Biocores: The Legendary Weapon Designer-Chapter 88: Humonculus

Nioh moved slower than the rest of the group.

He already had a rough mental layout of the underground lab, pieced together from the research logs and the patterns in the soundwaves still pulsing around him. The frequency of the beeping, the way the echoes bounced off the metal walls—it all pointed to one room: the clinical chamber.

That’s where they’d be if they were really trying to reverse the effects of the Pink Fog.

He moved carefully, thinking. This mission was more than just another paycheck—it was a clash between profit and morality. The kind of dilemma most operatives ignored. But Nioh didn’t ignore it. He just didn’t let it slow him down.

As he neared the clinical room, the soundwaves intensified—faster, sharper, trembling with emotion.

"What’s taking so long?"

"We’re not the original team—I need to understand the framework or the subject will die."

"Don’t listen to him, he’s stalling. His father was the lead scientist on this project—he’s lying!"

"Aldoh, you traitor."

"You and your family turned people into monsters. I just need you to fix it, and this ends."

"You’re a scientist. You know it’s not that simple!"

"You said you had a cure!"

Nioh could see the soundspikes ripple violently, revealing the speaker’s emotional breakdown.

He sighed, stepped forward—and kicked the door.

The impact shattered the hinges and sent the door flying, crashing into the far wall of the room.

Everything fell silent.

Then—

Gunfire.

All five mercenaries opened fire instinctively, the clinical room erupting in flashing muzzles and thunderous echoes.

But Nioh was ready.

His black umbrella, Infinity, opened with a metallic snap, its countless needles detaching and spinning into a tight defensive array. Bullets clanged and ricocheted off the floating shield until the chaos finally died down.

He lowered Infinity and surveyed the room.

Five mercenaries: two women, three men. Two scientists. One stood shakily with a pistol. The other was on his knees, trembling.

"Who the hell are you?" the armed scientist demanded.

"I’m Nioh," he replied calmly. "And you must be Aldoh."

The man’s eyes narrowed. "How do you know my name?"

"I read your file. I was sent by the Factory to retrieve the researchers."

The kneeling scientist’s eyes widened with hope. He suddenly straightened his spine, relief blooming across his face.

"I’m Astin Jadirel! From the Jadirel family—" he began.

Aldoh punched him square in the jaw, silencing him with a thud.

Nioh didn’t even flinch.

"I’ll give you a choice," he said coldly. "Let the researcher go—and I’ll let you walk out of here alive."

Aldoh’s face twisted in anguish. "Do you even know what they did?"

He pointed toward the operating table.

A monstrous, malformed figure was strapped to it. The homunculus. Once human.

"I read the report," Nioh said softly. "That’s why I’m giving you a chance to leave."

"But he said he had a cure!"

"He doesn’t. The purpose of this mission isn’t recovery. It’s cleanup. Astin’s here to erase everything. All of it. Including the victims."

Aldoh shook, voice cracking as tears welled in his eyes. "My sister... his brother... her mother. Do our lives mean nothing because we weren’t born into noble bloodlines? Who decides what justice looks like?"

Nioh didn’t answer.

He couldn’t.

A shrill alarm suddenly blared through the lab. The calm green emergency lights began to pulse red.

"They’ve escaped," Nioh said, voice flat. "The homunculi. They’re out."

Panic rippled through the room. Even the mercenaries looked shaken.

"You need to go. Now. Those things have no mind—only hunger. If you stay, you die."

Aldoh didn’t budge.

"If I’m going to die in the dark," he said, his gun trembling as he pointed it at Astin, "then I’m taking him with me."

"Aldoh, wait—" Nioh started.

But then—

Boom.

A tremor tore through the floor. The far right wall exploded inwards, sending debris and flame cascading through the clinical room. The blast knocked Nioh back a step, and the table with the homunculus flipped over.

A shadow moved in the smoke.

Something was coming through the breach.

Akron’s voice rang out from the back as she darted through the smoke, her body fully covered in her hardened brown exoskeleton.

"Run!" she barked.

A massive, sinewy hand emerged through the cracked wall behind her—its pale skin glistening, veins bulging like cables beneath the surface. Each finger ended in long, jagged claws, twitching with a hunger that couldn’t be reasoned with.

Nobody hesitated.

All parties—mercenaries, scientists, and operatives alike—bolted down the corridor.

"What the hell is going on?" Nioh asked as he sprinted beside Akron.

"I don’t know! The homunculi—they started fusing. Like, merging! This thing’s been hunting us ever since!"

"Us?"

"Yeah—Althea’s with the rest of the researchers—Shit!"

Akron suddenly leapt forward. An incoming projectile—some grotesque mass of bone and flesh—slammed into the ground behind them, erupting into a forest of meat-spikes. Two mercenaries weren’t fast enough. They were impaled instantly, their screams short-lived.

Nioh quickly scanned the survivors.

Only Aldoh, Astin, and Akron remained with him now.

"Get them out of here!" he ordered, pointing at the scientists.

Without missing a beat, Akron grabbed both men by their collars and took off.

Nioh slowed down, then stopped entirely, spinning around to face the thing.

The homunculus slithered fully into the corridor.

It was massive—easily fifteen feet tall, its body composed of fused torsos and limbs, still twitching from half-conscious muscle memory. Dozens of half-formed faces stretched across its torso like a cursed tapestry, their mouths opening and closing without sound. A single main head—elongated, with an exposed jawbone and glowing blue irises—snapped toward Nioh.

Its breathing sounded like dozens of people gasping at once.

The hallway was narrow—bad news for Nioh. This wasn’t a biocore-class beast, and he didn’t have open ground to maneuver. But electricity was still his ace.

He twirled Infinity, the black umbrella whirling open again. Thousands of fine metal needles spiraled outward into a circular formation around him like the petals of a lethal flower.

His biocore spun violently in his chest, and arcs of blue lightning began to spark across his body. The air filled with static; the smell of ozone stung the nose.

The beast lunged.

"Release."

A beam of condensed electricity burst from Nioh’s biocore, shooting directly forward. The needles of Infinity adjusted mid-air with precision, refracting and slicing the beam like laser through a prism.

The corridor exploded into light.

The energy split into hundreds of piercing beams, carving through the homunculus like surgical razors. Flesh split. Bone cracked. Chunks of the monster fell away in glowing pieces.

According to the research log, electricity was the only thing that disrupted the regenerative nerve-web that held these creatures together.

Nioh didn’t stay to inspect his kill.

The instant the light faded, he spun Infinity back into its umbrella form, the needles retracting with a hiss, and turned to dash after the others.