Florida Man in Magus World: Unleashing Liberty and Freedom

This confirmed Felix's hypothesis: Aura knights yielded more mana than regular people. This made him hesitate if he should digest the dead combat mage.

"No, I should at least respect the dead. I'll give him a proper burial or return him to his family."

Despite preaching morality and righteousness, his actions proved otherwise. He pressed the dissect button, chopping his ally's dead body into parts and moved the body parts to the mana extraction menu. He only kept the guy's pendant and ring as a keepsake to return to his family.

<You have extracted 1,337 mana from first-circle mage, 'Zilo'.>

<Seriously, you need Jesus. For the love of Florida, how could you do this to your ally?>

Felix scoffed, "Dead men can't use mana. I'd rather take them and avenge his death. Hey, I don't see no Geneva Conventions in this world. No law is stopping me from taking whatever I need."

Jessica shook her head, giving up on Felix's immoral greed.

Felix changed the subject, "Anyway, Jessica, can you differentiate between regular enemies and strong enemies like aura knights?"

<…I can. What color do you wish to highlight strong enemies?>

"Maybe, bigger red dots for a strong foe that I can kill and small red dots for trivial enemies? Oh, and add some purple marks for those who are too strong for me to handle!"

<Affirmative. Adjusting colors.>

The system map turned dark but restored a second later. All indicators on the map were more colorful than before, with small and large red dots flashing everywhere inside and outside the camp. Four giant purple dots on the map repeatedly blinked, warning Felix to avoid them.

Looking at the map, Felix noticed a trend. Three out of four purple dots were chasing after Sinnet's giant green dot. The other one stayed at the center of the camp. With the big threats far away, Felix was relieved. He thought of the aura knight he had killed earlier next.

'I should claim that corpse. Where did he die? Oh, there.'

Using the rifle's scope, Felix located the dead knight and spotted a dozen enemy corpses in the area. Among them, two belonged to Sinnet's subordinates.

As Felix took time observing the camp and the battle site, a squad of the knights' followers rushed to assist their masters, unaware of their deaths. Seeing the approaching victims, Felix licked his lips and resumed his work. Instead of retreating or moving away from the mound, he chose to stand his ground as he had a range advantage.

*FWOOSH*

The silencer suppressed 80% of the noise. A sharp NATO bullet picked off the leading soldier. A dozen more bullets rained upon the unsuspecting men. Unlike the blunt slug rounds, rifle's armor piercing rounds punctured through chain mails with ease.

In seconds, the squad was annihilated. Felix switched magazines and manually refilled the empty mags, preparing for another skirmish. Sneaking closer to the camp's entrance where the corpses were concentrated, Felix glanced at the system map.

Although a hundred red dots gathered nearby, they were busy splashing water on the burning tents. Half of them were unarmed.

Taking advantage of the chaos, Felix sneaked closer to the camp and picked up dead bodies one after another. Every body he touched vanished into his inventory.

But there was a problem. The body of the dead aura knight was in front of the camp on the open field. To get that corpse, he had to risk exposing his presence to the enemies.

Felix took a deep breath to calm his nerves. He checked the map and the nearby soldiers, making sure that nobody was looking. Unfortunately, the chaos inside the camp was about to end. The local soldiers extinguished the flames and were about to control the situation. Many eyes were looking outside.

Looting the aura knight's body undetected was no longer possible.

This left Felix two choices: escape without taking the body or take risks. He hid behind a bush, contemplating the pros and cons.

Should he risk it?

What if someone saw him?

What if he got hit by an arrow again?

What if one of those purple dots magically teleported in?

If Sinnet could use a magic sword ability, could others do the same?

The thoughts plagued Felix's mind. His heart sank at the thoughts of the worst-case scenarios.

Deeming the risks too high for the mana that he could get from 2-3 days of smoking, Felix changed his mind. He turned around and looked at the map, searching for the safest path to retreat.

As the camp was alerted, patrol units rushed out and scouted the woods to the east and west, creating a pair of wings that deterred Felix from going north.

Felix's location was at the southwest of the camp. Escaping to the east wouldn't make sense as Purple Mist Forest was close by. Entering the place at night might be more dangerous as mutated beasts might be active at night.

This left Felix four escape options: the west, southwest, south, or southeast. As smart as he was, Felix made a decision right away.

"The Internet once said, if we don't know what we are doing, the enemy can't possibly predict our next moves! Therefore, I'm heading west!"

<…The Terra City is in the south.>

"Don't question my logic!"

<…>

With the decision made, Felix slipped through the darkness, retreating west.

.

.

Five miles north of Buck Turo's military camp, a small unit under Bill Turo set up another camp. As a father, Bill Turo wanted to see his son's achievement, so he followed the main forces.

Sleeping soundly in the bed in his tent, Bill Turo dreamed of seeing his son leading a glorious force of aura knights, seizing Roland Lundop's citadel and razing his city. He smiled, never wanting to wake up.

Unfortunately, his dream was cut short. In the middle of the night, one of his men barged in and woke him up with an urgent report.

"My lord! We've received a report from the main camp! Your son's troops are under attack. Young master Buck is injured!"

Bill Turo jumped out of his mattress and screamed at his bodyguard, "…WHAT?! WHO DARES?!"

"I-It appears to be Robert Lundop's men, my lord."

Bill Turo's face reddened. Interrogating the bodyguard, he yelled, "HOW IS MY SON?!"

"I-I don't know the details. The messenger said he was injured, but he didn't specify."

"CALL JOXONU, RIGHT NOW! WE'LL RIDE TO THE MAIN CAMP AND CATCH THE LIKES OF LUNDOP!"

"Y-Yes, my lord!"

Despite being sleepy and drowsy, Bill Turo took his time putting on his enchanted knight armor. He rushed out of his tent and found two of his retainers bringing a warhorse for him.

Bill Turo got on his horse and swept his gaze around, searching for the hired mage. It didn't take long to find Joxonu, as he had been floating in the sky, staring at the south.

"MAGE! HEAD TO MY SON'S CAMP AND HELP HIM!" Bill Turo yelled.

The black mage glanced at the baron and inwardly scoffed. Returning his gaze to his destination, he transformed into a mass of black smog, flying south.

In his eyes, he spotted something more interesting. He detected a fire mage among the enemies.

"A Crimson Desert spy? I've been searching for a fire breathing method. What a good timing!"