Run!

[Mindless Longclaw]

A stealthy hunter without mercy or remorse. Faster, stronger, more durable than anything the current me in this world had ever seen. Over two meters tall, its limbs were much longer than that of a human, covered with a natural black-gray colored hardened skin, akin but stronger than any iron armor of our world, armed with a pair of dual longclaws the size of a big knife.

A face without eyes that somehow resembled a masked person with a twisted and demonic mouth, conveying nothing but fear out of people's deepest nightmares. They were the first invaders. The Ath'Taren vanguard.

It would tear apart the Old Earth defenses, and it was only an unranked, low-level minion.

"Class rep!!!"

While my first thoughts were only of running away, the young man next to me rushed to cover the fallen woman on the floor, unafraid of the bloodbath in front of us. He was a good-looking man, with ear length fine black hair, wearing a blue shirt and black pants.

Jiwan.

The only one I would consider my friend around here. Last life, he had not been so foolish, maybe because the Class Rep was the first to die. There was nothing that could have been done to change it.

I never cared about her, but Jiwan was another story. He always had this heroic air to him. Unlike me, he would work out, play sports, live a normal life. That made him popular and easygoing. We did not always see eye to eye, sometimes even fought, but he always watched my back since high school.

Last life, Jiwan didn't go with me. We got separated after the chaos started. I ran south. The dumb bastard went north, searching for his family. I only saw him again many years later. We raided an enemy's base and found his almost lifeless corpse, tortured and near death.

He never found his family. They probably died right away, maybe even without being accepted into this new world. We didn't know, but even if he found them, what could he have done? How could we have known everything would change?

And he wasn't lucky enough to die. An intelligent Ath'Taren captured and experimented on him over and over until his mind broke, becoming only an empty shell.

I couldn't imagine what he went through. Judging by the equipment at the base, and the lack of any sort of sympathy towards human life, hell would have been paradise.

The longclaw turned his sightless body towards Jiwan, marking him as prey. My body moved on its own. The smartphone in my hand flew, almost like a bullet, hitting the longclaw in the face. The phone broke into pieces, but the thing didn't feel any pain.

It kind of pissed me off that he ignored it. I grabbed the chair this time, and it seemed light, so I threw it with one hand, and at an impressive speed.

Uh? One handed?

The metal chair hit, breaking to pieces with a loud clang. Objects from our world can't damage them, but it can still feel them. I threw the chair with such power the longclaw decided I was the stronger target. I wasn't wrong either. The chair truly felt light. My current body should not be capable of this much power right now.

"ZEN! WATCH OUT!"

The longclaw already moved in front of me, striking with his sharp and rustic claws. The people around ran for their lives and screamed. Not me. Before, I would either run or have pissed myself at this sight, bracing for death. My body might not be ready, my strength might be gone, but war has forged my mind in the heat of battle over dozens of years. I was no longer a student, but a veteran warrior.

I dodged to the right. It would have been easier to counter from the left, but fists were useless against that thing's natural armor with my current strength. Items of our world were useless against the invaders, but the human body was an exception, as long as they had sufficient power. Yet, even if I was stronger than in the past, I still couldn't beat it to death with my bare hands.

I couldn't beat it to death, but that didn't mean there weren't ways of dealing with those things. Memories of the hellish training from my past life surfaced. I gave the longclaw no time to recover, diving in towards its chest, compressing my body as much as possible, and then hitting it with a double palm and my entire strength.

It barely took any damage from the blow, but flew down through the window of the third floor. My palms hurt as if I had just struck an iron wall. However, it didn't hurt as much as I thought it would. I was ready to break or injure them. This body was much stronger than in the past.

Since I couldn't feel Qi yet, it could only mean my body itself changed. Was it because of my transmigration?

"Z-Zen…" Jiwan was dumbstruck, opening his mouth wide, and some others still in the class couldn't believe their eyes. The Class Rep regained her senses.

"I-Is it dead?!" Someone ran up to the window to check, "I-It's still alive!"

No shit. That didn't even scratch it, but it won't come back up. Mindless Longclaws won't become fixated on something without orders as they lacked awareness. Down there, it would search for new and easier prey.

"Fuck, it's hunting people down there!!"

"Oh, God… Teacher..." The Class Rep trembled, watching her former teacher laying dead in a pool of his own blood.

"Jiwan, we have to go!" I shouted, looking for a way out of the classroom.

"Go? Go where? We need to warn the police! The army! What is that thing?!"

How do I even explain?

"KYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Screams popped out everywhere, including the classroom next door. The sound of death echoed loudly, together with tears, pain, blood, and despair.

"SHIT, THERE'S MORE OF THEM!" a student shouted in fear.

"Come with me. I'll explain on the way out!"

I wanted Jiwan to come, but it wasn't like I could sit around and explain what was going to happen. There was no time. We needed to get out of this city before the terrifying stuff came. I was about to shout at him to run again when a bloody corpse crashed into our class from the wall next door.

I counted through the gap - one, two, three longclaws at least.

With Jiwan or not, my survival instinct was telling me...

"FUCKING RUN!"