Chapter 315: Instant Results

Chapter 315: Chapter 315: Instant Results

Hundreds upon hundreds of eyes simultaneously ignited with a strange, dark red glow, like tiny lit charcoal embers, all focusing on Jack in unison.

The entire gloomy space was illuminated by this suddenly lit red "sea of stars," making it appear even more eerie.

Jack stood silently in place, watching this ocean of red light points "staring" at her without a sound, and spoke calmly into the communicator:

"Ms. Herta. If all the rats’ eyes were glowing red and all staring at you in unison, would that be considered a normal phenomenon?"

There was a two-second silence on the other end of the line, followed by Ms. Herta’s emotionless counter-question: "What do you think?"

"Understood."

Jack nodded, "Then that means an anomaly has occurred."

As soon as she finished speaking, it was as if a switch had been triggered.

"Squeak—!!!"

A shrill rat screech, piercing enough to almost tear the eardrums, erupted suddenly!

The bodies of the dozens of giant rats closest to Jack began to swell at a visible rate, in an extremely unnatural way!

Their fur was stretched until it tore, revealing the rapidly proliferating pink flesh underneath!

Their size expanded several times over within seconds; their hind limbs became thick and powerful, while their forelimbs extended and differentiated into more arthropod-like appendages covered in barbs!

Their heads deformed, their muzzles split open, revealing hideous mouthparts arranged in a spiral pattern that constantly dripped with mucus!

"Evolution?"

No, this was more like some kind of forced, catalyzed mutation!

In just a few breaths, Jack was surrounded by dozens of these terrifying "mutant rat monsters" that reached her waist, and further away, even more giant rats with glowing red eyes were restless, emitting threatening low growls.

The sewage was rippled by their restless appendages.

Watching these things that had instantly transformed from "local specialty creatures" into "Lovecraftian-style monsters," Jack’s golden eyes remained calm, though she frowned slightly.

She weighed the metal baseball bat in her hand that had accompanied her for a long time.

(...Feels a bit like bullying them.)

(And, cleaning them up might be... troublesome.)

She flipped her wrist, and the bat disappeared.

Replacing it was a "sword" with a... very unique appearance.

The blade was long and narrow, shimmering with a dull luster that seemed polished by the passage of time, but that was not the point.

The point was that the "blade" of this sword was, shockingly, a dried, stiff, scale-missing—salted fish, still frozen in a twisted, struggling posture!

It was the salted fish sword transformed from the Curio [immortal salted fish]!

As soon as the salted fish sword appeared, an indescribable, complex, fishy, salty stench—like an invisible shockwave—instantly spread out with Jack as the center!

This scent was so "extraordinary" that even the complex, putrid odors of the sewer itself paled in comparison, as if they had been forcibly redefined.

The effect was instant.

Those mutant rat monsters, which had been crazily screeching and poised to pounce, all froze in unison!

Their simple sensory systems had clearly never processed such "soul-shattering" olfactory information.

In their dark red eyes, the madness was briefly replaced by an instinctual feeling of retreat.

The encirclement even involuntarily loosened a bit.

However, this retreat lasted less than a second.

"Squeak—!!!"

An even sharper screech came from somewhere in the sewer.

The red light in the eyes of all the mutant rat monsters flared up violently, instantly overcoming that momentary hesitation and replacing it with even greater fury!

Without the slightest hesitation, they pushed off with their hind limbs, splashing sewage, and lunged at Jack from all directions at a speed far exceeding before!

Their spiral mouthparts wide open, their appendages flailing, they surged forward with the momentum to tear her apart and devour her!

Facing this pounce that was like a wave of filth, Jack’s expression remained calm.

She didn’t even perform any flashy opening stance; she simply held the salted fish sword and swung it forward, seemingly at random.

There was no brilliant sword light, no sharp sound of tearing air.

There was only a grayish-white "aura," almost imperceptible to the naked eye, that shot out from the "fish head" of the salted fish sword like a fanned-out wave!

Wherever this "aura" passed, the air seemed to distort slightly, all because of that highly concentrated scent—salted fish Technique: Stench Slash!

The first few mutant rat monsters to bear the brunt seemed to hit an invisible wall; their lunging motions instantly distorted. Their reinforced skin and chitinous shells seemed to offer no protection at all, as their internal structures were directly invaded by the pervasive "stench," emitting a series of teeth-grinding "hissing" sounds. They became stiff, then were knocked flying back the way they came like broken sacks, crashing into their kin behind them and causing a small chaotic mess.

But this was just the beginning.

Jack flipped her wrist, and the salted fish sword traced paths through the air in her hand.

Each trajectory brought forth a mist of grayish-white vapor. These mists seemed to possess a sentience of their own, automatically tracking and entangling the lunging rat monsters.

Those hit head-on instantly lost their ability to fight, collapsing and twitching; those grazed by it had their movements become crooked, and their attacks lost all accuracy.

However, the number of rat monsters was too great, and they came on wave after wave.

Jack’s figure moved quickly across the muddy island in the sewage, the salted fish sword dancing like the wind, beating back the monsters that closed in one by one. But the encirclement was still shrinking, and more mutant rat monsters were pouring in from other pipe openings.

Jack’s gaze swept over the increasing number of red light points; she seemed to feel that this efficiency was still not enough.

She stopped, gripped the tail of the salted fish sword with both hands, and held it vertically in front of her.

The next moment, with her as the center, countless phantom images of salted fish of varying sizes and shapes emerged silently in the surrounding air!

These phantoms were not physical entities, yet they felt as solid as reality. Each one emitted a "fragrance" that made the soul (of a rat) tremble. They were densely packed, suspended in mid-air, with their fish heads all facing outward, like a silent army with an overwhelming stench.

Jack uttered simple syllables, devoid of any emotional color:

"Ten Thousand Fish Return to Origin."

Her arm swung down.

The countless suspended salted fish phantoms, as if having received the signal to charge, instantly turned into streaks of grayish-white light, exploding outward in all directions from Jack as the center, leaving no blind spots!

Each streak of light precisely locked onto one or several mutant rat monsters!

Pfft! Pfft! Pfft! Pfft—!!!

The muffled sounds, like bubbles bursting, merged into a continuous chorus within the sewer space!

There was no tragic scene of flesh and blood flying, but the effect was even more eerie and thorough.

Every mutant rat monster hit by a salted fish phantom, regardless of size or degree of mutation, was like having its spine ripped out, or as if it had been instantly pickled and dried for thousands of years. Their movements suddenly froze, and then they fell straight down, crashing into the sewage or piles of garbage. The light in their dark red eyes extinguished, their bodies shriveled and stiffened at a visible rate, and finally, they even began to emit another kind of... "aroma," more complex and profound, like that found in the corner of a warehouse of aged salted fish.

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