The moment Meow-Da leaped from the speeding truck, he had already adjusted his posture for landing.
However, it wasn't a posture prepared for cushioning the impact, but rather one akin to a sprinter at the starting blocks.
As his four limbs touched the ground together, the massive inertia seemed to vanish into thin air, not distorting Meow-Da's movements in the slightest. Despite the lack of any cushioning maneuvers, it was as if he hadn't sustained a scratch of damage.
In the next instant, his arched back uncoiled like a taut spring releasing its tension. As he launched himself forward, he began to sprint rapidly along the asphalt on all fours.
And this running speed was much faster than the trucks already driving at full throttle.
In merely a split second, he had already leaped onto the 'Heavy Raider Type II' that was following alongside the convoy at a steady pace, maintaining standby mode.
Having never seen a machine that operated without a human pilot inside, Meow-Da subconsciously assumed that there was a human present in this one as well.
Therefore, he didn't use his Great Sword. Instead, he switched to a tool that couldn't exactly be considered a hunting weapon... a gadget.
As he charged to the flank of the 'Heavy Raider Type II'...
Two uniquely shaped dual blades, composed of three pairs of sawteeth of varying sizes, appeared in his paws with a reaching motion behind his back.
"Hiyah!"
With Meow-Da leaping high into the air, the Plunderblade in his paws flashed with cold light. The heavy defensive shield of the Heavy Raider was sliced away by these uniquely shaped daggers just like that.
It was as effortless as a hot knife cutting through butter.
As for these scraps that couldn't be used as crafting materials at all, Meow-Da tossed them high into the air so they wouldn't hinder his subsequent movements.
Waiting for them to fall again, Meow-Da—who had anchored himself onto the opponent by stabbing the Plunderblade into the Heavy Raider's body—pushed off violently with his hind legs.
The next moment, powerful force left two distinct cat paw prints on the shield that had been thrown into the air.
Even though he already knew the others in this convoy were bad guys, his subconscious kindness still led him to choose to kick the stripped shield far away.
To avoid hitting the vehicles following behind.
The force was so great that he kicked it directly out of the convoy's range on the road.
Thud! Thud-thud!!
Completing all of this, from leaping off the truck to the finish, took only a few short seconds.
Prior to this, Karon, sitting in the driver's cab, had even begun to smugly envision a future where the commission was successful.
He imagined the glory of the Vanishing Wolves thoroughly surpassing The Triumphant.
But in the very next moment, he was pulled back to reality by the continuous, dull sounds of heavy impacts landing outside.
By the time Karon noticed the situation outside, his 'Heavy Raider' had already had all of its protective armor stripped clean by Meow-Da.
At the same time, all the vehicles subconsciously slammed on their brakes in unison amidst this sudden accident.
Pat-ta.
With a soft sound of friction between paw pads and the ground, Meow-Da landed.
Looking at the Heavy Raider before him, which now had all its armor gone and resembled a plucked chicken, Meow-Da scratched his head in a bit of confusion.
"Are the humans inside hiding that well, meow?"
Although he couldn't use his Great Sword against the Heavy Raider because he hadn't found where the human was controlling this hunk of iron, and thus dared not strike...
After all, no matter what, he was a Hunter. Even if it was a Felyne weapon, it was still a Dragon-hunting weapon!
He was very worried that one slash might cut through the person inside along with the machine.
However, Meow-Da wasn't without options.
"Boss said before that these hunks of iron definitely have a core inside driving them, just like a Wyvern Gem. As long as I find the position of the Wyvern Gem, the rest is my area of expertise, meow!"
As the saying goes, with the Plunderblade in hand, there's nothing I can't secretly carve off!
It's just something similar to a Wyvern Gem; he had lost count of how many times he had stolen such things long ago!
And having stripped it to this extent, Meow-Da had pretty much figured out the location of the power source for this iron-hunk-like thing.
Just as Boss said!
If you can't find the person, then pry out the battery of this thing!
Once it can't move, there won't be any problem even if a human is controlling it, meow!
Directly tucking the Plunderblade back behind his waist, Meow-Da, who had just landed, already had a target. He then transformed into a streak of white light, rushing out at extreme speed.
Meanwhile, not far away, the 'Fleetfoot Patroller Type II' had been constantly trying to lock onto Meow-Da.
But because the Felyne had been clinging to the 'Heavy Raider Type II' previously, it was unable to attack at all to avoid friendly fire.
