## Chapter 249 – The Beach Butcher
ㅡThud, thud, thud, thud!
The city had almost transformed into a battlefield.
It had only been a day since the full-scale invasion began.
From the high ground, I surveyed the beach, where fish-men wielding all sorts of blades clashed fiercely against soldiers forming battle lines.
Contrary to my expectation that the soldiers would dominate, they seemed to be pushed back by the fish-men, who wielded tridents and attacked in an organized manner.
“…Damn, there are way more than I thought?”
And that wasn’t all. From the harbor in the distance, fish-men were climbing onto ships and breakwaters, infiltrating the city.
Amidst all this, barricades and heavily armed soldiers were visible in every alley.
Archers on rooftops and groups of adventurers running around with swords vividly illustrated the severity of the situation.
“It looks so disgusting from here. Should we head down there?”
Winnia, pointing her staff forward, said,
“Wait a moment. They said they’re crawling through the waterways too. They’ll show up around here soon.”
Despite the fierce defense along the coastline, a considerable number of fish-men had already infiltrated the city. They were emerging from sewers and underground waterways. True to their fishy nature, their numbers were overwhelming.
It would be wise to observe the war situation from the high ground before descending.
“Hmph… so many. Can we kill them all?”
“We have to. To reclaim our blue sea.”
Claudie, drawing her sword, scanned the battlefield with shining eyes. Which way would be best to go? To monopolize the fish-men, it would be better to avoid the areas with soldiers.
I wonder if there’s anywhere they’re breaking through.
Between defeat and victory. We need to fight in that sweet spot to collect the spoils. Even so, I don’t think the soldiers will lose to those fish-headed bastards. People will die, but this is still land.
On land, land-dwellers have an absolute advantage. Even if they’re pushing in with sheer numbers now, they’re still just fish in the end. Let’s take advantage of the chaos and make a killing.
ㅡKkyaaaak!!
Screams echoed from all directions.
I looked around to assess the situation.
The source of the screams was a soldier from the port city.
Whether he was separated from his unit or just unlucky enough to be caught alone, he seemed to have met with disaster. Impaled by a trident, he knelt to the ground, and the fish-men, knowing the advantage of ganging up, immediately stabbed him repeatedly with spears and knives, brutally killing him.
They even dismembered him, shoving the severed limbs into their mouths and swallowing them whole.
Well… whatever.
They’re monsters, so of course they’d eat people.
Having just witnessed someone eating another person, it wasn’t that shocking. Perhaps a person’s mentality grows by being torn apart over and over again.
“Katt. I think we should go that way.”
After carefully assessing the situation, she pointed to a direction with her finger. My eyesight isn’t as good as Claudie’s, so I wasn’t sure what she was indicating. As I stared blankly, she kindly brought her face close to mine and pointed her finger to specify the direction.
“Yeah. There. Let’s go down now.”
ㅡWhoosh!
With those words, Claudie jumped down from the building.
Sis, this is the third floor.
“What are you doing? Aren’t you coming down, Darkie?”
“…I’m coming.”
Winnia and I used the stairs to descend. As expected of Claudie. Her leg strength and durability are no joke. Seeing her jump down from the third floor so easily, I really think I would have died if I had fallen in the Kobold Maze.
Hooray for sis.
“I really hate going down stairs.”
Winnia, who was slowly descending behind me, said.
Hate it?
“Why?”
“Because I can’t see below because of my chest.”
“Heok!”
I felt infinite possibilities in that short sentence.
ㅡGulp.
I swallowed.
Ah, is that so.
Is that the world seen by someone with huge breasts?
My heart began to burn as if a fire had started. It was a happy, magical confession that made me feel good just hearing it.
I immediately turned around, took Winnia’s staff, and held her hand to help her walk. Her large breasts swayed with each step down. I was even worried that her nipples might pop out.
This is escorting, no!
This is Huge breasts Escort!
“I really want to tear off these heavy lumps of fat whenever I go down stairs.”
