Manuke FPS Chapter 206

Published at 10th of August 2022 01:24:34 PM

“Ｋｙａａａａａａ!” 

“Ｈａｕｗａａａａａ!”

The strange noise that the mermans let out mingled with the singing voice of the mermaids.

Aiming at the center of their body, where their humanoid upper body intersects with their fish tail lower body, with UMP 45 as they jumped out to the floor――I pulled the trigger. I could see four mermans in front of me and two mermaids behind them. I tried aiming at the mermaids first while avoiding the mermans to stop the singing.

but the wriggling bodies of the four mermans kept interfering with my aim――damn, do I need to get rid of the frontliners first after all…?

A burst of .45ACP struck the merman body――

These fishmen I saw for the first time were 

similar to the Naga I met in the Snakehead Labyrinth. The upper body is a naked human body, and the lower body has a fish tail fin, which is as long as an eel. Naga had purple skin, but the fishman had light blue skin. The wet hair that falls on their shoulders sticks to their face and skin, and their sick-looking face isn’t the beautiful fairy tale mermaid that was often known in my previous world.

Their screaming mouths were lined with sharp teeth. There was nothing princessly about their monstrous appearance.

The mermaids’ singing voice, which they sing behind the mermans, gradually became inaudible as their frontliners fell. It’s a song that inspires her companions――or a requiem for explorers who became their prey, becomes a magical song that echoes in the underground lake.

Here we go again――

As soon as I proceeded through this underground lake, the battle with the fishmen began. This magic song echoes every time. The magical song sung by the mermaid is not meant to attack, every time this inaudible song echoes――

Water columns spouted from both sides of the passage, and a number of Mermans jumped up from the lake. The number is three――and there are also three monsters accompanying the fishmen.That is certainly Aquadrius――the giant salamander monster that I met in the open field section of Wolf Labyrinth. 

Aquadrius is over 2m long and has many red spots on its black and slimy body. The ones on the Wolf labyrinth did not attack, and I could simply crush them with the vehicle I brought out, the LVTP-5. But this time the situation was different.

The three Aquadrias that jumped up all had shining ferocious red eyes. They let out a low roar and threatened with their sharp fangs exposed. It looks like they’re not in a normal state. Saliva drips from between the fangs, and the red spots on the body are beating and thinning. The mermaid’s magic song echoes in the underground lake. As if linked to it, the spots of Aquadrius emerge more deeply.

Perhaps it’s because of that song…

This mermaid’s song is so fucked up. It’s forcing the mermans and aquarius to attack recklessly.

“ Ｇｕｖｏｏｏ！！”

At the moment when I thought that, the Aquadrius groan became lower, and they rushed at me while curling up and rolling down a narrow passage.

It’s too narrow to do a slide jump――however!

“Too naive!”

With a powerful step as if to step through the rocky passage that stretches over the underground lake, the first one approaching me was knocked to the underground lake by swinging the riot shield on the left. For the second one that came at me in succession, I put the crosshairs of UMP45 I held one-handed and pulled the trigger.

The ringing gunshot, the empty cartridge case that was ejected, and the aquadrius spewing fresh blood over it――the third one jumped over it. Its ferocious red eyes shone as it opened the sharp fangs lined mouth. Following the momentum of my movement, I launched a roundhouse kick, knocking it back to the water.

But I’m not finished yet.

Along with the sound of the Aquadrius’ body breaking the water, I switched from sprinting to doing slide jumps. Bypassing the mermans, landing behind the mermaids. 

“The end!”

I pulled out the grenade ax. At the same time as the mermaid looked back, their heads flew off from their neck ――then I pointed the muzzle at the merman and pulled the trigger. Two out of three mermans were engulfed by the grenade explosion. I quickly reloaded the UMP45 and dispatched the single leftover.

The underground lake was vast. 

