In the Northern sector of the Aston city. The number of monsters was by far the highest compared to all the other areas. The situation was dire, death counts were increasing rapidly by the minute. 

Even though many people grouped up and tried to suppress the monster's attack. The casualties were by no means low and the swarm of monsters soon entered the locality after breaking through the barricade. Those monsters were on a rampage.

Screams of pain and agony could be heard from everywhere. Amid this chaos, a majority of them had lost their family members and there were those who had lost their will to fight. 

Some of them had lost their body parts; forced amputations, and were left handicapped. Whereas, others suffered the most painful death, by either getting stomped on or eaten alive without any means to break free. 

Each passing minute adds to their suffering and the number of deaths kept increasing.

The nice weather and the cool winter afternoon which should have been like any other peaceful and boring day was now the day of the massacre. 

The city's air which should have only been a little polluted was now filled with the smell of blood. Loud sounds of monsters laughing by enjoying torturing and killing humans, sounds of bodies being torn apart into pieces, screams of agony and painful cries loud enough to break anyone down were echoed.

People were in despair. The suffering from the cruelty of those monsters was enough to tear their hearts out, and lastly Death. 

It should have never been this way. The peaceful lunch they should have been having like any other peaceful day was nothing more than a wishful dream now. 

Returning to their everyday peaceful life. Was it too much to ask for? Why did the world flipped upside down? What was the origin of these monsters? And when will this stop? Will it ever stop? We will get our peaceful daily lives back, right? Or this is now the world we live in and are now forced to accept reality?

 

All those questions were unanswered.

Inside a house number '245' on the right section of 'The Lawrence street 4' in the Northern sector. Two figures could be seen blocking the door on high alert. Trying their best to stop any monsters from breaking in.

One of these figures was a beautiful lady with chocolate brown hair. It was Reina, Shin's mother and the other black-haired figure was Alfred, Shin's father. Reina's mystic blue eyes were moist seemingly holding her tears.

 

Fragments of happy memories flashed in her mind. It was a memory of their family enjoying a summer vacation at the beach. How Shin wanted to make a sandcastle while saying swimming is tiresome. when in actuality he didn't know how to swim. 

Thinking of Shin she couldn't hold it in anymore. Tears that she had been holding back from falling all this while started to come out. Unbeknownst to her, she started bawling out to her heart's content. 

Alfred who had been watching from the side didn't say a word. Alfred knew he should have consoled her, but no words came out. Alfred himself was in no position to console her.

 

Even though he seems fine and tough from the outside, from the inside he had been barely holding himself due to the situation. His heart was in dismay. He too had been worried about shin. But he decided to not let his emotions cloud his judgment. He had to focus, at least so he could save Reina's life.

 

Even if he were to die.

Alfred turned his gaze towards Reina who had been crying all this while.

"Don't worry Honey. Shin will be fine. He'll return home soon. We just have to keep those monsters away."Alfred's words seem to have a little effect on her.

"I am fine. I know he'll be back. He is my strong child. He can overcome any difficulties. These monsters are nothing."

Reina replied with a confident look in her eyes. 

Even though her trembling body showed just how much afraid she was. Afraid of losing her dear son. 

Alfred knew what was going on in her mind and could only helplessly smile at her words and nod in confirmation.

After a few seconds, they cleared their mind of other thoughts and focus their attention on the door. A loud sound echoed alerting everyone.

*CRASH!!*

"OH NO, THE BARRICADE IS BROKEN." Alfred relays the situation to Reina.

Soon they heard a loud bang on their door. They tried their best to stop anyone from breaking in. But despite their efforts, a monster enters the house from the window. 

Alfred jumps toward the monster (with brown skin and a thin humanoid body) and strangles him. Alfred pins that corpse-looking monster to the ground and stops its movements. 

Reina quickly take the chair from the dining room and swung it hard on its head with a loud bang. 

Seeing that the monster wasn't dead yet and Alfred was having difficulty pinning it down. Reina started swinging the chair on its head till the chair broke. 

Then they used the kitchen knife to finish it.

Fweuuh!

"My money spend on those martial arts classes wasn't a waste." Reina chuckled at Alfred's words.

But as soon as they heave a sigh of relief. The door to their house swung open and a swarm of these monsters followed suit. Both of their faces turned pale and a series of different emotions welled up inside them. 

They had only one thought in their mind. That this is their end, and they are leaving their only son without saying goodbye. They had regrets in their hearts. But even so, they wanted their son to be happy.

Reina was worried about how her son will live after they are gone from this world. Will he keep his room clean? What about his meals? Who would nag him? Will we die without seeing our son getting a girlfriend?

Reina just had a smile on her face thinking of Shin and even in her last moments, she couldn't stop wishing for her son's well-being.

Is that a mother's heart?

Alfred just muttered in a low voice with a smile on his with a feeling of regret.

"I wish I could have been a better father." 

Soon the swarm of monsters rushed toward them.

....

"Hahaha. Oh my god!! What an absurd ability?"

After seeing [Plunder] get activated. Shin was surprised and after knowing its use he couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"So I can gain stats and skills from the enemies, I defeat." Shin's lips curled upwards and he couldn't stop grinning from the absurdity of his ability. 

