In the distance, a cloud of dust billows up.
It was approaching us, accompanied by a tremendous tremor that could be felt even while riding on Taishakutsukimo.
Its power, which allowed it to advance while destroying the mountains of Shinano Province, and its ability to break through obstacles, make it an extraordinary monster in many ways.
And because of such beings, their very existence will be detrimental to humanity.
That's precisely why it had to be removed.
Even if it's human ego, you can't afford to be idealistic if you want to survive.
This was an opponent that we knew would cause immense damage if left unchecked. There was no way we could have shown any leniency.
First of all, according to Katsuyori's report, the mole moving through the ground is apparently about 30 meters long.
In short, it's about the same size as the Statue of Liberty in my original world—that goddess herself.
Such a monster is approaching, causing the earth to rise and destroying everything in its path.
We must do something before the people of Mino suffer any further harm.
But while one part of me was thinking such things, another part of me was excited by the situation before me.
Even though you can't see them, you can definitely feel their presence.
The oppressive feeling of the mole moving through the soil is giving me a sense of pleasure.
"Haa..."
I can't stop myself from letting out a sigh of anticipation.
I couldn't deny my boyish curiosity.
A being that shakes the earth and easily tramples not only people's living spaces but even nature itself.
I'm genuinely curious to find out what it looks like.
"Hmm, it looks like they're going to be foolishly honest and just keep coming straight ahead..."
Next to me, Nobunaga, mounted on his dappled gray horse, muttered.
Indeed, as he said, the mounds of earth indicating the presence of moles were coming straight towards us.
And they probably assumed there would be no change to that route.
Far away from us—at the front lines—the Oda family's construction unit, led by Kazumasu, has begun throwing barrels packed tightly with gunpowder into the trenches they've dug.
And separate from those who were throwing gunpowder barrels, there were others who were lighting torches.
They probably intend to throw torches into the hole to ignite and cause an explosion.
(Now that I think about it, gunpowder contains a large amount of saltpeter... In the world I came from, saltpeter was rarely found in Japan, and the warlords of the Sengoku period had to somehow obtain it through trade with the West...)硝石Shōseki
Yes, this "world that has gone through a cycle" is quite different in many ways.
If what the water god once told us beneath Chikubu Island is true, then the human habitat—excluding Japan and including Europe—is practically in a state of complete destruction.
If that's the case, then what kind of beings are the "Southern Barbarians" in this world?
To begin with, we don't even know how the technology for firearms and gunpowder made its way to Japan.
The exact methods used to produce the gunpowder and the subsequent manufacturing of the bombs remain unknown—and to be honest, I find that quite intriguing.
This is a world inhabited by monsters.
Perhaps there's something else similar to saltpeter that they're using as a substitute—and so on, my imagination runs wild.
"Well, it's almost time... I'll leave the preparations to you, brother-in-law."
However, the situation didn't allow for endless daydreaming.
Nobunaga's words brought me back to my senses, and I ordered my retainers to prepare to set the nets.
1200 men who had traveled all the way from Omi with a large quantity of fishing nets nodded and ran off.
I've heard that if you "fish" a mole out of the ground, you can knock its massive body over by placing a net on the ground.
Since I don't really have a complete understanding of what a mole monster is, I don't know what exactly causes it to fall over.
However, if the inhabitants of this world say it is possible, then we will comply.
When dealing with monsters, beings that defy common sense, it's always best to follow the advice of those who know how to deal with them.
"They're coming, brother-in-law."
The moment Nobunaga said that, a tremendous explosion roared ahead.
Just as the mole was getting dangerously close, a brightly burning torch was thrown into the hole where the bomb had been dropped.
And the moment the gunpowder, reacting to the heat, exploded—
"Gigi, gigigigigi!!"
—Raising an enormous cloud of dust, the monster that had been advancing underground all this time finally revealed itself.
