## Chapter 102 – Cultists in the Underground Waterway
The sound of footsteps is fading away.
“…That bastard’s running?”
“Looks like it?”
Why on earth is he running?
Is he shy?
Does he have trouble with strangers?
It would be nice if it were some cute reason like that, but I think a little differently.
There’s a saying that a thief is scared by his own shadow. The origin of this saying is that in ancient China, a young man who made a living by stealing was caught and had his ankle cut off as punishment. After that, he limped through the darkness every night, searching for his lost ankle.
“I don’t know who the fuck he is, but he’s definitely suspicious.”
Just like the story from before, if he’s running away at the mere sound of footsteps, he must be someone who’s not entirely innocent. In other words, he must be a sinister presence, like a cripple hiding in the shadows of society.
No sane person would be in this dark place, where there could be any number of undead. It was presumed that he was someone with some kind of bad purpose.
“A suspicious guy, huh…”
“A suspicious person…”
And a suspicious person means a criminal.
Of course, criminals drop juicy items.
“If someone’s hiding in a waterway full of undead…”
“It can’t be anything but a criminal.”
In that instant, a greedy light flickered in Copson and Maria’s eyes. I turned to look at Cloudy. She had an expression that said she didn’t care. She just said, “Are you going to chase after him?” I nodded.
“That’s right. We’re going to chase him right now.”
The three of us, wearing strange smiles, agreed to frantically pursue him. We quickly reorganized our formation, dragged along Mr. Merman, who seemed reluctant, and chased after the fading sound at a brisk pace.
—Tap, tap, tap!
Footsteps echoed through the silent waterway, where only the sound of flowing water could be heard.
As if he knew we were chasing him, the sound kept getting further away.
“…I don’t know who it is, but I think it’s better to go out and report it, don’t you think? This request is simply to exterminate the undead, not to investigate.”
Mr. Merman said, but we had already agreed to chase him according to the principle of majority rule.
And so we chased after the fleeing stranger.
If he’s a criminal, we can catch him and extort money from him, and even if he’s not a criminal, he’s definitely suspicious, so there must be something to gain from catching him.
Whatever else, we have Mr. Merman, who is familiar with the geography of the waterway. We have the upper hand in finding our way. We’ll definitely catch him.
—Orororong.
—Ororororong.
“Ugh, annoying!”
As we chased, the zombies that stupidly approached us were very annoying. We quickly cut off their heads and stuffed them into our sacks, and followed the fading footsteps.
The sound had completely disappeared from the middle, but we asked Mr. Merman for directions and headed towards the place presumed to be his escape route. It wasn’t a very complicated structure, so it was easy to pinpoint the direction.
“Where did he run off to?”
Maria said.
“Cloudy, can you hear anything?”
“…Sorry. I think my sense of smell is numb right now, so my other senses are also impaired. I don’t really hear anything.”
I wondered why it was so quiet, but as she said, she didn’t seem to be in good condition. Feeling worried, I grabbed her shoulder and asked.
“What? Are you okay? Does it hurt a lot?”
“Huh? Oh, it’s just a little uncomfortable. I’m okay. No problem.”
“Really? You’re not lying because you’re in pain, are you?”
“I’m fine… More than that…”
Cloudy trailed off, looking around in the air.
“Something seems to be coming, though. Get ready.”
No one didn’t know what her drawing her curved blade meant. Maria raised her shield and stood in front of Merman, and Copson and I pointed our swords at the darkness, guarding our respective left and right sides.
—…Thud!
“I hear something.”
“It sounds like something’s flying.”
—Flap!
The sound started to become clearer and clearer. It was the sound of something flapping its wings. It was flying towards us.
“Giant bat?”
The sound of flapping was just like that of a giant bat. But if it was just some measly creature like that flying towards us, Cloudy wouldn’t have warned us. Then what is it? Was there a monster that could fly besides giant bats in the underground waterway?
—Flap, flap!
—Flap!
“…The sound is loud?”
“I’ve never heard a sound like this before…”
Copson cautiously put down his lantern and said, and Maria turned her shield towards the direction of the sound. “Get behind me.” At that, Copson and I stood behind her, taking our places on the left and right.
Cloudy stood Merman against the wall and stood as if to protect him.
—Flap!
The sound was so close that we could hear it clearly.
The thought of an unknown being flying towards us made me swallow hard.
The area illuminated by the lantern was only a few meters.
As soon as the monster’s identity was revealed, a battle would break out immediately.
The tension rose to its peak with the appearance of the mysterious flying monster.
And then.
—Screeeeeeeeeech!!!
A scream that didn’t seem to belong to this world erupted.
At that moment, something black flapped its wings and flew out from beyond the curtain of darkness—something with large wings and a shape similar to a person.
Could it be… a demon?
An ominous thought soared,
—And its form was completely revealed.
It was a person with bat wings and a nightmarish bird’s beak!
—Flap!
Black Birdman!
That was a Black Birdman!
“B, Black Birdman!!!”
At that shocking, heteromorphic appearance, I reflexively shouted what I felt. The Black Birdman was a flying assailant who had appeared in my childhood nightmares and played malicious tricks, such as pecking at my brains with his beak!
If I were caught in his claws, the small and weak me would have no choice but to have my brains pecked out and die. He was a being of primal nightmare!
“Gargoyle!”
“What?! Not Black Birdman, but a gargoyle?!”
“W, what nonsense are you talking about!!!”
The identity of the flying assailant was a gargoyle!
Maria, who had shouted fiercely, raised her shield. As she said, if that was not a monster from my nightmare but simply a monster from another world, it wouldn’t be impossible to deal with. I steeled my heart and twisted the hand holding my sword.
A state of hyper-concentration.
I aimed my sword at the rushing guy—
—Thwack!
