The clanging noise echoed as the explosives tumbled to the ground.
However, fortunately enough, none of them detonated.
Unlike their amateurishly crafted appearance, made seemingly out of scrap metal and trash, they were actually quite resilient against impact.
Even though they looked clumsy, they were expertly made.
Of course, only the creation process had been handled by an expert.
As for the person handling them now, it was hard to call them professional.
But isn’t that the nature of bombs, after all?
They’re terrifying if they explode, regardless of who handles them.
Hence, the quantity that had spilled out of the truck wasn’t something to be easily dismissed.
If properly dealt with, it was enough to level a building.
But this assumes that no one would interfere with him…
[Hey.]
Within this building, however, there was someone capable of stopping him.
Not the unreliable security guards or employees who fled through the emergency exits at the sound of the explosion, but a very reliable “presence.” This presence had been there only for a short while, but left a highly trustworthy impression.
This presence approached the man, loudly striking the floor with a long staff.
Dressed in a peculiar black suit that glinted with a reddish hue, adorned with a necklace of fist-sized skull decorations, this mysterious figure even carried a bottle of alcohol in one hand, taking hearty gulps as they walked.
The staff itself resembled something made from a skull, with a design that looked rather crude—reminiscent of someone dressed up for Halloween on a day that wasn’t Halloween.
Despite its bizarre, possibly ridiculous appearance, the man did not laugh upon seeing this figure. On the contrary, his mood seemed to plummet, his lips curling downward and his brow furrowing.
“Hey, Suck. What the hell is this cursed energy?”
The man cursed under his breath at the sight of the figure holding the skull staff. His eyes, one of his most cherished body parts, moved rapidly, scanning the figure known as Ghede. Beyond appearances, the man’s eyes gathered information, displaying it before him.
『 …
…
…
Energy condensed into form.
…
??? Mimic entity suspected. 』
The words floating before his eyes, though faint, provided clear information to the man. It was information meant for him alone.
“Of course! Shamans are dangerous bastards, aren’t they? Fuck!”
The man swore again and pressed a button on his arm. The button activated, retracting with the press, and his arm began to transform with a metallic sound.
Cracks formed on his seemingly ordinary skin, gradually widening. Parts of his arm rose while others sunk. What was inside began to come out as what was outside was drawn inward, flipping the arm’s structure entirely.
Thus, his arm transformed into a gun.
This gun was peculiar. It resembled an ancient hand cannon more than a standard firearm.
And more bizarrely, the cannon occupied the space where his arm and hand should have been, making it even more unsettling.
[Hey. It would be nice if you answered me.]
What’s more, this hand cannon was not made of plain metal. Somehow, countless scraps of metal were glued together into the form of the cannon.
The man brought this strange hand cannon close to the scattered explosives on the floor. The cannon’s hollow openings began to suck air like a vacuum cleaner, pulling the explosives toward it as if they were metal shavings stuck to a magnet.
Click.
And thus, it swallowed them whole, much like how a snake swallows eggs.
As the hand cannon consumed more and more explosives, its middle section began to swell. Like a snake that just swallowed an elephant, the cannon became fatter and bulkier the more explosives it consumed.
And when it reached its limit, the hand cannon abruptly stopped sucking in more explosives.
The man grinned, satisfied that it had finished, and glanced at Ghede with a smirk on his face. He gave Ghede a mocking sneer and taunted,
“Bastard. All you had to do was watch, right?”
Ghede took a drink from the bottle he held in his hand and responded,
[Even someone as old as me was amazed at your strange antics, so I couldn’t interfere.]
He tossed the empty bottle aside, leaned on the staff, and laughed.
“Haha! Thanks, thanks so much. I don’t know what mimic entity you’re pretending to be, but your waiting has made my self-confidence soar! Just like my morning erection, you know!!!!!!!!!”
The man screamed maniacally, aiming his hand cannon at Ghede. Ghede, mimicking the man’s aggression, pointed his staff at him as if it were a rifle.
[Oh, I don’t know what kind of ‘morning thing’ you’re talking about, but it probably isn’t impressive.]
“Shit!”
[Oh, I’m just stating a fact. A guy who can’t properly ram a truck into a building probably doesn’t function properly. Maybe it’s too small, or can’t stand up, or is too flimsy, or maybe there’s a congenital issue—ha! Something awkward probably resides there!]
“FUCK!”
The man cursed at Ghede’s crude taunts and fired his hand cannon.
“You!!!!!!!!!”
A deafening roar followed.
The moment the man decided to fire, the snake that had swallowed the explosives regurgitated its contents. The hand cannon rapidly shifted shape, reversing the flow of one of the explosives, and fired it toward Ghede, flames spewing.
The flying explosive tore through the air like a cannonball, threatening to pierce Ghede and engulf him in flames.
Yet Ghede easily dodged it, simply tilting his body to the side.
The explosive struck the wall behind Ghede with a powerful impact.
KABOOM!!!
An enormous explosion rocked the area.
While the explosive power wasn’t exceptionally outstanding, whether it was due to its speed or some peculiar device, the wall crumbled effortlessly, as if it were meant to fall.
Ghede observed this with a sense of awe but without great concern.
[Quite a show. It reminds me of the old days aboard trade ships sailing the sea. Not bad.]
He even swirled his staff in the air in seeming excitement.
[This crumbling building, the cannonballs being fired, a pirate-like madman… it all suits my tastes. But could you consider changing that wretched music? Something more grand and majestic, something that stirs the heart of a man would fit our current mood better.]
And with that, he dropped a provoking remark that the man couldn’t ignore.
“What?”
The man widened his eyes in disbelief, as if he couldn’t comprehend Ghede’s words. So much so, that he even activated his ‘eyes’ to convert Ghede’s statement into text for verification.
But the words didn’t change.
Instead, they became even more vivid and clear in his mind.
Upon reading and understanding the content…
“This Fucking Son of…”
He furrowed his brow, delivering a curse that mixed with a genuine surge of murderous intent.
“Take that back, damn it!”
[What? What exactly?]
“Are you daring to call this sacred music ‘cursed music’?!!!!!!!!!!!!”
Ghede tilted his head as if perplexed by the man’s reaction.
[Did I say something wrong? This sounds more like noise than music, doesn’t it?]
Music? Noise.
Noise…?
Noise?!!!!
Noise?!
Dare he liken this sacred Shock Rock…
Metal…
to noise?!
[And the screaming is unbearable. It sounds like girls shrieking. It makes me uncomfortable, as if I’m hearing families crying at a gravesite. I’d appreciate it if you could switch it up.]
“What?? Are you talking about girls??!!!!!”
The man became enraged.
“Haha, fine! Feel the Fucking Piston of a girl then!!!!!!!!”
