Saint:My Daily Routine Became My Superpower

July 8th. 10:21 AM.

The sun had risen, but it came filtered through smoke and dust—like the sky itself was choking.

Kael stood just outside the decaying bookstore, eyes locked on the glowing message in his interface.

> [Monthly Task Received – Beast Purge]

"Slay 100 mutated creatures within 30 days. The reward will reflect the slayer's needs."

Progress: 0/100

He exhaled through his nose, the tension in his chest winding tighter.

This wasn't like the other tasks. This felt… deliberate.

The dream from days before still throbbed in his mind—blood, claws, survival. And afterward… a feeling of ascension.

And now, the purge.

Behind him, footsteps.

Elle approached, wrapping her jacket tighter around her frame. "You're up early. Again."

Kael didn't smile. "Got a task. Monthly one."

She raised a brow. "Beast culling?"

"One hundred."

"Same."

They locked eyes.

Kael's voice was low. "We do this together."

Elle tilted her head. "That a suggestion or a command?"

"A fact."

She let out a short laugh. "You're learning teamwork. I'm so proud."

He rolled his eyes. "Let's hunt."

---

1:17 PM – The Dead Blocks

The suburb looked like war had passed through with a hangover. Cars sat like broken bones in the road, storefronts shattered, and signs swung loose in the wind.

They moved like ghosts. Kael flitted ahead, knives drawn. Elle covered his back with sharp eyes and a readied spear.

Their first kill was simple—a Spined Howler devouring a deer. Coordinated, clean strikes. Blood spilled. The beast fell.

> [Beast Defeated – 1/100]

But it escalated fast.

Each battle revealed something worse. Not just random mutations. Not just beasts.

Evolution. Intelligence. Pack tactics.

Creatures with plated hides. Others with serrated tongues. A centipede-like one with transparent skin and visible organs. A fanged deer with humanlike eyes.

Kael's Routine Surge kicked in, boosting his reaction time. He ducked, weaved, struck like lightning. Minor Heal sealed gashes, kept him moving.

Elle waited until the worst fight to use her ace:

> [Ability: Iron Bones – D-Rank]

Temporarily reinforces muscle fibers and tendons, increasing physical strength and durability for 5 minutes. Usable once per day.

She cracked a tusked monster's spine with a palm strike and crushed another's skull with a rebar club.

By sundown, they'd taken down 14 between them.

But then… the world changed.

---

10:41 PM – The Visitor

Wind howled softly across broken rooftops. Kael stood on perimeter duty while Elle patched up her arm inside an overturned bus.

That's when he saw her.

A girl. Maybe fourteen. Barefoot. Eyes hollow. Wrapped in a scorched blanket.

She stood beneath a crooked streetlamp, just staring.

"Elle," Kael said, voice low.

She came up beside him. "Survivor?"

"I don't think so."

The girl took a step forward.

Her head twitched—jerky, unnatural. Her jaw dropped open, and a faint sound leaked out. It wasn't a cry.

It was static.

Then:

From the shadows behind her, dozens of glowing eyes blinked open. Then more. Dozens more. Creatures spilled from sewers, windows, ruined homes.

Not ten. Not twenty.

Over a hundred.

> [Warning – Beast Swarm Detected]

Estimated Combatants: 100+

Engaging will lock escape routes for 10 minutes.

Objective: Survive.

Kael's interface flickered again:

> [Emergency Perk Unlocked – Survival Instinct]

"Boost agility and reaction speed by 25% for 5 minutes when outnumbered 10 to 1."

Cooldown: 24 hours

He clenched his fists. "No choice."

Elle's face hardened. "We run or we die."

"Both."

---

10:47 PM – Bus Ambush

They raced into the hollow bus. Kael slashed open a rusted car's fuel line on the way and splashed it in a trail outside the door.

Inside the bus, they laid a trap—broken pipes and sharpened sticks jammed through seats to form a kill-funnel.

The first wave hit like a storm.

Kael's limbs glowed faintly from Routine Surge as he moved like a whirlwind in the narrow space, dodging claws, slicing jugulars.

Elle activated Iron Bones, holding the rear. She screamed as she fought, rage meeting steel, splitting jaws and crushing skulls.

Every time one dropped—

> [Beast Defeated – 15/100]

[Beast Defeated – 18/100]

[Beast Defeated – 21/100]

Still, they kept coming.

A creature slammed into the roof and tore through. Another crawled under the bus and stabbed up from the floor.

Kael shouted, "Exit now!"

---

10:55 PM – Firebreak

They leapt from the back just as Kael lit a match and tossed it.

WHOOMPH.

The gas trail ignited in a blazing wall. Beasts shrieked and burned. Smoke poured upward, black and thick.

But even that wasn't enough.

They backed away, bloodied, breath ragged.

And then the girl stepped through the flames.

Unaffected.

Her limbs cracked backward, bending wrong. Her face split at the seams. Her mouth became a vertical maw filled with too many teeth.

Then she spoke.

A voice that wasn't hers.

"Kael."

Elle froze. "Did she just—?"

"She said my name," Kael whispered.

They didn't wait to ask questions.

They ran.

---

11:01 PM – The Bell Tower

Their boots slammed against broken stone as they climbed the spiral staircase of the ancient bell tower near the church ruins.

Kael turned, stabbing one last creature on the stairs and kicking it down. The door jammed shut behind them.

They reached the top.

Breathless. Bleeding. Cornered.

Hundreds of beasts circled below. The child-thing stared up at them from the base.

And then…

> [Time Remaining – 00:00]

[Beast Swarm Timer Complete – Objective: Survived]

Silence.

The beasts turned… and slowly vanished into the shadows, like smoke dissolving into the air.

But the girl didn't.

She remained.

Watching.

And then she whispered—in Kael's mother's voice:

> "Why did you leave me behind?"