I yanked the blindfold off his face. I wanted him to see me.
More than that, I wanted to see him.
His expression twisted as he took in my features, his breath shuddering with fear. But what really got to him wasn't my face. It was my eyes.
Cruel. Cold. Amused.
I let him get a good look. Let him understand that I wasn't just playing around. If his ability had any hidden tricks, I needed to be careful. Better safe than sorry.
"Good. Very good," I murmured, my voice carrying the warmth of a devil whispering sweet praises.
A flicker of hope appeared in his eyes. "Then… will you let me go?" His lips quivered, curving into a hopeful, desperate smile.
"Why?" I tilted my head.
"But I told you everything!" He almost sobbed, his voice rising in panic.
I chuckled. "I never said I'd let you go."
His expression twisted into pure rage. "You… you're gonna kill me?! Then what's the difference between you and me? Just do it, you bastard!"
I smirked, my voice dripping with malice.
"Kill you? No, no, you misunderstand." I crouched beside him, running a finger along the bloodstained blade in my hand. "I wasn't planning to kill you outright. I was going to stab both your legs with your buddies' swords first. Then break your arms. After that, I'd smear you with their blood… let the monsters smell you out and tear you apart."
The way his face drained of color was delightful.
His body convulsed in terror, his mouth opening to beg—
Click.
I shoved the gun barrel into his mouth.
His pupils shrank.
"Well… if you're insisting," I whispered, "then I suppose I'll take your offer."
Terror flooded his eyes. He tried to shake his head, tried to scream, but the cold steel between his teeth silenced him.
No. Not like this.
With a desperate surge of adrenaline, he twisted, snapping the rope, his hands lunging for the gun—
BANG!
The trigger had already been pulled.
The bullet ripped into his skull, the force of it making his whole body jolt. Blood splattered against the ground. His wide, terrified eyes stared at nothing.
I cocked my head, amused. "What a tough skull you have."
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[You have slain a Level 4 Human.]
<+200 EXP>
<+17,000 Coins>
<+200 Mana>
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
I lowered the gun, wiping the blood off the barrel against his shirt. A grin crept onto my face as I turned to leave.
The apocalypse hadn't turned me into a monster.
The monster had always been inside me.
And now, it was time to awaken it.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
I continued my journey, carrying the bags filled with equipment looted from my fallen victims. Metro City Shelter was still a ways off, but already, I'd gained valuable information.
First: Killing humans granted experience and coins. A much easier alternative to fighting dangerous monsters. Even better, some of them provided mana upon death.
Second: When someone died, all their remaining coins transferred to their killer. And the mana they held? Converted into an amount equal to their experience points.
Third: I wasn't the only one with a system. Every single person in this world had received one. Everyone had a skill.
I had thought I was the sole protagonist of this apocalypse.
I had been wrong.
I flicked my fingers, summoning my status window.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Status Window]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Name: 〘Zane Somnus〙
Level: ⟨3⟩ ⟦1100 / 4000 EXP⟧
Title: ???
Race: 〘Human〙
Class: ???
Coins: 39,150
❖ Mana: ⟨350⟩ +50 +50 +200 → ⟨650⟩
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
After absorbing mana from the first man I killed, I felt it.
A craving.
A need to kill them all.
Running low on mana had been a concern before. But now? There was no reason to hold back.
My decision was made.
I'd eliminate every last one of them.
Of course, information still had its uses. I hadn't been torturing that man purely for sport—I needed answers. If I was heading to Metro City Shelter, I had to be prepared.
Two hours later, I finally reached my destination.
A colossal wooden ship loomed before me.
Its sheer size was staggering—at least two or three kilometers long, with a width spanning hundreds of meters.
Bold, unmistakable letters were etched onto its side:
"METRO CITY."
I narrowed my eyes.
How the hell did a ship this massive end up here?
The lower structure was wrecked, large portions of the hull torn open, with gaping holes riddling its body. It looked abandoned, a relic of something greater that had long since crumbled.
