These enormous spiders were chasing far too closely, so by the time I scrambled to my feet, covered in dirt, there wasn’t a single giant spider left with its body intact. I grabbed my submachine gun and fired at any that could still twitch their legs. Only after finishing off these terrifying giant spider monsters did I suddenly realize that night was already beginning to fall.

　　“If you don’t hurry up, even more powerful monsters will appear!”

　　I was just about to answer Julia when I heard a loud and beautiful singing voice. “Omi... ah ah ah!” Looking up at the sky, what made my hair stand on end was that the monster that had bitten the middle-aged man to death had appeared again.

　　“If I hadn’t seen her kill someone, I’d definitely have thought this monster was an angel!”

　　Almost without thinking, I turned and ran for my life. Even though I knew the submachine gun in my hand was useless, I still gripped it tightly—at least it was more powerful than my fists.

　　That monster, with the appearance of a beautiful woman and wings, circled once in the sky and then silently glided down. I sensed the wind behind me and, without thinking, pulled the trigger. The bullets hit the monster’s body as if striking rubber. Although I could see the bullets going in, they didn’t cause the slightest wound or injury.

Chapter Five: So This Is What Experts Are Like

　　“Only a thousand meters left, at most five minutes and I’ll make it—just hold on!” My heart was seized by overwhelming terror, and I ran like mad. I felt that even an Olympic champion might not be faster than me at this moment.

　　But that monster could fly, so even if I ran faster than a maglev train, it was useless. I felt a sharp sensation on my head, as if touched by something sharp. Terrified, I swung my submachine gun upward, smashing it hard at my head.

　　With a bang, it seemed the monster had grabbed the submachine gun. I didn’t dare fight her for it and immediately let go. I pulled out two pistols and fired wildly without aiming.

　　Among ordinary high school students, I was considered pretty brave, but in this situation, expecting me to stay calm in the face of danger was like asking a new recruit on his first day to assassinate Saddam. Ridiculous! The only question was which was more ridiculous.

　　“If you stay with me, you’ll have eternal sleep!”

　　A stunningly beautiful face suddenly appeared right in front of me. The monster had somehow gotten extremely close, and the breath from her mouth even brushed against my cheek.

　　“Screw you!”

　　I’d never practiced any martial arts, but at that moment, the “double dragons snatch the pearl” move popped into my mind. I jabbed out with two fingers, and the soft sensation at my fingertips felt as if I’d poked into a piece of jelly.

　　A piercing, shrill scream immediately echoed in my ears, so loud that even when the beautiful monster knocked me to the ground with a wing, leaving me face down in the dirt, I didn’t feel any pain.

　　In fact, aside from the stabbing pain in my eardrums, I couldn’t feel anything at all.

　　Scrambling and crawling a few steps, I finally entered a desperate sprinting state again. Almost a minute later, I heard the sound of wings flapping behind me once more.

　　“How dare you hurt my eyes, I’ll make you become...”

　　I stopped, turned around, and jabbed again!

　　This time it felt even softer than before—I could even feel myself piercing a thin membrane. With the experience from last time, I immediately threw myself to the ground and covered my ears. Although I still couldn’t completely block out that unbearable shriek and brain-piercing sound waves, I managed to recover my escape speed a few seconds faster than before.

　　“Only fifty meters left at most!”

　　When I saw the grand lobby of the hotel and the people coming and going through the main entrance, I felt a surge of excitement at the thought of finally escaping danger. But suddenly, my feet couldn’t find the ground, and a pair of delicate hands appeared under my ribs.

　　“Tell me, should I drop you to your death, or bite you to death?”

　　“I beg you, let me die of old age!”

　　This conversation was utterly pointless. My face must have been glowing green right then—a sign that my gallbladder had burst from fright. My usually quick-witted brain, for some reason, thought of a silly question: “She has two hands, both holding me, so there shouldn’t be a third one...”

　　Before my brain could figure out what that meant, my body made a choice on its own. I threw my elbow back with all my strength—luckier than stepping in dog poop three times in a row when leaving the house, my desperate elbow strike landed squarely on the monster’s beautiful nose.

　　I didn’t hear any bones break, but for the third time, I heard that unbearably shrill scream, and then I was thrown down from midair.

　　Splash!

　　“Too lucky—it’s a swimming pool!”

　　Thinking I was doomed, I suddenly felt a cool sensation envelop my whole body—I’d been thrown into the super luxurious sunlit pool in front of the hotel.

　　When I surfaced, I saw the beautiful monster glaring down at me with two blood-filled eyes, her expression vicious to the extreme. Somehow, I found a surge of strength and upgraded my usual dog paddle to a desperate canine swim for survival.