While I was approaching the monsters, for the first time, I began to question why was I meeting those huge monsters more easily. Nothing came to mind, but the scene of the mutant cats eating the mutant rats made me feel q unease.

‘No, it can’t be. Those monsters can’t obtain evolution coins and get stronger like humans, right?’

I didn’t want to believe in that possibility, but I had no other explanation. Besides, why only humans would be able to improve themselves? The monsters also had things like HP, MP, and STA. Thus, it was apparent. They were also in the same position as us.

‘Fuck.’

While monsters fighting against each other was beneficial for humans since their numbers would decrease. New and stronger monsters appearing was a considerable downside.

I had decided to kill those three monsters, but do I have to kill all of them? It was a better idea just break the balance of the battle. If I help one of them kill the other two, we will be able to keep moving; after all, the last monster standing would probably eat the others.

‘I guess this is my best course of action. Since I already killed one before, I should help the fat rat.’

It would be better if I could use one the buildings nearby to my advantage and stay in high ground to attack them, but I didn’t have time for that. The anaconda’s green skin was thicker than the mutant cat, but its gray fur looked quite troublesome. But I still decided to use all my remaining wood bolts on the mutant cat after that I would create the iron bolts. In that situation, the steel bolts would be my best option, but I would faint since I didn’t have enough MP.

When I got close enough to hit the monsters, I saw the anaconda using its poison attack. Many liters of a green liquid flew in the air towards the two other monsters, but the attack was quite slow, and it only hit the ground.

‘As I thought, it was the anaconda who poisoned that woman. I wonder for how long the poison could still work after being spilled. With some luck, I may be able to use it.’

That was a crazy and dangerous idea, but if I could put the poison in my bolts… no, the effect would take much time to do anything. It was deadly, but to slow. I need something faster and more practical.

Since the poison didn’t work, the anaconda slashed its tail towards the mutant cat and tried to bite the fat rat at the same time. The mutant cat 2.0 with lightning reflexes avoided the tail attack, and the fat rat didn’t hesitate to use its claws to hit the anaconda’s face. Every single attack of them made me feel the ground trembling under my feet.

‘I thought this crossbow would do the job, but I guess it’s not enough. Like those creatures, I have to evolve my crossbow. But now I have to do what I can with what I have right now.’

I needed an opening, to kill that mutant cat or at least make the tide of the battle against the creature, one of the other monsters had to hit him. However, the beast was too damn fast. Not even the stones the fat rat threw were quick enough to hit. Thanks to that I noticed, the fat rat was too weak in comparison to the others. If I kill the mutant cat, the snake will go all out to kill the fat rat, it couldn’t do it until now, because it couldn’t drop his guard against the mutant cat. The most dangerous monster was the anaconda, but I wouldn’t be able to kill it with my wood bolts. I didn’t even know if the iron bolts would be able to pierce the damn monster’s skin.

‘No, it can’t be that strong. Powerful, agile, and sturdy? It can’t be all of those… ah!’

Then I remembered that woman killed the snake with a single arrow in the head. To be able to do that with her first weapon….what a fearsome woman. Maybe I’ll get some tips since after this she will be indebted to me.

‘If she and I survive, of course. I guess that I’ll have to kill the fat rat and then attack both the mutant cat and the anaconda afterward and weaken then little by little.’

Usually, I would wait for them to get weakened and then deliver the killing blow, and then I would receive all the evolution coins. But I wasn’t in a normal situation, so I had to take some risks.

While the monsters were moving around attacking and defending, I aimed the crossbow at them. I waited for the exact moment the fat rat would show his exposed back to me. Fortunately, it didn’t take long. While the fat rat was distracted, attacking the ground to get a few more stones, I pulled the trigger and used all my ten remaining wood bolts to hit the monster’s nape. Eight of the arrows hit the creature's neck, and the other two pierced its back. The bolts probably damaged the creature’s nervous system, because the fat rat fell on the ground without even screaming.

You have obtained 100 Evolution Orbs.

You have obtained 100 Evolution Coins.

Without wasting time, I created the iron bolts and drank some lemonade to get rid of the dizziness, but luckily nothing happened. The giant mutant cat and the anaconda didn’t care about the fallen fat rat; for them, the monster could be eaten after the battle.

‘That’s weird, why are they acting like nothing happened? The fat rat was wounded, but nothing deadly. I thought those two would be smarter than the fat rat.’

