Serum

The route to the Dwarven Haven was long, easily over 3 thousand miles. The trip wouldn't be short. 

At least, that was if a normal wagon were traveling this route. 

With Pandora's specially constructed car, they could average around 60 miles an hour. While the bumpy roads made the drive rougher and slower than on paved road, they were still moving at a speed far greater than wagons. 

Pandora also told him that the car was designed to drive at those speeds for around 8 hours straight. After that, it would need to recharge for double the time. 

That meant they could drive for 8 hours a day. At 60 miles an hour, they could travel almost 500 miles a day. That would place them near their destination in a week. 

That was if nothing else happened, though. And if the world lacked anything right now, it was peace and quiet. 

5 hours in, they spotted their first monster.

............

Dirk rested in the passenger seat. If his eyes weren't cursed, he would've had them closed. The new equivalent of shutting his eyes was unfocusing on the mana around him, relaxing his senses. 

"We're getting close."

"To where?"

"The major dungeon."

Suddenly, Dirk's senses sharpened. 

Their route would actually take them to one of the vanguard cities of Horizon right on the border. They were using those roads, and they would continue after going around the city. But between them and the city, off to the northwest, was a major dungeon. 

Dirk had only heard Pandora talk about how the lesser dungeons all disappeared, being eaten by the major dungeons. After that phenomenon, the major dungeons suddenly released all their monsters, including the monsters of the lesser dungeons they ate. This made the surroundings of every major dungeon a monster infested warzone. Any unlucky cities that happened to be built near these major dungeons were overrun. 

But Dirk had yet to actually see it. It wasn't like he didn't believe her. But he wanted to confirm just how huge these monster hordes were. If the monsters mostly came from the lesser dungeons, then how strong could the hordes be?

Now, he finally got to see it. 

Their route was surrounded by nothing but flat grasslands. It was usually very picturesque, filled with patches of tall trees and groves of flowers and plants. 

But now, Dirk saw nothing but desolate grounds ravaged by the tens of thousands of monsters that tread over them. 

In the distance, Dirk could make out hordes of monsters of all kinds marching across the plains. They were actually moving in the same direction they were. But the car obviously attracted attention as a fast moving vehicle kicking up dirt. 

"We're charging through. Get ready to defend."

Pandora became serious. Dirk nodded before standing and climbing into the back. He then punched open a hatch on the roof of the car, sticking his torso through. A sniper rifle appeared in his hands at the same time. 

That was when Pandora floored it. She usually stayed at 60 miles an hour because it was most efficient. The faster she went, the more mana would be dissipated in the process of driving. 

But now, she had no reservations as she pushed it to its limits. The car stormed down the roads, rattling the chassis. But Dirk was able to keep himself steady despite standing, and he aimed his rifle while resting it on the roof of the car. 

At that moment, the thousands of monsters to the side of the road noticed them, and they immediately charged over. 

The ground quaked under the charge of these large monsters. Many of them were beasts of some kind. Dirk saw fire lizards, bears with armor of rock, and tigers with claws of wind. Birds swooped down at high speeds, spreading their talons at the new prey. 

It was overwhelming. An entire monster army couldn't be stopped by Dirk alone. Even if he entrenched himself and held his ground, he would be overrun. There were too many, even if they were weak. 

But he didn't need to kill them all. He just needed to protect the car while Pandora charged through. 

*Bang!*

A large tiger that had stepped in front of the stampede suddenly saw a hole pierce through its eye socket. It was over 400 meters away. 

The body collapsed instantly, tripping and hindering several others behind it. Dirk took aim as that happened.

*Bang!*

Another bullet, and a large bear that was moving too fast for its own good fell to the ground. A couple dozen monsters tripped and piled around the new obstacle while a few with quick reactions jumped over. 

Dirk sent bullets through the skulls of monsters that threatened to reach them quickly. Ones that looked strong were also tested. 

And under the high power anti-material rifle, all of them died. Pandora knew exactly what bullets were capable of and how strong monsters and people could be. She didn't skimp on the rifle's strength, otherwise she may as well have not made them. 

*Bang!*

Another shockwave shook the plains. A bird fell from the sky at the same time, crashing into the oncoming horde. 

With that, Dirk finally stopped. The sniper disappeared from his hands, entering Obsidius' pocket space. Then, another weapon appeared. 

Dirk mounted the machine gun atop the roof, aiming to the left side. Pandora continued to charge down the road, and monsters got ever closer to intercepting them. 

The pressure mounted, and Pandora found herself becoming serious. She was taking in every detail of the road in order to make sure they weren't slowed down. Her heart raced a bit in excitement despite the palpable tension. 

That was because of Dirk. She could imagine his blank face right now, one that cared for nothing more than ruthless efficiency. 

And she felt a chill when she heard him skillfully load a belt of 50 caliber rounds into the gun. She couldn't help but look to the side, gazing pitilessly at those oncoming monsters. 

There was only one thing she was disappointed by. 

"Too bad we can't harvest their crystals."

