- I packed you some food for the road - she handed him a pocket bento box with stew and rice.
- It's not necessary, but thank you. - Nobu put on green sneakers, dark sweatpants and a sweatshirt, a slingshot on his belt, and a dozen paper clips in his pocket. Nobu left the house in a small microdistrict and ran with renewed vigor along the road to the city. He thought about how to use everything he found.
He had to reconsider his ability model, he used to think that his abilities were limited by the environment, but when Adhesion conquered water, why couldn't Expansion be used more diversified? New application features would be revealed, which would significantly increase combat flexibility and attack power. While thinking, Nobu simultaneously ran through the area, apparently already abandoned due to evacuation. People left their cars in their garages or parking lots, the calm created constant tension. Many took animals with them, some left them, which seemed to increase the number of stray animals, and they avoided Nobu. «Strays, just like me.» he chuckled to himself.
Nobu stopped in the middle of the street and decided to test the slingshot on one of the abandoned cars. «The island is finished anyway, and if not, the government will pay for everything. It's their own fault for this mess, since they allowed such a dangerous freak to flare up. Speaking of Hydra, that's what they called this creature - the product of a freak. It would be important to know what they plan to counter the creature that is currently raging somewhere on the other side of the island.» Nobu thought as he found a stone for his slingshot.
«I don't think the power will be enough to destroy the car, maybe it will penetrate, because the weight of the projectile for such a slingshot is very limited.»
Nobu inserted a pebble into the slingshot, took aim, loaded the stone with Expansion and fired, activating the charge in flight. The stone pierced the lining and bent the car door, the window broke. The car alarm went off.
- Damn! - Nobu was scared, do not forget that the sensitivity of perception from the Tiger Aspect is increased to any sound, olfactory and sensory impact. Nobu hurried to open the hood, but there were problems with this, he did not know the structure of the car at all. Nobu wanted to find something more optimal, but the annoying loud alarm confused all thoughts.
«We need to get under the hood, but it does not rise! There is no button, damn it.» Nobu got angry and while trying to open the hood, he accidentally put a charge on it, it suddenly threw up and the hood flew off somewhere into the sky.
-Wait...what. - the alarm continued to bother, so he approached this problem with all seriousness.
«This looks like a battery. And there are wires going to it, the car has wiring, then you just need to tear off the wires.» He took out a knife and cut all the wires, de-energizing the car. Nobu did not continue to understand the automotive industry, but continued to move on, analyzing the results of Expansion.
- It turns out that the charge gives the object an additional impulse, but does not set its vector and direction. Can I use it on my body? - Nobu put out his palm and tried to activate Ballistics on his palm, but nothing happened. - So, it is impossible. It turns out that it is important to go back to the basics to understand how the ability works. - "Then, by applying physical force to an inanimate object, I myself give it a push, setting a vector, and then activate the ability on it and it flies away in the same previously set direction, only with acceleration. What does the power of Expansion depend on?" Nobu didn't know yet that the power of Expansion has a fixed x10 multiplier to the work applied to the object.
- Oh, no... Wait. - Nobu ran up to the metal door of a rather beautiful house and with a kick of his childish foot blew the door out, as if a rhinoceros had run into the house, tearing it off its hinges so much that even the reinforced concrete frame cracked and crumbled into dust.
«The secret is simple, it is enough to use Expansion on the door at the moment of impact. My weak kick will do nothing except transfer energy to the door, and at the same moment this mechanical work goes through the acceleration of x10 Expansion inside the object, releasing a colossal amount of energy. It is enough to manage to activate Expansion in this short moment, which is done due to the reaction, and I have the Aspect of the Tiger.»
But there was a downside, such an effect can only be achieved by being ready for the blow and fully predicting the trajectory, only then can you guess the time and give a pulse of energy. This is very difficult to implement during a fight, but the result is simply incredible. Having knocked down another door, he squealed joyfully from the new discovery and possibilities.
The technique strongly resembles the critical hit model in rpg games, so the name came naturally. "Critical hit".
Although weak compared to adult men, he will be able to do things at a superhuman level. He immediately began to fear this power, when he grows up, he will be stronger than anyone in the world if he learns to effectively use his body and abilities, and while Nobu was running around the rich house of some rich kids, he checked the refrigerator, but alas, it was empty. Only the garage was not empty, where there were several expensive-looking sports cars.
