"Squeak! Squeak!"
The sound came from a small creature in Punk's hand, covered in a ring of pale cyan scales and pink skin. With a cluster of "pink flowers" atop its head, the little monster looked like a fat-headed fish with frog legs, and its cry was equally bizarre. It had originally been a predator hiding in the mud, exposing only the petal-like pink tentacles on its head to lure in prey. But this one was clearly terribly unlucky. When Punk had been agonizing over a choice and decided to pluck the petals off a little flower, this monster had unfortunately become a substitute for flower petals. Honestly, Punk had been rather surprised when his Mage Hand grabbed a "little flower" from the grass and pulled up this strange thing instead.
Still, surprise was surprise. One strange little creature was not enough to stop the irritable Punk from "plucking petals." So... this little monster was very unlucky, because it had appeared in the wrong place at the wrong time!
As Punk occasionally plucked a few "petal tentacles" from the monster's head, he boredly reviewed the knowledge and spells in his mind... especially the Night Raid Reward he had traded from Mainesi. Punk vaguely sensed that this spell would soon come in handy! As for the little creature's constant "Squeak! Squeak!" screams and desperate kicking of its two thin legs, Punk magnificently ignored them!
But Punk's thoughts were soon interrupted once more. This was an escape route, after all, not a group outing in the woods. Besides... a wise man had once said that when disaster arrived... it was always hard to imagine that it would come so swiftly... and so suddenly. Here, disaster referred to both natural disasters and man-made calamities. War naturally fell among them.
Just as night was about to fall, with most of Chikasa's radiance slowly sinking beyond the horizon, a massive fireball flew toward the group like a flowerpot falling from a balcony... abrupt, yet expected.
Along with a warrior's thunderous roar of "Enemy attack!" a group of Prince William's professionals, clearly exhausted from a long journey, appeared in the distance. Their numbers were not particularly great, less than half the Princess Guard. While firing several highly conspicuous signal flares to call for allied reinforcements, the enemies charged fearlessly at the fleeing group. Judging from their frenzied manner, Lunka must have issued some dead order with extremely harsh punishments, forcing these professionals to attack even though they knew they were outmatched. They had uniformly adopted a semi-guerrilla approach. Punk believed these people intended to hold the Princess Guard here until the other search parties arrived and surrounded them.
Punk was not particularly surprised by this sudden battle. This was a real escape and retreat, not the "picnic-style" "strategic transfer" found in novels. Having spare time to hunt for treasure and drink wine, even finding time to flirt with girls like in certain stories, was not called fleeing for one's life. That was called traveling on public funds!
Still, on a battlefield where circumstances changed in an instant, there would always be many things beyond one's expectations.
Punk cast a Divination Spell at the fastest speed possible. His goal was not to examine the current enemies' strength, but to determine how many enemies were rushing over. That was more important than immediately counterattacking, because the professionals before them were not enough to threaten the entire evacuation group. The main force racing toward them at full speed was the greatest problem.
"Damn it, has Lunka gone mad? Does he not care about Konola City anymore?!"
When Punk sensed the information obtained by the Divination Spell, even his previously calm heart could not help but churn—Lunka had actually dispatched every single professional! That meant Lunka had abandoned the easily obtainable spoils of all Konola City and abandoned all of his ordinary troops, allowing the professionals of Konola City, filled with resentment, to slaughter and take revenge among the common soldiers at will. All these "sacrifices" were merely to stop Princess Narsya from fleeing to the Kingdom of Dilon!
"What a headache. Did this princess steal some divine artifact or something? Is she worth these madmen chasing her at the cost of their lives?!"
Punk no longer had the heart to mock anything. Why did it feel like they were about to carve out a bloody path to escape alive? This was nothing like the promised "sneak into the village, no shooting" at all!
"If this were a novel, the author could be considered one of those writers who loved tormenting the protagonist."
Mocking aside, they still had to fight. As one of the only two mages in the group, it was necessary for him to take responsibility for damage output and battlefield control, especially in a situation where they had to end things quickly!
So the question was, what spell worked best in a swampy field?
With his own answer in mind, Punk unhesitatingly activated the Lesser Deflection Field around himself. The attacks of several Apprentice Level archers immediately became completely useless. Then, standing at the center of the group, he calmly began chanting a spell. The spell he intended to release was a costly and relatively obscure conjuration spell—Tidal Surge!
He calmly pulled a small piece of Azure Stone from his robe pocket as the casting material for Tidal Surge. Since plenty of "meat shields" would dutifully withstand any attacks trying to interrupt his casting, Punk did not cast in the frantic rush he had before. He carefully infused mana into the spell model, and guided by Geka casting gestures, this mana-intensive spell manifested in reality without the slightest obstruction or waste. To unleash the greatest possible power from a spell he was not familiar with, Punk used nearly every enhancement method available to him!
After a full three seconds of chanting, Punk abruptly opened his eyes, gleaming with deep azure magical light. Blue-white ribbon-like streams of energy swirled up and down, gathering into a mass in his hands. The surrounding air twisted and revolved within the faint tides generated by the energy. A pale blue whirlwind of energy spinning around him made his robes snap and flutter, while traces of dissipating energy danced merrily around him like colorful butterflies. Outlined by the lingering radiance of Chikasa, Punk, protected by several warriors bursting with fighting energy of various colors, looked as dazzling and brilliant as an emperor gazing down upon the world!
Princess Narsya, who had never paid much attention to Punk before, was now utterly captivated by his "heroic bearing." Her eyes sparkling with little stars, she even forgot for a moment that she stood upon a battlefield filled with danger. In the eyes of this young maiden in the bloom of youth, only Punk's fair face remained. Even though most of it was concealed beneath his hood, it did nothing to diminish his handsome appearance. Within the hood's shadow, his twin eyes, glowing with sharp azure brilliance from their abundant mana, added a great deal of mystery to that handsomeness.
Perhaps the little princess had once scoffed at "love at first sight" in knightly novels, but now... Princess Narsya felt in her heart that... perhaps... love at first sight really did exist...
Punk, who had finished preparing his spell, had no idea that his unintentional display of coolness had captured the little princess's heart. Even if he had known, he would merely have found it troublesome. Right now, his attention was entirely focused on injuring the enemy. Whether anyone noticed him was not within his considerations!
Just as the enemies once more attempted to circle around and flank them, Punk's mind suddenly tightened!
The opportunity... had arrived!
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