*BangBangBangBangBangBangBang!*

Plumes of flame exited the barrel alongside seeds of death. Pandora smiled giddily as a line of monsters suddenly collapsed 60 meters away. 

Dirk taped down the trigger with his finger, moving the barrel to point at the heads of those in his sights. Even as the car raced down the road, he was purely focused on clearing the way, keeping monsters from stopping their momentum. 

Shells bounced around Dirk's feet after they were ejected, producing the harmonious sounds of clinking brass. His machine gun simultaneously orchestrated the screams and roars of monsters. 

After several seconds, a belt was finally consumed. Dirk rapidly grabbed another one from Obsidius' pocket space and loaded it as if he had done so thousands of times before. Within two seconds, he racked the charging handle and pulled the trigger again, letting another volley flow from the metal tube. 

The car continued to barrel down the road, and monsters kept collapsing in on them. Waves in the front threatened to halt their drive, but Dirk skillfully cut them down with precision. Nothing even stepped on the road ahead, Pandora racing by piles of corpses. 

A trail of dust was kicked up for miles as they raced against this monster tide. It lasted for over an hour. Even as one of Dirk's barrels threatened to melt, he merely changed it out before continuing. When it irreversibly jammed, he merely pulled out another machine gun, continuing his barrage. 

It was an hour and a half later when they finally passed the worst of it. At some point when the sun began to set, Dirk ceased his fire, preventing the attraction of any strays. 

They had passed the horde. 

When things were clear, Dirk sunk back into the car, climbing into the passenger seat. Pandora glanced at him. 

"Count?"

"28 thousand rounds."

"Ouch."

She cringed a bit. She had obviously prepared tens of thousands of rounds of ammunition for this trip. But in under two hours, Dirk had spent almost 30 thousand. The ring on his finger dedicated to ammo storage was now much less full. 

"That's about 20% of our machine gun ammo. We need to be more sparing."

"If the situation allows for it, then I'll try."

"Or we can use magic."

"My magic would have negligible effects. And you just enjoyed the show."

"Eh."

She shrugged, causing Dirk to roll his eyes. 

While he didn't know just how powerful her magic was, he knew she was definitely much more powerful than him. After all, she was exclusively a mage with four attributes. There was no way that she was any less powerful than a high Tier 5. If she had helped in that battle, they could've used much less ammunition. 

Dirk didn't care either way. Tools were meant to be used. He wouldn't spare ammo and risk getting stopped by the hordes. So much as slowing down would have put them in a perilous situation. 

"Well, we're at least ahead of schedule now."

Pandora adjusted in her seat. 

"The car has an hour of driving left in it. When the tank is dry, we'll stop for the day and continue when it recharges. We should be at our first checkpoint by tomorrow afternoon."

She calculated out with a map in her head. She already had this trip planned out fully. While this little event threw off their schedule a bit, it wasn't anything they couldn't adapt to. 

Dirk didn't nod or hum, just sitting back relaxedly. Spyte appeared on his lap while Obsidius bounced around the cat. The two had begun playing with each other, Obsidius being batted by Spyte's paws. 

After another hour, the car began to slow down. Pandora drove off the road, parking in the midst of some trees. When the car jolted to a halt, the two sat there in silence.

"Well, now we wait. It'll recharge on its own."

Pandora climbed out of her driver seat. The entire trunk of the car was empty besides a large mattress with pillows and blankets. She had intended for this car to be their tent as well, so the two never had to brave the elements or get their hands dirty in the wilderness. 

Dirk suddenly asked.

"How armored is this car?"

"It can easily withstand the attacks of a Tier 5, perhaps getting damaged by a Tier 6. Even if a horde of monsters piled on us, they would have a very difficult time tearing into this thing. And with all the supplies I stocked up on, we could technically live in here for months."

Dirk nodded a bit. Pandora actually had a small box filled exclusively with pocket rings of different sizes. They were all filled with varying kinds of ammunition, tons of food, mana crystals, anima bones, and more. They were the furthest thing from unequipped, carrying with them a large fortune. 

Since it was now later in the day, the two checked out. Pandora cast a few air spells that acted as alarms. Dirk also did his destruction cycle, extracting the dense anima from the bone of a strong monster skull. 

Dirk had learned the advanced anima resonance technique that was required to go beyond blood destruction. Though, he guessed that he hadn't mastered it yet, which is why he didn't get the related skill as Pandora had mentioned a while back. 

Still, it vastly sped up his destruction cycles. With denser anima and a better technique, his muscles were both destroyed more thoroughly yet ingrained with far more anima. On top of that, he healed faster, a courtesy of the increased anima content in his body boosting his restoration skill. 

Instead of the initial 26 weeks, Spyte had calculated a short 7 more weeks until he finished muscle destruction. Of course, that was if he did a destruction cycle every day. There would likely be periods where he didn't, prolonging the process. 

Pandora also urged Dirk to do some magic study. While the two only had the mutual attribute of earth, they could still exchange some general ideas. Comprehending runes was one such way for them to cooperate. Pandora had even brought a few magic texts, one of them on the dark element. Vampires were the world's leaders in terms of dark element proficiencies, so they had no shortage of profound texts available. Pandora gave one to Dirk, intending to further his understandings. 

