6
Ch.6 Not a Cat
“What kind of joke is this…? Sigh… A monster that turns into a human…? A human that turns into a monster…? If this were a comedy show, it’d get canceled for even suggesting something this absurd.”
Seeing him still rambling, I figured he’d survive. With that thought, I lashed my tail at a Phantom Hound creeping closer like a scavenger, trying to snatch its prey from behind me.
The whip-like tail split the hound clean in half.
The mothers flinched at the sight, shielding their children’s eyes.
“Eeek…!”
“W-what… What's your rank?”
[Despair]
“You’ve… Got to be kidding… Hahaha… Ah, wait… Then… Those rumors… Are you the one the heroes are looking for?”
At that moment, the officer gasped and spoke urgently.
“Right now… The heroes are on high alert for a Despair-class monster… If it’s really you, they’ll come here. Now.”
[Heroes]
The reason the kids were in danger was because of me.
The heroes were on standby, unable to respond immediately because they were preparing for the emergence of a hidden Despair-class monster.
Even the officer’s injury—it was all my fault.
“Run… They’ll come. The heroes.”
He was already losing too much blood, and his skin was turning pale from lack of oxygen as he kept talking. If he kept this up, he’d really die.
[Stop talking or you’ll die.]
“Listen to me, damn it…! Just… Just run away! You monster…! You’ll die before I do!”
As he said, my senses picked up the heroes approaching.
Even for a high-tier superpower human, escaping now would be difficult.
If I fought all those heroes head-on, I’d probably die.
But… I couldn’t leave yet.
[Can’t go yet, monsters are still here. If I leave, they will attack.]
“Goddammit… What is wrong with this monster?!”
Just a little longer—until the heroes were close enough.
Come on, hurry. Get within range of my life.
Kill the monsters that don’t even realize they’re about to be surrounded by heroes.
“Code 0 spotted…! W-wait! That’s not the one we saw before?!”
“A new variant?! Another Despair-class?!”
“Survivors! Focus on eliminating the Phantom Hounds first!”
Some lower-tier monsters act like servants to higher-tier ones.
The heroes’ bombardment of superpower human abilities swept through the park, preparing for any unexpected developments.
The park I’d lingered in for so long burned, exploded and was reduced to ruin in an instant.
“Kyaaaah!”
“Moooom!”
“Ghk… Ugh…!”
Countless energy blasts rained down, but my barrier absorbed them all. Then, I raised my head at the strongest impact.
A figure wreathed in blazing red flames—that one smelled dangerous.
The most threatening superpower humans wore an expression I couldn’t read—anger? A smirk?—before throwing a punch in my direction.
A fist-shaped beam of light tore through the air and ripped a chunk of flesh from my side.
“Grrrr…!”
“Kitty!”
[Not a cat.]
Growling at the intense pain—something I hadn’t felt in a long time—one of the kids wriggled free from his mother’s arms and grabbed my leg.
Little brat never listens. I shook him off and spread my wings wide, erecting a massive barrier against the heroes.
Focusing my power on my wings, I began gathering the surrounding winds.
I’d fly away.
As my legs slowly lifted off the ground, the loudest kid seemed to realize what was happening and shouted up at me.
“Wash up properly! Mom said if you don’t brush your teeth, you’ll get cavities! And if you don’t wash your hands… You’ll catch a cold!”
A trembling voice. The mothers, too, looked up at me with strange eyes—as if sensing this was goodbye.
Fear? Sadness?
I beat my wings once, hard, and shot upward, leaving the kids with one last message.
[Listen to mom, only two candies a day.]
Spreading a circular wind barrier beneath me, I propelled myself upward with a powerful gust.
The heroes who could fly freely immediately gave chase, unleashing their abilities.
“Everyone! We have to kill it here! If two Despair-class monsters run wild, W-City is finished!”
Sorry, but I’m not in the mood to fight.
Though I am a little curious who’s faster.
Turning my back to the superpower humans, I soared higher. As the ground grew distant, voices echoed up.
“Survivors! We’ve got survivors! Send a rescue team, now!”
***
“What the hell is going on?! Two of them?!”
“Goddamn iiiiiit…!”
Exhausted from the long pursuit, the heroes collapsed the moment they returned to base.
Three hours of nonstop flying, chasing the monster to extreme altitudes before it plunged back toward the city in an aerial stunt that should’ve shattered its body on impact.
But instead of attacking humans, it kept evading—forcing the heroes to wear themselves out until they finally lost it.
The second Despair-class monster, temporarily designated Code α, had vanished into thin air, just like Code 0 before it.
Among them, Yoo Anna—who had chased the monster the longest—was rubbing her wrist in frustration.
“So now there are two Despair-class monsters hiding in W-City…? What the hell? Have they changed tactics?”
“Their types are complete opposites, too. One’s a beast-type specialized in close combat, and this new one’s a winged mythical-type with energy manipulation. If both go on a rampage at the same time, we’re screwed.”
“But why did it run?! Since when do monsters run?! What’s it planning?!”
