.

Being tired and confused by that dumb dream must’ve turned me into an idiot… Good thing I didn’t drink as well; otherwise, I would’ve been crowned a moron for life.

Darius drove outside the city and into the danger zone as he became irritated with his own actions, traveling at a speed of over 80 km/h around the city's destroyed areas. From the outside, he seemed to just wander aimlessly between the buildings while dodging crowded areas of monsters and running through the ones that appeared before him, but in truth, he already knew where to go.

I must reach the very edge of the city to meet up with a boss-ranked ogre.

Mythical monsters.

Beings that are suspected to have come from the other side of the rift and ended up infected by the miasma, turning into monsters that searched only to fight and conquer other monsters, be they infected or not, be they born from within the miasma or simply from the other side of the rift.

-BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!-

However, not long after he left the fortified part of the city, his radar detected two hostile vehicles marking him with lasers for the guided rockets. A window popped up on the side of his screen, and after he pressed on it, the camera from behind the car zoomed in to two armored vehicles rushing his way down the main road, the symbol of the Infernal Dogs being visible on their cars.

[Ahem, ahem. Yo. With such a nice car, I bet you have a radio station installed as well. Am I right, you fucker?]

His radio station caught the other cars’ signals, and through the radio, the voice of a mad person resounded; his voice was obviously angered for some reason.

Already knowing why the other person was mad, Darius smiled and announced it through the radio.

[Hey. Like my car? I was able to get it after selling the badges of your friends. Although a bigger part I had to put in with my own money. I didn't expect you guys to be worth so little. A bit disappointing, don’t you think?]

[-Crack!- Laugh while you can, jackass. Wait till I catch you. I’ll dismantle you limb by limb myself, then feed you to infernal dogs, dead or alive.]

He must’ve clenched the station hard enough to crack it, hence the loud sound at the beginning. But this only made Darius more amused as he pressed on the acceleration to lose them.

-WARNING!-

A large warning signal appeared above the screen, and through the same window, he saw four homing missiles launched by the two cars.

"They do have some nice toys on them."

Seeing the laser-guided missiles, Darius made a sharp turn to the left, sliding and crashing onto a building from the sudden turn, but nevertheless continuing on through the building and then through the other side, as the car wasn’t even scratched.

-BOOM!-

Two of the rockets blew up the building damaged by Darius’ car, and the other two destroyed the building from right beside it. Since missiles can’t make such sharp turns, they crashed into the buildings around, destroying everything in the area.

-ROAGH!-

Demonic Dogs and Infernal Dogs both jumped from atop buildings or from over the corners towards Darius’ car, trying to intercept him on the way. The noises attracted the owners of the territory, and since Darius had no anti-monster sonars, he was the best target for them.

Seeing more monsters coming his way, he activated the anti-infantry turret, and from inside a trap on top of the car’s front, a mini-cannon appeared and automatically detected the life forms around.

-PRRRRRRRR~!-

With a firepower of over 1000 rounds per minute, the dogs were intercepted way before they could deal any significant damage to the car. To also get rid of his pursuers, Darius pressed another button that opened a trap beneath the car, where explosives were dropped.

"Shit! Turn!"

One of the bandit cars took a sharp turn after seeing the metallic balls left behind by Darius’ car, but the one in front didn’t have the time to do so, ending up driving right into them.

After seeing this through the back camera, Darius pressed the button for the bombs again, and they all exploded, killing a few monsters while also taking out the car’s front wheels and probably the engine as well. Since the bombs were about as strong as normal hand grenades, they weren’t able to completely blow up the armored vehicle, but if not dead, then pretty sure the driver at least suffered some serious injuries from the explosions.

-CRASH!-

The car crashed into a nearby building, but probably because of the AM sonar, no monster was approaching it, leaving it alone and continuing to chase Darius.

"You think it’s safer to come after me? Damn stupid dogs."

Darius accelerated further and suddenly pressed the brakes while turning the wheels.

-CREEAAAAK~!!!-

With sharp creaking noises, Darius turned the car and quickly changed to reverse, now driving with the back while the anti-infantry turret aimed at the incoming monsters.

