“What kind of joke is this… huff… monsters transforming into humans…? Humans into monsters…? If this were on a comedy show, they’d get criticism and be canceled…”
Seeing him continue to ramble, I thought that he must still be alive, so I flicked my tail at the Phantom Dog sneaking up behind me, trying to steal its prey like a lurking beast.
My tail, stretched out like a whip, tore the Phantom Dog to shreds in one fell swoop.
At the sight of this, the Mothers of the Children shrank back and shielded their children’s view.
“Hiiik…”
“You…your rank…?”
[Despair]
“M-mad… hahaha… wait… so then… that rumor… could it be… the heroes are looking for you right now…?”
At that moment, the Police, panting for breath, urgently spoke:
“Right now… the heroes are preparing to face off against a Despair-class monster… if it’s true, get here now.”
[Hero]
The reason the children were in danger was because of me.
Since it’s impossible to tell when or where a hidden Despair-class monster might appear, the heroes are on standby, delaying urgent responses.
The Police being injured right before our eyes is also all because of me.
“Run… the heroes are coming.”
Even though his blood was already trickling out insufficiently, he continued talking, likely experiencing oxygen deprivation as his skin began to turn pale.
If I let him keep talking, he might really die.
[Stop, talking, you’ll, die]
“No, no, what the hell am I saying? Damn it… hurry… just run already, you monster! You’ll die first before me!”
Just as he said, I started to detect heroes in my range.
Even someone with considerable abilities would find it difficult to flee easily.
If I were to fight them all, I’ll probably die too.
But… I can’t leave here yet.
[Not, yet, monster, stay. I’ll, charge, when, I, leave]
“Shit… why are you a monster anyway!”
Just a little longer, until the hero gets close enough.
Come on, make it to the distance where your powers can reach me.
Kill any monsters unaware of being surrounded by heroes near me.
“Code 0 sighted…! Wait! That’s not the same one we saw before?!”
“New species?! Is there another Despair-class monster?!”
“Survivors! Eliminate the Phantom Dogs first!”
Some lower-class monsters sometimes act as henchmen to higher-class monsters.
The heroes unleash their superpowers, sweeping through the park to prepare for any possible situations.
The park where I had lingered for some time burns and explodes, becoming a mess in the blink of an eye.
“AAAHHH!”
“Mommy…!”
“Huff… Huff….”
Enduring countless superpower assaults and energy barriers, I lifted my head towards the most intense shock.
A fiery red head rising like flames – from it emanates a dangerous smell.
The most dangerous-looking hero, with a face that looked both angry and smiling, threw a punch at me.
The luminous punch soaring through the air heavily tore a piece out of my side.
“Grroooarrr…!”
“Meowh?”
[Not, a, cat.]
Upon growling fiercely from the intense pain felt after a long time, one of the children broke free from their mother’s arms and grabbed onto my leg.
This disobedient brat, shaking off the child, I flapped my enormous wings and erected a giant barrier toward the heroes.
I concentrated my powers into my wings, starting to pull the surrounding winds.
I’m escaping by flying now. As if noticing my legs slowly lifting off the ground, the loudest child shouted looking up at me.
“Go take a bath! Mom said if you don’t brush your teeth, you’ll get cavities! And if you don’t wash your hands, you’ll catch a cold!”
The sobbing voice seemed to understand this was a goodbye moment, and the Mothers of the Children also looked up at me with strange expressions.
Seemingly both frightened and sorrowful, I vigorously flapped my wings once, ascending swiftly, and left a message for the children.
[Listen, to, your, mom. Eat, candy, only, two, a, day.]
I created a circular wind shield on the ground below and forcefully shot out wind, rising instantly.
Then, heroes capable of free flight used their powers and rushed towards me.
“Everyone, we must kill this creature here! If two Despair-class monsters run rampant, W City is done!”
Sorry, but I have no intention of fighting.
I’m a little curious about racing to see who can fly faster.
Leaving the superheroes behind, I took off quickly and heard a voice from the ground that was getting farther away.
“Survivors! Survivors! Rescue teams immediately!”
#
“Just what is this! Two monsters?!”
“GAH… DAMN IT…”
After a long flight and chase, the exhausted heroes collapsed as soon as they returned to their base.
A three-hour flight chase, ascending to super-high altitudes, and then plunging back down like they were crashing into the city – acrobatic flights mimicking the monster’s movements as though it would attack humans at any moment.
Exhausting pursuit led to the loss of the monster.
The second Despair-class monster, temporarily coded α, vanished like Code 0, as if melting into the air.
Of all of them, Yuanna had been tracking the monster for the longest time and had a broken wrist.
“So, does this mean W City now harbors two Despair-class monsters… seriously? Are monsters changing their tactics?”
“The types of the two monsters are completely opposite. One seemed specialized in combat with animalistic traits while this one is flight-capable shapeshifter specialized in superpowers. If they both rampage simultaneously, we’re doomed.”
“But why is it running away?! Why would monsters run? What are they aiming for?”
Already exhausted by Code 0, the emergence of another Despair-class monster has pushed their mental fatigue to the limit.
