Starting With SSS-rank: I Get A New Skill Every Livestream-Chapter 15: First hunt(2)

The room was steeped in silence. Curtains swayed gently as a soft breeze slipped through the narrow gap in the window.

Beneath it stood a small bed, where a beautiful woman in her early twenties lay asleep.

Her long black hair spilled across the pillow like a dark blossom in bloom. She wore fitted track pants that traced the length of her toned legs, and a thin white blouse that rested lightly against her figure, lending her an air that was both delicate and quietly alluring.

Her breathing was slow and even. She was deeply asleep.

The spacious room, empty save for a single cupboard, felt almost unnaturally still. No clock was permitted inside to fracture the silence with its ticking.

Then, a faint buzz pierced the quiet.

Her eyes snapped open. Fluorescent lavender irises cut through the darkness as she stared ahead for a brief second before pushing herself upright.

Without hesitation, she slipped her hand beneath the mattress and retrieved the source of the disturbance.

She owned two phones. One was for the outside world, silenced the moment she stepped into her room to rest.

The other was different.

Only one person could ever reach her through it.

[Commander]

She paused for a moment before answering the call.

"What happened?"

Her voice was steady, composed, as though she had not been fast asleep only moments before.

[Layena, where are you?]

She let out a quiet sigh. "It is past midnight. Where do you think?"

[Hmm. Head to the railway station. A disturbance has been detected.]

Layena’s eyes sharpened. "What kind of disturbance? Did a rift appear?"

[No. We have detected a massive gathering of Nightmares in that region, even though no Nightwalkers are supposed to be operating there at the moment.]

She swung her legs off the bed, already alert. "Commander, I do not usually question your judgment, but could this not be handled by someone else?"

[Layena, I am fully aware that you are a Grade One Nightwalker. That is precisely why I am assigning this to you. Your juniors cannot handle what is unfolding.]

Her expression tightened. "What do you mean? You just said it is a cluster of Nightmares."

[Yes. But whatever they are gathering around has completely fried our Gen sensors. They were planted nearly a mile from the location.]

Layena paused mid-step. "Someone overloaded our sensors? From that distance? How?"

[Exactly. The alley cameras show an individual swinging what appears to be a metal rod, likely engaging the Nightmares. What concerns me is the magical output. It is... astonishing.]

She was already at the wardrobe, pulling on her jacket in one fluid motion. "Anything else?"

[There was suspicious movement near the third ward earlier this evening. We cannot confirm a connection, but the timing is unsettling.]

Layena zipped up her jacket, lavender eyes now cold and focused. "Understood. I will head there now."

....

"Haa... haa..." Kyle’s breath came out ragged, his back pressed against the wall, forehead drenched in sweat as he forced himself to remain upright.

Another Nightmare dropped from above.

He lifted his arm just in time. Its jagged teeth sank into his forearm.

Kyle grunted and slammed his arm sideways against the wall with brutal force.

SQUELCH.

The creature’s skull burst like a crushed tomato. Its jaw went limp.

[+3 Soul Points.]

A second Nightmare lunged from the left.

He ducked under it and drove the metal rod straight into its gut. The impact bent its torso, but it did not die. It clawed toward his face, screeching.

Kyle snarled. Spotting another one rushing in, he yanked the rod free and swung with all his strength, smashing the first Nightmare into the second. Both bodies slammed into the ground in a twisted heap.

[+5 Soul Points]

[God’s Eye duration: 3 minutes 12 seconds]

The notification flashed before him.

His vision flickered at the edges, darkening. Fatigue clawed at his muscles, and his mind throbbed from sustaining the skill for too long.

Yet the Nightmares did not slow.

They kept coming, crowding around him as if rising from death itself, crawling over broken bodies and joining the fray without end.

He made a swift decision.

’Turn off God’s Eye.’

[Command accepted.]

In an instant, the Nightmare lunging toward him dissolved into smog. The suffocating horde vanished with it.

The alley stood empty. Silent.

Only Kyle remained, the sole breathing presence in the darkness.

"Haah... that was exhausting."

He staggered toward a trash bin and dropped onto it as his legs finally gave out.

His shoulders were stiff, arms trembling uncontrollably, chest rising and falling in uneven pulls. It had been a long time since he had pushed himself to such a breaking point.

Back when he lived with his parents, his body had been accustomed to constant movement. Now, he had grown rusty.

"System... how many points have I earned?"

The fight had lasted nearly thirteen minutes. He had slaughtered a significant number of Nightmares.

As the system had explained, those creatures looked terrifying, but most were pathetically weak.

[Soul Points: 161]

Kyle’s eyes widened.

He was forty points short.

"But I killed so many," he muttered in disbelief.

[Host, some Nightmares grant only one Soul Point. As you progress further, weaker entities will provide only fractions of a point.]

Kyle dragged a hand down his face and smacked his forehead. He knew not every Nightmare yielded high rewards, but still...

’I only have three minutes of God’s Eye remaining. How much time is left on the quest?’

[5 hours 19 minutes.]

He let out a hollow laugh. He was utterly screwed.

Even if he went home and collapsed into bed immediately, there was no way he could gather forty points in nineteen minutes.

Or was there?

[The host can farm the remaining points in approximately eleven minutes after waking. However, the host must be prepared to enter combat immediately upon regaining consciousness.]

Kyle contemplated. Can he really pull this off?

Just then, "Hey, you. Stop right there."