“Ah, fuck…” I sighed in defeat as I plummeted to the ground. The spear stuck on the dirt. All it took was a single swing, and it was done. Just a swift strike, and I no longer had to deal with it. A single second, and I was free from my grief. 

 

Perhaps it was forgiveness… Did I stop myself? I had no idea. It was hard. I tried and yet when I swung my hands clenched and missed. It dug itself on the ground. Was this forgiveness? Did I forgive him? No, that wasn’t it. I wasn’t stopped either. Did I stop myself unconsciously? That’s weird. No, it’s not weird…

 

“It’s funny, that’s what it is…” Ha… “ Perhaps it’s the grief of knowing what I had done, perhaps that’s what happened…” It was a cold-hard fact that he ran away and got away from me. Unfortunately, I didn’t kill him. 

 

Ding!

[Title acquired: Merciful ⁠— Looks like there is more to a monster that just killing. ⁠— Special effect: Mercy. May help the user; for they have granted mercy upon an undeserving soul ⁠— Top 20%] 

 

Ha… Mercy… Was that what it was? I’ll never understand why the system insist on telling you a useless statistic… Actually it wasn’t useless… 

 

“Knowing that only 20% of people have the title… Although I don’t understand why it would say ‘bottom’ or ‘top’. Quite a useless thing…” It made no sense ⁠— trying to understand what that meant, best one could do is guess how many people have a title based on percentage… But that was it. 

 

“Heh…” It was funny to even think about such mundane things. One second I was killing, the other I was being merciful, the next I was… pondering about pretty irrelevant things. “Although… Why did I do it?” 

 

Lie to him like that… I wasn’t getting titles left and right… In fact this was the first title I gained tonight… How many people did I kill? Twenty? Not that many… Most people were still alive inside the mansion. Albeit heavily injured. 

 

I was supposed to be a beast, and yet all I could do was bit my lip as I mercilessly stabbed people. And even then, it was hard to not bat an eye at the things I was doing. Experimenting to get titles. Was it? Perhaps it was a good idea, titles aren’t that simple to get. 

 

“People have a life-time to acquire a lot of them after all…” Well I didn’t. “And that’s fine…” 

 

I finally stood up from the wet and cold grass. The wind coldly blew and the night went on. As if nothing happened. It was a reminder. A simple one: 

 

“The world moves forward even if I don’t…” That was the reason… the reason to why I couldn’t stay and grieve about my mistakes. Simply walk forward and everything was going to be alright. That’s what I believed. 

 

I stretched a bit, it was tiring to carry so many weapons. But they broke so easily— just as brittle as I was. A bit funny. Almost as if we were two objects of the same hardness crashing against each other. In the end both of them end up shattered. 

 

I held the spear on the ground and removed it from the dirt, it felt light ⁠— nowhere near as heavy as I felt it was before. Perhaps I simply was tired earlier, my endurance is very low after all… 

 

I stowed it in my back, and started to grab the daggers I had dropped. It was weird. I could feel the blood coagulating on my arm. But… Ignoring so much blood… 

 

Why was it so quiet? 

 

I had gone in a massacre inside⁠— screams one after another. And yet people inside the mansion didn’t seem to react. It was… odd. 

 

I sighed. It didn’t matter. As long as I got the job done and left the mansion. Although… it was getting late. 

 

I looked up to the sky, it was getting slightly clearer. Nowhere near as dark as before. The time was running out. And if I wasn’t back by the time the sun was out… I was going to have some serious problems. 

 

“Well, no use trying to worry about it…” Sigh. “Simply finish the job in the given time.” 

 

I readied myself once again and went inside. 

 

* * * 

 

Ding! 

[Degraded effect⁠— I don’t care. 

 

After every single kill the same stupid message popped up. It didn’t matter at this point. One life, two lives. Three or four, or a thousand. In the end, I had to shoulder all of the burdens anyway. Counting won’t make a difference when every single one is just like the last one.

 

Perhaps it might hurt a bit, but once it’s done you don’t feel it. Except when you do feel it⁠— it will hurt. The obvious statement that I still couldn’t really get used to. Ha… 

 

Still… 

 

I stood up from the guy I was previously thrashing and asphyxiating and looked around. It was  mess of blood and dismembered bodies, but the main thing is that… People were still sleeping or simply not acknowledging anything that was happening. 

 

The longer this goes on the more unsure I feel about it. Unfortunately, I couldn’t think too much about it, or rather. Linger too much on it. Not enough time to worry about such things. Although I might come to regret it later. I still don’t know, I still feel unsure. 

 

It also kind of felt like a waste of time… I wasn’t getting particularly stronger. It’s bothersome… It’s bothersome to know I wasn’t getting stronger, or changing much. It indeed felt like a waste of time… 

 

I could leave. I had nothing to gain here anymore… I should leave⁠— 

 

“Hey cutieee, want to dance?” Ah… I turned around hearing the playful voice. Yet another drunk person. 

 

He was tiptoeing around as he held a cup of some type of alcohol. Slowly but surely he approached me. Even though he was perfectly drunk, I still couldn’t let my guard down. 

