Ch.3When Whales Fight, the Shrimp Stays Fine

“Entity Niflheim has appeared! But the size of this one…”

“It’s, it’s almost 20 meters tall! In terms of threat level, it’s estimated to be a top-tier C-class monster comparable to B-class!”

“Damn… Do we have any weapons left?”

“W-well, the missile we received earlier to fight the humanoid monster is gone, and we’ve used almost all the anti-monster ammunition…”

“…I see.”

A reptilian monster normally only about 10 meters tall, now dangling numerous red eyes—Entity Niflheim.

Whether it was a mutant or a special specimen didn’t matter right now.

What mattered most was that we severely lacked the firepower needed to subdue this creature.

“Commander, what should we do…?”

“We’ll retreat for now… Everyone here will follow me to Yeongdeungpo.”

“…! You mean Yeongdeungpo where the Hunter Headquarters is! You’re planning to request reinforcements there! Commander.”

“No.”

“…Pardon?”

“I’m going there because ‘my equipment’ is there.”

“…!”

“Now, let’s hurry!”

In any case, there was nothing more they could do here.

The Commander Hunter led the team of Korean military and Hunters, trying to move as quietly as possible to avoid being noticed by Niflheim.

Of course, the monster would turn Jamsil into a wasteland while they were gone.

That thought briefly held the Commander Hunter back.

“Commander…?”

“It’s nothing. Let’s go.”

If she had been alone, she would have volunteered as bait, darting between buildings to lure the monster away.

But now she was responsible for too many lives to employ such tactics.

She bit her lip, feeling powerless as she turned her back on the monster.

“Please contact the helicopter by radio quickly. Tell them we’re retreating to Yeongdeungpo.”

“Y-yes! Understood!”

The distance from Jamsil to Yeongdeungpo was about 15KM.

Once they got out of Jamsil, the monster would surely focus on destroying human settlements.

So if everyone could safely escape Jamsil, she planned to rush to Yeongdeungpo at superhuman speed.

To use her equipment.

Even a Commander Hunter could fight properly with the right equipment.

But her plan, which had foreseen the future, was about to be rendered meaningless.

[Static… Aaah…! Static… C-Commander!]

“What’s happening? Eagle. Respond…”

“C-Commander! E-Entity Niflheim has… c-caught the helicopter with its tongue!”

Desperate screams came through the radio.

At the same time, the operations staff member who had been supporting her had already turned around, pointing at the sky with a terrified expression.

The Hunters and military personnel who looked where she was pointing fell silent.

Even the Commander Hunter, who should have remained calm, felt a drop of cold sweat running down her temple.

“Niflheim… fights like that?”

“H-Headquarters just sent us information! T-the Niflheim is estimated to be a queen, the highest rank among its kind! It can grow up to 25 meters and unlike normal specimens, it can use its developed tongue like a chameleon!”

“So what’s its threat level?”

“T-that’s… um…!”

[Static… Aaaaaaah!!]

[Static… W-we can’t escape! Static… H-help… Static.]

Increasingly desperate screams came from the radio on her waist.

The propeller had already stopped. The helicopter, wrapped tightly by the long tongue, was barely maintaining its shape as it was being crushed.

The monster opened its huge mouth, trying to devour her subordinates.

Her operations staff and secretary showed her the monster’s threat level on a tablet.

“Niflheim Queen… Threat Level B+.”

“T-theoretically, it would take at least five Hunter units with tanks and a mix of long-range and close-range fighters to barely handle it…”

“……Damn it.”

First a humanoid monster that remained unharmed after a direct missile hit, and now the appearance of the most powerful Niflheim queen.

Was this truly Jamsil’s last day?

Even if they deployed all military and Hunter forces to kill these two monsters, this area would likely be reduced to Stone Age conditions.

At least hundreds of thousands of citizens would lose their homes in a single day.

No, what ate at her heart more was the fact that she could do nothing for her subordinates in the helicopter who were begging for help.

“E-Entity Niflheim Queen is…!”

“Opening its mouth…”

Gulp.

It happened in an instant.

The Queen Niflheim, ignoring the humans’ gazes, opened its mouth wide and swallowed the helicopter in one bite.

The scene fell silent at the sound of the monster’s throat.

Everyone held their breath.

It was the first time they had witnessed people being eaten alive by a monster.

Some remained silent, others burst into tears.

“Guys…”

Some just lamented, while others…

‘Well, shall we get going?’

“M-monster mister!”

“Grrrk?”

The humanoid monster who had emerged from the collapsing alley carrying an elderly woman on his back and holding a girl’s hand came out onto the main road.

