n

n

nAfter a few moments, the call went through. A voice had come out, but it was filled with static. It was as though they were talking on a walkie-talkie.

n“Hel… you there?”

nKairos furrowed his brows.

n“I am here. Can you hear me?”

nNicole responded.

n“Kind… but lots of static…”

nKairos sighed.

n“Nevermind, I will try to make my way over to your house. Did you get that?”

nAfter a few moments, he got a response.

n“Yeah… door…”

nKairos blinked a few times.

n“I didn’t get that. Can you repeat it?”

nThe sound of Nicole clearing her throat came over.

n“…Open.”

nKairos clicked his tongue.

n“Nevermind, this isn’t going to work.”

nThen, he shut the phone off.

nAfter shaking off the lingering sleepiness he still felt, Kairos got up and pulled the curtains just a tad, so that he could see outside. The windows here let him see into his front yard.

nThough Kairos was hoping it was empty, that was not the case. In fact, the sights made him a little afraid.

nThe first thing that came out to him were two monsters slowly approaching each other, getting ready for a fight. However, what was more relevant to him was the amount of blood across the floor.

nAfter paying closer attention, he found that most seemed to be from monsters, or rather people that had become monsters. It was not easy to tell because very little of what remained consisted of bones or flesh. The thing that made him believe so was the stretched clothes that littered the ground, probably from people growing to sizes that were not supported.

nWhat he noticed about the two monsters approaching each other, was that they were both bloody, especially so for around their mouths. It was pretty clear that they had consumed something.

nAfter getting within a few meters of each other, they suddenly lunged, plunging both of their claws deep into the other. One thing Kairos was able to notice was that they were faster than the one he encountered before.

nThe degree of this difference was very small, but it was still there nonetheless.

nPerhaps he could just brush this off, but he was not the type of person to do such a thing. A rather frightening hypothesis formed in his mind.

nThat these creatures would always be getting stronger.

nIn other words, they were evolving.

nA bold idea began forming in Kairos’ mind. What if he took advantage of when those two were fighting each other and killed them?

n…Then he should be able to get some points.

nNormally, Kairos would never think in this type of fashion, but his realization of the monsters getting stronger put some pressure on him. He couldn’t help but think back to the ‘Global Announcement’ from the system earlier.

nAll it said was evolve.

nThat probably meant everything was going to get stronger as time went on. So if he remained weak, that meant he was also very likely going to die.

nFor a few seconds, Kairos’ mentality shifted from passive to proactive.

nHe furrowed his brows, trying to think of a realistic way he could kill them. From what he experienced before, Kairos knew that they were tough things that would chase even after they lost a leg.

nHowever, they would die if their skull was crushed.

nAt first, he was contemplating bringing the knife, but that wouldn’t deal with the blunt force trauma he wanted.

nKairos’ eyes drifted towards a tall lamp in his room. He remembered from adjusting it before that those lamps had really heavy bases, mostly so that they didn’t topple over.

n…It wouldn’t be the most convenient, but it was probably the best he was going to get.

nKairos unplugged the lamp and wrapped the cord around the base, tying it just so that it wouldn’t get out of the way. Then, he manually removed the top part of the lamp off to make it a little easier to hold.

nHe tried to pull it up, but came to a realization.

nThe base was too heavy.

nWith his current strength, he could pick it up, but not swing in any reasonable capacity. Kairos furrowed his brows, then thought about his status.

nStatus

nID: 345315364923

nRank: F

nObjective: Touch Red Sunlight

nProof Of Perfection Points: 5.6

nStats –

nStrength – 0.6

nEndurance – 0.4

nAgility – 0.7

nWillpower – 1.5

nMana Capacity – 0.0

nMagic Affinity – 0.0

nSpecial Abilities: N

/A

nHide

nThere were small plus signs next to each stat, giving the option to increase them. However, the magic related options were greyed out. He clearly hesitated as his eyes locked onto his 0.6 strength and the option to increase it. Kairos didn’t trust this thing, that was for sure. However, it seemed that whether or not he trusted it, assuming that he could indeed boost his stats, this panel would be necessary.

nThere was little time to hesitate as the fight between the monsters would probably end soon, thus ending the opportunity to kill steal.

nKairos grit his teeth and decided to just do it.

nStrength – 0.6 – 0.7 | Points 5.6 – 5.5

nHe felt his body get a little warm as a feeling of his muscles getting just a bit sturdier came about. There didn’t appear to be any side effects.

nAt least not now.

nKairos still couldn’t lift up the lamp comfortably and decided to put a little more into his strength.

nStrength – 0.7 – 1.2 | Points 5.5 – 5.0

nHe immediately felt a surge of strength come to him and much more than he was expecting. His body let out discomforting amounts of heat, but it worked out in the end.

nKairos tried lifting the lamp once more. Now, while he felt the weight, he could easily twirl it around even with just one hand. From what Kairos could tell, though there was no change to his visual appearance, he now had similar strength to a professional athlete.

nAnd would probably be stronger than the average professional athlete too.

nThis shocked him greatly, how easy it was to become stronger.

