Supermarket
Arriving in the supermarket, Ben looked for an orange juice. The supermarket was desolated, destroyed and somber. Blood and corpses sullied the usually clean floor.
Ben was confident that only weak monsters would wander in here, so he wasn't that alerted.
He put the corpse down, took an orange juice and satisfied his thirst. The carnage which happened just next to him didn't affect him. He wanted to rest a bit, but he fighted his fatigue. He still wasn't safe.
´Should I put my points into Stamina or just into Vitality? No. I am in a supermarket, so I will just go with Resilience. My hunger can directly be satisfied here. I need a better defence.´
Each exchange of fists was so painful to the point that he thought he would break his bones. While his Resilience stat didn't need to be as high as the Strength/Agility, the difference couldn't be too big. A level-0 human had for a good reason at best 4 times the amount of points in Resilience. This didn't mean that he wouldn't break his arm by hitting a wall, but it gave a rough evaluation of how balanced Strength and Resilience should be. The main reason why Ben didn't break any bones in the battle was because he mostly diverted the attacks away and avoided the direct confrontation of fists.
After adding the points into Resilience, Ben inspected his stats.
´Status open.´
<System: StarSoul-Last>
<User: Ben Lupus>
<Race: Human>
<Level 21>
<3/200>
<Strength: 46>
<Agility: 31>
<Vitality:23>
<Stamina:30>
<Resilience: 15>
<Intelligence: 22>
<Mana: Default (no core could be found)>
—-
In the same supermarket, on the other end, a monster was silently eating the meat at the counter.
Just next to it, in a room to prepare/store meat, a group of adults with two childrens had barred the door and were waiting for help.
They already waited half a day, but nobody had come.
„Why is still nobody coming? Where are the police, when you need them?" Said an angry bearded man.
„If this continues for any longer, we will starve!" A woman said, imagining the scene in her mind.
„This f*cking monster is still here. How long will it wait for us?" Another woman said, shouting from frustration.
„Please don't shout. Mike and Any are frightened by it? The police will probably come shortly." An older man tried to comfort the others.
„Don't lie to yourself. If the police didn't come till now, it means that other places aren't spared from these monsters. The police don't even know that we are alive, so their priorities are the people they know of." Another woman said coldly. She was just an apprentice as a butcher.
Her name was Alisha Kurhose, she was a 19 year old black-haired girl.
Her assumption wasn't completely right nor completely wrong. The sudden appearance of so many different monsters had taken Turkey by surprise.
The common reaction of such incidents was firstly to stop the monster spreading through the country, while the citizens were evacuated by the military.
Followed by slowly killing the monster in the closed area.
The Turkish military was overwhelmed by the amount of monsters and only focused on the first part. They waited for the help of the neighbouring countries to begin to clear the area. It still was unknown when the Turkish military received military support.
Having finished eating all the corpses and the meat at the counter, the monster turned to the closed door. Suddenly it jumped over the counter and headbuutted the door.
The humans behind that door began to cry and shout from fear. The hit had heavily damaged the door. It just needed a few more hits to fall apart from the doorframe.
The monster had a lithe, raptor-esque body. They have vivid red skin, with some black markings and purplish lavender colouration by the limbs.
It had a very distinctive head crest, large and well rounded. Its lower jaw curls outwards significantly.
Not having a hard-scale on his head, the raptor-like monster was suffering from the backlash. As it was ready to headbut the door again, it was just about taking speed.
Suddenly, the raptor looked around, and walked away.
„It went away! We can go out and call for help."
„We need to go now. I think we should split into two groups. There is a front door and a backdoor. Just to be sure that we don't walk in the direction of the monster."
„No. That monster could easily hunt us down. We don't even know the situation on the streets. We should stay put."
After chaotically discussing, it was decided that the majority of the adults would go look for help. They would take the backdoor and call the police.
The two kids and the 19-year-old girl would stay behind. With the threat of death, nobody of the older people wanted to take the burden known as children, especially if it wasn't theirs.
„Everything will be fine. Help will come. No need to cry!" The girl hugged and comforted them.
At the same time, the raptor had been following a strong smell. It smelled a lot stronger than the prey behind the door, so he had given priority to Ben.
Each step seemed to be soundless for any normal human.
Just as it walked out of the shelves, it saw a piercing glare from a male slowly standing up. Additionally to the glare, its instinct alarmed it to run.
Perceiving another scent and weak sounds, the raptor stopped resisting his urges and ran away.
It followed the new scent. Passing the damaged door, it sprinted to the backdoor.
The girl seeing that decided to use this chance to run. She took the hands of the children and dragged them to the entrance of the supermarket.
When they arrived at the entrance, they heard the sound of an apple being eaten.