Like that, the depths of night fell. Pandora was quick to get comfortable in the trunk of the car, sprawling across the mattress. 

"Care to join me?"

Seeing Dirk in the front passenger seat, she patted the space next to her, beckoning him with those alluring ruby eyes. Dirk frowned a bit as he turned his head back. Wasn't she still mad at him?

It wasn't like her emotions couldn't flip on a whim though, so he didn't care too much. Still, he shook his head. 

"I'll sleep here."

"But those seats aren't as comfortable as this luxurious mattress."

"I could sleep on rocks, let alone a cushioned seat. Besides, my body stays alert when I'm less comfortable. Something we need out here."

He sunk into the chair with those words, coming to rest like a statue. Pandora just shrugged, collapsing into the pillows around her.

............

[Get up!]

"..."

Suddenly, Dirk's head shot up. His mana vision concentrated, and in his mind, he could see Spyte's vision. 

About 500 meters away, there was a huge horde of monsters rushing toward them, snarling as if launching an offensive on the car. 

Without hesitation, Dirk moved and slammed open the hatch on the top of the car. A machine gun appeared in his hands. 

"Pandora! Wake up!"

"..."

"Pandora!"

Dirk shouted and looked down. Pandora was out cold, sleeping like a brick. She wasn't roused by his yell at all. 

Snorting, he just looked forward. The familiar sound of belt-fed ammo being chambered into the gun was like music to his ears.

And he mercilessly pulled the trigger.

*Ratatatatata!*

Dirk opened fire, hot brass falling to his feet. The front line of monsters that were approaching from afar were cut down cleanly.

At the same time, Pandora's eyes shot open.

"Agh! Dammit, Dirk! You're loud!"

Pandora snarled as the percussive sound made her ears ring and hot casings burned her skin. She curled in on herself before taking a guess as to what was going on.

She eventually pulled herself up, stumbling into the driver's seat. 

*Skrrr!!*

The wheels of the car spun as she slammed the gas pedal, creating skid marks in the hard dirt below them. The car jolted forward, climbing onto the paved road before shooting into the distance. 

Now in the open, the two could more clearly see the hordes around them. The sun hadn't even risen yet, and yet the glow of mana lit up the armies of monsters. 

"The hell?"

Pandora was observing the monsters as she drove and fully regained consciousness. As she thought, they weren't aiming for them. Instead, she could see monsters in the backline attacking each other, ripping apart other monsters like they were rabid. The ones in front were running from these rabid beasts, but even they were hostile against their fellow escapees. 

Then, she saw something peculiar. The victorious monsters devoured the mana crystals of their dead prey as if they were unattainable delicacies. The monster would then fluctuate with bursts of mana. She could see the wild fluctuations of mana in her own mana vision. 

Dirk could see it most clearly though. He could see all the mana crystals within the beasts, and he noticed that the monsters attacking each other were always of a similar element type. A water attribute monster would eat the water mana crystal of another. Doing so seemed to make them more powerful, though a lot of the mana of the attained crystal seemed to be lost in the process. 

Since the monsters weren't focused on them, Dirk was quick to cease fire and reduce his presence. He would only shoot the ones getting in their way, which thankfully didn't amount to much. 

Before long, they had left the range of the monster horde, slowing their speed. Pandora brought the car to a cruise as Dirk sunk back down into the seat. 

"What was that all about?"

"Not sure."

Pandora was curious. It wasn't like she knew any more than Dirk about this. Monsters used to be confined strictly to dungeons, but now they were out and about the wild. This kind of phenomenon was unheard of. 

"It seemed to be some kind of population control, along with a power boost. Eating mana crystals seems to increase their power. If there are too many in a given area, they go berserk and attack each other, reducing numbers while increasing the power of those near the top of the hierarchy. While it thankfully culls their numbers, it's not so comforting to know they can now evolve unlike when in the dungeons."

"My mother said something about monsters being led by something similar to a general."

"Maybe this is the process of creating a general."

Pandora sighed. She had heard a lot from those in other cities that she could communicate with. But she had yet to hear of organized attacks by monsters. This little event was worrying. 

After being silent for a while, Pandora checked the fuel of the car. The car hadn't been able to charge fully, but she was satisfied with where it was at. 

"Our fuel is enough. If we refrain from speeding, we'll reach our first checkpoint by noon."

"Alright."

Dirk nodded before letting out a light breath. Pandora glanced at him with narrowed eyes.

"Are you going back to sleep?"

"...No."

"Bullshit. You dare sleep while I drive?"

"Hey, I don't know how to drive an enchanted vehicle. Besides, I'm the gunner."

Dirk smiled a bit. His eyes were closed and covered anyway, so she couldn't tell if he was asleep. 

Like that, she could only helplessly drive while Dirk got some more shut-eye. 

After several more hours though, they finally made their approach to the first checkpoint. The situation of said checkpoint was anything other than favorable, though.