Two black vans sped down an open road. Pouring rain battered the windows and windshield, and the wipers swept away the droplets.
"……."
Laura sat in the passenger seat of the van, staring blankly out the window.
The mercenaries seated behind her gripped guns and knives, remaining vigilant against any unforeseen circumstances. Maia sat among them, operating a terminal.
A biometric recognition terminal produced by the Cartel after purchasing the Administration’s technology. It was a degraded version with significantly inferior performance compared to those used by the Administration, but it was more than enough to determine whether someone was alive or dead. She skillfully manipulated the terminal to check the status of the mercenaries left behind in the basement.
Beeeeeeep.
Along with the sharp noise, the heartbeats of five men appeared on the screen.
Flat lines drawn in a straight row.
Needless to say, they were dead.
"……."
Since this matter had already been confirmed and reported twenty minutes ago, no one bothered to bring it up again with Laura. The mood was already sour; there was no reason to rehash news that would only weigh on her shoulders.
"Tch."
Maia clicked her tongue and set the terminal down. One of the mercenaries naturally took it and plugged it into a charger, while another mercenary who had been speaking with Ficher’s group answered with a sigh-laden voice.
"Yes, understood. Our current destination isn’t Seoul, but the provinces. First, um… Gyeongsangbuk-do? We’re heading that way. Yes. Yes. Understood. We’ll reduce our speed, so please join up with us as quickly as possible."
He gestured to the driver. The man behind the wheel subtly slowed down. The van running parallel beside them was sharing the communication channel, so it decelerated as well.
"We likely won’t use the highway. The Administration usually has secret passages set up along the expressways. We’ll move via the national road."
The mercenary adjusted the intercom’s position slightly and nodded.
"Yes, then please hurry."
Click.
The call ended. The mercenary let out a long breath and removed the intercom he had been wearing. Laura turned to look at him.
"What did they say?"
"The hunt failed. It seems the mage there wasn’t Eric alone. Thanks to that, Sir Victor was left near half-dead. They say Sir Ficher is recovering."
"…...And the pursuit?"
"They said no one is tailing them separately. Since we received an answer that they would join us immediately, I think it would be best to be careful of the mage who came to the basement for now."
"Have you tracked the mage’s location?"
Laura asked, narrowing her eyes. The mercenary shook his head.
"…...Sorry. We haven’t found them yet."
"Tch."
"B-but we’ve already put some distance between us and the basement, so they shouldn’t be able to track us without any leads."
"Since our opponent is a mage, we can’t rule out the possibility of them using all sorts of outlandish means to track us. We must prepare."
At the same time as her answer, a distant rumbling exhaust noise began to be heard from afar. One mercenary who frequently rode bikes casually turned his head.
"Huh, that’s…..."
His eyes sparkled. The mercenary pressed his face against the window and let out an exclamation at the sight of a black motorcycle approaching rapidly from behind.
"Wow… that’s an H2. It’s really rare to see one; so they do exist in Korea too."
"What is that? Is it good?"
"It’s a crazy expensive, fucking fast bike. Its top speed is probably close to 400. Faster than a train."
"Hmm, really?"
The mercenary responded indifferently. Regardless, the man’s eyes sparkled as he stared at the rapidly approaching motorcycle.
"Wow, shit, it’s really fucking fast. Aren’t we going almost 150 km/h right now? And it’s closing that distance this quickly?"
"Must be a bastard who doesn’t value his life. Enough, stop looking. Focus on keeping watch."
The mercenary smacked the man on the head. The man stared at the front of the bike with eyes dripping with regret, then began to focus on his guard duty again.
Vrooooooom!!
Shortly after, the once-distant exhaust noise drew much closer. At the heart-thumping sound, the man unconsciously looked out the window.
Their eyes met.
"Uh."
A water-like coat absorbing the full impact of the wind. A helmet pulled down low. Sharp eyes visible dimly beyond a black shield. A chrome cowl that gleamed despite being drenched by the rain. A compass attached unnaturally to the instrument panel.
"…...Why is that person’s coat like that?"
The man muttered. At the same time, the man riding the motorcycle also looked down at his compass. Then, as if convinced of something, he nodded and tapped the fuel tank.
"Switch to autonomous driving."
His voice didn’t reach the mercenary’s ears. But the man didn’t care, removing his hands from the handlebars and reaching into his coat. He placed his hand on the grimoire tucked in the inner pocket, and touched the car window with his other hand.
"H-hey, what is this bastard suddenly do—"
"Be born anew."
Craaaash!
The van Laura was riding in was crushed by nearly half. The mercenaries inside were mashed to death without even being able to resist, and the van, having lost its rear wheels, skidded across the wet road and swayed left and right.
"What the fuuuuuck! What the hell!!!"
"Alex! Piooooora!"
A screaming mercenary was launched outward, unable to overcome the inertia. Having flown at high speed, he smashed headfirst into a wall and died. Parts of his crushed corpse—barely recognizable as human—were swept away by the flowing rainwater.
"Crazy…..."
Maia broke out in a cold sweat. The image of the man driving the bike without a care in the world was etched clearly into her vision.
Screeeeech!!
The swaying vehicle. With its rear wheels gone, the underside of the car was ground against the asphalt in real-time, causing sparks to fly.
