As I stood there dumbfounded, observing the scene that seemed like nothing but a one-sided display of violence by the Hunter, he reloaded his gun, aimed it at the Watcher, and fired.
“Wait a minute!”
I tried to intervene, but before I could, the bullet that had already been fired hit the Watcher, causing them to shudder.
It seemed to have struck their arm, and they brought that arm to their mouth, licking the wound with their tongue.
“Kyaww…”
…making a sound that oddly resembled a puppy’s whimper.
However, when I noticed the bullet bouncing off rather than embedding, my gaze followed it, and I soon found it lying uselessly on the ground, rendering me utterly dumbfounded.
“…BB bullet?”
Wasn’t that just a plain white plastic pellet?
Wait, how could the Hunter possibly use such a childish toy against an Outsider?
That meant the bullet had something to do with the Outsiders…
“Damn it, not this again.”
In the meantime, the Hunter clicked his tongue, reloaded the bullet back into the gun, and aimed at the Watcher once more.
Wait a minute.
If the Hunter was using it, that meant it was a weapon capable of taking down an Outsider.
Which means…
“Ah.”
I recalled the phrase written on the wall: “Among the recently discovered methods, using a weapon crafted from the flesh of an Outsider can allow for ‘Taking Down Outsiders,’ but beyond this point, I’m not really sure;;”
I quickly deduced the true nature of that bullet.
It was made from Outsider flesh.
That’s why it looked like a plastic BB pellet to me!
As I gradually began to understand the situation, someone slapped me hard on the shoulder. Turning around, I saw Agartha wearing a distressed expression.
“Tanton! It’s already too late!”
“What on earth is happening?”
Not knowing the exact situation, I could only respond with a question.
Agartha looked at me as if to say, “Can’t you tell?” and after a sigh, she explained.
“The Watcher has appeared and is about to destroy everything, and the Hunter is trying to stop it!”
There was definitely a lot of destruction all around.
However, from what I could see right now, the Watcher was just standing still while the Hunter was the one mercilessly pummeling them!
Upon closer inspection, I could note that even the Hunter was showing signs of weariness; it looked like he was being pushed back.
Trying to prove Agartha’s words, the Watcher suddenly started to charge, rushing straight at the Hunter.
“Woof!”
“Gak!”
The Hunter was hit in the stomach by the Watcher’s charge, making a cute “pong” sound.
Contrary to the sound, the Hunter was propelled with a ferocious speed, crashing into the opposite wall and utterly shattering it.
…It was hard to fully vilify the Watcher when their expression still reflected that of an unjustly wronged puppy.
“Oh no! The Hunter is in danger!”
Despite the overwhelming cognitive dissonance, it definitely looked perilous.
Agartha seemed to be growing increasingly frantic, her feet shuffling, and then I caught her gaze as she realized something.
“Hurry, Tanton! You brought something to take that down, right?”
“Oh, yes. This….”
I lifted the dog bone that the Outcasts had insisted I carry with me even at the cost of their own lives.
Ah, just looking at it was making me teary-eyed again.
Feeling touched, I was in the middle of sniffing back tears when Agartha screamed and jumped back.
“Yikes! Don’t shove that in my face!”
Huh.
Um.
What on earth does this look like to you?
I hadn’t played this game up to this point, so I had no clue what it was originally supposed to be.
Given that it was a weapon related to the Outsiders, it probably looked grotesque.
Agartha seemed to be feeling sick just by looking at the weapon, covering her mouth with one hand while pointing and shaking her other hand toward the Watcher.
“Just pass it to the Hunter or throw it over there, do something quickly!”
Hmm.
Does it look like a sharp weapon to Agartha?
Nodding at her words, I took a stance to throw the bone that I had seen often on the internet.
“This!”
Shifting my center of gravity forward and leaning my body, I flung the dog bone I was holding.
“Eat this!”
Either by sheer luck or perfect timing, the dog bone soared in a gentle arc, speeding toward the Watcher.
In that decisive moment, everything felt like it was moving in slow motion.
The dog bone gradually approached the Watcher, who swiftly shifted its gaze.
Damn.
