Dante's Immortality: Beginnings

by Antonio Terzini

  There was also another potential threat he needed to be wary of, if they were checking everyone leaving Grimspeak, there would be another group of guards by the stairway. More regular guards wouldn’t be a problem, but if they had another combatant like the leader he was facing, his chances of escape would be demolished.

  The new weapon he was creating had finally reached capacity. Dante Blinked forward, back to where he had been initially and only inches away from the leader, then he stabbed forward with both of his weapons.

  The leader sneered, then swiped out at his weapons with his unarmed hand while simultaneously stabbing Dante through the gut with amazing speed.

  There were groans of pain as the two of them both sustained damage. Dante with a sword through the gut, and the lead guard with his self-sustained injuries from blocking his dagger with an open hand. The two of them paused briefly, but then a look of realization crossed the leader’s face, and it was his turn to sneer.

  Dante Blinked away, putting as much distance between himself and the guard as he could before the sword he Blinked behind the leader exploded.

  He had just managed to place some distance between them when the sword exploded, sending shards of shrapnel into all of the guards, but causing the lead guard to sustain the most extensive damage.

  All of the guards were downed, and he Blinked back to finish them off while activating his Rebirth of the Revenant at two percent to heal the large wound through his gut.

  He started killing the ones who sustained the least damage first. The killing seemed to be enough to completely stop his wound from bleeding out.

  Then, after killing the other guards, he moved back to the leader.

  The lead guard seemed to have weak Constitution and was almost certainly dead, but he wouldn’t take any chances. The last thing he needed was for someone that strong to search for him with a vengeance.

  As he moved closer, Dante’s expression became unsightly. The lead guard was healing himself.

  What Classification does he have?

  The self-heal was far superior to his Rebirth of the Revenant passive. He could see the holes in the guard’s body stop bleeding, then repair themselves one by one. The guard was still pale from the lack of blood, but he was in no threat of dying.

  Upon seeing it, he Blinked above the guard and aimed his long dagger downward, intent on taking the leader’s life. But the man seemed to be waiting for such a move. With a reaction time that seemed hard to believe, he swatted Dante’s blade to the side, then kicked him away.

  Then, with a cocky smile back on his face, the guard stood and raised his sword towards Dante. “Not bad, but you won’t surprise me like that again.” Then he turned to the stairway and shouted as loud as he could. “Jared get your ass over here!”

  Shit.

  Instead of being stalled by a guard that didn’t seem killable, Dante Blinked to the horses by the cart. The driver continued to watch dumbfounded as he slashed their throats, then he Blinked to the tree were the guard’s horses were. He stabbed into four of their throats, not taking the time to ensure the kill, but made sure they would be slowed at the very least, then cut the reins on the last horse and jumped on its back.

  Even though he didn’t have any riding experience, he decided to risk fleeing on horseback before the exhaustion from his passive kicked in. He settled into the saddle with a death grip and slapped the horse on its hindquarter with the flat of his blade, causing it to shoot off at an all-out sprint.

  Chapter 49

  Dante’s Immortality - Chapter 49

  Dante continued to glance around, looking for an opportunity to get rid of the demon he was sitting on while at the same time lose his pursuers.

  Any lead that he had initially started with was destroyed by his poor riding skills. He was constantly losing his seating, barely hanging on to the horse, and then pulling himself back up.

  The damn beast didn’t even seem useful, even though it was far faster than any other horse he had seen. The speed it ran was only marginally faster than he was in an all-out sprint… if his Rebirth of the Revenant passive hadn’t exhausted him, that is.

  The skill, which was useful for keeping his insides inside his body, was taking its toll on him. Even though he only killed three enemies at two percent, almost completely healing his single gut wound, he could feel the sluggishness set into his body.

  Dante glanced back. The five guards were still on his tail and gaining. Two of them in particular were downright frightening. The first, riding forefront with the same cocky smile, was the guard he should have killed. The other, who was only slightly behind him, was Jared. He didn’t know much about Jared, but given that he talked to the undead guard as though they were equals, it didn’t bode well for him.

  He created two cheap swords and began to fill them with world essence. Now that they were within range, and he was within the range of their two archers’ arrows, it was time to try and reopen some of the distance.

  Glancing back and picking his shots carefully, he blinked both of the swords at one of the archers.

  The shrapnel tore through both the archer and the horse, causing the animal to cry out and crumple under the archer. And although he couldn’t see the whether or not the archer lived, it was unlikely that he would be able to continue the chase without his horse.

  He saw other pieces of the shrapnel fly into the other horses and guards, but they barely flinched, a testament to both the rider and horses training.

  The other archer saw his friend go down, then quickly drew his bowstring back and released.

  Seeing the arrow coming, Dante swung his arm towards its path. Creating a new weapon just as it was about to reach him so that he could intercept it. Or at least he would have intercepted it if the horse hadn’t jostled him, causing him to lose his bearing and miss the arrow.

  Dante winced as he watched the arrow sink deeply into his horse’s hindquarter. To the beast’s credit, it took the arrow rather well. Barely flinching, and only slowing its pace slightly.

