First Encounter

I stand before the front door.

Beyond this point lies a world that is no longer the everyday life I've known.

An unknown world overrun with monsters stretches out before me.

"......!"

The ordinary door feels strangely heavy.

Heh, apparently I'm nervous—ah, no, it was just rusted.

Click. It opens.

I step outside.

My first step.

It's okay.

'Danger Sense,' 'Hostility Detection,' and 'Stealth' are active.

There shouldn't be any monsters nearby right now.

Or rather, these three Skills...

When I'm holed up in my room, it's hard to tell what effect they have.

They're Skills that only function once I'm outside.

This part makes me a little uneasy.

First, I check to the left and right.

It's the familiar hallway of my shabby apartment building.

Cracks run through the concrete here and there, and spiderwebs cover the fluorescent lights mounted beneath the eaves.

It's okay. There are no monsters.

At least, not on this floor.

"Phew..."

The kitchen knife clenched in my hand feels incredibly unreliable.

Even though it was the only thing I had that could serve as a weapon, I look exactly like a suspicious person carrying it.

I take a breath and move along while keeping myself hidden behind the half-wall.

This way, no one outside can see me.

First, I should check on the neighbors.

A newlywed couple lives in the room right next to mine.

That said, I barely know anything about them.

I basically don't communicate with my neighbors.

But the walls are thin, so I often heard the sounds of them going at it at night.

The next day, seeing the wife's skin glowing, I never knew quite how to feel.

Who'd have thought such a demure-looking, busty beauty could get so wild and vocal at night?

I went through a lot of konjac that day... No, let's not think about that now.

It makes me sad. In more ways than one.

Knock, knock.

I give the door a soft knock.

......No response.

I turn the doorknob.

......It doesn't open. Are they out?

Or have they already fled?

Could they have left while I was sleeping in?

That's possible.

Come to think of it, more than half a day has passed since the world became like this.

It wouldn't be strange if everyone had taken some sort of action by now.

I was asleep, though!

Maybe they checked on me while I was sleeping to see if I was okay.

Then, when I didn't respond, they fled.

Yeah, that's entirely possible.

Or rather, maybe I'm the strange one for sleeping a solid six hours while the world was turning into this.

It's not my fault! I was tired.

I ain't done nothing wrong. Society's to blame for everything.

Anyway, I'll check the other rooms too.

I knock on each door in turn and turn the doorknobs.

They were all empty.

Some of the doors were open, but inside, everything had been pulled out and left in disarray.

They probably fled in a panic.

If the fourth floor looks like this, I guess the lower floors will be the same.

Might as well investigate.

I head down the stairs.

I noticed it while walking along the hallway too, but the silence is terrifying. Not a sound.

This must be the effect of the Skill 'Sneak.'

Even when I move quickly, I don't make any noise.

Pretty handy.

If I could moonwalk with this, it'd be perfect, wouldn't it? Perfect for what?

Come to think of it, I wonder what I look like to other people right now.

Am I in some incredibly inconspicuous state?

Hmm, it's frustrating that I can't check for myself.

I reach the third floor.

There is no one in the hallway.

I knock on the room closest to the stairs.

No response.

The next room and the one after that don't respond either.

And then, the room at the very end.

I knock.

No response.

I turn the doorknob.

It opens.

"Oh."

The door opens with a creak.

"......Is anyone in there?"

I keep my voice as quiet as possible and wait for a response.

......There is none.

Is no one here?

I slowly peer inside.

"......Hm?"

Someone......is here.

I can sense a presence.

But......what is this 'bad feeling' echoing in my head?

Is this......'hostility'?

That's when I come to my senses.

The next moment—

"Giiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!"

Something lets out a cry and leaps out from the back of the room!

"Gah!"

I instinctively swing the kitchen knife up in front of me.

Kiiing!

The sound of blades clashing.

I catch sight of whatever attacked me.

It isn't human.

It has green skin and the body of an elementary schooler.

It wears only a filthy loincloth and holds a small knife in its hand.

A classic monster from fantasy worlds.

"A goblin......?"

......No, maybe it has some official name.

But it looks exactly like a goblin.

So goblin it is.

The goblin slowly fixes its gaze on me.

Its body is much smaller than mine.

Its arms are stick-thin, and it's scrawny all over.

And yet the intimidation it gives off is tremendous.

This isn't some fake creation appearing on a screen, like in a game or anime.

It has the visceral presence that only something real can possess.

Right. This really is scary......

Thanks to 'Fear Resistance,' I'm surprisingly calm, but without that Skill, I might have wet myself. My legs might have trembled so badly that I couldn't even run away.

"Gii......"

The goblin backs away a little and glares at me.

Is it on guard because I blocked its first attack?

"Heh, nice...... This is getting much more fantasy-like."

I ready my kitchen knife.

Then I put on a fearless grin.

"Gii......!"

The goblin raises its dagger, its expression practically saying, Come at me anytime!

Heh heh, now I'm fired up.

If that's how you want it—I'm running!

I spin around and make a break for it.

So long, goblin!

"Gii!?"

From behind me, I hear the goblin make a sound like, 'Huh?! Wait—'

Then the goblin hurriedly chases after me and rushes out the front door.

Good!

At that moment, I spin around and stand directly in front of the goblin.

The goblin freezes for a moment at my second strange move.

In that opening,

"—Item Box, open."

Keeping my kitchen knife at the ready, I use 'Item Box.'

What I take out is the 'washing machine.'

I take out that pointlessly huge, heavy washing machine.

When something taken out of Item Box is too large, it appears directly in front of me.

And the goblin is right in front of me.

So what happens?

"Ggyaa!?"

The goblin is crushed beneath the suddenly appearing washing machine.

This pointlessly huge, heavy washing machine is almost as wide as the entrance and hallway.

It's deep too, so the goblin probably didn't have time to get out of the way.

"Operation successful."

Yeah, it got crushed nicely.

Though it isn't dead.

"Gii...... Giiii......!"

It's pinned underneath the washing machine, as though it were being pressed down from above.

It can barely move.

"Store."

I store the washing machine in Item Box.

"Gii? Gii......?"

The object that had suddenly been pinning it down vanishes, and the goblin looks shocked.

I smile sweetly.

"One more time."

Before the goblin can regain its footing, I take out the washing machine again.

I aim for its head—thud.

"Ggya."

Of course, the goblin is crushed again.

"Hmm, still alive......"

The goblin twitches weakly.

I brought it out a little higher than before, but I guess it wasn't quite enough.

I store the washing machine and take it out again.

Thud.

"G......gya......"

I repeat the process.

Store, take out, thud.

Store, take out, thud. Store, take out, thud.

Store, take out, thud. Store, take out, thud. Store, take out, thud.

How many times have I repeated this?

A sickening squelching sound rings out.

The goblin stops moving completely.

Apparently, it's dead.

At that moment, the goblin's corpse vanishes, and a blue pebble rolls across the hallway.

≪You gained experience.≫

≪You reached the required amount of experience.≫

≪Kudo Kazuto, your Level has increased from 1 to 2.≫

A voice echoes in my head.

Looks like I leveled up just now.

"Phew......"

I let out a big sigh and sit down where I am.

Ah, that was scary.

Man, I'm glad I managed to win somehow.

Sweat pours down my back. That was scary.

But, you know......

This is the first time I've consciously killed a monster myself, but I guess I can do it when I put my mind to it.

Item Box really is incredible.

Oh, right. I didn't even use the kitchen knife in the end.