Chapter 37 – Killing Intent in the Dark Night

“Honestly… maybe we should retreat. No point risking our lives. Even if that patrol team is incompetent, they still have five professionals. Neither of us are assassins – if they make any noise and the alarm sounds…” Kane spread his hands toward Punk, “I’m not confident about being a good mouse, but I’m sure they’d make excellent cats.” Kane finally sighed in resignation after observing the meticulously patrolled camp, finding no flaws. The enemies were clearly battle-hardened elites – though the patrol numbers were small, they formed a perfect dense alert network. Punk’s team now hid behind a bush, feeling completely helpless like a mouse trying to bite a turtle with nowhere to start.

“Wait patiently. Among the other seven teams, there’s bound to be some fool who can’t hold back!” Punk had already abandoned the infiltration plan. It was nearly impossible for a mage to sneak in and set fires under the watch of an Apprentice-Level professional and four Apprentice Rank professionals. Now Punk was waiting for the chaos other teams would create – that was their only chance!

“Come on man, those guys aren’t fools either. Why would they stick their necks out?” Kane was already bored enough to draw circles in the ground with his armored finger, beginning to lose hope for this operation.

“BOOM!!!” Almost as soon as Kane finished speaking, a massive explosion echoed followed by faint flames burning near the enemy grain storage. Under the flickering shadows, the entire camp became like a pond struck by a stone – the original peace and tranquility instantly replaced by uproar and commotion. Urgent alarm bells rang through the camp, their sharp warnings tearing through the night sky like some animal’s miserable howl. All soldiers and professionals scrambled toward the rising flames.

“Holy shit! There really are suicidal fools making moves,” Kane stared dumbfounded at the distant flames as he grabbed his Lance from beside him. Subtle threads of Battle Aura began coiling around his armor and lance like snakes.

The moment Punk saw the flames, his pupils contracted sharply. The Minor Deflection Field activated instantly while Punk layered multiple elemental resistance defensive fields over himself.

“Do you think there are any fools among Konola City’s Apprentice-Level professionals?” Punk said to Kane in a gloomy, icy tone.

“There sure are~” Kane laughed with somewhat hysterical delight while subtly tilting his head toward Pute’s direction.

“…………!”

“Alright alright, don’t make that dead face~ One fool at most, otherwise I’d start questioning my life~” Though Kane still wore his usual cynical smile, the fluctuations of Battle Aura around him were no longer concealed.”Since Lunka has set up an iron-clad defense, and there won’t be any ‘good samaritans’ among the professionals willing to sacrifice themselves for the greater good… then… who do you think caused this blazing chaos?” Punk resumed his expressionless calm demeanor, gently stroking the ruby head of his staff before posing the question almost as if talking to himself.

“I’ve decided we can start making our escape early!” After saying this with utmost seriousness, Kane leaped out from the bushes, nimbly rolled on the ground, and dashed into the night. At the same moment, Punk activated the Lightness Technique and “flew” at extreme speed alongside Kane toward their pre-planned retreat route.

“Hey! Heyyy~~” Pute stood nearby utterly bewildered, still processing the initial joy of discovering the firelight. He had been imagining “charging into the enemy camp with his seniors, fighting through seven advances and seven retreats, then triumphing as heroes bathed in sunlight.” But reality showed both seniors spouting incomprehensible gibberish before turning tail and running, completely lacking the heroic demeanor described in knightly tales. Watching their figures rapidly disappearing into the distance, Pute instinctively gave chase with all his might, his heart sinking with the realization that his heroic dreams had completely shattered…

Punk and Kane had no time to bother with deadweight like Pute. The only explanation for chaos appearing in the enemy’s tightly guarded camp was that they had created it themselves. Thinking this, Punk felt the urge to swear aloud. He had assumed the enemy trying to wear down Konola City through material disparity would deploy full defenses around the grain depot. Finding weak points would then create opportunities to complete their mission – after all, as Punk reasoned, enemy patrols mainly consisted of ordinary people. Those proud professionals would never stoop to such “low-level” duties as patrols, making lax defenses almost inevitable. But Punk never anticipated Fearun’s elite troops would maintain such strict discipline, nor that Lunka never intended to fight a prolonged war from the start. They actually created chaos themselves, setting a “grain-depot-approaching” fire to lure numerous professionals into attacking. Now all the less-rational professional squads were certainly advancing toward the grain depot, where layers of ambushes undoubtedly awaited, possibly even including expensive large-scale magic arrays. If Lunka managed to capture all the professionals converging there – nearly twenty Apprentice-Level professionals, equivalent to half of Konola City’s military strength!

“Still too inexperienced~” Punk silently chided himself for inadequate planning while reminding himself to remember this lesson.

“Those guys are so screwed~ If we’d scattered, there’s no way Lunka, a mere warrior, could have tracked us down. Now~ hehe, the big fish are biting on their own~” Kane remained carefree as ever, managing to comment while maintaining their rapid pace, though this speed – only slightly faster than Earth sports cars – hardly taxed his stamina.”But this way their granary is probably destroyed too. Those guys definitely have the ability to set a fire before they die,” Punk’s words came noticeably faster under the resistance-reducing effect of the Swiftness Spell.

Scenery under the night sky flashed past Punk’s vision in a blur, the lingering shadows of trees resembling hidden monsters in the darkness, silently roaring with bared fangs and brandished claws within the profound shadows…

Suddenly, Punk’s rapidly advancing figure jerked to an abrupt halt, his sudden stop kicking up a cloud of fine dust from the soft soil! In the darkness illuminated by the moon Karl, Punk’s azure-glowing eyes snapped sharply to the left, his staff instantly and decisively parrying across his chest!

“Clang!!!” A clear, vibrating chime rang out before Punk. As the fire-red, ruby-encrusted tip of his staff spun down to the dusty ground like a fallen sparrow from a branch, a dagger gleaming with sinister green light—as if capable of tearing through the entire night with a single strike—flashed past the tip of Punk’s nose. The fleeting green streak resembled a fine silken thread in the darkness: sharp and chilling!

(End of Chapter)