Chapter 413 – Following

Since Punk wasn’t ready to engage in battle with Kane here, the “Velocity Kinetic Cone” he unleashed wasn’t enhanced with any metamagic techniques. As the pale purple energy cone shot through a spatial rift toward Kane, the ever-vigilant knight simply dodged nimbly to the side, evading the attack effortlessly.

However, the salted meat in the knight’s hand was grazed by the residual energy of the Velocity Kinetic Cone. Ordinary cured meat was naturally fragile, and after being swept by the kinetic torrent, the entire piece instantly disintegrated into flying crumbs.

“Tsk tsk, wasting food is really not good. If you didn’t like it, you could’ve just said so. It seems your temper is just too foul.”

Even after being attacked by Punk, Kane continued spouting nonsense. But after dodging the spell, the knight—who had been provoking from the start—didn’t seem angered. After all, both Kane and Punk had a fairly clear understanding of each other’s temperaments, and Punk’s actions didn’t really surprise Kane.

That said, the knight, who had been feigning smiles and brushing things off, now realized that casually glossing over the situation was no longer possible.

Seeing that Punk showed no signs of taking the bait, Kane put on an exaggerated sigh. Then, the insincere knight leaned against a broken wall with an affected look of resignation and spread his hands:

“My old friend, you have to understand—greed is human nature. Besides, resources are so scarce these days. If you’re not greedy, you won’t get anything. For a ‘fine youth’ like me striving toward the Legendary rank, isn’t greed an essential quality everyone needs?”

At this point, the careless smile on Kane’s face gradually faded, replaced by a touch of seriousness:

“But… to be honest, Punk, I do have some history with this annoying Cult. Part of my reason for entering the Raging Wave Sand Sea is to investigate this Church. Out of goodwill—and other purposes I can’t specify—I must warn you, Punk, this Cult is anything but simple. According to my intel, before you and I arrived, at least three fairly powerful Master-Level experts entered this desert for various reasons. Yet… without exception, none of them ever came out. To this day, there’s been no trace of them. Something like that can’t be ignored, don’t you think?”

“Explain clearly. What do you mean, Kane?”

Hearing the tidbit of intelligence Kane revealed, Punk halted his departing steps.

It had to be admitted—in a way, Punk had grown more wary of this vast desert now that it was revealing its eerie side. Given the circumstances, regardless of what he decided next, he was at least willing to listen to whatever information Kane was sharing now.

Unfortunately, Kane didn’t seem inclined to give away intelligence for free. After divulging that valuable snippet, the unreliable knight immediately reverted to his usual frivolous, unserious self:”Oh dear, oh dear. After all that talk, what I really mean is I’d like to team up with you for a bit. This desert is so dangerous—having a ‘partner’ to help collect your corpse is rather important, don’t you think? Besides, it’s been over five hundred years since we last met. What a wonderful opportunity to run into an old acquaintance in this distant, foreign land. I’d love to catch up properly with you, you old rascal.”

As he spoke, Kane casually fell into step beside Punk, making it clear this knight—who knew what he was thinking—had firmly decided to stick close to the mage.

Observing Kane’s golden armor, still gleaming brilliantly even in the sunset, Punk pondered briefly before revealing a cold, sinister smile:

“Cooperation? Sure. Coincidentally, I’ve also heard rumors about the strangeness of this desert. I came here to investigate what mysterious secrets it might hold. Since we both have our sights set on the same bizarre Cult, why not embark on a ‘grand’ adventure together?”

After delivering these words with an utterly expressionless face, Punk turned and strode out of the ruins. There was no helping it—Punk knew he was terrible at acting. Even when trying to deceive someone, the best he could manage was a frozen, unreadable mask. As for his claims about “hearing rumors” or “targeting the Cult,” they were nothing but worthless lies. Their only purpose was to muddy the waters, though he knew trying to fool Kane with hastily concocted stories was rather unrealistic.

Truth be told, at this moment, Kane clearly intended to use Punk as a pawn. But wasn’t Punk equally keen to use Kane as one? Judging by his current progress in the pursuit, catching up to Ovakain within a week would be challenging. In three or four days, that terrifying spellcaster would regain his magical abilities. By then, the Black Dragon would recover at least twenty percent of its peak power. For a being like Ovakain, who stood at the threshold of the Legendary realm, even twenty percent was formidable—not to mention the Black Dragon possessed a piece of Legendary Equipment with unknown capabilities…

Based on Punk’s calculations, dealing with Ovakain at that stage would be anything but easy. The dragon’s breath, infamous as “Acid Throat,” filled Punk with profound dread.

However… if some clueless, gullible warrior could be tricked into facing Ovakain’s breath for him, that would be perfect. Punk was certain that when Kane encountered a Black Dragon, he’d never suspect it was an ally of the mysterious Cult. After all, chromatic dragons were universally recognized as embodiments of evil. The combination of a Cult and a wicked dragon would inevitably lead everyone into predictable assumptions.

Moreover, judging by the Abyssal energy emanating from the Sub-Lord and the exquisite craftsmanship of the statues, the Cult in this desert was not to be underestimated. Cooperating with Kane aligned with Punk’s interests.

Of course, there was one other crucial reason Punk decided to travel with this walking time bomb named Kane…

It was simply because… Kane was stubbornly clinging to him and couldn’t be shaken off.Kane, this guy, was after all a level seventeen Master-Level Knight. It had to be admitted that as a “Knight” among the combat professions, his regular movement speed was quite fast. Just as Punk couldn’t shake Kane off if Kane wanted to follow him, when Kane stuck closely behind Punk, Punk had no good solution either. So unless they started fighting on the spot, even Punk could only ignore this incessantly chattering tagalong.

(End of Chapter)