Screams.
Screams grow fainter and fainter.
The heat from the surface grows hotter and hotter.
The hole I dug into the ground is blocked, and then blocked again, as the rubble from collapsing buildings piles up higher and higher.
Boom!
Bang!!
Kra-kra-kra-Boom!!!
The reason the screams are fading, the reason the heat is growing more intense, the reason the rubble keeps piling up.
My instincts warn me that there is only one answer.
The source of those thunderous blasts is coming this way.
One step.
Then another.
Should I run?
Should I fight?
What do I have to do to get out of this?
Step.
“...Ah—”
Fight that thing?
It didn’t take long to realize how foolish, how stupid that thought was.
As each step grew clearer and clearer in my ears, I finally began to feel it.
The overwhelming aura of a superior being.
“........!”
My breath catches in my throat.
I can’t breathe properly.
It’s heavy.
The air is heavy.
It feels like my very existence is being crushed flat.
Crushed and crushed and crushed and crushed and crushed and crushed and crushed and crushed and crushed and crushed and crushed and crushed and crushed and crushed and crushed and crushed and crushed and crushed and crushed and crushed and crushed and crushed and crushed and crushed and crushed and crushed and crushed and crushed until—
Until nothing is left, my sense of self is ground down, smashed, pressed, broken, and collapsed.
I can’t even perceive my own existence.
Am I dead?
No, I’m alive.
And yet, just from that thing drawing near, it feels as if I’ve already died.
Reality slows down.
It’s hazy.
My heartbeat is racing wildly.
The scaled skin on my body tingles.
My pupils tremble.
Why?
Why?
What on earth is that thing?
No.
No, that’s not important.
This wasn’t a question of whether I should fight or not.
Run.
I have to run.
Run from that overwhelming death—
“...Hm. There’s a rat hiding under my feet.”
—There’s no way I can run.
Those words alone stole even my will to flee.
I knew it by instinct.
That thing isn’t some wolf or tiger.
I’ve never seen one, but it isn’t even a demon.
That thing...
...Ah.
I can’t escape.
If I run, I die.
If I rush it, I die.
If I hide, I die.
Before that thing even says a word.
Even if I take just one step forward.
Even if I move even a little more.
I die.
“Come out.”
I have no choice but to come out.
If I resist, I die on the spot.
In the end, I claw my way up through the rubble.
At last, bright light tickles my eyes.
And the smoke, thick with the stench of explosions, assaults my nose.
Then a hand moving at a speed I can’t even process clamps tightly around my throat.
“...Kehk!”
It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts.
Stop.
Stop.
Let go.
No.
I don’t want to die.
Save me.
No.
“Hah. What an ugly sight, trembling in fear like that!”
“...Keh, huhhghhh... let, go....”
A dark blue, muscular body.
Two protrusions that look like antennae.
A humanoid monster....
...I can’t... say... anything....
W-what... is this....
It’s only choking me, and yet...
I can’t even... think... properly....
“Tch.”
Boom!
“Kehk?!”
I was casually hurled into the ground.
Just that alone shattered more than half my bones.
How many organs burst?
“Geh, ugh.”
My body won’t move properly.
I can’t get up.
It’s heavy.
I’m being overwhelmed and crushed by sheer presence alone.
I’m being pressed down by an invisible force.
But more than that—
“...Scared.”
For the first time in my life.
To feel fear.
And yet that isn’t all.
I’m feeling two kinds of fear at once.
One of them is clearly fear of the monster in front of me.
But the other one isn’t fear of the opponent standing before me right now.
At the very least, that first fear isn’t for him.
“Why am I... like this....”
Why am I so weak?
I’m weak.
I’m helpless.
I’m pathetic.
I realized it with my uselessly sharp mind.
I finally understood just how terrifying this world really is.
I’m nothing more than something crude that could be swept away at any moment.
Less than that.
“The will of the planet says I must eliminate you, but... I never expected you to be this much of a piece of trash. You’re not even worth killing.”
As if he’d lost interest, the calamity walks past me.
But even that alone creates a gust that sends my body flying.
“...Kuh?!”
Bang!
“-Kyaahk!”
I’m sent flying helplessly and slam into something.
After vomiting up a bowlful of blood, the world looks like it’s spinning.
...Did I hit my head?
My consciousness drifts away.
It grows distant.
My vision blurs.
...I won’t die like this, will I?
Even if I pass out, I’ll survive.
That’s enough.
I was treated like trash not even worth dealing with.
So I lived.
For now, that’s enough.
I surrender myself to the darkness of fading consciousness—
“Waaah!”
Thud.
“Dad!”
Thud.
Thud.
“Mom!”
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
...
......
.........
...Damn it.
[Main Quest: Survive in City A (1/1). Time limit: Bald Cape]
[Reward: 300 allocatable points....]
[Allocate]
[SP: 120->420]
...
......
.........
...Because this is something I have to do.
...
......
.........Get up.
[Super Regeneration LV2]
Get up.
[Super Instinct LV4]
[Stealth LV1]
[Quiet Steps LV3]
Get up.
[Sharp Claws LV4]
[Strong Teeth LV3]
[Tail Severing LV1]
[Hardened Body LV2]
.
.
.
.
Get up.
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