Chapter #3 – Survive!
"It's time."
I threw out any miscellaneous thoughts and focused on my task.
'Ok, I don't know what's coming, the mission only said to survive.
I picked up a few small pieces of scrap metal I can use as a few makeshift knives in some debris.
I didn't see any cellar entrances on the way here, and the few I can recall from the original body's memories are too far away for me to reach.
I'll hold my vantage point up here, and thanks to my small frame, I can hide between the cracks of the building and try to wait out the situation.
The dark night is to my advantage at the moment. Hopefully, they won't have dogs or something, or the dark will definitely not be my advantage.'
I did a quick scan of what I could see that was close enough for me to reach, and all I saw was a few options.
A rubble pile filled with debris.
A broken and abandoned building with scrap metal and hanging chains.
A broke playground.
And an assortment of thin alleyways in the near vicinity.
That was pretty much everything I could see with my limited sight.
I found a hiding spot between cracks in the wall with a clear view of the ruined city landscape, laid down prone, and waited. The light I saw in the distance a few minutes prior stopped at the edge of the city.
My eyes flashed with determination.
'No matter what comes, I will survive!'
Red country assault team:
A line of tanks and military vehicles was assembled orderly a reasonable distance away from the ruined city but still within firing range.
Closer to the city, a line of trucks deposited all fifty metal cages in a line facing the city.
As soon as the cages were placed, all the personal retreated to behind the tank line.
The Red commander turned to his assistant and spoke.
"Do it." (Commander)
The assistant looked a bit hesitant and couldn't help but nervously ask.
"Commander, are you sure this is the best course of action?" (Underpaid Assistant)
The commander's eyes hardened.
"Are you questioning my order's son!" (Commander)
The assistant gulped.
"No sir! It's just…isn't this plan a bit…. extreme?" (Assistant)
The commander scoffed.
"Extreme is necessary sometimes in war. That city is full of blue sides spy's that are monitoring us. If we can wipe them out in one fast attack, we can launch simultaneous attacks on the three closest bases and make years of progress!" (Commander)
"Of course sir! But, what about those homeless refugees?" (Assistant)
"Them? They are a waste of space! Best to let them be useful and cause some chaos for us before becoming food for our beasts." (Commander)
The assistant's blood ran cold.
'The commander is cold-blooded.'
Still, in fear of his own wellbeing, the assistant gave the command to open the cages.
{BEEP!}
With a large beep sound, the cages opened all at the same time, and massive truck-sized beasts roared and charged straight ahead with bloodshot eyes.
A few tried to turn around to eat the humans behind the cages, but each beast had a shock collar on them that would activate intensive currents until they ran another way.
The commander narrowed his eyes.
'It should only take an hour to finish.'
*Line Break*
In the sky:
{NEEIIGHH}
"Ichiryu! We have a problem!" (Yosaku)
"Hm? What's wrong?" (Ichiryu)
Yosaku put his phone back in his jacket with a severe look.
"The red army just launched a beast attack on the ruined city filled with homeless people. The blue side has some observation teams situated there, and it seems like the reds want to blind the blues." (Yosaku)
"What!" (Ichiryu)
Ichiryu's aura exploded out for a second in his anger, and Yosaku had to take a few steps back.
"Those bastards! How far out are we?" (Ichiryu)
Yosaku checked his GPS watch, and he grimaced.
"At least 30 minutes." (Yosaku)
Ichiryu reigned in his anger, but you could tell he was pissed.
He turned to speak to his beast companion.
"Pochi! Try to speed up!" (Ichiryu)
{NEIGGGHH}
Pochi increased his flying speed, but it would only shave minutes off the time.
'I hope at least some of those children can survive. Damn those bastards! I don't kill humans often anymore, but someone just made it onto my shit list.'
*Line Break*
MC POV:
*SSQQUUEELL*
A sudden, slightly higher pitched roar shook me from where I was hiding.
'….what was that…'
I squinted my eyes and tried to make out the moving shaped in the darkness.
The ground started shaking, which caused the building I was in to start shaking.
'Oh shit…. It's not a human attack…. they have tamed beasts?!? Did I start on insane mode or something?!?'
From a good distance away, I saw a shadowy figure going toward one of the fires a group of 3 men had lit.
