Ch.49Bad Cats

Already, more than ten people inside the shelters have died.

The more humans these creatures devour, the stronger their special abilities become.

Each one is still weaker than me individually—Despair-rank… but if this continues.

Time is running out.

The longer this drags on, the more disadvantageous it becomes for me.

I landed on a rooftop in the deserted city, where cold winds blew, and quietly suppressed my core.

To avoid being detected by them while simultaneously being able to detect them myself and spring into action.

I, who have incorporated all the monster characteristics into my monsterization—including the ability to sense surroundings through body hair rather than special abilities—fluffed up my bristling fur.

As I held my breath, feeling each speck of dust in the air, I sensed something similar to my size in the distance.

I immediately relaxed my entire body and leaped toward the ground.

Thump—after silently sinking into the earth, I flowed through it like water. As I moved, the sweet scent of fear from a shelter hidden underground tickled my nose.

The direction with the sweetest smell was where they were.

“Grooooar!”

“Nyaoooor!”

The moment I burst from the ground, I charged toward it.

The creature that had been tearing at the shelter’s outer shell leaped up as if already adapted, then poof—it vanished in mid-air and clung to a building’s wall after shattering a window.

“Hiiik, hiii, hiit…!”

“Huuk, huk, uuuk, huuk…!”

Sobbing sounds flowed through the cracks of the broken shelter. The shelter’s outer shell could withstand even Annihilation-rank pressure for over three minutes, but when a Despair-rank or higher monster uses its special ability, it becomes as fragile as a wooden stick that can’t last even a minute.

That brief moment serves as an alarm revealing the monster’s position. I need to follow the sound of clawing at the shelter or the special ability’s wavelength to arrive in time.

This time I wasn’t late… but the problem starts now.

The time limit is 30 seconds from now. If I can’t kill that annoying creature within that time, Starlight will arrive.

“Nyahahahaha!”

Having experienced this same situation multiple times, the creature kept disappearing with poof, poof sounds in mid-air, repeatedly fleeing.

Even when I leaped toward the direction it fled after detecting its core wavelength, it created small gaps in nearby space and vanished.

Experiencing how frustrating it is to catch a quickly escaping enemy, I wrapped my entire body in lightning and swung my claws.

Zzzap! In an instant, my particalized body tore through space, materialized in front of the creature, and slashed with lightning.

Then, another creature appeared beside the one struck by lightning and lunged at me.

“Nyaooo!”

“Grrrr…!”

Crack! After I landed on the ground, avoiding the torn space with my widely spread tail and claws, the two monster creatures looked down at me while clinging to the wall.

This was one of the reasons I was so annoyed.

Not one but two Despair-rank monsters. They always seem to be alone, but when I chase one and leave an opening, another appears from somewhere to attack me.

“Nyahahahaha!”

“Khohohohoh!”

The mocking laughter of the two monsters. I’ve already lost the chance to kill one of them.

If I chase after two Despair-rank monsters, I’ll be the one who dies. However, these two can’t kill me right now either.

Starlight will arrive within the next five seconds.

Knowing this fact, the creatures don’t rashly charge at me but maintain a certain distance.

“Kyarrrr…!”

This is where it gets really annoying.

If I leave first to avoid Starlight? Then the remaining creatures will attack the shelter.

If I don’t leave to protect the shelter? The creatures will flee far away, hiding their presence, and I’ll be attacked by Starlight.

If I get injured, they’ll stealthily pursue me to hunt me down, and if I succeed in escaping, they’ll move on to find the next shelter.

This is a war of attrition between the two monsters targeting me and Starlight.

The moment I realized this, I tried to join hands with Starlight.

Communication—even now, trying to speak might backfire if people think an intelligent monster is deceiving humans, but it was better than not trying at all.

However, the moment I attempted communication, they used their ability to eliminate sound from a distance.

The result: Starlight’s attack, still believing I’m a monster like them.

If I don’t counterattack, would Starlight stop after feeling something strange?

The moment I’m injured, the two monsters will begin their pursuit.

This isn’t good either.