 

I waited as he got closer, until…

 

“Hey want to playy? Come oon⁠— STAB

 

My dagger went through his neck. Effortlessly cutting it. Just another clean kill, no death throes. No screams, no pain. Simply… Merciful. Although I guess I am a hypocrite for thinking like that. I have at least gotten quite good at using weapons. 

 

As good as I am with calculations, I don’t have much experience with weapons. But I guess I was gaining experience with them. Getting more efficient and faster… It was a good thing. 

 

Things would go better. I sighed and moved on with what I was doing. 

 

“Ugh…” Someone started groaning. I guess that was my next victim. 

 

“Uwagh.” Someone else groaned. I guess another person woke up? I had to hurry before too many people started to wake up. 

◇ ◇ ◇ 

Almost as if a light switch was flipped right then and there. More and more people started to groan and stand up. It didn’t matter if I killed someone when two more people stood up. 

Before long everyone left alive had woken up, it didn’t take much more for them to realize I was the one killing. Even if I killed them before they came back to their senses it was annoying. 

◇ ◇ ◇ 

A sword came swinging in my direction. Why was this happening?! 

 

I deftly sidestepped it and with a smooth motion of my arm I threw a hammer in his direction. At incredible speed it drew an arc on the air and hit his head. Killing the target with his skull cracked. 

 

“I have to say girl, you are pretty strong. But can you deal with all of us?” One of them mockingly asked.

 

Indeed. Perhaps I couldn’t deal with every single one of them. 

 

I had killed the person that tried to kill me from behind, but now I had more than fifty people in front of me ready to kill me. Why did they all wake up simultaneously? 

 

The person that had taken the position of leader opened his mouth. “I have to say, it was quite smart to drug all of us through our drinks.” Drug? I never touched anything. “Unfortunately for you, your streak ends now. For our comrades!” He did a fist bump in the air and the crowd roared with bloodlust. 

 

I could feel my forehead getting sweaty. This wasn’t planned at all. I had to get out of this… But how? It was a battle of odds. Perhaps I was stronger, but… A battle of numbers is something I cannot win… 

 

I could feel my heart beating faster and faster⁠— if it even was a heart. I had to survive. I had to stay alive… In order to fulfill my mission, and in order to also save her. So much weight on me and yet little to no help…

 

Hah… it was funny. 

 

But I had to survive. 

 

I re-evaluated the situation. Perhaps I was broken, but if I have the edge on something is that I can evaluate and make calculations. A total of fifty-six people left, all of them using daggers⁠— short-ranged weapons…They had to get close to me in order to cut me down which means… 

 

My hand instinctively reached my back and grabbed the metal spear that could also be called a polearm. My highest chances of survivability were using a long-ranged weapon. Stabbing them from afar and swiftly…

 

“Looks like you don’t plan on giving up just yet, huh…” He mockingly said again. “Men, attack!” 

“Bring it…” 

 

Leah, do you trust me? I gripped my weapon with strength. Whether it’s trust or desperation… Thank you for giving me this opportunity. 

* * * 

Haa… Haaa… Ha…

 

“You monster!” He spat a mouthful of blood at my feet. 

“Perhaps that’s what I am, but this monster gets to live another day.” 

 

With a tired motion, my spear dug into his chest. It slowly caved in as he screamed before finally⁠— silence. I had lived another day, and finished the deal. I plopped down to the ground as I panted.

 

Ding!

[Quoted]

 

Ding! 

[Title acquired: Historian ⁠— Wow, inspirational! You get to be an ancient! Unique titles might be easier to get. ⁠— Top 0.1%] 

Keyword might… “Ha… Regardless, this is now over⁠— 

 

Ding! 

[Unique title acquired: Flesh hunter ⁠— Hatred runs deep inside the flesh, there is only one obvious choice on how to deal with it. Reminiscent of the true Flesh Hunter himself. +100% damage dealt towards organic substances ⁠— Unique. 

“Squirm all you want, that won’t stop me, because you are not pure. Once I’ve gotten rid of all that mass, perhaps you can tell me to stop.” ⁠— Sakuzu ‘the flesh hunter’ to his sister.]

 

How ironic… Being compared to such beasts… Quotes exist for a reason. Well, regardless… It was done now. 

 

Ding! 

[You have officially joined Scythe Logistics! Helping your squad leader to finish a crucial mission. You have proven yourself worthy against pre-poisoned opponents!] 

 

So that’s how it was… “It’s all his work, ha…” Telling me to go kill them, as an order… He had poisoned them beforehand— perhaps that’s what he intended all along. Although I don’t think he knew i was the new collector… What was his original plan? 

 

So now I am part of a shady organization… Fun… 

◇ ◇ ◇ 

Whether I was set up, or not. I had lived another day, and took a step closer to my goal. And for that reason, it hardly matters. Their screams on their death will fall upon my deaf ears. 

All I needed was to survive. 

◇ ◇ ◇ 

 

I opened the office door and took a seat. I was finally back. 

[Darkness affinity ⁠— The sun has risen, the monsters may rest. ⁠— -200% to all stats.] 

 

Just in time… I fainted.