{Boom} The figure broke through the wall and charged into the small group.
The flames lit up the figure, and I saw what was released.
'ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!'
The beast slammed down on the screaming men and began devouring them.
I pulled on my memories from the special OVA episode and remembered what this beast was.
I began throwing everything I remembered about it into my notes before my observe ability activated.
[Race: Red-Haired Pig
Capture level: 1
Notes: Red Haired Pigs are large quadrupedal porcine animals that can grow to be over 5 meters in size or larger. As their name indicates, they have red-colored hair and skin along with some dark red spots on their backs. Their faces are quite ferocious, having eyes with black scleras and yellow pupils that always seem to have an angry expression, and its mouth is full of sharp teeth and two prominent short tusks.
The Red-Haired Pig is a vicious creature that will attack anything that comes within its territory and will pursue the potential prey seemingly without end, with a particular liking for humans. Despite this, Red-Haired Pigs can be tamed to some degree.
500 years ago, during the great food shortage caused by the Gourmet War, it was not uncommon to feed newborn humans to Red Haired Pig livestock to survive.
Red Haired Pig meat is considered a delicacy and is usually served at 5-star restaurants, and its meat can be sold at 800 yen a gram.
Remarks: Insane mode? Have you seen how many of those things there are? This is nightmare mode!]
I ignored the taunt and focused on the very useful bit of info.
I looked around, and sure enough, many other fires were getting overrun by more giant pigs.
'How many are there! 10…20…30…There is still more?!'
The pigs began sweeping through the city with the sounds of screams sounded out.
I stayed up in my spot and barely breathed.
The only good news was that the pigs seemed utterly unorganized, and they spread thinly around the city.
I kept a close watch on my clock.
'I obviously can't survive more than twelve hours since I woke up so this attack can't last that long. The mission said I had to survive, just survive, and I can at least get food.
But….what if the food means I have to kill one those pigs?'
I contemplated my choices until ten minutes after the attack started, my luck ran out.
If there was one thing I definitely couldn't hide, it was my disgustingly strong smell from being homeless for so long.
'It's not like I didn't think of this issue, but I thought it was a human attack! This never happened before in this body's memory!'
The pig was about five meters long and around two adult's height. It had a crazed look in its eyes that lacked intelligent thought, and I could see that it was slightly starved since it looked a bit bony.
It sniffed around for a bit before looking straight up.
'Fuck.'
{SQQUUEELL!]
It rammed headfirst into the base of the building I was in.
'It fucking has my scent!'
The building began to crack, and pieces began to break off.
'I can't stay here, the fall will kill me.'
I left my hiding spot and moved to the opposite side from the pig.
I saw a chain her before that I could use to climb down quickly.
{SQQUEEL!} {BANG}
The pig kept hitting the wall in a crazed manner and started injuring itself.
I grabbed the chain and climbed down as fast as I could while trying not to make any noise.
The climb down alone sapped a lot of my strength.
I hit the ground a little too hard and had to catch my breath.
That moment I took to pause would change my life.
*Meow*
I heard a sound and looked around warily.
*Meow*
I looked to the side to see a small black kitten trapped between two pieces of debris that just fell off the building.
I looked at it and knew it was begging for help.
'Fuck! I couldn't help a single person in my condition, I'm at least going to save this cat!'
I loved cats, no way was I going to let one die if I had a chance to help, and I had a moment of spare time anyway.
I grabbed a piece of wood on jammed it under one of the debris pieces.
With some leverage against another piece, I managed to flip over the debris and free the kitten.
It was pitch black, from a species I had no idea on, and it had golden amber-colored eyes.
[Race: Unknown
Capture level: Unknown
Notes: NA
Remark: Its….a kitten? Maybe it's something special?]
'Who knows?'
The kitten walked up to me and rubbed its head on my leg.
*Meow*
I bent down to pet it when the wall near me exploded.
{BOOM}
'Shit! I got distracted for too long!'
I looked back and saw the pig stuck in the wall slightly, and its head was bleeding while it looked delirious, most likely from all the head damage it just gave itself.
*Hiisss*
I was about to run when I saw the kitten stand in front of me and hiss at the pig.
'Is it trying to protect me?'
I felt warm inside from that show of loyalty.
I didn't waste another thought, and I reached down to pick up the kitten before taking off running toward the ruined building with hanging chains.
