Chapter 544 – Sense of Danger

After learning about the true existence of the “Divine Competition Mechanism,” both Punk and Kane understood that the “difficult competition” for the “Crimson Sand God’s legacy” was an unavoidable challenge they currently lacked the ability to circumvent. Since they had no choice but to face it head-on, excessive emotional expressions and complaints were utterly useless.

Thus, taking only a few seconds to suppress his turbulent emotions, Punk turned his gaze northward and immediately began calmly preparing his spells:

“Alright, Kane, it seems this adventure won’t go smoothly. Influenced by the ‘Divine Competition in the River of Fate,’ we cannot afford to take the path ahead lightly. Audreylinda, who inexplicably found the Godchild, is the first trouble, but she likely won’t be the last. After all… including this ‘Third Godchild,’ we still have three Godchildren to hunt. Our time is urgent, with no room for waste!”

Without waiting for Kane’s response, Punk took the lead and flew north. Since the Filthy Bird had said they needed to “advance at the fastest speed,” regardless of how the “Divine Competition Mechanism” would operate next, it would be a joke to miss their target due to wasted time.

Behind Punk, Kane, who still wore an excited and bloodthirsty smile, quickly regained his composure. The arrogant knight was never one to fear challenges:

“Heh heh heh heh, an adventure! This is what an adventure should be—this is the thrill I love the most! Divine competition? Come on, let me see what kind of riffraff dares to compete with me for wealth!”

Carrying the still somewhat dazed “Smile” with his Battle Aura, the knight, who seemed not only unafraid but even more delighted and ferocious, quickly caught up with Punk.

Enemies? For the strong, all obstacles are merely “prey” on the path forward!

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Another silent dusk arrived, and the shrubs at the edge of the Tar Swamp were once again dyed golden by the setting sun.

Beside the shrubs, a campfire burned on a patch of clean ground. Three slightly charred, plump bamboo rats were roasting over the bright, warm flames, and Claire, looking much better, was carefully tending to them.

However, unlike Claire’s usual food preparation, this time, the rabbit-eared girl Kaisa, acting like a greedy little animal, was eagerly watching the food over the fire.

“Alright, this largest one is done. Just add a bit more salt. It’s a bit burnt, but it should still be edible.”

Noticing that the skin of one bamboo rat had turned crispy and golden, the boy quickly removed it from the fire, skewered it on a wooden stick. Soon, the steaming heat rising from the roasted bamboo rat took on an orange-red hue under the lingering sunset glow.

“Here, Mentor.”

Claire handed the first fully cooked, plump bamboo rat to Audreylinda, who was leaning against an oilwood tree.

The frowning, pensive Female Knight Audreylinda accepted the roasted bamboo rat from her apprentice. Without a word, she took a large, unceremonious bite and began chewing.To be honest, the bamboo rat prepared by Claire wasn’t particularly delicious. When it came to culinary arts, this knight apprentice who focused solely on martial training could never quite master the heat control.

Normally, regardless of how Claire’s cooking turned out, Audreylinda would offer some encouraging praise, since even Claire’s poorest culinary attempts surpassed those of the Female Knight, who could be described as a “mass producer of dark cuisine.”

But this time… the preoccupied Female Knight didn’t utter a single extra word. Even as she chewed the fragrant cooked meat, an unshakable unease lingered in Audreylinda’s beautiful eyes.

The group had now reached the edge of the Tar Swamp. With less than an afternoon’s journey northward, they would return to the Bokkat Kingdom. There, Little Keisha could find her rightful place, while the Female Knight and her apprentice could continue their path of “punishing evil and promoting good.” With luck, they might even use their “intuition” to track down the traces of the two enemies again… At least, that was Audreylinda’s ideal scenario.

However… despite being so close to leaving the Tar Swamp, the Female Knight felt no joy whatsoever. Instead, a profound, persistent sense of danger had taken root when vibrations emanated from the swamp’s surface during the day. As time passed, this terrifying feeling of being intently watched by some unseen force didn’t diminish but grew increasingly oppressive.

“The vibrations during the day were far from ordinary. If it were a natural earthquake in the Tar Swamp, the timing would be too coincidental. So… could it be that those two ‘villains’ have committed some atrocity?”

Remembering the evil knight in gleaming golden armor and the silent yet sinisterly powerful spellcaster, Audreylinda felt her heart tighten.

Without a second thought, if anyone in this swamp could cause such a terrifying disturbance that shook the entire Tar Swamp, Audreylinda’s suspicions fell solely on the two “evil scoundrels” she was pursuing.

Taking another fierce bite of the half-eaten bamboo rat, Audreylinda’s eyes suddenly became bloodshot as she pondered.

Upon realizing that her enemies might be lurking in this very swamp—and her danger intuition warning her of a potential encounter—Audreylinda’s heart swelled not with fear or anxiety, but with boundless resolve and courage.

The hatred for her disciples’ deaths! The wrath for justice! How could she ever forget? As a champion of justice, Audreylinda, who feared not even death, would never cower before two evil fiends. Even if the enemies had already set their sights on her, she would only rejoice at the chance for revenge.

Yet, in her eagerness to eradicate evil, the one thing that weighed on the Female Knight’s mind was Little Rabbit-Person Keisha, who had no means to protect herself.

“If only I could first send Keisha to a town and then return to confront the evil… An innocent young girl shouldn’t be dragged into a battle with almost certain death.”

With a pitying glance at the little girl, who was still drooling over the second nearly cooked bamboo rat, Audreylinda couldn’t help but furrow her brow deeply.”No, this extraordinary sense of danger is definitely warning me of something. A terrible battle will likely erupt abruptly before we even reach the town and settle Aisha. Those two despicable scoundrels won’t let an innocent child go. I must give Kaisa some means to escape.”

Thinking this, Audreylinda quickly finished eating the bamboo rat. Standing in place, she pondered seriously for a moment before the female knight, having formed a plan, retrieved a small scroll from her storage ring.

This was a spell scroll capable of casting a “Master-Level Summoning Magic – Galloping Beast.” Of course, this scroll was also one of the “donations” Bartos had compensated Audreylinda with. Originally, the female knight had intended to use it to test whether she could narrowly escape after activating a mutual destruction technique. But now, Audreylinda decided to give the scroll to Kaisa as her sole lifeline.

After all… Audreylinda felt that even with the assistance of an acceleration scroll, her hopes of surviving and escaping were still far too slim. It would be better to leave it behind and give an innocent girl a chance at life.

Having made her decision, suppressing the unease and excitement in her heart, Audreylinda put on a calm facade and walked over to Kaisa with a smile.

Crouching down to meet the little rabbit-person at eye level, the gentle female knight softly said to the timid creature:

“Little Keisha, how about big sister gives you a small gift… Don’t worry, even if you accept the gift, you can still have the bamboo rat to eat. That doesn’t count as the gift…”

End of the month, throw all your votes at me

(End of Chapter)