Hiro smiled as recalled one of his dad’s favorite metal songs, Bounce, by System of a Down, which echoed in his head as he jumped up and down in the parking garage. It was safer here than it was on the rooftop, where he could be spotted.
Hiro wasn’t opposed to cheesing his way to the next level, even if it was loud.
Skill level up!
{Bounce}, E-Rank > {Bounce}, D-Rank
Upgrade Available: Current Interim max reached.
He stopped to catch his breath. “So there’s a max per Interim?”
You have new followers!
People—Hiro shook his head, whatever was watching him wasn’t a person— something really wants to watch me hop around a parking garage?
Thinking about his followers spawned more information:
Followers: 341
Interim Performance Grade: D
City Survivors: 901,423
World Survivors: 382,122,711
Beast Death Count: 39/791
Millions upon millions had died across the world while Hiro was passed out in the fallout shelter. The city had lost over eighty-thousand souls since he last checked. He had a feeling this number would continue to climb, especially now that the Hunters were released.
But there was little he could do about that at the moment.
If he wanted to get stronger and survive all of this, he needed to gain followers. That part made sense, even though none of this made sense.
“Then let’s get more.”
Hiro headed up to the roof. He came out crouching, the light blinding even though the solar eclipse sun was blotted out by gray clouds.
Pigeons took flight.
New York City and its surrounding areas were massive, but there were still nine hundred thousand Survivors out there. Hiro needed to find another one to join him at the gate when it opened to match Valeria.
I’m sure I’ll find someone.
Rather than ask his Companion how to use his new {Beacon} power, Hiro simply waved his hand and a beam of energy formed. “Easy enough.”
It grew until it touched the bottom of the mottled gray clouds above. This would give him a marker, allowing him to easily find the parking garage and his fallout shelter below.
“Good. Just in case I get lost.” Hiro was just about to hop to the next roof when he heard the crunch of metal in the street below.
He moved to the side of the roof, where he waited until the sound died down.
Hiro took a quick breath and peered over the edge.
Below, a man in a wrinkled hood steered a grotesque chariot made of sinew and bone, his craft pulled by a beast that looked like a disturbing amalgamation of a clydesdale and a two-headed drake.
The man had his back to Hiro at the moment, and he couldn’t see his face. A skull appeared over the man’s head and quickly faded.
What the fuck? Hiro’s phone buzzed, causing his heart to jump. He pulled it out and read the message from his companion.
Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.
The Hunter stopped. He turned, and casually glanced up at Hiro, the Hunter’s face obscured by a strange black mask. A lance made of sizzling energy formed in the Hunter’s hand.
“Shit!” Hiro pressed back just as the Hunter released the lance of mana, which hurtled through the air and struck the top of the parking garage, sending stone and bits of rebar into the air.
The Hunter’s two-headed drake roared as Hiro bolted toward a different roof.
{Bounce} sent Hiro to a higher building, where he hit the roof running. Brick dust and metal shards exploded around him as he narrowly dodged the next mana lance.
He reached an even higher roof and found cover.
Hiro didn’t know how powerful the charioted Hunter was.
He didn’t know if he could simply shift to his werewolf form and deal with it, and he certainly wasn’t about the hop down there with his katana, not at his level.
“What do I do?” he whispered as the Hunter went for a new kind of attack. This time, the lance of mana didn’t hit the edge of the rooftop. Instead, the bolt of mana hovered horizontally above Hiro, charging.
His phone buzzed and he stupidly looked at it.
“No shit!” Hiro shoved his phone back into his pocket. He ripped off his backpack and took a running leap toward the edge of the roof, where he triggered {Lupine Shift} midair, eight stories up.
His vision shifted, claws grew, and his snout elongating as additional teeth populated his mouth.
Wham!
Hiro collided with the Hunter and his bone chariot, bounced up, hit the side of a building, and came down onto a toppled food stand.
He all but ignored the painful landing as the power of his transformation completely took over, as Hiro got his first glimpse of the hunter’s face. It was brief, and he was so enraged by this point that he couldn’t do much more than try to maintain what little control he had over his own body.
All he would later remember seeing were a pair of red eyes beneath a black, off putting Hyottoko mask.
Hiro tackled the Hunter, slammed his shoulders against his overturned chariot, and would have killed his opponent had it not been for the two-headed drake.
The beastly creature rammed its body into Hiro and scrambled on top of himm.
It came at him with its mouth open, only to choke as Hiro punched a clawed fist through one of the drake’s open mouths. The beast clamped down onto his arm and Hiro used his sudden leverage to rip its head off at the neck.
With a part of the drake still attached to his arm, Hiro dealt with the next head by snapping the jaw back and killing it.
Fwitt!
The hunter released a trio of energy-laced throwing knives, one of which stuck Hiro in the shoulder. The other two stuck into the body of the drake, which soon gave up the fight.
Hiro ripped the blade of energy out, the weapon sizzling in his hand for a moment before fizzling away. He turned to find the masked Hunter seething, the man now with two scimitar-like blades.
The first strike came in fast, Hiro ducking to avoid it.
He pivoted, jumped onto the Hunter, dug his claws, and bit down onto the towering man’s neck. As the two fell to the pavement Hiro ripped threads of muscle out, blood spritzing the air.
[A Hunter has fallen.]
You have new followers!
Hunter Count has been unlocked!
Hiro staggered to the right. He fell into an overturned trash can, regained his strength and instinctively moved toward the shadows of a building as he fought the urge to eat.
He turned back to the drake’s body.
Don’t—! he tried to tell himself, but by this point, Hiro was crouched before the monster’s body and had slit its stomach open with a claw. He ate until he grew sick. As the transformation dissipated, Hiro vomited, which caused a sudden headache, his nose running, arms pulsing.
Need to get to the rooftop…
He was just about to {Bounce} his way back up when his phone buzzed. His hazy vision focused on the screen as he read his Companion’s words:
Hiro turned back to the Hunter. A spiral of red energy rushed toward him, more Soul Essence. As it did, the Hunter and the drake’s body faded away, leaving the blackened clown mask the Hunter had been wearing.
“Okay…” Hiro picked up the mask next, which featured the visage of a comical Japanese character, his mouth puckered at one side.
Roulette Accessory: Hyottoko Mask
Grade: B
Description: Aside from the anonymity this mask will provide, wearing it gives the Survivor an enchantment known as {Aura of Laughter}, an Area of Attack skill that has a chance for uncontrollable laughter from beings within a certain radius, reducing their attack accuracy and defense.
Ronin of Wall Street? A katana? A Hyotokko mask? What’s with the system giving me Japanese shit?
Another thought came to Hiro as he continued to examine the mask.
So far, there has been a Roulette Skill through {Lupine Shift}; a Roulette Boost to my base stats; and now, a Roulette Accessory, all of which go away later.
This would make it impossible for him to gain advantages long-term.
Hiro grimaced. “I don’t know if I can wear this stupid thing.”
Something shifted in the shadows ahead. Hiro looked up and saw a pair of horned tigers, which had to be the ones he had seen when the gates first opened. They crawled across the out of façade of one of the buildings, their long, barbed tails aimed at him. The barbs split open and began releasing a green gas into the streets.
Without the ability to shift into his wolf form, there was only one thing he could do.
Hiro hastily placed the Hyottoko mask on his face and turned toward the two horned tigers, ready to do battle.