I Became the Wrong Race

77 – Monster (3)

My eyes stopped.

The place where the snow had stopped was not quiet. The noise of iron and fabric echoing throughout the forest.

Someone moved in front of the loudest sound.

As I stomp my feet to avoid it, the snow accumulated on the ground flies away at once.

Amidst the scattered coldness, a strong heat boiled. An overwhelming body temperature that is different from that of a human.

The moment it touches the armor, the red-hot surface cools down for a moment. However, before the water that had landed could penetrate into my body, my body flew forward.

And then, boom.

The arm stretched out to block is bent backwards and cut off. The warrior, staggering with clenched teeth, desperately threw himself away.

Then, a long bridge sweeps past the spot where he was about to fall.

Enormous destruction ensues, which can be said to be a slash from a giant weapon.

The caught tree splits and breaks, and the hunter on top of it manages to jump down and fires an arrow.

The pure white arrow fired penetrated into the snowy forest and split the monster’s skin.

Plop, plop.

A sound as if a leather bag was filled with air and kicked. It was not the sound made when the human body was pierced.

A bow and arrow to shoot down one of the lower-level dragons, Drake. An ordinary human would be impaled to death the moment he was hit.

However.

Kwahiah ahhhhh!

The monster that stopped for a moment accelerated as if nothing had happened. Acceleration that ignores recoil or physical laws and changes direction through detailed adjustments of the body.

A leap that can rightly be called explosive.

Before the archer could land on another tree, he saw the new type soaring towards him, and transformed as he thrust his bow.

With a cooing sound, the bow and arms are crushed at the same time. The monster laughed at the taste of my hand.

And as he swung his arm wide, the captured shapeshifter turned 360 degrees in the air and fell to the ground.

A scream comes out. The shapeshifter quickly catches him and runs away. The monster’s foot struck straight toward the spot.

The heavy weight and force caused the snow pile to soar. The hunters stared at the snow fog as they caught their breath, applied medicine, and prepared their weapons.

Two eyes were shining clearly between the soaring snowdrifts.

Gray eyes with no emotion. The most gloomy eyes with a slight red tint.

The hunter barely concealed his feelings of disappointment and stretched the handle of the axe.

It was an ax with a spear-like blade at the end of the handle. When the tip of the handle was pointed like a spear point, the hunters who had finished reorganizing gathered together.

They were hunters.

Even after it became like this and I ended up losing and changed the master I served as if there was nothing I could do.

They have been hunting monsters that humans cannot compete with.

Sub-dragon, renegade clan, test subject that failed containment.

Mainly dealing with monsters created by the clan.

The consciousness that once filled that monster’s body was a common occurrence in the world called Grim Darker, and it was not difficult.

It was a place overflowing with monsters.

Whether it is a being from the outer universe summoned by the Inquiry School after a flawed quest, or an experiment created by the three clans to retrieve their father.

There are many monsters in the world. So, to a large extent, they were not embarrassed.

This was an exception. The hunter adjusted his weapon with a nervous look.

It had to be that way. The sight of the monster in front of them filled them with a deep sense of fear.

The two hanging arms were soaked with blood and sticky.

The skin was a piece of armor stuck together, stained with blood, and arrows were stuck here and there, making it miserable.

The bones are exposed and the texture of the muscles is revealed. There were places where the skin had peeled off and blood was still flowing.

A bear trap was still hanging on his leg, and the meat of the crossbow that had been repeatedly stuck in his knee was falling out and falling to the floor.

There were corpses all over the forest. A body with its back cut off, its head exploded, and a body that was swung alive and crushed together with its compatriots.

A monster that uses even the strong bodies of shapeshifters as toys. As cold sweat ran down his neck, the hunter shot forward.

All the surrounding transformations were together. They all became a mixture of a snow leopard and a human and shot out like a beam of light.

It blends into the snow to hide its presence and does not leave a single footprint, but it targets by narrowing the distance with an excellent leap.

Nape of the neck, between the eyebrows, chest, heart, lungs, liver, spine, groin, etc.

They all ran like they were arrows.

The hunter who was aiming for the neck flips his body for a moment and throws it away, then turns and kicks it, sending it flying. However, the dagger at his ankle is tied to a tree and stops for an instant.

