A few minutes earlier.Tightly bound in stardium chains, Myles was rotting in the underground cell, hanging by his arms that bore his whole bodyweight. He was hurting. He was thirsty. He was hungry. He was angry.With his tongue gone, he couldn’t even utter the heavenly mantras anymore.He had probably never been in this type of a disastrous situation after he had become strong in his past life.But he didn’t panic because he knew that it wouldn’t do him any good.He just patiently waited, hoping a chance would show up. Any opportunity. If it knocked on his door, he would gladly grasp it with all his heart and might.Some time later, Bryant entered the room and unsheathed his sword.“Tell me, Justin Alves. What body part do you want me to cut first?”Bryant released red aura through his sword. Myles’ eyes slightly widened and drew in more light, as he believed he found a way to escape from this nightmare.“Do you want me to start with your legs?” Bryant asked. “No. That’ll kill you s
Ria woke up and found herself lying in a bed. She tried to get up, but she couldn’t move easily because of her injury. It seemed like someone had attacked her severed arm back to her shoulder, which made her feel a little at ease, as it also meant that she wasn’t in the hands of an enemy. It took her a whole eight minutes to get off the bed. She was still sedated, or she probably wouldn’t even have been able to get up because there was so much pain in her shoulder region. Moreover, it was her dominant hand. Every step took her four to five seconds. “Justin, you bastard… I’ll never forgive you for this. If I find you, I’ll rip your head off, I promise.” It angered her to no end when she remembered how he used her as a shield to block Luke’s attack. She opened the door and stepped into an open, roofless hall. However, what puzzled her was that there were no household items or any tools anywhere in the hall. Come to think of it, even back in the room she just came from, there weren’t a
In the middle of the night, Shreya and Blue Dog were still waiting for an opportunity to sneak into the city lord’s tower.Because woke-owls had replaced the woke-eagles and watched guard in all four directions from the top of the tower, there was no room for them to make even a single mistake.If not for Shreya, Blue Dog would have long tried to do something, but she told him to be patient.After a couple more hours, one of the owls left the spot for some reason. Before the remaining three owls rearranged their formation, Shreya sent wet soaps flying into the distance and created air bubbles out of them. The rising bubbles caught the attention of the owls, and this allowed Shreya and Blue Dog to speedily close the distance.However, the tower entrance was closed.Shreya didn’t need that. She lifted Blue Dog along with him up into the air, and they infiltrated the tower through an open window at about 80 ft high from the ground.A woke-parrot was soundly snoring inside, mumbling somet
“Is there any way we can go past this zone without getting noticed?” Casey looked anxious as she spoke with the human group at the edge of the rat ward.The rat-ward was basically a field full of grains, where woke-rats lived in holes underground.“No,” Henry, an adult man in his late forties, replied. “The rat ward is used to punish criminals. Those who did minor crimes get thrown in this ward. And the woke-rats will eat some of their body parts. The moment we step into their territory, they’ll attack us.”“Isn’t there any way we can negotiate with them?” Biskie asked.“They are all crazy rats that consume drugs on a daily basis,” Henry said. “Because of the recent war, these rats haven’t been fed in two days. And yet, they are not eating the wheat grains. You know why?”Biskie and Casey shook their heads.“Normal rats eat just about anything humans eat, even highly processed foods,” Henry explained, “but these rats avoid eating wheat as much as possible because they’re used to eatin
A day ago.Not far from the Tail Cave, there was an old, abandoned laboratory where Porcius was secretly recovering.“To think Dark Fang died… her powers were quite formidable, but it just means that these undead creatures are even more powerful,” he thought of the time when he roamed in the dark dungeon as the Plague Pig for years. “I went crazy not just from the poisons and injections I was given, but also because of demons possessing me. I couldn’t do anything about it. I thought that some mage could kill me, but nobody did. They were all too weak. They couldn’t even cut through to my bone. I lost hope, but then Myles showed up. He cleansed me of all the pestilences and impurities in my body. Guys like him are necessary for this world.”After all, not just anybody could have saved the Plague Pig. Even Porcius himself wouldn’t have done such a thing if he were in Myles’ shoes.“Still, it’s a pity that Dark Fang died. I was hoping to change this city by supporting her. With her out o
Hawkin’s intervention made life difficult for Shreya and Blue Dog, but then Porcius appeared out of nowhere and attracted the bees and butterfly officers. Porcius was a highly wanted criminal, so even Hawkins went after him.This gave an opportunity for Shreya and Blue Dog to hide.Both of them were wounded because of the woke-bees and butterflies. Blue Dog especially suffered swelling all over his arms.They came straight to the abandoned laboratory, which looked like a perfect spot to hide. Blue Dog went in first, whereas Shreya covered their tracks before entering the laboratory.“If we had kept fighting, we would have been in trouble,” Shreya said, clenching her fists. “The bees and butterflies… if I wasn’t running low on energy, I would have made mincemeat out of them!”She soon reached the main hall of the laboratory, but to her surprise, Blue Dog had already taken Elder John hostage.“There are people in the lab?” She was surprised.“You need treatment,” John said, looking at t
Many hours later.Hawkins returned to the old laboratory. He was covered in many wounds, and one of his arms was broken, too. He was wincing in pain. “Damn that pig. Bryant and I fought him together, and yet he managed to escape from us. His defenses were too high. He must have absorbed quite a number of orange power crystals during the years he spent in the nether dungeon. Bryant said he’d give the mission of capturing Porcius to the Manglers. They are a strong group, but I doubt they can stop him.”He patiently waited outside, knowing that his daughter was still inside.He remembered the question Ria had asked after tearing her arm out because he was responsible for treating her.“Would you have cared for me if I was just a weak girl who couldn’t even defend herself?” Ria asked.Hawkins couldn’t answer that question. He let her go.Thinking back on it, Hawkins clenched his fists because deep down he knew that Ria was right. But what he didn’t know was… why did his heart ache for her
Myles opened his eyes slowly.“He’s awake,” Ria noticed that straightaway and brought claws out through her hands. To her surprise, she was able to bring claws out through her bionic hand, also.“Ria…” Myles was surprised to see her sitting a few feet away from the bed where he was lying. At the same time, he was shocked that he was able to speak. Moreover, where was he?The last thing he remembered was rotting in a cold dungeon and doing his best to survive until he got knocked out cold by Blue Dog.“How am I able to speak?” Myles looked stunned. He didn’t get his powers back, so who healed him?John calmly explained what he had done to Myles.“So you healed me through nanobots and then installed a mechanical tongue in my mouth?” Myles was astonished to hear that. “And I sound very fluent. You did a great job.”“Thanks for the compliment, but I think it’s better that you sort things out with this woman first,” John pointed at Ria. “She probably intends to kill you after you leave thi