What the Muricans saw floating across from them was an airship—noticeably slimmer and more compact than the usual lumbering sky-whales they were used to.
And they stared at it.
For a long, uncomfortable few seconds.
The airship’s bridge protruded from the very front of the hull, an awkward forward extension that ruined any sense of aerodynamism. Two massive circular propellers were mounted low at the rear, side by side, completing a silhouette that was… unfortunately memorable
It became painfully clear that no one involved in the design phase had dare asked, “Does this look wrong to you?”
“So…” Bella finally said, breaking the silence, “are we riding that… bird?”
She asked the obvious question no one wanted answered.
“Unfortunately, yes,” Megan replied, already sounding tired.
“Eyes sharp,” Ivy said carefully, her gaze fixed forward. “The crews are entering the cock—”
She hesitated.
“…pit.”
Several dwarves wearing uniforms that screamed airship pilots—bad tailoring, excessive brass, and way too many belts—climbed the ladder and entered the bridge.
“Then let’s go,” Irving said, turning away. “We’ve already wasted too much time staring at that… thing.”
---
The last of King Baldrik’s personal airship crew has entered the airship door. Below, the maintenance crew moved to close the door and pull away the ladder.
PSSHT.
PSSHT.
PSSHT.
Megan eliminated the maintenance crew swiftly with her silenced UMP9, the bodies dropping before they had time to understand what hits them.
With practiced coordination, the Muricans moved. They climbed the ladder, breached the airship bridge, and flowed inside with clean, efficient movements.
Once everyone was in, Kovalski made sure no one outside was watching and pulled the door shut behind them.
Just as he was about to step into the bridge—where the others already had their guns trained on the three crew members—Irving suddenly blocked him with an outstretched arm.
“Kovalski,” Irving said, his voice strained, “it’s better if you wait in the corridor.”
“Huh? Why?” Kovalski asked.
He leaned slightly to peek past Irving’s shoulder.
It was just a group of Goldenclaws crew members with their hands raised.
And at the helm—
The female, heavily muscled dwarf captain he had sex with before.
“…!!!”
The realization hit Kovalski a split second too late.
His face went pale.
He staggered back, clapped a hand over his mouth, then turned and bolted down the corridor, retching violently as he threw up against the wall.
“What the hell is happening with him?” Bella muttered.
“Alright, listen up!” Megan barked at the Goldenclaws crew. “I want you dwarfs to start flying this di—”
She stopped herself.
“…airship away from here. Fast.”
“Tch. And if we don’t?” the female captain challenged, fury blazing in her eyes.
Megan pressed the muzzle of her gun flat against the captain’s forehead.
“Then before we all die here,” Megan said evenly, “I will personally add a new hole in you.”
She didn’t raise her voice. She didn’t blink.
“Any other questions?”
The female captain was visibly shaking with rage—but with multiple guns trained on her and her crew, there was nothing she could do.
And she knew it.
---
King Baldrik’s Office
King Baldrik was speaking sharply into a short-range mana-comm—the only communication device still functioning, purely because it ran on mana crystal.
“Yes. Hurry up and send me my personal airship,” he ordered.
“Right away, Your Majesty. Dockmaster out,” the voice replied.
The transmission ended.
Behind him, another King Baldrik sat slumped in a chair, still unconscious, drooling slightly in a way unbecoming of royalty.
Young Mo—currently transformed into King Baldrik—stood by the window, staring out at the hangar complex below.
“Well, Megan,” he muttered quietly, mostly to himself, “you’ve got clearance to leave now. That’s all I can do.”
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He sighed.
“Please… don’t be too late.”
---
Hangar Bay
The airship glided smoothly through the hangar bay, heading toward the exit tunnel. From the outside, everything appeared perfectly normal—quiet, orderly, routine.
Not a single Goldenclaws soldier suspected that their king’s personal airship was currently being hijacked.
Inside, however, nothing was normal.
Nothing at all.
“PLEASE! LET ME SHOOT HER!” Kovalski screamed, waving his sidearm wildly. “NO ONE CALLS ME MEDIOCRE!”
“No,” Irving said firmly, wrapping both arms around him, “you will not kill the only person who can fly this airship, Specialist Kovalski.”
While the boys wrestled in the corridor like disgraced professionals, the girls focused on making sure everyone survived the next few minutes.
“What are those two idiots doing now…” Megan muttered.
She kept her gun trained steadily on the female captain, while Bella and Ivy mirrored her stance on the other two airship crew members.
“Demon,” the female captain said tightly while steering, “what did you mean earlier when you said we were all going to die here?”
She glanced at Megan.
“Did you plant a time bomb in this base or something?”
“Not me,” Megan replied calmly, jerking her head toward Bella and Ivy.
“Sorryyyyy,” Bella and Ivy said in perfect unison.
Megan sighed. “That’s why, if you want to stay alive, I suggest you get us out of here within—HOW MUCH LONGER?”
“FIVE MINUTES!” Irving shouted from the corridor, still restraining Kovalski.
“…And what happens to me and my men after we get out?” the female captain asked.
“You’ll be captured,” Megan replied. “But still alive. I can promise you that. At the very least.”
The captain fell silent, her jaw tightening as she thought.
Then—
“Increase power output,” she ordered suddenly. “Raise our speed by two knots.”
“C-Captain?” one of the crew hesitated.
“DO IT!” the captain barked.
The two crew members snapped into action.
“Well,” Megan said, mildly impressed, “good thing you’re decisive, Captain.”
“I can’t die here,” the female captain muttered grimly. “Not before I fuck every male race in Talvaris.”
“…That’s a… strong motivation,” Megan replied after a pause. “I think.”
