Chapter 1 – Hunters and Hunted...AND RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!

People were discontent about their lives all the time. Some people had to work with a bunch of people they couldn't stand as they were a pile of despicable individuals of the human race. Other people were not paid enough for the jobs they were investing most of their time and energy in a year in or felt at least that they deserved more. People would leave those places to come back home or go somewhere else occassionally, while being frustrated and argue with anyone available about their Situation.

Students arguing about their bad grades despite having spent Hours to learn something only to fail at a small detail.

Policemen arguing about the criminals they arrested, while calling them scum, and what society had come to.

But in the end most of these situations were tame and not too much of a threat. Even though just as significant, it wasn't like someone was holding someone in place, dragging them into a dark alley, while holding a knife at their throats to make sure their victim made no sound as they would kill them. Most of these situation were not truly life-threatening.

I really envy such people. I envy them so much. You know why?

BECAUSE RIGHT NOW I'M RUNNING FOR MY LIFE FROM A HORDE OF ANGRY MONSTERS?!

I was not overtelling it even as I ran through the narrow streets of the devastated city. The sounds behind me reminded my constantly about my pursuers as I didn't need to turn around to tell that they were getting closer. My two legs gave everything they got as I even forgot about the aching hunger in my chest just out of the need to survive.

A hissing sound resonated through the air and instinctively I jump slightly to the side as a bullet made of compressed air shot past me and hit the wall of a ruin, reducing it to a pile of pebbles and leaving a large hole in it.

What the hell? They had ranged attacks too? This was not good. It wasn't good at all. My mind wandered back to where all of this began as I heard the breaths and roars of the aragami that were chasing me.

After the battle between the giant sabertooth tiger and the scorpion knight had been concluded with the scorpion being the winner, the larger monster withdrew into some other place as I managed to peek out of my hideout. The giant feline's body was already reduced to oracle cells floating away, making it no longer possible to salvage any of it. And I felt so hungry.

So I began wandering around once more. Of course I was walking in the opposite direction the scorpion knight had headed towards. I was not suicidal enough to actually follow that thing! Who knows what would have happened? Actually... it would be really simply to picture what would have happened. I'd have encountered that thing again and faster than I could have jumped away, I'd have been skewered on that thing's tail and eaten like a potato chip as a snack. Nope. I could definitely say that I didn't need that.

My stomach growled in protest once more at this. Well it wasn't actually my stomach growling in the literal sense. I actually felt overwhelming hunger in my mind, lingering like the still waters of a lake. It wasn't like hunger should feel like. Sure when a human got hungry they felt the emptiness of their stomach and their brain reminded them that they needed to eat, but this was different. And much more aching than it normally used to be. I began asking myself whether there had ever been a time where I tried to not eat anything long enough to create such an aching feeling.

I quickly dropped the thought as I remembered that the first step of my plan was to find something to eat anyway. Plus I didn't remembered anything from my human life anyway, so thinking about something from that past was about as useless as trying to Punch a wall when you don't have arms like I do now.

And to be honest, if it would make me understand the Situation clearer, I would actually do that. Seriously, what was all of this? I had no idea why I was suddenly a weak monster in apost apocalyptic world with only giant monsters roaming around that devour one another. I feel like someone owes me an explanation here. But who was I even kidding when I didn't even had the ability to speak. I tried. I actually tried talking normally while I was wandering around after the fight, but nothing but short roars, growls and hisses escaped my large jaws.

After a while I dropped my attempts to speak properly again as another wave of hunger hit my body and mind even stronger than the previous ones. It was giving me an headache. I didn't know in what intervals it would come or how much it would amplify over time, but I was sure that even if I took pride in my strong will, I'd definitely go insane sooner or later from the hunger. So I walked around the empty city in silence.

There was absolutely nothing there that I had not seen before. Giant holes in buildings as if someone had shot through them using a bullet that was several meters in diameter, old and dusty rocks, abandoned ruins of a once modern day city. All of this desolation around me made my mood sink. It wasn't just the absence of anything, including other monsters or the absence of something edible to ease my condition. It was sadness that I had felt in the picture of a formerly great city being abandoned and destroyed like this. I could perfectly picture that before whatever had caused all this there would have been thousands upon thousands of people living in this place, going to work or doing other things humans usually did.

Was mankind even alive? That question made me hesitate to walk further. Of course there was this small part of me that wanted to say yes, but seeing things as they were, I couldn't help but feel a shiver crawl up my back like a spider. And then there was the majority of my psyche that was not even caring about the fate of mankind. It was disturbing to be honest. Why was I feeling so indifferent about whether mankind had survived whatever had caused all this?

