Bad memories surfaced, and Keli felt truly hurt.
At this moment, after Kazuma took a few more glances and realized that this thing indeed seemed to pose no threat, his fear dissipated, but it was immediately replaced by the hunger that clung to him like maggots to bone.
Looking at this disgusting monster before him, Kazuma actually felt an urge to go up and hug it and bite it.
The contrast between this impulse and his rationality filled Kazuma with shivers of disgust.
"Although it looks a bit strange, it's not impossible."
Suddenly, Kazuma heard Keli's voice in his ear. Kazuma turned his head in horror to look at Keli's calm profile, feeling an indescribable aura.
What?! This thing, neither human nor ghost, just "a bit strange" in your evaluation??
Kazuma broke out in a cold sweat. Damn it! Keli wasn't actually planning to eat this thing, was he?
Feeling horrified, Kazuma immediately spoke with trembling hands.
"No! No! This isn't 'a bit strange'! This is way too strange! Don't you feel disgusted?"
Kazuma painstakingly tried to dissuade this poor man who was already controlled by his appetite.
If he really did that, Kazuma felt like something inside him would shatter.
Keli, however, shook his head.
"Where did you get that idea? The body is indeed very strange, but isn't there still the mouth? As long as you make something to block the body so you can't see it, then…"
Kazuma froze at Keli's reply.
Then he realized what Keli meant and almost couldn't hold back.
You're not controlled by appetite, you're controlled by your lower head, aren't you?
As Keli and Kazuma were talking, the Human-Faced Dog's delicate brows furrowed, and it raised a paw, taking two steps forward.
"You two humans, you actually didn't run. Then I'll just have to eat you. It's rare that I'm quite full today and don't want to move."
The young dog's face showed a somewhat troubled expression, like a high school girl who found something a bit troublesome.
Hearing the dog's words, Kazuma instantly burst out laughing. After watching for so long, Kazuma's earlier fear had vanished.
Stepping out from behind Keli, Kazuma bent down and gestured in the air at his calf, then wagged his finger.
The position he was gesturing at was the height of the Human-Faced Dog. Even if its head was larger than a normal dog's, it was still below his knee when standing on all fours.
Then Kazuma, still laughing, made a punchable expression.
"Keli, look, she said she's going to eat us. I'm so scared! Will she bite my shoes?"
If this were on the internet, Kazuma would definitely add "www" after his words.
Just as Kazuma was enjoying himself, the next moment, a sudden change occurred. The beautiful girl's face instantly split open from the middle into a flower-bud-like proboscis, and the wriggling serrations and pink flesh inside the cavity reminded one of a lamprey or an Alien.
Blood splattered. By the time Kazuma reacted, the opened "flower bud" had bitten firmly onto his leg.
First, it was cold, then the expected sharp pain came, suppressed by adrenaline, and Sato Kazuma let out a terrified shriek and fell down.
"Keli! Save me!"
Kazuma never expected that the "verbal injury" in urban legends would also include this kind of injury!
Pulled down by immense force, Kazuma desperately raised his hand, and what met his eyes was a constantly shaking light.
That was Keli running wildly with his phone in hand.
"Oh no! Keli!"
Seeing his teammate instantly abandon him, although he felt he could probably revive again, Kazuma was still a bit panicked. Not only was he afraid that the sudden revival might not be reliable, but he also feared the pain that the monster, now frantically tearing at his calf, would inflict upon him.
Feeling his flesh being devoured bit by bit, Kazuma also became ruthless.
It's just a monster, not something untouchable! At worst, he'd fight her to the death!
At this moment, Sato Kazuma's eyes were bloodshot as he raised his hands.
"Don't look down on me! You bastard!!"
...19 seconds later.
[Sato Kazuma has died, awaiting revival…]
Keli, running towards the convenience store according to his memory, frowned.
Seeing this message, he immediately changed his direction. Before, he had judged that direct combat would be ineffective against that thing, given the monster's strength, which could pull down someone of Kazuma's size (roughly an adult Japanese male) with one grab. So, he remembered the convenience store from earlier.
He remembered there was a truck at the store entrance, and while shopping inside, he had also seen a delivery guy moving things with the night shift staff.
So, Keli planned to use his knife to "borrow" the truck from the driver. While Kazuma was stalling for time, he would drive back and use a dump truck to perform a iaijutsu attack, crushing that thing to death.
But he never expected Kazuma to be gone in an instant.
Judging that the thing might pursue him, Keli immediately began to turn towards the riverbank. Although he didn't know how people in this world survived with such creatures just by the roadside, Keli didn't intend to involve the poor night shift workers.
After a few turns, Keli, as expected, heard the rapid scuttling sound of sharp claws scraping the ground behind him.
During this time, he seemed to see a strange passerby, but he had no time to deal with him. He immediately turned to avoid the passerby's direction and ran towards the riverbank.
However, by this point, Keli had already returned to the riverbank. Without hesitation, he stepped onto the grassy slope by the river, slid for a bit on the grass, then reached the riverbed below. He quickly scanned left and right, regrettably finding no floating objects. Keli simply took off his jacket, threw his phone on it, and enduring the biting cold water of spring, plunged into the water with his knife in hand.
After entering the water, Keli desperately flailed his limbs towards the center of the river, while turning his head to look at the bank.
Sure enough, that thing also chased after them. The cracked face of the Human-Faced Dog had now reverted to the appearance of a emotionless young girl, and she came to the riverbank with fur and blood on her lips.
"Splash! Splash!"
Without much hesitation, the sound of dog-paddling came. In this pitch-black river with only faint ripples of light, Keli almost lost his vision and could only judge the direction of the Human-Faced Dog by the sound of its dog paws splashing in the water.
As this sound came, it seemed to indicate that Keli's judgment had failed. This thing was not an Undead like Fujiwara no Mokou, it would not easily dissolve in water. The other party had chased him into the river!
However, Keli, with half of his face already underwater, smiled.
Because he had no intention of letting this thing, which he didn't know why it appeared and was wandering around the city, go back. Moreover, although he didn't show it, he was really hungry.
That's right, since he was immortal anyway, and the race section had to be changed to be the same as Fujiwara no Mokou, then why should he run?
Enduring the discomfort of his eyeballs and mucous membranes being stimulated by the river water and the rapidly decreasing body temperature, Keli forced himself to stare and capture the faint white reflection on the surface of the river.
As the sound of splashing grew louder and louder, when Keli saw the paws constantly paddling forward, he slammed his hand hard on the surface of the river, splashing a half-meter-high spray of water towards the thing's face, then raised the knife in his hand and pounced back.
...