He carefully set the two down and was about to look up at the much larger monster when.

“Thank you for saving us…”

“Grrrk!”

“Ah!”

Though he couldn’t speak with his monster vocal cords, he gave a thumbs up to the girl who had thanked him.

And then he leaped.

‘It just swallowed them, so they probably haven’t been digested yet.’

Entity Queen Niflheim.

Among the Niflheim species, which had powerful digestive abilities and lizard-like forms, the queen was the most powerful type. Unlike regular specimens that mainly fed on high-rise buildings, this one also hunted—a rather troublesome monster.

However, since it had swallowed a helicopter whole rather than just a person falling in…

They might still be alive.

No, he desperately hoped they were still alive.

After all, they had been deployed because of him and got caught up in something unexpected.

He really wanted to save them.

Since Niflheim was a gluttonous monster, the stomach was the largest of its internal organs.

So there was only one place where the helicopter would be.

“UWOOOOOOOOOOH!!”

“Eek?!”

“A-a humanoid monster?”

The Commander Hunter and her team, who had frozen in retreat after their comrades’ apparent death, immediately turned their heads back toward Queen Niflheim at the sound of the massive roar.

And they witnessed it.

BOOM!

“C-Commandeeeeeer!”

“Y-yes! I saw it…”

“O-oh…”

“UWOOOOOOOOOOH!!”

The humanoid monster had leaped at the B+ grade monster, burst through its belly, and emerged from inside.

By some coincidence, in his arms was the helicopter that had been swallowed—melting and deformed but still recognizable.

At the same time, the radio transmission they thought had been cut off:

[Static… C-Commander!]

[W-we… Static… are aliiiiive!!]

Came through with joyful exclamations.

“Wooooaaaah!”

“What kind of coincidence is this?!”

“I-it seems that in the clash between monsters, those two people were rescued by the monster!”

“Hahaha! It’s not a case of shrimp getting crushed in a whale fight! The whale fight saved the shrimp!”

“How lucky are they?!”

The military and Hunters who had been heading to Yeongdeungpo turned toward the monster that was collapsing with its entrails spilling out.

A perfect victory from coincidence upon coincidence.

Everyone thought so. They all began running toward the city center with happy faces to rescue their comrades in the helicopter.

“Commander. Let’s go too!”

“Oh, right… you go ahead… I need to think for a moment…”

“…? Ah, yes. Understood.”

Except for one person.

The Commander Hunter.

Of course, she was happy too.

After all, subordinates she thought were dead had returned alive.

But what was this strange sense of discomfort she felt amid the joy?

Conflicts between monsters were extremely rare phenomena.

As a Commander Hunter, she had witnessed such scenes a few times before. And in those instances, she had met people who had barely survived by sheer coincidence.

However, she had never witnessed such an obvious rescue as today’s.

“When he came out of Queen Niflheim’s stomach, he was definitely ‘holding’ the helicopter. The helicopter didn’t just come out with the spilling entrails. He deliberately brought it out.”

Why?

What business would a monster have with that helicopter?

The possibility that he had rescued them was obviously on hold.

After all, he was a monster.

He was called humanoid only because his size and appearance resembled human form.

A monster is a monster.

Surely an evil monster that was an enemy of humanity…

That’s when:

[Ah, Commander. Can you hear me?]

[Yes. I hear you clearly.]

[Oh, good! Then I’ll report! First, both helicopter pilots are safe. They have some burns, but they’re minor and should heal quickly with proper treatment.]

[Phew. That’s a relief.]

The Commander Hunter, setting aside her other thoughts for now, sighed in relief at the news that her subordinates were safe.

[Oh, and on our way, we found evacuees who hadn’t managed to escape yet.]

[Street vendors out selling goods, I suppose.]

[Yes… that seems to be the case. There’s an elderly woman over 80 and a young girl under 10.]

[Are they both safe?]

[Yes, they are.]

[It’s fortunate they’re safe.]

There were always street vendors who got rescued while selling goods in evacuation zones.

Thinking the situation had been resolved, she was about to stretch comfortably when:

[Oh, and Commander. There’s something else…]

[Yes?]

[We… found another evacuee who hadn’t managed to escape.]

[Another one?]

[Yes. But this child…]

[What is it? Tell me quickly.]

The operations staff and secretary hesitated over the radio.

When the Commander Hunter urged her to answer:

[It seems they have amnesia.]

[…What?]

Right next to the broken helicopter.

I, no longer in monster form, had somehow reverted to an elementary school-aged child and was being rescued by people.