Anomaly Chapter 93 – Storm [9]

Although reluctant, the reaction team mbers still followed through the dark mist that engulfed the city. Unlike my steady, untroubled strides, they moved cautiously, casting hesitant glances at the ground from ti to ti. And to be honest, I couldn’t bla them—the feeling that we could plumt at any mont was hard to ignore.

To be honest, even I half-expected this veil to dissipate at any second and send us tumbling down... Not that it would bother much. Still, I knew it was almost impossible because falling from here would an being swallowed by that thing—and that was the last thing my Alter Ego would want.

As we advanced through the dark mist toward our objective, the reaction team exchanged murmurs among themselves. It was impossible not to notice their fleeting glances at every few monts. And no matter how discreet they tried to be, I heard every word and tracked every movent—nothing escaped my perception.

"Even if I told the others about this, I doubt anyone would believe " one of the mbers muttered, his eyes fixed on whatever lay beneath us.

"I think we’re the first squad to go on a mission alongside an anomaly... At least, I can’t rember any other case like ours" another mber comnted, his uneasy gaze scanning the surroundings.

Their words made sense. If I were in their shoes, I’d also find it strange to receive help from an anomaly. It was natural to be wary of the unknown, of things that defy logic. But for , there was no such strangeness. After all, I was the anomaly. And at so point, I was... human.

As my thoughts drifted to that distant mory, a subtle movent beside pulled back to reality. I blinked, shaking off the fog of recollection, and turned my gaze to the leader. He walked with firm, controlled steps, effortlessly keeping pace with .

"...Thanks for earlier" he said, his face serious: "If it weren’t for you, we’d all have been slaughtered without a chance to fight back"

Even though his expression was stern and sowhat rigid, I could sense the gratitude behind his words. I blinked for a mont, taking in the weight of the mont, then refocused on what lay ahead. He didn’t seem to expect a response, and honestly, I didn’t feel one was necessary.

As I calmly walked across the dark clouds, my feet stopped almost automatically. The leader beside halted a few seconds later, and soon, the others followed, one by one, as if moving in perfect synchronization.

"What’s going on? Why did she stop all of a sudden?" one of the mbers asked, but his voice echoed into the void, unanswered. The tension in the air spread, and no one seed willing to explain.

I noticed the leader put a hand to his ear, probably receiving a ssage from Emily. But instead of reacting, I simply lowered my gaze. Almost instinctively, my head tilted, focusing on what lay beneath us. The team still looked confused, their faces full of doubt, but when a deep scowl ford on the leader’s face, he did the sa as . Once his eyes locked onto what was below, he didn’t look up again.

The mbers were still visibly confused, but following the leader’s example, they all turned their gaze downward. One by one, their eyes widened in shock and fear. Honestly, I couldn’t bla them. Beneath the dense layer of clouds we stood on, though it was difficult to see clearly, sothing was undeniably there. Sothing massive. And without a doubt, sothing dangerous.

We were probably in the city center, a place where the open space seed endless, but the real horror lay subrged. The murky, almost opaque water made it hard to see, but it wasn’t enough to fully hide what lurked below.

As the thick mist slowly cleared, a face erged from the depths. Surrounded by grotesquely gleaming scales, its lifeless white eyes locked onto us with a soul-piercing intensity.

It was a fixed, unsettling stare, as if it were absorbing every movent, every breath, in a sickly, insatiable way. Its monstrous mouth opened slowly, revealing an endless row of sharp teeth—so broken, others too large to be natural—aligned in a way that suggested a grin of pure malice.

The presence of this creature, almost entirely hidden beneath the surface, made the air feel ice-cold. But I wasn’t the one feeling the terror—it was the reaction team behind , frozen in place, powerless against whatever lurked in the shadows, waiting to devour.

The creature remained there, subrged in the dark waters, its vacant white eyes locked onto us, unrelenting and hollow, as if studying our every move. There was no expression, just an emptiness that made its gaze even more disturbing.

For a mont, absolute silence reigned, heavy, as if the very air around us was holding its breath, waiting for sothing to happen. Then, slowly, with a smooth, unhurried motion, the thing began to withdraw, sliding into the murky depths, as if it knew exactly where it was going but wasn’t in a rush to get there.

At that mont, the reaction team behind —who had until then seed like frozen figures of pure tension—finally exhaled in a series of deep sighs. It was as if they had released a massive weight they’d been holding ever since they first spotted the creature.

I could feel their agitation—their rigid bodies finally relaxing, the adrenaline fading into a wave of relief—but as an anomaly, I didn’t share that feeling. I didn’t experience the fear that consud them. If I were human, maybe that scene would have shaken to my core.

Maybe my heart would have raced, my senses sharpening at the sight of sothing that felt like a nightmare made real, a being that simply shouldn’t exist. But instead, the only sensation I had was that of being… watched.

"What the hell... has that thing been following us this whole ti?" one of the mbers muttered, crouching as he gasped for air.

"Shit, I think I just lost five years of my life just looking at it" another mber said, breathless, trying to steady himself.

I won’t lie—I was surprised too. The thought that this thing had been trailing us the whole ti was, at the very least, disturbing and bizarre. And the fact that it was impossible to see what lurked in the depths of the water only made it all the more unsettling.