Already strained from dealing with Code 0, the appearance of another Despair-class monster had pushed their mental fatigue to the limit.
If they could at least figure out why it fled, they could prepare for the worst-case scenario.
“Have two Despair-class monsters ever appeared in the same area before?”
“Above Despair-class, their territorial instincts sharpen. They’re more likely to hunt each other than attack humans, so it’s rare…”
“You think they’re fighting? In W-City?”
“If two Despair-class monsters tear through the city battling each other, we won’t even be able to rebuild.”
“No… The fact that both ran means they might already know about each other and are waiting for the right moment.”
“Like we are…”
When monsters fight each other, heroes prioritize evacuating civilians and then strike the weakened victor.
If they interfere while two powerful monsters are present, the monsters might temporarily ally to eliminate the humans first. This strategy had become standard procedure.
And monsters were creatures that constantly learned and evolved—just like humans.
If they’d started adopting human tactics, it wouldn’t be surprising.
“If both are anomalies aiming for Annihilation-class, that’s far more logical than anything else.”
“We should report this to other cities. Higher-tier monsters might be shifting their behavior patterns.”
“Ugh… Another new variant… Everyone compiles the combat data from Code α separately. Did we get testimonies from the survivors?”
“Playing them now.”
One of the heroes tapped a tablet, and voices replayed through the conference room speakers.
[Did you know? The big cat said it’s hard to suppress its appetite! Suppress means…!]
[The cat went like this, and then—whoosh! And then—bam!]
[I… Uh, well… I was panicking, so… Ah…]
[Can’t we… Get treatment first…? My memory’s fuzzy after getting bitten…]
[The cat protected us!]
[Ah… Its features? It was… Big. Really big… Black and huge… N-no! I mean its size! I didn’t peek!]
[It didn’t seem like a bad monster…]
The chaotic recording was understandable—being near a Despair-class monster would panic anyone.
But some statements stood out.
Yoo Anna stopped rubbing her wrist and frowned.
“Another one fooled, huh…? Sigh… What a pain…”
The other heroes nodded in agreement.
“Smart monsters act harmless to get closer and cause even more damage…”
“We’ve fallen for that trick too many times already. If we get fooled again, we’re idiots.”
Some high-intelligence monsters pretended to protect humans.
But it was never protection—just a ruse to lure in more prey.
Even battle-weary heroes had hesitated before, thinking maybe this time is different, but the result was always the same.
And yet, there were still people who insisted monsters could be allies.
“Shut them up. If another ‘monsters-are-our-friends’ nutjob starts causing trouble, I’ll lose it.”
These types would even block heroes from deploying, spouting nonsense like ‘Don’t fight, just talk it out!’.
As if hunting monsters wasn’t exhausting enough—now they had to deal with humans getting in the way?
Yoo Anna pulled up footage of Code α and Code 0, studying their images.
Despair-class monsters acting abnormally—hunting not just humans but weaker monsters.
Avoiding direct conflict with heroes, displaying intelligence high enough to strategize.
If they didn’t eliminate these monsters soon…
Things were going to get very annoying.
***
What’s broken must be remade.
In a world where everything was designed assuming monsters would destroy it, finding something old was rare.
Even this apartment complex’s park had been rebuilt after monster attacks, and its playground had been replaced.
Once nameless, the new playground had been christened after a neighborhood vote.
Black Cat Playground.
A giant cat-shaped slide stood as its centerpiece.
“Rawr~!”
A child leaped off the slide, only for the watching officer—who’d seen it coming—to dive and catch him.
“Oof—! M-my back…!”
“Ahahaha!”
“Oh my—! Are you okay?!”
The boy’s mother rushed over and, as if remembering she shouldn’t say this, smacked his head.
“Ow!”
“I told you not to jump off the slide! Listen to me!”
Dragging her son by the arm, she marched away.
Nearby, another child and mother chatted.
“Mom, I want sausages today!”
“Hmm? Want a big sausage?”
“Grrr~ ‘Suppressing my appetite is hard~’”
“Oh my—Ahahaha! Mom’s having a hard time suppressing hers too~”
Meanwhile, inside one apartment, a child carefully opened a jar of candy while his exhausted mother slept.
Crouched on the rooftop, tearing into meat, I muttered.
“That disobedient brat…”
Five candies already, all stolen while his mom napped.
Why were kids so bad at listening? A good smack was the only solution.
Maybe I should drop by and teach him a lesson someday.
Shifting my gaze from the apartment, I looked down at the playground.
By the bench where the officer sat massaging his back, near the trash can, stood a small cat statue.
The officer picked up a ham left in front of it like an offering, unwrapped it, and took a bite.
“Ahhh…Patrol is perfect for slacking off~”
What a lousy cop.
At least he wasn’t drinking, maybe because his neck wound hadn’t fully healed yet.
In his place, I pulled a glass liquor bottle from my pocket, popped the cap, and took a swig.
“Tastes awful.”
Alcohol really is disgusting.