Another Creature

When Elion's eyes met those of one of the weird creatures, every hair on his body rose up. Elion quickly made up his mind and sprinted as fast as he could with his little steps.

" ǬǮǶǙǚɁѬ..."

Elion's eardrums began to ache from the growing volume of noises. The monsters made sounds that words could not describe. They had the sound of a combination of creaking doors, human screams, and wild animal noises.

Elion heard that the sounds were getting louder without turning around to see what's happening. While Elion was sweating heavily, his breathing started to become uneven.

Despite this, he could not stop now because he's not sure what would happen if the strange creatures caught up with him.

" Hah… hah… hah…"

Elion ran through the city's ruins, his eyes darting around as he looked for a safe place to hide from the strange creature he had never seen before. He thought back to one of the drains he had seen on his way to the city center.

Elion picked up the speed and ran as hard as he could toward the ditch. But all of a sudden, one of the creatures showed up in front of his face. Elion stopped in his tracks, lost his balance, and fell on the ground.

" ǬǮǶǙǚɁѬ..."

The thing took the form of a doll with a terrifying clown face. In its grip, a sharp knife appeared to be ready to strike Elion's stomach.

People around Elion frequently bullied and abused him. However, had anyone ever held a knife to his face? No. This was a whole new situation for him.

The 14-year-old boy's voice was so choked with fear that he could not even speak. Who would come to his aid if he yelled anyway? Absolutely nobody. Simply put, he is the last known human being on Earth.

" ҖѦы₧ↈ…"

The thing spoke again, but Elion did not understand what it said. The next second, the thing lifted its hand and swung the knife at Elion's head, trying to cut it off.

Elion quickly rolled on the ground, trying to avoid the attack. However, his unathletic body made his movements slow, causing the knife to rip off a piece of flesh on his right arm.

"Arghhhh!" Elion growled in pain. Blood flowed down to his wrist.

His body was shaking violently, his pupils were constricting, and sweat was pouring down his face.

Am I going to die here? Elion thought. His gaze was drawn back to the thing, which was approaching him without allowing him time to think.

Elion clenched his jaw. He made up his mind. He would not die here. Not after he was free from the people who had hurt him.

As the creature swung its knife at Elion's head again, he ducked and ran as fast as he could, leaving the scary clown-looking creature behind.

Elion kept running until he finally arrived at a narrow alley filled with rubble and blocked by the big wall of the building next to it.

Elion lowered himself right away and crawled into the cracks in the debris. He quickly lost his sight as he dug deeper into the rubble.

In the darkness, Elion's thin hands moved to remove the rocks that blocked his path. As he went deeper, the sounds of the creatures faded from his ears.

Taking a deep breath, Elion tried to calm himself down amidst the rubble of the building.

Did I finally get away from the clown?

Elion clenched his teeth. He had already gathered food and drinks, but they were all gone because the strange thing was after him. To be more exact, they slipped out of his hands.

Reality hit him hard once again. All he could do was run. But could he now survive in a world overrun with strange monsters? And could he do it alone?

Suddenly, a flash appeared, lighting up the darkness.

[You successfully evaded Dred's pursuit.]

[Explanation: Dred is a creature created from the manifestation of negative emotions and nightmares of humanity.]

Elion raised his head and stared at the system message, not sure what it meant. The screens came back into view in the air with a new message before he could think about what he had just read.

[You have successfully run 4 km.] [+2 Stamina] [Press to see more.]

The screens filled his vision amid the crushed debris of the building. Elion, who had little space to move, looked irritated as the light from the system message momentarily blinded him. Despite his frustration, many questions swirled in his mind about his current situation.

Hesitantly, Elion pressed one of the screens in front of him. Suddenly, a much larger screen appeared, far bigger than the previous messages, causing him to flinch.

[Status window]

Name: Elion Viro

Age: 14 years

HP: 72/100

IP: 95/100

Strength: 2

Intelligence: 50

Stamina: 3 (↑2)

Agility: 5

Skills: [Creation Lv. 1]

Elion's eyes widened in disbelief.

"This... This is like the game my classmates play," he muttered under his breath, careful not to draw the attention of the creature the system called Dred, lurking nearby.

But he quickly set aside his surprise. This wasn't the time for admiration—he needed to escape this dire situation. To do that, he needed information from the system.

Of all the messages flashing on the screen, two things stood out to Elion.

"System, what is an IP?" he asked.

[IP is Imagination Point. It is used to turn imagination into reality. IP decreases based on the system's assessment of the object created. Once IP reaches 0, the [Creation] skill cannot be used.]

"As I thought, there are limits," Elion muttered, clenching his jaw. His mind raced.

If the system's information was accurate, it would have cost him 5 IP to create something simple like bread. That was the only thing he had imagined since encountering the system.

"What about Dred? How do I get rid of those creatures? If they're manifestations of negative emotions and nightmares, will physical attacks even work on them?"

Silence filled the narrow, rubble-strewn alley for a moment before the system responded in its flat, emotionless tone:

[Dred is a manifestation of negative emotions and nightmares. As long as you still have negative emotions and fears, no physical attack will work on Dred.]

What? Elion's eyes widened at the explanation.

It seemed unfair. How could someone like him—a 14-year-old boy, alone in a world suddenly reduced to chaos—not have negative emotions or fears?

In fact, the feelings he had been suppressing for years—years of suffering injustice from everyone around him—were so strong that he had once wished for the end of the world.

"I don't have many options," Elion muttered, adjusting his position.

He had two choices: trust the system and somehow rid himself of all his fears and negative emotions, or doubt the system and try to fight Dred using his own methods.

Elion chose the latter. He closed his eyes and focused on creating a weapon he could use against Dred. Given his weak body, he decided to imagine a kitchen knife—something simple but effective.

He visualized every detail of the knife in his mind. When he finally opened his eyes, he expected to hear the system's usual congratulatory message, but instead, a loud Ding rang out.

[Warning! A dred is coming your way!]