Can Someone from a Tradition-Ridden Village Pull Off a Narou-Style Story in a Modern Dungeon? ～The Higher Being Behind Me Is Way Too Much of a Final Boss～ - Chapter 147: Sound of The Waves (Patreon)

-Thank you DCRangeRange, Dean Dexter and CannedbreadFollow me on Patreon via Linktree https://linktr.ee/Mnotia-

The death that would visit her was lying right before her eyes.

It had been placed as if tossed into the long, narrow space made in the gaps between the equipment piled in the back seat of the van.

The special cloth bag, large enough and more to fit a single person, had for some reason been opened completely. Perhaps because it had been dragged, the bag was covered in mud.

"Hk, u, w-wait, that's me, right...!?"

The face she'd seen in the mirror so many times she was sick of it, and the gray hair she'd been mocked for so many times since becoming a dispatched staff member.

Her skin, which had already been pale to begin with, was beginning to turn blue, and it looked less like the skin of a living thing and more like something made of rubber.

She could understand it better if someone told her it was a doll reproducing her down to the smallest detail.

However, as if denying such a convenient delusion, the version of herself lying in the van reflected Shio through slightly opened eyes.

There was no light in those eyes.

Her clouded, crystal-like eyes vaguely reflected only Shio's outline.

"Minako, this――urp..."

"Ah, no no, that's such a waste!"

"...!?"

That which welled up as if rising from deep inside her body lost its place to go when Minako forcibly covered her mouth.

With the stinging sensation deep in her nose and the unpleasant feeling of her solar plexus turning over, what had almost overflowed out of her mouth returned to her stomach once more.

"I went to all the trouble of making it, you know."

"Cough... Even so, don't suddenly cover my mouth...!"

"Sorry, sorry. More importantly, look, isn't there something you want to ask that Enri Bearer?"

"Yeah...! Why am I...!"

Shio nodded in agreement with Minako's words and looked away from her own corpse.

But it felt like it was still staring at her, so she drew closer to Minako.

Minako accepted that without saying anything and brought her face close to Shio's ear.

"That one knows everything. We've gotta question her quick."

Minako's long, slender hand pointed toward the Enri Bearer.

Shio moved her gaze as if tracing the fingertip, and eventually looked at the Enri Bearer.

For some reason, she was staring not at them but at the pile of mud gathered at her own feet.

From that deliberately averted gaze, it was clear she had something to feel guilty about.

"W-why is my corpse here? Please answer!"

"...That is"

At Shio's question, which was close to a scream, the Enri Bearer gave a start and finally looked at Shio.

For some reason, those eyes were filled with fear, just like Shio.

"That's a real corpse, isn't it!? What are you doing here!?"

"Ugh, th-that's... hk"

As if a child were gauging an adult's mood, the Enri Bearer's figure looked strangely small.

Shio noticed this and involuntarily stopped pressing her with questions.

Then she noticed the Enri Bearer's gaze was directed not at herself but at the person beside her.

"...Minako?"

Just as Shio, finding it strange, tried to look that way, Minako's hands gently held her cheeks.

And then, while still holding both cheeks, Minako's pale arm, appearing from the edge of her vision, pointed at the Enri Bearer again.

"She's trying to bluff her way out. You wanna know, don't you, Shio? At this rate, she might run away."

"Right..."

"You're scared, aren't you? But it's okay, because I'm with you."

"...Thank you."

"Mm, good girl. Let's do our best."

It was probably to calm Shio down.

Minako gently stroked Shio's head.

At the same time, the warmth of the hand on her cheek became very reassuring, and Shio faced forward again.

As if showing what she should do, Minako's hand was still pointing at the Enri Bearer.

"Please answer! That corpse is... no, what in the world is happening in this city!?"

■

Shio's question no longer reached the Enri Bearer's brain.

(No good, that one is no good.)

A thick scent of the tide piercing her nose, and the sound of ripples soaking into her brain.

If she closed her eyes, she'd be deluded into thinking she was standing in the middle of the sea.

Her hearing and smell had already slipped from her grasp.

"Please answer!"

Shio's words, desperately rousing herself, were meaningless too.

Because now the Enri Bearer had ended up meeting eyes with the thing standing beside Shio.

It was an aberration over ten meters in total length.

(Ah, ah...)

The four arms moving respectively as if to adore Shio or to show her the way were only a few of its countless arms.

Those log-like things extending as if to surround the van closely resembled fish tails.

Gray scales like a carp's overlapped in many layers, and under the sunlight they repeatedly gave off a dull, slick reflection.

For some reason, the Enri Bearer understood that these scales, like the backs of human hands layered atop one another, showed that prayers had been offered for each and every one.

Connected to those tails was the upper body of a naked human, one size larger than a normal person.

And it wasn't just one.

