THE STRATEGIST: Monster of the game

RETURN TO REALITY

Hot water poured down over his body the moment he turned the handle.

Soren froze for a split second, then laughed under his breath.

No waiting.

No rust-colored trickle.

No boiling uncertainty.

Just clean, endless heat cascading over his shoulders and down his back.

Steam filled the bathroom as he tilted his head back, eyes half-lidded, letting the water wash away sweat that no longer smelled like blood or rot. His body this new body was solid. Muscular. Strong in a different way. Not forged through endless combat alone, but well-fed, intact.

He stared at his hands as they might vanish.

“I’m really… back.”

When he stepped out, a towel draped over his head, he pressed a button on the wall.

Whoosh.

Cool air flooded the room instantly.

Soren inhaled sharply.

Air that didn’t stink of ash or decay. Air that didn’t scrape his lungs raw.

He walked to the window and pulled the curtain aside.

A clear blue sky stretched endlessly above towering buildings. Cars moved in neat lines far below. People walked laughing, arguing, living without swords in their hands.

“This is great,” he murmured.

“It’s nothing like that filthy place.”

His reflection stared back at him from the glass between city and self.

Twenty years had passed.

On Earth too.

“…What should I do first?” he muttered. “Games maybe”

A piercing alarm cut through the air.

Testing. Testing.

Attention all residents.

Soren’s smile vanished.

An erosion point has appeared within the apartment complex.

Please evacuate to the underground shelter immediately.

“…What?”

The floor trembled.

Screens around the city lit up, showing footage of the impossible space cracking like brittle glass, people screaming as something unseen dragged them downward.

“An erosion point…?”

His chest tightened.

“What the hell is going on?”

He was already moving when the building shuddered again.

Cracks spread across the pavement outside like spiderwebs.

People ran.

Something climbed out.

Soren leapt down the stairs two at a time, heart pounding.

“Damn it…!”

He shook off whatever had chased him through the hallway and skidded to a stop.

A kid stood frozen in the chaos.

“Hey!” Soren grabbed him by the arm. “It’s dangerous here. Get to the shelter now.”

The boy stared at him, eyes burning with strange resolve.

“I want to kill them.”

“…What?”

“Didn’t you see where the monsters went?” the kid said. “Come with me.”

Soren stared.

Idiot.

But thirteen years.

Thirteen years since this had begun.

Doors are opening at random. Monsters are pouring out. No warning. No pattern.

“So you’re telling me,” Soren said slowly as they moved, “that nobody knows when or where these things show up?”

“Yep.”

The unfairness twisted something deep in his chest.

“So that hell… followed me.”

He clenched his fist.

“…Damn you, goddess.”

The boy kept talking about hunters, guilds, rankings, and weapons streamed on something called MeTube. Apparently, people fought monsters now. Regular people.

Just like that other world.

Are we repeating the same mistake…?

Soren’s senses sharpened.

Five presences.

No six. One hiding.

“…Figures.”

His new body wasn’t weak. Not exceptional but enough.

And he’d fought worse odds blindfolded.

Mana stirred in the air.

He stopped dead.

“…That’s mana.”

It shimmered faintly thin, unrefined, but real.

“So Earth has it too.”

Heat sparked deep within his chest.

Engraved into my soul.

Flash.

Black fire tore through the air.

The monsters didn’t even scream.

Steel-less strikes crushed bone. Paradox Flame clung, devouring until nothing remained.

The kid stared at him in silence.

“You’re… amazing, mister.”

Soren exhaled slowly.

“Innate ability, huh,” he muttered. “That’s what you call it here.”

The flames didn’t fade until the last corpse was gone.

“…Persistent,” he noted dryly.

Shelter doors burst open as people poured out.

A woman in luxury jewelry grabbed the boy, checking him frantically.

Soren stepped back.

Another explosion rocked the structure.

Monsters tore through reinforced walls.

Panic erupted.

“I really didn’t ask for this…” Soren whispered.

He looked at the kid again.

“Why?” he asked quietly. “You’re rich. You could hide. Why fight?”

The boy met his gaze.

“I lost my dad.”

Soren didn’t interrupt.

“There isn’t anywhere safe on Earth,” the kid continued. “So I’ll become the strongest hunter and erase every erosion point.”

Soren studied him for a long moment.

Then nodded.

“You’ll never save the world.”

The kid stiffened.

“…Because I will.”

Soren turned toward the chaos, eyes sharp.

“If you want to survive know your enemy.”

The ground trembled again.

And the game began.