Quick Kills and Surprise Attacks

Chapter 8: Quick Kills × Surprise Attacks

Judging by how sharp those claws were, a solid hit would instantly leave a lethal wound in Joey's head.

But before the claws could descend, a fist struck them first.

The tremendous force knocked the claws off course, leaving them grasping at empty air. A sudden burst of gunfire rang through the woods.

Rifle in hand, Joey opened fire on the Chimera Ant his Stand had struck.

The bullets tore through the Chimera Ant's body and shattered the branch it was standing on. Before the creature and branch fell together, Joey dived clear of their path.

In that brief glance, he also caught sight of his hidden attacker's face.

It was a vicious-looking, apelike Chimera Ant.

Even as it fell dead from the tree, its eyes still held a ferocity that sent a chill down his spine.

But with bullets through its head, it clearly wasn't going to survive. Joey didn't waste another second looking at it. He rolled to his feet, swung his muzzle around, and sprayed bullets toward another spot where flames had suddenly flared.

A dog-headed Chimera Ant was being hurled into the air by an explosion.

Meanwhile, the Sheer Heart Attack tank roared as it charged toward the dense woods farther away.

Clearly, more Chimera Ants were hiding there.

Joey's bullets swept across the dog-headed Chimera Ant's corpse. His gaze followed the tank, but he couldn't spot any other Chimera Ants.

Just then, a dark blur shot out of a thicket a short distance to his side. It was incredibly fast. Killer Queen spotted the attacker immediately, but there was no time to strike and stop it. All Killer Queen could do was bend an arm and shield Joey's side.

The tremendous impact drove Killer Queen several steps backward, straight into Joey.

Caught off guard and a beat too slow to react, Joey stumbled and fell to the ground. His rifle flew from his hands. Fortunately, its sling kept it from being flung far, but it slammed painfully against his ribs.

At the same time, a searing pain shot through his right arm. Clearly, the sudden collision had injured his Stand's blocking arm.

Any damage a Stand sustained was reflected on its user, so Joey immediately felt the injury in his own arm.

Of course, injuries to the user were also transferred immediately to the Stand. But unless the damage involved something like the destruction of a limb, little injury would show on the Stand, and most wounds wouldn't affect it.

From the ground, Joey finally got a clear look at the attacker Killer Queen had blocked.

It was a Woodlouse-like Chimera Ant curled into a ball, attacking by rolling forward like a tire.

Unexpectedly stopped by Killer Queen, it visibly paused, evidently confused because it couldn't see the Stand.

That didn't stop it from adjusting quickly. Several slender-looking legs suddenly extended from both sides of its shell. With a scrape against the ground, they sent its tirelike body rolling aside before Killer Queen could throw a punch.

Boom!

The tank's explosion sounded in the distance. Barely back on his feet, Joey saw the Woodlouse change direction and accelerate toward him again.

He swiftly drew his handgun, aimed at the charging Chimera Ant, and emptied the magazine.

A few shots went wide, but several slammed squarely into the Chimera Ant's rolling body.

Yet the bullets didn't seem enough to kill it. Instead, they only drove it into a frenzy, making it roll faster and more fiercely.

At the same time, Joey heard the tank's second explosion.

Clearly, something had gone wrong with the tank's attack. He just didn't know whether the enemy had noticed its tread marks or used some other method.

But Joey had no time to deal with the hidden Chimera Ant. As the Woodlouse Chimera Ant rolled toward him, he abruptly dropped his handgun and dived sideways.

As he leaped, Killer Queen drove a fist into the side of the rolling Woodlouse.

Bam!

With its straightforward attack pattern and its inability to see Killer Queen, the Woodlouse took the punch squarely. It managed to wobble onward for a short distance, but finally toppled to the ground.

Killer Queen was a close-range, power-type Stand, with an A rating in destructive power.

The overturned Woodlouse Chimera Ant uncurled on the ground, trying to get up. But the moment it opened its body, a round object rolled into the space cradled by its many legs.

Boom! An explosion followed immediately.

The grenade Joey had brought along finally came in handy.

The Woodlouse's entire body was sent flying by the grenade blast. Its soft abdomen and numerous legs were mangled beyond recognition, their remains scattered across the ground.

Even so, after landing, the bug still let out an unpleasant screech and writhed, trying to get back up.

Joey had already stood up when he threw the grenade. Rather than rushing to finish it off, he turned toward the flash of another explosion in the woods.

That was already the Skeleton Chariot's fourth explosion.

But as he watched the tank charge out again, Joey narrowed his eyes.

That last Chimera Ant won't be easy to deal with!

As that thought flashed through his mind, Joey turned away, ignoring both the pursuing Skeleton Chariot and the struggling Woodlouse, and ran toward a less densely wooded area.

Before leaving, though, he silently brushed a finger against a large tree beside him.

A second later, Joey darted into the woods and vanished.

In fact, while Joey was counting his bullets, Killer Queen had already alerted him to the appearance of Chimera Ants.

Two Chimera Ants had avoided the direction Joey was watching but exposed themselves to his Stand's sight. One had even crept toward him.

Joey regretted being unable to share his Stand's vision. After all, plenty of Stands in the anime could share their sight with their Stand Users.

Fortunately, Killer Queen wasn't dull. It could understand what he meant and give him timely feedback.

That gave Joey ample time to prepare. The fact that Killer Queen's blatant observation went unnoticed gave him even more confidence, confirming that these Chimera Ants were neither particularly powerful nor capable of seeing Stands.

Still, Joey didn't act rashly. He secretly adjusted the angle of his rifle so he could counterattack immediately, while quietly releasing Sheer Heart Attack.

That was how he had managed to kill the apelike and dog-headed Chimera Ants instantly.

The Woodlouse and the unidentified Chimera Ant that appeared afterward weren't entirely beyond Joey's expectations, but they still surprised him in some ways.

What he had expected was that there would be more than two enemies. Several more could easily have been hiding in those dim woods.

What surprised him was the Woodlouse's fierce, sudden charge, along with how difficult the unidentified Chimera Ant was proving to be for the tank. Even its repeated explosions didn't seem to hurt the creature lurking in the shadows.

Fortunately, the fight had gone on long enough for Joey to be certain there were only four Chimera Ants nearby.

With two and a half of them swiftly dealt with, that number was still manageable. Had there been one or two more, Joey might have been fighting for his life the moment the Woodlouse slammed into him.