Winnia chuckled and supported her chest with one hand. I felt infinite despair in those few words!
“Ah, no! Change your mind! Winnia! Your breasts have a greater and more beautiful value than anything else in this world!”
“Honestly, they’re only useful when feeding Darkie.”
“Th, that can’t be! Then that’s everything! That’s everything, so please be proud of your breasts!”
Winnia burst out laughing as I spoke frantically.
“Hehe. Just kidding. I’m proud of my breasts too. Yeah, I have to keep them, even if they’re uncomfortable, to feed Darkie.”
“I’m so touched I could cry.”
“So, am I your sister or your unni?”
“Clinnia.”
“What?”
“Winnioudi.”
“Ah, damn it. It hurts my pride that I found that funny.”
Winnia coughed, laughing in disbelief. After descending the stairs, Claudie was waiting for us. I returned the staff to Winnia.
“I got excited and went down first.”
“Were you that excited?”
“I just wanted to kill them quickly.”
Claudie was furious with the fish-men. It was only natural, since they had taken away the sea she had come to visit for the first time. She was already fidgeting with her hands, exuding murderous intent.
“Then let’s go quickly. Claudie, lead the way.”
“Okay.”
Claudie led the way, with Winnia in the middle. I walked behind, watching our backs. The white buildings were all empty because the residents had evacuated.
I had a feeling that the fish-men who had already infiltrated might be hiding in those places, waiting to ambush us.
Following Claudie, we walked down the slope. Most of the alleys below were blocked with barricades, but they became less frequent as we went further down. The city was too large for the number of soldiers.
As we descended into a more secluded area, we finally spotted the fish-men.
ㅡGulp, gulp.
They were sitting together, dismembering a human corpse, literally shoving it into their mouths and swallowing it. It was the same scene I had just witnessed.
As expected, fish are fish.
One of them, with its neck and belly swollen, emitted a bizarre laugh.
ㅡJwhet, jwit. Jwit.
ㅡJwhet jwhet jwheeeet.
I had no idea what they were saying, but it was clear that they were communicating by flapping their gills. They had put down their tridents and coral knives and were leisurely enjoying their cannibalistic feast.
Claudie, who was about to approach them, stopped.
“Katt, I can’t play in the sea because of them.”
Then, she leaned her head on my shoulder and spoke in an affectionate tone… Is she asking me to punish them for her with aegyo…?
“Go kill them.”
“Kkieeeeeeeeeeeeeeekㅡ!!!”
Excited, I immediately let out a scream, raised my sword high, and ran towards them. There were a total of three of them. All three were sitting and enjoying themselves as if they didn’t care about an attack.
ㅡJwhe, jwheeeet?!
One of them turned to look at me and convulsed as if struck by lightning. He panicked and tried to grab his trident, but it was a bit difficult for the fish-men’s clumsy hands to quickly grab the spear lying on the ground.
“You fucking bastards! Die!”
ㅡSwoosh!
I was faster than anything.
The leg muscles trained to the limit and the mana spread evenly throughout my body turned me into a short-distance runner. As if the world had narrowed, my vision expanded, and I arrived in front of him in an instant.
ㅡ…Blub.
The fish-man opened his gills, looking at me with dazed eyes.
ㅡSlash!
That was the end.
The blade of the bastard sword, falling like lightning with explosive speed and power, split the fish-man’s head in two. ㅡThud. He tried to stand up but collapsed again.
Zhen Wei, who had crushed his bones to rescue Cao Cao, died standing, but the fish-man died sitting.
The difference in tenacity is already evident from here.
As expected, the blade of a fish-man can’t reach me.
ㅡDrip.
As I retrieved the blood-caked blade, the fish-man who had half-swallowed a thigh and the fish-man who was rummaging through the intestines stared blankly at me as if they had seen something amazing.
It must have felt unreal because it happened so quickly.
“Siljang Sword Technique!”
Roaring like a wild beast, I immediately kicked the fish-man who was rummaging through the intestines and stabbed the other one, who was desperately trying to spit out the thigh, in the solar plexus.
