When the Serial Killer Next Door Gained Harem System

It wasn’t just a sound or a guess. It was a presence, heavy and suffocating, pressing against my back like it was already reaching for me.

I turned just in time to see it.

Its arm had already shifted into something else, stretched and sharpened into a thin, blade-like shape that cut through the air as it came straight for my neck.

I threw myself to the side. The razor edge passed so close I felt it graze the air against my skin, and I hit the ground hard, rolling as fast as I could to create distance.

For a split second, I thought I had avoided it.

Then its chest moved. Something black burst out from it, not quite solid and not quite liquid, like a mass of writhing strands snapping forward all at once. It spread through the air like a web, fast and wide, before I could even react.

It hit me square in the chest.

The force knocked the breath out of me instantly as the black strands tightened and launched me backward like I weighed nothing.

I didn’t even have time to scream. My body flew through the air and slammed straight into the hut behind me, crashing through the weak wooden wall as splinters exploded around me.

I hit the ground inside and rolled once before my head slammed into the inner wall, the impact sending a sharp burst of pain through my skull.

"Ah, fuck..." I muttered, my voice shaking as I struggled to breathe. "Fuck... ah, shit... shit... hurts..."

╔═══════════════════════╗

> Ace | LC: 7 | EXP: 103/133 | LVL 2

╠═══════════════════════╣

> HP ▰▰▰▰▰▰▱▱▱▱ 50/100

> MP ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰ 70/70

> STA ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▱▱ 52/80

────────────────────────

> Class: MAGE

> Known Abilities:

• Fireball

• Heal

────────────────────────

> PERKS

• +10% More magic damage

╠═══════════════════════╣

> [ BAG ] [ MAP ] [ SHOP ] [QUESTS]

╚═══════════════════════╝

My body ached as I forced myself back up and stumbled through the hole I had made in the wall, stepping outside just in time to see Mio.

She had dropped into a crouch, her head lowered as she muttered something under her breath, too quiet for me to make out. At first nothing happened, and then a thin stream of black smoke began to leak out around her feet.

It spread fast.

Within seconds, the smoke thickened and expanded outward, rolling across the ground and rising into the air until it swallowed nearly half the area. It wasn’t normal smoke either; it moved too deliberately, clinging low before curling upward in slow, uneven waves that blocked out everything behind it.

I covered my mouth instinctively, coughing as the air grew heavy and bitter in my throat.

"Mio!"

Before I could say anything else, she burst out of the smoke, running straight toward me.

For a split second, I thought she had made it. Then the air behind her distorted. The entity appeared right at her back, its arm already mid-swing.

"Move!" I shouted, lunging forward.

I barely reached her in time. I grabbed her and shoved her hard to the side, forcing her off her path just as the blade came down.

It still hit.

The strike drove into her waist as she was pushed away, not clean, but deep enough to make her body jerk from the impact.

She let out a sharp groan as the force threw her off balance, and she crashed back through the broken wall of the hut.

"Damn it!"

I threw my hand forward and launched a fireball straight at the entity, then another right after it, forcing it to react instead of following through.

I stepped outside and rushed past its side, trying to get around it before it could react, but it did not even bother turning toward me. Instead, part of its body distorted and appeared directly in front of where I was running, and the rest of it followed a split second later, pulling itself into place and blocking my path completely.

I could not stop in time and slammed into it shoulder-first, expecting at least some give, but its body felt completely solid, and the impact only knocked me off my feet. I hit the ground hard and lost my breath for a moment as pain spread through my side.

The moment I tried to recover, it shifted again and attacked.

I forced myself back, bending away from the strike as it came down, then stepped to the left to avoid the follow-up. I lashed out with a kick to its leg and immediately threw a fireball at close range, hoping to create some kind of opening.

The fire hit cleanly, but it did not do anything.

I clenched my teeth as I glanced toward the hut, where Mio was barely managing to move, dragging herself across the floor and leaving a faint trail of blood behind her as she tried to get out of sight.