Turning around to the direction, they saw a muscular dirty man eating an apple.
At this moment, she acted on pure instinct and shouted to the man.
„We need to get out of here. A monster is here. Run for your life!" Her shout shocked the man. The man seemed to not understand the situation. He slowly walked over with the apple in his hand.
„What are you doing? I said run for your life. A dinosaur is here! A huge monster." The girl said frustrated and panicking over the situation.
Hearing the loud shout, the children, who tried to stay strong, began to cry.
They slumped on the ground and let all the fear, pain and even their trauma out.
„Mama. Mama. I will my mother!...Wäääääääää..."
„I want to be home...Mimimimimi...wimmmmmmmmmmmmer...."
The girl also slowly crumbled from despair and hugged the children.
—-
Ben was perplexed from seeing a girl shouting at him and then she cried with the children. He didn't know what to do.
´Should I go over and simulate crying with them? No this seems so wrong.
I should at least hug them and comfort them! No. There are still monsters in the area.
Even just turning my back gives a lot of opportunity even for weaker monsters.
Then what should I do? Just watching crying people is definitely wrong.
I know this is a burden, but I should try to save them.
The monsters have spread over the area, so I shouldn't have too much difficulty.
Killing monsters shows strength, but saving women & and children is definitely a heroic achievement. The military will see me in a better light.´
„Everything will be fine! I am here. I will help you, so please stop crying." Ben said loudly, trying to sound reliable and friendly.
The woman looked at him. She only realised now that the man's clothes seemed to be dirtied by blood. Even his face had some dried blood-splashes.
Just as she was about to react, a loud roar came from the backdoor.
Fast loud steps came over.
Ben turned to the direction and took a protective stand before the people.
The raptor slowed down. Its 2,5 m high and it's razor-sharp teeth were threatening, but it still stopped a few meters away from Ben.
Ben had a wide grin and said arrogantly:
„See. This huge dude fears me! No need to cry. I can protect you from it."
Ben took a step forward and the raptor took a step backward.
„It really seems to avoid you." The girl said shocked and overwhelmed by hope.
Ben reflexitly turned his head to the girl. It was something that every adventurer would experience. Gaining a fake sense of security after fighting weaker monsters.
Even with his memories, he still made this small mistake.
It probably was that the memories of his old life deferred so much that he didn't take all the lessons seriously.
Suddenly hearing a gurgling-sound, Ben instinctively turned his head.
The corner of his eyes perceived an incoming liquid.
His dodging skill moved his body, but it was too late.
The colourless liquid splashed mostly on his arm as he sidestepped.
Ben didn't wait any second and ripped his long-sleeved T-shirt.
His eyes on his prey, Ben saw movement at bulbous frog-like throat sac.
Ben was filled with rage. Not only at his opponent, but mostly at his own stupidity.
The enlarged throat housed in the raptor was clearly a potent poison sac, which gives it the ability to spit toxins at its foes.
It may have been OK for any normal person to not see that coming, but Ben's memories gave him more than enough experience to know something like that.
With him being poisoned, the chance of being killed by a weaker monster was high.
In these seconds, Ben not only thought of these things, but already was taking a jump to his enemy.
The raptor was more than fast enough to react to his jump. It opened its mouth to Ben.
Ben not only saw the sharp and strong thees, but also poison coming up its throat.
Ben activated all his special skills.
Seeing everything slower and feeling his body bursting from energy, Ben took in the last seconds before entering the mouth the chin of the raptor and pushed it up.
With his body being pushed down and the mouth being pushed up, Ben escaped his death.
Controlling his landing at the feet of the raptor, Ben looked at the raptor.
The arm was about to hit him. Easely ducking, Ben took hold of the arm.
—-
(Alisha POV)
It was a moment of outer confusion. Hope, when I was behind the door. Despair, when the raptor tried to break in. Again Hope, when I saw the raptor fear the man.
Despair, when I saw the raptor spit on the man.
And just as I saw the brutal strength of the man, I was excited.
Ripping his shirt off. Jumping at a speed I couldn't follow. Seeing the raptor, open its mouth. Seeing the man landing on his feet. Seeing the raptor swinging his arm.
….
My mind became blind from what I saw. The monster known for its strength and hide was torn in pieces.
First, its right arm!
Followed by its left arm!
Suddenly hitting the head, the raptor spited at his left side.
An inhuman cry resonated in the supermarket.
Followed by a powerful roar!
Suddenly, only silence with heavy breaths could be heard.
I looked at the wide shoulder of the man. His left hand was on the raptor.
His right hand was holding something big. Only after staring for some time did I realise it to be the head of the raptor.
The man turned around. His body was full of fresh blood. A happy and glorious smile was plastered on his face.
„I have dealt with the problem!"