ㅡThwack!
A very refreshing piercing of the solar plexus!
Their flimsy scales couldn’t withstand my strength!
ㅡJwheeeeeeeek!!!
The fish-man spat out blood with a scream.
I immediately pulled out the sword and checked on the fish-man I had just kicked.
He was trying to get up.
“This bastard dares to get up?”
I kicked the fish-man, who was struggling to get up, once more. “Jwheet!” His skin was glistening, and it seemed like a very slippery liquid was covering his body. The fish-man, who had rolled away, fell over like he had stepped on a banana while trying to get up quickly.
ㅡFlap flap!
“Like a fish.”
I thought of a fish when I saw that.
He is a fish, but still.
Anyway, I stomped on his torso and brought the sword down vertically on his neck. As I pressed down and sliced sideways, the fish-man, who had instantly transformed into fresh sashimi, drooped limply.
“Weak bastards. The reason you died is purely because you were weaker than me. You had three of you, but you neglected your surroundings, and most of all, you failed to react as soon as you saw me. That’s your biggest downfall.”
I swung the drawn sword to shake off the blood.
“In your next life, be born as a good fish.”
I recited the mantra of ascension to the dead fish-men with a solemn attitude. In this way, they would be reborn as good fish and become a useful food source for fishermen.
“Kyaa, Katt is the best!”
Claudie, expressing her joy at my instant slaughter of the three fish-men, ran towards me. I hugged her as she jumped into my arms and said,
“Hehehe, I’ll punish all the mean, son-of-a-bitch bastards who bully Claudie! Just tell me! I’ll kill them all!”
“You’re so cool!”
“Hahahaha!”
You fuckers dare to make Claudie sad? This was just the beginning. From this moment on, it was as good as certain that all the fish-men would receive three skulls.
“Having fun, are we?”
Winnia, squatting down, ran her finger across the fish-man’s slippery skin. Then, she took out an empty bottle from a small pouch attached to her belt and carefully scraped the mucus-like liquid into the bottle.
“Winnia. Why are you doing that?”
“It’s the first time I’ve seen it. I have to collect it first.”
“As expected of a mage…”
I admired her and beheaded the fish-man. Then, it suddenly occurred to me that what I was holding in my hand was not a sashimi knife. On impulse, I filleted the fish-man.
The fish-man was a red-fleshed fish.
“…Darkie, what are you doing?”
“Katt? Are you collecting loot?”
“No.”
I cut the filleted fish-man meat into bite-sized pieces.
“Ah.”
Appetizing red flesh.
“This is called hoe (sashimi).”
It had the elasticity and color of tuna sashimi.
“Delicious.”
Hoe.
It’s hoe.
How many years has it been since I last had this food? I picked up a piece of fish-man meat as if possessed. It looked very chewy… What would it taste like if I put it in my mouth!
“…Darkie, are you going to eat that? No, no. You can’t eat it raw.”
“Katt. I don’t think that’s a good idea either.”
They stopped me with faces that showed they were genuinely worried.
It was like the faces of American soldiers who saw sushi for the first time.
Ah, so they “don’t know” about it? About hoe?
“Darkie, there’s poison, poison. You can’t eat it.”
Winnia spoke with a tone that wasn’t her usual mocking or teasing, but with genuine concern. So, I impulsively stopped my hand from putting it in my mouth.
“There’s… poison?”
“Would there not be? It looks like this?”
“No, it doesn’t matter how it looks.”
“There might be. What are me and unni supposed to do if you eat that and die?”
“…”
That’s true.
“Sorry. I won’t eat it.”
I had lost my mind because of the hoe I had seen after so long.
Let’s ask the locals about tasting this first.
I put the fish-men’s heads into the sack.
But if there really isn’t any poison… Wouldn’t it be killing three birds with one stone: making money, getting revenge, and eating hoe? Feeling a strange excitement, I stood up.
“Let’s go somewhere else.”
