Became a Failed Experimental Subject-Chapter 5: It’s a Monster

“What...? H-How did you know?”

“I felt it.”

“T-This isn’t the time—get to the shelter...”

The cop, still a bit drunk, scrambled to her feet in a panic and started running toward the shelter—then stopped.

“Wait, you’re not going? If you’re going, we should go toge—Ah! You’re going to fight?! Against the monsters?! They’re Crusher-Class! And there’s more than one?!”

“I’m not planning to fight. Go.”

“Then what are you doing?!”

Honestly, monsters like that don’t even register to me.

If I just wait it out, a Hero will show up eventually—so my plan was to hide or avoid them as needed.

But even for high-level espers, fighting off multiple Crusher-Class monsters alone isn’t easy.

The cop knew that too—that’s why she looked worried.

“I mean, I don’t know the full story, but aren’t you either newly awakened or some kind of underpowered esper? If you stay here, you could die.”

“I won’t die. Don’t waste time—”

“Bum! What are you doing?! Don’t you know what the siren means?!”

“Mister Bum! Hurry! Hurry!”

“Kids! I told you, don’t go over there!”

That’s when the kids came running from the apartment toward the park.

Their mothers were right behind them—especially the ones who came to the park often.

The moms clearly wanted to get their kids back into the shelter, believing I was an esper—but the kids had darted away and come here.

And then, the iron doors at the apartment entrance came down.

“Ah, ahhhh! What do we do?! What do we do?!”

“No way! They closed it already?!”

The path to the underground shelter was blocked.

That meant the monsters were near.

I stood up and walked toward the children.

“Mister Bum, you can’t stay here! The monsters are coming!”

“Why’s Mom freaking out? Let’s go! The bum’s here!”

“Ughhh, the shelter’s already closed?! Why?! Why?!”

“What do we do...? My phone, my phone...”

“What about the Hero?! Isn’t the Hero here yet?!”

The moms and the cop were thrown into panic, while the kids, oddly, looked relieved just to see me.

I motioned to the cop and pointed at the children.

“Give these brats a good smack on the head. They don’t listen.”

“Now is not the time! The shelter’s closed!”

“We’ll just have to hold out until the Hero arrives.”

“R-Right! He’s an esper!”

“You’re sure?! They’re Crusher-Class... There’s more than one, judging by the sirens!”

I nodded quietly.

My physical strength and destructive power in this form—without monsterization—was between Lethal-Class and Crusher-Class.

But the durability of my body was just as high as when I was transformed.

I couldn’t kill the monsters like this, but holding them off until the Hero showed up wouldn’t be too hard.

“Gather in one place. Smack those bratty heads and hold them tight.”

“Ow! Why’d you hit me?!”

“Be quiet! You ran out even when your mom told you not to!”

“You too! ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) Why’d you follow your friend?!”

“The bum sleeps outside!”

“You’re not getting candy for a week!”

“Nooo! Candy!”

When I told the moms to smack their kids again, they seemed a bit reassured.

Each gave their kid a solid hit on the head, pulled ears, doled out punishments.

And then, in the distance, the air shimmered.

“They’re coming.”

“H-H-Hee... I heard even guns don’t work well on Crusher-Class monsters...!”

“Aim for the head. Take each shot carefully and calmly.”

“Who the hell can stay calm now?!”

The cop drew her pistol from her waist.

I didn’t activate my core—I just pulled my senses to the surface.

The monsters, sensing prey before them, shed their cloaking veil and revealed their forms.

It was a shape I remembered from the past... Crusher-Class monster: Phantom Hounds.

They phase in and out of reality—difficult opponents—but even when non-physical, they’re still partially anchored in this world.

With a strong enough hit, they take damage.

I couldn’t kill them in this state, but I could block them.

Still... stopping them entirely wouldn’t be easy.

“The Hero better hurry.”

“Kyaaa!”

For the first time in a while, I launched myself without controlling my strength.

The ground caved beneath me as I soared, and I could see the Phantom Hound flinch in confusion at the suddenly closed distance.

I stepped in and threw a punch—its phased body distorted.

The Phantom Hounds all charged me at once, but my body isn’t soft enough to be injured by something like this.

Their teeth must’ve hurt them more—when they opened their jaws again, I aimed my fists and struck their snapping mouths.

Once more, my punches hit empty, phased space—like stirring your arm through water.

If only they’d all keep focusing on me like this...

“Uwaaaaah!”

Bang, bang!

Gunfire rang out into the air.

The monsters aren’t stupid.

When faced with a strong opponent, they might flee, team up with their own kind, or—as now—ignore the strong and go after the weak.

Because monsters aren’t here to wipe out humanity.

They’re here to feed on it.

They don’t need to eat the strongest prey.

They aim for the softest, weakest flesh.

“Kyaaaa!”

“Kyaaaaah!”

I launched myself again and knocked two Phantom Hounds away as they leapt toward a kid and her mom.

I managed to hit them while they were solid—since they have to materialize to bite—but the blows were lacking in force.

The hounds flew off, rolled across the ground, then immediately sprang back up and vanished again.

