Sheer Heart Attack

Bang!

After the monster's relentless efforts, the door finally gave way.

But before the excited monster could reach Joey, Killer Queen, standing behind him, simply pressed down the thumb he had long held ready.

In a flash of fire, the monster's entire body burst into flames, scattering and vanishing.

Only then did Joey turn his gaze away from the little map.

He had spotted the name of a country he remembered on that map. Connecting it with the monsters invading the village, Joey suddenly realized exactly where he was.

Hunter x Hunter!

It was arguably Joey's favorite anime, so he remembered quite a few of its details clearly.

For instance, the name on the map that marked the country he was in: the NGL Autonomous Country!

NGL was an abbreviation for Neo Green Life. The entire country followed that philosophy, rejecting mechanical civilization in favor of an environmentally friendly way of life close to nature.

According to the records, ninety-nine percent of its citizens revered nature. They had long grown accustomed to a life without technology, rising at sunrise and resting at sunset, with men farming and women weaving.

The remaining one percent were volunteers who came to NGL from around the world. Dedicated to environmentalism, they worked to support and uphold NGL's ideals of environmental protection.

But Joey knew better. Those population figures were ultimately just words on paper for public consumption. In reality, beneath NGL's facade of reverence for nature and care for the environment lurked malice directed at the entire world.

D2, an orally administered narcotic popular worldwide, came from this country. Eighty percent of the Bira Trees used to produce it grew within this isolated nation.

As for the patchwork monsters now appearing before Joey, he had recognized their species and origins too.

Chimera Ants, a species from the Dark Continent with an overall danger rating of B, designated for first-class quarantine.

Their unique method of reproduction through phagogenesis allowed them to evolve and reproduce extremely quickly when food was abundant and varied.

Judging by the current situation, though, the Ant Queen should still have been alive. Otherwise, so many Chimera Ants would not have invaded the village to capture people.

Countless thoughts raced through Joey's mind in an instant.

He now had some idea of the world he had crossed into, where he stood in the timeline after waking up, and even some of the events that would soon unfold in this country and this world.

But this was no time to dwell on any of that. Joey shook off his tangled thoughts and quickly tucked the wallet glowing with white light inside his clothes. Then he took out the handgun, grenade, phone, and map and set them aside, packed several flatbreads and the daily necessities he had gathered into a cloth bundle, tied it up, and slung it over his back. Grabbing the handgun, pocketing the phone and map, and clutching the grenade, he dashed toward the house's rear window.

Joey peered outside through the window and saw no monsters, but instead of jumping straight out, he turned to look at Killer Queen again.

A skull-shaped miniature tank suddenly detached itself from the back of Killer Queen's left hand.

This was Killer Queen's second bomb, Sheer Heart Attack.

The little tank, slightly smaller than a volleyball, left two rows of tread marks on the floor as it charged out through the doorway the scythe Chimera Ant had broken open, shouting, "The roast chicken's almost gone! (Look over here!)"

The little vehicle sounded outrageously cocky, yet when Joey looked through the doorway, he saw no unusual reaction from any Chimera Ant suggesting they had noticed it. It was as though they could not hear its cries at all.

"So the rule that applies to most Stands-that only Stand Users can see them-should still hold in this world." As Joey analyzed and watched, the little tank trundled leisurely up to a Chimera Ant near the house, then abruptly exploded with another shout.

Boom!

An enormous explosion rang out right outside the house, accompanied by black smoke and blinding fire.

Yet amid the smoke and dust, the little tank charged out again, completely unscathed and shouting all the while.

Sheer Heart Attack was a single bomb in the form of a tank that automatically tracked heat sources. It exploded upon approaching its target, with the power of the blast proportional to the target's heat. The explosion did not damage the tank itself, allowing it to attack its targets with repeated detonations.

Moreover, the tank was extremely durable and could not be destroyed by ordinary attacks. It was arguably Joey's best means at present of drawing attention and wiping out Chimera Ants.

But Joey paid little attention to the destruction the tank caused. The instant the explosion occurred, he squeezed out through the room's rear window.

Looking up, he spotted flying Chimera Ants above the house, just as expected.

Fortunately, just as he had calculated, the sudden explosion had drawn the airborne Chimera Ants' attention, giving Joey a chance to hide. Once he had steadied himself, he darted into the shadow beneath the eaves.

Just then, a second explosion suddenly rang out, accompanied by the screeches of Chimera Ants.

Joey, who had been watching the movements of the Chimera Ants overhead, clearly saw two flying Chimera Ants carefully scan their surroundings several times before beating their wings and heading toward the explosions. By then, the little tank's fifth explosion had already sounded.

Joy surged through Joey's heart. Not daring to linger, he broke into a run the instant the Chimera Ants flew away, charging toward the woods less than a hundred meters behind the house.

He also kept a tight grip on his handgun. If he noticed anything wrong, he would pull the trigger or throw the grenade at the crucial moment, even at the risk of completely exposing himself.

But as the sixth explosion sounded, the situation Joey feared never arose, and he made it safely into the woods.

Still, he did not dare relax in the slightest. After all, he had no way of knowing whether there were Chimera Ants in the woods too.

Meanwhile, the explosions in the village behind him grew increasingly frequent.

The sixth explosion was immediately followed by three consecutive blasts.

The Chimera Ants seemed to have picked a fight with the little tank. But logically, they could not even see it. Was there really any need to throw their lives away?

Doubt stirred in Joey's mind.

But recalling the tank once it had been sent out was not something he could do quickly.

The order Joey had given the tank was to destroy every Chimera Ant in the village.

That command was extremely vague. Even Joey doubted whether the little tank could understand it perfectly. After all, he had never measured a Chimera Ant's body temperature. In fact, when he released the tank, he had already prepared himself for the possibility that it might blow up the captured villagers.

After all, in this struggle for survival, he could not even guarantee his own safety. How could he look after the villagers who had been captured?

Judging by the first explosion, however, the Chimera Ants' body temperature probably was not low.

Joey pressed his slightly dry lips together, fine beads of sweat seeping from his forehead, and focused more of his attention on the potential risks of his ability and his escape route ahead.