Arrowhead Project
The Arrowhead Project is a secret military operation of the United States government. Its nearest base—and the point from which the fog originated—is located in a small town near Bridgton, known as Shaymore.
This is my objective.
This facility functions as an army laboratory dedicated to the research of advanced physics, parallel dimensions, and experimental weaponry.
However, a failure in one of their experiments caused a rupture in the dimensional fabric, opening a portal to the Todash Space, the adimensional nothingness that exists between universes within the metaverse.
Through this rift, the fog began to seep, a dense and unnatural substance that covered the region and brought with it interdimensional entities of unknown origin.
The Todash Space is an absolute void, a place without time or form, populated only by unspeakable horrors, creatures that should not exist...
And what better way to obtain an SSS God-Level Super Rating than to close this rupture in the dimensional fabric and eliminate those who opened it?
The visibility around me dropped in seconds as the fog swallowed me.
Step after step, and without thinking twice, I delved even deeper into the fog.
The Search Card glowed faintly in my hand, marking the path north.
I ran.
I ran with all my might.
My body moved with lightness, almost effortlessly.
Only then did I realize how physically strong I had become.
Neither KarateMaster nor Atom, much less any other Reincarnated, could follow my steps even if they tried.
If it weren't for the fog, I would have seen the buildings around me blurring at great speed.
Inside the fog, the wind stopped blowing, sounds disappeared, and only the echo of my steps remained.
But I was not alone.
The ground trembled slightly beneath my feet, and a tentacle emerged from the pavement with a wet snap.
I was surprised for an instant by how quickly the creatures hidden in the fog had found me.
The tentacle was the thickness of a log, covered in grayish-pink flesh and open suction cups, each with tiny claws and a mouth in its center.
It let out a sharp, distorted screech, and lunged toward me.
"Annoying," I muttered, making Ginkui appear in my hand.
With a movement, I sliced the tentacle in half.
The severed piece fell to the ground, melting into a black liquid that bubbled and evaporated in seconds.
It was not the only creature to find me.
Three more tentacles appeared around me.
I jumped, spun in the air and, with a succession of precise strikes, sectioned them one by one.
The creature on the other end shrieked from the fog, invisible, before retreating into the mist.
I kept running.
I was not going to stop.
Shadows moved in the fog, some small, others too large, yet I ignored them.
A swarm of Scorpion Flies surged from the side of a building, buzzing like a hive.
I cut down dozens of them with Ginkui.
Some fell onto my shoulder, still alive, trying to sting me and inject their neurotoxin, which would make my body swell up in a matter of moments, suffocating me in the process.
I crushed them easily with one hand without stopping.
Further ahead, a grave shriek resonated above my head.
Pterobuzzards descended from the fog, winged creatures with pale skin.
One of them grazed me, its beak scraping my neck, but causing no harm.
I grabbed it by the wing and threw it against another, shattering both skeletons with a crunch.
All these creatures were not strong, but they had large numbers, and they never attacked alone.
"There are more and more of them..." I muttered.
The deeper I went into the fog, the more creatures from the Todash Space appeared before me.
From the broken pavement emerged Gray Widows, their multiple legs scurrying rapidly toward me.
They were faster than I remembered, launching strands of their corrosive silk as projectiles.
One hit my arm and the fabric of my jacket instantly melted. Still, my skin was intact.
Ginkui pierced its abdomen, lifting it into the air before slicing it in two.
The ground shuddered.
From the fog, a gigantic silhouette emerged, it was a Spider Locust, almost two stories high, with gleaming claws and a red carapace.
It tried to ram me, destroying several cars in the process.
I propelled myself forcefully, jumping several meters and landing on its back.
Ginkui contracted into a thin blade and I plunged it into its neck, twisting until separating its head from the body.
The monster let out a shrill shriek before collapsing, raising a wave of fog and dust and sinking into the pavement under its massive weight.
My breathing was still calm.
A few monsters like these could never tire me out.
Then, I kept running.
Every step brought me closer to Shaymore, and every creature that fell was slowly absorbed by the fog, as if it had never existed.
Finally, the light of the Search Card stopped when I reached my objective.
What normally would have been a half-hour car ride, had been less than five minutes of running.
Before me, behind a rusty metal fence, stood an old farmhouse with a nearly erased sign that read:
"SHAYMORE FARMS — PRIVATE PROPERTY."
I smiled.
I jumped the fence without stopping.
The fog was denser in this place, and the number of monsters had drastically increased. The army laboratory where the Arrowhead Project was developed must be hidden somewhere in this location.
The problem?
Finding it would not be simple.
My gaze focused on the front, from where a rumble, similar to a roar, reverberated in the distance. The fog stirred, and the ground trembled beneath my feet. Then I saw them.
Gigantic shadows emerged from the fog, one after another, as if hell itself had opened beneath the farm. Spider Locusts.
Dozens... no, hundreds of them.
Their carapaces gleamed with a dark, oily sheen, covered in cracks and protuberances that oozed a thick, black liquid.
They were much larger than the previous one I had fought.
It had probably been a juvenile, unlike now.
Every step made the earth shake.
Their claws opened and closed with dry snaps, and their mandibles moved as if crushing something invisible, hungry. Between their legs crawled Gray Widows and Scorpion Flies, there were also Pterobuzzards in the sky, all advancing together, attracted by my presence.
"Perfect," I muttered, spinning Ginkui in my hands. "This is exactly what I needed..." I said in a tone charged with irony.
The Spider Locusts lunged toward me from all angles, corrosive webs crossed the air and swarms of insects descended in waves. I only smiled, and ran toward them.
The sharp blade of Ginkui extended like a snake. Its metallic form distorted until it became a crimson tentacle, covered in pulsating veins, with an enormous toothed mouth at the end.
With a sharp roar, the tentacle lunged toward the nearest Spider Locust.
The creature barely had time to snap its claws before Ginkui pierced it completely.
Ginkui's mouth opened, devouring half of its torso in a single bite.
The carapace split with a wet crunch.
A mix of black blood and acidic vapor spread through the air as the Spider Locust's body divided in two, collapsing with a crash onto the ground.
It had died instantly.
"Despite how weak they are, it's going to take me a while to get rid of this many..." I murmured to myself as I continued to dispose of all the monsters.