Chapter 38 – Battle of the Dark Night (Part One)

A slow, cold wind swept across the wasteland under the night sky. In the silent darkness, Punk’s eyes beneath the shadow of his robe hood seemed to emit a tangible azure glow. His cyan mage robe shimmered quietly with flowing magical runes, while at his feet lay a red gemstone staff head that was beginning to dim. Moonlight cast a silhouette across his pale, cold-emitting face!

Not far away, Kane had also come to a halt. Golden battle aura coiled around every joint of his armor, his sharp lance poised like an unsheathed sword ready to strike.

Only Pute appeared petrified, standing pale and trembling behind Punk’s left side.

Just moments earlier, the System’s keen perception had detected an abnormal fluctuation in the air. Punk immediately stopped, but even with his Minor Deflection Field activated, he still had to sacrifice his precious Apprentice-Level staff to block a full-force strike from the Stalker. The blades of Stalkers were clearly coated with potent magical toxins – in the perilous Faerûn Plane, these weren’t like the slow-acting poisons from Earth’s martial arts novels that took days to activate. Mainstream magical toxins universally pursued instant lethality, causing immediate death upon contact. Had his skin been breached, the consequences would have been unthinkable!

“A Stalker. No! Possibly multiple Stalkers.”

Punk’s expression grew unprecedentedly grave. This night-shrouded environment was practically tailor-made for shadow-energy-wielding Stalkers. Nothing suited their combat style better than these dark, deep surroundings… Yet Punk, having just survived an assassination attempt, harbored one particularly puzzling doubt…

“How did you know our retreat route?”

This was indeed Punk’s confusion. Judging by the Stalker’s strike, she had been lying in ambush here for quite some time. But how could she have known they would retreat through this path?

“Among 28 suitable retreat routes, with seven teams of assassins deployed, the probability of successful ambush exceeds twenty-five percent.”

An ethereal, eerie voice echoed from all directions throughout the space. Without magical assistance, even Punk’s System analysis couldn’t pinpoint the enemy’s location. But now, under the cold gaze of a Stalker enemy, casting spells that required nearly two seconds of incantation due to his lack of proficiency would be decidedly unwise.

“It appears the enemy is conducting ambushes through probability… though unfortunately, I happened to be the one who got caught!”

Puck fumed inwardly. Why did such troubles always find him? He really shouldn’t have participated in this night raid operation.

The hidden enemy continued rambling uselessly on their own.

“You mages always have your peculiar tricks. By all reasoning, my strike shouldn’t have missed!”

“It seems you’re quite confident in yourself.”A hint of mockery laced Punk’s tone. This meaningless conversation was likely coming to an end. The reason both sides had been talking incessantly was merely to distract the enemy, hoping they’d reveal some weakness. But by now, both Punk and that unknown Stalker should have realized their opponent wasn’t someone who could be disturbed by such petty tricks. What awaited them next was a life-or-death battle with no room for negotiation or compromise!

“Prepare yourselves, mage and warrior. I won’t miss again”…………

As this final threat dissipated with the wind, the atmosphere of the entire night suddenly grew heavy. Both Punk and Kane stood motionless in place, nerves taut and ready to respond to the venom-coated dagger that might emerge from the darkness at any moment!

Time passed minute by minute. Unconsciously, Punk and Kane had been standing off against each other in the cold dark night for nearly ten minutes, yet the Stalker showed no signs of launching an attack.

Punk’s expression was frighteningly grim, while the carefree, mischievous grin had long vanished from Kane’s face. As time dragged on, the situation grew increasingly unfavorable. The enemy appeared experienced and immensely patient, having revealed not the slightest opening after all this time. Punk didn’t know if the enemy had means to alert the “main force” back at the camp, but… once enemy reinforcements arrived, Punk and Kane would be undoubtedly doomed. Moreover, judging by the power of the Stalker’s earlier attack, the opponent was at least an advanced Apprentice-Level expert of the eighth rank. They already possessed substantial shadow energy, and being in the night environment could further reduce their energy consumption to some extent. Delaying like this was truly disadvantageous for both Punk and Kane.

While maintaining vigilant watch over their surroundings and carefully considering their options, Punk decided to take the initiative. Remaining passive like this was no solution at all!

An Apprentice-Level Summoning Magic spell was cast by Punk within a single second. “Smokescreen Cloud” – large masses of colorful smoke were summoned into reality by Punk. In less than three seconds, the thick, colorful smoke had covered an area half the size of a basketball court. Punk and Kane were completely enveloped within it, their figures no longer visible from outside.

Since they couldn’t find the enemy, they might as well shroud themselves in darkness too.

But this alone was far from sufficient. Although the smoke was thick enough to conceal anything within it, Punk’s magical fluctuations could still be detected by “Shadow Sense,” a shadow skill commonly used by Stalkers. While an Apprentice-Level Stalker’s Shadow Sense might be somewhat blurry, even a vague perception would be enough to locate Punk as the source of magical energy.

To confuse the Stalker’s shadow skills, Punk swiftly cast another new Apprentice-Level Summoning Magic spell – Mana Aberrations. As faint, almost imperceptible hoarse incantations rasped through the colorful smoke, several palm-sized spheres emerged from the arcane trajectories of his spellcasting gestures. These small spheres were pale blue all over, with six short legs growing beneath them. They floated in the air, swirling around Punk while radiating cheerful emotions. The round energy spheres looked adorably cute.But Punk didn’t summon these orbs to look cute. Flickering streaks of white lightning occasionally danced across their surfaces, while the intense energy fluctuations they faintly emitted served as a warning that these “Mana Aberrations” were far from as harmless as they appeared!

Punk commanded the Mana Aberrations to scatter throughout the smoke, while he himself swiftly vacated his original position. Infused with magical energy and finely tuned by the System, these aberrations gained the ability to mimic Punk’s mana fluctuations. Though crude, this imitation was sufficient to deceive an assassin unskilled in perception!

These aberrations would be sporadically distributed throughout the thick smoke, making it difficult for the Stalker to pinpoint Punk’s location. If this fragile, melee-oriented Stalker dared approach any of these aberrations, Punk could detonate them remotely to give her a nasty surprise!

As long as Punk’s luck wasn’t abysmal and the Stalker didn’t immediately guess his position, he would remain relatively safe. He doubted this enemy would have the courage to charge into a mage’s carefully laid mist for a direct assault! Moreover, the ambush site where Punk and Kane were attacked wasn’t far from Konola City. Even if he had to patiently manipulate this colorful “auspicious cloud” while inching forward, Punk felt confident he could retreat to Konola City before any reinforcements arrived!

As for Kane… Punk couldn’t be bothered with whether he lived or died. Besides, though the man seemed unreliable on the surface, he undoubtedly possessed numerous life-preserving techniques. Within the mist, Punk clearly sensed Kane’s Battle Aura fluctuations rapidly fading away.

“As expected, Kane also used some method to conceal himself. Now it’s this Stalker’s turn to stare helplessly at this mist.”

Punk calmly thought.

(End of Chapter)