-And why do people need so many cars? - Nobu noticed a white wall cabinet for keys, apparently for cars. But how to tear the cabinet door apart without damaging the keys inside? "I don't really like riddles, but I like puzzles." On the table lay a toolbox, inside of which there was a screwdriver, pliers, a file, a hammer and some other tools.
Then Nobu thought some more, and tried to cope without the help of tools, lightly squeezing the sides of the cabinet door with his palms, exerting constant pressure on the sides. He activated the charge and the doors began to bend gradually, after which Nobu grabbed the resulting gap with his fingers and began to bend even more until the door flew off its hinges.
- And now I want to learn how to drive a car. - The first choice fell on a sports car, however, when he climbed into the expensive car, he realized that he would not be able to reach the pedals.
- Okay, you're lucky baby, another time. - Nobu wanted to smash them to hell while learning to drive on the road, but apparently it was not meant to be.
- Oh, okay, I completely forgot about the assignment. - When leaving the house, Nobu liked the panorama of the ocean and the azure coast with the beach. However, the crimson veil in the sky gradually covered everything around and ominously reminded of the existence of a threat to this beautiful island. «I doubt that a critical hit will be more effective in defense than in attack, so I need to continue to be careful. I had enough of the sights in Myanmar to learn a lesson about how fragile human bodies are.»
It seemed that Nobu had incredible abilities, but these same abilities were not as obvious as others and their research is still being conducted, how to use them, what to use them on.
Having quickly searched a few more houses along the way, Nobu found: a good khaki backpack that fit perfectly on his no longer childish back. Better shoes, some boots that are stronger and more comfortable than sneakers. Fingerless gloves. It so happened that at rest, in this set of clothes, he is neither cold nor hot, but if he starts running, he will be quite sweaty. On the island, especially on the coast, there is a strong monsoon wind. Having hidden the slingshot and food in the backpack, Nobu went to cut through the fields. As it was written on the map and according to the sign, this area was called Maja (真謝). It was in this area that the friendly woman lived, down the road.
Ahead was a small house where a family was packing their things into the car, on their way. So Nobu ran up and asked the nervous man for help. The man was surprised by the boy's appearance. From a short conversation, it became clear that everyone was gathering at the pier in the Gima (儀間) area, which is in the southwest. Nobu also asked about the gas station and asked for a ride.
-But all our seats are taken.
-No problem. I'll stay on the roof. - To the surprise of the whole family, Nobu Adhesion docked to the roof of the car. - Are you going to be there soon?
-Okay, damn it. - The man was in a hurry, so he quickly agreed, despite the indecent behavior of the pushy young man with scary red eyes. - There will be a crossroad with a sign, then you will jump out and go to the right.
- Got it. - Nobu settled comfortably on his back, while the offspring of the bearded and pot-bellied man looked at him strangely. Basking in the sun had become his favorite pastime after being freed from the Ash and its curse. He docked a light backpack nearby. Already on the way, the children looked out the windows, seeing Nobu's pair of shoes hanging down, and asked their mother.
- Mom, why doesn't he fall off the roof?
- I don't know, dear. But don't repeat after him, or it will hurt. - said the woman with her mouth coming out of her hand. «However, there are strange mutations. In Myanmar, they kill such people.» Nobu thought.
- What do they call it here? Chauvinism and discrimination, racism too, I guess.
«People who are inferior in society because of their birth defects suffer from discrimination, but in liberal countries everything is much softer, and they are a full-fledged part of society. Whether this is good or bad, I don't know.» Nobu gradually began to come to the Eugenic ideas of the superiority of Japanese society, because he himself, as it seemed to him, looked frightening not only because of his appearance, but also confidently, thanks to the years spent in Myanmar. «Here we are, by the way, just a few minutes, the island is small.» The car stopped at the intersection with the names of the districts.
- Kid, are you sure you won't go to evacuate? The road to the right leads to the infected area.
- Don't worry about me. - the roar of the Hydra was heard in the distance, from which even the driver jerked.
- O-okay, then you go further along the 242nd highway and in a few kilometers there will be a gas station. - Nobu jumped down and grabbed the backpack.
