“Thanks for the help, but we could have killed it too,” Hwaya responded with a snort, and the young man exclaimed in surprise.

“Hwaya Mastiford, Britain’s SS ranker! I didn’t think you’d be here! Nice to meet you. I’m America’s SS ranker, Leon Pepper!”

“Y-Yeah.”

Hwaya became flustered at his overly energetic greeting and nodded. I messaged her.

[What do you know about America’s SS ranker?]

[I’ve heard rumors. I know America’s SS ranker is African-American.]

After answering me, Hwaya greeted Leon Pepper, “Let’s continue chatting when we get back on the ground. We’re in the middle of our enemies’ territory right now.”

“Hahaha! Alright, then we’ll have to take care of them quickly! See you in a bit!”

Apparently, he was piloting the helicopter himself. It turned around and flew away. Before long, it came across a wyvern and promptly obliterated it with its machine gun. It was truly mesmerizing.

“What is that!?” I exclaimed.

Hwaya explained, “That’s his ability. I think it’s called Object Control.”

As long as his ability could reach it, he could freely control any object. Unfortunately, as the range was currently limited to small vehicles, guns, and things like bazookas. Even so, it was an incredible and powerful ability. Most importantly, he could empower objects under his control with mana, giving them destructive force that could pierce through usually impenetrable barriers.

A cheat, so to say.

I whistled. “Damn, that’s cool…”

“Don’t worry, Shin’s cooler!”

“Yeah, his weapon is too simple and not sophisticated at all.”

Two of them comforted me, but it only made my competitive side rise.

“Alright, let’s do this. Let’s start hunting the wyverns! Let’s show them Team Revival will not lose to anyone!”

“Ooooh!”

“Geez, men are all kids…”

Unlike Ye-eun and Ludia’s eager response, Hwaya’s cold gaze made me a bit embarrassed. In any case, we then started our wyvern hunt.

To be honest, our party was very, very outstanding. After all, I could hunt wyverns alone by flying. However, even without me, Hwaya was a long-range attacker with great firepower, Ludia had an overwhelming defensive and healing capability after obtaining the earth’s power to strengthen her holy magic, and Ye-Eun was a powerful close-range attacker. Ye-Eun could easily jump on an approaching wyvern, target its neck for the kill, and jump back to the helicopter. Her agile movements almost resembled a spider’s.

We continued hunting wyverns on the helicopter until it was time to eat lunch. At first, the pilot freaked out at my order to charge at any wyverns he saw. After the first couple of times, he began to gain a taste for the adrenaline and flew towards any wyverns he saw without even asking us. In the end, we ended up hunting about a hundred wyverns in a few hours.

“Amazing!”

When we got down for a lunch break, Leon Pepper was waiting for us.

“Truly amazing! Is everyone a SS ranker?” he asked enthusiastically.

“Of course, not. Not officially, at least,” I retorted mischievously with a smile. Pepper grinned back.

“With you guys, this tedious subjugation mission might finally end. I got a report that the wyverns that left Antelope Canyon are returning too!”

“Because we killed so many of them?”

He gestured excitedly. “Yes! After all, you guys are killing ten wyverns for every wyvern other people kill. Thanks for coming to America, Thunder Knight, Flame Witch, and…”

“Kyak.”

Ludia dodged Pepper’s eyes and hid behind my back. It was the same for Ye-Eun. With a bitter smile, I told Pepper, “They’re shy.”

“Haha, two girls. How talented, Thunder Knight. Alright, I can always greet them later! I told you before, but we should go out for a drink tonight. How about it?”

When he asked, Hwaya immediately messaged me.

[It’s okay, right? It’s our chance to become friends with a foreign country’s SS ranker.]

[Of course, it’s okay.]

When I answered, Hwaya looked at Leon Pepper and responded with a nod.

“Sure. We can leave behind the kids who can’t drink, and go out with the three of us.”

“I’m not a kid!” Ludia protested.

Ye-Eun screeched, “I can drink too!”

Rather than denying it, you both should realize you guys look like kids…Before Hwaya catches on at least. I sighed and calmed them down.

I didn’t know how the other ability users would react when they heard this, but I thought hunting the wyverns at the Antelope Canyon was enjoyable. No wyverns could even touch our party, and the money we got from selling them was enormous even if it were split between the four of us. Competing with Leon Pepper was fun too. Other than the gazes of envy and jealousy we were getting, there was no issue.

However, like Leon Pepper said when we first met, the number of wyverns in the canyon was increasing day by day. Wyverns that had escaped from their nest were all returning. Perhaps they knew they would be in danger if this place was subjugated. In any case, they were attacking more actively.

Spinning the pistol he always carried around with his finger, Pepper muttered, “This is a good sign.”

“It means we’ll run into their boss soon.”

“Boss…I’m looking forward to it.”

“Want to bet who’s going to kill it, T.K.?” Pepper grinned.

I shot him a glare. “I told you, don’t call me T.K…But sure, let’s bet.”

“It’s the boss of a S rank Field Dungeon. Graveyard Over the Lake was dangerous, so be more careful this time.”

