Suta POV

Anak stared at the trio settled above him with a distrusting look of annoyance evident in his gaze.

"Tsk! This... this might take a while," Anak said in a deep growl, even Suta could tell those three were probably going to need some time to figure things out, considering it took them an awful amount of time to agree on what to eat, let alone working out how that rune worked. Speaking of runes, Suta was beginning to understand why the midnight tribe advised this many fairies to accompany them along their voyage. Since Anak couldn't use mana, the fairies were the next best option. According to the vampire, Fairies were natural embodiments of negative energies. Their strange genetic makeup was almost similar to a magical artifact, according to Anak, who Suta thought suspiciously knew a lot about the arcane for someone without a trace of mana within his body.

"And so that leaves you and me then human." Slowly, Anak turned his pale countenance towards him. Beneath those glowing eyes, Suta stirred uncomfortably, seeing such a cruel smile crease against his face again. He preferred the cold scowl and expressionless mask in comparison.

"It's time for your baptism human. Look, those monsters over there would delight in nothing more than to eat us. They think we're food, kukukuh, but little do they know we are the hunters, boy." The vampire smiled cruelly as he observed the various creatures on their boat. Although hearing those words did little to soothe Suta's woes, it almost made him cry out in defiance from the inside. He held no confidence in his own abilities right now and was very much not prepared to take those creatures lightly.

'Hunters? Monsters? M-me? He-he can't be serious.'

Suta harshly swallowed again, twisting around to see the slowly advancing creatures walking towards him. His heartbeat was racing, almost threatening to leap out of his chest at this point. Those were not simple creatures he could handle; just thinking about what would happen if they got hold of him was depressing.

With all the strange abilities and powers floating around this place, he had never fought anything remotely close to that in his entire life. How could someone like him hope to combat those things?

'H-how do I stop that... I can't... I'm too- ' Suta found his thoughts swiftly halted by the cold touch of Anak's fingertips. This time, he felt those cold fingers gracefully pressed against his forehead. Much to his surprise, Anak casually brushed away loose strands of hair dangling just before his boyish features.

Suta squirmed beneath his touch. There was a strange contrast between how he was being touched and those menacing, cold-looking eyes bearing right into him. Anak had shown him a host of different faces ever since the very first time they had met, from indifference to callously cold, to frightening, and quite oftentimes, lost in deep thought as though his presence seemed always lost in time. But right now, he held a strangely unfamiliar gaze. A look Suta had seen against his family members more than enough times to understand what they were thinking.

"Listen to me carefully. You don't need to feel it. Move and stay alive. Survive. Realize what that means, and I'm confident you can handle yourself. It's quite simple, really: they want to kill us, and we must not let that happen. Now take that and guard yourself well."

Suta's eyes flashed open. 'They...they want to ki-kill me?'

Now that he had heard it from Anak's mouth, there was no way he could remain calm.

"I c-can't fi-fight those things. I-I-I'm not. I'm not strong enough; I'm not ready."

Anak's grip tightened against his collarbone, his stare intensifying, telling Suta everything he needed to know about his frail act of defiance at this point. The vampire stared into his eyes without as much as a single blink, but suddenly, his cold mask melted, and a deep exhale was breathed into his lips.

"We have no choice, take a look." Gesturing towards his rear, Suta peeked around the vampire and almost jumped out of his shoes at the sight awaiting him

He remembered the state those two creatures from before were in and the strange, grotesque transformation they had undergone. Somehow, they had become a single being, a towering mass of robust muscle covered in thick purple shells with three antennae wiring away from its snout, which now resembled a prawn.

His gaze trembled again; this hell wasn't relenting anytime soon. In truth, it was only becoming much more of a one sided terror.

'I will have no choice but to fight; I will have to fight? me? F-f-ight against monsters?'

This wasn't like sparring or those martial competitions he had to participate in. It was life and death—kill or be killed.

'I c-can't...' Suta shut his eyes and tried to will away those thoughts closing in on him. He couldn't breathe. He was panicking; anxiety had finally reached its point of no return in his chest. Any second now, he understood what was bound to happen.

'Please... help me... please.'

The walls were closing in, he could hear everything, and he felt his heart beating too fast. Was he going to die? am I going to die? Will they kill me?

'Buahaha, my son... have you forgotten what's important already?' A ghostly voice appeared, shattering the shell of worry enclosed around him.

A gasp broke free from Suta's mouth. Opening his eyes again, he saw a strange, surreal, ethereal ghost standing beside him.