Down on the corridor, Kovalski suddenly started shuddering violently even though he didn’t hear the captain remarks.
He didn’t know why.
---
Dockmaster Tower
Inside the observation tower, despite the growing chaos caused by the base-wide power failure, the base commander remained glued to the mana-comm.
Voices poured in nonstop—soldiers reporting sightings, squads failing to locate the Muricans, overlapping chatter that accomplished absolutely nothing.
The spy from the meeting room had escaped.
The underground spy units had vanished.
His temples throbbed.
This operation was becoming a professional embarrassment.
Then something caught his eye.
Through the tower’s wide window, he noticed the king’s personal airship accelerating inside the hangar bay.
Too fast.
Far too fast for hangar operations.
“Hey… why is the Vitalis increasing speed?” the commander muttered. “Someone tell them to slow down.”
One of the staff members quickly activated the mana-comm.
“Vitalis, come in,” the staff said. “You are moving too fast. Lower your speed immediately.”
“Copy that, Dockmaster,” the female captain’s voice replied smoothly. “Lowering speed.”
The officer and his staff waited.
And waited.
The Vitalis did not slow down.
The commander frowned and grabbed his telescope, raising it toward the airship.
A second later, his face darkened.
Inside the bridge—clear as day—were the very demons his base was currently hunting.
“T-THE DEMONS ARE INSIDE THE VITALIS!” the commander roared. “DISPATCH ALL SOLDIERS NOW! CLOSE THE GATE!”
“B-but sir,” one subordinate stammered, “we don’t have power! We can’t close the gate!”
“Then contact all available airships!” the commander snapped.
---
Inside the Vitalis
“Vitalis?” Ivy muttered. “Really?”
“What’s wrong with it?” the female captain replied flatly. “King Baldrik named it himself. He’s very proud of it.”
“I guess dwarves really are that blunt,” Ivy shrugged.
Through the front viewport, movement exploded across the hangar. Goldenclaws soldiers and armored units sprinted in all directions, some stopping to point frantically at the accelerating airship.
“Well,” Megan muttered, “looks like the party’s starting again.”
She glanced at the captain. “Does this airship have weapons?”
“No,” the captain replied. “This one’s built for speed and comfort.”
Megan nodded once. “Then show us how fast it can go.”
The female captain didn’t hesitate.
“Full speed ahead!” she barked.
“Overlord,” Megan said into her comm, “we’ve secured an escape vehicle. But we’ve been spotted. We’re coming out hot.”
---
Langley, BICH Headquarters
The command center remained a controlled mess—operators talking over each other.
“Copy that, Megan,” Janet replied into the comm. “Additional Reapers are already en route to your position, but they won’t be able to do anything if you’re still underground.”
“Roger that,” Megan’s voice answered. “We’ll find our way out.”
Nearby, Mo was still in a video conference with Solo and Stan. The shared screen displayed a live drone feed of Goldenclaws HQ—zoomed out enough to show the sprawling Goldenclaws complex.
Mo leaned back slightly. “How about the navy?” he asked Stan.
“The enemy base is too far for our jets,” Stan replied calmly. “Best option is long-range ballistic missiles.”
Mo’s eyes lit up just a little. “That’s even better. Please put them on standby.”
“Got it,” Stan replied.
Solo leaned closer to his screen. “Does the audio feed from your team work better now? I want to hear it too.”
Mo hesitated.
He glanced sideways at Janet.
Janet leaned in and whispered, “I think it’s safe now, sir. There’s no way any of them are having sex in this situation.”
Mo nodded, convinced.
“Yes, sir,” Mo replied. “Sharing the audio feed now.”
---
Hangar Bay
BOOM.
BOOM.
BOOM BOOM BOOM.
“KEEP FIRING!” a Goldenclaws officer roared.
The absurdly massive hangar bay was now filled with cannon fire. Every available Goldenclaws soldier, artillery unit, and armored platform was unloading everything they had at the Vitalis.
The only good news—for the people inside—was that the Vitalis was smaller and significantly faster than standard airships, making it a nightmare to track.
Inside the bridge, the female captain proved her worth.
She steered the airship in a violently erratic yet undeniably controlled pattern, zigzagging, dipping, and accelerating just enough to ruin every firing solution.
“FUCK!” she snarled. “That bastard base commander didn’t even hesitate to order to blown my airship!”
Behind her, Megan and the misfits were far too busy clinging to whatever solid object they could reach.
“KYAAA—! CAN’T YOU DRIVE SLOWER?!” Bella screamed as her feet briefly lifted off the floor.
“If we go slower, we die faster, little demon,” the captain shot back. “Relax. This ship has the fastest engine in the entire Goldenclaws arsenal.”
That was when—
KABOOOOM!
A cannonball slammed into the rear of the Vitalis.
“KYYYYAAAAAAAA!” Bella screamed even louder.
The airship shook violently, metal groaning as alarms screamed. For a moment, it felt like the entire ship might snap in half—before stabilizing again.
But something was wrong.
“CAPTAIN! WE’RE LOSING POWER BY FORTY PERCENT!” one of the crew shouted.
“Tch,” the captain muttered. “Did I just jinx myself?”
“No, no,” Ivy said calmly, gripping a handrail. “We brought a stronger jinx with us.”
“HEY!” Bella protested.
“Go check the engine room!” the captain barked.
“Yes, ma’am!” one crewman replied, sprinting toward the corridor.
He rushed past Irving and Kovalski, who were both locked in a desperate struggle against gravity and inertia, clinging to structural beams with white knuckles.
The crewman reached the engine room door and yanked it open.
His face went pale.
“Oh crap…” he muttered.
