"Madam, the engine's acting up."
On the road behind the beach, an expensive sedan sat parked at the side.
The driver stepped out, popped the hood, and inspected it briefly before reporting to the passenger in the back seat...a young woman with long black hair and cold, burgundy eyes.
She glanced up from her thoughts, expression as frosty as her voice.
"Call maintenance."
"Yes, ma'am."
The driver reached for his phone, thumb hovering over the screen…
"Help!"
"Run! Monster!"
A sudden wave of screaming beachgoers tore past the car, their panicked shouts sharp enough to cut through the quiet hum of the street.
The driver froze, turning toward the commotion and the girl did the same.
One glance was all it took.
Both of them went rigid, their eyes locking on the coastline in the distance. Even the girl's icy composure cracked, replaced by wide-eyed disbelief.
The ground shook.
Boom!
Something enormous, something that could blot out the horizon moved forward with a roar that rattled the bones.
It was a monster.
"Madam, out of the car! Now!" the driver barked, slamming the hood shut.
Snapped from her daze, the girl didn't waste another second. Fear overrode every other thought as she yanked the door open, stepping out and joining the stampede of fleeing civilians, weaving through the chaos to avoid being knocked down.
Amid the chaos, only one person wasn't running.
Yami Tsukishiro.
He rose from his beach chair, removed his sunglasses, and fixed his eyes on the incoming creature. The familiar translucent interface appeared in his vision.
[Monster]: Leatherback Turtle
[Rank]: Level 4
[Title]: Elite
[Race]: Behemoth
[Meme]:
Class D — Hard Armor (Level 4)
Class D — Electromagnetic Pulse (Level 4)
"…Leatherback Turtle? No way…"
The name and appearance clicked instantly a massive gorilla-like body, armored shell, arms like wrecking balls. This was practically the same kaiju from Pacific Rim.
The difference? This one was a fourth-level beast.
If his guess was right, "levels" here worked just like in a game.
Level 4 versus his Level 6.
"…So I could take it down?"
The thought slipped in uninvited.
But as he stood there, staring up at the approaching wall of armored muscle, reality reminded him of the scale difference. He was a person. It was a walking fortress.
Sure, his new powers made him confident… but this was modern society. Fighting a kaiju in broad daylight wasn't exactly something you could hide.
It would be on every news feed, every phone, every livestream in seconds.
Besides… there was no urgent reason for him to step in. Not yet.
With his speed and strength, running would be effortless.
[Ding! Rampaging monster detected in proximity!]
[Tip: Rampage Node identified — Behemoths will spawn endlessly.]
[Tip: Defeat monsters to obtain magic stones. Chance to acquire memes!]
"…Oh, so it's that kind of game."
Yami inhaled sharply. The system's simple explanation told him everything... kill monsters, get loot. But what really caught his attention was the key detail.
Behemoths will appear endlessly.
"…So basically the end of the world?"
If that was true, hiding would be pointless. You can't outrun the apocalypse forever.
And Yami wasn't the type to stay timid... not in business, not in the underworld, and definitely not when a giant kaiju was stomping around.
He weighed his options. Pros, cons… then smiled faintly.
"Alright. Let's test my new powers."
He raised his hand slightly.
The shadow at his feet shot forward, stretching like liquid darkness. In an instant, it crossed the thousand-meter gap to the sea, snaking beneath the Leatherback Turtle.
A single thought triggered the strike.
"ROAR!!!"
The kaiju's scream tore through the air.
Sprays of green blood burst from its massive frame as a colossal black spine erupted upward, piercing clean through its chest and out its back as if its armor didn't exist.
The sudden, brutal attack stunned the fleeing crowd. Some froze mid-run, staring in disbelief.
"…That was too easy."
Even Yami was taken aback. He'd just shaped the shadow into a weapon on instinct and it had worked perfectly.
Given the kaiju's size, it wasn't weak. Which left only one explanation.
"I'm seriously strong."
A glint lit his eyes. His lips curled into a faint smirk.
The way he looked at the Leatherback Turtle changed, it was no longer a threat. It was a sturdy training dummy.
"Alright… let's see what else I can do."
He activated another skill.
Shadow Traverse.
His vision blurred for an instant, and then without any sensation of moving he was suddenly standing right in front of the kaiju's towering bulk.
"…Got it."
So that was the trick... instant travel between shadows within a set range. Shadow to shadow, anywhere.
"ROAR!!!"
The Leatherback Turtle swung its mace-like fist down at the shadow spear embedded in its body, trying to break free.
"You're not very well-behaved, are you?"
Yami's gaze dropped to its shadow. An idea struck him.
"…I wonder if I can control yours too."
He clenched his open palm.
The creature's shadow surged to life, erupting from the seawater like dozens of black serpents. Each one thick, long, and twisting with lethal precision.
Under Yami's control, they slithered up the kaiju's frame, wrapping tighter and tighter.
Layer after layer, they bound its massive limbs and torso until its body was completely cocooned in darkness leaving only its head exposed.
A monster, gift-wrapped in black.
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