part1 · 025-ep25

Episode 25: The First Change

"...What... is this..."

His heart pounded hard. His wound burned. His breathing changed. His vision grew sharper, bit by bit.

The monster's movements—

clearer than a moment ago.

"...I can see it."

Ren was surprised, even to himself. The monster's movements — the ones he couldn't even track with his eyes moments ago — he could see them.

The motion of its forelegs. The angle of its body. The instant it pushed off. Where it would come next.

He could tell, just a little.

"If this works..."

Ren gripped the spear again. The monster kicked off the ground.

Ren tried to move right.

But—

"...!"

His body lagged behind. His head knew. Dodge right. And yet his body wouldn't follow.

Claws grazed Ren's arm.

"Ow!"

Ren rolled away, putting distance between them.

"...Why..."

The monster bore down again. This time from the left.

Ren moved his body desperately. Dodged by a hair. Claws shattered the rock behind him.

"...I dodged it."

He was moving better than before. But he didn't know how he'd dodged.

It felt like his body had moved on its own.

　　　　　◇

The monster turned. It came at Ren again.

"Here it comes...!"

Ren readied his spear. He could see the monster's movements. Now he could attack.

That was what he thought.

The monster lunged.

"Now!"

Ren thrust the spear out.

But—

The aim slipped. The spear only grazed the monster's shoulder, shallow.

"...Damn it!"

The monster roared. The next instant, a massive foreleg swung down.

Ren tried to dodge. Too slow.

Wham!

"Gah!"

His body was hurled away. He tumbled across the ground, over and over. The spear left his hand.

"...Kh..."

It hurt. His breath wouldn't come. His body wouldn't move.

Ren fought to get up. But the monster was already right on top of him.

"...Not yet..."

Ren looked at the spear. He had to grab it. But his legs wouldn't take his weight.

The monster sank low. It was coming again.

Ren understood.

"...I can't win."

He could see better than before. His body moved better than before.

And still—

it wasn't enough yet.

"I have to run..."

Ren kicked off the ground. Scooped up the spear as he rolled. And ran.

　　　　　◇

He retraced his path desperately. The monster's footsteps echoed behind him.

Thoom.

Thoom.

The gap shrank.

"Haah... haah...!"

Ren ran with everything he had. Into a narrow passage. The monster's body snagged.

Using that opening, Ren ran farther. Turning again and again. Looking back again and again.

And—

at last, the monster's presence fell behind.

　　　　　◇

Ren collapsed into the shadow of the rocks.

"...Haah... haah..."

For a while, he couldn't move. His whole body hurt. Blood ran from his shoulder.

Even so, he was alive.

Ren stared at his own hands.

"...What was that, just now?"

The heat he'd felt deep inside. The vision that had suddenly gone sharp. The body that moved better than ever before.

None of it had ever happened before.

But Ren still didn't understand. What had happened to his body. How he could use that power. He understood nothing.

Just one thing.

One thing was certain.

"...Next time, I win."

Ren stared in the direction the monster had gone.

Right now, he couldn't win.

So—

he would get stronger. To survive.

And someday, without fail.

To defeat that monster.