In the space where gunpowder smoke and dust mingled, the first thing to appear was a gigantic pair.鋏scissors
Its shape is, to put it simply, like a stag beetle .顎jaw
To be more precise, the shape of its jaws was remarkably similar to that of the Giraffa stag beetle, the world's largest stag beetle.
"...that's it."
"...So you've finally shown yourself, you mole."
The Oda family's civil engineering unit successfully "hoisted" the object using bombs.
The mole watched them flee in a panic, letting out a cry of "Gigigigi!"
This monster, which appeared in the sunlight, was quite different in shape from any mole I knew, even from its jaw.
Like the hawk, it could be said that it is an unusual and unique being.
At the bottom of its enormous jaw, which made up a quarter of its body length, there was a fleshy opening—or rather, an oral cavity—that was densely packed with fangs.螺旋spiral
However, this area tightens up the moment the mole emerges from the ground—much like an anus.
Like a mismatched set of teeth, dozens of sharp fangs protruded from its jaw.
"Gigi, gigigigigi, gigi"
The mole shook its throat and cried, opening and closing its jaw with a snapping sound.
At the base of its long jaw and on the top of its head were enormous, bulging eyeballs.
Those eyes, which evoke a visceral sense of terror, look down upon the fleeing Oda family's construction troops, tracking their movements.
"Gigigigi, gigigi"
The sound of massive footsteps echoes, thump, thump.
While one's eyes tend to be drawn to the jaw and eyes, the other parts were also so bizarre that they were hard to believe.
Or, to put it another way, it was something far beyond my comprehension.
First, the mole's entire body is covered in thick, reddish-brown fur.
However, like a mouse, it has no fur on its tail.
That soft, squishy part wriggled as if it had a self-awareness.
But that part is still okay.
The problem lies in the parts that support the body of the mole that has crawled out onto the ground.
A pair of legs grow from its abdomen. When it stands, the mole will be about 7 meters tall.
Furthermore, the mole's feet were as thick as an elephant's, and it had more than 20 toes.
Furthermore, it has thick hair growing all the way down to its ankles.
Besides its two legs, there were other parts that supported the mole.
These are the long arms that extend from both sides of the mole's body.
The arms, reminiscent of those of an ape, appear to be over 20 meters long.
It was extended, and the palm with five fingers was pressed against the ground.
And slowly, using its two arms and two legs, it moves forward by crawling along the ground.
Even so, those footsteps were so loud I could hardly believe my ears.
The sound, approaching slowly but steadily, was a roar of a quality completely different from anything made by humans.
Alternatively, it might not be an exaggeration to describe it as a "rumbling sound" that precedes an earthquake.
In short, it seems that moles are quite heavy.
"...But that's in bad taste."
Without realizing it, those words slipped out of my mouth.
The monster that came into view was truly a hair-raising creature.
Moreover, it's the kind of thing you'd rather avoid looking at directly—a chilling presence.
"Gigi, gigigigigigi, gigi"
The mole, with its long arms and thick legs, moves forward at a pace reminiscent of a turtle, banging its jaw violently and vibrating its throat.
Watching that, I could feel my concept of "mole" slowly changing.
The feeling of a cute image being transformed and overwritten by something horrifying is truly chilling.
I could feel a cold sweat forming on my back and then running down.
The hawk, which now serves as armor protecting my body, was a pretty disgusting monster, but...
The mole was just as unpleasant, if not more so.
"nothing..."
I can hear Nobunaga's growl.
This was because the Asai forces had begun to quickly lay countless nets along the route that the mole was likely to take.
Seeing his skill, the cavalry led by Katsuyori straightened their posture on horseback.
"Gigi, gigigigigigigi, gi"
However, the mole seemed unaware of the work being done by the Asai family's retainers, and proceeded straight ahead without hesitation or taking any detours.
Perhaps this monster is unable to look directly ahead.
The fact that they still move straight ahead is quite an interesting habit, but there's no point in dwelling on that.
"Gug, geeeee!"
The mole's thick foot tramples the net.
