I was very tempted to kill another one, or even a few more before I was to encounter the Hell Beast in 8 days, but now that I wanted to test myself out once against this bane of humanity, I couldn't afford to get arrested and be locked up which could hinder my plans.
I spent the following days doing various exercises to get used to my new strengths and speed. I measured my time running and was disappointed to find that I was nowhere close to Usain Bolt yet, but was pretty confident at some point I would become the fastest human to have ever run on the face of the earth.
At the same time though, I knew being strong enough to make a tiny crack on a concrete wall would have zero real impact on the Beast. After all, that monster could just walk through buildings as if it were the easiest thing to do in the world. However, it would still be worth testing if the Beast reacts to my super duper mega punch in any way at all. If it does, it'd mean that at least I can strike it with enough power for the creature from hell to at least feel it.
My plan was simple. Wait for it to spawn on November 1st, test myself running away from it and dodging its attacks to judge just how far off from the required speed I am, and then land a punch or two on its body wherever I can to see if it even notice it, even if it might just be the slightest brush against its skin for this monster.
Then November 1st came as it always does, and I chose the City Hall Square to test myself out because I wanted some open space to run around on.
"What… what are you doing here?"
I felt a familiar voice call out to me from behind.
Ah, shit. Why did you turn up here of all days…
"Haein…?"
I turned around to confirm and there she was, dressed as cute as ever, but her face carrying a visible expression of concern and a hint of fear.
"Today is the date isn't it?"
The girl nervously inquired.
"Yes, it is. And I have been working on something… I wanted to test it out"
"You've found a way to deal with it?"
"No, it'd just be a test"
"Right"
"I suggest you go back to Incheon now. That might buy you a few more hours to live"
"As if that would matter at all, IF you are correct about this so-called Hell Beast"
She was right. It would matter fuck all and more sadly, it wasn't guaranteed that my imminent confrontation with the Hell Beast would be any kind of a spectacle worth watching.
"What brings you here though?"
"I'm supposed to meet someone here"
"Who?"
"None of your business"
Is this perhaps why this Haein didn't kill herself on the first day like the last one? Because she had a prior arrangement, or a destiny if you will, to meet someone here today?
"It might be an important factor that I could take into consideration if you could tell me who you were going to meet today"
"What's that got to do with anything?"
"I'm thinking… maybe you are destined to meet someone today and it's that destiny that brought us to this point"
"Sounds cringy as hell"
I let out a sigh.
"Right, it's none of my business. But just tell me one thing"
"It depends on what you are going to ask"
"Do you already know this person that you are going to meet?"
"Yes and no"
"Please elaborate"
"I kinda don't want to"
"Please, this might help stop the apocalypse"
"The more I talk to you the more I feel like you are just a crazy woman"
Then I gave a quick thought about what she said earlier, 'Yes and no', it could only mean…
"So you know this person from online but never met him before?"
"Gees, how did you know? You definitely do have some sort of a psychic power"
She looked more irritated than frightened.
"This is just simple logic"
"Which I thought you completely lacked"
"So how do you know this person from online? Some sort of MMO games?"
"I don't need to tell you anything about-"
SHIT.
"Watch out!"
Right at that moment, the Hell Beast appeared only about ten or fifteen meters behind Haein, emerging out of thin air.
The startled girl turned around to see what it was, and even from behind I could tell that her jaws must have dropped to the floor.
Not to waste any time, I quickly picked her up from behind and carried her in my arms, like a princess-carry but only for survival. There was nothing romantic about it. For now.
As soon as I picked her up I quickly ran away from the Beast. Haein was too shocked to protest or say anything. With my newfound strength I found it easy enough to carry this little girl, and my feet felt as light as ever as if I wasn't carrying any extra weight.
I heard people screaming and getting crushed all over the place. I turned my head to get a quick glance at the Beast and it had its eyes fixated on me even when it was going nom-nom on the poor crowd along the way.
Damn, it's following me and it's only gonna get bigger, stronger, and faster.
"Haein, it's following me. I'll let you down and run in that direction. You run in that direction then, OK?"
Without needing any confirmation from her, I let her down and waved her away. Although she was hesitant at the start, she started to run away without any further word.
You could have at least said goodbye or something…
To my horror though, the Beast didn't follow me and it changed its direction to follow Haein instead.
Fuck. Why?!
"Kyaaa!"
In her panic, Haein tripped and fell to the ground. The monster from hell was only a few meters away from her and the next step was surely to land on the poor girl on the ground.
I dashed towards her as fast as I could and literally flung her away with all my strength. It was somewhat successful but I wouldn't be surprised if I ended up breaking a few of her bones.
I'm sorry, but it had to be done. I don't want to see you die anymore even if it won't mean anything.
The Beast seemed to have found it amusing, which it often did when it came to facing me and knelt before me again just as it had done before to bring its face closer to me.
Now is the time.
I landed a full power punch on its right eye.
FUCK! How can its eyes be so hard?!
It felt at least 100 times harder than the concrete I punched in my room, but…
It blinked.
After that, the green glow in its eyes flashed extremely brightly, blinding me.
I woke up to October 1st again with a new hope.