Became a Failed Experimental Subject Novel - Chapter 6

“What kind of joke is this…? Hoo… A monster that transforms into a human…? A human into a monster…? If this were on a comedy show, it would get slammed and canceled…”

Seeing it continue to chatter, I figured it must be doing alright, so thinking that, I swished my tail at the Phantom Hound that was slowly approaching like a beast secretly trying to steal my food from behind me.

My tail, wide and whip-like, tore the Phantom Hound to shreds.

The mothers, witnessing this scene before their eyes, huddled together, shielding their children’s sight.

“Heeek…”

“Y-your rank…?”

[Despair]

“C-crazy… Huhahaha… Ah… Wait… Then… that rumor… The Espers are looking for you…?”

At that moment, the police officer gasped, speaking urgently.

“Right now… The Espers are preparing for a Despair-class monster… If it’s true, then they’re coming, now.”

[Esper]

The reason the children were in danger was because of me.

Espers, who were on standby, having put off emergency dispatches because they didn’t know when or where the hidden Despair-class monster might appear.

Even the police officer’s injuries before me were all my fault.

“Run… They’re coming, the Espers.”

My blood was already flowing out constantly and I was running low, but continuing to talk seemed to deprive my body of oxygen, and the police officer’s skin started to turn pale.

If I let him talk any longer, he might really die.

[Stop talking, you’ll die]

“I-I don’t know what I’m saying… Damn it… Hurry, hurry and run, you monster…! You’ll die before I do!”

As he said that, I also began to sense the approach of the Espers.

Even those with strong abilities would have trouble simply escaping.

If I were to fight all those Espers, I would really die.

But… I can’t leave this place yet.

[Not, yet, monster, still here. I, go, they attack]

“Damn it… Why am I a monster?!”

Just a little longer, until the Esper gets close enough.

Come on, close enough for that power to reach my life.

Kill the monsters who are unaware that they are surrounded by Espers near me.

“Firing Code Zero…! W-wait! That’s not something I’ve seen before?!”

“A new species?! Another Despair-class monster?!”

“Survivors! Eliminate all the Phantom Hounds first!”

Some lower-class monsters appear as minions of higher-class monsters.

The Espers’ super-powered barrage, prepared for any eventuality, swept through the park.

The park where I’d stayed for some time burned, exploded, and was instantly devastated.

“Kyaaak!”

“Mom!”

“Ugh… Ugh…”

A fist-shaped beam of light flew through the air and tore a chunk of flesh from my waist.

Hair burning red like it was springing up; a dangerous smell emanated from it.

The most dangerous-looking esper, with a difficult-to-read expression that was both angry and amused, punched at me.

A light in the shape of a fist flew through the air, tearing away a chunk of flesh from my waist.

“Grrrrrrr…”

“Kitty!”

[Not a cat.]

I growled at the intense pain, a sensation I hadn’t felt in a long time, and one of the little kids broke free from their mother’s arms and grabbed my leg.

Like a disobedient little kid, I shook off the child, spread my wings wide, and created a huge barrier towards the Espers.

I concentrated my ability in my wings, drawing up the surrounding wind.

I’m going to fly away. Noticing the legs slowly lifting from the ground, the loudest child looked up at me and shouted.

“Wash up properly! Mom said, if you don’t brush your teeth you’ll get cavities! If you don’t wash your hands… you’ll catch a cold!”

With a tearful voice, sensing it was the moment of farewell, the mothers also looked up at me with strange eyes.

Fearful, sad, I lowered my wings once sharply, instantly soaring, and left a message for the children.

[Listen to your mom. Two candies a day. No more.]

I spread a curtain of wind in a circle on the ground, and blew it strongly upward, instantly rising.

Then, Espers capable of free flight used their superpowers and attacked me.

“Everyone, we must kill this thing here! If two Despair-class monsters run wild, W City is finished!”

I’m sorry, but I don’t intend to fight.
I’m slightly interested in seeing who can fly faster, though.

As they soared rapidly, abandoning the use of their superpowers, a voice reached them from the receding ground.
“Survivors! Survivors! Emergency rescue team!”
***

“What the hell?! Two of them?!”
“Haa…Fucking… hell.…”

Exhausted from the long flight and pursuit, having poured all their abilities into it, the Espers slumped as soon as they returned to their base.

Three hours of flight and pursuit, flying to extremely high altitudes before performing acrobatic maneuvers that almost caused them to crash into the city. The Espers, desperately chasing the monsters with movements that seemed like they would attack humans at any moment, were slowly depleted and ultimately lost the monsters.

The second despair-class monster, temporarily codenamed Alpha, vanished like it had melted into thin air, just like the previously encountered Code Zero.

Yoo Anna, who had pursued the monster the longest, the very last, was twisting her wrist.
“So, there are two despair-class monsters hiding in W City… What the hell? Did the monsters change their tactics?”
“The two monsters’ types are completely opposite. One seemed to be a beast type specializing in close combat, but this one is a phantom beast type capable of flight and specializing in superpowers. If these two rampage at the same time, it’s truly hopeless.”
“But why are they running away?! Why are the monsters running? What are they aiming for?!”

