277 – Nymphs, Master, and Disciple #3
The story between the instructor and me came to a halt because of a presence felt at the front door.
There were quite a few of them.
About five.
Knock, knock, knock.
When someone politely knocked on the door, I asked the instructor.
“Were there supposed to be other guests besides me today?”
“No.”
Bang-!
With a loud noise, the door was torn apart.
Soon, several people tumbled into the living room, all wearing bizarre tights and having fierce expressions.
The first to recognize their identity was indeed my side.
“Are they perhaps from the ‘Psycho Shockers’ gang…!?”
After hearing that a villain organization from Japan was targeting me, I studied villains from Japan and abroad in various ways.
The humans from the ‘Psycho Shockers’ had a characteristic of wearing strange tights, and the appearance matched exactly with what I had seen in my materials.
“Haildo is here!”
“Let’s catch them together and take them away, desu ne!”
“Yoshi! I’ll take care of it quickly!”
Why they barged into the instructor’s house in a situation like this─.
In that moment, I had that question, but it didn’t matter.
“Kkungkkungi, it’s a whirlwind kungkki attack!”
━Kkungkkungi…!
Kkungkkungi leapt up like a whirlwind, biting its tail and spinning around.
The spinning force was nearly equivalent to that of a typhoon, and the resulting kinetic energy could truly be called a finishing move.
━Grrrng…!!!
Finally, Kkungkkungi swung its tail with great force, using the power of its rotational and ejection strength to smack the Shockers.
Boom-!
“Ugh!”
“Damn squirrel is so strong, desu yo!”
“Everyone, to me!”
With a large impact, the robust men fell over and broke many things around them.
“Hyiiick…! The house has turned into a complete mess in an instant…! This Inoi’s cherished ceramics wanted to find coins have shattered…!”
“Are the Japanese villains trying to ambush this American Illinois once again…? That Illinois still hasn’t forgotten the grudge from Pearl Harbor…!”
The Nymphs clenched their fists and readied for battle.
In front of clear villains, the morale of the Nymphs would naturally soar.
“Nymph Smash, beat them up…!”
“Double Punch…!”
Dadadadadadadada-.
“Ah~!”
In the face of the Nymphs’ double punches, the villain minions were at a loss, getting knocked down easily.
Just when I thought these guys might be easily restrained.
“Yare yare, the minions are indeed weak. Then from now on, this A-rank monster ‘Super Speed Panasonic’ will deal with you.”
Swoosh-.
Someone appeared, coming through the torn door.
He was a man wearing a porcupine-like mascot costume.
“This body, Panasonic, was bullied in school for being calm and timid. But whenever I returned home and wore this mascot costume, I always felt energized.”
Kooook-.
The man who introduced himself as Panasonic tightly clenched his fist.
“One day, when those who bullied me came to my mom’s banchan shop and caused a ruckus, I thought! I want to become a porcupine too! If I had strength!”
Suddenly, the man Panasonic began rambling on with strange words.
“At that moment, darkness whispered to me! Do you want to gain power!? After that, I became a superhuman and a monster that surpasses humans! And regrettably, I fused with this mascot costume and can’t take it off!”
“Hyiiick…! How could you unreasonably have such a dreadful flashback…!”
“To share a nymph-hating past so freely is extremely disgusting, villain…!”
Originally, villains tended to have bizarre mental worlds, often rambling about things that weren’t asked.
It’s said that the willingness to commit crimes without hesitation and low morality are related to mental and intelligence issues.
“Khahaha! No one can take off this mascot costume from me now! I am a powerful porcupine! Super Speed Panasonic!
“I don’t know what it is, but let’s just beat it up…!”
“Of course…! That’s a good idea…!”
The Nymphs raised their fists and showed eagerness.
The Nymphs were beings who did not hold back in beating up villains, regardless of their circumstances.
And that was right.
If you would overlook or carelessly forgive the actions of villains because they have a reason, it would be akin to ignoring ordinary citizens who steadfastly live on even in tough situations.
“Fuhaha! Your punches are useless against me! Muda muda, mudada!”
Swish-!
However, Panasonic sharply raised the porcupine quills of his mascot costume. The quills were sharp like needles.
This meant the Nymphs could not hit him with their fists.
━Grrrng…!
Kkungkkungi’s special close combat ability would also be sealed before that costume with raised quills.
Panasonic said.
“My quills are the embodiment of my rage against hatred and bystanders! Khahaha! Are you afraid of me? The fun is over! Cry! Scream! And─.”
Pah-!
The man in the porcupine costume charged at me.
“Hey, dieee-!”
The close combat of the man in the quill-covered costume had tremendous power in itself. In this situation, the only thing I could do was ranged techniques, I suppose?
“Kkungkkungi, breathe fire!”
━Grrrng-!
Flam!-!
Kkungkkungi spewed forth the flames of courage that dwelt within.
The prime squirrel, Kkungkkungi, aspired to evolve into the unique king squirrel, hence could eject flames in the form of orbs.
Bang, bang bang-!
Shashak-!
“It won’t do!”
But Panasonic swiftly dodged Kkungkkungi’s flames with incredible speed.
Should this continue, it might cause significant injuries to people with those prickly quills.
“Damn it!”
I had no choice but to charge at Panasonic.
And I pulled him in tightly!
“L-Let go! You madman! I’m a quilled porcupine! To hug me like this! Do you want to die? You’ll get pricked by the quills!”
Ouch, ouch-.
I felt the quills sticking into my body, but I couldn’t let go of Panasonic.
No, rather I embraced him even tighter.
To seal his movements.
“Kkungkkungi! While I’m holding on, use fire breath!”
━Grrrng…!
Flam-!
Kkungkkungi emitted a long stream of flames.
