Surviving the Primordial Era (4)
[Stealth] [Swiftness] [Lightning] [Breathless] [Body Transformation]
Looking at the status window, which had changed drastically from before, a wave of fresh sentiment washed over me. I felt like a game developer. If other human beings ever came into existence after me, they would probably navigate this world looking at the interface I had helped shape. Assuming I could survive until then, that was.
Regardless, my rate of growth was something to be genuinely proud of. A month had passed since I had fallen into this world, and I had already stepped firmly into the realm of the superhuman. I could generate electricity right from my hands, and my fingernails could sharpen into lethal blades. I could wage underwater combat for over an hour without taking a single breath. It was the hard-earned harvest of hunting down and developing traits without being picky.
Lately, Belba had developed the habit of equating my life with her own. I suppose that meant she cherished me that much. It was something to be grateful for.
To make an excuse, there were no actual marlins in this world—only a monster that happened to share a passing resemblance. Because of that, I hadn't properly gauged its charging speed and my reaction had lagged. To be blunt, I got careless. Who could have guessed that damn thing would bridge that distance and appear in front of my face in mere seconds?
“Besides, I lived. That’s what counts.”
Chuckling, I pulled on the newly purchased outfit. Perhaps because it was crafted from leather, it was stiff and uncomfortable, but it would certainly reduce the chances of bleeding out from glancing blows.
“I’ve never felt like I was lacking in offensive power. It’s better to cut down on the variables.”
As time passed, Belba seemed to be growing alongside me. She had recently announced that a gate to other dimensions had opened and presented me with a shop window. Supposedly, I could purchase goods from other dimensions using the coins earned by killing things. The inventory was strictly combat gear like swords and shields, but for someone like me who had been shouting 'unga bunga' while waving wooden spears and hurling stones, it was a godsend.
“How does it look?”
I tapped against my chest, and a solid, reassuring thud echoed back. It felt sturdy enough to easily deflect the attacks of the raptors that had recently become scarce around my territory.
Naturally. Though it was crude armor, in this prehistoric era, a piece of this quality might as well be Chanel or Hermès. This was, quite literally, ahead of its time—
Let’s stop. Thinking about it was just making me depressed.
Speaking of which, Belba had recently notified me of the birth of a new sentient race. She described them as possessing horns on their heads and wings sprouting from their backs, which sounded an awful lot like demons. I wondered if they would manage to survive. Whether they would become enemies in the distant future or not, I just hoped they would stay alive for now.
“What about that one? Is it doing well?”
······.
Excuse me?
“Seriously?”
Well... I didn't even know what to say to that. After sorting through my thoughts, I simply readied myself for combat. It was unfortunate, but I didn't have the luxury to mourn. Nor did I have any reason to. If value was determined by rarity, then in this world, death was far cheaper than life. Rather than dwelling on the futility of a life that had flickered out in an instant, it was better to focus on looking after my own skin.
While scouting along the riverbank, I came across a dense tangle of ivy that formed a wall. Curious as to what lay behind it, I hacked through the vines and stepped inside. A foul, pungent stench hit my nose. Without question, it was a rank odor.
In the cavernous hollow beyond—far larger than I had anticipated—a humanoid monster lay on its back, snoring loudly while scratching its belly. With every scratch, its bloated gut rose and fell in heavy rhythms.
Hmm...
“Is my depth perception broken, or is that thing an absolute unit? Is it even safe to mess with that right now?”
Its sheer mass was overwhelming. Standing at what looked to be easily four meters tall, how could a creature survive packed so densely with muscle from head to toe? Shouldn't something like that drop dead early from myostatin-related muscle hypertrophy or whatever? Where was the balance in this world?
What? Fifty?
The moment those words registered, I corrected my posture and ratcheted my tension to maximum. No wonder I had been feeling faint tremors throughout the area lately—it was all localized earthquakes caused by this bastard. Having a superhuman body myself gave me a rough idea of what that meant. If a single stat was pushing 50, that monster could easily grab someone like me with both hands and rip me in half like a piece of paper.
Ugh. Just visualizing it made my stomach churn. Deciding that I wouldn't engage under any circumstances, I turned on my heel.
Then, the monster's snoring abruptly ceased. A chilling shiver crawled up my spine, and I hurled myself forward without thinking.
BOOOOM!
A massive boulder slammed down and shattered where I had been standing a split second before, showering me in jagged stone shards. Blood sprayed as a sharp sting tore across my skin. I was bleeding from an attack that hadn't even landed directly.
“Bullshit.”
Where did it spot me? I had activated my Stealth skill before even stepping foot in here. Honestly, my Stealth wasn't low-tier. At the very least, it guaranteed that my presence would be thoroughly masked.
There were two possibilities: one, it had been pretending to sleep specifically to lure me in; two, its senses were sharp enough to detect my concealment even while asleep. Fuck. Either case was disastrous. Yanking the stone fragment out of my shoulder with a grunt, I braced for battle.