"D-dad?" He mouthed aloud, unsure what he was seeing right then. He noticed Anak's gaze trail towards him in response, his brow slightly narrowed with a look of confusion evidently drawn against them. But it didn't remain poised on him for long. Those creatures looming ever closer were holding Anak's attention firmly.

His dad's ghostly image surprised him. Was this real? Was he dreaming? Before he mustered enough courage to speak more, he noticed his father's smile lessen. His eyes scanned the ship and the air around him, eliciting a shrill whistle from his mouth.

'Quite the bind you've gotten yourself into... no matter... it's just another chance to overcome your previous self... just like I taught you.'

Suta was still gawking at his father's ghostly figure standing beside him. A euphoric rush of tears threatened to well in his eyes and fall, but he immediately held his emotions in check. He understood this was likely the result of his vast mind again. Playing tricks on him just before he was on the verge of a mental collapse.

'Just like with the clouds? I... can I make my thoughts come to life?' The idea almost sent his mind racing into orbit again, but luckily his father's familiar and jovial voice pulled him free.

'You're never alone, Shoba, so rise and go and become someone you've always dreamed of becoming.'

Suta gritted his teeth.

'That name... Shoba... yes... I... I had almost forgotten.

'And what is that... what did I always dream of becoming?' He questioned himself, already knowing the answer.

As he stared into the aimless air, his Dad's voice drew closer to his ears as though his face hovered beside his own.

"Strong, my boy, you always wanted to become strong."

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After wiping away his tears, Suta rose and exhaled heavy breaths. He looked at the trio of fairies standing before a faded rune he could just about see against the ship's mast. Then he turned towards the monsters who had climbed onto the boat.

"Three of them. They have short legs and don't look too mobile based on their build. Anak said I just need to survive... so-so here goes nothing."

He held the dagger in his hand firmly, and without giving Anak a second look, he proceeded forward towards the monsters.

"I got this... you worry about that t-th-thing. I won't let a single one of them through." His voice sounded slightly broken but he didn't stop. He didn't need to turn around, but he could already hear a snigger creep across Anak's lips from behind, followed closely by his fading voice delivering a final message against his ears.

"Good, hunt well Suta."

***

Their snarls were unsettling, but standing so close, Suta realized a second problem disturbing his focus.

"They smell terrible."

He wasn't exaggerating. If it wasn't for his instincts telling him to keep his hands at a guarded level by his side, he would've been pinching his nostrils together by now.

But the pungent scent would be the least of his woes. The three-shelled creatures stood a mere 10 or so feet away from him. Being this close afforded Suta the chance to see these anomalies up close. They maintained their hideous form and looked like a cross between a humanoid, a soft-shelled carp, and a lobster. They all locked onto him at the same time. Suta flinched, feeling the cold shadow lingering against his back, so he took a few deep breaths to settle his nerves again. The warm dagger tightened beneath his sweaty palm

"I can do this... I can do this." His heart paced steadily. He focused, his vision somewhat narrowing, blocking all outside distractions.

"If I wilt... if I pause... if I stumble... I lose... huh? Lose-heh-n-no... I'll die."

The intrepid air felt still and cool. Buzzards with humanoid faces snarled above, the waves crashed beyond the boat's edge, and the standing-shelled creatures hissed and growled. Suta heard nothing but the cool silence. His mind was clear as an airy day.

He noticed the true strangeness about these monsters for the first time, abominations almost to his eyes. A nuclear response might've been necessary if they existed in his old world.

'Hmm, this looks troublesome... but also fun... nonetheless, right? My son?' The ghostly form of his father materialized beside him again. Suta didn't look at him but birthed a wide grin in response.

'Yeah... th-this is kind of exciting.'

One of their feet twitched, and Suta's eyes flashed wide. He dashed towards the monster closest to him, his torso leaning forward while he angled the dagger in a backward grip. Suta felt a consistent adrenaline coursing through his veins. The monster closest to him made a snarling growl. Suta bent his run and charged towards it from one side. He saw it raising its claw in anticipation of his arrival. Suta swallowed his nerves, accelerated forward at the last moment, and slashed horizontally.

Ching! Slish!

He heard two sounds. The first sent a coarse echo resounding, and his hand felt numb like he had struck stone. But he also felt that delightful sensation. It was brief, of course, but he felt it. Suta's gaze locked onto where he had randomly swiped the red dagger. He saw a purple cut just beneath one of its glossy shells, a few inches long, dribbling with blood

'Heh... no-no way! I did it!'

A few moments of bliss swiftly quickly turned into dread. The creature almost twisted to face him instantly, much more agile than he expected, and tossed its claw in search for his head. Suta panicked and felt his prone ankle make a strange noise as he forced his body to shift to one side. His body ducked low and to the side, the same way a boxer avoided a haymaker. He felt the wind exploding beside his ears, the force behind it way too terrifying to handle. The aftershock was enough to tell him just how much weight was thrown behind that attack.

