnants scattered across the ground.
Putt clearly was not the protagonist of some novel. Although Punk and Kane had strengthened him with Battle Qi and protected him with spells, once he fell to the ground, he had completely lost any will to resist. His mind filled with fear and shock, he was finished off by the two stealthy foes in four or five strikes. Until his final moment, he still could not understand why the "chivalrous and gentle" knight who had once promised, like a kindly older brother next door, to look after him would suddenly attack him, while Senior Punk, who seemed cold on the outside but warm-hearted within, not only failed to stop it but stood nearby looking utterly indifferent. Unfortunately, he would never have another chance to understand!
As a sharp, terrifying crack suddenly rang out in the night, the moonlit wilderness returned once more to its silent emptiness!
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