Listening to Belba’s bone-chilling translation, I dumped all my accumulated coins into the shop and bought a steel spear. I had been saving up for something else, but I didn't feel a shred of regret. A wooden spear would never pierce that hide. What was worse, with my spear extended, my reach was barely equal to that monster's bare arms. If I had bought the dagger I was originally eyeing, I would have been swatted dead before I could even get close.
I glanced behind me. The thrown boulder had completely blocked the cavern entrance. Now I was certain. This monster was far more intelligent than it looked. No, not just 'more intelligent than it looked'—it seemed smarter than a snot-nosed kid.
Wait, hadn't Belba told me I was the only sentient being around? Then what the hell was this?
Hmm... It wasn't an explanation that entirely convinced me. There were probably criteria I didn't understand. Regardless, now was the time to discard all stray thoughts and focus entirely on the fight. For the first time since falling into this world, I was facing an opponent physically superior to me.
A clean hit would mean instant death. Focus.
THUD!
Oh, for fuck's sake. I had roughly anticipated it upon hearing its Strength was 50, but the bastard didn't even bother running toward me. It simply let out a throaty snort, bent its knees, and leaped. Before I knew it, a massive shadow loomed directly over my head. It weighed several hundred kilograms—how could it possibly move with that kind of agility?
Rolling across the ground, I thrust the spear into the monster's flank just as it landed, immediately retracting it. Hit-and-run tactics utilizing a spear's reach were my greatest specialty. Even with an unfamiliar weapon, I executed the strike flawlessly. Not that it mattered.
“It’s not even bleeding! What the hell?!”
“That doesn’t make any sense! It's absurd!”
Chip damage was out of the question. My only choice was to stake everything on a single, soul-infused blow. Of course, with the monster holding the upper hand in reflexes, kinetic vision, movement speed, and pure instinct—basically every sensory attribute—that was an almost impossible feat. My ultimate attack took too long to wind up, and its success wasn't even guaranteed.
I had truly never faced such a lopsided fight. The monster swung its fist, and I jumped backward with all my might, using the spear's shaft to block. The impact sent me flying over ten meters through the air before I tumbled violently across the stone floor. It felt just like being swept away by the unstoppable force of the wave pools I used to visit as a kid.
Still, I had opened up sufficient distance. At this range, I could somehow prepare my next move. Just as that thought crossed my mind, the monster scooped up a nearby boulder and crushed it into pieces with its bare hands.
What's it doing? Don't tell me it's planning to throw those? What are you, fucking Zeke Yeager?
Seeing it roll its shoulder, an ominous premonition flared inside me. You've got to be shitting me. No matter how you looked at it, this monster was disgustingly clever. Seeing me bleed from the stray rock shards earlier, it had improvised an attack pattern on the fly. God, this was insane. How was I supposed to counter that?
This time, it wasn't a random dispersion—those stone fragments were aimed directly at me in a concentrated barrage. The speed and lethality were on a completely different level. With a disparity in stats this wide, even an amateurish attack like that was an existential threat.
Focus. Drawing in a deep breath, I slowly observed the flow of mana inside my body. Nowhere to dodge. I had to block it. I had no shield, and leather armor couldn't stop that barrage. Even if I covered my vital areas—my face, throat, and chest—with my arms, the damage would leave me dead on its very next strike.
I needed a method. A way to block that attack safely, without sacrificing my own flesh and bone.
Fwhoooo.
The monster exhaled a ragged breath, and in the next instant, hundreds of stone fragments burst from its hand like buckshot. At that exact moment, I dragged up every drop of mana in my body. A searing heat surged straight to the crown of my head.
I had tried this countless times before. Attempts to wrap the mana inside me around my exterior, boosting my defense or attack power. Yet I had never succeeded even once. Reinforcing my internal musculature or sharpening my senses was easy enough, but any visible change beyond that had always felt as distant as an illusion. Mana was invisible to my eyes. Yet it was undeniably there. I had to believe in it.
As my concentration reached its absolute zenith, the mana circulated at a speed faster than ever before. Closing my eyes completely, I honed in on the movement of mana drifting through my flesh. The moment I felt the entirety of that power gather at my fingertips, I thrust both hands forward.
A sensation of something inside me being violently sucked outward tore through my chest. In that split second, I knew. It worked.
The wind answered. A violent gale that made it difficult to even stand upright began churning before me. The mana condensed outside my physical form spun into a vortex at my command.
Snapping my eyes open, I saw a roaring tempest of azure mana deflecting the barrage of incoming stone shards harmlessly past my sides. At the same time, every sense and physical capability began to skyrocket, fueled by the external release of mana. The pain from my earlier wounds faded into nothingness. Facing mortal danger, I felt an uncanny sense of exhilarating refreshment. The monster no longer looked terrifying. I felt in peak condition.
Blue mana crackled and danced across my clenched fists. Watching the monster take an instinctive step back, slightly daunted, I knew.
No.
“That's not it.”
Breaking the spirit of an overwhelmingly superior enemy meant only one thing. I had already won. Victory was mine.