The kitten meowed lightly and play bit at my finger.
"Thank you little guy, you just showed more loyalty then I could expect from anyone else around here."
I spoke to it while running, and unexpectantly, the kitten bit me for real.
"OW! Why!?"
I looked down and saw it had an angry look.
'What did I say? Wait….'
"Thank you little girl?"
The kitten nodded its little head.
I almost ran into a pole.
"You can understand me?!"
*Meow*
'I don't know what its race is, but this cat is scary intelligent at such a young age.'
I threw the situation with the strange cat to the back of my head and focused on moving.
{SSQQUUEELL!}
'Shit, the pig is back up.'
Thankfully, even with my slow running speed, I managed to make it to the ruined building with debris and hanging chains.
It seems that the more I moved, the more my abilities helped me adapt to this body.
It's not normal for a grown man to all of a sudden, be in a small child's body and be fully capable of moving.
My reflexes, adaptability, and instinct helped me along, and I improved the more I moved.
I didn't choose this area for no reason, I had to survive, so, I had to either stall or incapacitate the carnivorous pig who has my fucking scent!
I analyzed the environment and made a plan as fast as I could.
"I wished for an Isekai experience! It sounded so fun in fanfiction! Just like a dream! Realism is a bitch!"
*Meow*
"Oh, you agree?"
*Meow*
"Do you actually understand me?"
*Meow*
'I can't actually tell the difference between a yes or no. *Sigh* let's just get in position.'
I ripped off my shirt or the rags that made up my shirt and tied it over a specific chain.
Then I ran off to the side and began climbing up a short ladder after grabbing a broken metal pole that I could barely lift and dragged it along with me.
I got to the top and sat down to catch my breath on the small metal platform that overlooked the chain.
*Wheeze* *Huff*
'Fuck! Moving really fucking hurts right now!'
*Meow*
I looked at the adorable kitten that was staring up at me and smiled slightly.
"Sorry for dragging you into this little one, I didn't have much energy to put you somewhere else. Just stay up here ok?"
The kitten nodded and rubbed itself on me before moving over to hide on the side.
'Smart cat.'
{Crash!} {SQUEEL!}
The pig crashed into the ruined building.
'Come on you fucking pig, I've already analyzed you.
Starved, loss of intelligence, numerous head wounds, delirious, and very angry.
There is no way you will think clearly.'
The pig followed the scent and charged straight into the chain I tied my rags around.
{SQUEEL!}
The chain got pulled taut, and when the pig thrashed around, it wrapped around its neck, and the pig began to get choked by its own weight.
Unfortunately, I could see the rusted gears that held the chain shacking badly and knew it might be my only chance that the pig remained in place.
I raised the broken metal pole and took a deep breath to calm myself.
'Survival or death rests on this, I don't have the energy to run anymore, I used up too much of what I had left getting up and down that building. Its do or die at this point, and I. don't. Want. To. Die!'
I waited for the right moment and jumped off the ledge.
My surroundings faded, and only my target remained.
I aimed the metal pole at the eye of the pig, and with all the force I could generate, I slammed the sharp end as deep as I could into its eye.
{SSQQUUEEELLLL!!!!}
"DIE YOU FUCKER!"
Not my most intelligent battle cry, but it worked to motivate me anyway.
The pig began thrashing around, and I, unfortunately, got jerked around for the ride. If I let go and flew off, I would die from hitting…well…anything.
During its thrashing, a heavy pressure settled on the space, and I heard a loud shout, but the pig and I were already in our death throes and too busy to notice. My grip was weakening, and my consciousness started getting fuzzy.
I grit my teeth to stay conscious and yelled.
"One of us had to die, and it's not going to be me!"
I used the swing force generated from the pigs thrashing to shove the pole even deeper until the pig finally started slowing down.
'One more time!'
I swung my legs as hard as I could and almost did a handstand on the pole before gravity took hold, and I shoved the pole virtually up to its base through the pig's eye.
{SQEEEUuuuulll….}
With a final shout, the pig finally quieted down and collapsed.
As soon as it hit the ground, I felt my energy get sapped, and I let go of the pole and fell a couple feet, which thankfully didn't break anything.
My back rested against the pig as my eyes began closing.
