I am sorry i did not post this chapter soon enough but RL has been hectic. Exams and things are somewhat of a pain but they're my ticket to get better jobs so please stop sending the death threats XD even though i am touched that you guys are enjoying this story, threats don't really help me much so please stick to the constructive and helpful reviews you give me. Anyway, i might post the other chapters some time during the end of the month (possibly on the 25th or 28th) but then again i haven't really proof-read them nor have i made any adjustments yet so please be patient if i don't post until November.

On with the story i suppose. This one did not get much proof-reading and adjustments but i can't alter it too much as it would need me to adjust the other chapters by A LOT so... yeah. Enough reading the rant and go read

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“Duuga…” Hayato was currently sitting cross-legged on the cold stone floor whilst massaging his throbbing temples.

He had been up all night appraising all the items that was given to him from the quest he got from the small fuzzy creature. From the sheer size of the mountains of items: one would expect a lot of things that can be used.

No, almost nothing in the piles of items and equipment were things he could, or would, ever use. The weapons he found were all gender restricted and none of them gave any real damage. Though some had amazing skills, the fact that they can only be used if he did a certain ‘chant’ before using them and do some sort of ritual before the skills can be used chipped at his expectations little by little.

The same went to the defensive equipment he found. Though the accessories had good enchantments on them like [MP regeneration] and [Cooldown Reduction], the armors were made with an emphasis of ‘Woman’ in mind. Not only were they styled to look feminine, they were even restricted to females. Though because of the [Incident]: he could just wear them but that would just make him a cross dresser.

“Argoris was a respectable [Wizard] but he was also a huge cosplayer… he was not even a he…” Hayato sighed. He just found out in the lore section of the [Forums], which was both odd and great, that the kingdom never had a male [Royal Wizard]. “Duuga… you do not refer women with ‘He’ but you use ‘She’…” he looked up at the small fuzzy creature.

“Really…? There’s a different way to refer to them?” Duuga inquired with genuine curiosity as he looked up at the white haired male with large round inquisitive eyes.

Hayato merely sighed. Maybe the monsters had different ways of referring each other or maybe this one was really dense about the world. Either way: his expectations got crushed badly. Again, Hayato shook his head and looked towards the now sexually differentiated items. The difference was as if comparing Mount Olympus to a pebble.

“Well… at least I have some gifts for my students…” Hayato tried to stay optimistic and stood up. “…And at least there were some male equipment in there… as well as money.” Hayato nodded and began to change his equipment in his [Player Menu].

Though he was literally ‘part’ of the world, he could not just wear the armor without changing his equipment in the [Player menu]. He had no idea how that was possible but seeing as he could actually kill things much more easier than in the game, logic must apply here even if only a little.

“I guess it is better than the armor that I was given…” Hayato minimized the [Player menu] and inspected his new equipment. Gone were the [Novice armor] set and replaced by leather-like armor.

The torso armor, which looked like a vest created with dark maroon colored leather with metal rings in between the inner and outer leather, giving it more defense in terms of physical damage. The chest plate came with matching bracers and boots that was made in similar fashion to the chest plate. It was called the [Jazerant armor] set.

Compared to the somewhat fully armored torso, arms and boots; he could not find anything to protect his legs so he opted to wear the standard black trousers he bought, in case he ever needed, and equipped a [leather cuisse]. Though it doesn’t block all damage, at least it has protection.

“Not bad I suppose…” Hayato tightened the knots of the bracers and moved around. He couldn’t find any weapon with enchantments but he did found another two [Iron Katana] with different elements. So he chose to equip the fire and lightning [Iron katana] and positioned one on his back and one at right waist. Both of which allowed him to draw his weapon less awkwardly than if he placed both on his back.

Hayato then reached to the item dangling around his neck. It was an [Infinity cube] which acts as a portable storage system. Though the name says ‘infinity’, the cube could only fit in around 1000 items that included [Quest Items] so the amount of space available storage was actually quite large but at the same time limited.

“Well, I think it’s about time that we cleaned this up…” Hayato looked towards the piles of items. He stepped to the female equipment pile and raised the [Infinity cube] which began to glow a slight blue hue and began ‘Vacuuming’ the items into the small cube. Hayato had been appraising them as well as keeping count. The amount of items, if put into ratio of males to females were: 50:900. So he had at least 100 more empty slots.