A shapeshifter passing by slips and cuts off the monster’s other ankle, which has stopped in an outstretched position.

The ankle fell down with a fuss, but the monster instead let out a sigh of pleasure and swung its severed leg at the ankle.

“Ugh… ?!”

The kicked hunter flies and hits a tree, and as soon as he lets out a gasp, the new form of the monster flies to his knees and crushes the shapeshifter’s abdomen.

A shapeshifter whose back is bent and spits out blood from its mouth. The noose that was swung to stop him was pulled by his arm in vain.

However, the hunter who was taken away was not an easy person. He seemed to be giving in to the force pulling him, but before he knew it, he pulled out a thick single-edged sword from behind his back and swung it.

The target is the neck. If you cut, you win. However, the sword does not reach the neck.

Sigh!

Rather, it is caught by the mouth that extends backwards. Hold it like a blade.

His lower jaw is torn off due to the speed of his own strength, but he smiles. Even as his tongue hangs out, he lifts his noose-bound arm and strikes it down.

It’s both ends. The shapeshifter with his back folded died, coughing up blood, and the monster regenerated and swung the shapeshifter with a noose.

It was different from a moment ago, right before the armor was engulfed in a strange light.

The hunters were feeling it.

No clutter in the movements.

Hesitation disappeared, and all actions were carried out extremely quickly.

It wasn’t just about moving and acting quickly. The decision was made extremely quickly.

Something that feels like a reflex.

It was okay to say that it was animal-like. The hunters made eye contact with each other and nodded.

And one of the hunters raised his bow high.

There was something like a flute attached to the arrow.

Beep, beep, beep!

The arrow fired made a high sound of a flute.

It was a rallying signal.

*

[Beep, Lee, Lee, Lee, Lee, Lee, Lee, Lee, Lee, Lee, Ik]

A sound echoing from old earphones. I blinked.

What was I doing? When I moved my hand while I was in a daze, my memories slowly came back.

Yes, I was playing a game.

The new DLC is good, it’s more fun than I thought.

Also, I like it when a story I didn’t know about is revealed.

I was having fun with my favorite build.

Yes, I’m sure it was. I added my thoughts.

Since I can’t remember much, I guess I was a bit tired these days.

But it is something that cannot be helped. I had to get used to a lot of things after my sister disappeared.

I stared at the screen for comfort.

There was a lot going on inside the old monitor.

Many enemies, probably shapeshifter hunters, were surrounding my character.

Is this a new kind of event?

It was strangely unfamiliar.

Usually raids are done by players, but it was refreshing to see players being raided.

Even as soon as I started raising new ones, I guess they came to the new continent and their level was only 8.

It’s barely this much, but they’re flocking like this?

Even with that thought in mind, I moved the mouse without hesitation.

Right-click slightly in front of the enemy, and make an explosive leap when you feel close.

Leaping allowed the enemy to be caught and killed faster than the enemy could escape through an evasive maneuver.

At the same time, I saw a movement to retreat, so I quickly opened the inventory, looked through the items, and made a decision.

This is okay. He quickly covers the ax he picked up from the floor with holy blood and explodes it.

Since it was covered with armor that was treated as a part of the body, the explosion occurred including the weapon.

The attack motion is canceled and the two enemies are caught in the exploded explosion.

To make matters worse, the Mourner Homunculus was simple to operate.

I played the game familiarly.

There were many enemies, many traps, and even cowardly moves.

They were not difficult enemies for the Homunculus Mourner, who had regeneration and strong armor.

I thought so until the number of enemies gathered.

Wow, this is too much.

I shouldn’t die.

A momentary thought stopped me.

Why can’t I die?

Even if you die, just load the save and that’s it.

Iron Man mode, which is an option that is limited to one save and cannot save freely, which is common in other games, did not exist in Grim Darker.

If you voluntarily play with one save and die, the only thing you can do is delete the save. It can be implemented as a mod, but why?

It was a bad habit to play games while stressed, so I thought it would be okay to just do what I had to do and call me back when I died.

But why?

I felt something uneasy.

I felt like I shouldn’t die. If I die, I’m sure it would be easier if I died, but I felt like that wasn’t right.

Did I overindulge? I stared at the screen while thinking.

The character was moving faithfully as I instructed.