'They're almost like a super-super heavyweight.' Rather than using that chance to deliver another attack, he retreated a few paces, feeling his breaths laboring while the sweat-slicked against his face began to roll down his chin.

'Why did you run? ' his dad's ghostly voice arrived again.

'Heh-heh- I... could smell them coming.'

Suta had already understood the method he was about to use—the hit-and-run style, or playing chicken, as some call it.

His mind drifted to a past time when he was immersed in an addictive game said to be one of the hardest-based RPGs ever created. As such, the sheer leveling system was always against the player, not to mention the early boss fights that were programmed to push your thinking to the depths of cunning rarely seen in the beginning stages of such games.

Suta was stuck for 14 days trying to beat the opening boss, and the method he managed to adapt to cope was simple: hit, dodge, run... hit, dodge, run. Of course, he maxed out his vigor stats to cope with this. It took him a long time, but wearing down those crazed programmed beasts was the best option he could think of with the little he did have.

And somehow, by default, Suta felt his mind had adopted the same tactic at this moment. Only the risks this time around were greater.

Suta maintained a safe distance and circled the trio. He watched them closely, anticipating, learning, and imagining his strikes. He wanted the creatures to make a sizable distance between one another. There, he would pick his strikes again.

Thankfully, these creatures were slow enough from a distance to maneuver around. Another chance presented itself, and Suta found himself approaching the side of one of the other two monsters. He dodged, sidestepped, and sliced down accordingly, ensuring he wasn't overcommitting enough to be surrounded or cornered.

His footsteps graced with the fleetness of a deer, and the true fear of dying would bounce away after a simple strike. And for the most part, this tactic played itself out quite well. Time passed on, and Suta's handling of this dagger had grown by leaps and bounds.

While he did begin to feel sore and somewhat sluggish compared to the start of this terrible ordeal, the creatures were covered in a series of wounds, dribbling blood flowing down. The dangerous thing about them was the growing ire he sensed around them after a while.

Their speed was lessening, but their attacks were as potent as at the start. One even managed to graze his shoulder, which felt like an iron bar had smashed against his entire left side.

Occasionally, he even brought himself enough time to steal a brief glance towards Anak's fight, where he found the vampire engaged in a deathly gridlock against an imposing creature whose attacks were leaving devastating aftershocks trembling across the floor of the ship.

Suta gritted his teeth to steel the pain before springing into action again. His eyes scanned the ship deck, noticing a pool of blood had gathered around the area where he managed to keep the three creatures engaged.

'They're getting weaker, the-they're dying? ' He felt confidence birthing through his chest once he noticed that, but overconfidence would spell the end for him. Therefore, he tried to remain poised with a slight wave of confidence gradually building through his body. His eyes continued to bounce between the three creatures. Despite the exhaustion against his bones, his breaths remained efficient and gentle.

'My son, it's time to deliver the death blow, no? Heh ehe, the time is now.'

Suta obeyed and swiftly circled the three creatures. That fear they once placed into his heart had long been forgotten.

He maintained the distance and closed in; the monster sensed his approach and lashed out, shooting an open vice grip towards him. Of course, Suta had been expecting this. He used these sudden bursts forward to create an opening. He set these movements as feints, a technique boxers and mixed martial artists use when setting up counterattacks. He found this fighting style suitable to him the most. Since he started competing, he was never overly strong or quicker than others.

But he had his mind, which had never failed him.

Suta ducked incredibly low, cradling his entire torso to one side, just about missing the darting pincer laced with destructive intentions. Unlike before, usually once the first attacked, the second and third would follow up straight afterwards, showing their agitation. He flipped the dagger and held the butt of the hilt upright, angling the crimson dagger covered in sharp ridges into a motion to stab rather than slash. His right palm clasped over the hilt, and using his free hand as a support, he dived right into the space between a targeted gap between the glossy shells.

He felt the soft exterior caving in like butter beneath the might of this formidable weapon, which he was glad Anak had gifted him with.

The creature screeched painfully into the skies, Suta couldn't pause as shadows loomed upon him. So, he released the dagger still stuck in the squelching flesh and made a desperate dash backward in retreat. Two of the hammering pincered arms slammed aggressively into the bosom of the creature he had stabbed. Causing it to sustain an incredible amount of damage that not even he could've hoped to deliver upon it.

A childish chuckle broke free from his tired mouth watching his cunning plan come to fruition.

"That's right you bastard! How do you like that!!"