While Pepper and I half-jokingly discussed our bet, Hwaya interjected with a tired voice. Of course, I didn’t forget about what had happened at Windermere. Hwaya was especially surprised at the time and had worried about me. I didn’t think Pepper would punch me into the boss’ mouth, but apparently Hwaya was worried about the boss fight in general. However, my companions and I were all too strong to be afraid of a S rank Field Dungeon boss. Although I shouldn’t let my guard down, it wouldn’t be good to be too conservative.

“Don’t worry, Hwaya. We have reliable companions this time,” I said casually.

She huffed, “Are you implying I wasn’t reliable?”

“You’re included, obviously, but you couldn’t intervene last time.”

“You’ve only gotten good at talking.”

Hwaya pouted and tilted her glass of alcohol. Ever since the first time we drank with Pepper, Hwaya and I often snuck out after Ludia and Ye-Eun fell asleep to drink with him. Though, it was more that Pepper joined in when we were drinking with just the two of us.

“Are you guys dating?” Pepper asked out of the blue. While I opened my eyes widely in surprise, he added, “I thought you were dating that blonde lady, but you looked rather uninterested. In that case, the Flame Witch was the next best candidate.”

I tiredly explained, “First, I’m friends with that blonde lady you’re talking about. She’s just overly reliant on me.”

I’d have to make her stop clinging to me one day. Though, that would be hard now.

After my retort, Hwaya added, “T.K. and I are friends for now too. I don’t know what the future has in store for us though.”

“Hahaha!”

Pepper burst into laughter, and I stared after hearing Hwaya’s strange response. However, Hwaya simply shrugged and continued, “Isn’t that how man-and-woman relationships are? You’re a good guy, and you’re not dating anyone right now. I just happen to be an extremely good girl, and I’m also single. So if I suddenly jump at you out of the blue, you can’t say anything.”

I said helplessly, “I think something’s wrong with your logic, but I’ll try to avoid being alone with you for now. I’m planning on enjoying my dates with monsters for a while more, so I have no plans on getting a girlfriend.”

“Hahahaha! You guys are too funny!”

Pepper clapped as he laughed. However, I couldn’t laugh along with him. It didn’t look like Hwaya was joking at all. For now, I refused her in a joking manner.

I would have thought, Why would Hwaya like me!?, but I already had a precedent with Loretta and Ye-Eun. Agh, damn, this was all because I was a Hero! Definitely! Maybe monsters running rampant, global warming getting worse, wars continuing to rage across the globe, and lands cracking from droughts were all because I was a Hero too!

A week after we came to Arizona, the wyverns had suddenly gotten stronger.

“Ah, I’ve seen this phenomenon before.”

“Oh, what a coincidence. Same here.”

After returning to the helicopter using ice steps, I thought about the wyverns I had just killed. Wyverns used to die from a single Thunder Tempest, but now it took two or three of them to barely kill one. I murmured after drawing my breath, “But still, they got too strong. They used to not be able to withstand your fire for long, Hwaya.”

Hwaya explained, “I heard that the stronger monsters get, the stronger the boss is. Ye-Eun, maybe…”

“I can’t fight the boss?”

“Maybe.”

Ye-Eun was exactly at the level of wyverns. She could manage to kill the strengthened wyverns, but if the boss was stronger than we thought, we would need to pull her back from battle for her safety. We were here to hunt wyverns safely, not to risk our lives.

“But I want to help Shin…” she protested.

I smiled. “Thank you for the sentiment.”

“T-Then will you give me a kiss?” she asked bashfully.

“No,” I replied flatly.

“You rejected me too fast…!” she wailed.

Tensions ran high in Antelope Canyon. Then, one ability user fought against a wyvern without properly assessing its strength and died. No one below S rank was in this canyon, so the person who died was also an S ranker. The canyon’s atmosphere became darker. Pepper couldn’t laugh and enjoy himself anymore.

Two days after the casualty appeared, a heavy rain poured down. Since we couldn’t stop just because of the rain, we got on our attack helicopter and set out to hunt wyverns. Ludia had been feeling uneasy the entire day, and after the helicopter took off, she pulled on my sleeve and murmured, “Shin, I’m feeling strangely uneasy.”

In truth, it was the perfect atmosphere to feel uneasy. Someone had died, wyverns had gotten stronger, and a heavy rain was pouring down today. In fact, there was so much rain that it was hard to see in front of us.

I responded, “Don’t worry, the boss is going to appear for sure.”

“What does that mean!?”

“Do you not get it? Can’t you see the powerful mana raging in the distance?”

Not long after I said that, the pilot screamed. From deep inside the canyon, a dragon-like wyvern twice as large as other wyverns came out. As I suspected, it appeared today!

Then, Ye-Eun suddenly raised her head after sensing the boss.

[Shin, it’s strange.]

[What’s strange?]

[I don’t know how to describe it…But there’s something more.]

I frowned. It was then that a giant dragon suddenly appeared in the air.

[An Event Raid has broken out! SS+ rank 100-man, ‘Flame Drake.’ Because you are at the location of the raid boss, you are forced to participate!]