New Gods of North America

Many things in this world seem to be assessable through simple analysis:

For example, the original Miken Reef should have been a low-level or even lower-ranked extraordinary being. Now, this guy has absorbed eight pieces of extraordinary material of unknown rank and turned into a monster.

Even if the magic circle allows him to absorb them without loss and adds some new special effects, his starting point is too low. Relatively high-level extraordinary materials shouldn't be easy to find in Virginia, so Wayne estimates that this thing's current rank should be similar to his own, or at most one or two ranks higher, but the margin of error shouldn't be too large.

The danger warning level of his spiritual intuition can also serve as corroboration.

Anyway, in Wayne's experience with monsters, the most intense danger warning currently comes from that 'ghoul' at Cohen Pharmaceuticals, followed by that 'Slender Man' and 'Mushroom Head'.

The 'Pineapple Head' in front of him might be slightly stronger, but it feels like it's in roughly the same echelon.

As for the 'Wise Sage' or that 'Dawn Light' or whatever, they no longer belong to the category of 'monsters'.

Anyway, in Wayne's experience, if he encounters them, he should run as fast as he can. If he's unlucky enough to encounter their true forms, then he probably won't have to worry about running or not.

At least this 'Pineapple Head' doesn't feel as dangerous as the 'Wise Sage' summoned by Lina—theoretically, what's summoned should just be a so-called 'projection,' or perhaps a remote port has been opened, far from the level of the actual body's presence.

The strength of extraordinary beings is more difficult to assess. Leaving aside Inessa, who's still bound, even Lina sometimes looks like she'd 'cry for a long time if you slapped her'.

Spiritual intuition doesn't seem to sense them under normal circumstances. Not to mention Mr. Weisman, even that guy who instantly killed the 'Slender Man,' whose rank should theoretically be quite high, spent a long time traveling with Wayne and the others without being detected.

Having figured this out, Wayne's first reaction was to call for backup.

Since demon-hunting bullets don't seem to kill this guy, its strength shouldn't be particularly high. There's also Inessa, a Rank 7, upstairs. The church has provided a holy emblem-like rune for temporarily解除束缚 (jiěchú shùfù - release the bindings). Calling her down to hold the fort would allow Wayne to be more at ease.

After all, experience has shown that the difficulty of dealing with an extraordinary being after they've lost control also increases, just like a person who's gone mad is harder to control.

Before Wayne could even run to the basement stairs and stick his head out to call for help, one of the 'Pineapple Head's' tentacles slammed into the ground.

With a 'thud,' the sound didn't seem loud, but Wayne felt as if he'd been hit directly in the chest. Then, the entire basement seemed to be sealed off by a black barrier.

The 'Pineapple Head' seemed to think Wayne was trying to escape, and many eyes on the meatball stared at him simultaneously:

"Where do you think you're going? Don't worry, if I can't leave, then you certainly can't either."

Wayne didn't want to touch the black barrier. He fired a shot at it, but the barrier seemed intangible and immaterial. The bullet rapidly lost speed after entering and soon fell to the ground.

Feeling that rushing in wasn't a good idea, Wayne could only shout a couple of times across the barrier, unsure if Inessa could hear him. Then, he continued to load his gun while also winking at Connal, indicating that they could only deal with it together for now.

At this time, the two unfortunate companions seemed to have been 'sucked dry.' The 'Pineapple Head' freed up two tentacles and took two steps towards Wayne.

When it attacked again, the speed of the tentacles suddenly increased a lot. Wayne watched one of the tentacles rise, ready to attack him, but even though he had shot in that direction in advance and prepared to dodge, Wayne was almost hit by the tentacle this time.

Damn it, is it 'warmed up'? Or is it 'getting stronger as it eats'?

The terrain in the basement wasn't great. Wayne dodged and counterattacked, gradually being forced to the wall by the approaching 'Pineapple Head'.

If he ran to the left, he might endanger the scattered Emma. If he slipped to the right, he'd be trying to wake up Damon MacQuady by slapping him in the face while barely dodging attacks, together with Connal.

Wayne gradually emptied the bullets in his lever-action rifle, discovering that demon-hunting bullets seemed to have limited effect on the 'Pineapple Head'. He was busy being attacked and didn't have time to reload, so he could only use the long rifle as a club in one hand and take out a bottle of holy water in the other, starting to inject spiritual power into the glass bottle.

