The Arsonist and the Pigeon

Seven Black Beasts had surrounded Kang De.

The first had been struck in the skull by a thrown axe and had died long ago. The second had been sent flying by a fully charged chop, leaving a huge wound across its belly, and had died as well.

The five remaining beasts wanted to mount another coordinated attack, but they couldn't encircle the maneuvering motorcycle. After all, the thing was blazing with brilliant flames, and Black Beasts feared fire most of all.

Kang De drank a second potion. He hadn't remembered its exact name, but judging by its effects, it was an agility potion. It greatly improved his reflexes, movement speed, and even his spatial awareness, allowing him to throw axes at extremely tricky angles and hit his enemies.

Simple geometry.

Fighting with axes was addictive! There was a raw sense of violence to it, swinging in great sweeping arcs and cutting enemies down like vegetables. A real man needed an axe to smash every enemy's skull and leave no witnesses.

Kang De steered the motorcycle with one hand and held a fire axe in the other, charging back and forth through the Black Beasts' encirclement. With the boost from the two potions and the deterrent effect of the flaming motorcycle, he had gained the absolute upper hand. The Black Beasts could do nothing to him, while he could catch them off guard with all kinds of ranged attacks.

Amid the heat of battle, he glugged down a third potion.

According to Cleveland, the last potion was meant to enhance intelligence, or something along those lines. Intelligence was a broad concept, as broad as strength or agility. Whether it enhanced speed of thought, depth of imagination, memory, or breadth of thinking wasn't clear.

Kang De hadn't paid it much mind at the time. After all, he was a maniac... I mean, a civilized man, who used guns, germs, and steel to win people over with virtue. In theory, he had no need to put points into intelligence.

But he was wrong.

He had only drunk the potion with the thought, I've already had two bottles anyway, so I might as well try another and see what it does. Tina will probably reimburse me anyway.

Once the potion took effect, the door to a new world suddenly swung open.

He felt the world become clear in an instant. His thinking underwent a sudden transformation, as though the distance between him and the world... had abruptly grown smaller.

The Elemental power dwelling within him grew livelier. It seemed that with a single thought, he could direct it as easily as moving his own limbs, doing with it as he pleased.

He thought of the three enchantment Element arrays on the short sword.

Their designs had been fairly complex, enough to make Kang De frown when he saw them. Reproducing them by copying their patterns would have been no easy task; he would have had to study and practice them thoroughly. That was before.

After drinking the intelligence potion, he felt many times more clearheaded. The complex Elemental designs suddenly became possible to trace, their patterns and structures instantly clear.

Gripping his axe, he focused his mind and analyzed the structure of the array. The enchantment array called Roar of the Crimson Flame consisted of five rings, nested one inside another, interlocking and connected. The Flame Element was amplified in successive layers, giving it unparalleled power.

With time running short, he took only the Elemental structure of the central ring. He directed the Elements with a thought, and the Flame Element remaining in his body after enhancing the motorcycle flowed into the fire axe like water.

A crimson magic pattern slowly took shape.

Suddenly, lines of flame flowed across it, and fire sprang from the empty air. Fierce flames flashed over the fire axe, and crimson light burst from its blade. Kang De let out a long laugh as the flaming axe sent up a wave of fire and flew through the air!

With a boom, it struck a Black Beast squarely. The blade burned through its tough hide and fur and chopped into its flesh. A thunderous bang followed, flames erupted, and the entire Black Beast exploded!

"Fucking awesome!"

Kang De shouted in praise.

The next moment, he cried out, "Fuck, my axe!"

Fragments of the axe scattered to the ground. Perhaps its material couldn't withstand such immense magical power, or perhaps its physical structure couldn't sustain such an intense change in its essence... In any case, after that spectacular, instantly fatal, flame-critical kill, the fire axe had reached the end of its life.

Kang De felt a pang of loss.

He had searched residential property offices, shopping centers, and all sorts of shops and buildings, big and small, including banks, yet had only managed to collect a dozen or so fire axes in total. They were rarer than ammunition.

Single-use, ruined after one attack. Wasn't that far too fragile?

Or was the material not good enough, so it couldn't withstand the strain?

That much was certain. Although they were products of modern industry, steel came in different types and qualities. The steel used to make fire axes and the specialty steel used to build warships had to be worlds apart in quality... Maybe that was why.

But even knowing that, Kang De could do nothing about it. If he could return to modern society, he could order top-grade specialty steel from a dedicated manufacturer. Hell, Laiyang Steelworks was already making parts for homemade rockets on the side, so what would be so difficult about making a thousand or two axes for Master Kang?

But what good was saying that now? He couldn't get back.

"What a loss, what a loss... I'll have to find a way to make it back from these Goth People."

Since enchanted products were only single-use items, then...

He could just enchant weapons that were single-use to begin with.

Kang De reached for the Molotov cocktails hanging from his body.

And then the battle ended.

Not just the encirclement on his side, but the fighting at the Goth camp as well.

While the intelligence potion was still in effect, Kang De enchanted all his Molotov cocktails in one go. After wiping out the remaining Black Beasts, he turned the motorcycle around and charged toward the Goth camp.