In this area, which has no walls and is separated only by suspicious fog, it is not possible to move around with slide jumps and strafe jumps, which were the basic moves of VMB.

As a result, I had to stand my ground and fight, but that’s why firearms have a big advantage. 

In a place with good visibility, the shooting was started the moment the demon beast / sub-race was seen, and it was unilaterally excluded from the outside of the opponent’s engagement distance. The place corresponding to the small room and the large room was a circular square, but since there is no wall, I can pick them off fairly easily.

However, the field dungeon is not to be trifled with. Around the night after starting the capture of the underground lake, the monsters and demihumans that appeared beyond several large rooms began to change.

Like this cylindrical golem pillar that stands to block the passage. It didn’t move unless it received damage or fought in close proximity, but .45 ACP bullets couldn’t do the job. But when I thought to pull out the Phase Rifle to overcome the sturdiness, I was attacked by the real identity of the dots that had been swimming around the area; a horde of eel-like monsters called Jimner. The situation was not really in my favor.

And now, I had to face the biggest crisis I’ve faced so far in this labyrinth.

Jimner attacked by jumping out from the lake in an arc. If I avoid them, they’d just plunge into the lake again on the other side of the pathway. But what bothered me the most was when they leap, they also discharge electric shock blasts. The electric blast would fill my field of vision with flashes. But that’s nothing because the system would immediately react by adjusting the shading function. The problem comes if I get hit by any one of them; the electric shock numbs my muscle, slowing me down, and making me prone to get hit by the next attack.

Since they’re small sized, their attack isn’t particularly fatal on its own, but consecutive hits will eventually bring the target down――I got hit enough to make me fall to one knee, forcing me to eat the rest of the onslaught.

“Kuu――”

The CBS  was deployed, repelling most of the flock, but the part that could not be hidden by the shield was still attacked. These Jimners have no limbs――once repelled, they would wriggle their way back toward the body of water, then resume their assault.

I need to stop this repetition――

While looking at the durability value of CBS in the corner of the field of view, I took out the M67 frag grenade from the pouch on my waist, pulled out the pin and rolled it to the place where most of the Jimner would land on.

Three seconds later, a water column spouted from the lake with a dull explosion, and I saw many Jimners get blown away. However, their number is still too many while they’re also too small to accurately shoot. I don’t have any other option but to endure their attacks and pick them off with grenades. Each time a water column rose, the number of dots reflected on the map was greatly reduced. I had four M67s with me, and when I used up all of them, there were only a few dots remaining floating in the lake.

I hadn’t wiped them out completely. The moment I thought about getting rid of the rest from the aisle, a shadow cast over my body-a golem pillar stood in front of me with his fist raised.

This is bad!

The durability of CBS has decreased considerably due to the Jimner’s assault. If I receive that stone fist, the durability value may drop to zero. If that were to happen, there would be a cooldown before I could deploy the shield again.

Can’t have that now.

At the same time as I made the decision to avoid it, I did a slide-jump backwards to suddenly leave the golem pillar’s attack range――but there was no place to land. I was aware of that when I made the move. Considering the flight distance of the slide jump, it’s almost impossible to not land on water with such a narrow passage. I――without a doubt, fell into water like a rock.

Due to falling into water, my vision was dyed with white bubbles. Reaching around, I took out the small oxygen tank from my waist pouch and immediately used it. Jonah’s avatar face had no eyes, so visibility was not hindered even underwater. As living beings, we have to secure air supply, but why does the body that consists of only bones still need to breathe? While laughing at my body that I couldn’t understand, I picked up the APS speargun that I slung on my back.

They must’ve seen me falling into the water. Beyond the darkness of the bottom of the lake, a wriggling shadow begins to appear. There is a small amount of light source coming from the glowing ore――it barely does anything to lit up the darkness, but with this small amount of light source, Night Vision mode should work.

So I immediately switched so that I’m able to see in the dark――four waving tails of mermans swimming their way toward me at high speed.