Should I change my form to let Starlight know I’m Black Cat and they’re different monsters?

The moment I change form, they’ll split up—one will hold me while the other hunts humans.

If Starlight discovers them, they’ll hide their presence like I do and disappear, resulting in me being attacked again.

I need to maintain my cat form to follow them without being detected.

And to safely escape from Starlight without getting injured.

But the abilities I can use in this form are all blocked by their abilities.

If I lose to them, humans die.

If humans die, they get stronger.

The stronger they get, the more I fall behind.

Despite this vicious cycle, there was nothing I could do.

“Grrrr….”

These monsters are strange.

They counter everything I do.

As if they’ve been studying how to deal with me.

“Nyaooo~!”

“Kroong!”

At that moment, the two monsters watching me emitted playful cries and quickly hid in the shadows.

Like when I flee, the two monsters eliminated their core wavelengths. Then Starlight arrived, landing like a meteor in front of me.

Kwaaang! With an explosive sound, Starlight landed and stared at me intently, radiating a special ability filled with killing intent.

“Karrrr….”

And I too, preparing to flee from Starlight… stopped in place.

Intuition, instinct, or something whispered in my ear.

Kill Starlight, eat her. Then I’ll become the strongest here.

If killing Starlight is difficult, while I’m still slightly faster than them, why not eat the humans before they do?

To save more humans, I must kill a few.

To save humans, I must kill humans.

“Grrrrrr….”

Chasing ideals achieves nothing.

I must choose reality to survive.

I must choose between the worst and the lesser evil.

No, this isn’t such a choice.

Between monster and human….

“…Black Cat.”

As I bared my teeth and clenched my front paws, ready to move anywhere, Starlight, who had been staring at me, suppressed her special ability.

Gulp—Starlight swallowed dry saliva, emitting the scent of various emotions, and crushed a button attached to her hero suit.

Slowly extending her other hand—not in the form used for long-distance interception.

“Tell me… I was wrong.”

The height of a hand trying to somehow pat my head.

Starlight’s trembling outstretched hand vibrated with the scent of desperation.

“Tell me I was wrong, that it wasn’t you who attacked people!”

Desperately, while simultaneously preparing to stab me again at any moment, she begged.

“Please, I’m begging you!”

The moment I heard those words, my conversation with Yu Hye-na flashed through my mind.

If you don’t pursue ideals because reality is painful, the situation won’t improve.

The scenario where Starlight, who attacked me, first clears up the misunderstanding and approaches me was too ideal for me.

Therefore, I didn’t even hesitate.

I unclenched my front paws and lowered my body again.

[OOOOOOH!]

“Ugh…!”

After howling loudly to draw attention, I lunged toward Starlight.

At that moment, Starlight closed her eyes tightly and threw the fist she had been hiding behind her back, revealing despair.

I, who had slashed Starlight’s side, gritted my teeth.

“Huh…?”

As I created distance, Starlight made a complex expression with various emotions, looking at me with my stomach pierced by that fist.

“Did you… deliberately… miss just now? Why…?”

“Kruk, kuk, krut….”

“B-Black…?”

A wound that doesn’t regenerate—blood gushes from my throat along with pieces of shattered internal organs.

I made my monster core vibrate strongly and escaped by sinking into the shadows.

Notice it, Starlight.

As I made my monster core vibrate again, Starlight responded by emitting a wavelength of special ability.

That’s it, don’t lose track of my position.

“Black Cat!”

In the daily repeated chase and escape, Starlight had become able to track my position through the reflection of wavelengths, even when I suppressed my core’s vibration.

I swam through the earth, leaving the scent of blood while barely regenerating my injured body.

I made a circular path to avoid the pursuing Starlight, then disappeared deeper, shaking her off.

Deeper inside, creating distance.

As I descended into the deep underground, I heard space creaking in the darkness of the earth.

Simultaneously, the monster core wavelength spread through the ground.

The monsters were pursuing my injured self.

Unlike me, who needed to materialize to deliver a definite blow, they attacked me by tearing space while in shadow state.

