I froze in my place.
My body was taut like a wire on the verge of snapping, my eyes locked on the horrific sight filling the bed. A Nomu.
At that moment, it moved.
Its swollen, deformed joints began to flex, lifting its heavy frame slightly off the blood-stained sheets. It moved toward me, step by step.
The grey, decaying flesh seemed to crack with every movement. The wide fissures surrounding its mouth contracted and expanded slowly, forming what looked like a horrific, insane grin. The exposed, clotted brain on its head looked like a mass of disgusting dough.
I was searching its mouth for teeth, but before I could focus, the terrifying Nomu began to emit a sound. "Hehe haha hahahaha...."
It wasn't a scream or a roar; it was an extremely disturbing noise. The sound vibrated through my bones, causing direct pain to my eardrums and a silent scream inside my mind.
"Grrrrrr... Zzzzzzzz... Krrrrk!"
I didn't need any more proof. I had been its prey from the very beginning.
The moment the Nomu fully raised its body, preparing to pounce, I moved. I didn't need a weapon now; the priority was escape.
I bolted, spun around, and ran toward the partially open door. But the Nomu's speed was completely inconsistent with its slow crawl.
In an instant, its massive body lunged across the room. I heard a thunderous tremor behind me.
My exhausted body slid out of the door into the dim hallway. No sooner had I made it out than I heard a deafening sound right behind me. The Nomu's massive palm slammed into the wooden wall where my head had been a second ago, shattering the wood and creating a deep crater.
"Grrrrrrr... Zzzzz!" The Nomu's disturbing noise intensified.
I ran as fast as I could, ignoring the painful friction in my lungs. I didn't know where I was going, but anywhere was better than going back to that room. The hallway was dark, filled with rubble and debris. I ran in a zigzag pattern, trying to use my slender body's agility against the Nomu's raw muscular power.
The Nomu was dangerously close; I could hear its heavy footsteps echoing on the cracked floor. I saw a corner ahead where I could turn.
I have to reach the corner!
I pushed myself hard, but my frail body couldn't take any more. My physical stamina was desperately low.
Suddenly, my foot tripped on something—perhaps a stone or a piece of concrete.
I completely lost my balance.
My body flipped, and I hit the ground with painful force, tumbling through the rubble. I struggled to push myself up, but my body refused to respond quickly.
In that moment, the Nomu's mechanical grinding noise grew louder; it was very close. I looked up and saw the massive shadow of the Nomu looming over me.
Its huge, deformed palm was thrusting toward me, the size of a stone slab, carrying a colossal force that my thin body could never withstand. There was no time to think; there was only time to survive.
In a fraction of a second, with one last desperate burst of strength, I threw my exhausted body to the side.
BOOM!!!!!
"Grrr Hyaaaaaa!" The Nomu began to shriek when it realized its fist hadn't reached me.
The Nomu didn't hit my body; instead, it slammed into the concrete floor right where my head had been with catastrophic force. The concrete shattered into flying pieces, and the impact of the fist created a miniature earthquake in the area. I felt the air from the strike hit my body like a shockwave, and shards and debris ricocheted around my head.
I clenched my teeth in pain and cursed, feeling my toes dangling over the deep pit created by the Nomu's strike.
Fortunately, I had avoided the fatal blow, but the price was that I was now even weaker and more exhausted, and the hallway was filled with dust and ruin.
I heard a revolting sound above my head. I felt something cold and slimy landing on my hair and head. I looked up in disgust to see thick saliva mixed with the Nomu's blood dripping from the cracks surrounding its insane mouth.
"Grrrrr... Zzzzz!" The Nomu's voice seethed, and it began to raise its hand for a second attack.
The Nomu was now looking directly at me—or at least, it was brutally approaching where my exposed head lay. Its open eyes were merely wide, dark voids, yet it saw me clearly.
As the Nomu prepared to deliver its finishing blow, I turned sharply to my side.
There it was!
A few centimeters from my head lay a large glass bottle—perhaps a chemical container or an old storage jar—discarded among the rubble. The glass was thick and heavy.
I didn't think twice.
I lunged for the bottle with one hand, locking my fingers around its neck with all my might. At the moment the Nomu began to bring its hand down toward me, I mustered every last drop of strength remaining in my arm.
I raised the bottle.
Instead of hitting its disgusting body, I directed all my force toward the most vulnerable target: its exposed brain.
I slammed the heavy base of the bottle directly into the mass of revolting dough that served as the Nomu's head.
The bottle plunged deep into the clotted brain, making a sudden, muffled sound amidst the Nomu's din.
"Zzzzzzzz... Haha... Rrrraaaggghhh!"
The Nomu let out a final cry—not a mechanical noise, but a strange, short scream of pain.
The Nomu suddenly stopped moving. Its hand stiffened in the air above my head, and its insane grin froze.
Then, the fluid began.
A thick, white, slimy substance—perhaps spinal fluid or chemicals—leaked from the deep wound in its brain, slowly trickling down the bottle and onto the Nomu's shoulder before dripping onto the broken floor, mixing with the dust and blood.
It had stopped.
I remained frozen under the shadow of the motionless Nomu, the glass bottle buried deep in its exposed brain. Its massive body tilted precariously over me, but the only movement now was the leak of the white, slimy substance onto the shattered concrete.
I felt tremors creeping into my exhausted muscles. I pushed the Nomu aside with the strength of my arms, dropping its heavy body onto the battered floor with a muffled thud. I dragged myself out from under its dark shadow, using the remaining wall as a point of support to stand up, breathing heavily.
My eyes were fixed on the deformed creature. This Nomu was different—more primitive, more hideous than the ones I remembered from the anime. Its appearance suggested it was the result of a random, incomplete experiment.
As I examined its monstrosity, my eyes caught its neck.
There was a thick, black leather ring, or perhaps a collar, embedded in the grey, decaying skin around the base of its neck. In the center of the collar, there was clearly engraved writing, despite a bit of rust and dust.
I strained my eyes in the dim light of the hallway, and with great difficulty, I read the inscription:
[Failed Experiment]
My brows furrowed. The phrase was simple and direct, but its meaning was far from vague.
A failed experiment?
At that moment, a wave of logical conclusions flowed through my mind, drawn from my acquired knowledge of how Nomus are manufactured in this world.
[Damn it!] I thought, mocking my previous foolishness.
[Why didn't I think of this before?] I asked myself, as the cold air hit my face.
Nomus are created by modifying humans and planting multiple Quirks in them—a process that inevitably leads to a high failure rate. These failures were disposed of, but where were they dumped?
I realized the harsh truth now.
They simply threw them into a ruined city, I concluded. This place isn't just an abandoned building. This entire city might be a dumping ground for human waste and failed experiments.
My eyes widened slightly as the shock hit me. If this "failed" Nomu was strong and brutal enough to break concrete, what about the others?
This meant that this place might be crawling with these disgusting animals. Any corner, any shadow, any turn could hide another one, or perhaps dozens. This place wasn't a sanctuary; it was a nest.
A new rush of adrenaline surged through my veins, but this time its source wasn't fear, but the awareness of the true magnitude of the danger surrounding me.
No time to rest. I stood up with difficulty, ignoring the pains in my shoulder and ribs. I have to move...
..
.
.
[image]