Uruvi landed on a bus that had been parked along the curb just outside her office. The roof of the bus buckled under the force of her landing, but it didn’t give up. She looked down at the crater of impact and thought, ‘Damn… I'm strong!’

  She looked at the chaotic city before her. The roads were completely packed with traffic that had come to an abrupt stop. “Ah… my city of Bengaluru. Don't ever change.”

  The sun hovered high above the horizon. It was three in the afternoon, and her father’s home was about an hour by bus. Her mother’s home was another hour from there. It was a rather depressing scenario. Ever since they went through a divorce, all three of them lived in separate houses despite living in the same city.

  She spotted several Pisacha running through the gaps between the vehicles, looking for their next prey. They all looked similar to the ones in the building, which was slightly disappointing.

  “Hey, Arya. You there?” she asked.

  “Affirmative. I am always here.”

  “Hehe. Nice. Are Pisacha the only enemies I am going to be facing?”

  “Negative. Enemy index is incomplete; however, I can confirm there are more types of enemies to battle.”

  “Well these Pisacha were all humans once, and there are a lot of humans… right. We have three hours before it gets dark. I need to make before that,” she said out loud.

  “Suggestion. Use the map to navigate the terrain,” said Arya.

  Uruvi looked stunned. “Hold on. This thing comes with a built-in GPS?” She tapped on the ‘Map’ tab and was greeted by a blue and black version of the map she usually saw on her smartphone. “Whoa!” She saw that she was represented by a blue arrow. “Say… does this also show me enemy location?” She recalled how some games showed the enemies as red dots on the map.

  “Negative. Enemy locations cannot be seen on the map. Allies and marked humans can be tracked.”

  “Well, that is useful too. Arya, can you draw a path to Dad’s apartment?” she asked.

  “Affirmative. Drawing the fastest route to Dad’s apartment.”

  A bright blue line appeared on the screen, tracing the highway from her location to her father’s place. She, however, noticed that the path skipped all the small roads and stuck to the main roads.

  “Hey, why are you sticking only to the main road?” she asked.

  “Affirmative. Narrow roads run risk of getting caught with enemies. Wide roads are better for spotting enemies. Suggestion, use vehicle when roads are free of traffic.”

  ‘That is good advice, if I knew how to drive.’ “Anyways. Off we go.”

  A small group of five Pisacha dashed past her. They looked feeble and were only level 2 and 3. ‘They look weak. Do I let them go…? No. If I do, they will just eat any surviving humans.’ She exhaled and began sprinting in their direction, before leaping off the bus. She brought the axe above her head and just as she reached them, she slammed the blade down on the one in the back. The Pisacha was sliced open before it fell to the ground, lifeless. Before the others could even turn, she stepped forward and in one clean swing, sliced two of the Pisacha’s heads off. One of the last two remaining Pisacha caught sight of her. However, the only thing it saw was her axe coming for it and words “Domino” being uttered. The hit propagated from the first monster to the last, taking out both in one hit.

  “Foo!” She looked down at her XP bar, which had barely grown by 6 percent. “This is going to take a while.”

  She dashed along the narrow paths between the vehicles, cutting down any Pisacha that dared to show its face. One, two, three…, she soon lost count. However, the XP bar was still far from where she wanted it to be.

  She came to a stop about half a mile from where she had started. Resting on her knees, she took in a deep breath, calming her racing heart. “Man, grinding in real life is not fun.” Just as she straightened her back, ready to move, she felt a strange noise coming from behind the bus next to her. Curiosity ate away at her brain, making her tiptoe up to the back and look around the corner.

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  Before her laid the upper body of a man, strewed across the road. His face was purple and pale, with a frozen expression of horror. Before him sat what she could only describe as a creature. Tall, skinny, grey-skinned, and with long, thin black hair. It dug its sharp, nail-like claws into the entrails of the man, picking up the flesh and appearing to chew on it.

  For a moment, she lost her senses. The very picture she had been praying not to see had appeared before her, and it was as gut-churning as everyone said it was.

  The creature sensed her presence, turning towards her while still chewing on the gut with its shark-like teeth. It had a long and thin face with white pearls for eyes. Its nose was missing, with flat cuts in its place.

  ‘Arya… what is that?’

  “Creature – Pisachi. Enemy level – 5. A highly dangerous man-eater, who relies on speed to hunt its prey.”

  It opened its mouth wide and let out a blood-curdling scream that sent shivers down to her bones. It leapt towards her in a flash, taking a swipe. She ducked behind the corner only to find the claws cut through the metal of the bus.

