"Kyaaah!"
The woman screamed fiercely, but to Victor, even this was merely an ornament decorating the hunt. He smiled as he lightly settled onto the cargo cart.
"Hehehe. I told you to stay still."
"W-who are you! 'Na' is heading to the Military State now! Don't touch me!"
"Whoa, whoa. Calm down. Not everyone needs to go to the Military State, alright? Some of you should stay here."
"Kyaaah! Don't come near! Get away!"
She jerked the handlebar this way and that to shake him off, but to the Dragon Hawk Unit, this level of shaking was as light as a gentle breeze. Victor easily approached her from behind.
"Quite feisty. Well, I prefer it this way!"
If he grabbed her shoulder and flew into the sky like this, it would be over. Dangling in empty space, she wouldn't even be able to resist...
When Victor grinned widely and grabbed her shoulder, he felt something was off.
She didn't move. She was solid.
He gripped her and tried to lift her right up, but felt a solidity as if grabbing a boulder.
"...Hair, is this?"
"Je clearly~ told you not to come~."
It was strange. No, it was beyond strange now, bordering on bizarre.
She had clearly been a long-haired woman until just a moment ago. Even in the darkness, her feminine figure was distinct enough that it was hard to mistake... but she was different now.
No, she was *changing*. From a cheerful-looking woman... into the face of someone with a slightly gloomy impression, someone he didn't see often but was familiar with.
Victor, not understanding what was going on, called out to the owner of that face.
"...Na?"
'Victor' grinned widely and answered.
"Nice to meet you, 'Na'."
A moment later, a corpse rolled and fell to the ground.
However, for some reason, the number of the Dragon Hawk Unit remained the same.
Pitch-black shadows ran swiftly across the ground. Running while concealing their bodies in the darkness, the shadows were hard to see with the naked eye. However, the Dragon Hawk Unit carried lights on their tails, and the light from the leading Dragon Hawk became the vision for the one following.
One of the Dragon Hawk Unit saw the shadow illuminated by the light and scoffed.
"Hah! Did you think you wouldn't be caught if you covered yourself in black clothes and ran?!"
It was pitch-black, as if it had assimilated with the darkness. Still, when he opened his eyes wide and focused, its shape became clearly visible. One 'Feather' folded its wings and swooped down rapidly.
"You used your head quite well! But this is the end!"
He shouted boastfully and thrust out the blade attached to his foot. The blade, made even sharper by the added speed, pierced through the black figure's body...
Yet, no sound was heard.
The sound of splattering blood. The sound of a human scream. The sound of life escaping and sobbing... nothing was heard. Instead, the black figure moved its arm and grabbed his leg tightly. Darkness wrapped around its claws and extended up to his leg.
"W-what? What is-!"
The Dragon Hawk Unit were all experts who had even mastered the Dry Qi Art. He used his Qi Art to shake off the darkness and pulled his body free. His moment of relief was brief, however, as something leaped onto his back, causing him to lose his balance.
He pulled the thruster harder, but it was meaningless in a situation where he couldn't tell up from down. After crashing into the ground once, he only barely came to a stop after sliding a long way across the dirt. During that time, the black shadows swarmed even more and surrounded him.
He grunted and shouted.
"Y-you crazy bastards! Are you trying to block me by throwing your bodies at me?! Do you want to die together?!"
It couldn't be understood with common sense. Of course, humans could seek mutual destruction when driven to evil, but that required having such intense emotions that they wouldn't care if they died. Most humans struggle to survive until the very end and only then die.
Yet, dozens of them threw their bodies just to catch one. Such an inhuman response was clearly strange...
Inhuman. Only then did he realize something.
"Wait... are you not human?!"
Those surrounding him. Those crushing him. Even the one pierced by his foot. They all looked like evil spirits wearing pitch-black armor.
They weren't wearing black clothes. They were just hard to see because they were familiars made of darkness.
"Darkness...?! A vampire?! But how can there be so many familiars...?!"
He had heard the rumors too.
Beyond the Mist Mountain Range, in the land where sunlight doesn't shine, vampires live. They raise humans like livestock, take their blood, and blaspheme against all gods. Because they hate sunlight, they don't cross the mountain range, but it is said they occasionally appear in the always cloudy Claudia.
While he was frozen in terror, someone with color approached him.
"Phew. I barely caught one. It was a bit hard to catch because it was as fast as a fly."
Pale skin under the moonlight. Eyes that seemed to shine blood-red even in the darkness. A chillingly beautiful appearance.
Looking at him from any angle, he was a vampire. The blood-drinking race known to rule humans beyond the Mist Mountain Range.
"I will ask you one thing."
The vampire had the Black Knight make him kneel and asked.
"Who shot this at me?"
With his head forced up, he saw the object the vampire held out. A long cylinder with a burnt fuse, slightly dented, but unmistakably a rocket from the Explosive Sect Master. Probably... the one that directly hit the vampire.
As he was trembling in terror, the vampire urged him in a tone that wasn't hurried at all. As if he were the one in a rush.
"Answering quickly will be to your benefit. If you refuse to answer, I'll have to ask the other guy, you see."
Behind the vampire, dozens of sparks were plummeting like meteors.
See. I knew this would happen.
I didn't even need to intervene. Dragon Hawk Units were crashing to the ground left and right. Because they were each actively taking the offensive without anyone telling them to.
