Chapter 212 – Outbreak

“Alright, Her Highness Princess Trelinka, quickly return to your people. Be more careful next time!”

Bloodclaw smiled, completely ignoring Trelinka’s furious gaze. He very naturally stored the “Tears of the Spring” into his Storage Ring, then waved at Princess Trelinka as if bidding farewell to a close friend.

Princess Trelinka coldly stared at the crimson-haired Bloodclaw, gently touching the red mark on her neck left by the torn necklace. She seemed to want to say something but ultimately just took a deep breath and walked step by step toward the Green Vine Family’s welcoming party.

As Princess Trelinka reached the midpoint between Punk’s trio and the welcoming party, the old man on horseback extended three Master-Level items from a distance.

In the next instant, Punk, Bloodclaw, and Iron Tower moved almost simultaneously.

With exactly one item for each person, Punk didn’t greedily attempt to take more. After all, the three still needed to maintain their cooperative relationship before leaving Greenvine City, so Punk focused his aim on the ancient parchment.

Although Iron Tower also appeared to want that parchment, his speed couldn’t match Punk’s.

Almost the moment the three Master-Level items left the old warrior’s hand, Punk’s pre-prepared spell was already unleashed.

“Formal-Level Conjuration Spell—Greater Mage Hand”

A large hand composed of invisible ethereal energy suddenly appeared, snatching the floating parchment from the air before retracting even faster. To the naked eye, it seemed as if the air briefly distorted before the parchment in midair vanished into thin air.

Compared to Punk’s casting speed, Iron Tower’s liquid metal claw shot from his palm was just a fraction slower, closing on empty air.

“Hmph!”

Iron Tower glared fiercely at Punk, then redirected his claw midair to seize the scroll faintly radiating dangerous energy.

Punk paid no attention to Iron Tower, who wore his resentment plainly on his face. Without even glancing at the parchment, he stored it directly into his Storage Ring right in front of Iron Tower.

The enmity between Punk and this guy was already irreconcilable—a battle between them was inevitable. Confident in his ability to defeat Iron Tower, Punk couldn’t be bothered with a dead man walking.

Watching the two “big shots” beside him clash so openly, Bloodclaw concealed a faint cold smile. From beginning to end, he had been scheming to profit from their conflict—nothing pleased him more than seeing Punk and Iron Tower fight.

But now Bloodclaw, theoretically the fastest close-quarters combat warlock, could only catch the quill that was about to hit the ground. After all, Iron Tower beside him wore a predator’s expression after failing to grab the parchment, and Bloodclaw dared not provoke the man’s fury at this moment.

The old warrior saw the subtle struggles among Punk’s trio clearly. Cursing inwardly for these three to annihilate each other, he warily turned and quickly led Princess Trelinka away.

“Transaction complete, mission over. Now… time to go home!”Bloodclaw declared loudly, being the first to depart in the opposite direction of Greenvine City. In his view, Punk and Iron Tower were like two ticking time bombs—far too dangerous. A single misstep could trigger a fight, and if these two madmen decided to eliminate potential opportunists before their own clash, Bloodclaw would be the one to suffer. Thus, the shrewd Bloodclaw immediately distanced himself from Punk and Iron Tower, adopting an “I won’t interfere” stance and keeping well away.

Punk, of course, saw through Bloodclaw’s petty scheming, but he had no mind to deal with him for now. At this moment, Punk coldly stared into Iron Tower’s menacing, bean-sized eyes, all while swiftly moving away from Greenvine City.

With a ferocious expression, Iron Tower glanced at the old warrior watching the commotion below from the city walls, then followed Punk at a deliberate distance, neither too close nor too far.

The two of them vanished from Greenvine City’s line of sight at an astonishing speed, as if merely departing like any ordinary travelers.

On the watchtower of Greenvine City, the old warrior and the patriarch of the Green Vine Family—Dolan Greenvine—stood on either side of Princess Trelinka. Clad in resplendent robes, Dolan watched the three distant figures below the walls, nearly grinding his teeth as he asked:

“Your Highness Princess Trelinka, in Greenvine City, aside from Master Chereng, we also have a level-twelve cleric of the Spring Goddess—Miss Davia. The enemies appear to be on the verge of infighting… Should we…?”

Clearly, Dolan had no intention of giving up his family’s heirloom treasures so easily.

“…Let it be, Lord Dolan!”

Trelinka replied with a tremble in her voice, recalling the cataclysmic battle where these three had slain Vick Swordsaint. Particularly vivid in her memory was Punk’s powerful spell that shattered a Formal-Level armor in one strike… those countless black blades of light seemed capable of tearing even sunlight apart!

At this thought, Trelinka’s slender frame shivered involuntarily.

“…Our top priority now is to announce to the entire nation the Church of Dawn’s heinous attempt to massacre the commonfolk. We cannot afford further complications.”

Princess Trelinka sighed almost imperceptibly, speaking to Dolan with grave solemnity.

“But… those three artifacts…”

The anxious Dolan seemed ready to say more, but upon seeing Trelinka’s expression that clearly said “I won’t repeat myself,” he could only fall silent.

——————Break——————

The silent march between Punk and Iron Tower didn’t last long. After covering several kilometers from Greenvine City, both abruptly halted. Without so much as a glance at each other, they suddenly struck without a word.

“BOOM!!”

“CRASH!!”

Deafening explosions erupted as Punk’s “Kinetic Crush” slammed squarely into Iron Tower, who had already curled into an iron ball.

The solid ground instantly cratered under the impact. Bloodclaw, running ahead of them, detected the energy fluctuations behind him and immediately performed several consecutive leaps without looking back, putting distance between himself and the battlefield’s epicenter.

Neither Punk nor Iron Tower, now fully immersed in combat, paid any attention to the distant Bloodclaw. Having witnessed each other’s fighting styles before, their opening moves held no probing—the erupted battle escalated to white-hot intensity from the very start.

“Hah!!”Half of the iron sphere buried underground, Iron Tower roared as the massive ball instantly began spinning at high speed. Dust exploded and scattered in all directions, and in less than a second, Iron Tunnel carved a trench through the ground to charge out of Kinetic Crush’s attack range.

What greeted Iron Tower was a series of attacks Punk had long prepared.

Five or six deep purple energy cones materialized one after another beside the Emerald Staff in Punk’s hand. By the time Iron Tower burst out of Kinetic Crush’s range, these cones had already completed their formation.

While maintaining his high-speed circular movement around Iron Tower, Punk simultaneously launched all five purple energy cones.

“I heard your turtle shell is quite tough. Now try this!”

“Formal-Level Conjuration Spell – Kinetic Cone” ×5

“Metamagic – Mana Compression”!

(End of Chapter)