At that mont, a new thought crossed my mind. With all this destruction happening… how exactly are they going to explain it? I an, people are dying because a giant fish is eating them. How do you justify sothing like that?.

It's hard to imagine that no one was recording all that... though the chances of whoever did also getting devoured are pretty high. Either way, I really want to know how they plan to cover this up. After all, it’s not like the world could just find out about anomalies—doing so would definitely cause mass panic.

As I got lost in thought, I felt sothing wrap around my feet. When I looked down, I saw darkness creeping over them. I blinked, confused by the strange sensation, and as I glanced at the others around , I realized I wasn’t the only one experiencing it.

"What the hell is this?" one of the team mbers muttered, startled, as he watched his foot being swallowed by the darkness.

The other mbers reacted similarly, but the captain, on the other hand, looked at for a mont, clearly confused. However, there was no fear in his expression, just perplexity. The next mont, without exception, we were all hurled into the sky. I blinked, trying to figure out what the hell my Alter Ego was doing, but the answer ca seconds later.

A deafening roar echoed, like an entire ocean being torn in half. When I looked down, I saw a grotesque spiral of twisted blades spinning in the void—no, it wasn’t just a spiral. It was a mouth. The thing burst from the depths with overwhelming force, breaking the surface like a nightmare made real.

Water cascaded off its body in torrents, and its jagged teeth glead under the pale light. Against all logic, that monstrosity reached us—even though we should have been at an impossible height. Behind , the reaction team mbers held their breath—or maybe they had forgotten how to breathe.

To make matters worse, the mist generated by my Alter Ego was simply sucked into the monster’s massive mouth. Though it had been strong enough to support us, its resistance was no match for the anomaly’s sheer power, vanishing as if it had never existed.

As the colossal anomaly slowly sank back into the water, we also began to fall. This ti, there was nothing to cushion the impact. My Alter Ego was still acting as our bridge, but that only ant we would crash straight onto the mist it continued to generate.

To my surprise, as soon as my feet touched the regenerated mist—after it had been swallowed—I felt sothing unexpectedly soft rather than solid. My body sank slightly, as if landing on a fluffy, cushiony surface, letting land gently, floating for a mont before regaining my footing.

The leader had a similar experience, though he lost his balance for a mont upon landing. The other mbers weren’t so lucky—most were sprawled on the ground, so with their faces buried in the mist, grumbling that they’d like a warning before sothing like that happened again.

Honestly, I would have liked a warning too. I nearly had a heart attack when I was suddenly thrown into the air! I an, you and a part of ... couldn’t you have given a heads-up first? I grumbled internally, puffing out my cheeks and stomping down on the mist beneath . It rippled gently in response, almost as if it were apologizing timidly, which only made sigh.

As I ntally complained to my Alter Ego, an authoritative voice cut through my thoughts. It ca from the leader nearby, sounding tense and laced with suspicion: “What the hell is that thing?”

My gaze imdiately snapped to him, and without hesitation, I started walking in his direction. He stood frozen, eyes fixed on the ground in front of him, as if he were staring at sothing with an almost obsessive focus. As I got closer, I caught sight of what had his attention.

A mass of twisted flesh, pulsating and writhing grotesquely, was crawling across the ground. It was as if the earth itself were rebelling, distorting in a horrific dance of suffering.

Whatever it was, its appearance was a revolting fusion of viscera and tissues stretching and contracting in impossible ways. The sight was nauseating—repulsive, even to .

I quickly glanced around, my eyes moving swiftly but cautiously. There were more of these things—far more than I could count. They were scattered across the entire field of view, writhing and shifting into grotesque shapes.

A feeling of a distorted yet unmistakable presence filled the air, and a strange unease spread through the reaction team mbers behind . I wondered for a mont what these creatures were, but the answer ca imdiately—faster than I could process.

The mass of flesh twisted, letting out a sickening crack, as if the at were alive on its own, folding inward in a grotesque motion. Each contortion seed to generate more and more flesh, forming an even larger mass that pulsed and expanded with a sound that made the bones of those behind go cold. They could barely keep their eyes open as the monster grew before us, turning into an amorphous, grotesque entity that defied all logical comprehension.

The masses around us writhed grotesquely, as if alive, and I could hear the wet, squelching sounds of movent. Then, suddenly, from within those writhing mounds, humanoid figures began to erge—deford and nightmarish.

Their bloated, fish-like heads rose as if molded by so unnatural force. Their grotesquely large eyes bulged from their sockets, locking onto us with a vacant, insane stare.

Their mouths, twisted into a horrifying grin, oozed a thick, foul-slling liquid that dripped onto the ground with a sickening plop. Their gills throbbed at the sides of their necks, eerily similar to the monster that had just tried to swallow us whole.

The group mbers slowly closed ranks, forming a circle around and the leader, who remained silent, his fingers tightening around his weapon’s grip with visible tension.

Then, as if finally awakening, the monsters let out strange noises—deep, guttural growls—and began advancing toward us with heavy, clumsy steps, as if their legs struggled to support their grotesque bodies.

"Get ready for combat!" the leader commanded, his voice firm as he aid his weapon at one of the approaching creatures, moving step by step, slow but undeniably threatening.