“Kyaa!”
“Maria!”
Maria, who had collided with the gargoyle that had flown straight into her shield, fell backwards. It was an incredible body blow. Then, Copson’s scream erupted.
“Tzruyaaaaaak!”
“Copsoneeeeeee!!!”
The guy’s speed was too fast for me to react. Copson, who had collided with the gargoyle, flew to the wall and crashed into it. He coughed up a deformed cough and slumped over. What the hell!
There were a total of three gargoyles that attacked.
Two of them attacked Maria and Copson, respectively, and the other one flew towards where Cloudy and Mr. Merman were.
Damn it! Two people were hit in an instant!
Reaching an extreme situation, I made a quick decision. Maria, who had fallen, was screaming and raising her shield to cover her body. It was cold-blooded, but in that state, she would be able to withstand one more attack. Cloudy was a woman who didn’t need to be worried about in the first place, so I immediately ran to rescue Copson.
“You fucking bastard, Copson!”
The guy who attacked Copson was flapping his wings by his head and twisting his body in the air to drive his beak into him.
I ran towards him with all my might. I believe in myself, believing in my physique and kinetic energy! The gargoyle, that son of a bitch, recognized me in that destructive momentum and roared!
—Screeeeeeeeeech!
This son of a bitch dares to challenge me to a sing-song battle?!
I’m the winner of Show Me the Money in my heart, you bastard!
I decided to face the gargoyle head-on.
If he’s going to scream, I’m going to become a screaming woman too.
—Take a breath.
“Kieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!!!”
I then unleashed a destructive battle cry. Then, the primal feeling of fear that had been stuck in my heart was cleanly spewed out and disappeared. Gaining maniacal courage, I took a running start and jumped with all my might.
“Entrance is jump is basic!”
Becoming a flying human, I jumped and pounced on the gargoyle, hugging him in the air.
“I love you!”
—Screeeeeeeech! Screech!!
The guy caught by me struggled and fell with me.
—Thud!
We fell to the ground, raising a cloud of dust, and the wings fluttering here and there hit my face. That was going to leave a few more scars on my already fucked-up face. My anger soared, and I pulled the power of my muscles to the limit.
“Muscle Prisoooooon!!!!”
I unleashed the power I had trained by suppressing Cloudy, who usually boasts the strength of a bull. I covered up my clumsy joint locks with strength and grabbed his neck tightly, restraining him from stabbing me with his beak.
This was my ultimate Taekwondo killing technique, Muscle Prison. Simply put, it was a Korean-style Rear Naked Choke.
“Copson! Copson! You son of a bitch, open your eyes! Get up right now!”
I called out to Copson passionately. I’m sticking to him and restraining him now, but the gargoyle’s strength is no joke. If this goes on, I’ll soon run out of strength and fall off. The duration of Muscle Prison isn’t very long.
“You son of a bitch! You fucking cunt!”
—Screeeeeeeech! Screeeeeech!
I thrust in a punch in an awkward posture to inflict even a little damage, then opened my mouth wide and bit the guy’s face.
—Scree, screech! Screeeeeech!!!
It’s been a long time since I’ve fought a guy with a similar physique to me like this. I had to risk my life. It was such an urgent situation that I couldn’t afford to care about a butt show or anything else. And as I bit down, I started to feel a serious fishy taste. The gargoyle went into convulsions.
“Ugh… Ugh? B, Barbarian!”
Copson, who was drooling and showing the whites of his eyes, looked around as if he had come to his senses at my words.
“If you’re up, come here, you bastard!”
“A, alright!”
Copson, holding his sword, ran over.
Seeing that, the gargoyle tried to spread its wings to escape, but I desperately restrained it. Copson, who soon approached, glared fiercely at the gargoyle and pointed his sword.
“Hurry up!!!”
“Grruyaaaaaaaak!!!!”
Copson, who had fallen into madness, stabbed the gargoyle’s body indiscriminately with his sword, avoiding me. The gargoyle, whose back was bent like a bow each time he was stabbed with the sword, screamed as if calling out to the god of darkness.
“The heart! Aim for the heart!”
“Where’s the heart!”
“Left atrium, right ventricle, you bastard!”
The gargoyle’s strength began to drain as he was hit by the fucked-up swordsmanship.
Then it became even easier to handle him as I pleased. I pressed down on him with my weight and grabbed the gargoyle’s arm and lifted it up. I never imagined that my relationship with Cloudy would be useful in battle.
“Stab it between the armpits!”
At my kind guidance, Copson stabbed his sword into the gargoyle’s armpit. When the blade pierced more than half of the flesh, the gargoyle began to tremble as if he was impressed, and soon slumped down. I kicked the slumped guy away, and Copson finished him off.
“Mariaaaaaaaa!!!”
I picked up my sword, which I had thrown away earlier, and ran out to rescue Maria, using my lightness skill. I had to rescue the fallen Maria.
I got the hang of it after killing one.
Gargoyle, you fucking scrub, you’re all dead!
“Why?”
I, who had been sprinting like crazy, braked as I was.
There were already two servings of gargoyle that had turned into sliced raw meat.
Cloudy had already finished cooking.
“Katt, your face…”
She came over and touched my face.
“You have more scars?”
“Damn it. My handsome face again.”
Cloudy ran her finger over my face, and bloodstains increased.
It was scratched while fighting the gargoyle just now. I took off my gauntlet and took out the 2-silver-worth of Madecassol I had bought before from my pouch, took a little out, and applied it to my face. It’s fucking expensive, but there’s nothing better for wounds.
As for the rest… I’m wearing armor, so I don’t have any particular wounds.
“I’m happy.”
“…Yeah, if you’re happy, that’s all that matters.”
What a scar fetishist.
