The Hunter's One-Sided Beating
I stood there in a daze, watching what could only be described as the Hunter unleashing one-sided violence on the Surveillance. She reloaded her gun, aimed it at the Surveillance, and fired.
"Wait!"
I tried to stop her, but it was too late. The bullet hit—or rather, the Surveillance shuddered dramatically. It brought its arm to its mouth and licked the spot with its tongue.
"Kyauung…."
…Letting out a strangely dog-like whimper. But the bullet didn't embed itself; it bounced right off. My eyes followed it, and when I saw it rolling on the floor, I was utterly dumbfounded.
"…A BB pellet?"
It was just a plain white plastic pellet. Hold on—no way would the Hunter use a toy like that against an Outer God. That meant this bullet had something to do with Outer Gods….
"Damn it, not again."
Even as that happened, the Hunter clicked her tongue, reloaded, and took aim at the Surveillance once more.
Wait. If the Hunter was using it, that meant it was a weapon capable of taking down an Outer God. Which implied….
"Ah."
"One recently discovered method is using weapons made from Outer God flesh to 'take down Outer Gods,' but I'm not too sure about the details from here on out;;"
The graffiti on the wall flashed in my mind, and I quickly pieced together what the bullet was. Made from Outer God flesh, huh. That's why it looked like a plastic BB pellet to me!
As I started grasping the situation, someone pounded on my shoulder. I turned to see Agartha, her face pale as a ghost.
"Tantun! You're too late!"
"What the hell is going on here?"
I had no clue what was really happening, so I could only fire back with a question. Agartha looked exasperated, like can't you see?, sighed, and explained.
"The Surveillance showed up and started smashing everything, so Hunter's holding it off!"
The area around us was indeed wrecked…. But right now, the Surveillance was just standing there while the Hunter beat on it unilaterally!
Looking closer, though, the Hunter did seem fatigued, getting pushed back a bit. As if to prove Agartha's words, the Surveillance suddenly charged at the Hunter.
"Mung!"
"Urk."
The Surveillance's tackle hit the Hunter square in the gut with a cute little boing. Unlike the sound, the Hunter rocketed backward at a lethal speed, smashing straight through the opposite wall.
…It was hard to blame the Surveillance entirely when it wore the most wronged puppy-dog expression imaginable.
"What do we do? Hunter's in danger!"
Cognitive dissonance was setting in hard, but yeah, it did look dangerous. Agartha stomped her feet in frustration, then eyed me as if struck by inspiration.
"Hurry up, Tantun! You brought something to take that thing down, right?"
"Oh, yeah. This…."
I held up the dog bone the Lesser Outer Gods had insisted I take, even sacrificing themselves for it. Ah, just looking at it made my eyes water again.
As I sniffled, feeling all emotional, Agartha screamed and backed away.
"Kyaa! D-don't shove that at me!"
Uh. Um. What the hell did this look like to her? I'd never gotten this far in the game, so I had no idea what it originally was. Being an Outer God-related weapon, maybe it looked grotesque?
Agartha covered her mouth with one hand like she might puke just looking at it, waving the other toward the Surveillance.
"Give it to Hunter or throw it over there—do something quick!"
Hm. Maybe it looked like a sharp weapon to her? Nodding at her words, I struck the javelin-throw pose I'd seen online so many times.
"Here!"
Shifting my weight forward, I hurled the dog bone with all my might.
"Eat this!"
Luckily—or maybe I nailed the timing—it traced a smooth arc and hurtled toward the Surveillance at high speed.
The decisive moment. Time seemed to slow.
The bone closed in on the Surveillance, which quickly noticed and shifted its gaze.
Damn. Had I underestimated Outer Gods? Ignoring the Hunter, it turned toward the bone and began to move—slowly, in my perception.
What it did next made me doubt my eyes.
I'd thought it was turning to block the weapon, but instead, it leaped toward the bone. Just before impact, it twisted sideways.
And then.
"Ang!"
It caught the bone in its mouth.
"Huh?"
The Hunter, Agartha, and I all froze, staring in stunned silence as it landed on all fours, bone in mouth, cocking its head quizzically. Then it looked right at me.
"Shit!"
Before the Hunter could react, the Surveillance bolted straight for me.
Too shocked to even scream, I couldn't move as it leaped.
Ah. Was this how I died? Sure, it had eyes all over, but getting crushed to death by a cute girl didn't sound like a bad way to go. With that thought, I squeezed my eyes shut.
Time passed. Nothing happened. Confused, I felt something tapping my hand.
I opened my eyes. The Hunter and Agartha stared at me, wide-eyed. As I read their expressions, a panting hah hah sound came from somewhere.
Searching for the source, I realized it was right below me. Looking down….
"Hah, hah, hah."
The Surveillance beamed up at me with a bright smile, tapping my hand like a dog pawing its owner. It had set the dog bone on the floor.
"Uh uh?"
As I gawked, it paused as if realizing something, then picked up the bone and nudged it into my hand.
My brain lagged, processing the bizarre scene. So… the Surveillance was acting like a dog. I'd thrown a bone. It fetched it and brought it back to me.
Finally, it clicked. The classic game: throw a frisbee or boomerang, and the dog brings it back. That's what it wanted from me.
"Uh…."
I took the bone from its mouth. Its tail started wagging furiously, thrilled at the prospect of another round.
Was I really doing this? It felt like my last shred of human decency was crumbling. I mean, at least in my eyes, this was treating a pretty girl like a dog—what was the difference?
But oblivious to my turmoil, the Surveillance whined impatiently, like hurry up.
"Hi, hiing."
Haa. Those pleading eyes made not playing seem crueler. With a sigh, I wound up and tossed the bone farther.
It scampered off with eager little steps, fetched it, and returned panting happily, tail wagging.
My rationality snapped. Well, we're already this far—might as well go all in.
"Hand."
"Mung!"
It raised its paw.
"Sit."
"Mung!"
It sat.
"Turn around."
"Mung!"
It spun in a circle.
"Good girl."
"Kwuung."
I petted it, and it closed its eyes blissfully, tail thumping.
Um…. Sensing myself devolving into trash, I decided to stop.
"Wohung~!"
But the Surveillance, satisfied, started happily circling me, barking.
"Good human! Nice!"
Pop, pop, pop. The jelly on its feet squished.
"Human no hit me! Good human!"
"Y-yeah, I'm a good human…."
I was about to say that's enough when its path suddenly veered—and it lunged straight at me!
"Gyaah!"
I twisted away, but it had anticipated that. I toppled under its weight.
Bracing for the worst, I felt something wet on my arm.
Panicking, I looked up. The Surveillance had its tongue out, head tilted in a puzzled question mark expression.
Uh. Wait. No way….
Eh, couldn't be. Right?
I gave an awkward smile. Taking it as permission, it grinned and started licking again.
"Lick lick!"
"Uheeeek!"
And so, pinned helplessly, I endured a thorough licking for what felt like forever.