-PRRRRRRRR~-

Another wave of armor penetration bullets completely decimated the incoming monsters. After easily taking all of them, he made the same turn and crashed the 4th speed in one go, flooring the acceleration and turning the engine until he could change to the 5th speed. The main road of the damaged city wasn’t free enough for Darius to go over 100 km/h, but since the armor on his car was strong enough to smash brick walls like tanks, he didn’t mind even if he crashed a few monsters along the way, easily running the lowest and low-ranked ones over.

I had to take a small detour because of those bastards. But I guess the Field-Boss of the Dog-type monsters should be worth it as well. They’re weaker than the wolf-type, but for sure more vicious.

Unlike wolves that struck from the shadows and hunted quietly, the dogs were too loud to gain any surprise element, and their physical or magical strength was overall lower than a wolf’s. But their sacrificial way of fighting, together with the savage and brutal forms of killing, made them the most avoided even by fellow monsters, not wishing to mess with such mad bastards that would fight to the last stand.

-BARK BARK! GRRR~!-

Loud barks and growls attracted Darius’ attention from atop a nearby building. There, he observed a pack of mid- and high-ranked monsters observing him, now jumping from building to building to intercept him on the way. Being of such high rank, they were able to easily speed up to 100 km and even past that, running faster than Darius' car could go with all the obstacles on the way.

Let’s see if the rockets can help me a bit.

He pressed another button on his screen, and on top of the car, two missiles appeared from inside two traps, locking onto the monsters and launching themselves right after.

-Grrr! ROAGH!-

The high-ranked infernal dog saw the missiles, and to intercept them, it opened its mouth wide, a bright purplish-red light shining for a moment, when a sudden beam shot out and intercepted the rockets mid-air, exploding them right after. However, as the monsters were atop buildings, the mid-air explosions took their vision away, and now Darius was basically covered by a smoke screen.

"Now!"

The mid-air explosion obscured their line of sight, so Darius hit the brakes and made another quick turn down a side street between more buildings.

Activate the radar. Load rockets.

Another sonar-like window popped up on his screen, and on the radar, more red dots started to appear from the upper left corner one after the other, the radar detecting a high concentration of miasma-bodies. The distance from the center is 87 m, and the bodies are approaching quickly.

I need them to be as close as 10 meters to me to enter the area of effect of my glove.

He activated the glove with a purplish hue covering his left arm and prepared the rockets again, aiming them upwards.

75m, 70m, 60m, 45m.

The targets were coming closer and closer since they also detected Darius by sound, sprinting from one building to another and coming closer. Making another turn through a tighter road between the buildings, he continued on driving while at the same time glancing constantly at the radar.

30m, 25m, 15m, 8m.

Right as it reached this point, dogs jumped off the buildings and towards Darius. The high-ranked one opened its mouth to shoot another beam when-

-SNAP!-

Darius snapped his fingers strongly with a wide grin on his face, flooring the brakes and pressing the rocket button once again.

-Roagh?!-

All the miasma around the car suddenly started vibrating uncontrollably and shot away from him in a radiant form, just like a shockwave that completely wiped the miasma from the area of 10 meters around. The monsters expressed visible confusion while mid-air and the plasma breath were completely nullified, the bright shine from the dog’s mouth dying out with a spark like a burnt light bulb, while Darius’ glove started shining with a purple, eerie light.

-BOOM!-

The two mini-rockets intercepted the monsters and exploded mid-air, cracking the walls of the two buildings around them and completely shattering all the windows remaining.

After pressing the brakes, Darius made another turn and drove with the back, activating his anti-infantry turret once again and shooting at the paralyzed monsters that crashed on the ground, all filled with blood.

They were as large as cars, and the high-ranking ones’ hide was also tough enough to barely be scratched by the bullets. While the mid-ranked ones died immediately, the high-ranked were still able to hold on, although heavily injured, with most of the bullets ricocheting on their hide.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

-GRRR!-

Wanting to resist the unknown energy that was holding them still, the high-ranked dog growled and summoned forth all its miasma from within, its hide starting to shine in a bright red color as the air started to vibrate.

