Chapter 145: Because We Are All Underwater Part 2
I take that scream as a “yes”. When it comes to Burnout, its biggest advantage is its initial speed boost. Normally you’d need time and effort to go from zero to one hundred, but Burnout was basically bypassing the whole process and switching from zero to one hundred in a matter of a second.
「You too, sh*thead! I don’t need your reply, just hold on tight!」
It looks like the stupid sh*thead had no strength left in him to respond to my words, but at least some semblance of strength must have remained in his body, for he grabbed tight onto me and it looked like he wasn’t going to let go of me.
Now, not having to worry about my hands being tied, I could equip weapons in them and use my skills, which would give me some nice room to maneuver in. Smiling in a nasty way, I sliced apart some fishmen and mermaids that were beginning to approach me and sent out a decoy to take some aggro off of me, accelerating even further.
「I’m counting on you, dummy me!」
I take a sharp turn right next to the monster parade and jump onto the wall, ascending to the rooftop as fast as I possibly could.
In the next moment the streets turned into one giant mess when that dragon-thing crushed right into monster parade like a bowling ball would into bowling pins.
「Runawayrunawayrunaway!!!!!!!!!」
「I WANNA GO HOOOOOOOOOMEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!」
When I managed to return to our temporary base in the destroyed building, I could finally let out a sigh of relief.
「…… Right, introduction time. This little bunny is Emul, and that stupid sh*thead over there is a stupid sh*thead.」
「I, I see…… Or rather, I could hear you from all the way out there……」
「Close your eyes and plug your ears, and suddenly everything is alright with the world.」
「Eeehhh……」
I quickly introduced Alva to Emul and ignored the confused look on Alva’s face.
「Now, Alva may look intimidating, but he’s not like the other fish people over there, so no need to be afraid of him.」
「Even though he looks just like a fish……」
Even so, Stude says that with fear in his voice. Hey, that’s awfully racist of you, you know? Not every NPC out there is going to look human and be human, mind you.
「In any case, he’s going to join our group and be with us in this temporary base right here. As long as you stay here and don’t try to head out, the fish people won’t notice you. It’s safe in here.」
Now then……
「I’m heading out for a little bit again.」
「…… I have no words to describe just how barbaric you are, aren’t you even the least bit afraid!?」
「Not really. Believe it or not, this situation is basically business as usual for me.」
「…… why……?」
「Hm?」
For the time being I told them everything they needed to know, and just as I was going to head out and do something about that Dragon-thing, I heard the voice of the stupid sh*thead that stopped me in my tracks.
「Why aren’t you afraid…… You’re in a terrifying place that you don’t even know…… How can you be so calm and just laugh it off……!?」
Ooops, looks like my attitude and words must have struck a nerve there. Now then, whatever should I say here to make a comeback?
「It’s just my Pioneer soul speaking. And this soul enjoys the unknown more than anything else. It’s just that…… Or only that.」
With those words, I turn around and leave. Not to brag or anything, but it took me a moment to weave those sentences and I was proud of the effect they had on them.
That being said, I leave the base and venture into the city again. At the same time I was glad that Katsu or Pencilgton weren’t here. They wouldn’t leave me alone for saying a line like that until the end of the world and one day more.
「To make short work of all those fish people like that, this thing must be on a level of a Crystal Scorpion or maybe even Golden Crystal Scorpion…… Or maybe it’s just a regular monster with huge-ass stats……」
Apparently Rare Monsters are not as strong as Unique Monsters, but are a cut above the normal ones. On the other hand, some of the normal monsters seem to be equal in power to the Rare ones. Take the Golden Crystal Scorpion for example, and its ability to heal with Moonlight. It was clear to me that this Dragon-thing was on more or less the same level, but compared to Kutanid of the Abyss waiting ahead, it was nothing more than a small fry for me to deal with.
「But it’s different this time around.」
It was common practice in various games. Placing overpowered monsters in certain critical points on the map in order to prevent players from going into certain areas too early.
「Same with Crystal Scorpions. Except that you could work your way around them if you really wanted to. But you’re going down as well!」
Those words were a declaration of war on the Dragon-thing that was swimming through the air care-freely, destroying houses only by swimming right next to them and flexing its giant torso.
「You think I’m fooling around? I’ll have you know that birds eat fish for breakfast!」
A certain thought occurs to me while I watch the geysers of red polygons erupting all over the place.
「It packed way more heat than I would have anticipated.」
One of my bad habits is that while I’m on the move, my tension also tends to rise. I thought that it would be easy pickings, but it turns out that it got quite the fighting spirit all the way to the end.
Seeing cube-shaped polygons dissipate into nothingness ruined the immersion for me, since futuristic sights like that did not belong to a fantasy setting like this underwater city. But hey, as the polygons disappear for good, a certain realization hits me. I did it.
「I’ve really done it……」
That was the only thought that came to my mind as the literal waterfall of dropped items started to rain down on me from above.