One of the positive sides of being the size of a polar bear was that it was difficult to miss; and while Marcus backed away, drawing both pistols; accidentally tossing one of them away like a projectile, not even sure if he was holding the Left or Right; five of the first six shots struck the target head-on, leaving nasty gouges in the giant beast’s head and torso.

One of the negative sides of such a creature, if its charging you, is that when it dies, its still moving; and the beast slammed into Marcus like a train, driving him back several feet and collapsing atop him; letting him know that, however much a polar bear might weigh, and however much a ‘strength of 10’ might get him… he couldn’t pick up a giant raccoon.

For a moment, he lay there, confused, angry, feeling the weight of the beast atop him… and then he remembered. He thought… ‘Loot’... at the creature.

Looted: 10x Raccoon Hide, 1x Glock(Uncommon) 9mm, 3x Glock magazines(full), 1x Nike shoe, 3x Ring(Gold)

The creature simply vanished, the looted bits transported into his extradimensional space; he needed to get some shelves to put in there… and leaving the other beasts glaring at him, as he raised his revolver and started firing again.

This time, none of them managed to get close; the fourth actually started to run, the instincts that should’ve kicked in when a gun went off apparently only now registering; and the beast made it about a dozen yards before collapsing from a shot through its own body.

He sat on the ground, groaning… looking at the other raccoons.

On the one hand, he could loot these bastards. They’d apparently eaten at least one person, so they might provide other loot when killed. And if upgraded weapons were selling for ten grand…

On the other… he could back off to a safe distance. Use these guys as a much larger, stronger-smelling sort of bait… and wait to see what came.

Preferably from far enough away he didn’t have to worry about one running him over.

***

He had a set of headphones in, listening to the tablet rattle on, learning about how ‘Magical Crafting’ worked, when he finally got a taker, hours later. He’d seen a few cars pass by in the distance; dozens, really, this was the interstate after all, so he’d see one every few minutes, at least. None had stopped to bother him, though; another sign in favor of the cops not being after him.

He didn’t see them coming; had no idea what was going on… until he saw one of the corpses moving. At first, just wiggling back and forth a bit… and then… starting to get dragged away, off towards, seemingly, nothing; the only thing he saw in that direction was an old, abandoned house that had collapsed at least a century ago.

Jackpot?

He stepped up, watching the body move; and sure enough, there were dozens of ants… each at least as big as his hand… grabbing and pulling the body, forming a living chain and starting to move it.

He looked down the length of the chain… there were… hundreds of them. Obviously, they were small, weak, compared to something his size. He could kill one, maybe even more than one, with each shot, or even just stomp on them. But… if they swarmed… he’d have to run. And just hope he got away quickly enough to survive.

He had the handgun raised, about to start shooting spirit bullets into the mass, when he saw it.

A Warrior ant. About the size of a dog, maybe three and a half feet long… with an armored head ending in what looked like a pair of butcher knives.

He looked around for others… even as the first one started heading his way… and nodded. Don’t let it get to close; some of those things could spit acid.

He fired; a quick, calm shot slamming into the head, breaking the creature; and sending the rest of them into a swarm, a panic… for a few seconds.

Then… more warriors started coming his way. Dozens of them… exactly what he needed.

He started firing; aiming at the Warriors as they closed, aiming at the swarm of workers; chitin shattered, divots were dug into the dirt, drips of acid splattered, bringing up hissing shrieks from other ants.

Congratulations! First title gained!

Insect-Slayer: +10% damage against insects.

Congratulations! Legendary Weapon: Right Hand of Death: can now become ‘Bane’ to Insects.

He chuckled. Not enough to make much of a difference, for now. But considering they thought it was going to be an ‘Insect Apocalypse’.... He just kept shooting. At first, it was easy enough; only the Warriors were trying to close in, the workers were bunched up, trying to grab the corpses while running…

Eventually, however, their behavior changed. Right around the time he got the next two titles, close enough together he didn’t even resolve the prompt for the next two.

Congratulations! Title gained! Congratulations! Title Upgraded!

Insect-Slayer II: +25% damage against insects.

Ranged Slayer: +10% range for ranged weapons, +25% collection range for Mana acquired while using a ranged weapon.

That… made sense. Did he get that at a hundred ranged kills? It didn’t matter. Not long after that happened, the whole mass of them started to move towards him… and he had to start backing away. At first, he just kept firing back into the swarm, leaving a handful of ant corpses with each shot… then he had to jog back a few dozen yards, before slowing to keep firing… but they kept coming. Faster than any ant should be.

Congratulations! You have gained your fourth level!

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Suddenly, it was just a bit easier to aim at them… and to move away. He started back towards his car at a fast walk, keeping a decent distance away from them… and when he reached it, he hopped in, starting the car. He thought, for a moment, about just driving away… but he stopped… and instead just started to head off on the interstate just fast enough to keep away… and leaned out the window, firing a few shots into the swarm to encourage them to keep chasing.

He didn’t have to use the gun to kill them to level up; or even kill them himself. Just kill them nearby.

He kept driving for about a mile… realizing he was going the wrong way only when a car suddenly came at him head-on, horn held down… and he swerved onto the shoulder, watching the car swerve violently back and forth a few times… before rolling, tumbling… and landing on its roof amidst the swarm of ants, killing dozens of them.

He frowned. That didn’t just cost him a few kills, but messed with his plan. He slowed, turning around…

He centered the Taurus on the swarm; which was now starting to gather on the crashed car; and started to accelerate.