*Meow*
I felt something touch my arm and looked over to see the little kitten staring up at me.
I couldn't help but laugh a bit.
"Haha~ Look's like….we…won…"
*Meow*
And with that, my consciousness faded as the only sounds I could hear were the kitten purring, and a loud voice in the distance that I could swear was getting closer.
'I survived, …right?'
*Line Break*
3rd person POV:
Unfortunately for the MC, the sound he heard was not his survival.
A few pigs in the surroundings heard the screams from one of their kind and came over before the smell of blood hit them.
Their already lack of intelligence due to being starved went out the preverbal window, and they charged.
The first sign of good news for our MC was when a wind blew by, and every pig in the area fell over paralyzed.
A man with a blonde mustache appeared over the paralyzed pigs.
"I missed a few. *Sniff* is this smell animal blood? Did someone survive?!" (???)
The man followed the trail and became shocked by what he saw.
A boy, a clearly starved boy, was unconscious and leaning against the dead carcass of a level 1 beast.
'Did he do…this?'
The man stared in amazement.
Another man rushed into the area as well, clearly following the first one.
"Oi! Man! Don't run off like that!"
He didn't get a response, so the man entered the ruined building and came upon the same sight.
"Ichiryu…what the hell happened here?" (Yosaku)
"I think the scene speaks for itself, Yosaku." (Ichiryu)
That's right; this was Ichiryu and Yosaku, who rushed over and eliminated every pig rampaging in the city within less than a minute.
Ichiryu simply roared in the direction of the enemy army tanks in anger, and a tornado-like wind uprooted the entire platoon.
This was a simple demonstration of the power that the strongest human in the world holds.
Yosaku went to capture the commander or confirm his death while Ichiryu noticed a few pigs were missed and ran off to finish them.
Ichiryu bent down and made sure the boy was breathing and stable before sighing in relief.
*Hiiisss*
A black kitten stood in front of the boy and hissed at Ichiryu without fear.
Ichiryu was taken back before he laughed.
"Hahaha! You're a loyal one, aren't you?" (Ichiryu)
He smiled down at the little kitten before turning back to the boy.
The boy covered in blood and dirt while his starved body was clear to see.
His eyes hardened in pain.
'So young.... those stubborn bastards! Where is the humanity in humans!'
Ichiryu took a deep breath to calm down and turn to his old friend and comrade, Yosaku the reviver.
"This boy has frightening talent, I think I have finally found the disciple I have been looking for." (Ichiryu)
Yosaku's mouth hung open in surprise, and the cigar he was smoking fell onto the ground.
"Are you sure Ichiryu?? You haven't accepted anyone in the centuries I've known you. Why now all of a sudden?" (Yosaku)
Honestly, even Ichiryu was a bit surprised by his choice, he didn't expect to find a candidate he liked so soon, but the more he thought about it, the more he believed it was the right choice.
"Did you see what that boy did? Most likely starved and less than 10 years old, and yet he took down a beast that usually needs 10 adult men armed with shotguns to defeat. Even if it was already injured and starved." (Ichiryu)
Yosaku nodded and looked around, clearly understanding how things went down.
"The boys a genius. But he's untrained, and he's just a regular human. He has guts, I'll give him that much." (Yosaku)
Ichiryu flashed him a smile.
"I'll take care of both of those problems." (Ichiryu)
Yosaku's eyes widened.
"Are you sure?!? You know what the risks are!" (Yosaku)
Ichiryu smile faded, and he nodded seriously
"Don't worry old friend, I'll let him decide for himself and make sure he knows the risks." (Ichiryu)
Yosaku narrowed his eyes
"Ichiryu, I've known you for a long time, what's your real reason for doing this?" (Yosaku)
Ichiryu's mouth twitched slightly.
"You don't believe me?" (Ichiryu)
Yosaku's expression didn't change.
Ichiryu sighed.
"*Sigh* Fine. I'm getting old Yosaku, I can feel a storm approaching within a decade or two, and I was already beginning to think about finding a disciple or two. Maybe more." (Ichiryu)
Yosaku's eyes widened, and he paled slightly at the mention of the coming storm.
"You don't mean....." (Yosaku)
Ichiryu met his eyes and nodded solemnly.
"The war for god is coming, it's time to pass on the torch." (Ichiryu)
Chapter End.