"Bang!"

Two tentacles attacked simultaneously. Wayne swung the lever-action rifle and hit one of them, but that thing's force was so strong that he couldn't knock it off course.

Wayne then rolled away, dodging the subsequent 'double tap,' and threw the bottle of holy water towards one of the 'Pineapple Head's' supporting legs, then snapped his fingers, choosing to 'detonate it early'.

The explosion of the holy water bottle wasn't as loud as a gunshot, but the actual damage seemed to be more effective.

One of the 'Pineapple Head's' tentacles snapped off, and the meatball propped up in mid-air tilted slightly.

Good heavens,

No wonder the church's exorcists fought as if they were still in the Middle Ages. Could it be that in the field of fighting monsters in the extraordinary world, traditional methods are more effective in some cases?

The 'Pineapple Head's' vibrating, hollow voice sounded again, "How dare you?!"

If I didn't dare, I'd be dead...

While one of the 'Pineapple Head's' tentacles was regrowing from the broken point, Wayne dodged back and forth, throwing something every now and then.

He didn't have time to worry about the amount of spiritual power in his body. Anyway, charging for 5 seconds could probably break a tentacle, but less than 5 seconds wouldn't be of much use.

Connal also discovered that the demon-hunting bullets weren't powerful enough and took out a small bottle, looking like he was quenching the bullet heads with poison or something.

Five or six effective attacks were thrown over in succession. Fortunately, Wayne's speed of charging things was faster than the 'Pineapple Head's' speed of tentacle regeneration, and the situation temporarily entered a stalemate.

Four of the 'Pineapple Head's' eight tentacles were still regenerating. Wayne threw all four holy water bottles he had, and even threw a revolver and a Double Eagle gold coin. Now, he was holding the last Double Eagle gold coin and hurrying to charge it.

Wayne had more demon-hunting bullets on him, but he had tried charging the demon-hunting bullets directly before. The effect of throwing them directly and detonating them was not as good as the holy water bottles. If he used this Double Eagle gold coin too, Wayne would probably have to tear off his chain and throw his pocket watch next.

That thing wasn't cheap. Although it was definitely not as valuable as a life, Wayne was running his own small business. It would be difficult to repair if it was broken, and no one would reimburse him. It would be better not to throw it if possible.

But the current situation still didn't allow for carelessness. Although the 'Pineapple Head' seemed to be declining, Connal's enhanced demon-hunting bullets didn't seem to be of much use.

Moreover, Wayne was very worried that it was the 'stronger as it eats' type. If it waited for its tentacles to grow back and then turned around to eat Emma or Damon MacQuady, or the pile of hostages in the corner, casualties aside, if it increased its speed again, Wayne felt that he might not be able to dodge anymore. He could only hurry to hold back a 'big one' and strive to give it a heavy blow.

At this time, the meatball supported in mid-air by several tentacles was trembling slightly. Then, the meatball trembled like cells multiplying, and a small meatball covered with eye slits suddenly split out next to the big meatball.

The small meatball was connected to the big meatball in part, and the top was also covered with tentacles, but they were thinner and shorter, and couldn't reach the ground when they drooped down.

What was even worse was that as the eight tentacles of the big meatball gradually grew back, it kept 'popping,' 'popping,' and 'popping'.

One small meatball after another split from the big meatball. The original 'Pineapple Head' had now turned into a string of 'grapes' supported in mid-air by eight large tentacles.

Oh my god.

Wayne looked at the small meatballs that hadn't opened their eyes yet and were still drooping their tentacles, wondering if he should hurry to continue charging the Double Eagle gold coin in his hand, or if he should throw it out to detonate a wave.

At this time, all the eyes on one of the small meatballs suddenly opened, and then the small tentacles on top of its head stabbed into the big meatball in unison, bursting a pile of eyes on top with a single blow. Dark juice splattered like water.

"Ah—"

The basement seemed to immediately echo with a hollow and illusory wail. The large tentacles staggered, and the 'grape bunch' swayed several times in mid-air, as if trying to maintain balance by relying on the large tentacles.

Another vibrating, hollow voice, filled with bursting spiritual pressure, sounded like a furious roar:

"I am the master of this body! I am Miken Reef!"