The Babysitter Wants to Stop Dying

Chapter 24: The Protagonist Appears

I'd reached my limit.

My whole body trembled as if seized by a chill. The feet I planted on the ground ached, and my head was dizzy. Was this the backlash from the grasshopper, similar to the recoil when my arms were fried by electricity after copying Cobe's ability?

Still, I'd used it far more than I did with Cobe. I couldn't even remember how many times I had jumped around.

Just one more time now.

I could feel it instinctively. I could only jump one more time.

Everything was in ruins, so I couldn't even spot the location of a shelter.

Where, where on earth was I supposed to go?

The once-white stone wall was now stained with crimson blood. Huddled between it and a fallen tree, I gritted my teeth and quickly surveyed my surroundings. The spotted alligator was right behind me.

Nothing but the wreckage of broken buildings. The highest place was useless. Getting down would be an even bigger problem.

As far as possible, yes, I had to get far away.

Krrrrrrrrk!

Its massive vertical pupil swiveled.

…It saw me.

“Lottie, hold on tight.”

Its maw gaped open. My stomach churned at the sight of the gruesome flesh between its terrifying teeth. Severed forearms and legs, traces of all the people it had devoured.

Kwa-jijik!

The moment I kicked off the ground with all my might, the jaws that had been aimed precisely at me and Lottie clamped down and swallowed the tree whole.

‘What kind of……’

It might be a monster, but it just eats something like that? The alligator, which shattered the basic common sense of living creatures, was genuinely terrifying.

Kuwoarrrrk!

Having missed its prey, the alligator let out a roar of frustration. Its eyes glinted as if it still wasn't satisfied after eating so much.

Was the family I rescued safe? Did they make it to the shelter properly?

“Damn it, I'm in deep trouble myself, what kind of distracting thoughts are these? No, I should have asked where the shelter was!”

“U!”

The moment I soared into the sky, I saw it.

Fuck! Another one?

Besides the spotted one right in front of me, there was a whitish alligator. That one was heading this way too.

“This can't be happening!”

I kicked my legs with all my might to get away from the spotted one.

“Kuhk!”

A failed landing sent me rolling twice. The grasshopper was lost.

“Lottie, are you okay?”

“Uu!”

After confirming that Lottie was unharmed, I immediately checked the spotted one's location. At least 50 meters. But that would only buy me a minuscule amount of time.

It was a distance from which the spotted alligator could swallow us in one gulp if it found us.

What can I do to survive? Is there any hope at all?

This is hard.

The ground trembling as if there was an earthquake. The alligator monster that was suffocating just to look at. The completely destroyed surroundings and the blood splattered all over.

Honestly, I held out for a long time. For someone like me, this was holding out for a long time.

So maybe if I just give up…….

‘……What?’

What kind of fucked-up thought is that?

I shook my head to shake off the despair that had almost consumed me. Then, I properly adjusted Lottie's hat and got up.

‘Get a grip. You're alive. You have to protect her.’

Yes, it was too early to give up.

No, I couldn't give up.

I will survive even if both my legs break. I will survive and get Lottie out of here.

I shot up from my spot. My feet, which I couldn't even feel anymore, moved on their own.

“I'm never going to die!”

Kuwoarrrrrrk!

With the spotted alligator on my tail, the chase began again. It was incredibly persistent, perhaps because everything else to eat had disappeared.

‘Just a little, just a little more……!’

I can see it!

A shelter sign!

I reached out for the sign with the drawing of a bomb shelter. Just a little further. Really, just a little bit more.

“Aaargh!”

The bedrock twisted, and I lost my balance. I was so close. So close!

No. Not here, I can't die here!

The spotted beast's maw gaped wide.

I tried to unbuckle the baby carrier to save at least Lottie, but it was already too late.

“Damn it!”

With a shout that was nothing more than a desperate struggle, I squeezed my eyes shut. The enraged monster's cry continued for a long time.

…….

But for some reason, death was taking its time.

Why…….

Doesn't it hurt?

The moment I opened my eyes, feeling that something was strange, a pitch-black figure stood between the spotted alligator and us.

The figure, with its back to me, looked familiar.

A fluttering black top. Black hair tied back in a long ponytail.

“Hey, good friend! Sorry! It took me a little while to find you!”

A familiar, clear voice spread brightly. Only then did I register the situation before my eyes.

Kwa-deu-deu-deuk-

Kwoarrrrk!

“Stop, stop. That's dangerous.”

The giant alligator's maw was held fast, as if blocked by a wall. In front of it was a woman laughing haha as if she were talking to a puppy.

“You're……!”

The alligator, which must have been 100 meters long, was unable to move, blocked by a mere human hand.

The alligator could only struggle with all its might against the hand extended by a being smaller than its own teeth. On the contrary, it repeatedly let out endless screams as if the part that was caught was painful.

“This is a problem. If you show up in a place like this, people will get hurt.”

“……This morning, from that bakery, is that you?”

At my words, the woman turned around.

It was her. The protagonist.

“Hahaha! I never thought you'd be Arsen. Then that little kid is…….”

The protagonist, who had been laughing heartily, looked at Lottie with eyes that were not just moist but wistful.

But that too was brief.

Kwoarrrrrrk!

“Oops. It looks like the moving reunion will have to wait. Get inside!”

The protagonist's next action was truly unexpected.

Kwaak!

The alligator let out a scream-like cry. And for good reason,

“Alright, alright! Let's keep it moving!”

She started running while still holding the alligator's maw. The alligator, forced to reverse, shrieked as it crashed into all sorts of things.

“I won't kill you if you just leave! Will you quietly return to the sea? Hm?”

