Chapter 6
“Die!”
As if waiting for the moment, someone jumped out, wielding a baseball bat. The bat shattered into pieces with a single swing from the monster.
Jungwoo stared at the broken bat and the monster in disbelief. Slowly, fear filled his widening eyes. Sensing victory, the monster raised its club mockingly.
Thud!
“Kgh?”
The monster’s head turned. It saw a small wound on its arm. Below it, a fallen knife, and beyond that, a human standing tall in the kitchen.
Seeing the small human, who looked even more insignificant than the one it had just smashed, the monster opened its mouth wide. A black tongue, dripping with saliva, slithered out.
Sehyun, who had just used one of the kitchen knives she had prepared, had a frustrated expression on her face. She had aimed for the arm because the head seemed to be made of a harder material, but despite throwing it with all her might, it had only left a small scratch. Her plan to disable one arm had been disrupted.
However, Sehyun pulled herself together and quickly took out the remaining kitchen knife, throwing it towards the monster’s eye.
Clang!
The monster effortlessly swatted the knife away with its arm.
Meanwhile, the monster, like a predator before a hunt, slowly turned with minimal movement and approached her step by step.
It was then.
Thud!
Jungwoo, who had picked up the kitchen knife lying on the floor, aimed for the monster from behind. Sehyun, who had pretended to attack Jungwoo and thrown the knife at him, brightened up.
But her joy was short-lived. The knife, plunged with all his might, only pierced the monster’s skin slightly.
Bang!
Instead, Jungwoo, who was close by, was sent flying by the force of the monster’s swing. The monster glanced at Jungwoo and turned towards him.
Jungwoo lost consciousness instantly. Another hit like that, and he would be dead.
Sehyun, watching the monster entering the master bedroom, unconsciously moved her body.
She hated closed doors. She hated hearing those nightmarish sounds from beyond those doors.
Sehyun picked up something from the floor and threw it. The monster instinctively swung its arm.
Splash!
“Kgh?”
The monster blinked its single eye rapidly. The kimchi broth seeped into its eye. Sehyun grabbed a random container from the floor and threw it again. As the monster sensed something flying towards it and swung its arm, Sehyun grabbed the fruit knife she had been holding and rushed towards the monster.
This was her only chance.
Even the sturdy Jungwoo was knocked out with a single blow.
It would be even harder for her to survive. Sehyun swung the fruit knife with all her might.
Thud!
She felt something piercing.
But that was all. The eyelid, where the fruit knife was stuck, lifted, and a blood-red eye met hers. Sehyun instinctively ducked.
Whack!
It barely grazed her.
Skill ‘Dodge’ confirmed.
Do you want to create ‘Dodge’ as a skill?
Skill ‘Fruit Knife Swing’ confirmed.
Do you want to create ‘Fruit Knife Swing’ as a skill?
What the…
“Create all of them!”
She didn’t know what they were, but right now, she would use even a single strand of hair if it could help.
Meanwhile, the monster turned around.
“Groar!”
The monster growled lowly and lowered its body.
It suddenly spread its legs and lunged at her like a spring. Sehyun, unable to maintain her balance, staggered back, quickly covering her head and ducking. Even so, she thought she would be hit, given the distance.
Crash!
Dust flew up, covering her body.
…Huh?
She didn’t feel any impact. She looked up and saw the monster’s club stuck in the wall beside her, the monster standing right in front of her.
Sehyun quickly backed away. She stumbled and almost fell, but managed to steady herself by grabbing the back of the sofa.
The monster, finding it inconvenient to swing its club in the narrow space, boldly abandoned it and started throwing punches.
She thought she would be hit for sure, but her body moved more agilely than she expected.
Bang!
This time too, Sehyun was able to barely dodge.
Skill ‘Enhanced Vision’ confirmed.
Do you want to create ‘Enhanced Vision’ as a skill?
“Create! Create!”
Sehyun answered without looking.
Whirr, whirr.
The window changed rapidly, but Sehyun had no time to pay attention to it. She focused solely on the monster’s movements.
This house was a space she was so familiar with that she could walk around with her eyes closed. Knowing the terrain, even in a confined space, made a big difference. Sehyun was able to dodge the monster’s attacks a few more times using the sofa and other furniture.
However, even that advantage didn’t last long against the overwhelming difference in stamina.
Bang!
“Ugh!”
She tried to dodge the monster’s right fist but was hit in the side by its left fist.
