Emiya Shirou doesn't want to work overtime

A smear of blood was spilled onto the ground.

"Not bad! Looks like we can play a little longer!"

He stuck out his forked tongue, like a snake, and licked the blood from the corner of his lips, a smile as bright as a child seeing a new toy appearing on his face.

Emiya stared in horror at the fist slapping his cheek, his pupils shrinking involuntarily, while a large hole was smashed into the wall behind him.

He could imagine that if his head were hit by such a punch, it would explode like a watermelon hit by a club, contributing to the blood river here.

run!

I am no match for this monster!

This was the only thing on Emiya's mind at that moment.

He quickly bit his tongue to snap himself out of his terrified state, which had rendered him unable to move, and then turned and ran toward the door.

"Hehehe! Run, keep running! I love seeing my prey's terrified expression!"

vomit!--

Emiya ran while covering his mouth to stop himself from vomiting.

At the hotel entrance lay neatly arranged, yet countless, limbs and the heads of people filled with terror and despair, blood flowing slowly down their heads like a waterfall.

Emiya had never imagined he would witness such a hellish scene, and his face turned deathly pale.

"So many lives, that monster!"

Emiya clenched his fists and moved swiftly through the forest, occasionally glancing back to see if the monster was catching up.

"Have you shaken them off?"

Apart from Emiya's own constant panting and the rustling of leaves in the wind, there was no other sound in the silent forest.

The silence was somewhat eerie.

However, Emiya was not able to think about that much at the moment.

Extreme fear and intense exercise left Emiya feeling unusually tired, as if he could fall asleep at any moment.

Having gained a chance to catch his breath, Emiya was certainly not naive enough to think that he had escaped the monster's pursuit.

Although he didn't know why the monster hadn't caught up, Emiya knew, based on the speed of his previous attack, that he had no chance of escaping its pursuit.

He must act quickly now and not allow himself to be left helpless.

Emiya casually picked up a fairly sturdy-looking branch that was standing on the ground.

"Synchronicity begins"

As Emiya finished speaking, the once ordinary tree branches were instantly covered with stripes that shimmered with emerald green light.

"Although it's not very useful, at least we won't be completely powerless to resist like before."

Under the enhancement magic, the wooden stick that could be easily broken now had the hardness of a steel pipe. Of course, Emiya also knew that such a steel pipe would not be very useful against such a monster.

But it was better than having no weapons at all. He remembered there were a few samurai swords at the entrance of the inn, but he was too panicked at the time to think or pick them up from the ground.

"You're so slow!"

As Emiya cautiously walked forward, holding the wooden stick, he witnessed an unbelievable scene.

The hotel he had desperately fled from was now back in front of him.

The monster with a human body was gnawing on a human arm while looking at Emiya standing at the inn entrance with a mocking gaze.

"hateful!"

Emiya gripped the wooden stick in his hand even tighter, watching with bated breath as the monster in front of him devoured a human arm.

His stomach was still churning, and he was still terrified of the blood-soaked monster in front of him, but not to the point where he could only run away as before.

Emiya roughly understood that he probably wouldn't be able to leave this area.

He was well aware that he was always moving forward, and even if he accidentally went the wrong way, he wouldn't end up back at the hotel entrance.

That could only have been done by the monster in front of me. If I keep wasting my energy like this, I'll have even less chance of escaping.

"A wooden stick? Heh heh heh! What a survival instinct in those eyes!"

In the blink of an eye, the monster appeared in front of Emiya as if it had teleported.

"!"

Emiya's pupils contracted sharply.

The monster's hammer-like right hand, using the surrounding space, suddenly slammed down towards Emiya's face.

"clang!"

A loud thud came from Emiya's forehead.

The violent impact sent the mud beneath his feet flying into the air.

All that could be heard was a loud bang, and the leaves rustled down from above.

"Is it dead? If it's not, give me a shout!"

The humanoid monster grinned, its two rows of sharp, scarlet teeth neatly torn from its lips, blood flowing continuously, but it seemed completely unconcerned.

Although he seemed unaware of Emiya's fate, he moved rapidly toward where Emiya had landed, as if he had already determined that Emiya would not die from his fierce attack.

"Cough! This power! It's really not friendly to magicians."

Emiya quickly lowered his left hand and the wooden stick that were blocking his face, and dodged to the side.

