open road to keep anything from catching me off guard. Because the
fleshwolves traveled in packs, going through tight passageways gave me a
better chance of survival. I headed toward the source of the noise but
unfortunately, after that visceral scream, the man hadn’t made another
sound.
And I’m just now regretting the choices. Fleshwolves were attracted
to sound! So if the earlier pack had gone for that screaming man, then
he must’ve made a noise they picked up on even if I hadn’t heard it
myself. The continued explosions only made things worse. If he wasn’t
dead already, he would be soon.
The explosions continued on for five more times after that scream,
with the last one erupting into a thunderous blast just a block away
from me or two. I thought it was farther away when I heard the growl of a
rabid creature outside the alley. A fleshwolf was about to tear into
someone, only stopped by its jaws being forced shut by the near-failing
hands of its human prey. The first person I’d seen since entering this
world…
…was a girl on the verge of being eaten.
Small sack-like puppets clawed uselessly at the monster’s limbs, trying to pull it off her to no avail.
The girl was barely holding on. Even if I rush in to help, I didn’t
think I could make it. I also didn’t have any ranged attack in my
repertoire, so I took out one of the rarest items from my inventory.
Without hesitation, I aimed my [Homing Bullet] at the fleshwolf, and
used it. It zoomed without as much as a whoosh
to the monster’s head directly, burying itself into its head, then
exiting on the other side unhindered, before fully disappearing onto the
pavement. The fleshwolf collapsed over her and my kill count ticked to
76 after that.
Staying here wasn’t an option, not when the explosions likely drew
more packs of these wolves into her location. As I sprinted into the
street, the scene had me frozen. Two human corpses lay sprawled across
the pavement. Around them were four dead fleshwolves, with parts of
their bodies torn apart and flesh smeared across nearby walls as if a
bomb was suddenly strapped into their bodies. One of the human corpses
wore a jacket with a dagger buried in his chest. The other… didn’t have a
head anymore.
I slowly turned to the girl. Did she do all this?
Shoving the walking sack puppets aside, I pushed the dead fleshwolf
off the girl. She had shoulder-length silver hair and sharp blue eyes,
wearing a white turtleneck sweater soaked in blood and a pair of black
jeans. One leg of the jeans was torn open by the deep gash running along
her right thigh. It had already been bandaged but it was done poorly as
blood was slowly seeping through the wrappings.
I tried to carry her but stopped when she came out with a threat, “I’ll kill you the moment you touch me.”
I raised a brow at her in annoyance, “I just stopped that monster from eating you, why the hell would I—”
Before I could finish my sentence, a panel appeared just below my EVENT timer. It contained something extremely disturbing:
[Pop
Fulfill any of the following conditions to get a special reward!
- Kill the woman before you.
- Reward: (F-Tier Consumable) Sorcerer’s Tome
- Leave her fate to the Shadow Fleshwolves.
- Reward: (E-Tier Potion) Potion of Featherswift
Expiration: 00:02:30
I stared at the panel for a moment when I suddenly heard a visceral
growl echoing from a distance. It grounded me back to reality. I swiped
the panel out of sight and carried her anyway despite the threat.
I slung her on my shoulder fireman-style, then I made a run for the
alleyway. Unlike before, I could now carry an adult human without
feeling any difficulty. That was a noticeable change, now that I had
gotten physically stronger with that plus-three stat increase. Although
out of sight, I could hear the sack puppets from earlier trail behind
me. They must’ve been her summons.
“What the hell—put me down!” The girl demanded, struggling and
punching my back, trying to get off of me. It only forced me to
strengthen my grip around her to keep her from falling.
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Without breaking from my sprint, I whispered, “Be quiet. I’m saving your ass right now!” Which was unfortunately very literal,
given that her lower body was positioned beside my cheek. I ignored it
as I urgently warned, “Don’t make a single noise. The fleshwolves can
only see by sound.”
“What? Fleshwolves?” She answered in a confused manner. Right… If she
was still below level 5, she wouldn’t have the option to view the
monster info panels yet. I didn’t need to explain anything to her as I
heard the the monsters behind us, their growls echoing through the city
block. I focused only on running away but assuming that she went quiet,
she must’ve seen that I was telling the truth.
So, I kept running without turning back.
As I ran, the atmosphere of this wave felt far grimmer than the last.
