Chapter 446 – Testing and Starting a War

Following the direction Punk pointed, Kane quickly spotted a colossal monster emerging from the lake, its head breaching the water’s surface!

The creature’s “hair” consisted entirely of grotesque tentacles studded with bone spikes. A mass of dark green tendrils nearly enveloped its entire head. Through the writhing tentacles, even with his Master-Level vision, Kane could only catch glimpses of a dozen blood-red eyes clustered together through narrow gaps.

The monster’s form was cumbersome and massive. When it raised a hand from the lake, one could see patches of green algae clinging to skin that still bore faint stitch marks. Its entire physique appeared unnaturally contorted – with every step the behemoth took, its muscular thighs seemed to struggle against the body as if trying to escape.

Though bizarre in appearance, one had to admit that a monster taller than a two-story house emerging silently from the lake was truly awe-inspiring. Particularly unsettling were its wildly thrashing, slimy tentacle-hairs that evoked instinctive revulsion in all living beings.

But awe aside, when Punk and Kane immediately extended their senses and quickly determined this fearsome-yet-feeble creature only possessed power equivalent to a level fifteen warrior, these seasoned Master-Level adventurers felt no fear toward the lake-emerged being.

Even as the seven-meter-tall monster fully waded onto the shore, causing the ground to tremble, Kane displayed no battle-ready solemnity.

In fact, the ever-jesting knight was currently making a disgusted face, his revulsion completely unconcealed as he cursed:

“Bloody hell… What in blazes is this abomination? Even if Sorsend’s a nutjob who keeps pets, does he have to make them this disgusting? Damn, I bloody hate tentacles and slime! My armor and lance are premium gear – it’s such a hassle to clean them after every fight.”

“Best remain cautious. This appears to be a flesh golem. Judging by its patchwork body… I believe Sorsend constructed it using remains of those five deceased Master-Level experts.”

Unlike Kane’s characteristic flippancy, though Punk also didn’t consider the clumsy monster threatening, maintaining vigilance was fundamental to any mage. Even without encountering major dangers so far, as this silent oasis began revealing its horrors, Punk kept watching the approaching creature warily.

Meanwhile, Kane’s wariness was directed more toward Punk himself. Almost simultaneously with the monster’s emergence from the lake, the knight’s eyes had narrowed into subtle slits:”Hey hey hey, I’m talking to you, Cyan. Don’t you have anything to say about the appearance of this ‘stitched abomination’? Though I’ve certainly sensed Sorsend’s arrogance along the way, it doesn’t seem he’s arrogant to the point of madness. Now he’s just throwing away a Master-Level combat asset to die? Can you analyze why Sorsend would do this?”

“You should ask Sorsend about that. I know nothing at all.”

With a flat rejection of Kane’s questioning, Punk began ignoring the knight’s cold glare and continued preparing his spell.

In truth, he understood perfectly well why Sorsend had done this.

Such a stitched creature would normally be quite useful for guarding and serving as a thug, but in this trap-based operation, it was nothing but dead weight.

In Punk’s estimation, after Sorsend summoned the Demon Sub-Lord’s Projection, to prevent himself from being indiscriminately attacked by the chaotic demon, he would inevitably use the most thorough method to conceal his presence. The best means Sorsend could employ to hide himself would be to sever all energy connections to the outside world, including soul links.

This meant he would have to disconnect the mental control over the golem as well. And if a golem completely lost its soul connection with its master, then with just one Master-Level Alchemy Magic spell—”Alchemical Creations Program Override”—one could clearly seize control of the golem.

Therefore, in this kind of battle centered around indiscriminate attack traps, carrying a golem along would be essentially equivalent to supplying the enemy.

Thus, it made perfect sense for Sorsend to use this “tasteless and regrettable” mediocre stitched creature as a sacrificial pawn to test Punk and Kane’s combat capabilities.

Unlike Kane, who remained completely in the dark from start to finish, Punk—armed with intelligence—could always guess Sorsend’s intentions with about eighty to ninety percent accuracy. However, he had no intention of kindly sharing what he knew with Kane. Noticing the persistent knight still trying to fish for information, Punk directly cast “Super Swiftness” on himself and quickly retreated away from the stitched creature:

“Alright, Kane, the battle has begun. If you don’t want your precious armor to get intimately acquainted with those tentacles, I think you should start taking action.”

“Damn Punk… at least those corpses you used to summon the Bird of Filth were torn apart by me, remember?”

Seeing Punk clearly knowing a great deal but stubbornly refusing to speak, a flash of bloodlust momentarily passed through the angry Kane’s eyes.

But he was, after all, a relatively rational knight. He understood that currently he lacked the capital to break with Punk. So after that cold glare vanished in an instant, Kane—nimbly leaping away from his position—quickly restored his trademark radiant smile:

“Fine, fine. A smart person should know what to do and when. This brilliant knight would never let certain ungrateful individuals interfere with important matters. Right now it seems…”No longer dwelling on the fruitless intelligence discussion, Kane—his pupils flashing with crimson light—seemed to channel all his rage toward the charging flesh golem. Before his words even finished, while still mid-air, his golden lance thrust straight at the monster swatting toward him.

“Kekekekeke… Finally, it’s time for this master to showcase his skills! You ugly monstrosity shall be reduced to mincemeat!”

With a terrifying flash of intense light, the lance’s aura instantly expanded mid-air into a spiraling vortex of Battle Aura enveloping the weapon. The ultra-high-speed rotating Battle Aura even formed an incandescent drill tip at the lance’s point. When the flesh golem’s palm struck, this “drill” condensed from ultra-dense Battle Aura effortlessly tore a massive hole straight through the creature’s hand.

“Aha! Dumb oaf, congratulations—now you can peek while covering your eyes!”

Landing lightly with a bloodthirsty grin, Kane licked his lips, his destructive intent now completely unconcealed.

Though typically a rational knight even in life-or-death situations, Kane always fought with caution in genuinely perilous battles. But when facing opponents clearly far weaker than himself, his brutality required no restraint.

Truly, Kane lived up to being an evil-aligned Master-Level powerhouse. For him… even combat itself, including slaughter, was likely nothing more than thrilling “entertainment!”

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(End of Chapter)