“Ugh.”
When she came to her senses, she was pushed outside along with the front door. If she had moved a little more, she would have tumbled down the stairs.
Sehyun, barely holding onto the railing, saw the monster rushing towards her. Just when she thought she was dead for sure, something caught her eye.
Her eyes flashed for a moment.
The monster’s body flew through the air, about to crush her. At that moment, Sehyun turned and dodged. The monster’s body was going over the railing. It had the strength to jump from the first floor to the second, so it would be fine even if it fell.
So…
Sehyun’s eyes glinted as she threw herself onto the monster. She wrapped her arms around its legs with all her might, preventing it from standing up.
“Ugh!”
Her arms felt like they were being ripped apart by the monster’s struggling legs, but she gritted her teeth.
Thump! Thud!
The impact of hitting the ground reverberated through her entire body. At that moment, she heard a sound of something being pierced.
Thwack!
“Kgh.”
Sehyun’s body was thrown into the garden by the monster’s kick. Her vision turned red, perhaps from the blood flowing. Amidst it all, she saw the monster getting up.
It approached her, its footsteps heavy.
“Groar…”
And then, right in front of her, it collapsed with a thud. Only the handle of the knife, embedded in the monster’s neck, was visible.
“Gasp, gasp.”
Sehyun, standing on the first floor, gasped for breath and reached for the ground.
But her body, drained of all strength, wouldn’t budge.
Just now, as the monster lunged at her, she had seen the knife Jungwoo had plunged into its neck. Fortunately, her decision to push it with her weight if human strength wasn’t enough had worked.
“Gasp, gasp, gasp…”
She had killed a monster for the first time in her life. She felt like she had avenged her parents, even if it wasn’t everything, at least a little.
But she wasn’t happy at all.
Growl.
Growl.
Numerous monsters were staring at her from beyond the collapsed fence.
Sehyun looked at where the fence used to be, now surrounded by monsters.
Her aunt’s fence was quite high. But the monsters were much taller than the thick and high fence.
“Ha.”
Sehyun let out a hollow laugh again. She then looked at the dead monster lying on the ground.
Only then did she realize how she had managed to kill this fearsome monster.
The monster standing by the fence and the monster lying dead on the ground were different sizes. If the fallen monster was barely her size, the monsters surrounding the fence now looked much larger.
So she seemed to know without having to check.
That the monster she had killed was the lowest of the low. It could have been a scout, or maybe even a young one. Anyway, it was clear that it was much weaker than the monsters in front of her now.
Therefore, the probability of her defeating these monsters, which were much larger and stronger than the one she had barely managed to kill at the risk of her life, was zero. Moreover, there weren’t just one or two of them.
Sehyun looked around. There was no way there would be any weapons in the barren garden.
The monsters were just staring at her, not attacking. In the face of this strange silence and stillness, Sehyun twisted her lips.
“Amazing. My mom and dad… they fought these things.”
Sehyun smiled faintly and clenched her fists. Her whole body felt weak and drained, but she wasn’t going to die without a fight. She thought that maybe she was a little better off now than before, having created a few skills.
Sehyun staggered to her feet. And as soon as she straightened up, something flew towards her.
Whoosh!
As soon as she heard the sound, a large monster was already in front of her. And at the same time, a giant fist was positioned above her head. This was not a speed she could handle.
Suddenly, a flashback flashed before her eyes.
…From her happy childhood to today, where she was living a life she had no choice but to live.
Bang!
She closed her eyes tightly and blocked her head with her arms. At the same time, her body flew lightly through the air.
Lightly?
Sehyun opened her eyes at the unbelievable sensation. The first thing she saw was a neatly tied ponytail. As she raised her head a little more, she saw a woman staring straight ahead. As if sensing her gaze, the woman glanced at Sehyun.
“Rest.”
Ah… a Guard.
Sehyun, overcome with relief, fell asleep as if fainting.
***
The situation was resolved in an instant.
Fifty monsters emerged from the two Holes.
It took only thirty minutes for the emergency response Guards to find and exterminate all the monsters hiding in the nooks and crannies.
It was possible because the monsters weren’t that strong, considering that two large Holes had appeared, and because the news of the two Holes had caused a rapid concentration of nearby Guards.
However, it wasn’t without damage. There wasn’t a single intact building in the neighborhood, and the death toll exceeded thirty.
Hmm