Chapter 518: Dancing

The provocation had ended, and the battle was about to begin. Facing a group of guards charging with frenzied expressions, Punk immediately utilized the movement speed granted by “Super Swiftness” to maneuver nimbly.

In fact, with the power of the “Crimson Gem Necklace,” Punk had already layered over ten stacks of magical protection on himself. With such insane defensive capabilities, Punk could have stood still like a turret, tanking the desperate attacks of the Formal-Level guards without concern.

However, Punk had no intention of fighting that way. On one hand, he didn’t want to reveal his terrifying, peerless defensive prowess. On the other hand… to ensure that the guards, including Bartos, would seriously chase after him instead of targeting “Smile,” it was crucial to give them the illusion that “we’ve injured the enemy.”

Thus, with a cold smirk curling his lips, Punk charged directly into the midst of over twenty guards, facing the enemies who had drawn their weapons and were rushing toward him at high speed. Trailing a faint purple glow, his afterimage vanished like a fleeting breeze in the air. The reaction speed of those Formal-Level professionals was only enough to catch a blurry glimpse of his silhouette.

But no matter how slow their reactions, they still had to swing their blades.

Seeing Punk charging straight at him, a burly warrior at the forefront didn’t hesitate to swing his battle-axe:

“Hah! Die, mage!”

Boom!

The battle-axe, wrapped in earthy yellow Battle Aura, cleaved through the air with a roaring gale. The strike hitting the ground caused the already shattered floor to explode into fragments.

But… the warrior’s ferocious expression turned to one of disbelief and horror in the next second. All he saw was that the enemy he should have struck was merely a fading afterimage, while the mage in the black Mage Robe with red patterns had already effortlessly bypassed his axe and stood behind him.

“Too slow!”

It was a voice of death, as if emanating from the icy abyss. The calm statement was merely stating a fact, not mockery. In truth, no one believed Punk had any reason to taunt. As he said, whether it was the warrior who had just swung his heavy axe or the guards who had only just reacted, they were all far too slow compared to Punk’s Master-Level reaction and movement speed.

So, what fate awaits an enemy who is too slow in battle?

The answer is simple: death!

The warrior wielding the heavy axe only had time to make one futile attack, and it was the last attack of his life. After Punk evaded the axe blade, all that remained in the spot where he had stood was a small, floating orb of light…

Boom!!

“First!”

The icy count echoed amidst the deafening explosion. Flesh scattered like blooming flowers, and splattering purple light formed the backdrop behind Punk. The powerful blast forced the guards to momentarily halt. In the blinding radiance, only Punk’s frost-colored pupils remained, searing deeply into the souls of everyone present.

These Formal-Level professionals all posed a threat to “Smile.” Punk’s feast of slaughter had only just begun.After casually casting a spell to eliminate the first enemy, Punk barely paused before accelerating into high-speed movement once more. In the very next second, dozens of projectile weapons imbued with powerful Battle Aura and several massive fireballs crashed simultaneously onto the spot where Punk had just been standing.

It must be said that this team of over twenty Formal-Level professionals actually demonstrated remarkable coordination. Several Battle Aura blades were cleverly concealed within the fireballs, while restraining spells consistently arrived at their targets just ahead of the offensive magic.

However… such methods were clearly insufficient to contend with a Master-Level powerhouse. Moreover, these Formal-Level guards evidently lacked prior combat experience against Master-Level opponents (had they encountered such enemies before, they would have been wiped out long ago). Otherwise, they would have realized—their attacks were far more futile than they imagined!

The battlefield around Punk now erupted with dazzling flashes and thunderous explosions. Slashes of Battle Aura and spells detonated simultaneously, while spatial fractures reappeared less than a second after each self-repair.

Yet… despite this overwhelming barrage of attacks, these enemies remained exactly as Punk had described—far too slow!

Weaving through the storm of spells and Battle Aura like a butterfly flitting among flowers, Punk continued his rapid movements empowered by “Super Swiftness.” No matter how relentlessly the Formal-Level mage guards cast their spells, no matter how fiercely the warriors slashed, no matter how the shattered debris scattered… Punk remained completely untouched by any attack. Every luminous Battle Aura blade was dodged by a hair’s breadth, every spell trajectory was predicted and evaded through preemptive course changes, every speck of dust was effortlessly blown aside by explosive winds.

The result was twenty-plus guards attempting to capture a faint purple flash with countless high-powered attacks. Even as the earth burned and space fractured, that lightning-like figure drifted through the chaos with leisurely grace.

While Punk fought with effortless ease, the guards faced a far grimmer reality. Their defenses proved utterly laughable against Master-Level spells—mere glancing blows could inflict severe injuries, let alone Punk’s terrifyingly precise attacks. Each “Kinetic Blast” almost invariably struck a professional square in the face.

The outcome was inevitable: whenever Punk’s shimmering form flickered past a professional guard, a thunderous explosion would follow, hurling a “human-shaped object” with its upper body completely shattered through the air amid shockwaves.

“Second, third, fourth… twenty-third, twenty-fourth, final one”!

“BOOM”!

Thus, accompanied by twenty-five nearly continuous explosive roars, the flurry of attacks across the battlefield gradually diminished while Punk’s softly counted numbers grew increasingly distinct…

Twenty-five seconds after the battle commenced, as Punk uttered the icy words “final one,” the thunder of spells ceased abruptly. The clamorous battlefield fell silent once more, and the circle of Formal-Level guards that had surrounded Punk moments earlier… had all been reduced to scattered, mangled corpses across the ground…Only after seeing all the Formal-Level guards reduced to minced meat scattered across the ground did Punk finally heave a long sigh of relief. It had taken a full twenty-five seconds for his greatest concern—the major trouble—to finally be resolved.

He had to admit, during those twenty-five seconds, Punk had to concentrate intensely on tracking every enemy’s movement and consider whether any spell might affect Smile. His nerves had been stretched taut the entire time. Now that the ordeal was over, Punk’s mood remained foul!

Next, he intended to deal with the source of this trouble—Bartos!

“Alright, warm-up’s over. Next… Huh?”

An involuntary sound of surprise escaped him. As he carefully sensed the vanished Bartos’s location, a hint of stunned astonishment flickered across Punk’s icy expression.

Because… in Punk’s perception, the aura representing Bartos was rapidly retreating from the Arena at an even faster pace than his arrival. In just twenty-five seconds, Bartos—showing no signs of stopping—had nearly fled beyond Red Roy City’s borders…

There was no need for doubt. The fact staring Punk in the face was this: while his subordinates fought desperately, that bastard Bartos… had actually fled without the slightest hesitation!

Votes, please! Across countless mountains and rivers, affection remains—could you spare some votes?

(End of Chapter)