“Kruk…!”

When I turned into shadow to try to devour them as they were, they blocked me by isolating space.

As I tried to devour even that torn space, there was a creaking sound like steel frames grinding—keudeuk, keudeuk—as our special abilities collided.

Our abilities were equal in output, but they were two, not one.

Unable to withstand, spaces were blown open like footprints, and with each one, wounds accumulated on my torn spine.

Their laughter echoed with the intensified smell of blood.

“Nyaheuheuheu!”

“Krooo!”

Woong! When I spread a wide wavelength meaning “don’t come any closer,” the two monsters circled around me underground, accelerating the speed at which they tore my body.

Like a scream, the wavelength spread wider and wider, swallowing their wavelengths like small sounds buried in loud noise.

Above, feeling the reflected ripples returning, I rapidly ascended toward the surface.

“Grrrr….”

Where I reappeared was the center of the building forest, which had grown cold during these days while people hid in shelters.

The creatures, rising like smoke from the shadows similar to me, bared their teeth and laughed at my bloodied state.

“Nyahahahaha!”

“Kheueue!”

Two Despair-rank monsters charged to end my life.

The moment a monster gets most excited is right before a successful hunt.

I instantly regenerated my disguised wounds, transformed into shadow, and emerged from beneath one of them to bite its neck.

Then poof—the one about to have its neck torn escaped into the air, leaving black smoke.

Immediately after, a large hole appeared in the monster’s body.

“Nya…?!”

When the monster’s cry mixed with bloody foam after being hit by a small sun, heroes who had been hiding their presence simultaneously unleashed their special abilities.

The presence of humans—superhumans—is harder to detect than monsters.

If Starlight hadn’t deliberately triggered the wavelength I spread widely, I wouldn’t have been able to escape to this place.

“Bad Cats confirmed!”

“These really were different monsters!”

“You, fucking, bastards!”

All A-rank and B-rank heroes, with Starlight rotating a small sun at the center.

The special abilities of all heroes in W City were fired at the two monsters.

“Krooooo!”

“Nyaaaa!”

Direct restraint through telekinesis, pressure through air manipulation, lightning created by electrical abilities, beam cannons, flames, unpleasant sound waves that grate on monster nerves.

I also joined in, using powerful telekinesis to hold the monster creatures in place.

Yu Anna jumped into the storm of mixed abilities that restricted the monsters’ movement, burning all her special abilities to create a space where nothing existed.

Absurd flames that break through any attempt to block them and inflict tremendous pain.

The sun that kills monsters.

A sphere that even swallows sound, silently erasing the monsters’ bodies.

At that moment, when a fatal wound was inevitable even for Despair-rank monsters, the monster with the deeper growl bit the injured one and threw it toward the small sun.

“Nyaoooo!”

“Kheu!”

Peoong! With a painful cry, the creature used the black smoke from its burst wound as a smoke screen. The small sun barely grazed one side of its body.

The injured one abandoned the fatally wounded creature and teleported away with a pop, avoiding the heroes’ encirclement.

A thoroughly monster-like judgment—throwing the injured monster as bait and fleeing from an unfavorable situation.

As I leaped to chase it, Starlight shouted while attacking the remaining one:

“Leave the other one to Black Cat! We’ll kill this one here no matter what!”

Leaving one to Starlight, I chased the now-solitary monster through the air.

The creature, already hit by Starlight’s attack, had completely reversed positions with me and was desperately fleeing.

Not being able to regenerate meant it had sustained a massive wound.

An injured monster, the smell of blood, I can catch it, this is the end.

The moment I thought that, the creature that had landed in a grassy field beyond the building forest licked its wounds and regenerated them.

Just like the method I had used to lure them.

[So this is how you deceive and attract? Using the monster’s instinct that gets excited when following blood.]

The moment I realized I had been lured by it this time, the creature’s ability mimicked a human voice.

Not a meaningless string of words, but properly formed sentences.

The monster before my eyes was a speaking monster.

[I learned something good, CXI.]

A laboratory experiment.