Black Badger

Her round eyes shook helplessly, as if she had taken a serious shock.

But Ami quickly regained her composure.

“You must have learned the English word wrong!”

At Sasu’s excessively optimistic reasoning, Kairos finally took his eyes off Kyle for the first time.

The corner of his mouth lifted as he glanced sideways at the small Sasu beside him.

What an interesting person.

Meanwhile, the black-haired knight raised his eyebrows sharply, his face clearly asking what the hell that was supposed to mean.

Ignoring the stares of the two men, Ami confidently raised her gun.

“You probably haven’t used English in a long time.”

“I learned English before you did.”

Kyle answered slowly.

Ami’s eyes widened even more than when she had heard the word Flea.

She clearly had never imagined Kyle would speak to her directly.

Amid the battlefield where Creatures were pouring forward, the three of them were the only ones not being attacked.

The Creatures rushing toward the enemy curved away in a wide circle around where Kyle and Kairos stood.

Gunfire roared from every direction, and the dying screams of Creatures pierced the air, but the three of them stood apart from it all.

The ground trembled. Flying Creatures covered the crimson sky. On the earth stained with rainlike blood, their voices carried clearly.

The silence was broken by Ami.

“My nickname isn’t Flea, right?”

It was her last attempt at reality denial.

“It just means your movement looked like a flea.”

“A ground flea.”

Kyle lifted his sword.

There was no tension in the motion. Watching the reaction of the Swordmaster who had once belonged to the same kind, Kairos let out a faint bitter smile.

The tip of the sword pointed at Ami’s face.

“You look like you only just learned how to walk. I’ll give you one last chance, so get lost. I’ll let you leave quietly.”

“No!”

Ami flared up.

“I told you earlier! I was there during the First War! I’m not a kid—I’m a grandmother!”

“I feel sorry for the Fire Dragon Lord. But not for you.”

Kyle naturally let Ami’s anger roll off him.

The sword aimed straight at her contained no emotion whatsoever.

The sharpened blade flicked slightly to the side.

“Move.”

His tone was indifferent.

“Kid.”

“The Fire Dragon Lord is my sub-sniper.”

Ami stared at Kyle coldly.

“I’m First-generation Black Badger. Don’t underestimate me. You missed me last time, remember!”

“If that’s how you want it.”

Kyle answered leisurely.

The knight lifted his chin slightly, then settled into his stance, the boredom that had been hanging on his face vanishing completely. In its place appeared a predatory grin. His sharp teeth showed in a smile like a hunting beast.

“Then I’ll stop treating you like a ground brat and treat you as a warrior.”

“I’m not a ground brat or a ground flea!”

“Kairos.”

Ignoring Ami again, Kyle called the summoner who stood there with a bitter smile.

“What a pity. If this were the Empire, I would have had to face you with all my sincerity.”

“It can’t be helped.”

Kairos replied calmly.

“Though even in the Empire, where monsters were everywhere, facing you would never have been easy.”

“Jack!”

Ami shouted.

“They’re coming!”

WHOOSH!

Kyle’s ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) sword sliced through the place where Kairos’s neck had been.

But what was cut was not flesh, but a few pieces of hard scales. The summoner had already mounted a winged serpent that burst up from the ground and soared into the air.

Ami rose with him, the muzzle of her gun aiming down at Kyle.

CLANG!

Pshhhh!

Kyle neutralized the incoming bullets while simultaneously slicing the serpent’s body.

The serpent screamed in pain and spat a venomous stinger.

Chiiiiiiik!

The place where Kyle had been standing melted under the deadly poison.

Avoiding the lethal venom with a light leap, the knight lifted his head and looked at the summoner sitting atop the serpent.

At the same time, orange eyes met golden ones.

Standing atop the collapsing corpse of the winged serpent, the summoner raised his right hand and snapped his fingers.

Snap!

The swarm of witches covering the sky twisted their bodies all at once.

The ones who had been firing cannons at the Black Badgers suddenly straightened vertically and turned in a single direction.

The witches began forming cannons in both hands simultaneously.

“Servant interference!”

Imperial language burst from beyond the broken Core device.

“Take back control!”

“Ah!”

While urgent voices rose everywhere, Kyle looked up at the witches and let out a small laugh.

Ami suddenly felt the surroundings brighten and turned around—then recoiled in shock.

Kairos stood there quietly smiling in the backlight.

The light grew stronger, casting deep shadows across the summoner’s face.

Ami, who had been staring straight at the sky, squinted against the brightness and turned her face away. Kyle also narrowed his eyes slightly.

But without moving, the black-haired knight watched the swarm of witches forming a circle around him.

The space shone as bright as noon.

“Fall back!”

Richard Green shouted.

“It’s going to explode!”

“Ami.”

“Yeah!”

At Jack’s words, Ami grabbed her sub-sniper and shot upward into the sky.

The moment she rose above the witches, the cannons fired.

BOOOOM!

A vast explosion swallowed the surrounding area.

The shockwave swept across sand and Creatures alike. Black Badgers fleeing the blast were thrown rolling across the ground. The earth shook like an earthquake, and blinding white brilliance devoured everything nearby.

The sound followed afterward.

BOOOOM!

The heavy wave of sound struck as a second shock.

The deafening roar stabbed at the senses of both monsters and humans.

Everything was blown away again, and the screams of people and Creatures mixed into the tail of the thunderous noise. Only after the aftermath of the massive explosion passed did the view become clear again.

