Chapter 96
[Title: Why Fishmen Are So Fucking Infuriating...jpg]
(A fishman acting cocky near a lake)
(An angry fisherman running after it)
(A GIF of fishmen who had been hiding grabbing the fisherman and trying to drag him into the water)
These bastards are fucking infuriating.
Each one is nothing on its own, but they keep acting cocky while staying just out of reach.
The moment you approach to beat the shit out of them, they all come swarming out as if they'd been waiting, trying to abduct you into the water;
I genuinely want to tear them limb from limb.
[Recommended 101] [Not Recommended 2]
- Wow, fuck; just watching this gives me a headache.
- They remind me of my little cousin lol
- Those bastards never fight one-on-one.
ㄴ They hide like fucking cowards, then swarm out when you approach, fuck.
ㄴ But isn't that a strategy too?
ㄴ You're a fishman, you fucking bastard.
- But why are you using EU and jpg together in the title? That's illegal.
Fishmen came in many varieties.
Almost any fish people commonly knew could appear in fishman form.
But they were all equally weak.
And these fishmen hunted by moving around in tightly packed groups.
[Title: Ah; They're Gathered Over There Again]
(A GIF of fishmen swarming beneath the lake)
(A GIF of them staring blankly at people even after being discovered)
They weren't originally that numerous, but they gathered one by one and multiplied disgustingly.
The most infuriating part was that they knew perfectly well we couldn't enter the water.
So they deliberately increased their numbers to ambush us in plain sight, and we couldn't do a damn thing. Fuck, it was infuriating.
- Wow lol, are they doing that on purpose?
- They're blatantly mocking us.
- I seriously want to catch them all, slice them up, and eat them raw.
- But what the hell kind of language is “gae-gae”?
They were different from ordinary monsters.
The fishmen's characteristic cunning made the Gallery seethe with rage.
But you can't catch them, can you?
We wanted to catch them, but we couldn't go in.
The fishmen took full advantage of that, and intended to keep doing so.
- Gurgle?
- Gurgle?
“Greetings, knights.”
That was, until human knights appeared on the lakebed wearing strange tanks.
*
I bought a complete scuba-diving set.
There was a great deal to prepare, including an air tank, regulator, mask, boots, and so on.
“Can we fight while wearing all this?”
People rarely had any reason to go underwater and fight in the first place.
Perhaps because of that, the equipment seemed more suited to exploration than combat.
If the air tank broke or the breathing tube snapped, it would be an outright catastrophe.
It looked unsuitable for combat.
- Do I absolutely have to wear this wetsuit too?
ㄴ Head Mod*) Yeah, you do. It's cold, isn't it?
ㄴ Then why do we need this mask?
ㄴ Head Mod*) Don't we need to keep our eyes open underwater?
ㄴ ?
ㄴ Head Mod*) ???
There had been a time when I thought that way.
“Oh, right. These guys were the ones who put milk on wounds.”
This was the medieval age of destruction, where the weak—or even ordinary people—couldn't survive.
- Can't you just open your eyes?
- Why would water be cold?
- What's buoyancy? Can't we just walk around?
- Seems like as long as we can breathe, we're good? Yeah.
Only naturally tough people remained.
Thanks to that, among all the equipment, only the air tanks and regulators survived.
The rest of them wrapped themselves head to toe in the same iron armor they normally wore.
No, it didn't end there.
- But this air tank is way too flimsy, isn't it?
ㄴ Yeah, it looks like it'll get dented right away if we fight.
ㄴ How about surrounding it with iron? Make it sturdier.
ㄴ Oh, sounds good.
ㄴ Head Mod*) ?
They similarly made iron helmets and packs around the air tanks and regulators, which would have been their only weaknesses.
Thanks to that, scuba diving became “scuba walking.”
- Clank, clank.
The phenomenon of knights clad in iron armor walking along the bottom of the lake had come into being.