Multiple upper bodies, as if randomly cut out, were connected, taking a shape just like a centipede.

The arms extending in place of legs to support the long upper body seemed to be made by joining several arms together, and the positions of the joints and the way they bent differed on the left and right.

The upper body was human, and the lower body was fish.

If so, then it should be called a mermaid.

What could be called fortunate was that the upper body was covered by something huge and gray like a rag, and only the arms peeking through gaps in the cloth and the pale skin could be seen.

There was no point in looking at the head, either.

Because it was just a lump of flesh modeled after a head, and from the skin-colored protrusion like a human head, black hair growing however it pleased simply hung down to the ground.

(Absolutely, top urgency... right away, reinforcements...)

Just as she thought that far, the Enri Bearer noticed something was staring at her from within the rag.

The true eyes of this body's owner were watching her.

"See, Shio is asking you."

"Ah, ah."

The Enri Bearer instinctively obeyed the voice that seemed to echo from beyond the ripples.

What was most terrifying of all was that the voice, which should have been echoing from the aberration, held a strange sense of reassurance.

A comfort like a mother's lullaby mixed with fear, robbing the Enri Bearer of more and more of her normal thinking ability.

Eventually the Enri Bearer stopped thinking deeply and decided to follow the aberration's will.

No, it should no longer be called an aberration.

Because from just now, it was undoubtedly a god to the Enri Bearer.

"W-we are conducting an experiment to create Enri Entities in this city."

"Experiment...! So it was true after all. Everyone was right, Minako."

"Right. So what kind of experiment was it? Let's ask."

"Yeah. What kind of experiment were you conducting?"

"...It was the generation of a new pseudo-medium for a National Defense Agency Enri Entity. Not something accidental like A-E1, but the perfect command of an Enri Entity based on theory. This was the testing ground for that."

"...In other words, you were trying to control an amazing Enri Entity?"

"Yes."

"Then why is my corpse needed for that!? And why are there two of me in the first place!?"

At that question, the Enri Bearer involuntarily fell silent.

Because it was something that concerned the very reason the Enri Agency currently existed.

But from the great sea's perspective, such a thing didn't matter.

"Answer her."

"We needed a person suitable for implanting an acquired personality into a National Defense Agency Enri Entity, and her older sister. That's why... th-that's why."

Her words stopped.

That was not what the Enri Bearer wanted.

As if she had forgotten words, her thoughts wouldn't come together, and even if her voice came out, it no longer held meaning.

"...So what? Please answer me!"

Shio shouted.

Was Shio aware?

For someone who had found her own corpse, she was still able to question with some calm left.

Shio probably wasn't aware.

Everything in this place was being controlled by that thing beside Shio.

(I, I can still talk. So... let me go.)

The Enri Bearer desperately opened and closed her mouth.

Her mind, which had just undergone mental cleansing, no longer held any shape.

With only the single-minded desire to survive, she spun words.

"Dispatched staff have no right to know."

(Th-that's wrong...!)

Words different from what she intended flew from her mouth, and the Enri Bearer desperately tried to shake her head.

But her body did not move freely.

Her right hand on its own rummaged through her inner pocket and took out a single gun.

It was a specially made handgun prepared in case of emergency.

(No. No, no, no, no.)

She stared at that thing like a child throwing a tantrum.

She put all possible pleading into her gaze, but there was no sign it was reaching it.

The hard something touching under her chin showed no sign of moving away.

"Y-you can't mean to die with that!?"

"Shio, this is bad. She intends to die to protect the secret. We have to stop her quickly."

The Enri Bearer didn't answer.

Or rather, she couldn't answer.

"W-wait――"

Her luck came in two parts.

One was that she had not taken an attitude that belittled Shio in front of that thing.

In that case, there was a high possibility she would have suddenly vanished from that place along with the sound of applause.

"If you want to know more, you can just look for it yourselves, can't you?"

Her finger was placed on the trigger.

(No, no, no――)

And the other stroke of luck.

It was that this handgun, prepared to incapacitate S0-1, had no lethality.

The last conscience left behind like an excuse, by a strange coincidence, ended up saving her own life here.

"Ah."

Before Shio could rush over, the trigger was pulled, and as electricity burst from the muzzle, the Enri Bearer's consciousness fell into darkness.

While falling into endless darkness, the Enri Bearer certainly heard it.

『You're nice!』

The innocent voice, for some reason, deeply reassured the Enri Bearer.

『Minako-chan turned into a simple Japanese monster...!』

『They're really going all out for this content, huh. To think they'd show that form.』

『...Um, by the way, does Sora also have something like that?』

『＾＾』

-Thank you DCRangeRange, Dean Dexter and CannedbreadFollow me on Patreon via Linktree https://linktr.ee/Mnotia-