I decided to put that aside as well. This back and forth in my head wasn't going to fill my stomach and I was still hungry. So indefinitely hungry.

I walked down a narrow street. I was apparently somewhere in downtown as the ruins of apartment blocks and small stores framed the road. Unfortunately everything was just as the ruins were just as barren as the rest of the city. Not even a single path of vegetation was there and nothing that indicated life either.

That was until I arrived at the side of another ruin of an apartment block. The wall of the the building was missing and the place before me was rather large and spacious. One could probably put one of those giant cast here and it could easily walk around. Then I heard something. Instinctively my head whipped around to the source of the noise to see a stone falling down from the building. At first I'd have thought that it had been just a reaction due to the erosion that made the ruins slowly crumble away over time, but then I heard different noises. Short roars of some unknown type of creature and the sound of shuffling feet above me.

I looked up and immediately regretted my choice of a route to go to. Standing at the edge of the hole was a whole bunch of monsters, looking down at me with small eyes eyes. Their seemed to be apes with their large muscular bodies, short tails and overall primate like body type, but on the seond look one could only call them a monster. Their mouthlines stretched much further than that of a human or a regular ape's and filled with small white teeth as salvia dripped from their lipless maws. Their bodies were not covered in golden colored fur as one might suspect at first but actually golden colored armor. It was as if it was made of metal instead of bones or scales.

And unfortunately I lost count and the 20th I saw. There were dozens of them looking down at me, roaring and being impatient before one of them jumped down towards me. My legs reacted faster than my brain as I jumped back from the monkey like monster that left a crater in its wake. The monster roared in fury at me and I couldn't help but look back and forth between this monkey and the others that too began to jump or climb down. There was no way I could take all of these things on myself. Not to mention that they were slightly bigger than myself and possessed very powerful arms. Something I didn't have at all. I slightly glanced over to the route where I came from only to find at least 9 of those monkeys standing there already, effectively cutting off my escape route.

The monsters seemed to have noticed my intentions as they slowly crept closer. This was really bad. This could actually be the end of me before I even get to know what is going on. I hoped that next time I'd become something stronger than what I was right now to at least have a chance to fight back. But not today as I saw from the corner of my eye the perhaps only chance to escape. And so I charged at the 5 monkeys behind me.

The monsters seemed confused for a moment, seeing their prey suddenly charge at them without a shred of fear. Well that wasn't quite right. If I had anything in my stomach I was sure I'd be emptying my bowls in my nonexistent pants right now from the fright.

But anyway, I charged at them with a loud roar when I fired the spikes on my tail. The monkeys seemed to know that they wouldn't do them good when hit, so they jumped to the sides to evade them. One of the 5 was not fast enough and screamed out in pain as my spine punched right through the kneecap of the monster. I didn't really care as I used my tail to propel myself forward as the other monkeys behind me started to charge themselves. First I landed on the one I had just injured, crushing its red mask like face beneath my foot, before using it as a jumping pad and reach the hole of another apartment block nearby. It almost fell off as the ground beneath me caved in and I had to run quickly to not be dragged down back into the angry monkey horde.

With a last jump I shot out of the ruin and landed in the street on the other side, though landing was something else than me falling on my side and rolling over the ground until coming to a stop thanks to a wall being there to stop me. Rolling back on my feet, I turned to the apartment as the angry shouts of the monkeys rang through the air. I didn't even want to know how close that was. Even though they jumped to the side to evade my desperate attack, I knew that those 4 had pounced in my direction when I landed on their comrade. I had felt their breath at my feet when I took off and I am very positive that if it had been just a moment later, they'd have grabbed me by my tail and dragged me back down to kill me.

I didn't want to think about it, so I resumed walking down this new foreign street.

That was when suddenly a loud boom came up behind me as I had managed to put some distance between myself and the apes. I had forgotten one of the most common things about monkeys: generally they were really good in climbing. The apes had climbed up the ruin and now poured into the street like water. I didn't even need further encouragement than them suddenly showing up.

There was only one thing that I could do in a moment like this. The only appropriate thing to do in a situation was to... FLEE! I began to run again and not a second later the collective of enraged roars and thundering footsteps of an angry horde of monkey monsters resonated ever since through my ears.

And with that we have returned to the beginning of this chapter, but who cares about that? I WAS GOING TO DIE IF THIS KEPT UP!

What was these apes' problem in the first place? I was just passing by their nest! I didn't mean to wake them up!