They’re real fast…

I immediately fixed my posture, and aimed at the incoming mermans, then fired. The 5.56 x 40 mm MPS bullet, which is a special ammunition, has a length of about 12 cm, and is shaped like a pencil, cut through the lake with a heavy firing sound. I shot the four approaching animals and checked the surroundings――. The lake might be the territory of fishmen, but their weapon is nothing more than spears with harpoon-like barbs. The engagement distance is fundamentally different from me who handles firearms. 

On the map, I could see dots swimming some distance away from me, but there was no sign of them attacking anymore. My body was slowly sinking to the bottom of the lake due to the weight of firearms and ammunition. This underground lake is quite deep, and even if you look down, it’s only darkness――I reloaded the APS speargun and reached for the back of my waist.

I picked up a gun-shaped gadget in the shape of a small shotgun, the grappling hook. When I aimed at the side of the passage extending above the water at the site and pulled the trigger, a rope with claws was ejected from the thick tubular barrel.

The hook hit the side of the passage directly and at the same time fixed itself there. Once I confirmed that the hook had latched onto something, I pressed the trigger again. My sinking body suddenly changed direction――pulled toward where the hook was fixed on. When returning to the passage, the golem pillar stopped moving and returned to the pillar blocking the passage. 

How troublesome…

I really must pass through this open field section as fast as possible. Taking out the Phase Rifle, I shot a huge hole through the golem pillar with a full charged shot, and continued on my path. 

The destination is visible――the map shows a square room, the clean fountain room――which means the gatekeeper room is also close by.

***Author’s weapon list: 

Weapons used

H&K　UMP45

A submachine gun developed by H & K of Germany, developed at the request of the United States Special Operations Command (SOCOM).

The ammunition used is .45 ACP ammunition and the magazine has 25 ammunition.

Riot shield

A circular shield with a diameter of about 50 cm, which is inferior in durability to ballistic shields.

The setting is made of polycarbonate, and it is transparent except for the handle part, and visibility can be secured.

PhaseRifle

The shape is similar to a general ARF, but the color is all black. There is a part to load a energy pack at the bottom of the barrel, and a dedicated optical site at the top.

The capacity of the energy pack is 1000, you can charge up to 100 at a time, and when you pull the trigger, it consumes 90 energy and a full charge shot is fired.

It is designed so that a low-power laser can be fired if at least 30 energies are charged.

Grenade Ax

A special firearm that looks like a combination of a flintlock grenade launcher and a one-handed ax.

The ammunition uses a 40 x 46 mm grenade, which can be ejected while drawing a parabola up to 250 meters ahead, and can damage objects within a radius of 1 m around the point of impact.

Circle Barrier Shield (CBS)

VMB original barrier shield, with a deploy switch at the base of the left index finger, as long as energy continues

VMB can put up a circular shield-like barrier to prevent any attacks. The consumed energy is recovered by natural recovery over time or recovery items.

M67 Fragmentation grenade

A green pear-shaped grenade that explodes in 3 seconds after being thrown, can kill a fatal wound within a radius of 5 m and debris inside within a radius of 15 m. Due to the specifications of VMB, the scattered debris becomes light particles and disappears when it exceeds 15 m.

APS Speargun

A special operations speargun developed in the Soviet Union in the 1960s. The magazine can hold twenty six 5.56 x 40 mm MPS projectiles.

Of course, it’s usable above ground as well――but the grouping and recoil are quite horrendous, so players need to be very careful when handling it.

Also, as VMB balancing, using it while aboveground would reduce its firepower to only a tenth.

Grappling hook

A specially equipped gun-shaped gadget with a tubular barrel that is about the size of a small shotgun. Aim at the site on the top of the barrel like a firearm

If you pull the trigger, the three-pronged claw hook will be ejected with the rope and locked.

If you pull the trigger again, the rope will be rewound and the handle can be moved.

Chapter end