Punk, holding the unconscious archer girl in his hand, avoided the charred meats and scattered stone fragments in the ground and walked back to the broken stone wall, where he and McNeesey rested in the beginning. 

"Boom!" 

Punk threw the archer girl on the ground and performed a salute to McNeesey, and said:

 "Lord McNeesey, If you need vitality to recover quickly, you can use this enemy archer."

Although Punk lowered his head, he concentrated all his perception on McNeesey. His whole body was in a state of alertness like a taut bowstring. This was another test by Punk to McNeesey. If McNeesey could really absorb other's vitality to heal quickly, in that case, Punk must seriously consider whether or not to take a risk and attack this half-crippled official mage after finding the secret tunnel. As letting himself be around a mage who had the ability to absorb vitality for a long time was like putting your head in a lion's mouth while sleeping. Punk wasn't comfortable with such a dangerous situation at all! 

But McNeesey completely ignored the girl who had already started to show signs of awaking up on the ground and stared at Punk deeply with an inexplicable look, as if Punk was an incomprehensible monster and must be thoroughly seen through as soon as possible. 

After a long time, McNeesey opened his mouth and said in a hoarse voice:

"My life element cultivation direction is creation rather than acquisition. Her vitality is meaningless to me." 

"So that's the case! It was a superfluous act on my part." 

Punk gave a "respectful" answer. Although he didn't really believe McNeesey's words, at least for the time being, he could continue to cooperate. So, He calmly raised his head and lifted up the girl who had woke up. 

The girl archer lifted in the air by the Punk, realized something terrible was about to happen, So she began to try to free herself desperately while shouting abuses and curses:

"Pervert, let me down, you can't... ………" 

However, neither Punk nor McNeesey paid any attention to the curses of this immature girl. Punk went to the edge of the stone wall and pulled off the ruby ​​necklace from the girl's neck. Due to his rough movements, A bruise mark appeared immediately on the girl's spotless fair neck. At the same time, Punk casted a spell with a low voice, and a lavender coloured mage hand appeared in front of the girl's head. 

Punk completely ignored the tearful and pleading gaze of the archer girl, and without any hesitation, controlled the mage's hand to use more force............ 

"Ci..." 

A large splash of blood dyed the entire stone wall red, and then Punk kicked something with his foot, and a round object bounced on the ground twice before sinking into a crack in the ruin. 

"We need to hurry up. The hotel is just ahead!" 

After watching Punk indifferently as he was putting the magic necklace into his pocket, McNeesey reminded him unhurriedly. 

"Yes, Lord McNeesey." 

---------------- 

The secret stronghold was actually hidden in the Cellar of the Laurock Hotel. The Cellar that was originally only large enough to hold a few sacks of potatoes had now been magically expanded to the size of a basketball court. 

Walking into this gloomy and repressing Cellar, Punk found that the walls of the Cellar were carved with many magical runes, which seemed to have a good reinforcement effect. Punk had to accept that the official-level mages really had many mysterious means, as even using this kind of semi-permanent enchantments, they could actually create such an ample space. Although the rooms that had been made with the enchantment looked very crude, they were actually much stronger than those flashy and luxurious castles. 

 But the lighting here was very dim. There were only two light techniques glued to the ceiling as the main light source, which funnily enough resulted in an atmosphere of "secret base" throughout the large Cellar.

……

An alchemy puppet was doing some cleaning work in the Cellar; it was actually the same alchemy puppet that Punk saw in the Mage Union. 

When the little guy saw McNeesey and Punk walking into the Cellar, It froze for a moment and then started to yell out loudly with a somewhat annoying voice:

"Someone is coming! Someone is coming"! 

The guards' reaction speed was not too slow, and soon two apprentice-level Knights ran to the door and clenched their hand to their chest to welcome them. But when they saw McNeesey's horrible injury, they became stunned. 

McNeesey, who had just used a levitating technique on himself, seeing his guards behaving like this, obviously became a little unhappy. After seeing McNeesey acting like this, Punk's mouth twitched a little. Did he even think about how others would feel if they saw half-of-a-person floating in the air like a ghost? 

But obviously, the soldier's respect would not become less just because only half of their boss had returned, so they quickly escorted McNeesey and spread the news of his return.

All the remaining loyal elite guards gathered in a room that could barely be called a living room. Her Royal Highness, princess Nesa was now holding McNeesey's hand tightly and refused to let go. Her heroic appearance, like when she gave her speech in the square, was completely gone, and now she looked like a kitten who was afraid of being abandoned. 

Seeing the princess crying while holding the wounded McNeesey, the eyes of the surrounding soldiers also became a little wet, but Punk just wanted to ask Mage McNeesey to open the secret tunnel and escape quickly; after that, It would not be too late for the princess to cry when they escaped. But when he saw an old mage next to him crying like a child, Punk decided to stay silent. 

"Sir, you..." 

The princess tried to stop the "half left" McNeesey from getting up and moving, but McNeesey, who became a little annoyed by this sad environment, gently pushed away from the princess's arm. 

"Soldiers..." 

McNeesey glanced at the few soldiers with burning eyes. 

"...This battle, we have failed, but! Our princess is still here, and the spirit of our Camos Kingdom is still here! are you?" 

McNeesey's words were sonorous and powerful.

"Are you willing to follow me and protect her Royal Highness until the end of your life?" 

"Willing! Willing!Willing!" 

All the soldiers stood upright and expressed willingness with their most powerful voice while also performing a standard military salute to represent their loyalty. The old mage near Punk even broke his voice. 

"Good... Very good! Now! Let's leave Konola City first. One day, we will again come back here, to this Konola City and regain our glory!" 

Due to the shortage of time, McNeesey could only hold a very brief swearing ceremony, and finishing these "chicken soup for the soul"(Idiom), McNeesey flexibly carried himself around the roaring soldiers with the help of the floating technique and stopped near a seemingly inconspicuous wall. The soldier also calmly and confidently followed.

……

There was no shining brilliance, no rumbling roar and no magical password, a pitch-black hole suddenly and silently appeared on the wall in front of McNeesey, but most importantly...no one, including the Punk with the help of the system, could notice any sign of magic or traces of spellcasting as if this hole appeared there naturally! 

While entering the entrance of the cave, unlike the passionate soldiers, Punk was deeply afraid of Mage McNeesey's method. And he again reminded himself that an official-level powerhouse, even in an embarrassing near-death state, should not be underestimated!