Super Regeneration (4)
Broken bones knitted together with a grinding crack. Torn skin sealed over, and new flesh bloomed in its place. It took barely a few dozen seconds for my shredded arm to regenerate completely.
I clenched my fist, then opened it, checking. It had recovered perfectly — every bit as whole as it looked. The gash on my head and the twisted ankle were no different. A body that had been a wreck mere moments ago had returned to pristine condition, as if time itself had been rewound.
"That's insane."
The name Super Regeneration wasn't wasted on this ability. A thought occurred to me. With healing this potent, would even a severed limb grow back?
In the game, Super Regeneration had been nothing more than a passive skill that amplified health recovery. Whether it could regenerate amputated body parts was something even I didn't know. But I wasn't about to slice off a perfectly good piece of myself just to find out, so for now the question remained idle curiosity.
Either way, I had successfully obtained my first Mystery. Feeling refreshed, I picked up the glowstone and got to my feet.
"Well."
I was a mess, though. The wounds had healed cleanly, but the dried, caked-on bloodstains remained. I couldn't walk out looking like this, so I washed the blood off with water from my canteen. There was nothing I could do about what had soaked into my clothes.
The cavern walls and floor were thick with insects, just as the tunnels leading here had been. Looking at them, another thought struck me all at once.
"..."
Frowning, I glanced back and forth between the blood pooled on the floor and the insects.
Instant Kill.
The only offensive skill I possessed. According to its description, it was an absolute instant-death technique that would kill any target upon contact — no exceptions.
The question that had occurred to me was this: what, exactly, did contact mean?
Until now, I'd taken it for granted that it meant physical contact through the body. But thinking about it more carefully, I needed to consider just how far the definition of body actually extended. Blood, for instance, was part of the body. So would Instant Kill take effect on a target that came into contact with my blood?
Yeah... I definitely need to test this.
I picked up an insect crawling at my feet, set it down on the spot where my blood had fallen, and activated Instant Kill. The insect didn't die. It was perfectly fine.
A little disappointed that the result hadn't matched my hopes, I considered another possibility. Maybe the blood had been outside my body for too long.
"Hmm..."
I found a sharp shard of stone on the floor and picked it up. I'd just acquired an ability that could mend broken bones in an instant — a cut was nothing. I pressed the crude edge into my palm and drew it across. Flesh split, and blood welled out. The wound regenerated at once.
I let the blood from my palm drip onto an insect crawling across the floor. Then I activated Instant Kill again, and to my astonishment...
"Huh."
It actually died.
The insect no longer twitched or stirred. Poking it with my finger didn't change a thing. This time, Instant Kill had genuinely taken effect. To be certain, I repeated the test several more times with other insects. The results were identical every time. Only then was I sure my theory had been right.
Instant Kill can be triggered not only through skin contact, but through blood as well.
That said, blood that had been sitting out for a long time had no effect, which suggested there was a time limit. I didn't know exactly how long that window was yet, but this was a pretty remarkable discovery either way.
I never imagined it could be used like this...
If blood could serve as a medium for Instant Kill, the possible applications were practically endless. I'd run more precise experiments once I reached Enrok, I decided, and turned around. Time to get out of here.
Retracing the tunnels I'd come through, I stepped out of the cave. Ashel and Kan were standing side by side at the entrance. Both of them flinched at the sight of me.
Torn clothes, bloodstains, dirt — I knew perfectly well I looked like hell, and it was a little embarrassing. I did my best to sound casual.
"Let's head back."
Ashel walked behind the 7th Lord, stealing glances at his back — at his left arm in particular. Blood had soaked the torn sleeve a deep red. There were no visible wounds, but the traces were anything but ordinary.
What on earth happened in there?
This was the 7th Lord who had reduced even a monster so enormous you'd believe it was a legendary ancient dragon to a cold corpse in an instant, without so much as a real fight. Overwhelming strength that defied all reason. So what was that cave, and what had happened inside it, that even he had come out looking like that?
Even as she told herself it was idle curiosity, she couldn't help but be drawn to the question.
The 7th Lord was someone she couldn't get a read on at all. Far from clarifying what purpose drove his actions, this mountain expedition had only made him more inscrutable.
If she'd learned anything, it was a little about his personality. The way he talked freely with the guide who'd accompanied them showed he didn't particularly stand on rank or status. He also seemed to thoroughly dislike any kind of strenuous movement — the way he'd halt their progress at every opportunity to leisurely take in the scenery made that clear enough. Especially the way he'd insisted on borrowing her back when they climbed the cliff... no, even so, that one still defied explanation.
I can't figure this person out.
When they reached the cliff they had climbed earlier, the 7th Lord turned back toward her.
"Ashel."
"Yes."
"Carry me down."
"..."
She really couldn't understand him. Ashel decided she wouldn't think too deeply about his eccentricities going forward.
The journey back to the city took far less time than the climb. Downhill was naturally faster, of course, but Super Regeneration played a part as well. The ability amplified not only physical regeneration but stamina, so I barely tired at all. The stamina problem had been solved as an unexpected bonus.
After we returned to the city, Kan received a large reward as promised, and I informed the mayor about the monster as well.
"That giant snake that's been appearing in the northern mountains."
"Ah, yes. There have been rumors, so we were planning to dispatch an investigation team, but..."
"It's dead. Deal with the carcass however you see fit."
"...Excuse me?"
After that, there was nothing else to take care of, so we left Xenix City at once.
Before long, the carriage crossed into the 7th Lord Territory of Enrok and made swift progress toward the capital, passing through several cities along the way. And then—
We've arrived.
I gazed at the massive city walls that had begun to appear in the distance. They were taller and more enormous than those of any city we had passed through, save for the Grand Lord Castle.
Buckhorn, capital of the 7th Lord Territory of Enrok.
We had finally reached our destination.