He thanked them, bowing slightly as is customary in Japan, and wandered to the north of the island, where the ill-fated gas station was located. Along the way, the atmosphere became increasingly tense and dark, crimson. «This area is already occupied by tentacles. The Hydra itself is somewhere to the west of the island.» The tentacles gradually wrapped around abandoned cars and buses, and a small traffic jam formed on the highway. Several abandoned old people who were still alive were covered in suckers that sucked out their life force.
-H-help... - the pensioner, covered in suckers on the road next to the open car doors, lay barely breathing. - It ate my quirk... - he barely said.
-Who left you here, old man? - Nobu did not prolong the torment and dealt a critical blow to the old man's head, finishing him off. The car swayed, and the man's head cracked like a nut, soaked with feelers gradually making their way into the brain of a weak victim.
- Damn, what kind of misfortune is this. - «If I heard correctly, he said that it eats away quirks. I don't know if this is deathbed delirium or the truth...» - the smell of feces came from under the old man's corpse. Nobu learned about this feature of the human body back when he defended himself from occultists. He perceived it as a natural biological process of the body.
Nobu heard something flying rapidly at him and sharply twisted like a snake and dodged the attack of a tentacle, whose source settled in the nearest 24/7 alcohol kiosk. The tentacle rammed the car, writhing in an attempt to greedily get the prey. Nobu landed a couple of meters away and saw where the source was.
A fully infected person whose body was captured by a tentacle, this thing came out from behind the kiosk, realizing that its trap had not worked. The Hydra absorbed and captured. Moreover, some were completely absorbed into food (prey), and others were transformed into pawns - an absurd semblance of a zombie plus a kraken. It did not leave anything from the prey, not even quirks, and took away the quirks from the pawns and changed their appearance, enslaving their minds.
- I see. - Nobu sighed and decided to test one of the methods of using Expansion. He was able to charge the formed saliva in his mouth and spat it at the pawn. It accelerated x10 and at a speed of 120/km per hour crashed into the creature, forcing it to fly back into the kiosk, smashing everything there, as if he had been prescribed a strong flick. The creature grunted in pain.
- Gods, how absurd. How did I even think of this?! Why does Expansion not consider saliva as a part of the body? - Nobu asked himself and pushed the machine towards the kiosk, putting all his weight on it. It swept away the kiosk along with the creature, but it turned out to be very tenacious. He picked up the metal rod that flew out of the kiosk.
- How tenacious are you, regenerating creature. - He began to beat with the rod, applying x10 acceleration at the moment of impact, breaking the limbs of the creature. The concrete foundation cracked under them.
Critical hit, again and again.
It continued to writhe and squirm. Finally, Nobu stomped the head of the creature with a critical hit with his boot, it stopped moving. Up close, Nobu examined the tentacle, which turned out to be quite dangerous, and was more like a sting with an end similar to a harpoon blade. The intoxicating smell of alcohol inside prevented him from thinking. The pawn continued to wriggle warily, Nobu saw a lot of alcohol spilled on the floor, a couple of bottles survived. He took several bottles of alcohol in his backpack and set the pawn on fire.
- Burn bright, freak. - Nobu left the creature writhing in pain, the flames finally devoured the creature.«The fire, apparently, interferes with their regeneration.»
Finally reaching the slimy road from the excrement of the tentacles, Nobu said:
-Fuck... - the gas station turned out to be completely wiped off the face of the earth, as if a bulldozer had passed through here clearing the territory. -If they are not here, then they are most likely at the evacuation point. How did I not think of this before, but it was still worth checking.
Climbing a small telecommunications tower, he saw how the Hydra was gradually approaching a crowd of people far, far away, in the Gima area. An evacuation was in full swing there.
«Like Bucephalus taught me.» Nobu quickly drained the gasoline with a hose he found somewhere in the trunk, creating a mixture of alcohol and gasoline, creating an extremely flammable mixture. He put several bottles in a backpack, hung a rod on the backpack and found a car that was more or less suitable for Nobu. He sighed nervously and turned the key. The starter started working and the engine started. Nobu slightly stepped on the gas and the car moved off.
