Mainesi lay in the center of a massive crater. He no longer possessed his former elegant bearing; all that remained was an utterly miserable state he could not conceal from head to toe. His splendid mage robe had been torn to pieces, and even its remaining scraps were being eroded and burned by fiery battle aura. His body was covered in charred burns, and violent battle aura energy still faintly seeped from the wounds. Most horrifying of all, Mainesi's entire lower body was gone. A ragged tear had opened across his chest, and everything below it had been reduced to ashes. Through his shattered ribs, his still-beating heart could even be seen. Such grievous wounds should have killed even a Formal Level professional, yet Mainesi had somehow used a secret technique to stubbornly cling to life.
Punk saw vast patches of tender green sprouts continuously growing from the tear in Mainesi's chest. All the sprouts twisted together over the wound. Punk could sense them constantly suppressing the violent battle aura lingering within Mainesi's body while converting the energy in the surrounding air into vitality and pouring it into him. At least in Punk's view, Mainesi's life force was not weakening at all. It was steadily growing stronger.
Even Punk was astonished by this sight. A man who had lost half his body had not only survived, but was recovering at high speed. It was truly shocking!
The flames had already spread into the southern district. In the distance came the faint, piercing screams of refugees being slaughtered by enemy soldiers. Time was growing ever more urgent. Once the enemy discovered that Mainesi was still alive... the consequences would be unimaginable!
"Cough... cough cough!"
Just as Punk was considering whether he should first hide with the half-bodied Mainesi, several hoarse coughs rose from the bottom of the crater. Mainesi had awakened!
Mainesi slowly opened his eyes. He no longer had the strength to release a mental scan, so he could only prop up half his body with one hand and turn his head to inspect his surroundings.
Soon, he spotted Punk standing at the edge of the crater with a profound gaze. Only when Mainesi turned around did Punk see clearly that one of his eyes had become a blazing fireball radiating intense heat. Red patterns nearly covered the entire eye socket, making him look terrifying and grotesque.
"Over there... you're Punk Saian, right?" Mainesi asked in a blurred voice like a broken bellows. With the powerful memory of a Formal Level professional, it was hardly strange that he remembered the name of a "subordinate."
Punk quietly stepped half a pace back, and his pupils swiftly lit with the glow of magic. A starving camel was still larger than a horse. No matter how severely wounded and near death Mainesi was, Punk would not forget that he was a powerful Formal Level Mage.
Mainesi seemed not to notice Punk's small movement at all. He merely stared intently at the tangled, twisted clusters of green sprouts over his wound and said without looking up, "Lunka definitely won't let any living person leave the city. But... there is a secret passage. It is everyone's only chance to retreat, and..."
Mainesi slightly turned his head and fixed Punk with the crimson eyeball that had become a fireball. "...Only I can open it!"
Punk let out a soft sigh. Though he wanted to trick the location of the secret passage out of Mainesi and abandon him here to flee alone, Mainesi had lost his legs, not his brains. He had practically spelled it out for Punk—leave me behind, and you aren't going anywhere!
"Lord Mainesi, I would be delighted to follow you in saving our Kingdom of Kamos and the beautiful Her Highness the Princess."
Punk gave a few bland pleasantries as a gesture of cooperation. Then he softly began chanting and scattered several strands of blue-glowing velvet. In less than two seconds, two dire wolves as tall as half a man slowly emerged from the summoning array before him.
One of the dire wolves took several strides to Mainesi's side, then tilted its head to indicate that he should climb aboard.
"My apologies, Lord Mainesi. We need transportation to cross the ruined city quickly. Please bear with this crude mount for now."
Punk lowered his head slightly in a standard, cookie-cutter mage's salute, though there was not the slightest trace of respect in his tone. He made a "please" gesture, inviting Mainesi to mount the dire wolf.
Of course, Punk was not doing this to cross the city quickly. He simply did not dare approach Mainesi casually. Who knew whether this veteran Formal Mage, who clearly cultivated the Life Element, possessed some means of draining another person's life force? To be safe, Punk decided that no matter what happened, he would not get close to Mainesi.
Mainesi had clearly seen through Punk's thoughts as well. Though a flicker of displeasure passed through his eyes, he ultimately waved a hand and said, "It's fine. Finding Her Highness the Princess is more important." With that, he lightly braced both hands on the ground. His half body flipped effortlessly, and he landed gracefully on the dire wolf's back. It almost seemed as if losing most of his body had not affected him at all, but had instead lightened his burden.
Still, Punk keenly caught the sluggishness and... strangeness of the energy flowing through Mainesi's body. The life force within him looked as vigorous as flourishing spring growth, yet it felt somehow... incompatible with his body?
Punk relaxed slightly inside. If nothing unexpected happened, Mainesi was merely using some secret technique to forcibly keep himself alive. He looked as though he was "perfectly fine," but in reality, he had already reached the end of his rope.
"The secret stronghold is in The Laurelock Inn. If you've seen the military map, you should remember it."
As Mainesi spoke, he summoned a thin vine and used it to tie himself to the dire wolf. After this not particularly strenuous "exercise," the green sprouts around his wound seemed to writhe even more actively.
"Of course. I remember it clearly."
Punk mounted his own dire wolf as he replied to Mainesi in a "respectful" tone. For a Journeyman Level professional, a powerful memory was the most basic ability. Although Punk had not paid any attention to that inconspicuous little inn when he first studied the map, all he needed to do was recall it to easily remember its location. As for Konola City's terrain, now utterly unrecognizable... that was no problem before a Divination Spell.
The two enormous silver-white dire wolves leaped through the ruins of the secluded southern district. Ground studded with jagged protruding rocks posed no obstacle at all. The massive wolves displayed agility utterly mismatched with their size. Of course... they also delivered the violent jolts of a crippled roller coaster. This side-to-side bouncing, which sometimes even flipped his vision upside down, made Punk—who had never ridden a mount before—want to smash this stupid wolf to death with a fireball. His command had been to run fast, not run like a lunatic. He truly could not understand why this dire wolf deliberately kept leaping onto those uneven rocks. Punk had to use Mage Hand to clutch its fur so he would not be flung from its back. Amid the chaos, Punk could clearly see the undisguised amusement in Mainesi's eyes. By comparison, the dire wolf Mainesi rode was exceptionally well-behaved. It was nothing like the one beneath Punk, which seemed practically possessed by a husky!
Still, jokes aside, the dire wolves' combat strength was quite decent. At the very least, working with Punk's Bouncing Spell, they had more than enough power to clear out a few scouting grunts. Thus, the two giant wolves darted between the collapsed houses like two white clouds, swiftly approaching their destination—The Laurelock Inn.
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