nIt made him even more determined to kill those monsters as it meant every second was part of a race to get stronger, so that one wouldn’t be left behind.

nAfter putting on his backpack, Kairos made his way to the entrance and could see the two monsters in the middle of a bloody fight, both with various gashes and bite marks across their bodies.

nThey were so caught up in their battle, that they didn’t even seem to notice him.

nKairos slowly walked up to the entrance, then looked to the left and right, almost like he was getting ready to cross the street. Though in this case, he was just looking for more monsters, not wanting to bite off more than he could chew.

nAt this point, one of the monsters shoved the other down before pinning them on the ground. Soon after, it reached for its neck with its jaws. The other monster let out a desperate roar and pierced the other’s chest.

nKairos immediately realized it was now or never.

nHe rushed out recklessly, making very clear stepping sounds as he did so. Kairos ended up going faster than he was expecting, but was able to adapt to it easily.

nHe raised up the lamp as he went forth, with the base high up in the air.

nBefore the monsters even had time to react, Kairos whipped the lamp down on the top monster’s head.

nA dull bang rang out along with a frightening crack.

nThe top monster’s skull shattered completely and a notification appeared in front of him.

nKilled Creature (Challenge Kill – One Rank Superior to Killer) – 0.3 points awarded

nCompared to last time, it lacked both the fact it was the first ten kills and the fact it was an early kill. Before he had any time to lament on that, the monster below pushed off the corpse resting on top of it.

nKairos pulled back the lamp, but couldn’t do it that fast. He saw the monster swipe and pierce through his legs with his future vision. Before that happened in reality, he stepped back, letting the claw harmlessly pass by.

nThen, he slammed the base of the lamp onto that monster’s head.

nAnother scary bang and crack rang out.

nKilled Creature (Challenge Kill – One Rank Superior to Killer) – 0.3 points awarded

nKairos was slightly winded, taking a few steady deep breaths. However, he felt that he could go for much longer. After taking another survey of the surrounding area and seeing nothing, he bolted over to Nicole’s house.

nHe gave a few light knocks, but not without surveying his surroundings. Kairos immediately heard various whispering and scampering sounds coming from behind the door.

nThere was a hushed cry.

n“No!”

nBut a set of footsteps gradually made its way to the door. After a few seconds, it opened up just a crack, revealing Nicole.

n“I thought you said to avoid the sunlight! What are you doing?”

nKairos sighed and pushed the door open a little more so that he could get inside. Right after, he shut the door and locked it rather rudely.

n“Right now, the sunlight isn’t harmful. However, that shouldn’t be the last we see of it.”

nNicole nodded at first, but suddenly widened her eyes.

n“Woah! That’s a lot of blood, are you ok?”

nThis was pretty fair given Kairos had blood over his clothes and on the base of his lamp

nHe set the lamp down and sighed.

n“I’m fine. It’s not my blood.”

nNicole froze up.

n“Did you… kill someone?”

nKairos did think that though what he killed were monsters, it still counted as killing a person. However, he didn’t have a moral compass that made him feel bad about taking another’s life, especially for the sake of self-defense.

nHowever… it wasn’t always the best to be honest.

n“No, who do you think I am? My body is all lanky so how would I kill anything? The streets are just covered in lots of blood and guts. In order to make my way over here without being seen, I got myself dirty in the process.”

nNicole’s eyes widened significantly.

n“…Y-You’re adapting to this rather fast.”

nKairos shook his head.

n“We don’t have a choice.”

nHe then looked over Nicole’s shoulder to see her parents, both huddled next to each other and clearly a little spooked out. However, after Kairos gave a reason as to where the blood came from, they seemed to calm down a little.

nHe took a deep breath.

n“Alright. Is there anybody here who still thinks that this is a dream?”

nNicole’s mother, Sydney, shook her head.

n“No, we tested that already.”

nAs the father, Harold, a bitter smile formed on his face.

n“Well yes, but that was on me.”

nSydney rolled her eyes.

n“What? Was I supposed to slap myself?”

nThe corner of Harold’s lip twitched.

n“No, your highness.”

nNicole couldn’t help but chuckle, as did Kairos. Sydney smiled playfully, obviously meaning it as a joke.

nHowever, while they were trying to keep the mood joyous, it was clear from how the three could hardly keep their eyes open that they were tired.

nKairos let out a soft sigh.

n“Did none of you get some sleep?”

nNicole bit her lip.

n“The sounds coming from outside… were too scary.”

nKairos shook his head.

n“But two of you could’ve slept while the last one kept watch, no? Perhaps even two people to keep watch.”

nSydney furrowed her eyes a little.

n“But… it’s simply too hard to fall asleep in a setting like this.”

nKairos pinched the bridge of his nose.

n“Of course. However, our normal lives are already completely gone. If we want to live, we have to get used to many new things. And sleeping while trusting someone to watch will be one of the basics.”

nHarold held his wife a little closer and sighed.

n“…I suppose you are right.”

nKairos massaged his temple with the tip of his finger.

n“Let’s go upstairs. You three sleep and I’ll keep watch. We will talk about our plan after your minds are at least a little rested.”

nNicole nodded.

n“Ok.”

n