He looked towards the ‘male pile’. One by one, he picked up the items and re-appraised it with his [Advanced appraisal], which maxed out itself after appraising the many golden and red colored items, but alas: nothing new came up.

“Hey, hey… Hayato…?” Duuga, probably getting bored of waiting for the male picking up items, piped up from his seat on the Hayato’s shoulder. “So, how do you differentiate between males and females?”

“Well…” Hayato began as he picked up a small dagger made of silver “I think you can figure it out yourself. Since you are pretty much a small ball of fluff that has cuteness appeal, girls won’t just hit you when they see you staring.” Hayato did not want to answer such a thing because he himself cannot explain how he can differentiate females from males. He just… knew.

“Then… are we going to meet some females after this?” Duuga inquired.

“Probably… I actually just wanted to finish mapping the areas around [Shinzan town] but it appears I have already done that by following you.” Hayato brought out a physical [Map] from his inventory which showed the area of [Shinzan town] and its environment. “I think I’ll go into a dungeon… I need to raise my levels and improve my stats…” Hayato picked up the last remaining item and began to walk out from the opening where he came from before.

Possibly satisfied with the answer, the small [Hokkori] simply stayed quiet. The walk through the small cave-like corridor was almost silent where only the sound of Hayato’s new boots crunching at the sand and gravel underneath him.

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It didn’t take long for Hayato to maneuver out of the cave as it was simply a straight line with several traps meant for monsters rather than humans. Of course, he got past them rather easily and exited the cave.

It was dark and the sky was filled with glittering stars that lit up the night sky with the moon as the largest source of light. Hayato looked up at the sky, remembering about his family who were probably worried sick about him. It also reminded him that the potions he got were useless experiments that were more dangerous than helpful.

“I wonder how [Argoris] could make such a simple potion into a deadly poison?” Hayato mumbled quietly as he began to walk through the dark forest. He thought that the monsters here being nocturnal, there would be more walking about but here he was: alone with a monster he tamed by accident and no hostiles in sight.

‘I guess I should stay as quiet as possible…’ Hayato thought as he heard a rustling noise far from his position. He began to take lighter steps and quickly moved near the trees and away from shrubs if he could.

He found the silence of the forest more eerie than tranquil and not only that: there was something different in the air… something tense and heavy. Not malicious or dangerous… yet. Hayato knew. He knew that there was something that made the monsters in this forest quiet. He did not know what or how powerful the thing was, and truthfully: he did not want to know, but he knew that it was roaming the forest.

Hayato felt and odd sensation under his foot and looked down. It was a footprint. A large, bird-like footprint that was 5 times his foot but it was not deep. “Duuga…” He turned his back to the tree and began scanning his surroundings.

“Keep walking… don’t stop in one place for too long…” Duuga quietly answered. “As long as you move away from that ‘Thing’ you’ll be fine…” Duuga added.

Now Hayato was curious what this ‘Thing’ was but since Duuga hinted that it might be dangerous, he might as well be slightly paranoid and began moving in a shiftier manner. Hugging close to trees and as far away from shrubs that reached his thighs or higher, he began to maneuver out of the silent forest.

Nothing happened throughout his escape from the forest but he couldn’t shake the feeling of being followed by something after he got out of the forest. He tried to locate the source but he couldn’t find anyone or anything even after he used his [Advanced appraisal].

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***Time Skip: 3 days***

***Hayato***

Ever since that night he escaped from the forest, Hayato had been feeling a pair of eyes following him everywhere. The bad thing about this was that he could not find the perpetrator no matter how hard he tried to find him/her.

Though the only time the feeling would go away was when he goes to the toilet or when he went to take a shower/bath and even then he could feel a presence in the immediate vicinity thus making the supposed to be relaxing things to feel stressful.

Add the fact that he could not exit the gates as he could do so days ago; The reason being that powerful monsters not native to [Shinzan Outskirts] were beginning to migrate and search for something in the areas where only low-leveled [Adventurers] gather; it was pretty much a cage for him.

