Only I Know That This World Will Eventually Perish

Encounter

　The city was in turmoil with each passing hour, and there was commotion everywhere.

　Crowds of cars formed a long traffic jam, trying to escape from a city overflowing with monsters. Sirens that never ceased blaring and street broadcasts announcing a state of emergency, even though it was late at night.

　Helicopters for TV station broadcasts and Self-Defense Forces transport planes flew over the sky. Young men wandered around with knives, bats, and other weapons, intent on defeating the monsters that appeared.

　Shouts and screams. The sound of glass breaking. Red blood soaking the asphalt pavement. And dead bodies.

　The nighttime streets were filled with the cries of strange creatures and the sound of firearms being fired.

　The world had changed.

　Yes, a change had occurred in the city at night that could be clearly felt.

　After parting with the policeman, Akira ran around the city, which was abuzz with the appearance of monsters, and continued to search for a lone goblin who could he first fight on his own, in order to progress in the quests that appeared and to level up himself.

　Akira did not know what happened to the two police officers afterward.

　He considered going back after some time, but he was in no mood to do so.

　Akira knew from his previous life experience what the monsters who killed people did afterward with those corpses.

　――At that moment. Without their sacrifice, he might not be here at this very moment.

　So even more so, he couldn’t let this life that they saved go to waste this time.

　Or so Akira thought, running around the city at night in desperate search of goblins.

“…………Damn!　Again?! “

　When the figure wandered into the alley a few dozen meters away, Akira spat out the words with a click of his tongue and quickly hid behind a nearby concrete wall.

　Then, slowly, Akira looked into the alley from behind the concrete wall where he had hidden himself.

(……Is that a wild boar?)

　It appeared before Akira’s eyes. There was a wild boar-shaped monster with a body that was at least three meters long. Its long tusks, which could easily skewer a human body, were distinctive, and its body was covered with brown bristles.

　There were three of them. Perhaps it was a couple of parents and their son, since only one of them was over three meters tall, and the smallest boar was about half that size.

　Did they notice that Akira was watching them? The boars sniffed and snorted and looked around once, then immediately turned their faces as if they had lost interest and began scavenging the garbage dump.

　Apparently, they were looking for food.

　The boars filled the alleyway with the contents of garbage bags and began munching and chewing, looking for something edible among them.

　Akira quietly left when he was sure that the boar-shaped monsters were engrossed in their food.

(Crap…… I can barely take down a single goblin by myself, and new monsters are starting to pop up all over the place.)

　The three types of monsters Akira had seen so far were goblins, a bee-shaped monster the size of a man’s head, and the boar-shaped monster he had just found. He had yet to fight any monsters other than a goblin, but that didn’t mean he could take on the challenge without a plan.

　In the first place, even goblins were not a forgiving opponent. If so, it was better to think that all monsters were more powerful enemies than you.

　With this in mind, every time Akira spotted a goblin or other monster in a pack during his search, he would immediately hide or flee the scene.

(So far, I haven’t met a minotaur.)

　Akira mumbled in his mind as he ran.

　Fortunately, this time he had not yet met the Minotaur. Having experienced it twice in his life, he knew that if he ever met a minotaur, he would be killed before he had a chance to react. Considering that he was unable to track its movements, and moreover, that half of his body was blown off by a single strike, the minotaur was, without doubt, more powerful than the goblin.

(For now, I’d better consider it game over as soon as I meet that guy. In other words, it’s a walking death flag.)

　Akira let out a loud sigh as he thought about this.

(――There!)

　It was sometime later.

　Around the time he avoided a few hordes of goblins and stepped into a residential area of the city where many houses were located. Akira finally spotted a lone goblin, carefree and gnashing its teeth, in the quiet garden of a private home.

(It’s quiet. Have all the residents around here been evacuated?)

　Muttering in his mind, Akira held his breath. Then, he observed the goblin from the shadows.

(……Is the weapon a club?)

　A club-wielding goblin was less dangerous than a goblin with a stone axe or blade.

　It was a monster that he had dealt with once in a previous life, and as long as he was not careless, there should be no problem.

(Are there any other goblins around?)

　Quietly, holding your breath.

　Akira searched for signs of his surroundings based on his experience of being caught off guard in a previous life.

　――――There was no sound.

　Apparently, this goblin was the only one in the vicinity.

“…………Alright.”

　With a bracing voice, Akira pulled a kitchen knife out of his backpack and gripped its handle tightly.

　Then he slowly approached the goblin’s back, held his breath once, and in one fluid motion, aimed the tip of the knife at the goblin’s medulla oblongata and stabbed it.