Had I underestimated the existence of the Outsider too much?
The Watcher ignored the Hunter and turned its body towards the dog bone, beginning to move sluggishly.
What happened next made me doubt my eyes.
I had thought the Watcher had turned to dodge the weapon, but instead, it leaped towards the dog bone, twisting its body right before it could make contact.
And then…
“Nom!”
It bit down on the bone.
“Huh?”
In that series of events, the Hunter, Agartha, and I could only stare blankly at the Watcher as if our breaths had been stolen.
After landing on all fours, it tilted its head.
Then, it turned its gaze toward me.
“Crap!”
Before I could even react, the Watcher charged at me in an instant.
Panic froze my voice, and as the Watcher leaped towards me, I thought,
Am I really going to die like this?
There are too many eyes all over my body, but dying under a cute girl might not be such a bad life, I mused, ultimately closing my eyes.
As time ticked by, I was beginning to feel bewildered when a series of soft taps reverberated against my hand.
Opening my eyes to see what was happening, I found the Hunter and Agartha both wearing shocked expressions, looking at me.
Reading the meaning of their expressions, I suddenly heard a “huff-huff” sound coming from somewhere.
As I searched for the source of the sound, I realized it was right beneath me.
Looking down…
“Pant, pant, pant.”
The Watcher was beaming with a huge smile, tapping my hand playfully like a puppy nudging its owner.
It had dropped the dog bone I threw on the floor.
“What the…?”
I stared blankly at the Watcher, who appeared to realize something and paused for a moment before once again picking up the dog bone and starting to nudge it toward my hand.
My brain struggled to process this bizarre information, making everything feel slow to interpret.
So…
The Watcher is a dog.
And I threw it a bone.
The Watcher picked up the bone and brought it back to me, nudging it against my hand.
Only then did I realize what the Watcher wanted.
It was like playing with a dog, throwing a boomerang or frisbee and asking it to fetch.
The Watcher seemed to be asking me to do that right now.
“Uhh…”
As I took the dog bone from the Watcher’s mouth, it got all excited, wagging its tail in delight as if to say we could play again.
Is this really the right call I’m making?
I felt like I was losing the last shred of my human morality.
After all…
From my perspective, what’s the difference between treating a cute girl like a dog right now?!
Yet, unaware of my inner conflict, the Watcher was whining impatiently for me to throw it faster.
“Hee, hee.”
Sigh.
Looking into those eager eyes, I felt like not tossing it would make me the bad guy, so I mustered the strength in my arm.
I threw the dog bone a bit further away, and the Watcher scampered off like a little nut, coming back with the bone and panting happily.
My rationality felt a bit severed.
I thought, why not go all the way since we’ve come this far?
“Paw.”
“Woof!”
I raised my hand.
“Sit.”
“Woof!”
It sat down.
“Turn around once.”
“Woof!”
It did a spin.
“Oh my, good job!”
“Wooof.”
As I patted it for doing well, the Watcher closed its eyes and wagged its tail in joy.
Ugh.
…I was about to call it quits as I felt my dignity slipping away.
“Woof~!”
But then, satisfied with the game, the Watcher started to bark gleefully and run in circles around me.
“Good human! I’m happy!”
Pitter patter, pitter patter.
The jellies on its feet made sounds.
“Human, I won’t hit you! Good human!”
“Uh-huh, yes, I’m a good human…”
Just as I was about to say, “Let’s stop now,” for some reason the Watcher changed its path and lunged directly at me.
This time, it was aiming straight for my body!
“Ahhh!”
I spun around to escape, but it seemed to have calculated that and ended up knocking me down.
I was terrified of what would happen next when I felt something warm and wet pressing against my arm.
Panicking, I lifted my head to check what it was and saw the Watcher with its tongue out, tilting its head in confusion.
Oh.
Wait a minute.
This…
No way.
I mean, really?
When I awkwardly smiled at the Watcher, it seemed to take that as a cue to go ahead and started grinning again while wagging its tongue.
“Lick, lick!”
“Uuugh!”
And thus, I found myself pinned down by the Watcher, getting licked for what felt like an eternity.
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