  Still, it was enough to slowly close the gap between him and the two real threats.

  Not knowing how to best administer treatment to the horse, he decided to leave the arrow in and allow the horse to deal with it the best it could, then switched his focus back to the archer to diminish the possible damage he could inflict.

  Creating a second blade, he began to pump world essence into the two of them, Blinking it back to the archer to distract him as he shot the second arrow.

  The sword exploded, blasting shrapnel into the archer and his horse as he shot from his bow. The arrow sailed over him, completely missing both he and his horse.

  He was now left with a single sword that was packed with world essence and a weakened archer. He didn’t hesitate to Blink his last sword, taking down the final archer.

  That done, Dante created a new sword with the maximum amount of mana and began forming an edge on it. There were only three guards left, and even though they had no ranged attacks, they were gaining steadily.

  Dante calmed his breathing and used the remaining distance he had to regain his spent mana. He had no delusions, what he was planning was beyond stupid with his lack of ability on horseback.

  The three guards were still creeping up on him and were now only a few feet away. Gritting his teeth, Dante Blinked behind the weakest guard, slashing him through his neck with the blade, then tried to remove the fresh corpse from the saddle while maintaining his balance on the horse.

  His coordination from his Dexterity attribute aided him, and he was able to easily orient himself on the horses back, but mo matter which way he yanked, he couldn’t get the damned corpse to disentangle from the saddle. The feet seemed to somehow be locked into the stirrups.

  Jared spoke up, seemingly impressed. “Not bad kid, you do have promise.”

  Neither of them seemed bothered in the slightest, they merely yanked on their reins and spun their horses to charge him.

  Cursing, Dante leane
d over the corpse and picked up the horse’s reins. He narrowly avoided the guard’s charge by catching them off-guard and rushing into the forest.

  Even though he laid flat against the corpse on the horses back, the branches of the surrounding trees still barraged him as he charged forward. He couldn’t open his eyes for even the briefest moment, but he didn’t allow the horse to slow its pace at all.

  The chase lasted for over an hour. No matter how far he got, or how fast he ran his horse, the crashing sound of his pursuers running through the forest behind him never disappeared… and the exploding blades he Blinked at them didn’t make any difference.

  The only thing that seemed to break up the chase was when he finally reached a large, circular clearing. It was completely barren aside from grass, and he used the opportunity look back and see how far away the two guards were.

  That seemed to be his fatal mistake. Somehow his horse lost its footing underneath him, completely flipping him through the air with the corpse as he flew forward. On instinct alone, he Blinked. Forcing himself as far to the side as possible to avoid being crushed underneath his horse or trampled or by his pursuers.

  The impact was the opposite of what he thought it would be. He didn’t slide through the grass or tumble on the floor. As soon as he touched the floor, he stuck to it, exactly how he landed.

  What is this?

  He tried to Blink, but the mana just diffused. Just like it had when he was captured by the Forsaker.

  He was laying sideways on the floor, staring back towards the forest where he had come from when his two pursuers broke through the vegetation. As soon as their horses touched the grass next to his, they immediately came to a halt, throwing their riders forward to where he would have landed had he not Blinked.

  He couldn’t tell whether or not he was happy that they had also gotten stuck. On one hand, they wouldn’t capture him anytime soon… on the other, if this situation was lethal, they wouldn’t be able to save him.

  The two of them took the situation calmly though, and began talking to each other out of his view. Quiet enough so that he couldn’t hear what was being said.

  Clearly, they were planning something. Meaning that either there was some chance of survival, or they also didn’t know what was going on.

  Dismissing his pursuers, Dante looked at the grass that was actually entrapping him. Not only was it ridiculously sticky, but it also had the effect of blocking Blink. He attempted to use Create Blade to create a new sword. Nothing. It was exactly like the Forsaker Classification.

  He couldn’t think of a single way that things could turn out okay, but he could think of several ways that things could go badly as he began to slowly sink into the grass.

  He didn’t want to rely upon the two who would enslave him given the chance, but the situation was somewhat desperate. “Tell me that one of you has a way to get out of this.”

  The one who he came close to killing earlier snorted. “Of course, we just need to kill it.”

  Jared spoke up with a voice full of annoyance. “For the love of the Goddess, shut up Arron.”

  Why shouldn’t he know that they needed to kill it, whatever ‘it’ was? That seemed like somewhat pertinent information as he slowly sank down into the dirt.

  Dante cleared his throat. “Do you think you could elaborate a bit?”

  Jared was quick to answer, likely trying to beat Arron to the punch. “Don’t worry, we will handle everything. Can’t let Andrea’s new pet get too roughed up.”

  Andrea?

  He had never heard the name before, but they were House Calman’s guards. So, he could assume she was a Calman. Potentially someone with more influence than Layla or Alexander. That didn’t matter at the moment though, he needed to think of a way to deal with the two combatants that were sinking next to him.

