The First Intelligent Monster
What the fuck was this thing? The most alien part was its eyes. Every monster I’d faced until now had eyes filled with nothing but madness, hunger, and raw, unfiltered killing intent. But those red pupils held clear, unmistakable intelligence.
It stood over a wolf-shaped monster that had collapsed to the ground and was panting desperately. The creature trembled in terror, trying to crawl backward, but the scaled monster only grinned wider, its lips twisting into something grotesque with pure delight.
“Kihit… kihihihic…” A skin-crawling laugh. With razor-sharp claws sprouting from its fingertips, it slowly, teasingly raked the wolf monster’s leg. It was savoring the pain, feeding on the reaction. Pure sadism.
A strange, scraping sound leaked from its mouth—krrrr, kiik, karrk. It wasn’t human language. The vocal structure itself was different, producing metallic, unnatural noises. I couldn’t understand a single syllable.
Yet the moment I caught its tone and the look in its eyes, instinct screamed the truth. This fucker is enjoying itself.
We didn’t share a language, but the malice rolling off it burned itself into my brain with sickening clarity. An intelligent monster. And a twisted, cruel one at that.
Crunch! Before the wolf monster even died, the creature ripped out its still-beating heart and chewed it raw. Blood sprayed everywhere, but its eyes only shone brighter with pleasure. Then, licking the gore from its fingers, it slowly turned its head—straight toward the rock where I was hiding.
It smiled.
Our eyes met.
-Kiiiishaaaaaaaak!
A high, hideous screech tore out of it, the sound of something that had just found a brand-new toy. My stealth had been seen through.
Boom! The instant its foot hit the ground, a shockwave ripped forward so violent it felt like the space in front of me warped.
“Crazy bastard…!”
Thud! Before I could even react, a black blur was already in my face. I threw my arm up to block, but the sheer mass behind its fist sent me flying.
Crash! Crunch! Boom! I smashed through three massive stone pillars before I finally stopped.
“Gahk…!” A rush of hot, metallic blood burst from my mouth. My ribs creaked like they were about to snap. If I hadn’t been wearing the cloak made from the toughest monster I’d ever killed, that single punch would have exploded my upper body.
It was stronger than me. Faster. Its power completely surpassed the body I had spent so long forging in this hell.
Kyahahaha! It fluttered its wings and rose into the air, staring down at me with the cruel smile of a cat that had cornered a mouse. It had no intention of killing me right away. It wanted to rip me apart slowly, savoring every scream, just like it had done to the wolf.
The worst kind of game a twisted predator could play.
Whoosh—! It vanished from my sight again.
Crack!
“Gahk!”
A kick from behind slammed into my ribs. The sound of bones fracturing rang out as I tumbled across the ground. It began attacking from every direction, delighted. Bang! Bang! Booom! Like black lightning flashing in the darkness, its form blinked in and out, leaving fresh wounds and bruises with every pass.
Each time it struck, it spat out those bizarre scraping sounds, mocking me. I couldn’t understand the words, but I knew it was laughing at me.
I rolled desperately, taking the hits. On the surface, it must have looked like I was being helplessly beaten to death. That’s certainly what it saw—a broken, pathetic toy it could finish whenever it wanted.
But there was one thing it didn’t know.
It didn’t know how I had survived this godforsaken void. It didn’t know how I had clawed my way up by ripping apart raw monsters in a world with no system, no status windows, no mercy.
Come on. Hit me more.
Even as blows rained down, my eyes stayed wide open. Blood dripped from my lips, but my mind had gone ice-cold.
It was stronger than me. A head-on fight was bad odds. But it didn’t know me. It had no idea what kind of power I kept hidden in my gear, how vicious my survival instinct truly was.
Most of all, it had let its guard down completely. It saw me as the perfect plaything.
-Kiiiishaaaa! Its claws screamed toward my throat, carrying real killing intent this time. No more games. This was a finishing blow.
I didn’t dodge.
Instead, I twisted my head a fraction, letting the claws sink deep into my shoulder.
Shuk—! Agony tore through me as flesh ripped open, but I clenched my teeth and endured. The instant its hand was buried in my shoulder, locked in place—
“…Got you, you bastard.”