A fierce crashing sound came from beside Emiya once again. The huge tree had been completely pierced through by the monster in front of him, which showed how powerful the monster was.

Emiya also noticed that his wooden stick was now severely bent. If he hadn't held the stick in front of him and used his left hand for support, the monster in front of him could have broken the steel-like stick with a single punch.

"Hehehe, interesting, really interesting. I thought it was because I hadn't eaten enough people that my strength had become so weak. I never expected that the wooden stick in your hands would become so hard. It's really interesting!"

The monster pulled its hand, which had pierced through the tree, out of the tree and looked at Emiya, who had rolled over and stood up, with a maniacal laugh.

Chapter 3 Unable to Hit

"Whether it's strength or speed, I'm no match for that monster."

Emiya was extremely anxious. He could clearly sense that this monster wanted to kill him, just like Tohsaka saw a cockroach at school. With just a light kick, it could obliterate him completely, or at least leave him with a faint breath, but it wouldn't have much of an impact.

Emiya, who was already thinking of a solution, wouldn't just stand there in a daze.

After rolling, Emiya quickly regained his balance, grabbed a wooden stick from the ground, and charged at the monster that was grinning at him with all his might.

In that instant, Emiya suddenly stomped on the ground and burst forth with a burst of energy.

He wasn't far from the monster, and Emiya hadn't received any professional training.

Even if they dodged and rolled around, they couldn't roll very far; there were only two or three meters between them.

For Emiya, who trains regularly and is facing life-or-death situations, such a distance is just a blink of an eye before he can reach the monster.

But for a non-human, that blink of an eye might be enough to kill him several times over.

call out!

The wind was cut by the wooden stick that Emiya was holding in his right hand.

The hissing friction sound further demonstrates its immense force.

But the monster in front of him didn't make a move. At that speed, he had more than enough time to dodge, block, or counterattack.

But it just stood there blankly, its smile becoming even more ferocious.

pat!

The broken wooden stick flew from Emiya's hand like a shooting star into the sky. Without the support of magic, the radiance covering it gradually faded.

Emiya's pupils contracted again, and the wooden stick he had swung down at its head suddenly appeared on the side of the monster's head as if it had changed position.

Unable to control his strength, Emiya was thrown to the ground by the powerful inertia, and the wooden stick in his hand broke.

"I clearly do!"

Emiya did not feel any force involved when he swung his sword, nor did he see any movement from the monster.

It was as if the spot where he originally attacked was the side of the monster's head.

Seeing him in such a sorry state, the monster's smile widened, and its fingernails suddenly grew longer, becoming sharp like ice spikes, aiming to pierce towards Emiya's head.

"Pfft!"

The expected sound came from the ground, but what splattered was not blood, but wood chips that were everywhere.

Just as the monster was about to stab down, Emiya quickly turned around on the ground, grabbed the wooden stick he had picked up earlier, and desperately tried to stop its claws, which had pierced through the stick but had not broken.

The wooden stick was constantly flashing with green magical light. Of course, the monster wouldn't see this magical coverage; it was just an ordinary wooden stick that blocked its attack.

The monster's hand suddenly jerked, immediately increasing its force. Its sharp claws were almost instantly pressed against Emiya's forehead, and blood trickled from his forehead to the ground.

"drink----------"

Emiya had to struggle to support it, and he could clearly feel his arms starting to ache from the constant exertion.

"This can't go on any longer!"

Emiya abruptly shifted his hands, his claws carving a mark on his forehead that dug deep into the ground like hammered nails.

The monster standing above Emiya seemed to be caught off guard and, following its own momentum, its entire body slammed towards Emiya, just as Emiya had been unable to retract his power earlier.

Emiya wouldn't let such a good opportunity slip by, and swung the wooden stick in his hand, smashing it down on his head.

However, the stick drew a strange arc in front of the monster's head, bypassing it completely and missing its target.

"That's it again!"

Emiya, having failed in his first attack, didn't just lie there waiting for the monster's next move. He rolled to the side using the force of his swinging stick, and at that moment, the monster reached out and steadied his falling body.

"Run towards the hotel first!"

Without weapons, there was simply no way to harm a monster that was stronger and faster than him, and also possessed strange abilities.

Unfortunately, his enhancement magic could only enhance objects, not living organisms. If he could enhance his footwork or hand strength, he might be able to hold his own against that monster for a while.