Despite its battered state, the ship was far from deserted. People emerged from it, walking across a wooden bridge extending from the vessel. One end of the bridge rested on the ground, while the other connected to a massive hole in the ship's body. Above them, a giant hook still hung in the air, frozen in time.
Near the ship, makeshift camps were set up, people huddling in shelters thrown together with whatever materials they could scavenge.
I approached a man dressed in a red suit, the words "Metro City" printed on the right side of his chest.
"Hey," I said. "Where can I find the Invisible Man?"
He blinked at me. "Who?"
"The boss of Metro City."
His expression shifted. "Oh, you mean the Invisible Monster Hunter."
"Yeah, him. The guy who sells stuff."
The man shook his head. "You won't find him right now. If you're looking to sell, head inside. Go to the inspection room—they'll check how much your items are worth."
I nodded, muttered a quick thanks, and moved toward the bridge. The wooden planks creaked under my weight as I stepped onto them, the sounds echoing eerily in the open air.
--------Inside The Ship
Surprisingly, the ship's interior was in decent condition. Workers were scattered around, hammering away, repairing what they could.
A large chart hung on the wall—a map of the ship's six floors. But only the first four had detailed information.
I scanned the layout.
The Goods Inspection Room was on the second floor.
I moved toward the staircase, asking a few people for directions along the way. Every step I took produced a loud creak, the aged wood groaning beneath my boots.
When I reached the inspection room, I found the door open, voices spilling out from within.
Inside, people were haggling over the value of their goods. Some argued fiercely, while others accepted their offers without resistance.
At the center of it all, two female inspectors sat behind a large wooden desk, evaluating and pricing items.
The process was straightforward—after an inspection, sellers had two choices:
1. Sell immediately at the offered price.
2. Wait if they had high-value items, which required further verification before being sold directly to the Invisible Monster Hunter.
As I took in the scene, my gaze landed on an exchange happening near the main inspection table.
A young assistant in a simple uniform spoke with a stunning woman—one who exuded an air of authority that was impossible to ignore.
"Madam, you don't have to be here," the assistant said, her voice laced with concern.
The woman simply shook her head, her emerald-green eyes gleaming with quiet confidence.
"The others are on an emergency mission. As the Madam, it's my duty to help," she replied smoothly.
Her voice was velvety, carrying a mix of gentleness and command.
I studied her.
This woman was dangerous.
Not in the way of an enemy holding a sword—no, this was a different kind of danger. The kind that ensnared you, lured you in, and left you unable to think straight.
Her emerald dress hugged her figure like a second skin, clinging to an hourglass frame that could drive a man to madness. Her curves were perfection itself, her waist impossibly slim, her hips wide and inviting.
The fabric stretched ever so slightly over her chest, revealing just enough to ignite curiosity yet maintaining an air of refinement. Her delicate collarbones peeked out, drawing attention to the graceful slope of her neck.
And her eyes—damn.
A deep, intoxicating green, like aged whiskey. One look, and a man could get drunk off them.
Sinful thoughts crept into my mind before I could stop them.
I wanted to pin her against the wall, crush those soft lips under mine, tear that dress apart and savor every inch of her skin. My fingers ached to grip her waist, to press her against me, to hear the hitch in her breath as I—
I cut the thought off.
Damn it.
I coughed, shaking my head, pushing the dangerous urges away.
Focus.
This wasn't the time.
Forcing my mind back to the task at hand, I stepped forward, placing my bag on the table in front of her. My voice came out steady, betraying none of the fleeting chaos in my thoughts.
"I'd like to get these inspected."
She lifted her gaze, locking eyes with me.
And for a second, I felt like I had been stripped bare under her gaze.
Something flickered in those green eyes. Amusement? Curiosity? Knowing.
As if she had peered straight into my mind and unearthed every wicked thought I had just entertained.
A strange chill crept down my spine.
For the first time in a long while, I felt exposed.
Not in fear—no, this was something else entirely.
I exhaled slowly, breaking eye contact first. My fingers tensed slightly before relaxing.
What the hell was that?
-----------------
A/N: Hello, this is my first time writing, and I'd love to hear your feedback! Please leave a review to help me improve.
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