One mercenary accidentally stepped down, and his shoes and flesh were torn clean away. His ankle and knee, unable to withstand the impact, twisted 180 degrees, and his body was flung out by the recoil.
"Aaaah—"
Squelch.
His scream was drowned and buried by the sound of rain. The man on the motorcycle gazed at the vehicle that was beginning to gradually lose speed and pulled a pistol from his coat’s inner pocket.
At that moment, the window of the other van carrying the mercenaries rolled down and bullets poured out like crazy. And before the man could even react, the bike braked on its own and slid backward. The bullets split the air.
"Lady Laura! Lady Maia! Are you safe!!"
"That fucking bastaaaard!"
The mercenaries pulled their triggers wildly at Ian. But nothing so much as grazed him.
[( ◞•̀д•́)◞⚔◟(•̀д•́◟ )]
The magic imbued in the bike resonated with the artificial intelligence, automatically performing acrobatic driving. The bike swerved left and right, dodging all the bullets, and began racing up a wall.
"Damn! What the hell is that!"
The mercenaries were aghast.
The bike's AI cheered.
[(۳˚Д˚)۳= ▁▂▃▅▆▇█▓▒]
Together with the emoticon floating on the instrument panel, the bike kicked off the wall and leaped. Soaring through the air with a sharp burst of wind, the bike landed atop the vehicle, and Ian pulled out the Courier he had kept inside his bag and threw it.
[Kieeeeek!]
The Courier let out a scream. Sharp tentacles pierced through the vehicle's roof and sliced apart the mercenaries' bodies inside.
"Kuh-huk…!"
Along with the sound of dying breaths, the Courier broke through a window and entered the vehicle's interior. Ian spun once through the air and returned to the road, gazing at the vehicle beginning to be stained with blood.
"Wouldn't it be full just from eating the ones over there?"
He removed his helmet and hung it on a hook, then stared at Laura's van, which was gradually approaching the wall.
And then—kwang. The skidding vehicle collided with the wall and a massive explosion erupted. Spark had already ignited the leaking oil, and the impact crumpled the bumper and caused the engine to explode.
Kwaaaaah!
Flames shot up with a deafening roar. The van that the Courier had invaded also staggered into those flames. The already destroyed vehicle rammed in once more at high speed, producing a colossal noise.
"Whew…..."
Ian lowered the bike's kickstand, took out a cigarette, and slowly began walking toward the wrecked vehicle. As he did, he glanced around.
There were no witnesses to be seen. Though he had seen a few cars passing by earlier, they all seemed to have fled at the sound of gunfire.
It was an ideal situation for Ian. As long as there were no prying eyes, there was nothing to hold him back.
Still, just in case, Ian sent a text to the Administration's number to avoid getting caught in the police investigation net.
[(Address)]
[A gunfight broke out here. I'll erase whatever traces I can, but there might still be shell casings or bullet holes left, so come clean it up for me. Thanks.]
Swish.
He didn't bother waiting for a reply. Ian slipped his phone into his pocket and held his cigarette to the roaring flames to light it. A sweet fragrance faintly spread between the smell of burning protein.
"Hss…... Hoo…..."
Exhaling smoke, he summoned the Abyssal Chronicle. The cover of the grimoire that settled into his grip turned on its own, and Ian chanted a spell.
"Swallow. Devour. Enjoy the feast."
Gurgle.
Black water flowed out along his hand and crawled toward the flames.
The minute plankton contained within the seawater precisely devoured the corpses, flames, and vehicle wreckage, letting out bizarre wailing sounds. Ian walked into the gradually dying flames and checked on the mercenaries who were still breathing.
Well, even if they were alive, they were as good as half-dead, so he didn't take any particular additional measures. If left alone, they wouldn't be able to escape anyway and would be eaten alive by the plankton.
He stared blankly at a mercenary trying to pull out a shard of glass lodged in his lung, then moved on to search for Laura.
[Kiek!]
Just then, the Courier, slightly scorched from finishing its meal, rolled toward him. He stroked the Courier's head and smiled gently.
"Good work. Is your stomach full?"
[Kik!]
"Yeah, then go back. I'll ask for your help again next time."
[Kiek!]
The Courier waved its tentacles and sank into the dark outer sea. Ian moved past it and briefly checked the crushed van's passenger seat. There, Laura was still breathing, gasping raggedly and spurting blood.
"So you were here."
Having directly heard the characteristics of the mercenary group's key executives from Hans, there was no chance of mistaking her. After covering the crushed door with plankton, he grabbed the hair of the mangled Laura and pulled. With a crunching sound, her torso—lower half gone—was dragged out.
It was an injury that would have been instantly fatal for a human, but for vampires, it was a wound that could be healed simply by drinking blood.
As a half-blood, healing probably wouldn't be that easy, and she seemed to have no pain relief whatsoever. But that was none of Ian's concern. All that mattered was that her heart was still beating.
After all, he still had much to ask her; he couldn't just kill her here like the others. He needed to find out what he needed to know.
He flashed a bright smile at Laura, whose soul was half-departed.
"Is this our first time meeting?"
"……."
No answer came.
He hadn't expected one anyway, so Ian immediately smashed the back of Laura's head against the ground to knock her out.