Since both of monsters didn’t have to worry about being attacked from behind anymore, the battle became fiercer. The anaconda liked to use its poison attack a lot, probably the poison made its target’s meat tastier, but the poison never hit the giant mutant cat. Also, the anaconda never managed to bit the mutant cat. After a few minutes of battle, only the tail of the enormous snake managed to do some damage. I became speechless when I saw the mutant cat being throw against a building and destroying three walls before it could stop.

‘Maybe I should get the hell out of downtown and kill the small fries. The monsters in this part of the city are becoming crazily strong.’

On the other hand, almost every single attack of the giant mutant cat hit the anaconda’s body, because the attacks were too fast. However, the damage dealt wasn’t that great. The Anaconda’s skin was getting wounded, but that wouldn’t be enough to kill it

‘The only weak spot of that snake is the head, while the mutant’s cat weakness is… why I’m thinking about this? I just to have to hit them in the head.’

It was a waste of time to think about that; every living creature would die if their brains get too damaged. I just had to concentrate and hit them; I had to do that with two perfect shots… maybe a few more since both of them were way stronger than the mutant cats and rats. But I never did that against moving target, to make matters worse, those two creatures were faster than me.

‘If I miss I’ll die since they will identify my localization, thus the kids and the woman will also die. That’s too much responsibility for someone like me.’

But I had to do it. Come to think of it, since the city became crazy; everything became more and more troublesome. It was useless to try to avoid the problems. Sure, I could prevent one or two difficult battles at a time, but eventually, those two monsters that I could kill before will become an army of monsters. Ignoring a problem would only make this same problem harder to solve later on.

‘I guess this is it, from now on, my life will be me putting my life at risk every single day. No point in dwelling on that or hesitating anymore. I just had to kill anything that blocks my way.’

The dark blue of the night was sky was slowly becoming a light blue sky, I didn’t have any more time to waste, so I began to aim.

‘You’ll be the first, furball.’

The mutant cat didn’t hear me, but that didn’t matter. Instead of aiming at a single point, I began to concentrate on following the monster’s movement. Not even my eyes were fast enough to catch every single move of the giant mutant cat, but I still tried to do that anyway. Eventually, the damn monster would stop for a single moment, I knew it, and I would use that chance to kill it.

Just like before, everything in the world disappeared. The wind, the cold of the night, every object, and I even couldn’t hear or feel my heartbeats anymore. The world was just me, the crossbow, and the target. After a few minutes observing almost every movement of the mutant cat, I began to see a shadow around the monster. The shadows weren’t anything; they were just every single possible movement that thing could do at that instant. A jump forward, and a leap backward. A horizontal slash, and a vertical slash. A kick, a bite, a headbutt. I could see those movements before they could even be executed.

That was a good insight; I already knew that I could learn about the attack patterns of a monster. But predict their movements in such a degree was only possible after you observe them for hours and hours. However, for some strange reason, after only a few minutes, all those movements were recorded in my mind.

I couldn’t see the future, but in an instant, I manage to predict the mutant cat’s next tree attacks: a kick, a jump backward, and a bite. All of them would hit the anaconda and cause some damage, but that didn’t matter. What was important was that I knew where the monster’s head would be in the next three seconds, and so I began to pull the trigger.

In three seconds, I shot nine iron bolts; all of them hit the mutant’s head in its right ear. Before the monster could understand what happened or scream, it fell on the ground like a puppet.

You have obtained 300 Evolution Orbs.

You have obtained 300 Evolution Coins.

‘Two down, and one to go.’

Sometimes I wonder why I’m so dumb, I do two things right, and then I drop my guard. As I thought, I always have to learn the hard way. Instead of continuing the attack, the success made me drop my guard, and I lost the momentum. That state of mind disappeared, and I saw myself being stared by the anaconda.

‘Why I also didn’t study the anaconda’s move?’

If only I had done that, my job would be so easier, and I wouldn’t have to suffer. But, no use crying over spilled milk. I said myself those words while the anaconda began to crawl towards me at a terrifying speed. I aimed my crossbow at the anaconda’s head, and dozens of times, I pulled the crossbow’s trigger. Most of the bolts hit the snake in the head, but that didn’t stop the creature.

‘I am so fucked.’

The anaconda’s speed was way above mine, so I didn’t even try to escape. Even when the monster was only five meters away from me, I didn’t run and continued to shoot. When the damn monster opened its mouth to devour me, my chance finally appeared, the interior of the creature’s body was softer than the creature’s hide. Thanks to that, three of my bolts pierced the interior of the mouth profoundly and reached the anaconda’s brain. I killed it, but I didn’t escape unharmed.