The noon-like brilliance faded, and the reddish light of sunset poured back down.

The crimson glow illuminated the knight standing in the center of a massive crater.

Only the ground where Kyle stood remained intact.

Everything around him had turned into charred ruins.

Even his black hair remained cleaner than anyone else’s nearby.

The knight bent his waist slightly and took a stance to release a sword strike.

KRRRRAAAANG!

“Huh?!”

Ami, floating in the air while holding her sub-sniper around the waist, gasped in shock.

“What the hell is that?!”

BOOOOM!

The sword strike surged upward into the sky.

Multiple branching slashes shot upward like spikes, tearing through the witches hovering in the air. Ami’s jaw dropped as she stared at the Swordmaster slaughtering the entire swarm alone.

Then her sub-sniper’s voice snapped her back.

“We have to push in.”

Jack looked at Ami and smiled quietly.

“If we get chased, our heads will come off soon enough.”

“Right.”

The Badger nodded.

She remembered the plan she and Jack had made on the train.

KRRRAAANG!

“I’ll go in three seconds.”

“Yes.”

The red-haired man answered calmly.

“Senior.”

BANG!

The moment the final witch lost its life.

And Kyle’s gaze shifted away from the witches and toward the Black Badgers nearby.

At that instant, Ami flew toward Kyle while holding Jack, diving down like a descending fighter jet. She landed, dropped her sub-sniper to the ground, and charged straight at Kyle.

Golden eyes closed the distance in an instant.

Ami drew her dagger.

“That’s right.”

Kyle grinned as he twisted his upper body to face her.

“This is how you fight!”

CLANG!

The dagger snapped in half.

A heavy shock traveled through Ami’s arm. But the adrenaline surging through her body dulled the pain, and Ami felt nothing else as she focused entirely on her enemy.

Fixated on Kyle’s movement, she flipped upward over the white sword thrusting toward her chest.

The wire spread out and tightened around the swordsman’s neck.

Just before the snare could tear into his skin, the knight swung his blade with smooth elegance.

BAANG!

The wire that had been tightening as fast as Ami was flying snapped apart.

RATATATAT!

As Ami tried to regain her balance, a swarm of flying insects slammed toward Kyle.

At first glance they resembled giant butterflies, but in fact they were white flying Creatures classified closer to bats. Like hailstones falling from the sky, they shot down toward Kyle while avoiding Ami. The summoner had seized control of those that had originally been flying toward the Black Badgers.

BAANG!

Blood burst.

Near Kyle and Ami.

The flying creatures were sliced apart by blade and wire, turning into a mist of blood.

Inside the red fog, the man and woman maintained a certain distance.

When Kyle chased her, Ami sprang away like a flea, dodging the attack. When Ami leapt into the air and drew out her wires, Kyle neutralized the incoming strikes with sword blows.

The rally continued without pause.

The only ones able to interfere in the speed battle were the Creatures controlled by Kairos.

Wires snapping. Blood mist refusing to clear. Amid the chaotic melee, monsters rose from sky and ground to attack the enemy.

All of them were crushed without mercy.

Not a single one left even a scratch on Kyle.

But the same was true in reverse.

Ami narrowly avoided every attack pouring down on her. There were several moments of real danger, but thanks to Kairos’s support she managed to avoid having her head separated from her body.

To an outside observer, it almost looked like Ami and Kyle were evenly matched.

Beyond the device, enemy summoners hidden behind ruins sang to control a swarm of angels.

Amid their song, the dying cries of Creatures, and the battle shouts of the Black Badgers, Ami fell into a trance as she faced her opponent.

The noise of the battlefield faded away, leaving only the movements of the enemy and the Creatures controlled by Kairos.

A state of complete immersion born from intense combat.

Then suddenly—

It broke.

Because Kyle’s eyes abruptly stopped following Ami and turned toward something else.

The change happened in an instant.

“Jack!”

The rally stopped.

Kyle twisted his body and burst forward toward the summoner.

BAAAANG!

An attack fell directly in front of the Swordmaster closing the distance in a blink.

Without even singing, Kairos had seized control of an angel’s cannon through servant interference.

It was a far stronger attack than the energy cannon a single witch could produce.

“If the Fire Dragon were here, I really would have to fight seriously.”

The knight laughed as he cut the spherical mass of energy apart.

“Fire Dragon Lord.”

Ami gritted her teeth and chased after him, but she was about three seconds behind.

Kairos said nothing and summoned a stone Creature.

Because he knew it would fill those three seconds.

If he could delay the sword for just three seconds—

“You.”

Instead of thrusting his sword, Kyle unleashed a sweeping strike.

Toward Kairos’s left side.

“You can’t see out of your left eye, can you?”

BOOOOM!

The strike targeted the distance and blind spot with deadly precision.

The moment Ami arrived, the shockwave left from slicing apart the stone Creature slammed into both Kairos and Ami.

THUD!

***

Yun, who had been cutting down Creatures, lifted his head at the sound beside him.

Then he saw the portal activating. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

A hand suddenly stuck out.

It was Hildebert’s hand.

It emerged halfway, then flailed around helplessly in midair.

Yun narrowed his eyes at the hand thrashing in the air.

After checking the formula displayed on the portal device, he shoved his gun into the holster.

Then he grabbed the hand that was paddling out of the portal.

Yun pulled Hildebert out.