Became a Failed Experimental Subject Novel - Chapter 18

The restaurant was closed. No choice, I’d have to try another one. This restaurant was closed too. Bad luck… another restaurant… and yet another restaurant was closed. Starving, I wandered the streets for a long time, bewildered to see every shop shut. Looking around now, even the grocery stores, clothing shops—everything was closing.

“Why is everything closed?”

No siren had sounded, no monster had appeared. People were busily packing their belongings and heading somewhere… hadn’t an evacuation alarm sounded? Just then, a monster alarm blared in the city center. The Class was Murder-Class. People who were already heading somewhere quickened their pace. Perhaps they were now using other methods to warn people to evacuate beforehand? Maybe that’s why they were evacuating early… Lost in my questions, I waited for the evacuation to end quickly. Only then would restaurants open, and I could eat. Soon, Espers would come, they’d catch the monsters quickly… Squatting in front of a restaurant, I read its menu.

But the Espers didn’t come.

Within my monster senses, I felt the Lethal-Class monsters closing in on humans. The waves of exhilaration they emitted right before tearing into humans… I stood up and transformed into a monster in an alleyway.

“A Despair-Class! The siren says Despair-Class!”
“Kyaaah!”
“Oh? It’s Black Cat!”
“Everyone! It’s Black Cat! Don’t worry! It’s Black Cat!”

Why are they relieved…? As I, bursting out of the alley, ran between buildings, the citizens who hadn’t yet evacuated calmed those who were screaming. Perplexed, I arrived where the monsters had appeared and began to tear into a one-eyed salamander. These giant salamanders with large eyes on their foreheads would hypnotize humans, quietly tear into them, and lay eggs in their corpses. The women, released from the hypnosis, came to their senses, saw my form, and sighed in relief.

“W-we’re alive…”
“Ah! Does anyone have ham? Ham!”

Oh, jackpot. Lately, the people I help are divided into those who give no ham at all and those who give a lot. Today, it seemed to be the giving kind. Just then, people who were packing large bags pulled out meat from their luggage and threw it to me. I tore into it well and gobbled it up. Mmm, I was hungry anyway… lucky me…

“Kyaaak…! What’s this fur? It’s so soft!”
“Amazing, wow… isn’t it incredibly gentle?”
“I told you everything they say on TV is a lie!”

The people I helped carefully approached me, some even touching my head and back. Originally, I would growl if they touched me to tell them to stay away, but if they gave me a lot of ham, well… I let them, figuring it was payment for my meal, and now too many people do this. Speaking of which, why haven’t the Espers come? They seem much slower than usual. Just then, people answered my question as I deliciously finished the ham.

“Stop that and let’s go quickly, they say a Despair-Class monster is coming.”
“Won’t it be okay since Black Cat is here?”
“It’s a monster too, isn’t it? If a monster and a monster fight, everyone dies. What’s okay about that?”

A Despair-Class monster is coming? At this news, which I’d never heard before, I looked at the women staring at their smartphones. It seemed an alarm had been sent via text. I don’t have personal information and don’t feel the need for a smartphone, so I had no idea such an alarm had been issued.

“Let’s go quickly! The shelter will be full!”
“Thank you, Kitty!”
“Grrr…”
“Me… me, just a moment! I’ll go to the bathroom and come back! You go first!”

I growled at the fleeing women, reminding them I wasn’t a cat, and one of them trembled and remained. Perhaps the other Despair-Class monster hadn’t approached yet, as their evacuation didn’t seem that urgent. Just as I was about to leave, the remaining woman grabbed one of my tails.

“U-um… you, you’re smart, right…? On TV, they announced that… you’re a highly intelligent monster…”

I stopped, wondering what was going on, and the woman continued, whimpering.

“…If you can understand me… could I ask for just one favor? My boyfriend is an Esper… He’s waiting in the north, in Sector 2, and they’ve reported that a Despair-Class monster seems to be arriving soon…”

Hmm, I see… The Despair-Class monster is coming towards Sector 2 in the north. Given how prepared they are, the Espers will probably handle it themselves. I should make sure not to get in their way. Having learned this new fact, I prepared to leave.

“Can’t you catch it? I really can’t live without him… If you catch it, I’ll give you lots of meat, okay? I, I, my dad runs a butcher shop in Sector 5, and if you come through the back door… maybe a whole cow, secretly…”

I stopped my moving steps and looked back at the woman. She seemed to think her own words were absurd, caressing the bracelet on her arm with a blank expression.

“What am I saying… to a monster…”

“Grrr…”

Indeed, what foolish talk. No matter how intelligent a monster might be, asking a monster to catch another monster? Was she dreaming or something? This world, overflowing with monsters, wouldn’t just flow as conveniently as that. Growling, I leaped from the spot, leaving the woman on the ground, and ascended to the rooftop of a building.