Fwooosh-.
The hot heat felt like it would turn both my body and the monster’s inside out.
“Hyii! Hyii! It’s hot! L-Let go! It’s hot! It’s too hot! Let go! I’m burning…!”
“I won’t let go!”
Panasonic’s resistance grew fiercer.
In such a situation, nobody would remain calm while burning alive.
Thud-.
Eventually, Panasonic collapsed, and only then did I release him.
“Ugh, it hurts. I’ve got quills stuck in me and burns.”
“This Inoi will put out the fire…! Puhh-!”
Inoi sprayed cold, refreshing ditch water from his mouth to extinguish the flames that clung to me. Then he opened the lid of the water bottle he had around his waist.
━Iningyi-yaying.
Thanks to his laid-back personality, the rainbow cloud Iningyi, which usually spent most of its time in a cool water bottle, sprang out.
“The rainbow cloud Iningyi can heal injuries…!”
As it gently licked my face, the burns on my skin healed cleanly.
It was a bit ticklish, but the effects were extraordinary, and the wounds from the quills also healed completely.
━Gyu-ying.
“Iningyi, thank you.”
I petted Iningyi’s fluffy body, messing it up a bit.
Then Iningyi twirled around me before diving back into Inoi’s water bottle.
It seemed like it used quite a bit of strength for the recovery just now, so it was probably sleepy.
# # #
“M-My mascot costume….”
Panasonic lost all strength as his costume burned and got scorched.
The Nymphs mercilessly pummeled and kicked Panasonic.
“Receive the vengeance for the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor…! This is the grudge of the Langley aircraft carrier sunk in the Pacific…!”
“Actually, this Inoi also likes porcupines…!”
Thud, smack, do-dodododododo, thud-!
The Nymphs became relentless when they thought their opponent was a villain.
Anyway.
“I’m glad nothing serious happened.”
I sighed in relief.
I wondered what would have happened if a monster had ambushed us suddenly.
However, looking at the charred and broken interior of the house, the instructor frowned with one eye.
“Nothing serious? Our house is all broken.”
“Well, it can’t be helped.”
“Right. It can’t be helped. Who would have thought that Japanese monsters would invade here? It truly is the end of days. We’re in a world of lawlessness. This world won’t last long.”
Could it be?
I was curious why the monsters attacked the instructor’s house.
Of course, I didn’t think they would say it willingly….
“Panasonic. Why did you invade this place?”
“Why did I invade here? Normally, I wouldn’t have opened my mouth even under torture. But someone hugged me like that for the first time. Embracing feels good.”
Baruru-.
I felt a slight shiver when I saw Panasonic trembling while hugging himself.
However, Panasonic’s expression had become very clear after being hit by the Nymphs.
“I came to capture the person, Ham Sook-ja. Ham Sook-ja has been associated with many things since long ago. I intended to kidnap her, gain shadows, and acquire information.”
Ham Sook-ja.
What a heartwarming name.
So the instructor’s name was Ham Sook-ja.
I found out for the first time.
It doesn’t really suit her.
“I won’t do anything bad from now on. I will work part-time in this mascot costume to save money and buy an even cooler mascot costume. And I’ll give free hugs to people!”
“For now, you should go to prison and serve your sentence…! After you are released, if you come to that Illinois, we’ll employ you as the mascot for the Nymph Human Rights Foundation, guaranteeing four major insurances and retirement benefits…!”
The chaos caused by the monster’s attack ended well due to the promptly arrived police.
Inoi waved goodbye to Panasonic, who was disappearing in a police car in the distance.
“Goodbye, porcupine…! Let’s meet again…! You mustn’t do anything bad from now on, and you must live kindly and Nymph-friendly…!”
I was glad that no one got seriously hurt except for me.
Of course, since the instructor’s house was severely damaged, it would take time to repair.
The instructor, who picked out the salvageable items, spoke to me.
“Haildo, I’m glad to see that you remain committed to ensuring the safety of citizens. I’m glad to have met you. Haildo, are you still aiming for the peak?”
“Of course. Now that I’ve started, I will definitely see the top.”
“Right. I’m sure you can achieve it. You must be curious about many things. You don’t have to rush; you’ll eventually reach R-rank. No, to be precise, it’s about returning….”
“R-rank?”
Cough-!
Drip-.
Blood was flowing from the instructor Ham Sook-ja’s mouth.
“…Oh no, even saying this much is too much. Il-do, you are my pride. So make the right choice….”
The instructor collapsed to the ground like a sandcastle collapsing.
I was taken aback.
“What’s wrong? Instructor!”
Did she get hurt when the villains attacked?
I was flustered and thought I had to take emergency measures quickly.
“Inoi! Get Iningyi out again! Illinois, call 911 on your phone!”
Swift action was crucial for saving an emergency patient.
But Inoi seriously said.
“…Looking at the spots that have formed on the neck, this is a curse…! It is probably the curse of ‘swallowing a thousand needles’, and if I speak of some ‘secret’ we made a pinky promise about, my body will suffer a great calamity…!”
“A curse, you say?”
“And this curse is the specialty of my master…! Indeed, this Inoi believes that somewhere in this world, my master exists…!”
Inoi’s expression became extremely serious.
Seeing such a serious expression from Inoi was new for me.
“It seems that our Nymph Sisters also need to move to protect the love and peace of this world…! It’s time to activate the Nymph Buster Call…!”
Illinois began to fuss.
What could the Nymph Buster Call be? As I thought about it, Nymph Inoi placed her hand on her forehead.
“This Inoi, under the authority of the prime Nymph, must summon the ‘Nymph Conference’…! All sister Nymphs across the nation and the world must gather at the ‘Nymph Conference Hall’…!”