"Oho. A high-ranked monster tries to use a boss-ranked ability. Not bad; that means this bastard has the potential to evolve."

-BOOM!-

After equipping his sniper, he aimed and shot a round while standing on both his feet, the shockwave slightly pushing his body back while raising the dust around his feet. The bullet exploded the monster’s head, interrupting its ability and stunning the monster as its left ear and eye were completely busted. The skull was also visible, while black blood was dripping like water from a faucet. Rather than cry in pain, the monster gazed at Darius with its remaining eye. If it was anyone else other than Darius, that glare would’ve paralyzed them in fear.

"Too bad I’m not kind enough to give it the chance."

The monster growled like mad at Darius, but another bullet in the same spot completely crushed its head, killing it instantly.

-BOOM! Click. BOOM! Click. BOOM! Click.-

After the leader was taken out, Darius continued to take out the remaining two high-ranked monsters.

-GROWL! GRRR!-

The dogs growled enraged, and although they were being crushed by the pressure emanated from Darius' glove, while at the same time suffering heavy damages all over their bodies, they still tried to get up and make step after step towards Darius. Their mad eyes flashed red with a brutal desire to maul him alive. If it were anyone else, they would’ve felt dread and had their backs drenched with cold sweat from the monstrous killing desire. But at this sight, Darius simply grinned, finding the unshakable spirit of the dogs rather amusing.

Although the weakest, these bastards evolve the fastest thanks to their fearless spirit. But that is only if they get to that point.

-BOOM!-

A last bullet penetrated the head of the last monster standing.

Taking the pack of dogs out, he quickly deactivated the glove, stopping the miasma-control skill, and such, the miasma from around filled back the emptied space.

-Fsss~-

As the crystal's light slowly faded, leftover miasma accumulated on top of it like smoke after blowing out a candle, dissipating with the wind.

"Fuuuh…."

It’s harder to control it without its counterpart.

Darius’ eyes shook for a moment, and he tried to stay strong on both feet, feeling as if anemic after neutralizing the miasma around for about a whole minute while at the same time trying to resist the crystal’s corruption.

I must hunt the rest of the packs until the field boss of this area appears. Fuck. Because of those imbeciles, I had to waste a shit-ton of bullets and even bombs to fend them off.

After taking into account the amount of explosives and ammo for the turret he still had, he felt a slight headache, blaming it all on the bandits.

.

After a few more hours, Darius hunted down another three packs of dogs, and as he shot dead the last infernal dog-

-AOOOO~!-

A loud howl shook the windows around, followed right after by a burning heat wave, burning the plants and insects around in an instant. Thanks to his armor, Darius was able to resist the heat wave, but the sudden rise in temperature made him feel dizziness and a headache.

Finally, the field boss appeared.

First things first, Darius made sure to inject himself with a dose of dopamine to enchant his senses. Right after, he activated the camera on his mask and started giving out explanations.

"I’m inside the infernal dogs’ territory. After killing four packs of mid- and high-ranked dogs, the field boss appeared. It first lets out a loud howl that’s still audible even now, together with a heat wave that spams for a km radius all around the Infernal Dog. I feel dizzy and nauseous from the sudden rise in temperature, but my armor still protects me from burning up."

The air was constantly vibrating, and after entering his car again, he saw on the radar how the monster was approaching closer, a large red dot coming right towards the middle.

-CREEEEAAAKK~!-

Flooring the acceleration, Darius quickly drove away from the area and outside the little road, onto the main street.

-GROWL!-

Just as he did so, on the right, a humongous dog about five floors tall appeared, and with a loud growl, it detected Darius and rushed towards him.

[Activating Turbo-engines]

Not even looking at the monster to his right, Darius opened the little trap of a button and pressed it, causing the car to suddenly shoot out in front, penetrating through the first floor of another building. Thanks to the armor, the car was able to shoot through multiple layers of concrete and brick walls, getting from the main road to a secondary one on the other side of the buildings.

While at it, he activated a program that constantly kept the monster in camera view, seeing in real-time how the monster suddenly dashed with destructive power towards Darius, wrecking any building in its path.