Even understanding the reason for the escape would have been helpful. The heroes gathered to speculate on the worst-case scenarios.
“Has there ever been a case where two Despair-class monsters appeared in one district?”
“Beginning with Despair-class monsters, their territorial instincts become stronger. They tend more towards hunting each other rather than attacking humans, making such cases rare…”
“Are they fighting each other? In W City?”
“If two Despair-class monsters break everything while fighting, there’s no way W City could recover.”
“No… both fleeing could mean they already know of each other’s presence and are waiting for the right moment.”
“Maybe they’re doing the same thing we do…”
Heroes don’t interfere when two monsters are fighting each other; they evacuate people first, then attack the weakened monsters after the fight.
When there are two powerful monsters, intervening might cause them to team up against the humans first, so the current standard practice is to wait out the fight.
Monsters are living beings that continuously learn and evolve.
It wouldn’t be surprising if they are learning human tactics.
“It’s far more logical to consider these two as unique entities, maybe even on their way to becoming Annihilation-class.”
“We’ll have to report to other cities about the possibility of upper-class monsters changing their behavioral patterns.”
“Hmm… during the fight with Code α, we’ll need all of you to separately compile the data obtained. Did we secure survivors’ testimonies?”
“I’ll play them back.”
As one of the heroes manipulated the tablet, the meeting room’s speaker replayed voices:
[Did you know? The big meow has an insatiable appetite! What ‘insatiable’ means is…!]
[The meow would just… like this! And this! And that!]
[Uh… that, that’s… well… I was, was confused… aah…]
[Can we treat these injuries first? I haven’t remembered anything since my neck was bitten…]
[The meow protected us!]
[Ah… characteristic, characteristic was… it was huge… black, and, huge… no, I mean the size! I didn’t peek!]
[It didn’t seem like a bad monster…]
The chaotic recording made sense given how overwhelmed people were, being so close to a Despair-class monster.
But, one line caught attention.
Yuanna halted her wrist adjustment and frowned while speaking.
“Another victim who’s been duped… how annoying…”
Everyone agreed with Yuanna’s statement.
“Smart monsters pretend to be harmless to cause greater damage…”
“You’d be an idiot to fall for that after we’ve suffered from it so much in the beginning.”
Some highly intelligent monsters act as if they protect humans.
But it’s not protection; it’s a deception to claim more prey.
Even battle-fatigued heroes hesitated at times, but the results were always disastrous.
Even now, there are those who claim that monsters are on the human side.
“Make them shut up! It’s annoying to have people who insist monsters are on our side.”
Such individuals block heroes from going out on missions, demanding that they resolve conflicts through dialogue instead of fighting. It’s absurd.
When they’re already busy capturing monsters, it’s extremely unpleasant to be hindered by fellow humans.
Yuanna, viewing the recorded images of both Code α and Code 0 through the cam, contemplated.
Despair-class monsters behaving unusually, monsters hunting not just humans but even weaker monsters.
Cunning enough to avoid attacking humans, they deliberately avoid battles with heroes, demonstrating high intelligence.
This monster, needs to be captured soon, otherwise,
There might be many more annoying incidents.
#
What’s broken is remade.
In this world where the assumption is that everything could be broken by monsters, old items are almost impossible to find.
Even the park of this apartment complex was rebuilt after a monster disaster, creating a new playground.
Previously unnamed, this playground was given a name through a mothers’ committee meeting.
The playground was named “Black Cat Playground.”
A symbol of the name, a large cat-shaped slide stood there.
“Meeoww~!”
From this slide, a little child jumped down.
Just then, a policeman who had been nearby watching, realizing the situation, leapt down and caught the child.
“Gasp…! My waist…!”
“Hahahaha!”
“Oh my! Are you alright?!”
The child’s mother rushed over late, seeming to realize what she shouldn’t say, and slapped her child on the head.
“Ow!”
“You must not slip down the slide now! I told you to listen to me!”
The mother dragged her child by the arm and moved away from the playground.
Beside them, another child and their mother were having a conversation.
“Mom, I want a sausage today!”
“Really? Let’s eat a big sausage?”
“Grrr~ it’s hard to suppress hunger!”
“Oh my, my too! It’s hard to suppress hunger!”
In some apartment, a young child was quietly unscrewing the candy jar while their exhausted mother slept.
I squatted on the rooftop of the apartment complex, eating meat and muttering.
“That unruly brat…”
The child has already eaten five candies while the mom sleeps.
Why don’t they listen? Maybe their heads need a slap. I should’ve gone there once to slap them.
I turned my gaze from the apartment to the playground below.
Next to the bench where a policeman sat rubbing his sore back, where once there was a trash can, now stood a cat statue.
The policeman picked up a piece of ham placed there ceremoniously and ate it after tearing the packaging off.
“Ahhh~ this patrol is the best~”
What a bad cop.
Still, he hasn’t started drinking yet due to the injury on his neck not fully healing.
I pulled out a glass bottle from my pocket instead, popped it open, and took a sip.
“This tastes bad.”
Indeed, alcohol doesn’t taste good.