I caught and killed the enemy, and then hunted in reverse, avoiding being cornered as much as possible.

It was full of corpses piling up. There was no end to the number of enemies swarming in, but it felt good to think that it was all experience points.

But it wasn’t that easy.

My stamina quickly went down to 1 and then went up again. Unless it was finished with a critical hit, they lived because they were a race that did not die.

Anxiety for no apparent reason. A very disturbing feeling.

I kept moving the mouse and tapping the keyboard without knowing why.

The mourner didn’t have many skills to begin with, so it wasn’t difficult to operate.

All that remains is positioning, thorough distance calculation, and accurate judgment, which can almost be called fine control.

I thought while doing the best I could.

This is going to be difficult.

It seemed like the enemy had really come to hunt my character.

All kinds of magic poured out, and various attacks and hits and runs decorated the screen.

The enemies were so numerous and diverse that I knew that if I didn’t change my response at the time, I would die.

It’s hard. It is challenging.

How did they write code that analyzes the player’s build and takes appropriate countermeasures? It’s really amazing.

Even as I was thinking, I felt tension running down the back of my neck.

Something was strange. It’s just a game.

Why am I being so desperate?

A feeling of discomfort came. A feeling of discomfort that will soon go away.

At that moment, magic was shot towards my character. It was a familiar magic.

It is a dark sphere. Since the debuff does not work for the mourner, he plans to fill the space with darkness, blocking his vision.

I desperately tried to escape the trajectory, but I couldn’t because of the enemies clinging and entangling me, and I ended up getting hit by a dark sphere.

The screen went dark. The entire thing was black, with only the old-fashioned UI remaining in the bottom line.

So I could see my face reflected on the screen.

“… Huh?”

My face on the screen was not mine.

The hair was black, but the eyes were not mine. It was grey. The appearance also matched the exotic eye color.

He resembled a classic handsome man. He looked like a handsome man from a classic movie that my older sister saw one day, holding me in her arms and telling me to watch it together.

In the screen, a handsome man was touching his face his with his hand his his his. Like me.

Blink your eyes like me, take a breath like me, and widen your eyes and be surprised like me.

That’s right, because that was me.

“… Ah.”

The screen returns. My body on the screen was in tatters.

The exhaled breath was red and tattered, perhaps because I could not see the attack that was unleashed in the darkness and was unable to dodge it.

The physical strength went up from 1 to 2 and then went down repeatedly.

Blink, blink. My life was flickering as a symbol.

I looked at the screen blankly.

[Vitality: I——]

[Magic Power: ——-]

It seemed as if the world was once a game.

I was whispering that I too was a part of that world and that I might be fake.

A question came to mind.

What if all of this is fake?

What if my brain is actually seeing an illusion, and the scientist is just providing electrical stimulation?

It was a common question. I remembered it well because a friend of mine once asked a question in a similar context.

At that time, what did they say?

I moved the mouse while trying to remember. On the screen, I swung my hand, and the hunter who was trying to hit me with the ax tore his stomach skin and fell backwards.

Instead, an ax stuck in my shoulder.

Hunters surround. It’s coming. Each person holds a weapon and fires arrows.

I wrapped my neck around moving the mouse and tapping on the keyboard without even knowing how. I had to protect my neck.

Meanwhile, it seemed like someone was asking me.

How much is fantasy, and how much is truth?

Was it an illusion that my sister left me?

Or the truth?

Is it really true that my sister exists in this world? Could it be that I just dream like that?

In fact, my health deteriorated and I collapsed and died. Could it be that I was seeing visions as I was dying?

Or else.

Questions that keep coming back and forth. I stared blankly at the screen.

Me on the screen.

Me outside the screen.

Which one is real?

I belatedly raised my head and saw something in the corner of my vision.

[Name: Llewelyn]

[Race: Homunculus]

[Occupation: Warrior – Mourner 8]

[Reputation: Public Enemy]

[Strength: 22(+6)][Dexterity: 20(+5)][Health: 22(+6)]

[Magic Power: □][Inspiration: □][Charm: □]

[Play time: 9,472 hours]

Am I a fake who sees these strange illusions?

So, am I really still in reality?

Am I just a character moved by the player, and am I just moving according to the controls like I am doing now?

You never know.

It’s unknown.