Already tired from Code Zero, their mental fatigue reached its peak with the appearance of another despair-class monster.
If only they knew the reason for their escape… The Espers gathered together and considered the worst-case scenario.

“Has there ever been a case where two despair-class monsters appeared in one area?”
“Despair-class and above have a strong instinct for territory. Since they’re more likely to hunt each other than attack humans, such cases are rare…”
“Are they fighting each other? In W City?”
“If two despair-class monsters fight and destroy everything, W City won’t even be able to recover.”
“No… The fact that both escaped means they might already know of each other’s existence and are waiting for the right time.”
“Just like we do…”

If the monsters were fighting each other, the Espers would not interfere. They would first evacuate the people, then target the weakened monsters immediately after the fight. Interfering when two powerful monsters are present might cause the monsters to team up and eliminate humans first; this had become standard procedure.

And monsters are creatures that continuously learn and evolve like humans. It wouldn’t be strange if they were learning human tactics.

“It’s far more logical to think that both are unique individuals, about to reach the extinction level.”
“We need to report this to other cities. Higher-class monsters might change their behavioral patterns.”
“Haa… another new species of monster… Everyone, please separately organize the information obtained while fighting Code Alpha. Have you secured the survivors’ testimonies?”
“I’ll play them back.”

One of the Espers operated a tablet, and a voice was played from the speakers in the meeting room.
[Did you know? Big Kitty is hard to control its appetite! Controlling…what is controlling…?!]
[Kitty did this, like this! Like this! And like this!]
[I…that…that’s…well…I…I was flustered, aaah…]
[Can…can we get treatment first…? From the moment I was bitten in the neck, my memory….]
[Kitty protected us!]
[Ah…characteristics…characteristics…it was big…big and black…no! I mean, its size! I didn’t peek!]
[It didn’t seem like a bad monster…]

A chaotic recording; it wasn’t strange that they panicked since they were right below a despair-class monster.
However, there were a few statements that were concerning.

Yoo Anna stopped twisting her wrist, frowned, and said,
“Another one fooled… haa… how annoying…”

All the Espers empathized with Yoo Anna’s words.
“Highly intelligent monsters approach while pretending to be harmless to inflict greater damage…”
“We’ve already fallen for that trick too many times early on. Falling for it again would make us fools.”

Some highly intelligent monsters sometimes act as if they are protecting humans.
However, this is not protection; it’s a deception to gain more prey by pretending to be harmless.

Espers, weary of fighting, have hesitated, fearing the worst, but the results were always disastrous. Even so, some still claimed monsters were on humanity’s side.

“Shut them up. Those who keep saying monsters are on our side are annoying.”

These people would stop Espers from deploying, spouting nonsense about resolving conflicts through dialogue. Already busy dealing with monsters, they didn’t want the added displeasure of being hindered by their fellow humans.

Yuannan spread out images of Code Alpha and Code Zero, recorded via a cam, and pondered. The abnormal behavior of the Despair-class monster; its habit of hunting not only humans but also weaker monsters. Its high intelligence, as if mutually checking each other, avoiding combat with Espers while not attacking humans.

If this monster isn’t caught quickly…

…it might become very troublesome.

***

What’s broken is rebuilt. In today’s world, where everything is built with the assumption that it will be destroyed by monsters, old things are hard to find. This apartment’s park, too, was rebuilt after monster damage, creating a new playground. The previous playground was nameless, but the new one was named after a suggestion from the women’s association. The playground’s name is Black Cat Playground. A large cat-shaped slide, symbolic of the name, is located there.

“Rawr!”

From the slide, a small child jumped. A nearby police officer, who had already noticed, lunged to catch the child.

“Oof…! My, my back…!”

“Ahahaha!”

“Oh my! Oh dear! Are you alright?!”

The child’s mother rushed over and, as if realizing she shouldn’t have spoken, smacked the child’s head.

“Ouch!”

“I told you not to do that on the slide! Listen to your mother!”

The mother pulled the child away from the playground. Next to them, another child and mother were talking.

“Mom, I want sausage today!”

“Shall we? Shall we have a big sausage?”

“Rrr- it’s hard to suppress my appetite~”

“Oh my, oh my, ahahaha! It’s hard for Mom to suppress her appetite too~”

And, inside a certain apartment, a young child, taking advantage of their tired mother’s sleep, was cautiously opening a jar of candy.

I crouched on the apartment rooftop, gnawing on some meat and muttering.

“That disobedient kid…”

Five candies already, eaten while their mother slept. Why are kids so disobedient? They really need a smack on the head. Maybe I should go give one sometime.

I shifted my gaze from the apartments and looked down at the playground. Next to the bench where the police officer was sitting and rubbing his back, where a trash can used to be, a cat statue stood. The officer picked up a piece of ham, placed it there like an offering, and tore open the packaging to eat it.

“Phew~ Skipping patrol is the best~”

Such a delinquent police officer. His neck wound didn’t seem fully healed yet, so he wasn’t drinking alcohol. I took out a glass bottle of alcohol from my pocket instead, easily opening the cap and taking a sip.

“Tastes bad.”

Alcohol, as always, tastes awful.