“When’s the Hero coming?”

“J-Just a sec...! This is C2C! Monster sighting at the apartment complex! When’s the Hero arriving?!”

[What?! The apartment?! Why the hell are you there?!]

“I was on patrol! Currently protecting civilians and children! Hero ETA?!”

[How the hell are you protecting them?! The Hero will be a little late!]

“Why?!”

[I don’t know! They just said it’ll take time! Isn’t that one of the premium shelters? What are you doing—]

“This isn’t the shelter! That’s why this is happening!”

[Oh fk! Why are you even outside?!]**

“Kyaaaaaaah!!”

At that moment, two Phantom Hounds broke past my defensive line.

Both were materialized. I managed to swat one away just in time—

But the other...

I wasn’t fast enough.

With this strength alone, it’s not enough.

In this non-monsterized state... I can’t reach it.

But.

If I transform now—

“Officer!”

“Kh—hgh!”

A split-second hesitation.

And in that moment, a Phantom Hound bit into the cop’s neck.

I came to my senses and tackled the hound, tearing it away from her.

The monster’s senses picked up the scent of human blood, making it more aggressive.

The wound... was deep.

It had narrowly missed her neck, biting close to her shoulder—but it was still a fatal injury. She could die any second.

“Haa... huff...”

“What do we do, oh god...! A-Aaaah!”

“Why... why isn’t the Hero here yet...?!”

“...Stop the bleeding. Take off your shirt and tie it tightly around her neck.”

“S-Stop the bleeding...?”

“Ugh, ngh... huff...”

I looked down at the cop, leaning against the mothers and bleeding out, and ordered them to stop the bleeding.

The moms were panicking, flustered by the way her blood kept pouring out.

And I, watching them... swallowed.

...That was a delicious scent.

The moment I smelled human blood, hunger surged up.

The Phantom Hounds, similarly riled by the blood, began to grow more violent.

The ones that had been lurking in silence, watching me fight, began to reveal themselves, slowly approaching.

Because I hesitated for a moment... the cop was nearly killed.

Even though I know I’m no longer human—

I still wanted to live like one.

My untransformed strength is somewhere between Lethal-Class and Crusher-Class.

While my body is far more durable than a human’s, to protect everyone here from these monsters...

I’ll need monster strength.

“It’s getting hard to suppress the hunger. Hurry.”

“E-Everyone, take off your shirts! Hurry!”

“Grab the kids. Make sure they can’t run off.”

Though my words didn’t make much sense, the mothers—knowing there were more important things than modesty—immediately stripped off their shirts and tied them tight around the cop’s neck and shoulder.

And I turned my gaze toward the monsters.

What I need to wipe them all out is sheer destructive force and speed, powerful enough to clear everything in one go.

But... if I did that, the children wouldn’t survive.

To protect them until the Hero arrives, what I need is a wide-reaching barrier—an ability to obscure vision.

A rising killing intent churned inside me.

My human flesh warped and merged with shadow.

A body like a black tiger that swallowed sound, the wings of a harpy that manipulate wind, the tail of an alien thing that commands shadows.

A siren far louder than before resonated beyond the apartment walls.

“Grrrrrrrrrr...”

“H-Hii...?! M-M-Monster...?!”

With shadows swelling around me, I transformed.

And with that, the power of the monster spread.

[Oooooooooh!]

A tiger’s roar that erases presence.

With it, wings unfurled, raising a veil of wind.

Dozens of tails consumed the light, sinking everything into darkness.

A barrier of ability that blocked all—solid and intangible alike.

A presence so strong it warned: come closer, and you’ll be devoured by something far stronger.

The activated monster core emitted waves—warning signals to the monsters.

Come any closer, and you’ll all die.

Monsters, when facing something stronger, flee to avoid being eaten.

But the Phantom Hounds didn’t run.

The strongest instinct of a monster is to devour humans—to grow stronger.

And among that instinct is another: monsters are enemies even to monsters.

By devouring a stronger monster, they grow stronger.

If the stronger monster is wounded by a Hero, or holds back for any reason—

Then it becomes prey.

To the Phantom Hounds, I looked like a powerful yet passive monster.

And the scent of blood leaking from the cop’s neck only drove them harder.

But... now that I’ve transformed, they can’t approach.

They don’t flee, nor draw closer. A deadlock.

“Hunger...? Are you a monster...? Not some esper with beast-like powers....”

Below my towering beast-like form, the cop muttered in a weak voice as she looked up at me.

“No wonder... you’re not registered as an esper...”

Humans never fail to recognize a monster.

The pulse from a monster’s core, the infrasonic tremors that rattle a human’s instincts—

Regardless of class, it’s an aura that crushes human reason.

“Didn’t think... you’d be a giant cat...”

[I’m not a cat.]

Monsters can’t speak human language.

But right now, my head belongs to a monster that manipulates sound and resonance.

So I shook the air and responded.

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The children and the cop flinched in shock.

“The monster... talked... No, I guess it makes sense...”

Logically, monsters don’t speak.

They’re incapable of communication. That’s why humans treat them as natural enemies.

A monster that looks human? That alone defies all logic.