Chapter 464 – The Choice of Awaken

Though suddenly becoming the primary target of concentrated attacks, Punk maintained his calm and unruffled demeanor.

This situation had been anticipated. After all, Kane had been eyeing Sorsend’s wealth for quite some time, and Ovakain’s persistent attempts to bypass Kane to pursue Punk had long been a foregone conclusion. The moment Punk eliminated Sorsend and seized the spoils, he was already prepared to face such peril.

Would Punk fear becoming the focus of enemy fire? Of course not!

Currently, the dangers he faced could be summarized in three aspects.

The foremost was undoubtedly Kane, who was destined to engage in fierce combat—this treacherous knight had likely long contemplated orchestrating such a scenario. Given his difficulty in defeating Punk in direct combat due to his lower professional level, the knight naturally sought to leverage the power of Ovakain and the Demon Lord’s Projected Claw.

Against Kane, this cunning evil-aligned knight, Punk had no choice but to engage in a straightforward battle.

However, when it came to Ovakain and the Demon Lord’s Projected Claw, Punk was far from helpless.

In fact, the moment he saw Ovakain rushing over in haste, a vicious yet effective scheme had already begun taking shape in Punk’s mind—he understood the black dragon’s true nature all too well and could somewhat deduce why Ovakain would risk coming to the Nightmare Church to confront Sorsend. Under such circumstances, if Punk failed to exploit Ovakain’s “saintly” tendencies, the psychological strategies he had learned as an apprentice under Grand Arcanist Vedrasha would have been utterly wasted.

Without needing extensive preparation, Punk spent less than a second compiling a package of information, which he then had magically projected aloud amidst the howling winds:

“Ovakain Acidmaw? Do you still have time to dwell on your so-called, trivial costs? While you have a moment, why not look up at the sky? Gaze upon that Demon Lord’s Projected Claw obscuring the radiance of Mila and Chikasa?”

Amplified by magic, Punk’s voice remained clear and articulate even over the roaring sands of the spatial turbulence. His tone, as always, was cold and matter-of-fact, devoid of any superfluous emotion. Yet, it was precisely this straightforward delivery that sometimes carried more persuasive power than an impassioned recitation.

“Is your vengeance truly just, Ovakain? Look at what your hatred has brought upon the innocent. In the Hoth Mountains, had you not left that troublesome ‘Soul Mark’ in a fit of vengeful rage, would your Dragon Roar Kingdom have been reduced to ashes by the volcano’s wrath? Now you seek to recklessly pursue hatred again, abandoning the poor Huaibien Kingdom to its fate? Is this your benevolence? Or is this your own brand of selfish hypocrisy?”Punk gazed indifferently at the black dragon with blood-red eyes, while Ovakain, whose tears of blood streamed down, returned his gaze with one of furious rage.

On the surface, Ovakain’s emotions appeared entirely unmoved by Punk’s words.

Yet… as Punk’s words inevitably flooded into Ovakain’s mind, each syllable comprehended by his rational brain in less than a ten-thousandth of a second, a flicker of involuntary hesitation soon surfaced in the black dragon’s eyes:

“No, that’s wrong… This is all your brutality and cruelty!” Gnashing his teeth until they creaked, Ovakain roared at Punk with unparalleled fury: “Even if those who do good may receive no reward for their kindness, those who commit evil must pay the price for their wicked deeds! Punk Cyan, you…”

“Ha, then the question arises—in the heart of the King of Dragon Roar Kingdom, deep within the soul of Tiamat’s offspring, which carries greater weight: punishing evil or promoting good?

Now! I—as ‘evil’—stand right before you, but do not forget that the tens of millions of commoners in the Huaibien Kingdom, as ‘good,’ are still trembling behind you! You may indeed abandon those insignificant ants for the sake of revenge, but remember this…”

As he spoke, a cold smirk gradually curled at the corners of Punk’s lips, while opposite him, Ovakain’s footsteps slowly came to a halt.

That icy voice echoed so clearly in the black dragon’s mind that even though Ovakain desperately wished to shut it out, he could not control his deepening understanding of those words.

“…The Demon Sub-Lord’s Projected Claw will not halt for the existence of ‘good’ or ‘evil.’ As a fellow spellcaster, I trust you can calculate the catastrophic devastation its strike would inflict upon this desert. This time, it has gathered even more Abyssal energy. When that palm descends, what fate will befall the impoverished people of the Huaibien Kingdom behind you? Will you truly not consider those innocent lives, Ovakain Acid Throat?”

As the Demon Sub-Lord’s Projected Claw descended heavily toward the earth once more, Punk’s voice grew increasingly somber.

During this time, Kane was still charging forward, but Ovakain’s steps, along with his ferocious expression, had frozen in place!

Punk’s words always struck with piercing accuracy, for everything he said was undeniably true!

No matter how much Ovakain wished to avoid recalling it, he had to admit—the reason Punk had chosen to detonate the Sleeping Dragon Volcano in the Hoth Mountains to kill him was primarily due to that “Soul Mark” he had released in a fit of hatred. Otherwise, after their first encounter, Punk would have undoubtedly fled far away to evade the powerful black dragon, and the tragedy of the Dragon Roar Kingdom would never have occurred.

It could be said that it was Ovakain’s momentary hatred that forced both Punk and himself onto a path of mutual destruction. And now, the same terrifying hatred was poised to repeat itself in this once-peaceful desert.As Punk had said, as a Level 19 Peak Spellcaster with terrifying computational power, Ovakain could easily calculate the destructive force of the Demon Sub-Lord’s Projected Claw. And just as Punk had warned, when the Demon Sub-Lord’s Projected Claw struck for the third time, the fully diffused Abyssal energy would devastate all life in the Huaibien Kingdom. Through mere power prediction calculations alone, Ovakain could envision the tragic scenes in towns without even a single Formal-Level expert.

Pitiful people would develop cysts all over their bodies from Abyssal corruption, all flora and fauna would mutate into chaotic violent monsters, every spring would be polluted into toxins rivaling sulfuric acid. The wretched citizens of Huaibien Kingdom, the newly crowned Queen Aisha, and those merchants struggling to survive – all would perish in agony.

If that moment truly arrived, would they cry out in despair for the help of that black dragon hailed as “Savior”?

Ovakain didn’t know what miserable faces those poor souls would show when facing catastrophe, just as he could never learn how the impoverished of Dragon Roar Kingdom had howled and wept amidst raging flames. Nor could he imagine what voice the innocent Aisha would use to beg for his rescue, just as he’d never dare envision how his loyal young assistant would have devoutly blessed her master’s safe journey while being consumed by fire…

But… Ovakain knew he had promised to become the new Kingdom Protector of Huaibien Kingdom. He also knew…

As a truly “good” being, he could never persuade himself to watch disaster unfold with indifference!

(End of Chapter)