I exhaled slowly, trying to steady myself, but my body was already catching up with me. Everything hurt, and I had nothing to rely on except fireball.

I checked my mana out of instinct and saw that I still had sixty left, but the regeneration was painfully slow. Each fireball cost five, which meant I could not afford to waste them.

When I looked back at the entity, the difference between us felt even worse up close. It was easily over seven feet tall, its frame unnatural and shifting in ways that made it hard to read, and I had no idea how I was supposed to bring something like that down.

"Can’t teleport upward..." I muttered under my breath, remembering what Mio had said, while my eyes searched the area for anything that could count as higher ground.

Before I could come up with anything, it attacked again.

Something shot out from its chest, a black, dagger-like mass that cut through the air far faster than I expected. I tried to roll to the right, but I was too slow, and it drove straight through my shoulder, the tip punching out from the other side.

I cried out as the pain hit all at once, sharp and overwhelming, forcing me down to one knee as I grabbed at the wound.

"AH... SHIT..."

╔═══════════════════════╗

> Ace | LC: 7 | EXP: 103/133 | LVL 2

╠═══════════════════════╣

> HP ▰▰▰▰▰▱▱▱▱▱ 37/100

> MP ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▱▱ 60/70

> STA ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▱▱ 50/80

────────────────────────

> Class: MAGE

> Known Abilities:

• Fireball

• Heal

────────────────────────

> PERKS

• +10% More magic damage

╠═══════════════════════╣

> [ BAG ] [ MAP ] [ SHOP ] [QUESTS]

╚═══════════════════════╝

The entity moved in immediately and swung its arm again, this time striking me across the waist with the flat of it instead of the edge. The impact still carried enough force to send me flying, and I crashed into a tree a few meters away.

My shoulder hit the trunk first, and the embedded spike drove even deeper into me from the impact.

"Ah!"

I dropped to the ground and slumped back against the tree, struggling to breathe as the pain pulsed through my arm and chest.

It did not give me time to recover.

Its body began shifting again, parts of it distorting and appearing closer with each movement until it was right in front of me.

I grabbed the protruding end of the black spike and forced myself to pull it out, clenching my teeth as I dragged it free from my shoulder.

By the time I looked up again, it had fully reformed in front of me. It raised its arm and swung sideways.

I ducked down and let myself fall onto my back, barely avoiding the strike as it cut through the tree behind me. The trunk split under the force, and I heard it begin to crack and give way.

I turned my head just in time to see it falling toward me.

"Ah, no, no, no..."

I rolled to the side to get out from under it... though, I failed to realise there was a deep slope. The ground dropped away beneath me before I could stabilize myself and I slid over the edge of a steep slope.

I tried to stop myself, but it was too late.

My body rolled down the incline, hitting rocks and uneven ground along the way, each impact sending jolts of pain through me, especially through my injured shoulder. My head struck something hard at least once, maybe twice, and my vision blurred as I lost any sense of control.

By the time the slope leveled out, I had no strength left to resist the momentum. I rolled a few more times across the flat ground before finally coming to a stop, lying there and struggling to breathe.

When I finally stopped rolling, I lay there for a moment, struggling to breathe as the world spun around me. I forced myself up anyway and took in my surroundings as quickly as I could.

Tall trees surrounded me on all sides, their trunks thick and uneven, their branches stretching high enough to choke out most of the sky. Long, sickly green grass covered the ground, brushing against my legs as I moved, and through the gaps between the trees I could see a river stretching in the distance.

I pushed myself to my feet, clutching my injured shoulder as pain flared through it, and turned back the way I had come.

Half of the Teleporter’s body was already there.

The rest of it dragged itself forward from the distance in a stretched, unnatural motion before snapping into place behind the first half, its form wavering slightly as it stabilized, like it had just forced itself into this position.

I did not hesitate.

I turned and ran.