Screams echoed through the sky, punctuated by explosions going off at
irregular intervals. Eventually, I found a building with an unlocked
back door. I didn’t open it just yet to be safe. I wanted to go inside
slowly, so I warned the girl, “Don’t make a sound. There could be others
inside.”
The girl refused as she dictated me instead, “Put me down. I can take care of it.”
Before I commented on her currently disabled leg, the three sack
puppets looked up at me from my legs, now shuffling closer to the small
opening in the door. She can use the puppets as a scout?
I thought. I trusted in her ability so I nodded. I carefully lowered
her until she was standing on her good leg, keeping an arm around her
for support.
I cracked the door open just enough for the puppets—five of them now,
each barely three inches tall—to slip inside. After a few minutes, the
girl said, “Let’s go. There’s no one here.”
Although the lights were off, the building we entered had the
unmistakable smell of freshly baked bread. It was a small bakery with
various puffs of pastry spread across baskets and hard plastic-covered
displays. Trays and tongs were available at the corners of those
displays. A few tables and chairs lined one side of the room, orderly
and untouched.
I guided the injured girl behind the counter and lowered her into a chair as gently as I could.
After that, I locked the back door, the front entrance, and pulled
the blinds shut. It was dim, but the faint light bleeding through the
blinds was enough to illuminate the bakery.
The girl flinched as she now began unwrapping the wounded gash on her
thigh. In that short moment I was keeping us hidden, there was already
an unused bandage, a bottle of disinfectant, and some cotton balls
placed on the counter. There was a first-aid kit was mounted on the wall
behind her, so she must’ve grabbed those supplies from there. When she
noticed me watching, she asked, “Why did you come for me?”
It was a rather odd question. I would’ve expected her to ask why I saved her,
but her question was framed in a way as if she wasn’t expecting me or
anyone to do anything at all. I replied, “Why not? It’s nice to see
another human face around here after what felt like ages.”
She paused mid-wrap and looked at me with that same guarded hostility as before. I squinted at her reaction, thinking, what the hell is her problem?
“What’s in it for you?” I blinked, confused. She picked up on it and followed with, “What reward did you get for saving me?”
I shook my head. “I didn’t get anything, not even an achievement.”
That seemed to catch her off guard. Her posture eased slightly. “Why
does that matter anyway?”
“If you’re not lying, then…” She paused, wincing as she applied the
disinfectant around her wound. “Sorry about the threat earlier. I
thought you were a one of those PKer.”
I frowned. “Player killers? I haven’t run into any yet.” I was
surprised at what she said. I didn’t see any benefit to killing players
if all of their items and skills are stored in their pocket inventory.
Unless, of course, there was a hidden mechanic that did
make it so that you’ll be rewarded by doing so. Even if there were… no.
I wouldn’t do it. Anyone who would was either desperate or unhinged. I
don’t think this girl was either one, though.
“You’re lucky,” she said bitterly. “I teamed up with two people last
wave. As soon as this one started, one of them got a quest to kill us
both. He killed the other guy first. I killed him right after.” She
swallowed. “Fuck…” she reminisced on the fact that she just killed a
person. That explained the edge—those two people I’d seen earlier was
her former teammates. Going from life of normalcy to killing another
person for survival wasn’t something anyone could shrug off easily.
The girl had now finished disinfecting her wound, as she was now in
the process of wrapping a new, clean medical dresser across her wound.
While she worked, I started browsing the variety of breads and pastries
present in this bakery, despite the fact that these could be fake for
all I knew.
“I’m sorry you had to go through that,” I said. Then, after a pause,
asked, “The one you killed… was it the guy with the knife in his chest?”
The girl didn’t answer. One of her sack puppets started climbing to
my shoe, then to my leg, then it anchored itself behind me. I initially
dismissed them as harmless, until I inspected them…
[(G-Tier Summon) Explosive Sack Puppet]
This is not your summon.
These little cuties are so strong
and bold, they can act as your personal bodyguard! Don’t give them to
your nephew as their birthday toy, though. Even if you don’t activate
their primer, they have the tendency to combust and explode when out of
range from their summoner.
I blinked, and my only response was, “Oh, shit.” The explosions were coming from her summons, and one of those summons was now literally hanging on my back.
The girl snickered. “Yeah, that’s right. If I ever sense you having
any bad intentions, you’re not going to live long enough to defend
yourself. The name’s Yuna, by the way!” Just as she finished bandaging
her wounded thigh, she smiled. It was so fake I could vomit.
“I’m Devon.” I groaned. “So much for introductions.”