Because This Is Your Country!

Mochizuki Chiharu arrived quickly, already soaked in sweat.

Only it wasn't the kind of fragrant sweat from novels, trickling down a forehead, across a lovely cheek, and along a swanlike neck to some mysterious place. This was foul-smelling sweat, with a bizarre odor.

If she had to describe it... it smelled like a fish market left steaming in the sun all morning.

"Come on, you're coming back with me!" Mochizuki Chiharu said. "The whole city is crawling with Sea Monsters—so many of them! We can't hold them back!"

Shimizu Town.

In Japan, a "town" was an administrative division, generally smaller than a city but larger than a village, similar to a town or county in China.

The rising seawater had flooded all the farmland around Shimizu Town. Several old farmers were hurriedly harvesting vegetables, baskets slung from shoulder poles.

"Toshio, we should leave. The broadcast said the Sea Monsters are about to reach us!" the old woman said anxiously, a cloth wrapped around her head.

"Leave? What about these vegetables?"

Toshio scolded her. "The Agricultural Association said vegetables and rice will cost more this year. Are we supposed to just give up all that money?"

"But the Sea Monsters..."

"What about them? If they dare come, I'll slice them in two with the family katana!" Toshio's white mustache quivered.

The water kept rising, soon reaching the old couple's knees. The slippery mud sent Toshio sprawling.

His wife hurried to help him up, but as soon as she reached out, her heart stopped and her mind went blank.

Behind Toshio, a dark shape was writhing!

Its body was streamlined and several meters long, with an exceptionally large head and a pair of enormous stalked compound eyes.

When its compound eyes rotated a full 360 degrees, finally fixing on the old couple,