Gah! I want to tear them into shreds, but fighting a horde of those things might as well be just a far more gruesome method to commit suicide. I really don't want to thnk about it now that I got to focus on running. Not to mention, that I was sure I couldn't run forever. Until now I haven't felt really tired as whatever I was reborn as, but I was certain that this body also had a limit.

A limit that if it was reached in a situation like this would only mean one thing for me. Certain death.

I pushed the thought out of my head as I kept running as fast as my two legs could carry me, but the apes were fast themselves and it didn't look like they were falling back. If they were just a bit faster, they'd eventually catch up to me and it would be Game Over for me. Using my tail as a spring again I managed to put some more distance between me and my pursuers, but they just didn't stop.

JUST LEAVE ME ALONE ALREADY! That's what I wanted to shout at them even though they'd not understand it.

VRRMMM

I heard something up ahead. A familiar sound that rang through my nonexistent ears. I knew that sound. I knew it so well I already had the picture of the object that made that sound before my mind's eye. Up ahead, the buildings stopped and a large desolated open area was spread over the land with the ruins and debris of old buildings bein the only indicators of being still in the city. Whether it had been a park or just a place that had been destroyed by the hands of time was of no concern for me. What did concern me was when I reached the exit of the city alongside my pursuers, I saw a fast vehicle driving not very far from my current position over the dusty wasteland.

A humvee. I really couldn't express how actually happy I felt in that moment. Unfortunately for me, the car was literally heading my way and if it wasn't for me running, it probably would just pass by. I really needed a distraction right now and it had just presented itself as I kept running but towards it. The car tried to dodge,, but I kept my course stubbornly towards the military vehicle. On the back of the armored car I saw a couple of young people look surprised or shocked at me and the horde of followers I had on my tail.

When the distance was about 10 meters, the car now took a sharp turn to the right to dodge and prevent a collision, so I had to take a sharp turn to the left to reach the car, before I used my tail as a spring again. For a moment it was as if I was soaring through the sky like an eagle as I looked down and saw the youths beneath me as I jumped over the van. Then I noticed that they had awfully large weapons in form of rifles and swords. Still they would be a good distraction for the apes so I did the only thing I could think off.

I literally winked at them as if saying "Good luck!", before gravity pulled my body down to the ground and I resumed running for my life. The screeching of the tires and the enraged roars of the apes told me that my plan had somewhat succeeded. Now I was not sure if all of the apes had took the bait and because of that I kept running until I managed to hide behind a wall as the last remain of building.

Finally stopping my run I took several breaths as my senses catched up with my body. I could feel how the muscles in my legs seemed to scream in protest as they ached and the heavy bone plate on my tail forced me to lay down. Goddammit, I really should have done more sports in my previous life. Then realization hit me. What if those humans were killed now because of me using them as a scape goat. A pit formed in my stomach at the thought of sacrifising these people that once were my fellow human beings.

I shook my head at this. There was no use. It was either them or me. In this world it seems like that was an unwritten rule. While it was not nice, sometimes people had to do such things to keep themselves alive. That's what I told myself to soothe the guilt in my mind.

But what were these people doing here in the first place? Judging the looks of their attire they were professionals in their job. Were they soldiers? Or maybe hunters? But what to hunt when all here was just dust, rocks and… Oh...

The sounds of gunshots and dying cries confirmed my suspicions.

They were hunting monsters.

I peered out from my hideout as I witnessed nothing, but a slaughter. A slaughter of those apes, that was.

Firing their massive rifles, their rounds blew up parts of these giant apes in an instant, making them rear up on their hind legs one last time roaring to the sky before falling to the ground unmoving. Swinging their large swords they cleaved through them as if they were paper and blood spattered to the ground from large wound. Some of the monsters fought back, throwing punches at them or pouncing at them, but their weapons had foldable shields to block incoming blows. I wasn't quite sure about my own memories, but I had the feeling that humans shouldn't be able of such a thing such as swinging a sword as big and heavy as that around or firing a gun of that size without even staggering.

This world was starting to make less and less sense to me.

I even saw how those apes used their air blast attack. They stood still for a moment and inhaled deeply, before pointing the 4 red tubes on their backs at their enemy and then the air was shot out in form of a compressed blast like a bullet. Too bad their attacks were rather predictable with first staying still like that as the humans simply blocked those attacks with their shields before rushing towards the monsters and attack them when they were still standing up.

