Upon seeing such a colossal creature, Keli's face twitched.
No, is this the Tokyo sewer or a goddamn ecological park?
Those zookeepers who desperately try to raise their crocodiles into giants and break Guinness World Records are crying!
With this physique, why aren't you going to a zoo to enjoy world-star treatment, daily gourmet meals fed by humans, female crocodiles lining up for breeding, and regular professional medical care, instead of hiding in this sewer?
The giant creature opened its jaws, swaying its enormous mouth from side to side like it was preying on a flock of water birds, and charged forward, stirring up waves of foul water, like a dragon crossing a river.
However, there was also that faint urge to hunt on its body, but for some reason, that feeling, like with the rats, wasn't intensified by the crocodile's immense size. It was far less tempting than the Deep Ones were to the three of them.
This was also why the three of them didn't feel much even when the creature was already close.
Kirito found himself in the back, and without dodging or evading, he plunged both curved blades straight into the abyss-like maw.
Keli and Kazuma hesitated for a moment and didn't draw their guns, instead pulling out their melee weapons to engage.
Because the sewers were filled with marsh gas fermented by various organisms, actions like pouring in dust or lighting a fire were extremely prone to explosions, and even firearms were the same, which is why the three tried to use melee weapons as much as possible.
"Bang!"
Kirito's twin blades were originally aimed directly at the crocodile's constantly swaying huge mouth, and that enormous mouth could indeed fit half a person's body. However, the crocodile swayed too quickly, making it difficult for Kirito to accurately grasp the timing, so he simply chopped directly at the crocodile's thick, fleshy body.
But the sensation made Kirito's hand go numb.
When both blades struck down with immense impact, he used a technique of releasing power and then rapidly striking, but the feeling was like cutting into dried, thick leather, or chopping a tree with an axe—it didn't feel like flesh at all.
"Roar!"
The crocodile cried out in pain, propped itself up on both sides of the waterway with its claws, and violently shook its head. Kirito was directly slammed against the wall, and the twin blades in his hands flew out, sticking directly into the crocodile's upper snout and moving with the crocodile.
So strong! Kirito felt as if he was wrestling with several powerful bulls.
His spine took the impact. If it weren't for the sponge pads he had stuffed into his bass bag to secure his blade position, that blow might have severed his connection to his lower body.
But at the same time, Kazuma and Keli were not to be trifled with.
Keli held his flashlight in one hand, while the other held a cleaver, striking at the crocodile's giant mouth, which had become even more ferocious due to the pain.
And Kazuma, in sync with Keli, pulled out a pepper spray from his in my arms. Relying on the fact that all three wore masks and were not greatly affected, he pressed it down directly.
"Splash!"
Keli deliberately learned from Kirito's lesson and reserved some recoil. Instead of trying to cut through with full force, he chopped down and quickly retracted, just as a boxer or kickboxer would rapidly rebound their fist after a punch to inflict damage. But the effect of this move was far less intense than Kazuma's spray.
All three felt the ground shake as if from an earthquake. It was the vibration from the crocodile shaking its massive body and colliding with the sides of the sewer after being stimulated by the pepper spray.
But that was just the beginning.
Stimulated by the intense pungency, the giant crocodile, following its animal instinct, violently tried to twist its body to evade, but due to its immense size, it couldn't turn in the waterway, so it had to raise its limbs and head out of the water.
At this moment, its massive body hidden beneath the water truly revealed itself to the group.
If the part exposed above the water had already appeared bloated and huge, then the lower half of this crocodile could only be described as obese. White skin encased an abdomen like a water balloon, and occasionally, some parts showed wound-like things, with rotting flesh surging and thick fluid slightly oozing out as the crocodile moved.
When that thing lay across this narrow space, it was like a wall of flesh, a mountain, appearing insurmountable.
Kirito, who was right by the wall, was directly crushed by this massive creature and instantly "respawned," appearing by Keli's side in a flash of flames.
Keli and Kazuma, meanwhile, seized the moment, taking advantage of the giant creature turning its head to plunge their weapons into its belly, which was far less protected than its upper body.
"Howl!!"
Large size being a weakness in terrain is an unchanging truth. After a few slashes from the two, blood instantly gushed out in torrents, accompanied by something resembling grease.
The immense pain forced the ruler of this sewer to turn ferocious. It bent its head and buried it in the foul water to wash, then rubbed against the wall, raising its head, trying to turn back around to face Keli and the other.
The two continued to hack, regardless of the monster; they chopped at whatever part of it faced them.
"Swish!"
"Ugh ah ah!"
However, once the crocodile broke free from the terrain's restraint, it was as fast as a fierce dragon.
It bit Keli, who was still greedily attacking, and began to roll in the narrow space.
The massive mouth snapped shut several times, swallowing Keli whole.
Seeing Keli, the strongest and most ruthless member of the team, swallowed by the monster, Kazuma's expression twitched.
He raised the pepper spray again, ready to unleash it.
However, the next moment, the crocodile began to struggle violently, showing unparalleled agony, and its reptilian roar echoed through every corner of the sewer.
From the esophagus of the colossal creature, a voice could be heard.
"You like being swallowed whole! You like being swallowed whole?!"
Kazuma could still hear Keli's voice from inside the crocodile's throat.
At this point, Kirito also slowly recovered and stood up.
Then, the two saw a gash appear on the struggling, thrashing giant creature.
Keli, holding his cleaver and laughing maniacally, pried open the crocodile's esophagus from both sides. The still wriggling and jumping internal organs spilled out uncontrollably, splashing into the sewer.
And Keli's hand was gripping the monster's heart, having sliced its amphibious lungs into "husband and wife lung slices."
The scene before them gave Kazuma and Kirito a huge shock. They stared blankly at Keli, who had jumped onto the bank from the crocodile's belly.
Keli adjusted his crooked mask, then shook his hand, trying to get rid of the sticky, uncomfortable feeling on his body.
And the crocodile's limp body also emitted a small amount of white light.
Looking at Keli, who resembled a god of war, Kirito swallowed hard and took a breath.
But because his mask was broken and resurrection didn't repair clothes, what he inhaled was a foul stench, which made him cough violently.
But soon, Kirito noticed something amiss.
"Strange, there's a weird smell like disinfectant… Cough, cough, cough! And also, there's a lot of that scent here."
Kirito coughed as he pointed in one direction.
It was a spot in the waterway. Keli thought Kirito was pointing at a pipe.
The three of them tidied up a bit. Since Kirito smelled it, the two unhesitatingly decided to sacrifice Kirito's comfort and have him take off his mask to smell more carefully.
Finally, the three arrived next to the spot Kirito was pointing at. Keli observed it with his flashlight; it was indeed a drain from somewhere.
This might be the source of the anomaly.
If it were only rats, it might be some special mammalian mutation, but this phenomenon where many creatures were becoming strange was pointing to one possibility.
The sewer is the turbulent underside of the city; it faithfully reflects all the polluted water resources within the city.
Therefore, the problem might not be the sewer itself, but rather a specific drainage point.
"It must be a chemical factory, right? I saw videos abroad before where chemical substances caused biological mutations."
As the three spoke, they found the nearest ladder.
But when Kazuma was the first to climb up, pry open the manhole cover, and look, he froze.
That's right, how could there be a chemical factory in downtown Tokyo?
Appearing in the hazy distance, the most striking sight was a lit red cross and a symbol of a snake wrapped around a staff.
"It's… a clinic…"
Sato Kazuma's expression was somewhat uncertain as he spoke to the two below.
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