You have obtained 500 Evolution Orbs

You have obtained 500 Evolution Coins.

At the last moment, I tried to evade the anaconda’s attack. And I almost managed but the damn snake chopped off almost my entire left arm.

“AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

I screamed like hell, the sharp and burning pain in my arm almost made me faint, but somehow I managed to stay conscious. A lot of blood was gushing from the rest of my arm, I had to stop the bleed, or I would die. I had nothing better than a t-shirt to stop the bleeding, and without hesitation, I used it.

“AAAAHHH! FUCK! DAMN IT!”

That hurt like hell, even worse than the snake’s attack. To make things worse, the pain wasn’t diminishing.

“I have to… reach the hotel.”

That was my only choice; I only stopped the bleeding for a moment. With luck, Sarah would help me. But in the worst-case scenario, I would lose an arm… I guess it was better than death. It took me a few seconds a lot of pain, but I managed to recover my chopped off arm of the anaconda’s mouth. Fortunately, there was no green liquid on me or my arm. The anaconda only could spill the poison.

The sky was already bright enough for the kids to notice when I approached, and they began to tremble when they saw my sorry state. I was covered with blood and carrying one of my arms on my back since I still had to use the crossbow.

“What happened to-to…?” Frank said while trembling and crying.

“No time to explain, ah damn it! This fucking pain… more importantly, what happened here?”

To my surprise, the blonde woman was unconscious on the ground with her bow in hands, and near the kids, I could see three mutant cats’ corpses.

“Miss Claire noticed the presence of the monsters and woke up to protect us,” Frank answered.

Seriously? She woke up in that state and killed those monsters? How in the hell did she use the bow with her arm in that state? That woman was terrifying…

“I see, no time to waste. Put her in the cart again, as you can see, I can’t help you guys with that.”

It took a few agonizing minutes, but the kids managed to put her back on the cart without making her suffer, and then we began to move towards the hotel. Since those three had died, the streets started to overflow with small fries again. But I sent them all back to hell without wasting time.

I didn’t know if it was because I was tired or because of the blood loss, but I was getting dizzy. I shook my head to keep my focus and hurried to the hotel. But when we arrived there, a small but another problem appeared. I entered without a problem and the cart with the woman too. But the kids were blocked by an invisible wall, and soon I understood why.

You have paid 10 Evolution Coins to stay in the Safe zone for 24 hours.

You have brought ten no-survivors to the Safe Zone, but they can´t enter unless you pay for them. Do you wish to pay for them? Y/N

I forgot about this, and this also explains why the dots representing them are green instead of red. Since I didn’t have time to worry about that, I selected yes.

You have paid 100 Evolution coins for ten no-survivors enter the Safe zone.

I run towards the statue, touched it, selected the Create section. The first that came to mind was medicine, but since I didn’t specify what kind of medicine nothing appeared.

“Ah, damn it… Let’s see, a medicine that can heal any wounds.”

Elixir:

It can heal any wounds and fully restore your HP, MP, and STA. It also nullifies all kinds of negative status.

Price: 50000

A hologram of a bottle with a blue liquid inside of it appeared. It had an impressive effect, but it was too expensive and all-purpose. I need something less expensive and more specific.

“I want medicine that can heal chopped off arms.”

Fairies’ Salve:

It can stop bleeding and reconnect severed limbs.

Cost: 1000 Evolution Coins.

A single mistake cost me that much, but I deserved that. After creating the medicine, I connected the two parts of my arm, and even though I did everything carefully, the pain made me sweat and moan a lot. However, after that, everything became easy. I could see clearly the salve reconnecting my flesh and bones. After ten minutes, I could feel and move my entire arm. However, the scar was still there to make me remember that mistake.

“Amazing… but how is this statue creating these things?”

That was an important question, and the answer could lead me to understand what or who made the city go crazy. But I had more important things to do at that moment.

“Let’s heal your teacher now.”

Since the pain disappeared, my mind was clear, and soon I created the things she needed.

Mutant Snake’s Antidote:

It negates the effect of the Mutant Snake’s Poison.

Price: 500 Evolution Coins

Fairies’ Pollen:

It can restore half of your HP and heal any non-lethal wounds.

Price: 1000 Evolution Coins

Oh boy, it’s so awesome to do the right thing. No worries, she will give me many tips on how to aim correctly. I’ll make sure of it.