Growth

Rampant energy circulated all over seeking to destroy Ralph's body from within, good thing a blob was trying its best to keep them in check. The little thing looked like it had a mind of its own, it formed threads from the energy and spread them around, making the threads thinner as it went on, When they were no longer visible to the naked eye it finally stopped to take a breather.

It went around as if to make a final check before clocking in. Finding nothing wrong, it disappeared. This process lasted for three days during which Ralph slept soundly. Ralph couldn't discover this discrepancy due to his cleaning habits.

He woke up to find his body stiff as a board. He stretched for a while and then decided to go for a run. As he ran, he felt lighter, he felt that he could fly if he gave it a try. He sped up, faster than ever, and the wind ran swiftly past his face. He felt lighter both in mind and body. He had been carrying a lot for too long. He ran all over the town, this was where he had spent all his childhood, and this was home. When he finally stopped it had been almost an hour.

'So this is why people ran every day'.

When he went back to cook a meal, he felt unnaturally hungry. 'It seems like a fine day for steamed bun'.

He put his headphones on and began chopping the vegetables. Next, he kneaded the dough.

'Potatoes make everything better '.

He waited as potatoes boiled, taking some time to decide which sauces he would be using today.

'Seasoning is not for novices, I'll stick with mixing everything with sauce for now.'

He enjoyed his "lunch" whilst catching up on anime.

At the gym, he tested his strength and noticed a 50 per cent increase in his overall high score.

'I wonder how many shadowmen I would have to kill to smack that skeleton', he walked out with renewed confidence. That day he purged 17 of them before he could no longer find any. He sat down and started thinking. 'How long will it take for more to spawn, can I even wait patiently for more easy prey when actual predators might come knocking at my door any day? I don't want to die like an insect anymore now that I have a way to get stronger.'

'I should still avoid Wiltsville but maybe I can head over to the other towns, and see if I can find mobs I can clear on my own there. I can not let this town be my grave, I can only move forward from now on.'

Kranston was 50 km from Quintonville. He went there sometimes to see some of his friends that had moved there. It wasn't a small town in any way, It had a thriving mall and a very popular aquarium. People came from all over the country to see the aquarium.

When he was little, he dreamt of working at the aquarium, fascinated by the marine life.

'Another barren town, let's hope that I don't run into giants.'

He sneaked around the town after parking his car outside.

'Let's get a vantage point first. That building should be high enough to look around the block.'He chose to observe before making a move on the writhing shadows he came across.

He determined that he wouldn't be disturbed if he decided to hunt.'Let me see if can get an accurate throw from up here. After a few failed tries, he finally landed a Molotov from 10 floors high which ended up hitting the head before burning."That's gotta hurt even if it can't feel pain", he gave it a nasty scowl. 'I can't afford to waste all of the Molotovs, let's clear this area out.'

He felt thankful for the elevators right now. It wouldn't have been so easy without them.'I would much rather die to a surprise attack than climb up the stairs every time.'He watched through the glass as the lift went down.

He cleared the area after having one instance of being located due to stepping too close. 'These things don't appear to be that strong, Now that I can attack on the run I should try to kill one with a machete. The efficiency would be lower if I had to make Molotovs every time. Either that works or I switch to Automated rifles as soon as I can handle the recoil well.'

He soon found a shadow stuck on the floor. He gave it a warm smile," Ah, just the person I was looking for. Would kind sir like to contribute to science?"The shadow noticed him and started struggling as if to escape.

'It doesn't matter even if you don't want to.'He pulled out the machete he took from a nearby store's collection and walked up to the shadow.

He slashed it across the chest. The strike felt some resistance but due to the large force, it just slid through it. The shadowman disappeared without making a noise. After collecting the stone, He pondered, 'Why is it that the towns have nothing but these guys while the big city had that monster roaming its streets?'

He threw caution to the wind as he slashed through whatever shadow he came across and with each mana stone he absorbed he grew stronger and with it grew the speed at which he hunted. Where he had to wait for opportunities previously, he could easily make them himself. He took a step back whenever the shadow lunged forward with its claws and slashed it in a fluid motion in its defenceless state. Most of them died to less than four slashes. Ralph was going on his rampage when the writhing mass of shadows took notice of him with his detection range that was several times greater than that of the lesser shadows. It started lurking in the shadows at a distance from Ralph's view. Always following and yet never attracting any attention from him.

' I should head back for today, I wouldn't feel safe sleeping here till I clear the entire town'.

With that thought, he drove his car back to Quintonville. But unfortunately, something started following him back home. It burned in the open but ran through shadows whenever it could. The shadow chimaera was a hybrid monster, it could track someone it had marked for long distances, It didn't prefer upfront confrontation and if spotted it would just as easily run away. It was most confident in its ability to hunt prey by striking at its weakest moments. It followed him back to his home. Where it stood in waiting, hiding in the nearby shadows.

When Ralph finally slept on his bed, it sprung to action.

It walked through the stairs as it had seen Ralph do and opened his door as he did.

It stared at his beating heart as if looking for a place to deliver death in a single strike and started elongating its claws, It aimed and stabbed a hole through Ralph's chest, to which he could only open his eyes and take a last look at it before life vanished from his eyes and they became dull. The shadow chimaera watched the dead prey in glee and then walked out of the house.