"So now it has information about my ability. Does it get updated whenever I gain some new information?" The manual which shin could see on the floating screen now has some information regarding his ability, [Plunder]. 

Which only contains the information Shin figured out himself. So it can be used as a record. It might be helpful.

"Let's see. First I should increase my stats."

"Status board." As soon as Shin spoke a familiar blue floating screen appeared in front of him.

Klink!!

***

[ Name- Shin Wolner]

[Age - 20]

[Title - 1st awakened ]

[ Level - 1 ]

[-Stats-]

[STR - 10] 

[AGI - 10] 

[DEX - 5 ]

[Stamina- 5]

[ Bonus stats - 5]

[Special ability - Plunder]

***

After staring at his status for a while. Shin thought to himself.

My speed is fine. I just need to get used to it first. But my strength is no good. Defeating a single goblin was difficult. I only succeeded cause of the sneak attack. Otherwise, fighting head-on would have been difficult.

Shin nodded his head and used his bonus points on strength.

[STR - 15 ] [ Bonus stat - 0]

Shin felt a surge of power inside his body. He started gaining some muscle at a visible rate. His pitiful thin body turned into a healthy youth body within a matter of seconds.

Shin punch towards the front and could feel some force behind a simple punch.

After confirming his rise in strength. Shin turned his attention toward the dead body from before which the goblin was eating. Shin felt a little guilty for not being able to save him. But he knew he was in no position to rush into things otherwise his body might be next.

*Clap!*

Shin clapped his hands and prayed for the dead while closing his eyes. 

Soon faint fragments of vision replayed in his mind. Where the people were getting massacred at the city center and he too left them without helping them. Even if they cried and begged him, shin didn't say a single word nor did he open the lock of the bus door to let anyone it. 

He was guilty and he could have helped them. But that regret will always be in his heart.

Soon he started heading his way without giving the dead body a second glance.

A few hundred meters away from the location of the dead body.

I think I need to take on monsters more aggressively. If I use my plunder and gain stats. I might be able to get stronger and even survive this hellish place. 

Even so, it's better to sneak up on a lone monster first. I am not used to my current strength.

After walking a few hundred meters more. I saw a tools shop nearby and heard some strange sounds, so I decided to take a look. 

There was a goblin rummaging through the tools. It was alone and a perfect target for me. If only it wasn't holding onto some tools. If my sneak attack fails and it retaliates with those tools in his hands. I might get some serious injuries.

I waited for a while. Waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike. Even a single moment is fine, and that opportunity soon came. When the tool in his hand dropped, that goblin bend down to pick it up. 

I hastily moved my body and with a slight jump to increase the force. I thrust the iron rod in my hands directly into his skull. It died.

"It was easier than I thought." I took out the iron rod from his skull.

[You have killed a goblin]

[ Plunder activated ]

[ You absorbed 4 stat points ]

"Oh, here it is." Seeing those messages in front of him. Shin understood plunder's absorb rate is different. Less for easy enemies and higher for stronger enemies.

 

Defeating this goblin was easy so he got fewer stat points than the last one, where it took some little more effort.

Let's increase my strength more. 

[STR - 19 ] [ Bonus stat - 0]

Shin felt the familiar feeling of a sudden surge in power and his muscles getting more defined. 

Shin decided to make his way outside the tools shop. But soon he stopped in his tracks. When he saw two figures entering the tools shop. There were two goblins entering the tools shop unaware of Shin's presence. Shin didn't attack them directly and hid behind a table.

Even with Shin's rise in strength, he wasn't confident enough to take on two of them head-on. But unfortunately for him, they noticed him by the smell of blood on the iron rod in his hands.

Shin cursed himself. But he didn't have much time to think. Shin rushed towards them and startled them. 

As they have been treating humans as livestock and killing them. No human was brave enough to face them together head-on. Shin took this chance to his advantage and attacked the nearest goblin.

 

He planned to deal damage slowly and kill both of them while moving inside the shop continuously to avoid them. His plan was the best he could come up with.

But surprisingly after the thrust that goblin didn't retaliate. Shin was confused as he raised his eyebrows and knit them together. His eyes widened in shock when he realized the goblin was dead and its body was hanging on his iron rod. 

Shin soon realized that he had underestimated his strength. The change he underwent was nothing to scoff at. He wasn't as weak as before while he was escaping from the goblins or the time when he had to smash 35 times to kill his first goblin.

 

A smile formed on his lips when they curled upwards.

The other goblin was in shock. How can a human kill one of them so easily? Aren't humans just livestock waiting to get butchered and their plaything?

Then how come this human in front of him was so strong. Did they underestimate humans? The monster started shaking in fear.

He saw Shin removing the iron rod from the dead goblin's skull and smiling at it. Unbeknownst to Shin, his grin was much more dangerous and devilish than a devil's grin.

The monster was so afraid his body stiffened and froze on spot. 

Shin moved his body forward and in a single thrust, the goblin died. The only thing he saw before closing his eyes was a devilish grin. The monster knew the human in front of him wasn't a human, it was the devil himself.

The monster died feeling the 'True Despair'.