"Boring."
"I'm leaving."
Zaren climbed down from the ancient tree and landed on the Young Kai-Ming Beast. He tugged on the chain, forcing the Giant Tiger to change direction and leave.
The Young Kai-Ming Beast growled repeatedly as it burrowed into a patch of grass.
Suddenly.
Zaren, riding on the Giant Tiger, twitched his ears slightly, catching a barely perceptible sound.
He abruptly looked up and saw a palm-sized drone hovering not far above his head.
"Pruhler!"
Zaren immediately thought of that colonel.
An ordinary drone could never have escaped his senses. Only the God of Craftsmen acting through Pruhler had the ability to create such a machine that moved without making a sound.
Zaren instantly yanked the chain. The Young Kai-Ming Beast turned toward the drone and let out a low growl. A gray spear appeared in the air and shot out like lightning, striking the drone.
As the drone shattered into pieces, Zaren abruptly flattened himself against the Giant Tiger. Almost at the same time, a basketball-sized hole exploded in a nearby ancient tree.
Only then did the sound of sniper equipment firing come from the distance.
"Those idiots from the Strategic Affairs Department actually failed to kill that bastard Pruhler!"
Zaren cursed as he controlled the Giant Tiger to flee.
Just then.
A dark figure burst out of the grass not far away.
It was Colonel Pruhler!
The colonel wore a grim expression. Beneath his feet was a strange vehicle shaped like a tank, but with three wheels.
Zaren also saw illusory flames rising around the colonel. Within the flames was the phantom of a man holding tools such as a hammer and a pair of tongs.
That was Pruhler's Holy Projection, "Hephaestus."
Zaren's gaze shifted downward and landed on the strange vehicle beneath Pruhler's feet. *This