«Damn it, it's moving!» Finally getting used to the steering wheel and the pressure from the pedals, he began to confidently drive along the road, naturally breaking the traffic rules. He did not know the traffic rules, and following the rules in such conditions was useless.
«Maintaining a stable speed is easy, but it is more difficult to fit into turns if you accelerate, so you need to slow down.» He needed to get to the evacuation site as quickly as possible to warn people or stop Hydra. Perhaps that girl had been saved among those people. But he doubted that his strength would be enough. Even if he gave it 100%.
The bottles of flammable liquid clinked together from the shaking of the road.
«Compared to Myanmar, Japan has pretty good roads.» Finally arriving at the entrance to the Gima district, there was a playground with a well-mown lawn and a cleared meadow on a hill nearby. Nobu got out of the car and walked to the hill.
The Hydra was quite close, two kilometers away, approaching the evacuation site, if it arrived there before Nobu, there would be trouble. The Hydra was terrifying and instilled fear. «This creature is a real fiend from hell.» The crimson-slimy skin seemed fragile and tender, but gradually shimmered from the tentacles inside it. There were many people crowding in the town who had not yet noticed the approach of the creature, and those who did noticed began to crush and panic. It turned out that in a minute, the creature would be on a perpendicular trajectory from Nobu and he had an idea how to detain the creature and attract people's attention.
Quickly returning to the car, nervously, Nobu kissed the cross on his neck for good luck. He did not believe in it, because Nobu's whole life was exclusively his initiative, and if luck exists, it cruelly laughed at him. However, in this situation, he began to pray to all the Gods that his plan would work. He counted down 30 seconds. After he set fire to all the bottles with the mixture, they began to burn, and Nobu drove onto the playground at all the speed he could squeeze out and activated the charge on the wheel, which he had previously installed. The car, using the playground as a springboard, roared and flew into the sky, gaining altitude.
Nobu opened the door during the flight and activated Adhesion, docking under the car. Activating Expansion on the chassis, giving it even more speed, he jumped down, a few seconds before the car collided with the main part of the Hydra. He managed to land on one of the tentacles.
*Explosion* *Howl of the Hydra*
The flames engulfed the entire main body of the Hydra, causing it to writhe and roar in pain. The tentacles stopped obeying it and smashed everything around, Nobu, in the midst of all this chaos, attached himself with Adhesion to one of the tentacles and prayed that he would not be mixed with concrete and earth. From the frame of the Hydra, right on the tentacle where Nobu was located, which, by the way, stopped beating in fits and smashing everything, a creature resembling pawns, but larger in size, emerged.
Nobu met all the bloodthirstiness of the monster, such a predator cannot be found in nature, this is not the level of a monkey with fangs and not a tiger with a quirk. The Hydra's frame began to gradually disintegrate as it burned, forcing the infecting parasites to be released, like a purulent pimple being crushed. «What have I done...» Realizing how hopeless it was, he smiled slightly, glad that he had managed to buy the residents a little time. «They're probably already loading onto the boats there.»
- Come on, Hydra! I'm not afraid of you!!! - Nobu didn't want to die, but he couldn't run either, because he wanted to buy time to save the people. What if that woman's granddaughter was among those people, and he would be able to complete the task. All that was left was to give Hydra a worthy fight. Feeling a surge of adrenaline, Nobu jumped off and started running into the forest. He knew that he wouldn't escape the pursuer who dared to destroy his shell, so all that was left was to fight to the end, trying to buy time. Hastily filling his backpack with stones, he ran as fast as he could, pushing trees and tearing them out by the roots with his bare hands to hold off his pursuer.
Hydra hesitated for a second, choosing between the quantity and quality of the prey, turning towards the multiple life force at the pier. But his gaze abruptly turned to the fleeing Nobu.
- ̶ ̶̶͟ ̶̶̷̶̶͟͟M̶̶̷̶̶͟͟i̶̶̷̶̶͟͟n̶̶̷̶̶͟͟e̶̶̷̶̶͟͟ ̶̶̷̶̶͟͟m̶̶̷̶̶͟͟e̶̶̷̶̶͟͟a̶̶̷̶̶͟͟t̶̶̷̶̶͟͟....- Hydra said in a creepy hoarse voice, licking his long fleshy tongue. Hydra jumped tens of meters almost to Nobu, the area shook, several trees fell from the landing.