"That’s its ability: [Frontal Charge]. It’s similar to the shadow spiders’ charge, but the Infernal Dog leaves a trail of fire behind it. It’s advised to dodge this ability to the side and not use any ability that might teleport you behind it. You will only light yourself on fire, and since those flames are imbued with miasma, you will have a hard time extinguishing them."

Calmly but quickly, he tried to explain the monster’s every ability as detailed as possible while also focusing on the monster’s position.

-PIII~!-

The sharp but barely audible ultrasound created by monsters when they prepare their plasma breath resounded again, making Darius quickly snap his fingers and turn on the wheel in a hurry.

-BOOM!-

A large pillar of fiery plasma shot out and almost hit his car after also penetrating through more buildings. Thanks to his miasma control, he was able to weaken the beam and slightly stop the monster from aiming his way, making it miss by a hair.

-CREEAACK~!-

Darius took a sharp turn, locked the mini-rockets onto the monster, and fired them instantly through the sizable hole the monster had made in the building.

-Grrrr ROAAGH!-

Although affected by the miasma control, the monster summoned its internal energy and let out a destructive roar that released an infernal heat wave, exploding the rockets right after hitting the wave, cracking the buildings in the vecinity.

Shit!

Thanks to the armor and the building between the monster and him, but most importantly, thanks to the anti-miasma field he created with the glove, the destructive wave only damaged the car’s electronic devices and rendered them useless. That meant that any type of gadget or weapon installed on the vehicle was now completely useless, barely able to drive it.

Fuck… The miasma nullifying field that’s still activated can lower a field boss's abilities only halfway, but just how is this bastard so strong with only 50% of its strength? He’s still a few times stronger than a boss-ranked since he's a field-boss, that's true. But the Infernal Dogs are among the weakest in every rank! What the heck is going on?

Sweat filled his forehead while his face turned pale. If anything, Darius was thankful that the rockets and explosives installed inside the car didn’t explode from that shockwave.

He got off the car and ran in the opposite direction from it, trying to reach the main road. Since his car was no longer functional, he quickly tried to get away from that enclosure of buildings. Staying there would just ask to be surrounded and buried alive by debris.

"That was the [Infernal Roar]. It releases a strong heat wave that blocks all types of explosives at a distance of 50 meters and renders any electronic device in an area of 200 meters useless. That means this ability counters mines, explosive shells, missiles, drones, and any other light-explosives or gadgets as long as it is not something on par with a large rocket..."

As he explained, the rundown villa in front of him suddenly exploded with fire as the dog charged right through it, appearing right in front of Darius with its mouth wide open as it tried to bite him with incredible speed.

"Guh!"

Darius jumped to the side while also shooting in the opposite direction, using the force of the strong recoil of the sniper to push himself away from the monster’s deadly bite. Due to the dog's enormous body, its massive back still barely touched him, turning the armor red for a brief period of time.

"[Fiery Barrier]. It’s hide can actually release enough energy to melt even tungsten. My armor's made out of a high-ranked dark anaconda’s scaled skin, and it’s already on the verge of breaking apart from a light bump."

After being dodged, the dog turned towards Darius, but a sudden explosive bullet to its eye made it quickly shake its head, enraged, and glare back at him. However, Darius was no longer there, making the monster look around for a moment until it detected the sound of his footsteps to the left between more buildings. Gnashing its teeth, the monster turned his way furiously and precisely pinned his location through the many walls by the sound.

-PII!-

It wanted to release another strong plasma breath, but another shockwave made it freeze in place for a moment and weaken the skill, shooting out the plasma breath forward and missing its moving target by far.

-GRRRR!!-

It growled already irritated, and it madly went between the buildings towards Darius. But just as it saw him, a thunder struck its head, making the monster crouch down stunned. Its ears were ringing, while it was also completely blinded by the strong flash, unable to hear or see for a moment.

Any ice- and water-based abilities would struggle to deal any damage as long as they aren't at least on par with a boss-ranked ability because of the strong fire barrier surrounding it. To deal with these bastards, using lightning should be good enough since plasma can easily pass through fire and penetrate its hide."

His glove sparkled with purple light after he used the Thunder Wolf's ability to deal damage to the Infernal Dog. Then, he raised his sniper and quickly shot another bullet.

