Chapter 54 – Border Encounter Battle
Chapter 54 – Border Encounter Battle
They were now very close to the border of the Dillon Kingdom. After days of relentless travel, Punk and the others had entered the transitional zone between the Lush Forest and the “Old Nike” Woodland, where the surrounding vegetation and trees grew increasingly dense!
It was around twenty-six hours at night, approaching midnight. Though darkness enveloped the night sky, and an unknown time ago, a patch of clouds had obscured the bright radiance of the Indigo Moon—Karl and the Windy Moon—Thor, only the Cybernetic Moon—the Eye of Dolash remained hanging in the sky, casting an eerie and peculiar glow. To avoid being caught by the enemy as much as possible, Punk decided to use magic to assist his full-speed advance. The two warriors took turns carrying Her Highness the Princess, erupting with Battle Aura as they followed behind. Even though he and the two warriors were exhausted from the day’s battles, and even though Princess Nasya was still in a daze over Mainaixi’s death… there was simply no time left!
The night was like the deepest lake, a pitch-black expanse. The overcast sky hid any trace of stars. As they dashed through the deathly silent forest, the tree branches resembled menacing claws, the oppressive dark night merging with the horizon. Scattered fluorescent plants glowed faintly, while a few tiny fireflies flickered with dim, yellowish light, as feeble and insignificant as the last sighs of a dying old man. At times, this darkness seemed like a hazy veil, easy to break through and merge into, yet one would startlingly realize it was not as simple as imagined.
Amidst this profound silence, where not even the chirping of insects could be heard, a sharp, murderous intent descended—sudden as a forest fire ignited by spring thunder!
“Zzzzz—ssss!”
Punk, who had been sprinting at top speed, came to an abrupt halt. At the same moment, a large circle of deep-red sparks erupted at his feet, each spark infused with a massive amount of compressed fire element, boasting a terrifying high temperature of over a thousand degrees. This was one of the few Apprentice-Level evocation spells Punk had mastered—the Spark Ring!
Though each spark was slender and tiny, their sheer numbers formed a dense ring of fire within a one-meter radius, resembling the burst of fireworks.
In less than a second, the densely packed superheated sparks swept through the air around Punk. With two piercing screams, two masked figures in black tight-fitting clothes materialized out of thin air. These two unfortunate individuals had already been scorched over most of their bodies by the sparks, collapsing onto the charred grass, dead beyond any chance of struggle!
Yet, instead of any relief, Punk’s expression grew even more grave! These two enemies were merely Apprentice Rank Stalkers, lacking any powerful equipment. Their ambush method was clumsy and foolish—attempting to assassinate an Apprentice-Level mage was nothing short of a dream. It seemed as if their commander had sent them merely to serve as easy targets for Punk!
But this was clearly impossible!Punk quickly turned to look at the two soldiers behind him. One of them had Princess Nasya on his back to move faster, and the exhausted, sleeping princess had just been startled awake by the tremendous noise Punk made. Rubbing her swollen, red eyes, she gazed bewildered into the deep darkness, completely unaware of what was happening!
The two soldiers immediately realized that when facing a Stalker hidden in the shadows, the powerful mage—Punk—was far more capable of protecting the princess than they were.
“Idiots, can’t you even run in a zigzag?!”
Seeing the two soldiers recklessly charging straight toward him, Punk truly understood what it meant to have “useless teammates.”
Besides feeling furious, he was also utterly perplexed. He couldn’t fathom why these two “good-for-nothings,” who usually seemed a bit dull but reasonably intelligent, had now lost all their wits and become dumber than a foolish pig.
What Punk didn’t know was that this was the fundamental difference between “soldiers” and “mercenaries,” even though both were professionals. Soldiers, trained to follow orders rigidly in all matters, had developed a mindset of “obey without thinking” under Fearun’s military doctrine of “absolute obedience.” While this “good habit” ensured effective command and control in large-scale military operations, their ability to adapt to unexpected situations was painfully lacking.
And now… the day had come for them to pay the price for their dismal adaptability…
A deep green Dagger abruptly materialized in the air beside the princess. Its cold, gleaming blade shot toward her fair neck with a sharp whistling sound. Yet, even if the charging soldier noticed this lethal threat leaping out of the darkness, his rapid Charge would make it impossible to evade…
As we all know, when two objects move toward each other, their closing speed equals the sum of their individual speeds. The charging soldier and the sudden Dagger were in precisely such a scenario. The soldier, carrying the princess, was accelerating, while the Dagger thrust toward her was also speeding up. Their combined acceleration made the Dagger’s strike several times more dangerous and deadly.
Even more terrifying was that the soldier, using both hands to support the princess, had his sword still sheathed at his waist! He had no means to block the Dagger’s thrust…
It seemed that in an instant, the poisoned bone-carving Dagger would pierce the princess’s beautiful throat. Punk, having been delayed by two cannon-fodder Stalkers, had no time to cast a spell for rescue. At this moment, it appeared everyone could only watch helplessly as the “lethal” Dagger successfully assassinated Princess Nasya, who was still in a daze.
“I’ve genuinely done my utmost. The Eye of Judgment shouldn’t count this as a breach of contract, right?”
Puck nonchalantly touched the Brass Ring on his left hand, already giving up hope for the princess’s survival.
But just because Punk didn’t care about the princess’s life or death didn’t mean no one was willing to sacrifice for her!”I… will never let you succeed”!!
Suddenly, a furious roar squeezed through the warrior’s clenched teeth. The rapidly charging soldier let out a maddened howl, knowing he no longer had time to raise his arm for defense. Thus, this truly “loyal and brave” warrior resolutely erupted Battle Aura around his neck, violently twisting his head at an unnatural angle toward the deadly blade now mere inches away!
Sshhk
A brief, clean sound momentarily pierced the rustling of leaves in the night air, then vanished as quickly as it came…
The Dagger plunged deep into the warrior’s contorted face, piercing completely through the skull until a faint glimmer of cold green light emerged from the back of his head. The warrior trembled violently, his mouth opening as if trying to speak, but ultimately no sound escaped his lips…
With an equally chilling and cruel drawing sound—almost no friction audible between blade and bone—the dark green Dagger was swiftly withdrawn from the warrior’s cranium, splattering thick blood that had been tinged pale green by potent venom…
The warrior’s corpse gently collapsed onto the ground. The black night once again extinguished the blazing Battle Aura, the previously fierce Charge now vanished without trace. Only the little princess, carried by momentum to Punk’s side, remained; only the other remaining soldier stood frozen in place; only profound darkness descended once more upon this remote wilderness. The entire world… fell into utter silence…
Separated by the mage shield Punk had just conjured, the little princess—who had secretly vowed at dusk never to cry again—began weeping silently once more. But this time, her glistening, beautiful eyes could no longer produce any tears…
(End of Chapter)
1 Comment
Login Required
You must be logged in to comment on this chapter and rate the novel.
Login to rate this novel
This arc has been quite nice. Although it feels like Punk has been progressing too quickly. Another gripe I have is that we often learn about the world, such as a new class, as it occurs, rather than when Punk learns of it. Not only makes it hard for the author to foreshadow anything, but also just makes the story feel like its lacking depth. Overall though still happy with the reading so far.