I grinned.
-…?!
Its grotesque screech cut off. Those red eyes widened for the first time. It hadn’t expected the look of a cornered prey. It sensed the threat and tried to yank its hand free, but it was already too late.
My left hand clamped down on its wrist like a steel vise.
-Kyaaak! Kaaaaak! It screamed in panic, but I didn’t let go.
“You’re not going anywhere.”
At the same time, my right hand whipped out from beneath my cloak. In it was the blue dagger I’d carved from the strongest monster’s thigh bone.
Shuk—crunch!
The blade punched straight through the joint of its wing and nailed it to the ground.
A piercing scream shook the cavernous rock field. Yes, it was stronger than me. But a strong creature that drops its guard is always weaker than a starving survivor.
I was the bastard who had rolled through the mud and filth thousands of times just to stay alive in this hell. Trading my flesh to shatter its bones was a familiar bargain.
“Even when you die, bark like the bitch you are.”
I twisted the dagger with all my strength. Crack. Crunch. Its shoulder joint disintegrated.
-Guaaaak! Kiiieeeek!
It swung its remaining hand at my face, but I slammed my forehead into its nose. Crack! The one whose nose collapsed was it. While it staggered, I ripped the dagger free and drove it deep into its throat.
Splurch—! Dark blood poured over my face.
“I’ll do anything to survive.”
The sadistic joy vanished from those intelligent eyes. What replaced it was the same crushing terror it had inflicted on countless victims before me.
-Kk… krrk… kkeuuu…
Strength began draining from its body, but I didn’t stop. Making sure the kill was certain was my one iron rule for staying alive.
Stab. Stab. Crunch! I carved its chest open until it stopped moving, then ripped out its heart. Only then did I stumble backward, breathing hard.
“Haa… haa… Fuck. I really almost died.”
My whole body felt like it was about to fall apart, but a powerful energy roared inside my chest. I had killed it. Its blood and essence were pouring into me in real time.
There was no status window, but my senses were screaming. I had become incomparably stronger.
A world where intelligent beings existed—beings I couldn’t even speak with. And I had just hunted one of them.
“…I wonder if you taste any better.”
I looked down at the blood-soaked heart and bared my teeth in a savage grin.
“Ugh…”
The heart of an intelligent being was on another level from the monsters I’d eaten before. The fishy stench was expected, but every chew sent a bizarre energy stabbing up my throat like needles through bone. Hellish pain tore through my entire body.
“Kuaaaaagh!”
I thrashed across the ground, screaming. My outer skin began sloughing off like a snake shedding its hide. Veins burst, but instead of blood, strange vibrating energy surged up to take its place.
There was still no status window. But I knew instinctively. The raw power of this world was carving itself into my body.
Whooooong—
When I finally stood, a faint vibration hummed at my fingertips. The space-distorting shockwave the scaled monster had used—I had absorbed every bit of that power.
What should I call this strange, potent energy?
The answer came quickly.
“Mana.”
The word settled heavily near my heart. It wasn’t just stronger muscles. It felt like an unknown source of power had begun circulating inside me on its own.
Panting, I searched the corpse. Deep inside its chest cavity, where the heart had been, a palm-sized stone gave off an eerie glow. No, not a stone. Inside a transparent crystal, red flame-like energy flickered.
The moment I touched it, the mana inside me resonated wildly.
…It’s hot.
It held a fierce heat that had never existed in this damned darkness. Without hesitation, I clenched my fist. The crystal shattered and melted into my palm.
At the same time, my mana blazed up, taking on the nature of scorching flame.
I had become stronger. Unmistakably, overwhelmingly stronger than before.
I looked up at the sky—the massive, immeasurable ceiling of flesh.
“I’m getting out of here. No matter what.”
I had zero intention of spending the rest of my life trapped in this moss-covered prison, chewing on monster meat. I would return to my house, my bed, the original world I came from.
For that, I needed power. Overwhelming might that could slaughter everything in my way and snap the neck of that giant sky itself if that’s what it took to find an exit.
“Just wait for me, you fucking world.”
My grip tightened around the dagger. To hunt even stronger prey, I stepped back into the darkness.