  “You said it was fast, not strong,” said Uruvi, running for her dear life.

  “It also possesses sharp claws that cut through almost anything.”

  “Great! Thanks for that. Anything else I need to know?” she asked, sarcastically.

  “Affirmative. It can also summon other monsters in the vicinity with its scream.”

  “What!” The ground beneath her rumbled as her eyes caught sight of the approaching Pisacha. They were only level 3 and were quickly put to rest with a strike followed by the Domino spell.

  Another Pisacha leapt over a car, diving headfirst towards her. Uruvi jumped out of its path and saw it get impaled by the claws of the Pisachi. She stared into the dead eyes of the monster, which froze her heart for a moment.

  The Pisachi threw the lifeless corpse of the monster before turning back towards its prey.

  Uruvi watched its claws come down on her in slow motion. Red aura surrounded her as she parried the claws away by striking them with her axe. ’20 seconds. Must make it count.’ She lunged forward, swinging her axe horizontally at the monster’s belly, but it managed to lean back just out of her reach. It replied by thrusting its right hand forward, trying to force its claw into her shoulders. But she twisted her body, away from the claws. She continued with the motion, bringing her axe up to slice through the monster’s extended arm.

  The monster let out another sharp scream as it staggered backwards. Its health dropped by 25 percent. Uruvi felt the heat of battle flood her chest. Her eyes lit up as she lunged forward to finish her enemy, when suddenly the car beside her moved. The door smashed into her, its window shattering on impact, as she flew off it and into the adjacent car before falling down on to the asphalt ground below.

  “What the hell?” She pushed herself off the ground, only to see the car being pushed towards her. She jumped up and over the car, just as it crashed into the other one. She looked to her right, as she landed, and saw a bulky level 4 Pisacha staring at her.

  “Son of a bitch…” she whispered as she rolled off the roof, landing on the other side.

  The Pisacha slammed his arm onto the roof and leapt over the two cars. Just as it planted its two feet on the ground, she hacked its head off with a Charged strike. Its body stood still, when suddenly five long nails protruded out of its chest, almost cutting into her.

  “Shit!” she cursed as she leapt back. She saw the Pisacha’s body get flung away as the Pisachi appeared from behind and lunged at her.

  Uruvi felt the heat from her previous Adrenaline Rush, but desperately needed another boost. ‘No use. Must wait it out.’ She spun around and made a run for it. The Pisachi ran after her as if its life depended on it.

  She weaved her way through the traffic, leaping over the vehicles that stood in her way and cutting down any Pisacha that appeared before her. Her eyes were taped to her back, making sure not to lose track of the Pisachi. This proved to be rather easy, thanks to its incredible height.

  She saw it gaining ground, which forced her to pivot and hop into one of the many buses. The Pisachi followed her by crashing through the window, repeatedly swiping at her. Red aura enveloped her as she shouted, “thunderclap!”

  A loud boom erupted from inside the bus, shattering all the windows and throwing the monster off balance. In the small window she had created for herself, she hacked its remaining hand off with a Charged strike. However, the Pisachi did not relent, instead charging at her, baring its teeth.

  Uruvi slammed the blade between its jaws, slicing through the head clean. The lifeless body of Pisachi slumped over the seat as it slowly turned to dust.

  “Fuck!” She shouted as she plopped onto one of the seats, resting her head against the backrest. “Arya, how far did I get?”

  “You made a total of eight hundred meters.”

  “Wonderful… and I am already out of breath.”

  The streets were overflowing with monsters. She was lucky that most were just level 4 or below. She looked at her screen and saw that her XP was still short of ten percent for the next level.

  “Okay… Time to move…”

  As she hopped off the bus, she caught sight of more monsters running around. However, they did not induce fear in her anymore. ‘Let me know when a level 5 appears. Then I will panic.’

  With all the running, her throat had run dry, and she craved for some cold water. “Hey Arya, could the map tell me if there are any resources nearby? Like water?”

  “Affirmative. A truck filled with bottled water is 200 meters.”

  The news felt like honey to her ears. “That is more like it.” However, just as she prepared to leave, a level 3 Pisacha appeared before her. She let out a sigh, seeing it scream. “Work first, I guess.”

  Suddenly, an arrow cut through the air and dug into the monster’s head, before it dropped onto the floor as a lifeless corpse.

  ‘What the…’

  “Hello!” She heard someone say. Her eyes scanned the surroundings and caught sight of a human standing on a walkway, waving at her. “Are you alright?”

  “Warning. New contestant detected,” said Arya.