The creatures didn’t seem to know, or care, about the car; even as he started to splatter and crush them beneath it, running right through, leaving a long trail of broken and crushed bugs behind him. He swerved narrowly, just enough to miss the car, crushing about half of the ones swarming it… and just kept right on going, swerving just a bit back and forth to hit as many of the ones on the road as possible… until…

A loud hiss…. And he saw the temperature on the car suddenly start to spike.

Well. Fuck. The engine was sounding worse by the moment, and by the time he reached the end of the swarm on the road… and the next notifications popped up…

Congratulations! Title Upgraded!

Insect-Slayer III: +50% damage against insects. You have acquired the ability ‘Intimidating Shout’. Any creature which you have a ‘Slayer’ title towards will tend to flee from you when this ability is triggered. Effectiveness based on the power of the creature, and situational; an insect will almost never fleet from its nest. For each ‘Slayer’ title you bring to rank III, this ability will be marginally more effective.

Congratulations! You have gained your fifth level!

You may now choose a new race, class, or both. Should you choose a new race, your attributes and abilities will change significantly. Should you choose a class, you will cease gaining 2 points in each stat with each level, and will instead gain class abilities, and a more focused distribution of stats.

The next time you sleep, you will be allowed to make the choice. Note that class and species options will vary per individual.

The car was well and truly fucked, not just covered with bug guts; but the engine was practically filled with them, the radiator was shot, it would be overheating and dead within minutes.

If he didn’t want to walk back to civilization…. He’d need to make it back to that car that had flipped, and hope it would still run.

He slowed, turning around… and started accelerating back. There were bugs he’d missed the first time; he made sure to nail as many of them as he could, even as one of the tires punctured, and controlling the car became… difficult.

Congratulations! Title Gained!

Vehicle Slayer: -25% speed reduction and damage taken by vehicles used as a weapon. A portion of ambient mana will be used to augment vehicles used in this manner.

You are one of the first 10,000 people on your world to gain this title! Your title has been modified to (Frontrunner) Vehicle Slayer, its effects increased by 50%, and you have received a Boon; Upgrade Vehicle.

Wait. Weren’t vehicles just equipment? Marcus thought he’d heard the Tool boon could be used on a car. And… if so, why had he been one of the first? Surely that should’ve been taken up by… well. It didn’t matter.

This thing was about to die. And if he upgraded it, it’d probably stay just as shitty as it already was, just… not break further. He should wait to get a different car to use it on.

When he got back to the flipped vehicle, one of the doors was open; and a woman was viciously crushing ants with a tire-iron, screaming. He deliberately missed; crushing more of the bugs just in front of her… and swerved off the road, barely controlling the stop.

He settled himself for a moment… and climbed out of the car, looking at it for a moment… firing a single shot at a still-living Worker bug on the hood… and turned, heading towards the woman now rising to her feet, glaring at him, waving a tire iron angrily as she stomped her feet; she was wearing sneakers, sweatpants, and a sports-bra, which seemed like an odd mix, but he wasn’t going to judge. It was a comfortable enough outfit, and the red pony-tail was a good choice to keep it all out of her face while driving… or killing.

“Do you have any idea what the fuck you’ve done!? I’m supposed to be in California for my sister’s wedding tomorrow! Now there’s all this system bullshit, my car is ruined…”

She watched as he seemed to ignore her, just walking right by; and started firing into the stragglers. There weren’t many; but some of the ants were still following.

It didn’t take long before that was done…seemingly there was some threshold of distance, or number of casualties, that the ants finally gave up at, and he glanced at her, then the car. “You the only one here?” He’d be transforming as soon as he found a safe place to take a nap. So long as she didn’t see him both before and after, she wouldn’t be another witness he’d need to kill.

“Uhm… yess?” She looked at him, all the dead ants… and looked a bit shocked as he grabbed the car…. And flipped it back upright with a sudden jerk. The windows were broken, the windshield cracked… but it looked mostly intact.

“Check to see if she’ll start. There’s definitely more of them, but they probably won’t be coming after us for a few.”

She stared at him, at the busted yellow taurus, the mass of dead ants… and then grunted… struggling, but managing to open the car door after a few seconds. Climbing in, she had to slouch under the dented roof… and tried starting it.

After a few seconds… it started. She gave a loud exhale. “Oh, thank god.” She looked at him, then back at the ants. “...You ruined your car to kill them…. If you hadn’t, I’d be dead. But… well. If you hadn’t, I would never have crashed in the first place…. Do you… need a ride to the next town?”

He glanced at her for a moment; then back at the car. “...I need to tell someone in California her brother died when a monster attacked his gas station. I was going to bring her his car, as well. You’re going west?”

“Ahh… yes?”

“Next town with a bus station, please. I saw a greyhound pass an hour ago, so those still seem to be running.”

“Of… of course.”

He nodded. “Thanks.” Convenient. He wouldn’t have to kill her and steal the car. Getting the Human-Slayer achievement would be useful towards his ends, and he definitely planned to get it, but whenever it happened, it might make things… irritating if someone could see his status and titles.

As he checked the car, making sure there wasn’t anything else he needed, he contemplated whether he really needed to head west, as he opened the car, climbing in… and the woman looked at him.

“Uhh…. my name's Janice.” She extended a hand awkwardly.

Marcus nodded. “Marcus.” He would assume a new name, with his new face, come morning. He shut the door… and then again, slamming it, when the warped frame refused to catch the first time. “We’re lucky she starts. I didn’t fancy the next…. Twenty miles? Of walking.”

She was looking him up and down. He noticed the faint blush as she took him in; his torn jeans and shirt revealing firm, lean muscles that belonged on someone just leaving the military, not a mechanic, apparently doing something for her; but wasn’t too concerned. He wasn’t looking for a date; he had someone that needed killing, and a fury that was aiming him like a bullet at its target.