"The scent of rot clung to her nostrils like poison. Even after killing it, the creature's stench lingered, thick, metallic, and sour." Dante said narrating the world. Beatrice then scowl at the horrific scent, and pressed a hand to her ribs, feeling the warm trickle of blood that refused to stop, though already the wound was knitting together. The flesh tightened, pulling itself closed thread by thread. "Slow Healing huh, I got this in my last playthrough. It is not perfect heal, nor is it a painless but it is enough to keep me alive at the very least."
"The corridor stretched ahead, long, claustrophobic, illuminated by flickering red emergency lights. Each pulse of light painted the walls in shades of arterial crimson, as if the facility itself bled around her." Dante's continued with the story. "Only the hum of machines and the echo of her own heartbeat could be heard here. She took another step forward, the soles of her feet slick with blood, hers and the creature's both. The floor vibrated faintly beneath her toes. Something was moving, and Beatrice sense it, or rather was aware of what came next."
"Then she heard it. A sound like claws scraping on metal. One, two, three… then many."
"…Shit... Here already!?" She said with a panic face. "Her pulse quickened. She raised the bent pipe again, still sticky with gore. The blight residue from the dead Mundus hissed nearby, steaming and bubbling like acid. And from the far end of the hall, the shadows began to move. Dozens of red eyes blinked open, one by one." Said Dante as he describe the approaching horror.
"Type-A Munduses… She muttered under her breath. "A nest of them too." The first one emerged, then another. "Rats, but no ordinary vermin. Their bodies were warped and monstrous, bulging with tumors and open sores that leaked black ichor. Some had too many legs, others none, dragging their pulsating bodies across the metal floor."
"They surrounded her in silence." The air trembled with low growls, Virgil spoke once more, a notification appearing before Beatrice.
[Enemy Group Detected: 8 Type-A Munduses]
[Combat Engagement Unavoidable]
The first lunged. Beatrice ducked low, swinging the pipe upward with brutal precision. It connected under the jaw, snapping it sideways with a wet and sicking CRUNCH!! She spun on her heel, using the momentum to strike another that came from behind, driving the curved edge of the pipe through its eye.
"Two down." She said, feeling a little stronger than before due to absorbing Blight residue. The others shrieked, swarming.
"Come on then!" She screamed, her voice cracking with rage. "They obeyed as the rush her from different sides."
"Teeth and claws tore through the air." Dante describe with vivid detail.
She ducked, dodged, rolled. One raked her shoulder, leaving deep cuts, but even as blood sprayed, her flesh began to close seconds later, slowly at first, then faster, as though the healing ability itself was learning.
Her breathing steadied.
Her eyes sharpened.
As she kills more and more, always heading for the head to end it snapping their neck's or bashing their brains in.
[HP: 64 / 100 → 72 / 100 → 81 / 100]
[Slow Healing efficiency has increased]
Beatrice roared and countered, smashing her weapon across another Mundus's spine, then stomping its skull flat. Bone and blight splattered beneath her heel. A third leapt, she sidestepped, grabbed it by the tail, and threw it into another.
Their bodies collided midair, shrieking as they hit the ground. She pounced, crushing both skulls before they could rise again.
[+2 EXP]
[+2 EXP]
"Four left." She muttered.
"The corridor pulsed with red light again, rhythmic, beating like a heart, going on and off as metal taste the blood of heated battle for survival." Her own pulse matched it. That rages on, cuts after cuts, and skull bashing after skull bashing. She felt it in her temples, in her fingertips, in the deep ache behind her sternum.
As she kills, and get hurt she gets slightly better. As power filled her, that power power being raw energy in the form or EXP.
The fifth rat came crawling across the wall, saliva dripping from its jaws. Beatrice hurled her pipe like a spear, new found strength coursing through her body, it impaled the creature clean through the mouth, nailing it to the metal.
