BXBX NOVEL Chapter 36 First Skirmish 2
At this time, Dante was surprisingly extremely lucid. He would normally go into shock from such pain, but the endless adrenaline being pumped into his system kept him awake and the rapid battle commands coming from his brain kept him on his toes.
At this moment, with his right arm locked and about to be mauled as a chunk of flesh would likely be ripped out while his back was sending him signals of pain that made him want to curl up and cry on the ground, Dante felt like he had never been more clear-headed in his life.
He turned around to face the mutated dog that was aiming at his back while swinging the other mutated dog biting his arms like a weapon, crashing it into the body of the leaping assailant and sending the two flying.
He then ignored them then placed his right and left hand on the two nearby corpses while he activated his superpower in full force. The light show occurred and Dante felt the same sensation, but much stronger.
However, the pain, the fear of death, the will to survive, the adrenaline, and the burning killing intent as well as hatred in his heart dulled the discomfort from having the ability done quickly. He then placed his hand on the third mutated dog and absorbed it as well.
Rather, when he felt the surging power in his body, the confidence within him grew. After absorbing the three mutated dogs, his SDI had grown further.
｢Player Name: Dante
Player Race: Human
HP: 9.5/16
Strength: 1.3 -> 2.2
Agility: 1.35 -> 2.4
Dexterity: 1.4 -> 2.6
Intelligence: 1.02 -> 1.08
Constitution: 1.15 -> 1.6
Vitality: 1.15 -> 1.6
Mutation Index: 30% (Warning)
Radiation Index: 40% (Warning)
Superpowers: Quantum Entanglement, Absorption.｣
With his strength being more than double the average man's while his agility and dexterity had almost crossed the threshold of three times, the world seemed to change in Dante's eyes. He felt much closer to his natural strength in reality.
But it was more than that. His movement and ability to deal with situations had doubled, giving him the feeling that the mutated dogs who seemed to be elusive and coordinated had become slightly less so.
Not enough to magically make them seem clumsy, but enough that he no longer felt overwhelmed. He took his knife back from the corpse of the other dog and then charged at the other two who had untangled themselves and were ready to fight.
However, whether it was Dante's current movement or his ability, they felt a hint of fear as the intention to retreat came. Their instincts told them that the human before them had changed somehow and his threat level had risen sharply.
But it was too late to retreat. They could only bark menacingly to halt his charge and then make a move, but Dante directly ignored them and pounced at the dog who bit his right arm, punching its right head and causing it to tumble backward as it yelped in pain.
Dante then bravely grabbed the tail of the other mutated dog and then dragged it into the air, holding it by its tail upside down while it crazily writhed and struggled while barking and yelping.
It was overcome with fear as one thing that predators hated was having their weakness fully grasped and being left helpless. Even some domestic and tame animals did not like being held up in the air despite being in the safety of their owner's embrace, much less a wild one that was in the midst of a life-and-death battle.
Dante ignored it and used it as a sort of club as he swung it using its tail to smash into the dazed mutated dog that he had punched which had a visible dent on the head that he struck.
It was struggling to get up, but was sent back down into the ground while screaming when the dog Dante held crashed into it.
What happened next, you can imagine. In his maddened berserker rage, Dante kept using the dog he held like a club and bashed the other one until both bodies became lumpy pieces of bloodied meat.
Dante only came to his senses when the tail of the mutated dog in his hand was ripped off and the corpse landed along with the other one. He then breathed roughly as he fell onto his ass, his eyes extremely bloodshot.
He was filled with anger, hatred, the urge to kill, to rip and tear, and…
Dante took a deep breath. He had to suppress his chaotic emotions but the tears came from his eyes as he pushed himself to his feet. The pain that came washing in made him groan, but he walked over and absorbed both corpses as quickly as he could.
After increasing his power further, Dante staggered towards the corpse of his former ally and absorbed that too. Now, his SDI looked a bit more developed.
｢Player Name: Dante
Player Race: Human
HP: 11/20
Strength: 2.2 -> 2.9
Agility: 2.4 -> 3.2
Dexterity: 2.6 -> 3.5
Intelligence: 1.08 -> 1.22
Constitution: 1.6 -> 2
Vitality: 1.6 -> 2
Mutation Index: 35% (Warning)
Radiation Index: 43% (Warning)
Superpowers: Quantum Entanglement, Absorption.｣
Dante had twice the constitution and vitality of an average pure human, so even wounded and infected, he was recovering quite quickly. However, he would need proper treatment, and luckily he did have some basic supplies for this in his backpack.
He also took what he could from his former allies' backpack and then shuffled out of this clearing to find somewhere to rest and recuperate. He also needed to deal with this entire experience and try to learn from it.
Dante stumbled along in a semi-daze, his mind numb and his thoughts scattered. It wasn't until he came upon a small cave that he stooped and seemed to find his consciousness returning to him.
Apart from plenty of bushes and this small amount of rock before him which had an irregular-shaped opening in the front, there was nothing else around.
The cave was not deep, and Dante could even see its end while standing outside. He staggered inside and saw that there was a makeshift firepit in the cave that was covered with sand.
The cave itself looked like it had been used before, but a long time ago. Clearly, someone else who had either been trekking to a nearby city for survival or someone hunting outside the city for something had made this cave their residence for a while.
Whatever the case, they had conveniently set the foundation for Dante to use this cave. He staggered inside and then sat down on the smooth and damp ground, leaning against a nearby wall as his head drooped.
He sat like this in silence for a minute or two before opening his backpack and checking the items inside one by one. There was a vial of some blue liquid marked with a messily written 'anti-mutation' along with some syringes, and another vial of green liquid labeled 'anti-radiation'.
Dante took a syringe and filled it with each and shot himself. The moment it entered his bloodstream, he felt leagues better, and he saw his radiation as well as his mutation indexes dropping rapidly.
With the relaxation came fatigue and he couldn't even fight it if he wanted to. Dante was instantly knocked out on the spot, laying down on the ground as he fell into sleep after the adrenaline washed away.
When he woke up, he felt extremely refreshed body wise but his mind felt heavy. His body was stronger than average but his mind was only just slightly better.
He looked out and saw that it was dark. He then uncovered the firepit and realized there was no drywood to use to light it up, so he would have to bear with the darkness.
This was not a problem since he did not plan to spend the night here. He went outside the cave and tore some leaves, then sued the remains of the tattered clothes from his 'friends' corpse to cover his body in the back of the cave.
He then logged out of the Quantum Network and 'returned' to his real body that was laying on his soft bed. Dante heard his bones cricked and cracked as he rose up, but there was not much stiffness given the doubled SDI.
The first thing he did was rush to get a meal from the kitchen. He was utterly famished after not eating for almost a full day and surprisingly, this would actually be his first meal in the Eternal Universe.
His AI chip connected to the cooking apparatus and then selected a recipe based on Dante's wishes. Immediately, robot arms began preparing the meal according to the exact specification, removing spices from the shelves, then cutting up the various ingredients systematically.
He was both hungry and amazed as he watched this feat of technology as the appliances cooked the food themselves in tandem, despite the arms belonging to different appliances and not all being one thing.