The web of webs had become entangled around its more than twenty fingers—and now, with its legs tangled, the mole had lost its balance.
"Giiiiiiiii"
With a tremendous thud and vibration, the mole toppled over on its side.
At that moment, Katsuyori waved his baton, unfazed by the rising dust.
"Now's the time to attack!!"
At the signal of the command from the successor of the Takeda family, more than 400 cavalrymen let out a battle cry and charged en masse at the fallen, struggling mole.
"Gigi, gigyo!"
And then, the horse's sharp, long horns, horns, horns, pierce the gigantic monster's body.
Bright blue blood was gushing from the mole's body.
To use a human analogy, it's like being simultaneously stabbed in .画鋲thumbtack
Even a mole with its massive body won't get away unscathed.
The spiral-shaped mouth, which had been tightly closed like an anus, opened wide, and a scream-like roar rose up.
But that wasn't the end of it.
Something black was spat out of the mole's mouth.
"W-what's going on...?!"
"Here it comes, dodge!!"
A huge object, about 2 meters tall.
It's flying towards us.
As if prompted by Nobunaga's sharp warning, we scattered, and near where we had been standing, a black object fell to the ground with a sticky, splattering sound like a ripe persimmon falling to the earth.
But it didn't go bankrupt.
The sticky sound was due to the mole being covered in its thick, gooey saliva.
"Bzzzz, bzzzz"
"That was..."
You can tell even from a distance.
The object that was spat high into the air by the mole and flew towards us was alive.
A bizarre creature covered in thick, dark hair, possessing long arms and jaws like a stag beetle.
From every angle, it looks like a mole larva.
"—Crush them, grebe gray."
"Gyuoooooooon"
The moment the mole larva turned upwards and opened its mouth, Nobunaga's dappled gray horse leaped onto the monster's back as it flew in and trampled it.
Then, they repeat the intense stamping process dozens of times.
As the squelching sounds of flesh began to fill the air, the grebe thrust its thick, sharp horns into the back of the mole's head, as if to deliver the final blow.
"Bee
The mole larva let out a cry that sounded like a scream, but when the dappled gray slithered out its horn, it thrashed about violently before becoming completely still.
"That was a close call, brother-in-law."
Nobunaga, who had brought his horse closer, said this as he glanced at the dead mole larva.
"The venom that the mole larvae release when they emerge from the ground contains a deadly poison. It's a terrifying bodily fluid that corrodes skin and rots plants just by touching it. If it were to get into a river, the people living downstream would be wiped out in agony. It was nothing short of a stroke of luck that we were able to deal with it before it could spit out its phlegm."痰sputum
I nodded in agreement with Nobunaga's words.
What he said is entirely correct. It was undoubtedly the most accurate judgment a leader could make.
But that was merely our own convenience and sense of justice as humans.
From the mole's perspective, this is truly a tragic event.
"Gigi, gi
Taishakutsukimo stated that moles are monsters that act solely on instinct.
However, in a sense, I had a feeling that this would lead to the current situation—a rather bad situation.
For example, as is particularly evident in wild animals, a mother who has given birth possesses maternal instincts and will do everything in her power to protect her offspring.
Maternal instinct is one of the most primitive impulses, alongside anger.
And for the mole, who acts on instinct, a major event occurred that stirred up those primal impulses.
When the being to whom one should direct maternal affection is lost, the first thing that will arise within the mole will likely be emptiness.
And what fills that void are equally pure impulses, such as anger and sadness.
"Gigyo, gigigigigigi, gigigi"
The gigantic mother mole rises, cracking her knuckles violently with a loud crunching sound.
The cavalry all distanced themselves from each other, and the mole glared at us, who were far away, with hateful eyes, opening its mouth wide where it had lost its offspring, and screamed and roared.
The most terrifying creature in the world is the female whose offspring are harmed or killed.
As I watched the mole thrash about, its eyes twitching violently and the whites of its eyes glowing bright red, I broke out in a cold sweat, wondering what to do.