[+3 EXP]
"The remaining three hesitated. They could feel it too, the shift, the imbalance, and rise in power, after the first few kills she had more power than them, and the hunted was becoming the hunter." Said Dante, as he continued. Beatrice stepped forward, bare feet splashing in gore. Her hair stuck to her skin, soaked in sweat and blood. Her voice came low, hoarse, but steady.
"Come on you ugly bastards." The creatures lunged together. She didn't retreat this time. She charged forward into glorious battle. Her fists slammed into the first skull, cracking it open. The second bit into her arm, ripping flesh, but she didn't stop, and just ignore the pain. She grabbed its head and slammed it into the floor again and again until its body went limp. The third raked at her back, tearing through muscle, but it healed. Instantly.
[Slow Healing — Rank Up: Minor Passive Regeneration Trait Aquired]
[HP Recovery is Now Active in Combat]
The pain dulled, replaced by a rush of raw, burning energy. Her blood glowed faintly with it, a beautiful violet beneath her skin, that was the energy of her Mundus cells radiating in and without. She felt something ripple through her veins, a pulse of divine corruption, responding to the slaughter.
She tore the final rat apart with her bare hands. Its bones cracked like dry twigs. When it went still, she stood amidst the pile of corpses, panting. Her hands trembled, but not from weakness, but from the flux of new rising power.
Then came something new. More Blight residue flood her in waves. Before only Slow Healing got better, but now something different was aquired from this battle.
[All Enemies Defeated: +10 EXP]
[Level Up: LV 3 → LV 4]
[New Trait Unlocked: ???]
The world flickered. Her vision dimmed, then flashed white.
Pain stabbed through her chest. She gasped, clutching at her heart as the air around her grew heavy, thick with shimmering, silvery mist. Her skin burned. The blight residue on the floor vibrated, drawn toward her as though magnetized.
It crawled across the floor like living mercury, slithering up her legs, her arms, her neck, coating her body in it's corrupted ooze.
"Ahh...nngh... She hissed, staggering. Her reflection shone on the walls, distorted, and radiant. The substance solidified layer by layer.
A carapace of white fur, smooth and seamless, began to form, melding with her skin. Her heartbeat thundered in her ears. Her breath fogged behind a mask of pale strands that grew over her mouth, her cheeks, her entire face, and then rest of her body.
The air hummed, with natural energy from body, a coat of beautiful violet. Then her eyes opened, violet and burning, glowing through the veil of white. The transformation ended.
Her silhouette was no longer human. The fur armor glimmered faintly, its texture sleek like snow, yet dense enough to repel sword strikes to a degree.
She raised her fur hand, now with rat like claws as she said. "W-What is this!?"
[New Active Trait Acquired: Body Armor]
[New Status unlock: Mundus Pool]
[Description: Converts absorbed Blight into adaptive bio-armor. Temporarily increases defense, nullifies temperature slightly, grants mild toxin resistance. Active Duration: 10 minutes till your natrual energy from your pool is depleted]
Her hands flexed. The claws at her fingertips gleamed. She could feel everything, the air, the blood on the ground, even the faint vibrations of the dying rats beneath her feet.
And then came Dante's voice again, soft and reverent this time.
"…Beautiful. A wolf draped in the skin of her kill. The predator learns to wear her sins like a crown. Good for you, very good, maybe you might not die this time." Dante mockingly said.
"Asshole." Beatrice said as she exhaled slowly, violet mist curling from her lips.
"Guess I am evolving faster than you expected, huh?"
"Oh, I expected it... Dante replied. "The question is whether you'll survive what comes next."
She didn't answer.
Instead, she stepped forward, into the shadows ahead, Violet light gleaming from her armor as the world around her seemed to bow under its glow.
Her reflection caught in a shattered steel panel, unrecognizable from before. For the first time since she woke in this nightmare, Beatrice smiled.
"…Then let's keep going to find out. I want more power, would I get more if I actually beat that bastard!?"