It wasn't until Meow-Da landed again that it discovered it couldn't lock onto him anymore.
Say what you will, but that was a Felyne who chased Seikrets with ease. When running at full speed on all fours, that speed was absolutely not just for show.
The white streak of light that was Meow-Da swept past the Heavy Raider's abdomen in the next instant.
By the time Meow-Da stopped, the Plunderblade had already returned to his waist, and a massive, incredibly intricate-looking large Ether engine had appeared smoothly in Meow-Da's claws.
Creeeeak—BOOM!!!
It wasn't until Meow-Da came to a complete stop that the 'Heavy Raider Type II', now nothing but a skeleton frame, crashed heavily to the ground as if reacting belatedly, emitting a massive sound of collision.
Only then did the 'Fleetfoot Patroller Type II', no longer obstructed by friendly forces, finally succeed in locking onto Meow-Da again.
Watching a mech get dismantled in just four or five seconds, Karon no longer dared to think of Meow-Da as a harmless child.
Instead, he saw a terrifying monster.
The armor, which originally looked like a child's clumsy imitation, became hideous and terrifying in this moment.
He immediately began to awaken that unrevealed trump card through the controller in his hand, while uncontrollably cursing in rage:
"Dammit! This is a fcking monster! Where the fck did this monster come from!"
At the same time, his other hand immediately picked up the Fleetfoot Patroller's controller and ordered:
"At all costs, stall him for me!"
Yes, stall.
Karon no longer held any hope that the Fleetfoot Patroller could defeat this thing that had suddenly popped up, but he still had his own hope.
His expression turned savage as he muttered to himself:
"Dammit, since you want to hinder me, then go to hell!"
He had completely forgotten that if he hadn't initiated the attack in the first place, Meow-Da wouldn't have fallen into the truck due to the landslide because he wouldn't have been attacked at all.
Nor would any of these subsequent events have happened.
He simply didn't feel that the problem lay with him.
Accompanying the issuance of the command, the Fleetfoot Patroller immediately designated Meow-Da before it as a 'High Threat Target'.
With the opening of the ejection pods, drones resembling funnel cannons were released immediately.
Coordinating with the main body's heavy Ether laser cannon, high-specification firepower immediately blanketed the position where Meow-Da had just been standing, enveloping that entire area.
But Meow-Da had actually long since noticed the 'Fleetfoot Patroller Type II' eyeing him covetously from the side.
Watching the drones dancing in the sky and the crossfire formed by the synchronized heavy laser cannon blast from the front, Meow-Da once again reached behind his back.
Instantly, a heavy shield that looked like a shaman's mask, exuding an aura of the primitive wilds, was pulled out directly by him and planted upright in front of him.
This made Lucy, who was watching all this from a distance, feel her heart tighten instantly.
No matter how ferocious that shield looked, it was made of wood!
How could wood possibly block the combined attack of these heavy laser cannons!
Thus, she immediately shouted a reminder loudly:
"Look out! Dodge it, quick!"
The limited time allowed Lucy to only shout this short sentence. She wanted to run toward Meow-Da.
But it was already too late.
In the next instant, thick and heavy lasers shot directly over, striking this seemingly ordinary and fragile shield.
BOOM BOOM! BOOM!
"We got him!!!"
The lackeys beside Karon watched the dust kicked up by the impact and immediately erupted into a small cheer.
They didn't believe that this oversized cat could remain unharmed after taking such an attack.
But meanwhile, Karon showed not a hint of feeling equally heartened. Instead, he was constantly adjusting parameters, attempting to speed up the activation process.
After all.
Previously, he thought the missiles failed to kill him due to luck, and the hole smashed in the truck was due to the truck itself having issues.
Or that his lackeys had slacked off and not checked it.
But after Meow-Da displayed this kind of combat power, in Karon's eyes, it instantly turned into another explanation.
He didn't believe that an existence who could eat a missile barrage and smash through a cargo box while remaining unscathed could be taken out by just a single round of heavy cannon fire.
Even if that shield really shattered at a touch, he didn't think so.
And the facts were exactly as Karon had predicted.
Before the smoke could even disperse, a burst of intense, blinding light suddenly pierced directly through the smoke, turning everything around it from dusk into broad daylight.
The intense radiance brought an effect like a flashbang, causing everyone around to become dizzy and dazzled.
