"It... It feels unreal, doesn’t it?"
A familiar voice cut through the oppressive silence of the shelter.
Damon’s eyes flickered open to see Ivy staring at him.
"What does?" he asked, pushing away the tiredness clawing at him.
"Magic... Monsters... the apocalypse," she said, her voice barely more than a whisper.
"Yeah..." Damon mumbled in response.
He didn’t have much ti to dwell on what happened. The mont mana arrived on Earth, he had to deal with countless undead humans to survive, before getting eaten whole by a massive worm-like monster.
Now, sitting down in a mont of peace, he almost scoffed, recalling what happened to him in that short ti.
"The world sure has beco crazy," he said.
Ivy’s gaze lifted toward the wooden roof, which swayed slightly under the night breeze. The whole structure creaked more by the minute, making sounds as if it could collapse at any mont.
"I’ll take the first watch," she said, "You should get so rest."
’Watch... right...’
Overtaken by exhaustion, Damon didn’t think about having soone to take the watch.
"Thank you," he replied as he closed his eyes once more, falling into a deep slumber.
***
Damon slept for a good few hours before Ivy’s voice woke him up again. He took the second watch, listening to the faint whistle of the night breeze as he thought about how the world as he knew it was gone.
His gaze then drifted to the Kitsune, still sound asleep.
"SSS grade beast, huh?" he murmured to himself.
A few more monts had passed in complete silence until rays of the sun began to find their way into the shed through the gaps between the planks, and in the corner of his eye, Damon saw Ivy rise to her feet.
The girl stretched her arms before moving toward the door, just as Kitsune jolted awake when Damon began rising to his feet.
"Ready?" Ivy asked, standing near the wooden door.
"Yeah," Damon replied, walking toward her.
’Aren’t you able to walk now?’ Damon said in his mind toward the Kitsune who climbed onto his shoulder again.
"Don’t you like on your shoulder?" she replied in a playful tone.
Damon ignored the remark, realising that this conversation won’t take him anywhere and stepped outside.
His eyes widened at the sight of the city.
In the distance, so of the skyscrapers he had seen yesterday were completely gone, while others were half collapsed, jagged walls barely hanging in the sky.
’What the hell happened there?’ He wondered as he moved through the thick cornfield.
But he only managed to take a couple of steps before realising Ivy was not by his side anymore.
He turned to see the girl frozen in place, her arms trembling at her sides as she stared at the distant city.
"Ivy?" he called out.
"Y-Yeah," she replied, catching up to him and forcing her gaze to the ground.
Damon felt uneasy walking through the empty fields. Dealing with undead humans in the train carts was easy compared to this. He felt like a monster could be hiding a few ters away, and he wouldn’t see through the thick vegetation until it was too late.
"Relax, there aren’t any mana signatures nearby," Kitsune said in his mind.
’You can sense mana signatures?’
"Of course, you will too, once you raise your mana stat high enough."
He didn’t consider raising his mana stats before, not having any spells ant that he didn’t really expend as much of it as soone like Ivy would. But now, after learning that mana stat went beyond just mana capacity but also allowed the person to sense mana, he changed his mind.
’Sensing mana would co of great use,’ He argued to himself, taking a ntal note to raise his mana when he gets so stat points.
***
After just over an hour of slow march, they finally approached the city’s outskirts. Small, single-family buildings ca into view. Neighbourhoods torn apart by monsters, streets painted red by the massacres that took place. Doors were ripped from their hinges, and cars were toppled over.
Damon could see the shift on Ivy’s face instantly. She looked worried before, but now the girl looked almost terrified to take another step, scared of what might lie ahead.
Then, just as they took another turn, two figures ca into view.
They looked humanoid at first, but then Damon noticed that one of them had three arms while another had two faces. They looked similar to undead humans, zombie-like in appearance, but there was sothing about their presence that made his senses tighten.
’I’ll take the left one!’ Ivy said, flas already igniting around her hand.
Damon didn’t waste ti either. He picked up a random tal pipe from the ground and swung it wide toward the monster.
Its head almost exploded upon impact, and a good half of it turned into mush under Damon’s strength. All the stat points he had gained after Kitsune killed the graveworm were a huge boost, but to his surprise, the monster did not stop and swung its clawed arm at him.
’Tskk!’ Damon hissed as he sidestepped the attack.
Then, not skipping a beat, he shoved the tal pipe straight into the remaining part of the monster’s head.
[You have slain a Level 5 Evolved Undead Human]
[New Monster Index bonus: 2 Stamina, 1 Vitality]
’Evolved?’ Damon echoed the word in his head, confusion crossing his features.
"Monsters evolve by killing, just like humans", Kitsune explained, observing the whole thing from a few ters away, before jumping back on his shoulder.
She barely had ti to finish her explanation as another notification appeared.
[You have received a Relic: Naless Tachi]
Damon’s eyes widened.
’Relic?’
Without skipping a beat, Damon summoned his inventory screen.
[Relic]
[Na: Naless Tachi]
[Type: Weapon]
[Stats: 10 Strength]
’Equip’, Damon commanded, and in almost an instant, a tachi, still in its scabbard, materialised in his right hand.
Pulling on the black handle, he unsheathed the sword, revealing a steel blade decorated with beautiful hamon. The weapon felt almost weightless in his hand. He could feel the 10 strength increase the mont his hand wrapped around its handle.
He wasn’t sure why, but he felt that now, if he were to be stuck in the graveworm’s stomach again, he could cut through it with ease.
’My, my... first you summon , and now you get a Relic? Aren’t you a lucky one?
Damon ignored the remark and swung the blade a couple of tis. It felt a bit clumsy at first, since he had never wielded a sword before, but compared to using random objects from the ground or his fists, it was truly a huge upgrade.
’What’s a relic anyway?’ he finally asked when he was done with testing the new weapon.
Despite not seeing her face, he could feel the Kitsune pout at him, first ignoring her, but after a mont of silence, she replied.
’Relics are magical items born from slain monsters or humans. I’ve heard so beings can forge them with mana and steel alone.’
’Magical items...’ Damon repeated the words in his head just as Ivy approached him wide-eyed, wondering where he got the sword from.
"It’s a relic", Damon said, noticing her staring at the weapon.
"Relic... right," Ivy replied as if the words made sense at all.
He wrapped the scabbard across his waist, but didn’t sheath the blade. Even without being able to sense mana presence yet, he could hear the distant growling of monsters nearby.
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