[Title: LOL, Fishman Bastards, Get Ready]
(A GIF of bewildered fishmen)
(A GIF of them being caught while fleeing and dragged up onto land)
Ah lol, we're running out of time to breathe, so let's head up and pick this back up ^^
- (Ah; this is too scary; emote)
- But won't water get in through the gaps in the armor?
ㄴ For real, it's iron, so it'll lower the temperature.
ㄴ Author) Yeah, I guess it'll get colder?
ㄴ ?
ㄴ Author) What does iron's temperature dropping have to do with my body's temperature?
ㄴ ???
ㄴ Oh, look at him go, fuck.
“This is quite a bit different from what I had in mind.”
Of course, the fishmen quickly swam away into cracks between stones and rocks.
Apparently, the knights who had sunk to the bottom of the lake couldn't follow them.
- Crack!
- Grrrgl!
But the harpoons could.
*
Guns had trouble exerting their power underwater.
But using grenades would be a great way to injure the Gallery users wearing iron armor.
“Then we can use water guns.”
A “water gun”—a harpoon gun developed from the kind used in water since ancient times—would solve the problem.
[Harpoon] - 109p
The fishmen were sly.
Then all we had to do was make them not sly.
Since harpoons were reasonably priced too, I distributed them to the knights who would be walking underwater.
[Featured Post: How the Hell Do You Even Think of Something Like This?]
(A GIF of a harpoon being fired)
(A GIF of the barbs spreading in four directions after piercing a fleeing fishman's torso, making it impossible to pull out)
I know I'm not really in a position to say this, since I'm good at using it,
but this idea is kind of terrifying.
The thought of making it spread open inside the wound is seriously... lol;
Everyone else says the Head Mod is kind and generous, but honestly, the Head Mod scares me a little.
I'm never, ever going to pick a fight with the Head Mod.
[Recommended 5932] [Not Recommended 12]
- Aaaagh, fuck, add a gore warning.
- Wow, that must hurt like hell, fuck;
- But isn't it weak? I don't think that could kill them.
ㄴ Author) Have you never considered that it was made that way on purpose?
ㄴ ?
ㄴ !
ㄴ Wow, holy shit;
“I didn't make it, though?”
More precisely, these were weapons that the descendants of the descendants of the descendants of human Gallery users would develop someday.
In my eyes, they were among the more ordinary weapons, but the Gallery users saw them a little differently.
[Title: Thanks, I Feel Comforted After Seeing the Featured Post]
(A GIF of someone identifying themselves as an executioner)
(A GIF of someone giving a thumbs-up beside a guillotine with a prisoner)
As you can see, I'm an executioner.
I'm the one whose job is to cut the rope on the guillotine you all see every day as an event, yep.
But I never hesitated or felt guilty about killing people.
I don't get chills or nightmares or anything like that.
So after doing this job for a while, I started wondering if I might be a psychopath...
(A GIF of the harpoon expanding inside a fishman's body)
(A GIF of a fishman screaming and passing out)
Seeing this made me think, Ah, so I'm normal after all hehe.
[Recommended 12] [Not Recommended 0]
- For real, it looks like a toy, but lol.
- Are you in your right mind now?
- It's hilarious how seeing genuine madness restored his own sanity lololol.
ㄴ (A trembling elf emote)
ㄴ But why have the elf bastards only been lurking and posting emotes since last time?
ㄴ For real, it's even weirder now that the elves have gone quiet;
ㄴ Did a wave hit them or something? lol
Above all, the air tanks didn't hold much.
Naturally, it was faster for the knights to catch the fishmen and drag them out than to capture them underwater.
If they walked out of the water with the fishmen still skewered on their harpoons, the fishmen writhed in pain until they passed out.
YongYongDying: Head Mod...
YongYongDying: You have a surprisingly cruel side, don't you?
YongYongDying: But I understand. People like us naturally acquire various hobbies over a long life.
