Chapter 44 – Defeat of the Mainaixi

Guided by Entrails Divination, Punk arrived beside a dilapidated wooden house that had been half-crushed by a giant boulder. This was the eastern part of the city, which remained relatively quiet since the main battlefield was to the south. Only a handful of refugees sat weeping against broken walls nearby.

Punk stood on a cracked granite slab, surrounded by patches of dried blood on the ground. He was now quite close to where two Formal-Level powerhouses were fighting. Violent tremors sent small stones skittering and bouncing across the ground.

The divination indicated this was the most likely place to “encounter” an escape opportunity. Though Punk didn’t understand why escaping—something not particularly difficult—required waiting for a specific chance, he still chose to trust Entrails Divination. Despite the spell’s pervasive eerie and terrifying aura, he had to admit it was the most effective divination spell he had mastered, even though it was merely an Apprentice Rank spell!

“Seems like something unexpected is about to happen,” Punk murmured, shaking his head slightly to dispel the strange sensation left by casting Entrails Divination. As his mana circulated, the unpleasant feeling of his brain being wrapped in slimy tentacles gradually faded. He took a deep breath, lifted his head slightly, and watched the battle between the two Formal-Level experts in the sky.

Violent shockwaves tore through and shattered the clouds. Even with Punk’s reaction speed, he could only see red and green streaks of light colliding and separating instantly in mid-air. As the battle intensified, terrifying energy tides affected large urban areas. Emerald corrosive energy effortlessly turned sturdy brick houses into glowing mist with sizzling sounds.

Punk leaped back two steps, carefully replenishing his Mage Armor. Even the residual energy from Formal-Level attacks was beyond what he could currently withstand, requiring extreme caution.

The fires near the city walls burned increasingly fierce. Since most buildings in Konola City were wooden structures and various magical flames spread rapidly, large sections of houses were easily set ablaze. Several densely built streets had transformed into fire dragons, with billowing black smoke momentarily obscuring the radiance of Mila and Chikasa.

“The city is breached! The city is breached!”

A magically amplified voice cut through the battle cries from the southern gate. Punk looked over with considerable displeasure.

“Is this the enemy disrupting morale?… No! It’s not—the gate has truly been breached!”

Punk’s pupils slightly contracted. The incompetence of the City Defense Army still exceeded his expectations. Not even half the morning had passed, yet the massive Konola City had already fallen. In that case… should he take advantage of the chaos to escape now, or… Just as Punk hesitated…

BOOM!!!A deafening roar erupted nearby as a humanoid figure completely encased in vines plummeted from the sky like a meteor. The entire eastern district transformed into a massive crater, thick dust forming a giant mushroom cloud. Vast stretches of land cracked and shattered, with every object in the area instantly breaking apart and scattering through the air.

“Damn it!”

Punk, who had been flung into the air along with several large rock fragments, paled dramatically. After casting the Lightness Technique, he nimbly leaped between tumbling debris mid-air. With ethereal energy glowing faintly white beneath his feet, he gracefully dodged flying debris before landing back on the ground. His first priority was to distance himself from the fallen “humanoid object” because… he could clearly sense a soul energy fluctuation specially recorded by the System. Without a doubt, that vine-entangled “person” was Mainaixi!

“This is truly disastrous!”

Though Punk’s face remained expressionless, inwardly he was gnashing his teeth. If Mainaixi had “fallen” like this, who would stop Lunka?

“Wait! Lunka!” Punk urgently scanned the surroundings for any sign of Lunka. Now he could only hope that Lunka wasn’t still in high spirits, but rather severely wounded or even “mutually destroyed.” Otherwise… he couldn’t imagine how to escape alive while being pursued by a Formal-Level powerhouse.

Fortunately, the situation hadn’t reached the worst-case scenario. Punk spotted Lunka’s figure on the already captured city wall. It appeared that although Lunka had defeated Mainaixi, he had paid a heavy price. With Punk’s sharp vision, he could clearly see that one of Lunka’s arms was missing, and his left leg was severely swollen. Something seemed to be slowly wriggling within his leg, likely a curse from Mainaixi. With such injuries, Lunka couldn’t possibly continue to “lead the charge.”

However, Punk’s brow remained furrowed. The situation was still extremely tricky. With Lunka in command, the soldiers and professionals entering the city couldn’t plunder freely without supervision like they would without a commander. They would have to strictly follow orders, meaning the enemy’s cleanup operation would proceed with “order”—a significant disadvantage for Punk’s “evacuation” plan.

Moreover… Punk didn’t need to think hard to guess what orders the enemy would issue. Strictly speaking, the entire defeated Konola City and all its “living beings” were now Prince William’s “spoils of war.” Combined with their determination to capture Her Highness the Princess… blockading the city or even… massacring the populace would be “expected” choices.

Sure enough, less than ten seconds after Lunka took command on the city wall, a lavishly dressed enemy soldier climbed onto a prominent watchtower. Instead of following the convention of planting a gold-edged flag to signify occupation, he…The soldier raised a magnificent sword high and forcefully drove it diagonally into a crevice of the city wall. All the City Defense Army soldiers and commoners of Konola City watching the ramparts widened their eyes in terror, for in the Faerûn Plane, such an action by occupying forces held only one meaning—massacre!

In Faerûn, a world where “humanitarianism” held no sway, massacres often served as a means for rulers to display their “majesty.” Now, whether to prevent the princess from escaping or to vent his wounded fury, Lunka had issued this brutal order! He intended to slaughter all nearly two hundred thousand “rioters” in Konola City!

With Lunka overseeing the command, it was easy to imagine these “elite” soldiers of Prince William transforming into the most ruthless and efficient killing machines. Punk was certain that at least one squad of professionals now guarded all key city gates and passages. Attempting to force his way through alone would undoubtedly lead to a gruesome death with no place for burial!

“Sigh! Mr. Mainaixi, I hope you have some way to help!”

Though Punk desperately wished to stay far away from the messy affairs of Mainaixi and Her Highness the Princess, circumstances left him no choice. He still had to lend Mainaixi a hand. Considering the princess’s absence from start to finish and the hints from “divination,” Punk was certain Mainaixi had an escape plan in reserve. Without a lifebuoy of his own, Punk couldn’t yet abandon Mainaixi’s “rickety raft.” Moreover… he could sense that Mainaixi still clung to a flicker of life, though that spark was as precarious as a candle flame in the wind, wavering between existence and extinction.

(End of Chapter)