Nobu jumped back before Hydra landed, but splinters from the branches hit him, scratching his legs. Ever since the time of Myanmar, having learned to climb a tall tree in a second with the help of Adhesion, Nobu, with pain in his legs, gained altitude, jumped up and threw a backpack filled with stones at the creature with the help of Expansion. As if a cannonball weighing a ton flew by at a speed close to the speed of sound. In the air, the backpack instantly tore apart and the stones with the charge of Expansion flew out even faster like buckshot, destroying the Hydra, simultaneously destroying the surroundings.
Nobu flew very far from the shock wave, covering his head with his hands, he crashed into a tree and dragged along the ground and bushes for several dozen meters. The Snake Aspect increased not only the agility and agility inherent in snakes, as well as the slight regeneration inherent in amphibians and reptiles, but also the resilience inherent in snakes. Even when you cut off a snake's head, it will continue to move. Nobu is stunned and shell-shocked, it is difficult to think and concentrate. A veil of uncertainty clouded his vision for a while.
*Tu-dum, Tu-dum, Tu-dum* The heart was beating wildly, jumping out of the chest. The pain throughout the body was accompanied by aching and bleeding wounds. He could hear the grinding of his own bones. The taste of blood in his mouth reminded him of itself. Nobu could catch his breath a little, because he apparently destroyed the Hydra. No one would have survived such an explosion, even the Hydra with its incredible regeneration.
-Kh-u-kh...- Nobu coughed up blood from the dust, he moved closer to the fallen tree trunk and, leaning on it, began to peer into the giant crater. He was expecting something and did not allow him to be confident in victory, Nobu wanted to make sure of the death of the Hydra. Particles of dead flesh of the Hydra were floating around, the dust rose and prevented him from distinguishing anything from the crater. A slightly noticeable movement again tensed Nobu. From the fog emerged a barely walking silhouette of a badly wounded Hydra, whose wounds were gradually healing, but it needed food to recover.
- What a tenacious bastard. - Nobu gritted his teeth in pain, gathering his strength. The half-collapsed and legless Hydra was crawling right towards Nobu. Its head was gradually regenerating, it seemed to him that this devilry could not be killed. Nobu's leg was shaking slightly from overexertion and pain, but he managed to lift it up to push it into the snout with Expansion back into the crater. - Get off me, scarecrow! - roaring in pain, Nobu barely managed to get to his feet and move from tree to tree closer to the settlement, where he would be able to hide. An angry cry of the Hydra was heard from behind, logs were flying apart into sawdust and bark, whole pieces of soil were flying in all directions from the indomitable anger of the Hydra.
Finally, the boy hobbled to the village, leaning against the wall and leaving bloody traces from his worn palms. He came out onto the road among cozy houses, his legs stopped holding him, he stumbled and fell exhausted. His vision began to double, he turned over and stared at the sky with gray eyes, which gradually acquired a healthy color, and the crimson veil disappeared.
«This is not fair.» He wanted to live, a lonely tear of pain rolled down his face in abrasions, blood and dirt. Battles became an expression of his emotions for him, he was even partly glad of such an opponent, but the desire to live was much stronger.
An unbridled creature from the abyss, a furious all-consuming Hydra. You can't think of a better opponent, a truly beautiful fight. The strong eats the weak, just like in good old nature. He began to remember Ash, the jungle, the occultists, the camp, his capture, Bucephalus's recognition and the dawn of his abilities. "It was unforgettable." Nobu sighed tiredly and lost consciousness.
Then everything was like a fog, he felt like someone was carrying him. An elderly grandfather named Hokey, nervously hurried a policeman and one of the special forces back to the house, who ran out to save and carry Nobu into the house, in front of the Hydra approaching from the forest. They quickly grabbed him by the legs and arms of the wounded boy, who for no reason at all ran right onto the road in front of his house from the forest, from the side where a terrible roar was heard and the approaching sound of the monster. Something bad was foreshadowed. The two-story house seemed pretty solid, but it did not matter, because everyone decided to hide in the basement.