So ever since then, he had been walking around town helping with different miscellaneous things such as fixing roofs, fixing walls and fences, cooking for the restaurants, blacksmithing and even tailoring. Now, all of his skills had risen up by at least 5 levels so most of his skills were now in the intermediate levels. He also raised his hammer mastery by 2 levels but he still couldn’t get [Sword mastery] even though he trained with them. Does he need someone to teach it to him, or was he doing something wrong?

Currently, Hayato was just aimlessly walking about the streets of [Shinzan town]. The streets were busier than what people would expect from a beginner town but the traveling restrictions probably had something to do with it.

And of course, he still felt the stare from the ‘thing’ that’s following him but seeing as there was literally a sea of people: he still could not find his stalker. So he opted to just walk around to see if there was anything interesting.

“I wonder if Duuga is having fun with the kids right now…” Hayato mumbled. As Hayato said, he left Duuga to play with some children when he was walking through the residential district. Since Hayato was not planning on doing anything, he offered Duuga if he wanted to play with the children. The answer of course was ‘yes’ so the little children and the [Hokkori] ran off to play.

“Maybe I can learn [Accounting] if I helped someone with their calculations?” Hayato whispered as he bobbed and weaved through the supposed to be less crowded streets. “Maybe… yeah… maybe….” He mumbled and began picking up his pace.

“-he… Is… easo…?”

Hayato stiffened slightly but he did not stop moving. He could hear someone talking… in his mind? Without [Telepathic call] even. He was sure he heard… someone? The voice was too obscure… as if it belonged to multiple people.

“-smells… nice… smells…tea~”

Hayato felt something sniffing his neck which caused him to shudder involuntarily and stop in his tracks. He could feel them stroking his tails. He felt violated and suddenly he felt the urge to sprint away. He had been a subject to these touches when he was in his 5th year in his… “Repent sentence”. He did not like them one bit.

Hayato ignored the touches and began to walk quickly out of the shaded area he was walking through. It was not a touch by spirits. It was not a touch by animals. It was not a touch by humans. It was something else entirely.

“Oh… too bad… his tail was fluffy too…” Did he just hear a complete sentence? “Well… no matter… I finally found you…” Now Hayato really did stop. “I finally found a [Slayer]…” Just as Hayato was about to actually confront the thing that was behind him, warning bells rang off in his head before the real [Warning Bells] rang from the northern gate which caused a chain reaction from other bells positioned in the city.

A Monster Invasion Has Occurred! Protect the town and its denizens with the cooperation of the gate guards!

Hayato cursed. He needed to find the children. Nobles be damned, if he let any of the children’s life get taken: he’ll never forgive himself.

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***Duuga***

“How the hell did monsters breach the gates with so many people around?” Duuga couldn’t help shout, which was heard as a squeak by others that couldn’t understand his language, as he barely let off a weak ice spell to create a wall to separate the children from the [Kobold] that suddenly appeared.

“Mo-mommy… help!”

“No…”

“Mon…sters…?”

Duuga knew that he won’t be able to get answers if he did not survive this. So he was going to try his best to protect the children until help came. But the problems were… the levels of the monsters and their numbers.

From his position in front of the crying children, he could make out at least five level 80 [Kobold Thresher] with their slightly larger bodies and flail-like weapons. He might have leveled up some when Hayato was trying to get back to town but it was nothing compared to these monsters.

“Duuga…”

He couldn’t bear to see the children scared like this but he himself couldn’t do much other than to make shields. He was grateful he did not choose the offensive spell and instead prioritized Hayato’s defensive capabilities seeing as he was good with his weapons.

The [Kobold Threshers] all glared at Duuga from the other side of the shield. No attacks could pass through as long as he supplied mana but the damage they were dealing were overwhelming his [Mana Regeneration]. He could see cracks forming on the blue dome-like shield surrounding him and the children.

“Please…” the little [Hokkori] began to pour even more [Mana] into the shield as it slowly began to mend itself. “At least the children should be able to run… Curse this inferior level of mine!”