No matter how much I struggled and tried, it was not something I could figure out.

Finding out won’t solve anything, and knowing the answer won’t make you feel relieved.

Maybe that’s why I thought that way without thinking.

“What should I do?”

Then reality collapsed.

Fantasy slowly rose in the place where reality collapsed.

It was a snowy forest.

The snow that fell was cold, and the blood that was shed was hot.

The exhaled breath is more than that. The feeling of your chin melting.

As he regenerates and tries to stand up, an arrow flies at him. Phew, there was no sense of being stuck.

[Repeated memorial]

[Time remaining: 981 seconds]

It was because there was still mourning. So I woke up shocked.

He was still alive, desperately protecting his neck. But how long can one survive?

If I die, will I die forever?

Or is it going back to Earth?

What is this place in the first place? Why am I here?

At the question that came to mind, something unconsciously spread on the corner of my mouth.

“Ha.”

I burst out laughing.

Honestly, do you even know?

Of course I knew. Because it was a search for my identity and my existence.

But, on the other hand, I thought so.

That’s not important.

It was called a wildflower dream.

The saying is that Zhuangzi became a butterfly in a dream, and when he woke up, he was a butterfly.

It is said that he could not tell whether the butterfly became Zhuangzi in a dream or whether Zhuangzi became a butterfly in a dream.

It truly was. Normally, it would have been right to think about it.

I didn’t want to worry about that.

Because it didn’t fit my lifestyle.

Instead, with a deep breath, I kicked up the ax that had fallen on the floor and grabbed it.

As I swung, all the arrows caught in the path flew out. One got stuck in my forearm, but it was okay.

[Vitality: II——]

The body gradually regenerates. Breathing begins, new skin grows, and life returns to the dying body.

I swung my ax while watching the rain of arrows fill my vision.

He slashes away three arrows with an ax he swings in a half-moon pattern, and desperately twists his body to avoid them.

Ignoring the crushing corpse beneath my feet, I spread my legs wide and briefly swung my ax to knock away two arrows aimed at my legs.

He twists his waist slightly to avoid the arrow aimed at my eyes, and catches the arrow aimed at the nape of my neck and throws it away.

The arrow flew violently and broke. I saw hunters aiming bows, crossbows, etc. At me from a distance.

Since I’ve lost all my energy, I’m determined to finish it. But I did not give in.

I never gave in.

Even when my sister disappeared, I continued to live.

Even when I hurt my older sister with my selfish words, I felt like a burden and wanted to die, but I lived.

I have always been like that.

I have always lived.

I lived my life doing my best at every moment.

If I were a butterfly, I would just do my best and fly from flower to flower.

If I were the eldest son, I would sacrifice myself for the knowledge I needed to acquire.

What is fake and what is real.

It wasn’t important to me.

It was the same.

Either I am a monster dreaming of modern people, or I am a modern person who thinks I am a monster.

Nothing changed.

Because I am me.

If I’m faithful to myself and I always do my best.

Even if it’s a fantasy, you won’t regret it.

“… “I’ll give it a try.”

The moment I lowered my posture, the hunters fired arrows.

I moved my body to avoid the arrow aimed at my head, and then struck the hunter who was targeting my back with an axe.

I gritted my teeth and moved amidst the spreading blood.

Puck, puck, puck!

I threw myself away to avoid the arrows raining down on me, picked up the star blade knocked off by the arrow stuck in the tree, and swung it.

Sigh!

Tung!

The long sword he swung cuts off his arm. The hand crossbow that a hunter extends over his charred arm. When he twists his head, his earlobe his is torn off.

But it’s not too late. The thrown ax cuts the hunter in two.

After letting go of the hunter who was cut in half and stretched from side to side, I straightened my stance.

Two hunters rush left and right in front of the tree, stepping over the hunter who was cut in half.

I caught the weapon they swung with an ax and then dropped the ax.

However, he jumped over the trembling ax stuck in the ground and avoided the attack.

At the moment of landing, the swung long sword blocks the attack and rushes through the most efficient movement path, piercing the head.

The hunter fell along the drawn blade, and I aimed the sword at the hunters who began to surround me again.

Breathe in and exhale. Heat rises from the body and turns the fallen snow into steam.

I twisted my mouth and held my sword in the rising steam.