Head Mod*: Yeah?
YongYongDying: Sometimes I've even seen those hobbies develop into a taste for sadism.
YongYongDying: (Hentai! Dragon emote)
Head Mod*: Aaaagh, no!
Whatever my intentions, I had succeeded in instilling fear in the fishmen.
The fishmen who had acted so cocky were frightened when they saw their comrades being dragged out.
As a result, fishmen invasions of villages naturally decreased.
And subduing the fishmen became easier.
[Title: Ah lol, I'm Quitting Being a Knight]
(A GIF of dozens of fishman corpses)
(A GIF of someone holding a whole sack of mana dumplings)
Fishmen are insanely profitable.
First, you get fish meat, and they drop mana dumplings like crazy at a great rate despite being so weak.
On top of that, not just anyone can wear iron armor, so there are few business partners—or competitors.
Fishman hunting is seriously an untapped market.
You guys should build up your stamina and do it too. It's easy money lol.
Ah, yeah, I'll take questions.
[Recommended 41] [Not Recommended 1]
- I have a question. Being a knight was always my dream job, but ever since the Head Mod showed up, Gallery-related jobs seem to be Tier 1.
ㄴ Author) Yeah?
ㄴ Do you make more than knights?
ㄴ Author) Yeah, of course.
ㄴ Author) A licensed knight makes about 2,000; a fishman hunter can make over 5,000 if they're skilled.
ㄴ Wow, holy shit;
ㄴ 5,000? That's seriously filthy rich.
- Isn't it dangerous?
ㄴ Author) Even if you hole up in the city, you'll get conscripted to defend against waves anyway.
ㄴ Author) It's much more lucrative to roam the outskirts and hunt fishmen, yeah.
More than anything, the appearance of fishmen naturally created a new profession: fishman hunting.
It was different from fishing, where you only got meat.
There was the prestige of having a Gallery-related profession.
And you could directly obtain both monster meat and mana dumplings.
Considering that the average Gallery user's income was under 1,000, it was an enormous income.
And this change
[All marketplace-listed items have sold out.]
[You earned 3,453 more dumplings than your previous income.]
“Well, my income is going up along with it.”
Soon manifested as a change in my income.
Fishmen had a much higher drop rate of mana dumplings relative to their difficulty,
and fishman hunters who targeted them rented ponds from villages, harvested the dumplings, and paid a small usage fee.
Besides, because they were caught as soon as they appeared, the fish population didn't change much either.
“At this rate, I should be leveling up again soon.”
Every time the marketplace's level rose by 1, its point production also increased noticeably.
I might soon be able to buy even the items I'd once had to purchase with trembling hands without a second thought.
- Ding.
Then the administrator chat notification rang.
The sender was Full-HP Elf.
“That's unexpected.”
The name caught me off guard.
They had been quiet lately, since Felicie becoming a sub-mod had given them two moderators to keep them in line.
“He even sent it as a GIF.”
A GIF? From a notification that came out of nowhere?
I was just about to enter the administrator chat out of curiosity.
Full-HP Elf: (A gigantic fishman caught through a violently shaking screen)
There was a fishman on the administrator chat.
No, what caught my eye was a gigantic form so massive I wondered whether it was even all right to call it a fishman.
No wonder. That was...
“A whale.”
Full-HP Elf: (A GIF of a whale with legs charging toward them)
It was a whale, something one could only see in the distant sea.
Full-HP Elf: (A GIF of Full-HP Elf fleeing in a panic in the corner of the frame)
Full-HP Elf: Eek! Haaah!@!!!
Head Mod*: Wow, a Featured Post ticket!
If you just take a picture and upload it to the Gallery, it'll blow past the Featured Post cutoff with room to spare, won't it?
Full-HP Elf: Uh, nonsense aside, save me, sa-save me
Full-HP Elf: I'm begging you, save me!!!1!
A whale had appeared in Elrad.