Before he knew it, blood splatters appeared on the shield he had created and a single figure stood in the mangled mess that was once the [Kobold Threshers]. Black silhouette with glowing golden eyes and glowing red [clawed gauntlets]

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***Hayato***

“This is too much!” Hayato breathed heavily as he slashed at another red blob that was actually a [Ruby Slime] as it tried to swallow him. he wasn’t dealing any damage to these things other than the miniscule elemental damage done by the [Iron Katana] with the fire element.

Swarming around him were other types of monsters from different categories; all of which he had apprised as soon as he saw them but that was not important. What’s important was the fact that they were all at least 75 levels above him with varying status distribution, skills and weapons. Hayato kind of wished he had prioritized his [AGI] stat to evade the attacks.

“God, what the fuck happened to the gates?!”

“Shut up and keep killing them! Stop them from approaching the citizens!”

“I can’t even land a blow! How do you expect me to stop them?”

All around Hayato were other [Adventurers (players)] that have taken up arms. They themselves were trying their hardest to keep the monsters away from any [Kismetian] including the guards. Some of them might have realized that the original people could not respawn so they were trying their hardest to protect them while others were simply trying to rake in the [EXP].

Dodging another lunge from the [Ruby slime], Hayato slashed the legs of 3 [Kobold Thresher] that looked like a mixture of dog and human and ended their lives by cutting off their heads. He was grateful he could kill them with fatal blows like these since the [Immersion] of their bodies and their avatars. Now he could kill a dragon with his swords as long as he didn’t take any damage and pierced through its scales. Speaking of dragons: there were other high leveled [Adventurers] doing aerial combat against the flying monsters including a small level 189 [Baby Dragon].

Hayato had no time to think as he began to implement the Ichiharu Style into his combat. He had evaded using them to prevent anyone “Learning” them without permission but in this case, he couldn’t afford to hold back. Too much was at stake and he still haven’t found Duuga or the children.

“Gather the women and children to the southern gate! That area is under control compared to the other places!”

Hayato barely managed to block a downward chop by a large [Sledge Ogre] by using his tails and swords. It caused severe pain to all parts of his body and even caused his HP bar to lose 9/10 of their original state. He pushed back the large sledge hammer and cross-chopped the [Sledge Ogre]’s stomach and pierced its lungs to and heart to make sure it died before drinking a [HP Potion] that regenerated half of his health.

“I am glad [Argoris] had these in those useless piles of junk…” Hayato expressed his gratitude for a second before he began to evade even more attacks by five other [Sledge Ogres]. All of which were too close to call dodges by skill.

Hayato used one of the rising hammers as a support and jumped onto a roof. Even with the [Ghost Strikes] passive ability, he simply could not chop through all five of the meaty ogres all at once. He really should just pick three stats to prioritize in and used the rest on what he needs to survive.

“There goes the jack-of-all-trades role I wanted to try…” He lamented as he brought out 10 small black spherical objects and threw them at the five [Sledge ogres] causing a massive explosion that almost made the building collapse. “I have to admit, [Argoris] was a genius to make these [Mana Bombs]. I need to get the [blueprints] after this so I’ll need to save at least one…”

A large howl and screech rang through his ears at the same time as 5 [Fledgling Dumas]; mantis-like creatures made from pure [Damascus]; and 3 [Magmatic Wolves]; flaming magma wolves; appeared on top of the opposing house. All of which had their sights on him.

“Shit… I accumulated too much [aggro]…” Hayato turned and began running from rooftop to rooftop followed closely by the 8 monsters of level 98. Even if he could kill them with a single strike, he could not evade all of them at the same time; especially the well-coordinated wolves.

Hayato felt a rumbling noise behind him. “8 monsters should not be able to make that much noise…” Hayato did not dare to look behind him. He now focused all his focus to running away but the more he ran away the stronger the rumblings. There were even small tremors.

“Hey! Get the wounded to safety as that person [Aggros] all those monsters away! Prioritize the [Kismetians]-”

Hayato really hoped that was not the case. It was bad enough he had to get touched by those things not long ago; now he had to be chased by all the monsters?

“That’s right… Go and chase him… devour him and grant yourselves to power to kill even the monsters that terrorize you…”

That obscure voice was not helping him out either. Why was he the only one that can hear that voice? Was it the because of the marking that appeared under his eye?

-End of Chapter-