Coward, come out and duel me if you have guts, hiding behind is no skill!

Mongrel, come out!

Korkel shouted curses, but was extremely panicked inside.

He had quite abundant combat experience, and had encountered sly enemies who did not fear death before, but never an opponent like this.

Clearly just a frail mage, but with even more slick combat experience than a veteran soldier who served over a decade!

In addition, his spellcasting speed was abnormally fast, every spell he cast was instant, firing magic one wave after another from the darkness, not giving the enemy any chance to breathe.

As Korkel was thinking, rumbling sounds rang out again.

Boom! Boom! Boom! The barrage spell continuously fired, and Korkel frantically dodged.

The spinning stone spikes struck the tree trunks, making muffled booms.

While running, Korkel kept cheering himself on inside.

Hold on a bit longer.

Just a bit longer.

As long as I can hold on a little longer, when the opponent reveals himself, victory will be mine!

The mental shouts were very impassioned, but could not change the reality of Korkel's stamina nearing exhaustion.

The magical traps along the way had already greatly worn down his vitality. Now adding the severe blood loss from his disability, Korkel was starting to feel a bit dizzy, his footwork was increasingly erratic.

Ronald was like an experienced hunter, still steadily chasing his prey, occasionally mixing in a burst of fireballs with the barrage, making the originally nimble figure appear even more miserable.

The goddess of fortune did not favor Korkel in the end. Stepping into a pothole and twisting his ankle inwards 90 degrees, Korkel let out a miserable scream as he tumbled into a puddle.

The attacks did not cease because the enemy fell. Two barrage spells accurately struck Korkel's calves.

Snap~

The crisp sound of bones being shattered rang out from the forest, followed by a piercing shriek that startled a flock of birds into flight.

Ah...my leg...my legs!

Snot and tears mixed on Korkel's face as he wailed, trying to reattach his lower leg that was barely connected by a shred of flesh and skin. But unfortunately the calf was thinner around the break, no matter how Korkel tried to splice it back, it would not return to original form.

Seeing the flailing, wailing figure in the puddle, Ronald felt unprecedented relief.

In his original life, born into a traditional knightly noble family, he had been exposed to knight training from a very young age, so he was very familiar with knights.

The white aura streaked with red surrounding Korkel was the trait of a peak apprentice knight, equivalent to a senior mage apprentice.

If one had to compare, the peak apprentice knight would actually be slightly harder to deal with, because they would not give mages any time to cast spells.

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When Ronald discovered the opponent was a peak apprentice knight, he also felt some trepidation. But after exchanging blows, Ronald found fighting above his level did not seem as difficult as expected.

Korkel's abilities were quite good, also top tier among his peers, and he was very familiar with mages, evident from his agile dodging of the blade vortex.

If it was someone else today, if it was one of those mage prodigies hailed as geniuses at the academy, Korkel may not have been able to win but would not have lost so badly...

But unfortunately Korkel encountered a monster like Ronald that defied common sense.

Wait...please wait a moment, I have something to say...

Moonlight diluted by heavy clouds, weak and powerless, sprinkled on the dense tree canopy, leaving large patches of darkness on the ground.

Occasionally, bizarre cries would sound out in the forest.

Korkel swallowed.

He thought after doing dirty work all these years, he had become fearless.

But today, Korkel felt afraid after a long time.

Korkel looked around in frightened manner, trying to find the mage's figure, but after scanning all around, other than the profound darkness, he could not find anything. Left with no choice, he hurriedly shouted loudly.

Your Excellency, please wait a moment! I am the tower master Morrison's confidant, I know a lot of information, I can tell Your Excellency about the pursuers, if you have any other requests I will do my utmost to satisfy you, I only ask that you let me stop the bleeding first, I've lost so much blood, if it's not stopped I'm afraid I will die...if I die you won't get away either, killing a registered noble knight apprentice will warrant the kingdom putting out a bounty for you...you don't want to live in fear for the rest of your life either, right...

Even when facing death, Korkel still tried to bargain. This made Ronald a bit dumbfounded, unable to find words to describe such a person.

Were the nobles in this other world all of this kind of character Still not knowing themselves even when facing death.

Because he still needed to obtain intel from the other party, Ronald was in no hurry to finish him off.

Also out of caution, Ronald did not plan to get close to Korkel. Although Korkel was crippled in all four limbs, who knows if he still had cards up his sleeve, so it was better to be prudent.

Using several dead branches to form a humanoid shape, then adding the magic glyphs Transmutation, Ventriloquism, Phantasm, Arcane Occulus etc, the tree man took on Ronald's appearance.

Draping the stiff wooden puppet with a cloak, Ronald manipulated it to walk out of the shadows.

Under Korkel's seven parts frightened, two parts hateful, one part ingratiating gaze, the puppet Ronald slowly said Who sent you, how many pursuers are behind, tell me everything you know. If you dare conceal anything in the middle, I don't mind taking some time to torture you a bit. I read about an interesting torture in books before, where the prisoner's flesh is slowly sliced off bit by bit with a blade. Strong-willed prisoners can endure up to 1500 cuts. As a peak apprentice knight, perhaps you can take even more.

Listening to this, cold sweat poured down Korkel's back. He looked at the mage completely hidden in the cloak before him, as if looking at a devil.

This mage sir...I will certainly cooperate...please be assured...but before that, could you help stop the bleeding first...I will definitely tell you all I know! I only ask that you give me the treatment due a noble prisoner of war, afterwards I am willing to provide compensation, I have three properties in Snowdrift City plus thousands in gold coins, these can all be given to you...

While begging for mercy, Korkel struggled to sit up. That miserable state, like a dog with all four legs broken, was an eyesore no matter how one looked at it.

Korkel thought he was putting on a very convincing act, but in the eyes of Ronald the otherworldly guest, the holes in it were too obvious.

Firstly, Korkel's performance was very inconsistent with the actual situation.

Logically, after Ronald's warning, he should have shut up immediately. But instead the other party kept blabbering on.

This was too irrational.

After a little thought, Ronald understood the other party was trying to divert attention.

What was he trying to do

Ronald suddenly felt a trace of curiosity.

Ronald stirred his spirit to activate the Arcane Occulus in the puppet. A pair of red vertical pupils lit up from within the cloak.

Under the gaze of the Arcane Occulus, Korkel's little actions became even more obvious.

For example, his heartbeat showed intense fluctuations the moment the Arcane Occulus activated. Also it seemed like he was hiding something in his mouth.

Ronald saw through all of Korkel's actions clearly, but did not plan to expose him.

Ronald still wanted to get the rendezvous point and Harrington's location from Korkel, then see if he could ambush them on the return. So Ronald cooperatively manipulated the puppet to approach Korkel.

The Arcane Occulus could clearly observe that as Ronald drew near, Korkel's heartbeat grew rapid like drum beats.