A Three-Person Team

The Laurelock Inn was a small inn located by the southern city wall of Konola City. As a shop, it was undoubtedly unwise to be situated in the remote southern district, but if its true identity was a secret escape route, that would be another matter entirely. To the south of Konola City lay a sparse woodland, and passing through this woodland, known locally as "Old Miko," one could reach the neighboring country of the Kingdom of Kamos—that is, the Kingdom of Dilon, which had always been at odds with Kamos. In the Faerun plane, there was such a thing as political asylum. If the Princess could obtain the protection of the Kingdom of Dilon, then at least she wouldn't have to worry about her life being in danger.

Coincidentally, Punk also wanted to leave the Kingdom of Kamos, which was in internal strife, so their goals aligned on heading to the Kingdom of Dilon. Of course, the most pressing matter at the moment was to escape the soon-to-be-destroyed Konola City!

The dire wolf's speed was quite commendable. In less than half an hour, Punk arrived near the Laurelock Inn. Nearly a quarter of the inn had already been destroyed by fire. The originally pink, beautiful plaque had become a half-blackened piece of wood under the scorching flames. However, although the exterior looked tragically dilapidated, Punk observed that the fire seemed to have been brought under control in time, and the main structure of the building was barely preserved, with the load-bearing beams not yet turned to charcoal.

The dire wolf's footsteps stopped behind a broken stone wall. The pads on its paws made the dire wolf's massive form almost silent.

Punk quietly released an Arcane Eye. The completely transparent eyeball floated out from behind the wall and gazed at three young Professionals on the street not far away, which was filled with flying sparks. These three Professionals were only at the Apprentice Level. They were likely here for a perfunctory patrol. It seemed they didn't think there would be any danger in a place where not even a living person could be seen. They were even in the mood to roughhouse and play on some jagged rocks.

"Low-level Professionals in the Faerun plane are generally young, and many are simply children. It's unavoidable that they possess some power but lack corresponding caution."

Punk looked at the three fools who didn't yet know disaster was imminent and felt a surge of disdain.

"We need to finish this quickly. Lunka's Professionals are equipped with signal flares. Don't let them send any messages," Mainesi's voice was transmitted to Punk's ear through a simple Message Spell.

Prompted by Mainesi, Punk also put away his playful thoughts. Perhaps dealing with these Apprentice-level "little guys" wouldn't be difficult, but if the prerequisite was to add the words "silently and without a trace," it would be a bit tricky, as Punk was a mage, not a rogue.

After careful consideration, Punk decided to start with the higher-ranked young Priest. In a team, when a spellcaster was attacked, the surrounding Combatants would mostly choose to gather and provide assistance, especially these hot-blooded youths. They, in their innocence, had not yet discarded the concept of abandoning their companions and fleeing, even though fleeing decisively was the best course of action when facing an insurmountable danger!

Punk decided to exploit this by having them gather together and then finish them all with an area-of-effect spell!

As soon as the plan was made, it was executed. In the shadow of his hood, a large amount of azure magic power light slowly rotated around Punk's pupils. Two solid blue eyes were filled with coldness and indifference.

"Stun"—an upgraded version of Lesser Stun, a spell that Punk had practiced diligently. With the guidance of just a few key incantations and without using any spell components, Punk almost instantaneously completed the framework of this spell model. The Stun, a curse-type spell belonging to the Abjuration school, was released and instantly crossed a distance of fifty meters, descending into the young Priest's brain.

The young Priest, who was chatting with the Archer Girl beside him just a second ago, suddenly stood frozen in place. A trickle of blood slowly flowed from his nose and mouth—this guy hadn't even cast any defensive spells on himself, and he had "hardened" against the Stun without any buffer!

Don't ever think that auxiliary spells have no lethality. The Stun used by Punk, a Level Seven mage, had hit this little Priest, who was at most Level Four, squarely. His mental network was instantly shattered! Judging by his appearance, his brain nerves were also damaged, and even if he didn't become paralyzed, he would become an idiot in the future.

"Noan! What's wrong with you!"

The warrior walking behind the young Priest rushed over to check on Noan, who was slowly falling to the ground because he couldn't control his body.

"Don't go over," the Archer Girl beside him seemed to have thought of something. She warned the warrior while simultaneously rushing towards Noan's figure.

"Too late!"

The little warrior, who was trying to shake Noan, didn't notice a white shadow galloping from the air. As a result, the warrior, who didn't have time to resist at all, was caught by Punk's "descending from the sky" dire wolf. With a low growl and a fierce shake of its head, the dire wolf tore off more than half of the young warrior's abdomen along with a thigh, like tearing paper. A large amount of blood and shredded flesh splattered onto the scorching ground.

Upon seeing this scene, the Archer Girl's eyes immediately welled up with tears. Her companions, who had been laughing and chatting just moments ago, had now died tragically before her eyes. She simply couldn't accept such a cruel reality.

However, Punk had no time to care whether a dying person could accept reality.

A wide-ranging Abjuration spell was mercilessly cast—"Flame Strike." Flames carrying faint purple light directly struck the young warrior who was rolling and wailing on the ground. A ring of flames carrying a large amount of kinetic energy spread out from the center.

The area-of-effect spell "Flame Strike," in addition to having high-temperature combustion capabilities, also carried a large amount of chaotic kinetic energy, which had extremely powerful destructive capabilities against physical defenses like armor.

Under the swirling diffusion of the Flame Strike, the terrified little warrior and the unconscious young Priest were instantly torn apart and burned into a pile of charred remains. The entire brick road, which suffered the same "treatment," was scarred by the chaotic kinetic energy.

However, the Archer Girl escaped. The red necklace around her neck activated a Divine Spell shield. Three crimson shields emerged from the air and spun rapidly around the girl. The Flame Strike energy was almost entirely intercepted outside the shields.

Punk narrowed his eyes slightly. He recognized this Divine Spell. It was "Crimson Shield," "produced" by the Church of Kampaas, the God of Warriors.

The Archer Girl leaped backward like a startled cat. Standing on a rock protruding from the ground, she roared at Punk with grief and indignation, "Do you know what you've done? Noan is a Priest of Kampaas!" After speaking, the girl tightly pursed her red lips and pulled down the signal flare hanging from her waist. Clearly, she wasn't foolish enough to charge at him alone to fight to the death. She intended to notify the distant patrol team for reinforcements!

But it was too late for her.

In the Archer Girl's astonished gaze, a crooked, pale yellow light shone onto the Crimson Shield. The Divine Spell shield, which had originally exuded an aura of invincibility, dissolved into scattered crimson streams of light in less than two seconds after coming into contact with the light.

"Journeyman Level Abjuration Spell—Energy Dispersal."

This was the spell Punk used. By creating a repulsive effect, it dispersed energy from an item, making it most effective against "Rootless Water" energy defenses activated by magic items.

"Kampaas has trillions of believers scattered throughout the multiverse. Would he care about the life or death of a mere Journeyman Priest?"

The next second, the girl was tightly bound by tough vines that shot out from the ground. Then, under the effect of the Stun spell, she fell unconscious. Punk's taunt was the last thing she heard before losing consciousness.

Friends, do you want to know the fate of the captured girl? Then quickly collect and vote. There are two more updates tonight. Remember to join group 548859662. Many book friends in the group are waiting for you. The author welcomes everyone's suggestions.