System Breaker: Surviving Apocalypse with Nine-Tailed Kitsune-Chapter 5: Ivy

Damon grimaced slightly as acid sizzled at his skin. Though it didn’t do as much damage as he thought it would, it still stung.

He lingered for a moment, remembering the Monster Index, the way it had given him extra stats after killing his first undead human.

’Does it give bonus stats for the first time you kill a specific monster?’

He didn’t get to dwell on that thought for long, as he noticed a faint light in the distance.

Not wanting to stay inside the dead monster’s stomach, he moved toward the light, its radiance becoming bigger the closer he got.

’Where did the fox girl go?’ he wondered as he finally saw the hole that opened up to the outside.

He pushed through the tight space. The monster’s flesh pressed against him from all sides. His hands burned from the acid which spilled from the creature’s stomach, but he pushed through until he finally reached the outside and collapsed onto the muddy ground.

For a little while, he simply lay there, taking in ragged breaths of fresh air.

To his right, he saw the elevated railroad, which was partially destroyed, with a gaping hole where the monster had burst through. The front of the train hung down at a sharp angle, its very front touching the ground while the rest remained suspended on the intact tracks behind.

In the distance, roughly three miles away, smoke rose from the city’s outskirts. And behind him was the dead body of a gigantic worm-like monster, its body stretching further than he could see from that position.

He began laughing uncontrollably, realising he had survived, but his menacing cackle didn’t last for long as a voice boomed through his mind, unexpectedly familiar.

"You’re welcome, by the way"

Damon jumped to his feet at the sound. He looked around, but there was no sight of the kitsune.

He frowned. ’Did I imagine it?’

His thought barely had time to coalesce before the reply came.

"Why? Do you imagine me often?" Kitsune asked in her usual seductive and playful tone.

Damon’s eyes widened.

’You... you can hear my thoughts?’

"Only if you let me"

’How do I not let you?’ Damon asked, his confusion only deepening. But the Kitsune didn’t reply, and instead, he only heard a playful giggle echo through his head.

’How are you in my head?’

"We have a mental connection, but I’m not in your head. Look down"

Damon’s gaze dropped to the ground, and there, he finally saw a small white fox with one tail standing before him. Its feline crimson eyes locked onto him.

’That’s... you?’

"My core is broken, so I can’t maintain my normal form for long"

’Broken?’ Damon repeated the word in a questioning tone, but no reply came.

They stood there in silence for a couple of moments until Damon heard a sudden footstep from behind.

He spun in place, ready to face some undead humans or perhaps something far worse, but instead, he saw the familiar figure of a girl from the train.

Her eyes were widened in disbelief. Her eyes darted from the fallen monster to Damon, then back to the monster multiple times before she slowly approached him.

"H-How?" She barely uttered the words, disbelief still gnawing at her.

"Oh..." Damon scratched the back of his neck, "She killed it, not me," he said, pointing to the fox standing next to him.

The girl frowned at the response.

"This little fox killed that monster?" she asked.

"In one hit," Damon replied.

The girl stared at him with a perplexed expression for a moment until she finally spoke up again.

"I’m Ivy," she said, introducing herself.

"Damon"

"I know... You said it right before" she paused, glancing at the monster behind him "You got eaten."

Damon wasn’t surprised by the disbelief on the girl’s face. If the roles were reversed, he would probably have the same look, if not worse. Who would believe him that the little, cute-looking fox next to him was actually a kitsune, a divine being capable of one-shotting a level 25 monster?

"Cute, huh?" The kitsune giggled, hearing his thoughts.

’Tskk, stop listening to my thoughts’

"I told you before, haven’t I? You’re the one sharing them with me"

Damon let out a long sigh.

At the same time, Ivy turned toward him.

"So... any plans for what’s next?" She asked.

Damon lingered for a moment. He didn’t really have a plan beyond surviving. But then, after giving the question a moment of thought, he remembered his best friend. He was the only person in the world he considered family. They grew up in the same orphanage and now live in the same building.

"I have someone I need to find. What about you?"

"My family..." the girl replied, her gaze losing focus for a moment, lost in some thought. "I need to find them"

Damon could see the emotions flaring behind the girl’s eyes. He couldn’t even imagine what having a real family in the apocalypse was like. Though he had always considered his best friend family, they weren’t blood-related. And judging by the emotions on the girl’s face, she was worried more about them than herself.

"Any idea where they are?"

"Last time I spoke to them, they were home, it’s in the city outskirts. What about you?"

’She also lives in the outskirts?’ Damon raised a brow. For some reason, the girl didn’t seem like the people who lived in the city’s outskirts. The way she carried herself seemed different.

’That’s also where I’m headed’

The girl nodded.

"We should find a place to sleep. It’s getting dark already, and fighting monsters without vision sounds like a bad idea"

Damon’s gaze lifted toward the sky, which was now turning orange as the sun descended below the horizon. The smoke from the city was still there, and so were the now tiny dark figures that flew through the air, monsters no doubt.

They moved quickly through the empty cornfield, Damon carrying the Kitsune on his shoulder after she complained about being too tired to walk.

After a little while, they saw a small, half-standing shed.

Ivy peeked through the planks as they approached, checking for signs of any monsters.

"It’s clear," she confirmed.

The interior was smaller than it looked from the outside. The wooden planks barely held the structure together, but in their current situation, it was as good as anything.

Damon lowered himself down against one of the walls, the Kitsune curling on his lap as he let out a long breath.

"It’s good enough," he noted.

Then, once he was well seated, he opened his status window.

[Name: Damon]

[Level: 7]

[Race: Human]

[Class: Error-!]

[Attributes: System Breaker]

[Classes (1/1): Divine Beast Tamer(Active) ]

[Stats:

— Strength: 17

— Dexterity: 5

— Vitality: 15

— Stamina: 6

— Mana: 10

— Luck: 1]

[Stat Points Available: 2]

Reading through the list, he nodded with a satisfied expression. He’s gotten five strength and as much as ten vitality for that single kill. He could feel the rise in strength and vitality, but he didn’t quite feel its effects as much as he felt the strength.

’I guess I’ll find out when I get injured, huh?’ he thought to himself as he continued reading through the list.

Looking at the stats, it was clear what his weaknesses were. Excluding luck, which was disgustingly low, both his dexterity and stamina were low compared to the other stats. Without overthinking it, he put one point in dexterity and one point in stamina, before shifting his focus to the thing he wanted to check more than his status screen.

He focused on the words ’Monster Index’ in his mind, and as he did, a new window replaced the status screen. It looked like a page of a book, most of it hidden by greyed-out space, but two entries were there.

[Monster Entry 1]

[Name: Undead Human]

[Race: Undead]

[Level: 1]

[Monster Entry 2]

[Name: Graveworm]

[Race: Vermes]

[Level: 25]

Damon looked at the page as if it were a screen for a few moments before closing it. He wasn’t sure what he expected to see in the monster index, but that simple depiction was not it.

Once the half-translucent window was gone, Damon leaned back onto the wooden wall. The structure creaked in protest, but he didn’t care, exhaustion already crawling over him.

Across from him, on the other side of the shed, Ivy sat with her knees pulled to her chest. She stared into the wooden floor, lost in thought, probably thinking about her family. On Damon’s lap, the Kitsune in her fox form was already sound asleep, without a care in the world.

He watched her for a couple of breaths before he allowed himself to close his eyes.

’Tomorrow will probably not get any easier,’ he thought, before enjoying this moment of rest.