System Breaker: Surviving Apocalypse with Nine-Tailed Kitsune-Chapter 40: Unexpected Stop

[You have slain a Level 21 Evolved Undead Human]

After leaving the safety of the truck, Damon didn’t have to wait long to find that Kitsune’s words were true. The monsters did in fact evolve, and now even the previously weak undead humans had risen over twenty levels up.

Of course, at his current strength, killing a level 21 monster wasn’t much of a struggle, and so he had already killed a half dozen of them.

That being said, the first one did catch him slightly off guard. What appeared to increase the most was the monster’s speed, and so he barely had time to react when a slightly overgrown undead human charged at him.

Luckily, two well-aimed ice shards were enough to dispose of the creature, so he didn’t suffer any injuries. But it was a good warning that ever since the first quest began, he needed to be on guard.

’If a simple undead human had risen over twenty levels, would that mean that other monsters did too?’

It was both an exciting and a scary thought.

Before, there weren’t many challenges for him inside the city. The only thing he had to keep in mind was his stamina, as it was the only way he could die against the monsters whose levels were that much lower than his. But now that the monsters evolved, he would finally be able to face monsters stronger than him and get back to reaping hefty rewards.

"You know most people wouldn’t be so happy about monsters getting stronger," Kitsune said, noticing a faint smile tugging at his lips.

But Damon simply shrugged.

’If I am to fight monsters, I might as well fight the strong ones,’ he replied before taking a quick turn down one of the alleyways.

Another thing that came with the monster evolution was a sudden increase in their numbers. The main streets were now flooded with evolved undead humans, and Damon, despite being happy to kill monsters, didn’t plan to go and spent months clearing the entire city on his way to the Citadel.

Most people had probably died at their homes, so most low-level monsters were stuck indoors. But now that their strength had risen, they were probably able to get out of the brick buildings, which must have been the reason their numbers increased, at least according to Damon.

Another thing on his mind was the rifts.

’Do rifts also undertake changes?’

"They do," Kitsune replied half-heartedly.

Damon nodded in satisfaction. He felt as if he could finally get back on the right track and not have to waste time fighting weak monsters and pretending like he was progressing.

But before he could plan that very progress, Kitsune suddenly leapt from his shoulder and changed to her full form.

"Oh my..." she murmured, her gaze locked on something to their right.

Damon’s heart immediately raced as he tightened the grip on his sword and spun, expecting the worst.

But as his eyes landed on what she was staring at, his serious expression turned to a scoff.

"Huh?"

To their right, there was a small alleyway that led directly to the main street, where, in the near distance, he could see a storefront that said something about a boutique. Through its windows, he could see countless clothing items displayed and untouched by the apocalypse around it.

"You turned to your full form for this?" He glanced at her with a perplexed expression, but she seemed almost hypnotised as she stared at the items.

She turned toward him with a look that spoke more than words, and he knew immediately what she meant.

"No." He replied before she even asked.

"Hmph, don’t you need new clothing anyway? You have worn these rags since the very start," She pointed out, trying to convince him to go in for her own benefit.

Damon couldn’t help but glance down at his clothes.

They were ragged, torn and covered by dried blood and liquids he couldn’t quite recognise. Looking at himself now, he did in fact need new clothes, but giving in to her request didn’t seem right to him either.

"We’ll be quick-" She began to continue her convincing, but he let out a deep sigh before agreeing.

"Five minutes. Then we’re back on the way."

"You won’t regret it," She replied with a wink that suggested some type of second meaning before strolling quickly down the alleyway.

A handful of evolved undead humans stood between them and the store, which Damon had to quickly dispose of. They weren’t much of a challenge, but it was enough of a pause for him to lose sight of Kitsune, who had already gone inside the store.

Letting out a defeated exhale, he followed after her.

’Where did she go...’ he wondered as he strolled across the store aisles. ’I guess a fox woman is still a woman...’ he mused to himself, noting how even a divine beast, a nine-tailed kitsune, would go crazy for a thing as ordinary as clothing. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

He called toward her a couple of times through his mental connection, but she seemed either too occupied or simply ignored him on purpose.

After taking a quick, less than a minute, pause by the male aisle and changing his clothes, Damon picked up his pace in search of Kitsune.

He began checking aisle after aisle until he finally took a corner near the end of the first floor and caught a sight of something he probably shouldn’t have.

From behind, he caught a glimpse of long legs, followed by slender arms which were carefully adjusting a belt around the black heels she wore. Her skin-tight black dress curled up dangerously high as she bent down to fix her heels, unaware or uncaring that he was standing right behind her.

Then, she finally straightened her back, and when she did, Damon’s eyes widened.

Instead of the familiar long silver-white hair, he saw short black hair, and on the side of her black dress was a belt holding a revolver, one he had most certainly seen before.

For a moment, she seemed unaware that he was there until she suddenly whipped her head around, and her eyes widened just like his.

Damon recognised her immediately.

"Eve."