Chapter 546 – Vacuum Period

“Why hide when you’ve already arrived? Audreylinda? Your battle aura fluctuations are more conspicuous than a lighthouse in the dark night. Your fear and cowardice are utterly meaningless.”

Punk stared coldly at the dark jungle as he mocked. Though Audreylinda’s violently fluctuating battle aura made it impossible for Punk to observe who accompanied the female knight without using divination spells, his sharp eyes still caught a fleeting glimpse of furry long ears in the jungle.

Combined with the information previously revealed by the Projection of the Filthy Bird that “the Third Godchild is a rabbit-person with human bloodlines,” Punk could easily deduce that the important “Third Godchild” was accompanying the female knight!

Hearing Punk’s icy taunt, the female knight who knew concealment was pointless stepped out boldly from the bushes. Despite dead branches and leaves clinging to her armor and the chilling night surrounding her, Audreylinda’s gaze burned like torches, her long hair flowing without wind amid the intense battle aura fluctuations.

“Evil, you shall face judgment!”

Staring directly into Punk’s cold pupils, the female knight shielded the petite Kaisa behind her while issuing a stern, furious shout at the mage.

But Punk had no intention of engaging with the enraged Audreylinda. In fact, were it not for concern about accidentally harming the fragile “Third Godchild,” Punk would have unleashed a barrage of spells the moment he detected Audreylinda. During combat, unless needing to provoke an enemy’s anger, Punk wasn’t one to waste words.

But now… with the fragile Third Godchild standing beside the female knight, indiscriminate spell bombardment was impossible. So during the standoff with Audreylinda, Punk’s mind raced to devise a way to keep the Third Godchild unaffected by the battle.

However… Punk soon realized he needn’t worry about driving the “Third Godchild”—as fragile as thin glass—from the battlefield. Before Punk could utter another word, the female knight with bloodshot eyes and rapidly crimsoning hair loudly commanded the little Keisha behind her:

“Tear it!”

“Tear it?”

Punk momentarily failed to grasp the meaning behind Audreylinda’s roar. But when he glanced curiously at little Keisha behind Audreylinda, a cold smirk tugged at his lips.

He saw Keisha, who had grown accustomed to obeying all commands reasonable or unreasonable, instinctively rip the scroll in her hands upon hearing Audreylinda’s roar. As the scroll’s sealing array and paper shattered simultaneously, a giant translucent energy creature—rotund as a ball—suddenly appeared beside little Keisha.

Likely pre-programmed by the scroll’s creator, the colossal beast leaping from the scroll didn’t hesitate to “swallow” the stunned little rabbit-person whole. Then, carrying the kneeling, dazed little Keisha inside its belly, the vehicle-sized beast immediately dashed away from the battlefield.

“Oh? Master-Level Summoning Magic—Steed of Galloping?”This spell wasn’t too obscure among summoning magic, so the knowledgeable Punk immediately recognized it the moment Little Keisha used it.

Yet watching Little Keisha escape right before his eyes, Punk remained calmly standing in place. He showed no intention to pursue, nor did he cast any spells to intercept. After all, having the “Third Godchild” far away from the dangerous battlefield aligned with Punk’s interests. As the translucent “Steed of Gallop” vanished from sight in an instant at dozens of times the speed of sound, Punk simply ignored the increasingly furious female knight before him and spoke softly to a sapphire-blue mark in his palm:

“Kane, the Third Godchild used a summoning spell to escape the battlefield.” She’s currently heading northwest at fifty-three times the speed of sound. You’re responsible for intercepting her.”

Through the “Communication Mark,” Punk calmly contacted Kane. So far, everything had proceeded according to plan. Now that the Third Godchild had fled, it just happened to give the bored Kane something to do.

Kane’s voice through the “Communication Mark” remained as frivolous and exaggerated as ever. Judging by the howling wind sounds, Kane was already on his way to pursue the “Third Godchild.”” But Kane, who always loved to banter, still complained loudly to Punk:

“What the hell! Couldn’t she have run in a direction slightly closer to me? Now I have to cross half the Tar Tundra to hunt her down?”

“Hurry up and chase. If she escapes beyond our perception range, you’ll be responsible for finding her.”

“Relax, relax. Just give me ten minutes, and I guarantee I’ll bring back the Third Godchild. But I left ‘Smile’ in the grove. If you finish off that crazy woman early, remember to meet up with ‘Smile’.”

“I don’t need you to remind me about my business!”

After uttering this final remark indifferently, Punk canceled the “Communication Mark” connection. In Punk’s view, sending Kane after the “Third Godchild” was quite foolproof. After all, the Third Godchild wasn’t even a professional combatant—escaping from a Master-Level expert was rather unrealistic.

“However… leaving ‘Smile’ alone in the grove for ten minutes might be slightly unsafe. I’d better quickly deal with this female knight.”

While Punk wasn’t worried about the “Third Godchild,” he felt vaguely uneasy about Smile staying in the distant grove, unprotected for this ten-minute vacuum period. Although he was certain Audreylinda couldn’t possibly exert any influence on the faraway “Smile” under his watch… the thought of this unprotected “ten-minute vacuum period” still stirred a slowly brewing, inexplicable unease in Punk’s heart:

“Indeed, I must quickly eliminate this enemy. Otherwise… who knows what tricks the ‘deity competition’ mechanism of the River of Fate might pull!”

Quietly burying his concern for “Smile” deep in his heart, Punk, now determined to swiftly kill Audreylinda, focused intently on the enemy before him.In the few seconds he was communicating with Kane, the Female Knight standing before Punk had completely transformed into a crimson Asura. Her body was now covered in intricate patterns formed of fresh blood, while frigid water-attribute Battle Aura energy coated her silver armor with a layer of solid ice. Dancing between blue and red energies, Audreylinda’s sharp gaze made her resemble an avenging fury clawing her way out of Hell, radiating pure killing intent.

“Evil spellcaster, you are the one who murdered my kind-hearted apprentice. In the name of my justice, Audreylinda, you must receive the purification of death!”

It seemed that entering this “desperate” state caused the Female Knight to lose most of her rationality. Even though Punk’s communication was completely unconcealed, Audreylinda appeared utterly unaware of what the conversation between Punk and Kane represented. At this moment, the only thing she desired was to stake everything—even her own life—to slay the evil before her!

(End of Chapter)