Chapter 403 – The Great War Ends

“Punk, you bastard, you’re really not playing fair. Battles require coordination, you know, coordination! Don’t just go causing massive destruction all the time. It’s not good to smash all the flowers and plants. With your fighting style, you’ll never find teammates. You’re exactly the kind of violent mage destined to die alone.”

As the dust settled, Kane’s voice became clearer. Just as Punk had expected, this tenacious knight had indeed survived. At this moment, he was emerging from a large mass of gradually dissipating black dragon-colored gelatinous substance. Even now, the talkative knight showed no intention of keeping his mouth shut.

Punk calmly ignored Kane’s useless chatter, his gaze fixed entirely on the large gelatinous mass in the crater.

“Is this… the corpse left behind after the Ancestral Spirit’s death?”

Even with the knowledge from his cheap parents and the memories of Grand Arcanist Vedrasha, Punk wasn’t omniscient. Additionally, shamans were always rare and mysterious, so he had never seen what happened to a tribe’s Ancestral Spirit after death.

It now appeared that the so-called Ancestral Spirit was a consciousness composite composed of half-energy and half-soul. Its corpse form manifested as a gelatinous semi-energy substance, serving as evidence. As the Ancestral Spirit perished, its corpse was slowly reverting to stable ether energy. It was estimated that within a few minutes, this mound-sized Ancestral Spirit corpse would completely disappear.

This discovery somewhat interested Punk, though he didn’t yet know whether all Ancestral Spirits were like this, or if only this particular one had mutated into such a peculiar state after combining with Abyssal energy.

However… for now, the matter of the Ancestral Spirit had to be set aside. After all, Kane was still alive and well, and the atmosphere between him and Punk was gradually growing tense. If things went badly… in the next second, another life-or-death battle could suddenly erupt.

When Punk saw Kane arrogantly spouting nonsense while “pulling” his lance and half his body out of the Ancestral Spirit’s corpse, he roughly guessed how Kane had avoided the attack.

To be honest, this method wasn’t particularly incredible. If Punk’s speculation was correct, after Kane noticed Punk’s “Kinetic Twisting Spiral” chasing him, he must have unhesitatingly unleashed some extremely penetrating Combat Skill. Relying on this insanely powerful armor-piercing Combat Skill, Kane forcibly drilled a hole through the Ancestral Spirit’s fist and burrowed into its body.

What followed was logical. Using the Ancestral Spirit’s body as a shield, Kane withstood Punk’s spell and the subsequent energy explosion without suffering much damage. The unfortunate Ancestral Spirit died instantly under the dual attacks of Kane burrowing into its body and being struck by Punk’s spell, while Kane—who should have been the primary target—only expended about half of his Battle Aura to escape unscathed.

“Lucky bastard. Doesn’t have much equipment, but his trump cards seem quite impressive.”

After giving Kane a cold glance and carefully considering the situation, Punk extinguished the nearly formed spell in his hand.Kane was no mere pushover. Though this jovial knight appeared completely unguarded, the way his fingers tightened around his lance made it clear he was treating Punk with utmost caution.

Moreover, Punk could sense that this “old friend” before him possessed strength no less than his own. If nothing else, that mysterious Combat Skill which pierced through the ancestral spirit was enough to put Punk on high alert.

One must understand that while ancestral spirits might resemble soft gelatinous masses, these guardians formed from generations of tribal souls possessed terrifying defensive capabilities. Rumor had it even a Master-Level “Shield-Armored Tortoise” couldn’t match an ancestral spirit’s defensive power.

Yet Kane had managed to drill a hole through the superbly defended ancestral spirit in less than a second. Such penetrative power demanded Punk’s serious attention. Though the destructive force of this Combat Skill seemed somewhat lacking, in terms of pure armor-piercing capability, Punk believed even Ovakain’s Dragon Breath couldn’t compare to Kane’s mysterious technique. This fearsome penetrating power meant that Punk’s strongest defensive measure—”Walkerin’s Modified Ruby Shield”—would likely be pierced if it directly confronted Kane’s mysterious Combat Skill. Facing such an attack, Punk could only dodge; taking it head-on would mean either death or severe injury.

Considering Kane’s current state: though his explosive move had consumed about two-thirds of his Battle Aura, Punk had no doubt this seemingly unreliable knight could unleash that spirit-piercing technique again at a critical moment. In terms of trump cards, Punk felt Kane’s combat effectiveness hadn’t diminished much.

In contrast, Punk himself had expended considerable energy through three consecutive applications of metamagic techniques, leaving him far from peak condition. If they truly came to blows… the outcome would likely be decided by a 30-70 margin, and if Kane focused on escaping, Punk might not even be able to catch him.

After rational consideration, Punk ultimately decided against immediate confrontation.

When all was said and done, the only known valuable item Kane possessed was that lance—something Punk could never use anyway. Risking his life for a mediocre Master-Level item simply wasn’t worth it, especially when Punk still had that troublesome enemy—Ovakain—left unresolved. Adding another complication would be truly problematic.

Seeing Punk silently dispel the spell gathering in his hand, Kane visibly relaxed. Currently, Kane was even more concerned about a potential fight than Punk was—with only one-third of his Battle Aura remaining while Punk’s mana remained nearly intact, his only option in a real battle would be to flee. After all… the pressure exerted by a Master-Level Caster skilled in two metamagic techniques was simply overwhelming.

Thus, after their tense standoff, both Kane and Punk abandoned any thought of fighting.”To have fought side by side in such a thrilling battle right from the start—this truly serves as proof of our friendship. Speaking of which, over five hundred years have passed in the blink of an eye. Whenever I recall the scene of our first meeting, I’m still deeply moved by it. Punk, I must say, running into a childhood friend in this lifeless desert is just too~ cool.”

The atmosphere had barely relaxed when Kane’s expression once again shifted back to the cheerful grin of the boy next door. It must be said, when it came to acting skills, Kane was far superior to Punk. Just looking at the knight’s appearance now, no one would likely connect him to the sinister, maniacally laughing psychopath who had just been ruthlessly dispatching enemies moments earlier.

However… Kane’s performance held no significance in front of Punk.

Having just barely finished an inexplicably intense battle, Punk was eagerly scavenging the scattered loot from the Minotaur Shaman’s remains. He had no time to pay attention to Kane’s nonsensical ramblings.

(End of Chapter)