Chapter 106 – The Battle Ends

“Another Anywhere Door?”

Punk’s eyes darted around continuously. The fire ignited by the Astral Oil had nearly burned out, with only insignificant sparks dancing in the air. The enemy, having been repeatedly attacked, was severely wounded—this meant… the High Priest could no longer continue this battle of attrition with him!

He deduced that the enemy would likely open an exit near him, making one last desperate, all-or-nothing attack!

Almost the instant this thought crossed Punk’s mind, a subtle spatial fluctuation emerged from behind him.

“Didn’t expect that, did you, brat? Hahahaha!”

Without any warning, an oval-shaped, multicolored light door suddenly opened behind Punk. A charred, withered arm tightly gripping a gleaming dagger stretched out from within.

The High Priest’s body was torn and cracked like a shredded ragdoll, with blood and fragments of flesh continuously falling from his limbs. The spider-like lower half of his body had been completely blown apart, leaving only two isolated appendages twitching sporadically. It seemed that at the last moment before the explosion, the High Priest had used his spider body to block part of the shockwave, saving his life, and then used the force of the explosion to propel himself into the “Anywhere Door.”

Now, emerging from the Anywhere Door, the High Priest was a bloody mess, but he still glared fiercely with his one remaining eye, fixed intently on the location of Punk’s heart.

At this moment, Punk’s golem was still far away. The anti-magic properties imbued in the High Priest’s blade tore through the outermost “Deflection Field,” the poisoned edge gleaming coldly as the dagger closed in, now less than ten centimeters from Punk.

“Ssshh…”

Just as the tip of the blade had penetrated about a millimeter into the “Greater Mage Armor” on Punk’s body, the sharp dagger abruptly halted. The arm holding it trembled violently before slowly drooping. A look of infinite resentment flashed across the High Priest’s twisted face, but the reality was—his final attack… had failed!

Gushing blood mixed with fragments of internal organs dripped from the High Priest’s mouth as he hung in the air. Seven or eight earthen spikes, thicker than steel bars, had pierced up from the ground into his body. Impaled in mid-air, the High Priest completely lost the ability to move, and could only watch with blurred vision as Punk leaped backward.

The moment the High Priest appeared behind him, Punk had thrust the end of his staff into the rocky ground with all his strength, then unhesitatingly activated the spell “Solidify” on the “Emerald Staff”—”Underground Thorns.””

The precisely timed earthen spikes pierced through the enemy just as the High Priest’s dagger was about to strike.

Punk quickly distanced himself from the dying High Priest, only stopping cautiously after reuniting with Golem One. After hastily reinforcing a new “Deflection Field” as quickly as possible, Punk calmly observed the High Priest, who had collapsed to the ground as the earthen spikes vanished, a “Kinetic Burst” slowly materializing in his hand.”A dagger is a mage’s final dignity. You… probably have no other means left… pitiful enemy. You are about to die, whether as a failed mage or a competent priest. But your Goddess Tisha Xia’er cannot aid you, nor can your devout faith grant you redemption. Your belief… from beginning to end… has been utterly meaningless!”

Punk did not attack recklessly, unsure if the High Priest still possessed a mutual destruction tactic. To disrupt the enemy’s psychological defenses, Punk mercilessly mocked all the High Priest’s efforts and faith.

“Heh, young man… You… kill me for gain, I… die by your hand for faith! Everything… cough… ultimately stems from strength alone. Your so-called… meaning… heh… that… is what truly holds… no meaning at all!”

Contrary to expectations, the High Priest did not scream like some fanatics. Instead, he calmly ridiculed Punk’s questioning, gazing at his enemy with disdain. His voice grew fainter until only indistinct murmurs remained, yet Punk heard every word clearly.

Punk tilted his head slightly, pensively observing the High Priest who had stopped breathing. Finally, he nodded faintly and murmured softly to himself:

“Lesson learned. The reasons for killing on the path forward vary, but for the slain, death requires no so-called ‘meaning’—only strength matters!”

“I am one who pursues gain. Strength is the means, never requiring excuses.”

After these muttered words, Punk casually tossed the prepared “Kinetic Burst” at the High Priest’s head. Only after watching the enemy’s cognitive organ shatter did he begin casting divination spells to verify the safety of his surroundings.

The deceased High Priest no longer offered strong resistance to divination spells, so Punk needed only three or four incantations to confirm the death, the soul’s consumption by the River of Fate, and the absence of trap formations on the corpse. Only then did Punk relax slightly.

Though the “Goddess Tisha Xia’er” mentioned by the High Priest remained shrouded in mystery, Punk had largely confirmed she was no ordinary deity. After all, the High Priest’s soul clearly hadn’t entered a God Realm but had ordinarily become nourishment for the River of Fate.

Setting aside his curiosity about the “Goddess Tisha Xia’er” for now, Punk ordered Golem Number One to strip the equipment from the High Priest’s body. Watching the battered golem return carrying three items, Punk unexpectedly rediscovered the thrill of defeating bosses and looting gear from his past life’s online gaming days.

He almost eagerly picked up the most prominent and valuable item—the mage robe.

This Master-level robe had caught Punk’s eye from the very beginning. After creating that explosion earlier, he thought it had been destroyed. Unexpectedly, the High Priest had used his spider-like body to block most of the shockwaves to preserve his own life, leaving this precious robe intact.

“Poor boss, leaving equipment to benefit your enemy. Quite the living Lei Feng, aren’t you?”

Punk mentally teased the deceased High Priest while gently stroking the smooth fabric of the robe.The mage robe was entirely cold black and non-reflective, inscribed with blazing crimson runes. Blood-red radiance flowed slowly within the patterns, making the entire robe both aesthetically pleasing and mysterious. Its special material prevented even a speck of stain from adhering to its surface.

Additionally, perhaps due to having been transferred as an exchange item before, it quite considerately came with the ability to adjust its size. After Punk put it on, he simply used his mental energy to make some adjustments, and the originally oversized robe shrank slightly, eventually achieving a perfect fit.

The complexity of master-level equipment was a tier higher than that of formal-level gear. Moreover, because the inherited memories from his so-called parents contained insufficient knowledge about the master-level, one function of this robe remained unanalyzable. Punk could only decide to experiment with it after returning to the White Tower.

“As my level increases, is knowledge starting to become inadequate?”

Punk felt quite helpless inwardly. He gently massaged his temples with his fingers and ultimately commanded the System to display the analyzable information.

“At least the System’s analytical capabilities are quite reliable. With sufficient knowledge, it can even extrapolate insights from one example…

This haul is quite impressive too. Besides these three items, there’s actually another surprise—though not exactly earth-shattering.”

Punk quietly sensed his own soul. Earlier, the potential stimulation from the Activation Potion had caused interference, affecting his soul’s self-perception. Now that the potion’s effects had faded, Punk discovered with some astonishment that he had unknowingly leveled up!

Feeling the abundant mana and enhanced soul power, Punk was thoroughly satisfied with this gain.

From this moment on, he was an eleventh-level formal mage!

(End of Chapter)