Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The sharp sound of something slicing through the air echoed through the depths of the forest. Amidst loud booming noises, a massive figure with enormous horns was hurled backward.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
With a series of intense collisions, dozens of massive trees were shattered by the leader of the blood-hued beings as he was thrown back.
Bang!
The leader of the blood-hued beings pushed aside the broken logs that pinned him down, flexing his body a few times. His eyes instantly turned blood-red.
With one hand on the ground, he leaned forward. Carter stared at Satou Kazuma, who was enveloped in a cyan-gold glow, and said, "Unknown warrior, my name is Carter."
Boom!!!
As Carter introduced himself, a massive crater formed beneath his feet. A blood-red streak of light shot towards Satou Kazuma, who was hovering slightly above the ground, like a meteor.
Baring his sharp fangs, Carter's clawed hands aimed directly at Kazuma's head.
Fully utilizing his senses, Carter tried to anticipate Kazuma's movements, which had been overpowering him from the beginning.
Seeing the approaching blood-red meteor, with its sharp claws almost touching his barrier, Kazuma smiled faintly and moved gracefully, evading with ease.
The blood-red streak exploded into countless fragments like a meteor shower, with a barrage of blood-red punches pounding against the cyan energy field ahead. One after another, the air transformed into shockwaves under the rapid impacts, pouring onto the ground behind the cyan glow.
Massive craters and imprints from fists or claws dotted the devastated landscape. Once towering trees were reduced to splinters, scattered in the air before falling to the ground.
"Are you done yet?"
Kazuma spoke casually as he looked at Carter, who was still desperately swinging his fists. He raised his right hand and shook it slightly, revealing a finely polished stone necklace.
"What?!"
Seeing the necklace in Kazuma's hand, Carter paused. He touched his chest, which was covered by armor.
The armor was intact, yet the feeling in his chest told him that the necklace had been taken by Kazuma without him even realizing it, despite being in his blood-hued state.
The redness in his eyes began to fade. Looking at Kazuma swinging the necklace, Carter said, "I now believe in your strength. With your abilities, you can indeed obtain the critical information from the goblins' laboratory."
Carter took two steps back, fully releasing his blood-hued state. His teammates quickly moved to his side, staying vigilant.
Breathing heavily, Carter found it challenging to cope after using his blood-hued power twice in such a short period, even though he was one of the stronger members of his kind.
On the side, Arle noticed the fight was over and called out to Kazuma, asking him to come over and translate Carter's words.
It wasn't that Arle didn't want to move closer himself; it was just that the numerous craters, each at least ten meters deep and five or six meters wide, were beyond his ability to cross quickly.
Listening to Arle's translation, Kazuma nodded in understanding. He then turned to Carter, who was staring at the necklace in his hand. Kazuma's lips curled into a smirk.
He patted Arle on the shoulder, signaling him to start translating on the spot.
Taking a deep breath, Kazuma opened the group chat. Two live streams were displayed at the top. He gently clicked on the right one, which showed the group's activities in a cave.
Seeing Megumin seriously researching documents with Kuroneko, Kazuma let out a relieved sigh. He ignored Aqua, who was being treated like a test subject in the stream, and quickly closed it.
Kazuma coughed once and then closed his own stream. Looking at the messages pouring into the group chat, Kazuma tilted his head back, laughing silently.
Placing his hands on his hips, Kazuma shouted at Carter, "If you want this necklace, then later, the beast-eared girls must let me touch their ears, and each one has to kiss me! Then I'll return it!"
Arle, standing nearby, began translating once again with a helpless look. Since there was no word for 'kiss' in the beastmen's language, Arle substituted it with 'lick'.
Meanwhile, in the group chat, Xiao Hei quietly opened the live stream.
After a while, Darkness, who had been waiting for this, instantly joined the stream. With her intuition, she could tell that Kazuma's demeanor meant he was about to do something absurd. How could she miss such a thing?
Thus, she frantically tagged Xiaohei, asking him to reopen the stream under the guise of caring for their teammate.
Hinata, who joined shortly after, looked at Kazuma's increasingly ridiculous behavior in the stream, quickly taking screenshots and sending them privately to Megumin.
On the other side, Megumin quietly set down the documents she was holding, her eyes glowing red. Crimson magic power began to boil within her, and she struggled to contain it. She opened Xiao Hei's stream.
Six menacing beastmen, along with four busty beast-eared girls, approached Kazuma. Kazuma, wearing a lecherous expression, held the documents in one hand and reached out with the other to touch the furry ears of one of the beast-eared girls.
"Kazuma!!!"
A furious shout escaped Megumin's lips as she stormed out of the room, typing rapidly in private messages.
In the lab, Hiroshi and Rick watched Kazuma freeze in the stream and clicked their tongues in regret. They closed the stream, looked at each other, and shared a knowing smile.
Elsewhere, a stiff Kazuma handed both the documents and the necklace to Carter. Ignoring the beast-eared girls beside him, who were ready to sacrifice themselves, he walked towards Luo Xiao Hei, defeated.
Kazuma patted Xiao Hei on the shoulder, forcing a smile that looked worse than crying, and said, "Xiao Hei, mission accomplished. Let's go. Everyone's waiting for us."
Xiaohei looked at Kazuma, confused by his tearful face, and nodded obediently. The black cat ears on his head twitched as the space enveloped them, and in an instant, they vanished.
Watching them disappear, Carter's pupils shrank sharply.
Those ears, could they be beastmen? But since when did beastmen control space abilities, and where did that unfamiliar presence come from?
Clutching the documents, Carter addressed the others behind him, "Kailin, Yaxi, Ed. You three will go with me to the location marked on these documents and destroy the goblins' laboratory."
"Ruby, you take the rest back and report. Also, keep an eye out for that beast-eared member of the unknown group from earlier. Memorize their aura. If we encounter them again, invite them to our base."
"That figure just now might be the key for our beastmen to harness magic. When you return, remind everyone to prepare the young ones and be ready for visitors."
On the edge of the forest, Kazuma reached out and touched the cat ears emerging from Xiao Hei's head. He forced a smile and sighed, "Your ears are showing again, just a reminder."
"Oh."
Xiaohei nodded and retracted the ears. He then turned to Infinity.
"Master, my ears were likely seen by the beastmen earlier. Is that alright?"
Infinity patted Xiaohei's head and looked ahead at the apocalyptic landscape. Blood-red skies, dark tornadoes raging between heaven and earth, a desolate and lifeless world growing darker by the moment.
With resolute eyes, Infinity spoke softly, "It's alright, Xiao Hei. Since we asked you to use your abilities at full strength, this was within our expectations. Besides..."
"We can't stay hidden forever. Once the preparations are complete, it'll be time for us to step onto the stage."