Barely breathing Nobu did not react in any way while he was quickly carried by both men directly to the basement, where a nervous old man Hokey was waiting for them. As soon as he was carried inside, the old man immediately locked himself with all possible locks to be sure. The basement seemed quite spacious, with some supplies of food and barrel water. The yellowish light of the basement bulbs was not very pleasant to the eye, but no one protested, because the old man did not accept them out of the kindness of his heart. The sweaty men were partly from running, but also from the six-hour assault on the Hydra. They carefully laid the notably battered guy on one of the mattresses.
Nearby stood Haruka, stricken with wounds, the very granddaughter he needed to find. The Hydra arrived, growling loudly throughout the village, the creature began to destroy buildings, trying to find the escaped prey. Her perception was only partially strong, Hydra sensed only a mass gathering of people on the street and the denser they were, the stronger the smell. Therefore, finding the escaped prey turned out to be a difficult task for her. While the creature was rampaging above, Hokey and the others froze. Haruka grabbed Ohamaru's hand, and a special forces soldier named Arata looked closely at the boy, he needed medical assistance.
-We need to bring clean water, a bandage or rags, he needs to treat his wounds. - Arata is a stately brunette, he was in a black special forces uniform without a helmet. He was very tired after six hours of running, and before that there was a fight with Hydra, after the evacuation at the pier. There was a big crush, the Ministry of Emergency Situations and special forces were trying to organize a line. The explosion, after which they noticed the Hydra approaching the evacuation site, there was panic and many had to be left behind. He separated when he saw a policeman with a girl and went after them. They were against evacuation, since the Hydra could attack at any moment. Ohamaru said that he knew one friend who could be asked for help - old man Kohei.
Of course, he was not happy with the guests. What he demanded from them was to help him evacuate with his bedridden wife, but otherwise everything was at their disposal. Despite this, he continued to forbid them to touch anything without his permission. "Old idiot."
- Old man, the kid needs help, let me take the first aid kit.
- What if my wife needs help too, and there is no first aid kit! Look at her!
- Don't make me use force... - Arata was pretty fed up with this grumpy stubborn fart.
- Threats, young man, I will not tolerate. If you don't like it, get out of here! - he raised his voice.
- Shhh your mother! This shit can hear. - Ohamaru hissed.
While the adults were arguing, Haruka found the cleanest rag she could, dampened it with water, and washed Nobu's bloody face.
-Look, even a girl is smarter than you, -Ohamaru pointed out. While Arata and Haruka were helping Nobu, Ohamaru was inspecting the supplies, and Houkei was looking after his bedridden wife.
-Really? -she thought. -Grandma was a nurse, and then a home hairdresser. -She smiled.
They took off the dirty, worn-out sweatshirt and T-shirt. Their gaze was drawn to some scars on Nobu's thin body. "Everyone has their own scars. Too bad he's too young for these." Arata couldn't do much, the wounds needed to be disinfected, and the old man had the remedy in his first aid kit. Haruka stared at the scars without smiling.
-It's amazing how he moved with broken ribs. -Arata said to himself.
Old Houkai sat next to his wife, in the few moments when she was conscious and could speak.
-Darling, be so strict with them... They were just looking for help. -the woman coughed. In a separate room in the basement.
-We need help ourselves, -Hokey barked. -Now we have to hide like rats in a basement because of all this, and the air here is not dusty and the ventilation is poor.
-The boy needs help, some first aid kit won't save me, he needs it more. -Under the coughing of his old wife, Hokey thought. His wife with a gentle nature would rather destroy herself than someone else. He hoped that they would soon be able to evacuate and help her, but old age was inevitably approaching and destroying her weak body from the inside. His wife fell asleep, taking a number of seemingly useless prescribed pills, and Hokey went to Arata, slightly calmer.
-He needs it more. -the old man muttered and handed the first aid kit with bandages and disinfectant to Arata.
-Sorry old man, you accepted us, so we owe you.
- Okay, the main thing is to help the kid, although he looks better with each passing minute, don't you think? - Indeed, thanks to the healing effect of the Snake Aspect, Nobu's wounds heal on their own much faster than a human's, of course, not so much that the changes could be noticed with the naked eye.
- I doubt it. - Arata decided to ignore the strange remark and began to provide better assistance. The Hydra had not shown any activity from the outside for some time, most likely it had gone to recover.