That thing again?
But why would that thing resist? Why did it just run away before?
Confusion rang in Keli's mind, but there was no time to think.
Jumping off the scooter, Keli pulled out his chainsaw and charged into the darkness. At the same time, Sato Kazuma twisted the mobility scooter, letting the mechanical power carry him away from the backlit area and successfully turning the vehicle.
The intense light seemed to make the monster emerging from the grass uncomfortable, and it suddenly covered its eyes with its palm.
It seemed their eyes, like fish, had no eyelids and couldn't close.
And with that light, Keli also saw the attacker clearly.
It was indeed that kind of thing, and seeing it so clearly and at such a close distance, Keli finally confirmed the idea in his mind.
Deep Ones.
The name of that thing appeared in Keli's mind.
And if that name is not well-known, then their boss, the Shadowverse ten-cost Dragoncraft card, might be more famous, dagon, or rather, dagon.
And if even this name is unfamiliar, then dagon's boss is definitely well-known—Cthulhu.
The appearance of one such thing makes it reasonable to suspect whether this world is truly a foul cesspool, because the so-called higher life forms and civilizations in the Cthulhu Mythos are more like a group of monsters full of malice towards living beings, rather than cosmic overlords.
Keli frowned, looking at this thing, and began to doubt the unreliability of certain people.
"No, you call this a 'wish-killing' incident?"
Kazuma also looked at the fish-headed creatures emerging from the grass with some surprise.
Indeed, this time there wasn't just one, but three of them. One was currently pulling a sharp spear with a rope.
However, they didn't seem to like cooperating. When one's attack failed, the other two fish-heads only rapidly dodged in the grass. They seemed to be aware of the danger of bullets.
After a failed strike, the monster did not flee but instead opened its fish mouth and gills, letting out a sharp, low roar.
At the same time, it crouched down and began to crawl rapidly through the bushes on all fours, approaching Keli.
Upon realizing he was the target, Keli guarded against the two monsters still hiding in the woods. Keli noticed that they also held similar throwing objects.
So, he stopped and retreated, creating enough reaction distance. At the same time, he held his chainsaw sideways, ready for horizontal slashes and diagonal chops, while also preventing the opponent from using its four-limbed crawling advantage to make a low attack.
Thought and action were completed in an instant, but the opponent's attack route was truly unexpected.
"Bang!"
With a muffled sound, the monster, like a bolt of lightning, leaped over the roadside guardrail and pounced directly on Keli from above.
As it pounced, the trees behind it shook, which should have been the result of it using the trees as leverage to jump.
So fast!
Its speed was incomparable to the one Keli and Kazuma had been chasing. Even with Keli's reaction speed, enhanced by consuming a village of ghouls, what he saw after a blur was that ugly, monstrous face opened in mid-air. The rough, uneven surface of its face, like a grouper, still had some residual moisture, and its open claws were striking directly down at Keli.
"Buzz!!"
Keli gritted his teeth, ducked down, and strenuously raised his chainsaw.
"Bang!"
Before Keli could react, he felt a tremendous force from his hand, and blood with a lingering scent flew out into the air.
It seemed the monster hadn't expected Keli's speed to be so much faster than a normal person's and was also injured.
Gunshots echoed in Keli's ears, likely indicating that Kazuma had already engaged the other two.
However, Keli had no time to worry about that side, nor did he know the exact damage inflicted. Keli merely exerted all his strength to push the chainsaw down.
"Whirrr!!"
The violent sound of air being torn apart came again, but at the same time, there was excruciating pain.
A tremendous force slammed into Keli's shoulder, and Keli actually felt his entire body being lifted by that force.
"Bang!"
A huge impact sound came from his back. Keli felt his spine must have broken, and in reality, he was directly embedded in the guardrail by the sea. The guardrail, which had endured wind and rain and was designed to prevent cars from falling, had already been dented inwards by Keli's impact.
"Running dogs, do not interfere with us. This is your own doing."
The monster, which had been silent all this time, actually opened its mouth and spoke.
However, its voice was like a parrot mimicking, full of strange-sounding Japanese.
But Keli, because of its speaking, inferred that its identity might not be that of a complete Deep One, as Deep Ones are a very arrogant race and would not communicate with humans unless necessary, let alone use a term like 'running dogs'.
"This is the gentlest solution we could find."
The monster approached the fallen Keli step by step, raising its claw, but in the next moment, the fully recovered Keli stood up again, to the monster's horror.
"Bang, bang, bang!"
This time it wasn't the chainsaw, but the beautiful Iai. Keli quickly drew his gun and fired three shots directly.
The creature's reaction was also very swift, rolling on the ground, but it still couldn't avoid taking one shot to its body.
Non-human blood flowed from its blocking arm. A hint of pain flashed in the creature's protruding fish eyes, followed by a sharp shriek, but with the shriek came not an escape, but another fierce lunge.
"Bang!"
Meeting the monster's lunge was Keli's next trigger pull. The bullet instantly pierced through the opponent's belly, which had white fish skin.
Deep Ones' physical capabilities are clearly superior to humans, but their defense is only their flesh. According to descriptions, in fact, a smoothbore gun can deal with a Deep One, it's just that they can't face swarms of these things.
However, the monster with blood flowing from its abdomen chose to pounce on Keli again. The tremendous force impacted the guardrail, and the monster and Keli actually began to roll down the mountain road.
They rolled for about three seconds until the monster's dorsal fin hit a tree, bringing them to a halt. At this point, the monster and Keli were within arm's reach.
"What?"
But in front of the monster, Keli, who it thought should be dying, actually raised his fist.
"Smack!"
A powerful punch landed on the Deep One's left fish eye. The immense pain caused the monster to flail its limbs wildly, leaving several bone-deep scars on Keli's body.
But Keli didn't stop. He fumbled around, his pistol was gone. Keli, still sitting on the ground, delivered a front kick to the chest of the monster leaning against the tree. This kick seemed to have broken the opponent's dorsal fin and several bones due to compression.
The opponent immediately used its limbs to try and push Keli away, while also turning its head, constantly trying to track Keli's movements with its other eye.
But what greeted it was a huge foreign sensation.
Keli, with one hand, reached directly into the monster's opened gill on its side, grabbing something soft, and began to pull it forcefully out of the gill.
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