-Click, BOOM!-

"And while it’s stunned, you can strike it down with whatever you might have on you to deal some damage."

He focused on his weapon, and stable energy swept through the sniper, covering the explosive bullet whole with concentrated miasma.

When he fired an enchanted bullet into the area where the lightning he generated with the glove had weakened the barrier, a small scratch appeared and black blood began to flow from the monster's forehead. Although it was a type of monster with weak defense and the bullet was enchanted, it was still a field boss. If it wasn’t a direct hit, then even a tank’s shell would just ricochet.

Using his miasma control to the maximum, Darius tried to weaken the monster’s barrier, enchant his own bullets, and at the same time create more thunderbolts up into the sky by concentrating the clouds and revolving them right above the monster. Since the monster itself was emanating a lot of heat and the sky was already cloudy and stormy, the energy required to control the storm was minimal, only having to show a path for the warm and cold air to circulate to form highly condensed clouds right above it and hold the thunder to accumulate as much power to discharge as possible.

Come on… Just hold still…!

The dog became aware that something wasn’t right with the miasma around anymore, and its usual hot-blooded head started to cool down for a moment, and its eyes turned sharper.

"Grr… human...! Why do you possess such power?"

The monster asked while feeling both urgent and irritated, making Darius freeze in place for a moment as he focused on the miasma around him. He glared at the monster and asked back while finding the fact that a monster began a conversation absurd.

"What’s the big deal? There are many humans able to use powers. Be it from mana or miasma."

While in a do-or-die situation, you don’t normally talk. You only focus on killing your opponent. Many trained soldiers know of that, and for sure, all beasts know to focus on their actions and not their noises. Why is this bastard so talkative so suddenly?

"They either smell disgusting or similar to us. But none have this bestial smell like you. Since you started using this power, you began smelling like those wolf bastards… You… are you an elder of the Wolf Tribe? Why have you come to the edge?!"

Mana smells disgusting to them, as expected. As for having a bestial wolf-like smell, it must be because I’m using the crystal of the Thunder Wolf and its abilities. But, elder… That’s how monsters call the Great-Boss Ranked monsters. They do have the ability to morph into a human-like body while possessing godly powers. They’re called elders by other monsters because of the amount of knowledge and power they began to possess with the passage of time. The reason it started talking... is he afraid of the possibility that I might be an elder?

Using his own knowledge, Darius was able to understand the monster’s questions and answer them accordingly.

"Why I’m here…? To take your head."

-Bzzt- bzzzt!-

"ROAAR!"

Sparks started being visible through the already darkened sky, and with a wave of his hand, the crystal shone brightly while a large pillar of lightning struck down the monster just as it wanted to dash at Darius, making it howl in pain.

"Guh!"

His head felt like splitting while black veins were visible on his skin under his costume, coming from the glove and going up his arm, elbow, and shoulder.

I need to finish this quickly, or the miasma will start contaminating my heart and brain.

The heart was a core organ for humans, just like the brain. Unlike what’s generally known, the heart's not just a blood-pumping organ. Just like the brain, the heart also has its own neuronal functions and is able to store memories, together with its own magnetic field that influences emotions and defends the body from external radiation. Once corrupted, it can weaken the mind and easily break the ego, turning a person towards madness even before miasma could even touch the brain.

After the dust settled, the dog was visible on the ground while trying desperately to get back up and go for the kill; its eyes were still alive and filled with murder, wanting to rush at Darius in one go.

"Grrr-! Just fucking die!"

Roaring out infuriated, Darius controlled a large amount of miasma from behind a building, and using its pulling force, it pushed the whole run-down building towards the dog and crashed it on top of it, making the dog lose its footing after having a whole building crash onto it and fall down with a large tremor.

-Grrr Piiiii~!-

It opened its mouth, and another sharp sound resounded—a large red beam being shot right towards Darius.

Using the same force to propel himself, Darius dashed to the side the moment he heard the sound, dodging the beam and once again going towards the dog. With his plasma knife out, he impaled the monster’s head right in the middle, giving it no chance to even close its mouth after shooting the beam.