Their blades sometimes even morphed into guns. It was actually really cool, but there was something about these weapons that was completely unnerving for me. I can't really describe it at all. When I looked at these weapons, it felt as if I had opened some sort of box, but inside was something that was completely disturbing me. And then I saw what it was. The blade suddenly retracted... and SOMETHING emerged from within the weapon.

It was like a serpent or a dragon as it shot out with 6 yellow eyes and a mouth filled with sharp teeth. It shot out the sort, becoming several meters long before closing its jaws around one of the apes. The monster didn't even got to let out a sound of panick as it was crushed beneath those jaws and its blood splattered across the ground. The thing then retracted back into sword with its black flesh turning into tendrils that were sucked back inside as the blade shot out again and the human could attack once more.

I stood there completely paralyzed in fear. So far I've already seen monsters killing and eating one another, but this... This was not a monster.

It was an abomination.

I kept watching completely unable to move as every last monster was slain and those things emerged from the weapons again, devouring the corpses and leaving nothing but blood on the ground. I quickly retracted my head once I snapped out of it. Cowering in fear, I was unable to stop my body shaking. Before the running had distracted me enough to not notice it despite having been in just as much of a life threatening situation. Even the fight between that tiger and scorpion monster had not truly done much to me.

But now... all of this primal emotion called fear rung through my system without an inhibitor to block it. Each breath I took felt like an hour. I could hear them talking, but I was in such a stress that I didn't register their words. My mind only told me that they were still there. Only with their footsteps getting further away and their car driving off, I began to calm down. I peered out again seeing only the large cloud of dust following the car.

These people were ridiculously strong…

…and they had really large guns and blades to fight those monsters with ease…

…and their weapons literally eat those monsters…

I stepped out of my hideout and saw the last traces of those monsters, that had been chasing me, disintergrate into the same orange glowing particles as they climbed up into the sky. A sudden wave of melancholy hit my mind and the feeling of hunger that had been surpassed by stress and fear had returned even stronger than before.

Today really isn't my day.

That was when suddenly a voice rang through my head.

{Proficiency has reached the required level. Aquired skill [Stealth LV 1]}

{Proficiency has reached the required level. Aquired skill [Fear Resistance LV 1]}

Excuse me, what now?

Don Orbit: (sitting on top of a certain Ogretail that was wrapped up in ducttape, making it impossible for it to move or speak as it could only wriggle around) And another cliffhanger. Sorry guys, but this is the end for this chapter.

Ogretail: HHHHMMMMPFFF!? (wriggles around more)

Don Orbit: (slaps the roof of the ogretail) Oh stay silent, will you?

Ogretail: (growls)

Don Orbit: Also it's not like the excercise is bad for you.

Ogretail: (grumbles in a mocking tone)

Don Orbit: You don't want me to punish you even more, do you?

Ogretail: (shakes around violently as the ducttape tears apart and they try to bite the author) GET IN MY BELLY!

Don Orbit: (jumps off and deadpans) Okay.

Ogretail: Don't you dare to- (pauses for a moment) Wait what?

Don Orbit: You're pretty hungry, aren't you?

Ogretail: (stomach grumbles causing their white face to turn cherry red and turn away) It's not like I want to eat something. (snaps out of tsundere mode) BUT WHO' FAULT IS IT THAT I'M CONSTANTLY IN AGONY LIKE THIS ANYWAY!?

Don Orbit: Okay, okay. I'll feed you. (opens a portal and reaches inside to pull out a wriggling black insect resembling something between a snail and a beetle) Here you go. (throws it at the ogretail's feet as they look at it)

Ogretail: (begins to salviate like a rapid dog as tears stream down their face) This is probably the nicest thing someone has ever done for me. ITADAKIMASU! (lunges at the insect and bites down only to suddenly recoil sharply and let out a pained howl) IT'S DISGUSTING!

System: {Proficiency has reached the required level. Aquired skill [Rot Resistance LV 1]}

Ogretail: SCREW YOU!?

Don Orbit: Haha! Yeah, that's what everyone says. After all Elroe Gastruch are known to use rot attribute attacks to defend themselves. Even then they taste as foul it would make most monsters rather vomit and thus they are only eaten when they are really desperate.

Ogretail: I ACTUALLY TOOK DAMAGE FROM THIS, YOU BAST- (lunges at the author with a wide open mouth)

Don Orbit: (smashes his hammer across their face again and knocks the aragami out) Thanks for reading. Stay tuned and I hope we will see each other next time. (puts a small sign on the Elroe Gastruch reading "Have a nice day." as the insect simply minded its own business, crawling over the unconscious ogretail)