At the very least, Putt's death wasn't without purpose. His sacrifice delayed the enemy for nearly five seconds. Though not a significant amount of time, it was sufficient for Punk and Kane, who were retreating at a very high speed, to escape farther enough, that the two Assassin couldn't catch up even if they used some hidden tricks.
"Oh~, the great Mr. Putt. He was truly courageous! He sacrificed himself and saved us; what an admirable Hero!"
Now that two of them knew that they were already out of danger, they slowed down, and Kane quickly reverted to his usual casual and playful demeanor. When Punk saw him, Kane had already adopted a somber expression and began reciting a poem for Putt, pretending as if Putt were a kind of hero who sacrificed himself for others.
"There is no need for such pretentious act!"
Punk turned his head and continued to run toward Konola city.
"In this type of major strategic failure, the death of a weak mage is not abnormal."
Punk's voice was as calm and cold as ever.
In the moonlight-shrouded wilderness, Punk's robe was fluttering in rushing wind, and whether it was Punk or Kane, they looked like a blur of light and shadow because of their excessively high speed.
"Yes, yes."
Kane shrugged as he ran,
"I was overthinking things. After all, many high-level professionals were killed in this night attack. And because of this, the result of tomorrow's battle has basically been decided. Mage McNeesey should already be in a mess by now. And he will definitely not care about the death of a little mage."
Although Kane's words were cold, they made sense.While Mage McNeesey had dispatched non-elite outsiders to avoid casualties among his elite troops, these rogue professionals still made up a substantial portion of Konola City's current army.
The enemy's professionals initially outnumbered Konola City's. Now that Konola City's army had swiftly lost almost half of its professionals, it was clear that tomorrow's battle would likely end in tragedy for the city.
"Now, it seems like this war will not even last three days, let alone a week. I have fought hard for two days, and yet I haven't even received any reward."
Kane complained loudly-
"Really? Do I really have to flee? Wouldn't all my hard work would go to waste? This is so frustrating."
Kane, who wasn't skilled in combat, was clearly unhappy about this unproductive situation.
"At least there is tonight's raid. It's impossible for McNeesey not to give us anything,"Punk said lightly.
He wasn't completely certain if they could maintain the city's defense with so few professionals! After all, no matter what, McNeesey was also a veteran official-level powerhouse. Nobody knew what kind of secret weapons he might have up his sleeve. However, one thing Punk was sure of was that McNeesey had to provide substantial rewards for the professionals involved in tonight's raid. Otherwise, it would seriously affect the morale of other professionals, and they might even seize the first opportunity to leave, realizing they wouldn't receive any benefits despite risking their lives.
Kane also knew this fact. That's why both of them rushed back to Konola City unhesitatingly.
The short night of the tender season passed very quickly, and the ray of morning light was already coming from the horizon. This first light faintly illuminated the Konola City, and the large ghastly marks of dry blood again became visible on the city wall.
Punk and Kane finally reached a hilltop; this was the hill from where they saw Konola City for the first time when they came to this City. Punk did not look at the broken Konola City like Kane, but he lowered his head and looked intently at the headless Staff in his hand with a little sense of loss.
The role of this Staff was to amplify spells and reduce mana consumption. Except for a few Staff specifically designed for close-combat mages, most of the Staff was not suitable for special situations, like directly facing a sharp blade.
Punk's Staff obviously was not designed for melee combat.
Punk softly squeezed the neatly broken part of the staff in his hand, and the wood easily crumbled. Since the staff had lost its core, known as 'the head,' it had also lost all of its magical abilities, and with time, the magic formation that had been solidified in the Staff would fade away. Punk could almost sense the mana gradually dissipating from the damaged staff into the surrounding air. It wasn't a high-level staff, and it had already lost its distinctive iron-like hardness. Within five magical hours, it would become completely useless.
Punk's expression remained calm and indifferent in the dim moonlight. He gently opened his slender and smooth palm, and some fine, glowing sawdust scattered from his fingers, resembling small, azure-blue stars. They floated away with the breeze and settled on the ground. In the nighttime, this rather ordinary scene appeared exceptionally beautiful and otherworldly.
"Hey, I must say, brother Mage, aren't you too upset about your staff getting broken, are you?" Kane, as usual, excelled at diverting Punk's attention with his playful comments.
"I'm just feeling the decaying process of an enchanted item,"
Punk replied coldly. He casually threw away the damaged Staff, and the Staff shattered into several cracked pieces of wood after falling on the ground. Punk didn't care about it anymore; he simply turned around and started to walk towards the Konola city, which is now swept by the morning light.
On Konola city's wall, Mage McNeesey was standing still with a profound expression on his face, like even if the sky fell and the earth split, it would not faze him at all. But no matter how calm he is, a gloomy atmosphere still permeated through the entire City. Because when dawn came, only three out of the 24 trainee-level professionals who went to the night raid returned in an embarrassing manner. Even those core elites who vowed to die for the princess couldn't help but feel a chill in their heart after seeing this.
Reality doesn't follow the rules of a novel. When the enemy suddenly became overwhelmingly powerful overnight, people's natural instinct was more likely to be 'fear and escape' rather than 'courage and a fighting spirit.'
Most of the ordinary soldiers could barely stay still while standing on the city wall holding their swords with dried bloodstains. In their faces, Instead of having a pious expression of loyalty and bravery, there was a twisted expression that clearly seemed like they were trying their best to resist the urge to turn around and run.
As for the professionals, except for a small number of young people who were in "love" with the princess, most of the others, including Punk and Kane, had already exchanged some knowledge and already left the city wall far away!
Those who were thinking clearly had already understood that there wasn't enough time in the city to eliminate 15 professionals and claim a reward.
So, being professionals who prioritized their profits, they wouldn't engage in such foolish acts as risking their lives when the chances of a reward were slim to none. Instead, they all disguised themselves as regular people and took refuge in a quiet part of the city near the gate, prepared to escape during the chaos of the battle.
Punk had cast a spell to conceal the magical aura on his robe, and now he was hiding in a group of refugees. His clothes disguised with a spell made him look no different from these refugees in tattered clothes. At least, this spell could easily fool any patrolling soldiers.
Punk was looking down at the ground, and the shadow of his hood hid his entire face.
Right now, he was manipulating a more advanced version of the spell mage's eye, "Mystic Eye," to watch Mage Mcnessey's actions, who was now standing on the wall with his hands folded in front of his chest.
Punk still had some doubts in his heart, like why an official mage such as Mcnessey, who was by no means a righteous person, had willingly become involved in this shady business, resolutely dripped his hand in this muddy water!
But..."
"That's not important now."
"Although I didn't acquire as much knowledge as I had initially hoped, at least, my time and effort weren't completely wasted."
Punk consoled himself, closed his eyes, and began to feel the solid blue mana within his soul...
"I've leveled up once more!"