Chapter 90
That day, he was attacking people again.
It was a moonless night—a night of the new moon.
It was the perfect opportunity to attack people.
In the darkness, the only faint light visible was from a torch.
All that could be heard was the sound of horses' hooves and squeaking wheels.
A lone old man was traveling in a horse-drawn cart without an escort.
Perhaps he was sleepy from traveling at night, because the hand holding the reins had slackened slightly.
Perhaps he had spared the expense of hiring guards, or let his guard down because this was a well-maintained, safe road—or perhaps there was some other reason.
Well, it didn't matter.
To him, it was ideal prey.
Silencing his footsteps and hiding his presence, he slowly approached his prey.
The horse pulling the cart was the first to notice his approach.
The horse let out a loud whinny, and the cart came to a sudden stop.
"W-what is it...?"
The old man noticed that something was wrong, too.
But it was already too late.
He had already reached the old man's side.
He attacked the old man without hesitation.
"Kishaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!"
"W-what is it?! Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!"
Crunch.
The sound of something being torn apart, followed by something spraying, rang out.
Startled, the horse began to run.
The motion sent him and the old man tumbling to the ground.
"Agh... ah—"
The old man died.
Only the grotesque sounds of chewing faded into the darkness of night.
≪You acquired Experience Points.≫
A voice echoed in his head.
But he did not understand what it meant.
Because he had no intelligence.
"Gah...?"
Unable to understand, he looked around him.
There was no one there.
He had been repeating this act for a long time.
No matter how many times he repeated it, a zombie with no intelligence could not learn.
It merely repeated the same thing: attacking people.
But he was a little different from other zombies.
He had never been slain by humans and had succeeded in feeding again and again.
He had surely devoured well over a hundred people by now.
How could he hunt more efficiently?
How could he prevent his prey from fighting back?
How could he avoid being hunted himself?
This was different from learning.
This zombie had understood all of it by instinct.
That was why he had survived until now.
"Am... au... ng..."
The sounds stopped.
It seemed his "meal" was over.
The instant he let out a small burp and stood up, looking satisfied—"it" happened.
Thoom!!!
A tremendous tremor suddenly struck him.
"...Ah?"
The shaking was so violent that it could only be described as the earth's rage.
Unable even to stand, he collapsed where he stood.
He rolled along the ground with the earth's throbbing.
It lasted perhaps several dozen seconds.
At last, the shaking subsided.
"Gah...?"
What had happened?
He got to his feet and looked around.
Then he saw a lone human a short distance away.
The human had appeared suddenly, even though no one had been there just moments earlier.
"Whoa... That was quite a shake..."
It was a thin, middle-aged man wearing glasses.
He was dressed in formal clothing of the sort a noble might wear and held something resembling a square box in his hand.
"Damn, having to scout out a building slated for redevelopment in the middle of the night is seriously the worst. That bastard of a department head dumped this annoying job on me."
Muttering to himself, the middle-aged man approached him.
"It's too dark to see a damn thing. Let's see, my phone, my phone—huh?"
"Gah?"
The moment the middle-aged man switched on his phone's flashlight, their eyes met.
"H-hii!? W-what is this monster?!"
The middle-aged man fell on his backside.
"Kishaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!"
He reflexively attacked the man.
He understood by instinct.
This prey was weak.
He could hunt it.
In fact, the middle-aged man was caught with ease.
"Waaahhhhh! Stop! Let go! Let gooooooo!!"
Though the middle-aged man desperately struggled to escape, the zombie was stronger.
The middle-aged man fell to the ground, and the zombie climbed astride him.
"Hiiiiiieee! Somebody—help me—gya..."
His words cut off before he could finish.
Squelch.
He chewed noisily.
The next moment, a voice rang out in his head once more.
≪You acquired Experience Points.≫
≪The first human kill in Chaos Frontier has been confirmed.≫
≪You have been awarded the First Kill Bonus.≫
≪You acquired the Skill 'Pride.'≫
≪Your existing Experience Points have been reset upon acquiring 'Pride.'≫
≪Your LV is now 1.≫
This time, more words echoed than usual.
And then, the next moment, a 'change' occurred within him.
"Gah...!?"
Severe pain assailed his entire body.
It felt as though his body were being rebuilt from within.
He clutched his chest and crouched down where he stood.
How long had he been like that?
After a while, the pain subsided.
When he stood up, he noticed the changes in himself.
Strength filled his entire body.
A flood of stimuli rushed into the nerves he was supposed to have lost, and pleasure coursed through him.
A light of reason that had never been there before now shone in his eyes.
"..."
Understanding the change that had occurred within him, he deepened his smile.
On this day, at this very moment, the world changed, and 'he' was born.
【Skill: Pride】
In the new world created by the fusion of two worlds, this Skill is granted to the monster that is the first to kill a human.
It grants an enormous bonus when gaining Experience Points.
A monster that obtains this Skill has its existing Experience Points reset, but gains high intelligence and reason in exchange.
Bearing a great sin and guided by fate, it will eventually become a being that leads the monsters.