At least, Putt's death wasn't meaningless. And because of him, the enemy was delayed for almost five seconds. Although it was not much, 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 so brave! 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 again immediately regained his inconspicuous playful attitude.  When Punk saw him, Kane had already put on a sad look and started to exaggeratedly recite a poem for Putt, while also pretending like Putt was some kind of a saint who sacrificed himself for the people.

"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. Although Mage McNeesey sent out outsider professionals in this raid in order to prevent any losses in his elite forces, these rogue professionals were still a significant part of the present Konola City's army. 

The enemy's professionals were originally more than Konola City. And now that Konola city's army has lost nearly half of its professionals in a blink of an eye, there was no dought that tomorrow's war would result in a tragic end for the Konola 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 have to run away? Wouldn't all my hard work go to waste? This is so infuriating."

Kane, who lacked fighting skills, was obviously not reconciled to 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 entirely sure whether the city defense could be continued with so few professionals!  After all, no matter what, McNeesey was also a veteran official-level powerhouse. No one knew what kind of trump cards he had. But one thing Punk certain of was that McNeesey had to take out some hefty compensation for the professionals who took part in tonight's raid; otherwise, there would be a massive impact on other professional's morale, and they might even escape at the first chance they get, knowing that they would not receive any benefits even after 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 gently squeezed the Staff's neatly broken part with his hand, and a little bit of wood was easily crushed. Since the Staff lost its core, 'the head,' it lost all of its magical properties, and with time, the magic formation that had been solidified in the Staff would fade away. Punk could almost feel the mana dissipating from the broken Staff in the air little by little. After all, its level was not that high. Now it already lost its peculiar iron-like hardness. And within five magic hours, it would become completely useless.

Punk's face was still calm and indifferent in the dim moonlight. He gently opened his slender and smooth palm, and some fine glowing sawdust sprinkled from his fingers like some azure blue stars, then flew away with the wind and fell on the ground. But In the night, this very ordinary scene looked very beautiful and ethereal.

"Hey, I say, brother Mage, you are not too sad because your stick was broken? are you!"

Kane was, as always, good at breaking Punk's concentration with his teasing remarks.

"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 was 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 was, 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.

 The reality was not a novel. And when the enemy became completely invincible overnight, their natural instinct was 'fear and escape' rather than 'courage and 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! 

People who were a little more sober had long realized that this City didn't have the time which they needed to kill 50 professionals and exchange reward. 

So, as profit-oriented professionals, they wouldn't do such stupid things as risking their life when there was little to no chance of reward. So they all disguised themselves as commoners and hid in the corner of the City near the gate, ready to escape in 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 doughts in his heart, like why an official mage, such as Mcnessey, who was by no means was a righteous person, resolutely dripped his hand in this muddy water!

"But…………"

"That's not important anymore."

"Although I didn't gain as much knowledge as I thought in the beginning, at least, it was not a total waste of my time and effort..."

Punk comforted himself and closed his eyes, and started to feel the more solid blue mana in his soul............

"I leveled up again!"