Under the Goth People’s terrified gazes, the fearsome Cathayan flew in on a mount wreathed in roaring flames, looking just like a knight from hell.

He raised his hand and hurled a huge fireball, throwing it swiftly and accurately. It exploded in an eruption of crimson flames, burning any Black Beast it touched half to death. Especially when supernatural powers were sealed and people could only fight with their bodies and weapons, an arsonist like him always made a tremendous impact.

The Goth sailors who had taken part in yesterday's conflict felt a wave of lingering fear as they watched.

Those who had only heard about the conflict and hadn't witnessed it shuddered even harder, whispering to their companions, "You actually made it back alive... What a savage Easterner."

The battle ended.

All fifteen Black Beasts had been killed.

Kang De tossed the motorcycle aside. Though his ride had been enhanced with the Flame Element, it had ultimately ended up as scrap... After all, he had only given it a crude, straightforward infusion of Flame Element to strengthen it.

Perhaps things would improve if he carefully worked on them after learning more about enchanting in the future... For now, everything he made was single-use.

Tina and the others came out to meet him.

The knight had put on his armor. He held out the enchanted short sword to Kang De, his smile a little warmer. Kang De's timely rescue, without a moment's hesitation, had earned his goodwill.

"Returning it to its rightful owner," he said politely. "I don't know how to thank you for your help... Your efforts played an irreplaceable and decisive role in the battle."

Kang De smiled. "If you don't know how to thank me, then give me a few more potions, and some crystals too. I used them all up in the fight just now."

The knight looked at the princess, who smiled. "Of course. It's only right."

She smiled with her lips pursed. "After just one meeting, your relationship with Knight Cleveland has already improved. Mother was right. Friendship between men is always so hard to fathom."

Seeing the bright, beautiful woman again improved Kang De's mood as well. He smiled. "Tina."

The princess was taken aback. In all her life, no one had ever addressed her by name so naturally.

But on second thought, it had been the same yesterday.

So she smiled. "Kang De, I'm glad to see you again."

Kang De looked at the somewhat disordered camp and said apologetically, "Sorry, my information was wrong. In my experience, the Black Beasts shouldn't have appeared so soon, and there shouldn't have been so many of them."

"Something unusual may have happened."

The princess thought of the Fire Thief's Hero Altar and said softly, "It wasn't your fault."

Kang De hesitated, then asked carefully, "Was anyone hurt because of it?"

The princess shook her head. "Thanks to you, and to your animal friends, they spotted the beasts as soon as they arrived, then raised the alarm and attacked first, giving us time to react quickly... Otherwise, we would have been caught off guard and suffered heavy losses."

"Coo, coo, coo."

Pigeon flew onto Kang De's shoulder and began gesturing animatedly to claim credit. Her body language was extraordinarily expressive, and of all the magical animals, she communicated most smoothly with Kang De.

Tina looked at Pigeon, a fond smile flashing in her eyes. She turned to Kang De with an envious expression. This girl must have wanted a highly intelligent pet too.

She asked, "What is your friend saying?"

She said she went to North Island to shoot her mouth off today and brought a few of her idiot friends from there to see my girl—that's you—and get a look at your face. Then she wanted them to see for themselves whether your boobs were as big as she said. They happened to run into the Black Beasts coming over, so naturally, she stepped up to protect her sister-in-law.

Kang De said solemnly, "She said she brought a few friends to see you today and happened to run into the Black Beasts, so she stepped in to help when she saw trouble. It was only what she should have done."

The princess was even happier to hear that. She looked at Pigeon very earnestly, gave her a bow, and said solemnly, "Thank you, Miss Pigeon."

"Miss..."

Kang De stared. "She's female?"

"Yes." The princess tilted her head. "Didn't you know, Mr. Kang De?"

How was I supposed to know? Birds don't have big dicks, and they don't have tits either.

"There are lots of signs. You can look at the toes, the body shape, and especially the contours of the head... Miss Pigeon won't let me touch her, but you could try feeling her pubic bones, Mr. Kang De."

The princess explained it all as though listing familiar treasures, then said half-jokingly, "Mr. Kang De, you get a failing mark. You've spent so much time with a girl and still don't know her sex. That's very rude."

Wow, you have no idea how much of a pervert she usually is.

Kang De glanced at Pigeon, but before he could say anything, she gave a coo and flew away.

"Well then, Mr. Kang De."

The princess said cheerfully, "Please come in and sit for a while. Though it isn't as beautiful or comfortable as your home, Goth People hospitality will make up for it. Please allow us to host you as thanks."

Kang De nodded. "My pleasure."

It was indeed time for a talk.

The trade they had discussed earlier, particularly the various potions and crystals, had produced an immediate improvement in Kang De's combat strength. In the short term, they were more important than enchanted equipment.

And there was also... the matter of the Black Beasts.

They had appeared in large numbers, breaking their usual pattern. He needed to find a way to investigate why.

He really did need to talk to them.

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PS1: Ah, I'm late again. It feels like things are going back to how they were with the big... I mean, my last book.

PS2: Fuck, let's set a small goal. Whenever I finish updating before eleven, I'll play Devil May Cry 5 the next day.