Modern Monster

"The body always forgets the pain, while the brain always remembers it."

A foot-long claw came swerving at Ayame. Her expression from the attack was unamused and insipid. She keenly watched how the bearwolf moved and dodged accordingly.

“GROWWWWWLL!” it howled out in anger.

The monster appeared aggravated that it couldn’t land one single hit on her. What it didn't know was that she would never allow herself to be hit by one of its kind.

I’ve memorized the attack patterns of more monsters than I can count; this is barely a challenge.

It swung its large paw at her with a grunt. Ayame noticed it from the corner of her eye and attempted to dodge the attack. But then… it’s a feint? Ayame gaped.

Her hair prickled from surprise. Instead of following through with the attack, the monster pulled back its offensive paw and used it as another stepping stone to lung at her.

The bearwolf’s mouth swung open, heading towards Ayame’s face.

“COMP!” the monster comped down on thin air…

A split second before its mouth could touch her head, Ayame swiftly dodged. She rolled away from the bearwolf, keeping enough distance to buy her some time.

A drip of sweat plunged from her chin. Ayame swiped it dry with her sleeve, muttering in frustration.

Shit, if I didn’t have Sight, I would have been a goner.

Sight could have many effects and advantages depending on how someone is trained. The potency of senses also relies heavily on genetics, with some being outliers.

In some cases people have been known to hone Sight to a point where they could predict movements before they happened. Essentially looking into the future for a millisecond. However, that wasn’t quite the truth. It was more of an observational skill and calculating probabilities of the opponent's movements than actually being able to see into the future.

It could be easily countered if someone was more experienced. Some people with Sight could even accelerate their mind and sight to perceive things in slow motion. It was much easier to explain the concept than to achieve it.

Being able to slow down time by accelerating your mind and sight is so rare Im sure there’s only a handful of people who’ve achieved it—the same thing with predicting others' movements.

Unfortunately, Ayame wasn’t capable of those skills at her current level. Although, if somehow, she could possess those godly powers, Ayame would be a diamond-ranked Knight by now.

I’ll have to rely on the skills that old geezer taught me. Ayame let out a smug grin.

“Hey, sis!” Genkai called out to her. “Need some help? Kinda bored just sitting around and waiting for you.” He yawned with his legs crossed and his chin leaning on the palm of his hand.

“No, im fine. I told you I want to kill this monster on my own,” Ayame growled as she swung her sword to release the blood that dripped from it. She let out a breath and concentrated.

My sense is useless in this condensed space unless I honed it to be useful in close combat. So the only thing I can do is–

The bearwolf had terrible manners. It lunged at her before she could adequately think to herself.

This time, at least, the movements of the monster were slower. Ayame easily dodged the attack and slashed her sword at the monster’s snout. The bearwolfs nose came clean off. Blood oozed out of the fresh wound as the monster staggered in pain.

“AGGGGGGHHHHHH!” the monster howled. It’s getting weaker, Ayame realized. In that case, she couldn’t hold back anymore. She leaped at it, not giving it a chance to recover.

The vile creature shook its head, limping back and forth in discomfort. But before the monster could open its eyes, it was already met with the taste of her sword.

“SPLAT!” blood spilled on the brick ground, and shortly after came howls of agony echoing through the dungeon's tunnels.

Tsk… it dodged out of the way. Ayame swung her long hair out of her eyes with a disgusted smirk. At this point, the monster should give up. Ayame’s victory had already been set in stone since the battle started. A mere bronze-ranked monster could never defeat her.

But if she were to be honest with herself, it was enjoyable watching the monster squirm in pain. Watching it growl meekly, barely able to stand on its feet, gave her a warm, broken smile.

“Ayame, just kill it already,” Genkai said. Ayame could care less to conjure a response to her brother.

I’m not done with it yet.

She threw her sword like an arrow, sending it soaring across the hallway until it pierced the monster's hunched shoulders. It didn’t screech in pain like it usually did. This time, the bearwolf bluntly collapsed on the ground with a big thud.

Its body was still twitching, signaling it was still alive, although sensibly unconscious.

Ayame promenaded towards the limp body with a cold and grimaced expression. She pulled her sword out while blood sprayed out of the wound like a leaking water balloon. Some of its fluids even splattered on Ayame’s new clothes, which only further annoyed her.

This monster… was the reason my life was completely ruined. Her sword pierced the monster's paw. The low whimper of bearwolf reverberated in the hallway. But to her, it was practically a symphony being played. Ayame enjoyed every single growl and whine of its pain.

When its agony died out, she gouged it with her sword once more, leaving it to yelp over and over again.

It's not enough…

Ayame knew it wasn’t the same monster who had taken her mom’s life, but it was the same species. As long as the beast looked the same, it would give her temporary relief that she was avenging her mother somehow.

Not enough...

This exact thing happened many times, but after playing with the monster's life, Ayame was always left unsatisfied.

In the end, it didn’t matter how many monsters died or were tortured. It still wouldn’t make her mother come back.

Yet, her body moved on its own. One after another, the sword continued stabbing the bearwolf until it couldn’t even moan in pain any longer.

Just like the torture Ayame suffered in her life, the monster got used to it.

“Huh?” Ayame paused for a moment. “Why is there water dripping on the ground?” Looking down at her shoes, moment after moment, more water trickled where she stood. Then glancing above, Ayame narrowed her eyes in confusion. Where was it coming from?

Hunching over, she felt no water splash on her back, yet how was it still falling in front of her?

“Oh, I see,” she realized. “It’s me…”