But… a whole cow… just how delicious would that be? She said her dad runs a butcher shop, so it must be fresh meat… She wouldn’t give cheap meat for her beloved boyfriend… And if it’s a whole cow, how much meat would that be… My mouth watered.

“…Woah-ong-oong-o.”

Smacking my lips, I glanced north. To make such a promise when I was hungry, of all times. Well, how about I go see how strong this Despair-Class monster is? If it looks stronger than me, I’ll just leave it to the Espers and run. Coincidentally, there was something I wanted to test this time. After encountering the wolf-form Despair-Class monster last time, I had been continuously practicing erasing my presence. To be able to control the monster’s presence, which couldn’t be completely erased even when I returned to human form.

I maintained my monster form and suppressed the core’s resonance. As a result, the siren wailing in the city center gradually faded. The results of my practice weren’t bad, though it was difficult to move in this state. With a presence reduced to human levels, I walked lightly across the rooftop at a slow pace. It felt like carefully walking with a cup filled precariously with water, trying not to spill it. It was impossible to fight properly while hiding my presence. The strength I could exert was similar to when I was in human form, but the detectable presence that a monster of the same Class might feel was completely erased. That was my assessment, at least… but for another Despair-Class monster, there might be something unsettling.

Minimizing my movements, I leaped high and spread my wings, gliding through the air. In the sky, where no sirens wailed, my only concern as I flew silently north was: a whole butcher shop cow… no, could the Despair-Class monster notice me? It looks delicious… No, no, if I’m truly well-hidden, I’ll be able to work among humans without worrying about attracting other monsters. Then I can earn money and this time, finally, get top-tier beef until I’m full… Hmm… will there be top-tier beef at the butcher shop too?

As I approached Sector 2, the number of people on the roads drastically decreased. I could feel the presence of Espers, which hadn’t been noticeable from afar, and the presence of the approaching Despair-Class monster. Silently settling on a building without being detected by other Espers, I continued to hide my presence and watched the Despair-Class monster. Still distant, I could see the form of a squid swimming in the sky. A flying squid, I’ve never seen a monster like that before. If it’s a monster I don’t even know, despite having monster information forcibly injected into me as a research subject, it must be a considerably rare one.

Outside the city, the squid, holding onto the mountainous area that served as a boundary wall with its long legs, changed the color of its body. Then, the squid suddenly transformed into a jellyfish, scattering lightning around it. Transformation? Amorphous? Or a Phantom Beast-type…? This is a truly rare monster, I thought, marveling. Just then, several Espers rushed out of the city center.

“Mirage, first line of defense breached!”
“Well, an electric fence wouldn’t stop it… but its reaction is too fast. When using abilities, make sure to time them with others.”
“Its defensive reactions to attacks are fast! Pair up those with opposing abilities!”

Fire and ice, sharp wind and rocks torn from buildings. Intangible and tangible, striking and cutting power. Abilities difficult to defend against with just one characteristic rained down on the monster. Watching the scene from afar, I looked at a woman who stood out particularly among the Espers. The shimmering air from the intense heat, the void disappearing as if torn apart with each punch. From afar, her attacks looked incredibly deadly. Seeing the skills of the Despair-Class monster fighting and Yoo Anna, it seemed like if left alone, they could handle the Despair-Class monster themselves.

“Hah… I guess there’s nothing for me to do… Did the beef get away?”

I yawned in my monster form, then my eyes snapped open at an unusual sensation. The Despair-Class monster, called Mirage, was emitting an unpleasant mist around it.

“Here it comes! It’s the Entrancing Mist! Gas masks!”
“Wind manipulation abilities to the front! Block it!”

Kru-ruru-ru, something like heavy clouds covered the Espers like ink spreading in water. They hastily put on their gas masks and powered up their abilities, but Mirage was faster. The Espers who inhaled the mist clutched their throats, unable to move as they endured the ability mixed in with the mist. Large tentacles then covered them, their elongated legs, losing their sense of distance, stomped on the city’s boundary line and covered the buildings. In an instant, Mirage had moved from outside the city to inside.

Unlike the confused Espers, I was surprised by Mirage’s actions. To a monster’s senses, which differed from Espers’, Mirage was a monster whose outward appearance and true form were different. Mirage, doing something similar to my presence hiding, approached the Espers from outside the city, pretending not to approach. In that state, when it emitted smoke, the perceived distance differed from the actual distance, inevitably delaying their response. This meant it had already experienced situations where multiple Espers surrounded it. This one is skilled at hunting humans… hunting Espers.

Moreover, Yoo Anna’s attacks weren’t hitting Mirage properly either. She clearly felt something was strange, as it regenerated immediately after apparently suffering fatal wounds, but she didn’t know what it was. Was this also the difference in senses between Espers and monsters? For monsters who could directly detect monster cores, Mirage’s core location was clearly felt, so they knew where it was moving, but none of the Espers could make a proper response.