Hilde and Tyr were also hunting from their respective positions... but as expected, in this kind of fight, they couldn't compare to the Regressor.
The Regressor was now standing on the clouds. Stepping on a cloud and taking a knight's stance, the Regressor swung Cheonaek widely.
"Heavenly Sword Qi. Dankong."
Whoosh. The wind disappears.
Even with Cheonaek, it couldn't slice this much space. Even if it's only air, the longer the length, the heavier the weight becomes.
So instead of cutting with the blade, the Regressor changed the nature of the wind.
The wind stops. The air solidifies. In the air that has taken on an inert property over a certain space, fire doesn't ignite, and smells don't spread.
When the Dragon Hawk Unit unknowingly passed through the severed space, the thrusters that were pushing them forward all shut off at once.
"W-what! The thrusters!"
"Ignite them!"
Those who spread their wings to glide and quickly re-ignited their thrusters survived. However, those who failed crashed to the ground. Thanks to their wings, they barely saved their lives, but that was only for a moment.
A bird that falls to the ground is bound to become prey for beasts. Some jackals rolled their eyes back upon seeing the Dragon Hawk Unit. Hooks, blades, spearheads, or modified front wheels targeted them.
The Dragon Hawk Unit, which had been brutally trampling enemies at high speed while flying in the sky, lost their advantages of speed and altitude, plummeting straight down to become prey for the jackals.
I didn't even need to step in. Dragon Hawk Unit or whatever, they're dropping like flies. I'm so glad such strong people are my allies.
As I was riding along, hanging onto the cart with a much more relaxed mind, someone running beside me saw the sight and shouted.
"W-what on earth are those?! What's happening?!"
It was probably a mutter to himself, but just for today, I'll give him a special answer. Running alongside him, I kindly informed him.
"They're passing peace envoys."
At my words, he was startled and looked this way.
"And what are you?! How are you keeping up with me?!"
"Can't you tell by looking? It's a dog sled. This dog is incredibly fast, you see."
"Woof!"
Aji barked as if in agreement with the shaft still in his mouth. He seemed to have taken it as a compliment.
However, it didn't seem like a satisfactory explanation for him, as he suddenly yelled in anger.
"Stop spouting nonsense! A mere dog beastman! I'm asking how you're keeping up with my speed!! It's strange no matter how you look at it!!"
"Please stop spouting nonsense. Just because you attached a few rocket thrusters doesn't mean you can outpace Aji. Have some common sense, Explosive Sect Master."
Aji is the King of Dogs. There's no way a dog sled pulled by the King of Dogs would be slower than that measly toy. Does he have common sense or not?
I gave him serious advice, and suddenly his face flushed bright red. With a face looking like he was about to explode, he shrieked.
"Don't call me Explosive Sect Master!!"
Just as I thought, the Explosive Sect Master really was a hot-tempered person. He didn't even have any self-control.
His spiky hair was covered in round iron rings. With iron rings all over his hair, shoulders, and clothes, a clanking sound rang out every time he moved. His back was bulging out from having so much stuffed inside. He glared at me fiercely, then immediately pulled out bombs.
Bombs with short fuses attached to small cylinders about the size of a finger joint. They looked small on the outside... but the opponent was the Sect Master of Yeolguk. It wouldn't be that easy.
Holding an overflowing amount of bombs in both hands, he shouted.
"I am Lord Rocket!!! If your ear holes are blocked, I'll drill new ones for you. Listen carefully!"
"People call you Explosive Sect Master, though."
"That! Is what the idiots of the world! call me on their own!!!"
"The function of a title is to clearly decide what to call someone when others don't know what to call them. So it fits, doesn't it?"
As soon as my words ended, the bombs Rocket held all ignited simultaneously. Hmm. That settles it.
I don't know who came up with the title Explosive Sect Master... but it was definitely coined with intention. Yep.
"The function of a bomb is to blow up bastards like you!!!"
Unable to contain his anger, Rocket scattered the bombs violently.
The unique magic of the Explosive Sect Master, Rocket, turns iron into a flammable substance. Normally, steel only scorches and doesn't burn, but when touched by Rocket's ability, it explodes violently like popcorn.
Since it's iron, its destructive power is beyond comparison to popcorn. And if he ground it into powder and stored it inside... even more so.
Oops. This isn't the time for this. I urgently shouted.
"Aji! Dodge!!"
"Muuuung!"
Aji, who sensed the danger first, sharply veered off.
The large cart rotated in a circle around Aji. My body almost flew off due to the sudden evasive maneuver. It was a good thing I had secured my body beforehand; otherwise, I would have been thrown far away.
Aji, who threw me along with the cart, dashed forward. Behind him, a massive explosion erupted. As dozens, hundreds of bombs exploded all at once, a hot wind blew from behind.
"Phew. He gets mad and explodes. I guess he really is the Explosive Sect Master."
"Shut uuuup! You little shit, are you provoking me?!"
Rocket reached out his hand to the four-wheeled vehicle he was riding. The magical power starting from his hand extended and reconfigured the structure of the vehicle.
The cover came off, and hidden thrusters popped out. There were a total of 8 of them. An excessively large number of thrusters all aimed backward at once and spat out fierce flames. A long whistle sounded from the roaring pipes.
"A dog sled?! What you caught up to is only a quarter of my speed! Let's see if you can dodge my full power!"