Surviving in a World Teeming with Monsters with the Useless Skill 【Everyday Items Master】! I Was Just Hunting Wild Animals with a Crowbar, So Why Is Everyone Screaming It's an S-Rank Monster? - 122

Chapter 122: Off With Their Heads!

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Driven by an overwhelming sense of terror, I quickly swung my kitchen knife at my neck. CRACK!—a sharp sound rang out as the invisible slash aimed at my throat shattered. And that sent chills down my spine.

An invisible strike. One that never missed. The only reason I was able to resist it was—

“Botan!”

“I’m okay!”

Angel shouted. Botan swung her claws at Angel’s neck. Angel was protected, and Botan’s head flew off. Angel frantically grabbed Botan’s severed head and tried to reattach it.

“Whoa, that was a close one!”

Shachimaru manipulated a nearby puddle to destroy the oncoming strike.

“You survived, March Hare.”

“Huh?”

The Fashionable Goblin swung his sword toward Ui’s neck. Ui was protected, and the Fashionable Goblin’s head flew off.

“Ahh, what a thankless role I’ve got.”

A small woman from Team Ashura had her head severed. Thrown off balance by my hasty defense, I slipped on the rain-soaked ground. I rolled to the edge of the platform and looked down. The situation below… It was like something out of hell. 

“———”

Almost every single person had been beheaded and killed. My body trembled. I couldn’t comprehend it.

What’s this? What is that thing?

“Hmm, more survived than I expected. No matter. You’ll just die somewhere like a stray dog anyway.”

Grinning wickedly, the Queen continued.

“I now issue the second decree.”

The Queen struck the ground with the base of her staff. I shouted.

“Everyone—run!!”

“One! I claim this skyscraper as my castle!”

Out of nowhere, the Queen conjured a playing card in her hand. Then she scattered them—countless heart-suit cards swirling into the air, growing massive as they flew.

“Form the walls! Construct the castle!”

Weaving between the barrage of cards, everyone desperately fled the scene. Everyone still alive leapt off the transmission tower platform…

Everyone except me.

I charged toward the Queen.

“Oraaaaahhh!!”

“Oh? Still here, are you? Foolish king. A dimwitted monarch who knows not even the meaning of dominion.”

My crowbar and her staff clashed. Sparks flew from the impact.

“You cannot remove me. Sever his head!”

“Gah—damn it!”

I smashed the incoming slash with my kitchen knife, protecting my neck. But in doing so, I was left open. A massive heart card, billowing like a sail, slammed into me and knocked me back.

“Shit! Damn it alllll!”

I stretched out my hand, yelling to Luna, who knelt beneath the Queen. Tears of despair were streaming down her face.

“Luna! Wait for me! I’ll definitely save you! I’ll come back for you—I swear!”

“Onii…-sama…”

Luna reached a trembling hand toward me. But midway, she hesitated, let it fall, and shook her head as tears spilled down her cheeks.

“I… I no longer have the right to be saved…”

“Luna—?”

In just that short time, I could see genuine despair in her eyes. And in that moment, the wind and the massive cards tossed me completely off the platform, flinging me far from the tower. Tossed about by turbulent air and the chaotic swirl of giant cards, I looked toward the Queen from midair.

And for the first time… I understood what was happening.

The cards were covering the entire tower, transforming it into a castle. A façade—yet one so lavishly adorned, even its interior was rendered ornate. My eyes could only widen.

This was on a different level. That giant ape from before had been powerful, sure—but the Queen of Hearts was in a league of her own. Buffeted by violent winds, I was thrown off alone, falling somewhere far below. I was blown nearly a kilometer away.

About three meters off the ground, I pulled an umbrella from my pocket.

【Open Umbrella】

BANG! The umbrella burst open, creating intense air resistance and abruptly halting my fall in midair. Then, gently descending, I landed safely on the ground. I looked back and scanned for the tower, muttering to myself.

“Way too far…”

I’d been launched almost to the Ferocious Shark Gang’s turf. And now I had to walk back on foot? 

Ugh, exhausting.

While I was thinking that, I heard splashing sounds nearby—and looked.

“Heave-ho, heave-ho. Whew, busy day.”

There, exactly as one might imagine, was a playing card soldier with a card body and a soldier’s head, waving a paintbrush and a bucket of red paint through the air.

“…?”

What the hell is that…?

I watched suspiciously, but even as I approached, it made no move to attack. It just kept wildly swinging red paint in the air. Curious, I asked it.

“Hey, can I ask you something?”

“Huh? Oh, I’m super busy right now! The Queen of Hearts ordered me to paint the air red to her liking! So much to do!”

“Uh… Wait, paint the air red?”

“Heave-ho, heave-ho! Painting air is tough with all the volume! I envy the other guys, really! Heave-ho!”

Okay, this isn’t going anywhere.

Giving him a strange look, I turned toward the transmission tower. A little farther ahead, more card soldiers appeared—each one also swinging a brush. And that was when I noticed.

“Heave-ho, heave-ho! Gotta paint the corpses red—up we go!”

As a beheaded corpse was brushed red, poof—it vanished in smoke and transformed into a card soldier. The newly formed card-body soldier picked up its own severed head and cheerfully asked.

“What’s my task?”

“Heave-ho, heave-ho! Gotta paint the ground red—here we go!”

The ground was painted red, and from the painted patches, card soldiers began to emerge one after another. The freshly spawned card soldiers scattered and began slathering everything around them with red paint indiscriminately 

And among them, one approached me with a cheerful tone.

“Heave-ho, heave-ho! Gotta paint the Queen’s enemies red!”

I drew my crowbar.

【Hook Set】【Open Umbrella】

I thrust the tip of the crowbar into the soldier’s throat, yanked it toward me, then opened the umbrella directly at its face. The shockwave from the umbrella’s opening shattered the card soldier into pieces. Individually, they weren’t much of a threat. But the moment I thought that, every surrounding card soldier turned their gaze on me.

“He just killed one of us.”

“So he’s a traitor.”

“We have to paint traitors red.”

“No, we’re supposed to behead them.”

“Wait, which is it?”

“Let’s do both!”

“…So this is what they call ‘overwhelming numbers’? Screw this.”

Card soldiers began to gather in droves. I pulled an alarm clock from my pocket, set the alarm, and hurled it high into the air. Then I crouched beneath my open umbrella for cover. The card soldiers swarmed toward me. Just as the alarm clock descended to the perfect height—

【Explosive Alarm Clock】

An earth-shattering BANG erupted, and the exploding clock’s fragments blasted all the surrounding card soldiers away.

“““GYAAAH!!”””

With me at the blast center, the card soldiers collapsed all around. Closing the umbrella, I muttered to myself.

“These guys themselves are just small fry. If they get in my way, I’ll kill them as needed and keep moving forward.”

Though I was alone, this much wouldn’t slow me down. Shrouded in the smoke of the explosion, I used a measuring tape to grapple up to the rooftops and advanced toward the transmission tower as fast as I could.

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