And the Fleetfoot Patroller, which used visual sensors to lock onto targets and gathered high-intensity information on the area where Meow-Da was, froze instantly as if it had crashed.
Even the drones that were originally hovering continuously lost control in this flash and fell to the ground.
For some unknown reason, Lucy felt that the impact of the flash on her wasn't as severe as on the others.
It was as if friendly protection had been applied.
So she saw clearly the streak of white light darting out from the smoke.
And the uniquely shaped dagger in that streak of light's hand.
Creeeak—BOOM!!!
In the next moment, as if a scene were being replayed, the Fleetfoot Patroller's heavy Ether engine also appeared directly in Meow-Da's paws.
It was just that the commotion caused by the Fleetfoot Patroller, which had been killed in one blow, crashing to the ground was more than a tier louder than the Heavy Raider, which had been nothing but a frame.
Casually tossing the Ether engine, which couldn't be used as material, to the side.
Meow-Da ran quickly on all fours to the front of the cargo container where Lucy was. He curled his soft cat paws, straightened his upper body to stand up, and said with a face full of pride:
"I told you I could protect you, meow! You believe me now, right?!"
Looking at the fluffy dumpling before her, who seemed to puff up with pride.
Lucy truly had some difficulty linking him to the existence that had just dismantled two military autonomous mechs in a practically crushing manner within merely a breath's time.
But reality had happened in such a way that made her feel it was magical.
Looking at the incredibly cute Meow-Da before her, Lucy couldn't bring herself to say a single tsundere word.
Lucy, who almost never spoke softly, subconsciously placed her hand on his big head again to rub it, while praising him in what could almost be called the gentlest voice of her life:
"Yes, yes! You really are super amazing! By the way, I still don't know your name."
Feeling the praising pets on his head, Meow-Da once again couldn't resist narrowing his eyes in comfort, emitting a purring sound.
At the same time, he answered seriously:
"My name is Meowscular! You can call me Meow-Da! What about yours?"
"Um... Meow-Da! Meow!"
Realizing immediately that a verbal tic might cause a misunderstanding, Meow-Da corrected himself as soon as the words left his mouth.
But no matter how he tried to suppress it, the 'meow' tic still popped out uncontrollably at the end.
However, thanks to his efforts to suppress it, there was a clear gap between it and the preceding words, allowing one to at least make out the original meaning.
Upon hearing Meow-Da's name, Lucy couldn't help but reveal a hint of a smile.
Compared to her own name, which was complicated to the point of being a tongue-twister, Meow-Da's name was simple to the point of cuteness.
"My name is Luciana Auxesis Theodoro de Montefio. You can just call me Lucy."
"Nice to meet you, Meow..."
After the self-introduction, which was brief but became not-so-brief due to the full name, Lucy was just about to address him as Meow-Da wished.
But looking at the cat named 'Meowscular' with the accent of a young child, for some reason, she felt the two were really incompatible.
She felt that if she called him that, she would lose in some aspect.
As if struck by a sudden inspiration, Lucy punched her palm and said:
"I think calling you Meow-Da sounds smoother. How about I just call you Meow-Da from now on?"
"Lucia—Au—O? Then what was it again, meow?"
The long string of names successfully made Meow-Da dizzy. After clutching his head and spinning for a long time without success, Meow-Da's brain successfully short-circuited itself.
Even his eyes turned into swirling mosquito coils.
But after his short-circuited brain successfully restarted and he realized what Lucy had just said, Meow-Da immediately meowed in astonishment.
"Meow?!? Why does a newly met friend also automatically call me Meow-Da! This isn't scientific, meow!"
While Meow-Da and Lucy were exchanging names, the gang from the Vanishing Wolves was not so leisurely.
The two strongest combat assets currently were already scrap metal. Although the remaining people were wearing military equipment, it couldn't bring them any sense of security at all.
Looking at Meow-Da in the center of the convoy, everyone was subconsciously retreating.
They wanted to slip away secretly before the other party noticed them again.
Karon, however, had no energy to pay attention to those lackeys.
He was no longer considering whether the mission could be completed.
The young miss of the Montefio family, the high commission fee, the glorious future of the Vanishing Wolves—compared to his own life, none of it mattered!
For Karon, sitting in the truck's driver's cab, slipping away secretly was impossible.
But, there was still hope!
He hadn't used his trump card yet!
In the face of his trump card, it was still unknown who would die by whose hand!
_____
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