No way…… is she saying that thinking it'll listen?

No, in the first place, it's not some ordinary creature that lives in the sea.

The protagonist, smiling innocently as she spoke to the alligator.

Krrrrrrrrk!

As the alligator's compound eyes opened and closed fiercely and it exerted its strength, she raised and lowered her shoulders as if genuinely sorry.

“But your friends are almost all dead, you know!”

The alligator, trying to push the protagonist away with all its might. But the protagonist didn't budge an inch, and only showed a sign of regret by arching her eyebrows.

Kwoarrrrrrk!

The alligator's feet dug deep into the ground as it tried not to be pushed back. It was putting in so much force that it was visible to the naked eye; the alligator was giving it its all.

But the earth only rumbled, and the protagonist's running speed did not slow.

‘I should go in.’

I didn't want to go into the shelter. An unbelievable fight was unfolding.

Overwhelming force.

Is that the protagonist?

I was blankly watching the race between the protagonist and the spotted alligator while hugging Lottie.

Kuwoarrrrrr!

Another alligator was twisting its body and charging, letting out a monstrous cry. It was that whitish one I saw earlier.

“There's one more!”

It was fast. Completely different from the spotted alligator, it was moving at a tremendous speed.

“Dodge! The tail! The tail is coming!”

The protagonist, who had been running with the spotted one, was coming back this way. She was still smiling brightly. I shouted urgently.

A massive tail swings behind her as she stands right in front of the spotted alligator.

“It's okay! Arsen, you should be the one to get insi—”

Kwaaang-!

This is, crazy!

The giant alligator tail instantly crushed the protagonist. A huge shockwave erupted, and a terrifying force spread in all directions.

I ducked my body for a long time against the incredible gale, then straightened up.

“No! Hey!”

I forgot that the alligators might spot me and let out a shout.

She's dead. There's no way she could have survived that.

The few remaining buildings shattered into pieces and scattered in the air. Dust and debris went wild, making it impossible to tell if this was a battlefield or a beach.

The ground where the tail had landed was deeply caved in, as if tofu had been smashed with a hammer.

Krrrrrk-

The whitish one slowly backs away, as if satisfied. The spot was perfectly caved in.

“No!”

My protagonist! She dies like this!?

“Ms. Black Hair!”

I called out to the protagonist with a devastated heart, covering Lottie's eyes. It was at that moment.

“Wow, you're so big, yet so nimble, huh?”

A voice with no inflection, nothing more or less than pure admiration, was heard.

“I definitely gave you a chance, but Mr. Alligator refused, right? Oh dear, this is a problem.”

From the huge crater, a pitch-black figure slowly rose. As if she had taken the entire attack with just one arm, the protagonist slowly lowered the right arm she had raised.

And her red eyes, glinting even from this distance.

Not a single trace of blood, not even a small wound, could be seen. Only a smiling face.

What remained was madness.

That was madness.

‘She's a crazy person.’

“I endured it, so now it's your turn to endure, Mr. Alligator.”

The woman, with a bright smile, flew up into the sky with incomprehensible words.

‘Huh?’

The woman moves at a height that must be at least 10 stories high. She can't possibly be using a grasshopper jump like me.

“Reinforcement, Second Isle.”

A low voice vibrated the air like a tremor. With it, her left hand, raised to the side of her head, shoots straight down. It was a concise movement without a single unnecessary flourish.

“【A Kind Strike】.”

Flash-

Swish-swish-swish-swat-!

It wasn't a powerful movement, but a fist that simply moved forward lightly.

A flash of light erupted from its end, and the area was momentarily engulfed in light.

Kkegeeeek-!

Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwang!

Kuwaaaaaa-

“……What is this.”

Even though I ducked my body against the powerful wave, I was pushed back for a good while. A tremendous dust storm swept through the surroundings as if a compression bomb had gone off. Lottie coughed lightly.

“That thing is the real monster……”

When I returned to my spot, what I could see were the traces of two alligators slammed into the ground. And they were crushed, leaving only the tips of their tails, as if the 100-meter alligators had become meteors.

Only a single being stood tall in the muddy background, looking down on everything.

The protagonist, standing alone in the completely collapsed ruins. Her black jacket, covered in dust, fluttered in the wind.

Above her, a single ray of sunlight that had been hidden in the clouds shone down on the protagonist like a spear.

As if, brought before me right on time.

“Oops! I hit harder than I thought.”

The protagonist, who landed on the spotted alligator's tail, lets out a small sound of surprise. Even that sight felt chillingly out of place.

With a monster like that as the protagonist, what on earth am I supposed to be helping with?

Just as I was beginning to question the quest itself, the protagonist approached.

“You're not hurt anywhere, are you?”

She stroked her chin as if she was in a bind. It seemed she was worried that I might have been hurt by the force she had wielded.

A woman who had leaped high into the sky. A fist that had plunged down from above. Crushed 100-meter-long alligators.

The carcass, with only its tail remaining, scattered blue body fluids everywhere and then passed on. ...Honestly, I'm not sure if it passed on.

‘Does, this make sense?’

She might be the protagonist, but what is this woman's identity?

A Ranker like this…….

‘……No.’

I know.

Red eyes.

The Knight of Pitch Black.

A monster who annihilates enemies with overwhelming force.

The only one whose pure strength is far more powerful than Masimo, who is said to be top-class.

“We haven't even properly introduced ourselves yet. No, wait, Arsen did, but I didn't, right?”

The woman, who had somehow appeared in front of me and Lottie, smiled brightly.

“My name is Romero Rodeo. It's nice to meet you again, good friend.”

I felt like I could breathe again.