Rise Of The Hoarder

'Oh boy… this is more amusing than I thought!'r

From where I stood, I could feel the fear of the young woman a few meters from me.r

I had been observing her from a distance as she pointlessly scoured the building for any semblance of supplies, only to be met by disappointment.r

Finally, she collapsed to her knees and was breathing heavily. I quickly surmised that her exhaustion had finally caught up to her.r

'This is my chance!' My mind rang.r

In a few moments, I closed our distance and approached her from the stairs she was close to. I knew that by moving any closer, I would come within the range of her sensory perception, so I braced myself for what was to come.r

I had already made the correct preparations. Changing my attire, and smearing all sorts of dirt on my face, while also roughening my hair to appear unkempt, I grinned excitedly.r

As I took a step forward, I sensed her entering a state of alertness.r

'Ah, so she's finally sensed my presence!'r

But… to think she would enter into such a state of panic and mistake me for a Demon… it nearly made me burst into laughter. The sweet scent of her sweat, the slight trembling of her body, and her uneven breath made me stifle the ever-growing snicker within my being.r

'Well, this is the natural reaction she should have… after all, she must think I'm a Demon.' I reasoned, a little disappointed by her lack of proper sensory prowess.r

The sounds Demons make, as well as their smell, are entirely different from what humans have. Yet, she couldn't tell the difference.r

Was it a difference in level? No, I didn't think so.r

'Maybe it's because I spent so much time hunting those guys down, I instinctively know how to sense their presence.'r

In any case, it was time to reveal myself to the frightened young lady.r

'Here we go… hehe'r

I picked up my pace, and in a few seconds, I was going to cross paths with the young lady, Ana. Feeling a slight change in the surrounding atmosphere, I narrowed my senses to where she was crouched.r

A grin formed on my face as I noticed her amassing a great deal of energy on her right hand.r

'Oi, oi, oi. She's readying an attack? That's a smart move, but I'm not a Demon!'r

Still, I pretended to ignore the condensed power gathering in that single spot and continued my advance.r

Three. Two. One.r

I finally turned at the intersection, making my appearance to her.r

"Haaaaaaaaaa!!!" Ana's voice filled the air as she rose to assault me.r

Her hands became engulfed in a red armament, similar to when she fought the Demon during her struggle, hours ago. However, unlike that time, the energy that surged all over her body then was only restricted to her hand, making it many times more powerful.r

Using such an attack against a Demon was sure to leave a mark. Still…r

'Ah, so annoying!' I grumbled internally, finding her loud shout irritating.r

Due to my high stats, compared to hers, I could see her approach me in slow motion. As a result, I could see her face more clearly. The fiery look in her eyes displayed the unwavering drive to survive, but her face was so pale and tired that it was difficult to imagine that she had a follow-up attack after the hit she was bringing toward me.r

'I could let her hit me on purpose… it won't really shave much out of my HP…' I contemplated.r

No, that wasn't going to work.r

'If she sees that I'm barely injured after putting her strength into that move, she'll most certainly be suspicious of me…'r

The only natural conclusion after witnessing such would be that I'm stronger and have a higher level than her. That was something I wanted to avoid.r

'Still, if I avoid the attack, it'll have the same effect as receiving it…'r

Despite her slow movement in my eyes, Ana was most likely charging at me with her full speed.r

If I proved capable of dodging that, then I would also need to be of a higher level.r

Faced with such a dilemma, I hesitated for a moment to decide on what path to take. Either way, things looked bad for me.r

'Damnit, Ana… you just had to bring out your strongest attack from the get-go!'r

Her fists drew nearer, and at this point, it seemed her vision had finally captured my entire being. Her eyes displayed shock, realizing I was a human, not a Demon. However, she couldn't stop herself at this point. Even if her head had registered that she was about to assault a human, it would take a great deal of effort to stop herself while in overdrive, to halt her full-powered attack.r

There wasn't enough time for that, so if nothing was done on my end, her blow was going to hit me.r

Quickly using my wits, I turned my eyes to the ground and summoned one of my many vials of slimy juice, enclosed in a nylon container.r

The nylon containing slime appeared under one of Ana's feet, a short length from mine. In a moment, her slightly-raised foot was going to land on the ground to gain footing while her attack connected.r

'Hopefully, this works!'r

"-Aaaaaahhhhhh" Her loud voice continued disturbing my ears, but all of a sudden, it changed into a slightly surprised tone.r

Her foot landed on the slime vial, bursting it in the process while releasing the slippery, yet sticky liquid all over the ground. The cause of that, was… a sudden change in the trajectory of her attack, as well as an unstoppable propulsion to the ground.r

"Ahhhh!" She screamed, landing her blow on the floor, a couple of centimeters from where I stood.r

>BOOOOOMMM!<r

The glowing hand broke apart concrete and generated a slight vibration that shook my body. Smoke and dust mixed as Ana fell to the ground appearing dazed.r

'Whew. Glad that worked!' I heaved in relief.r

I became happier with my decision not to take on her attack. The move, which was enough to shatter concrete, would have definitely hurt me… a concept I avoided like a plague.r

'No normal human would be able to survive that… It's a good thing I had enough sense to come up with the plan of avoiding it. How would I be able to explain tanking such brute force!'r

"A-ah… Ahh… Owww…" The girl on the floor groaned in what seemed to be a slight pain.r

'Welp, I guess this is my queue…'r

Clearing my voice, and making a rather embarrassing look, I squeezed my fists together, raising them to my chest while widening my eyes to recreate an innocent expression I once saw in an anime.r

"A-are you alright…?" A thin, docile voice came out of my lips as I asked with concern.r

'Ahh, so humiliating!'r