  He didn’t know what Jared could do yet, but Arron was one of the most exceptional fighters he had ever seen, and his Classifications definitely weren’t standard.

  Dante hardened his resolve as he slowly sank into the ground. He would kill the two of them, and whatever ‘it’ was as well.

  Chapter 50

  Dante’s Immortality – Chapter 50

  Upon slipping into the ground, the first thing that he realized was that the ‘grass’ was just a thin layer that blocked a cavern lying underneath. As he sunk, there were a few uncomfortable moments.

  The first was when his mouth and nose were covered, making it close to impossible to breathe. He could still get in tiny amounts of air through the strands of grass that covered him, but by the time his mouth was once again exposed he was lightheaded and close to passing out.

  When his nose was finally exposed… he wished it hadn’t been. Never, in his life, had he smelt something so putrid.

  The second uncomfortable moment was when he was underneath the grass, but still connected to it. The cavern was completely dark underneath, he couldn’t see how large it was, and he couldn’t make some form of light with mana manipulation because the plant was disrupting his mana. So, he just hung there, awaiting the moment when the grass finally released him and allowed him to fall to the ground… which hopefully wasn’t a long drop.

  He still couldn’t see or hear Jared or Arron and didn’t try to look for them either. The last thing he needed was to struggle and get even more stuck.

  And his last worry was ‘it’. Whatever that was. He just needed to cross his fingers and hope that thing wasn’t directly below him waiting.

  A few minutes later, he finally felt himself slip free.

  Before he could even really start to fall, he Blinked downward. Stopping himself from building momentum, and potentially stopping any fall damage.

  Two Blinks were enough to take him to the floor, or what he hoped was the floor. It felts like he was standing on large bags of mush, and every step seemed to penetrate through the mush, and make the smell so much worse.

  Dante began to move, knowing he needed to act quickly. It made sense that he would make it through the grass first, he was the first to fall into it. But Jared and Arron came right after him. So, he began to walk through the darkness, not wanting to make a source of light and give himself away. As he walked, he stumbled forward when his foot caught on one of the bags of mush and it gave slightly.

  Curious, Dante reached down to try and move it. It was long and heavy, even with his high strength it was awkward to carry, but he managed to pick it up. After making that discovery, he began to pile the bags of mush over himself, completely covering the entirety of his body from view.

  For some reason, it was several minutes later before he heard the first person drop down. Then a few silent minutes after that before the other one fell.

  Arron was the first to speak. “Fucking predatory dungeon just about suffocated me, and now I have to deal with this fucking smell?”

  “This wouldn’t be happening if you hadn’t tried to capture him by yourself.” A light flickered through the cracks between the bags that covered him, illuminating the entire room. “These damn corpses are disgusting.”

  Corpses?

  The sacs couldn’t be corpses… they were far too inflated, and corpses didn’t smell this bad. Even if they were rotten. He began forcing all of his willpower into holding back his bile.

  Jared seemed to be similarly struggling. His voice was nasally as if he was pinching his nose. “Speaking of Andrea’s pet, where is he?”

  Arron snorted. “The idiot is probably off getting himself killed trying to escape from this place. I don’t know why you didn’t tell him this was a dungeon.”

  Arron’s accusation seemed to annoy Jared. “That was exactly what I was trying to avoid, the last thing we needed was him getting hurt while trying to conquer a predatory dungeon by himself.” Jared paused to let out a sigh. “This dungeon seems old, it may be more dangerous than we thought. Let’s go, who knows how far he got with that damn skill of his.”

  The two of them walked out of the room, making everythi
ng go dark, and Dante sat in the pile of bodies for several minutes to make sure they weren’t lying in wait for him.

  When he was convinced that it was safe, he threw the bodies away from him. Taking deep, gasping breaths of the slightly less putrid air.

  Then, creating a small ball of light through mana manipulation, he lit up the room and looked around. The room was far worse than he could have imagined. It seemed like the floor was made up entirely of the bodies, and that didn’t change through the narrow corridor he saw across the room. There must have been hundreds in just the first cavern alone.

  Not only were they all inflated until they were barely recognizable as human, but they were also a sickly green color as well. The corpses didn’t even bleed where they were punctured, it was like the blood just congealed into a strange fleshy substance inside of their bodies.

  They had called this dungeon a predatory dungeon, and it wasn’t hard to see why it was named that. It seemed like such a waste though, all of the bodies were just rotting away for no reason.

  Mentally forcing himself to concentrate, he stalked through the corridor, which led into another large room.

  Other than the bloated corpses and the dozens of essence crystals scattered on the floor, the room was completely empty. It seemed that the two of them had been in such a hurry they hadn’t bothered to collect them… yet.

  He had no problem with it though, he hurried around the room, picking them up and quickly crushing them before moving on carefully to the next room, where he beheld a similar scene.

  Repeating the process, he crushed all of the crystals before moving on again. He had made it through a total of six rooms like that before finally catching up to them.

  Hearing the sound of fighting ahead, Dante extinguished the mana he used for lighting and carefully crept forward with two new blades in hand.

  He waited in the shadows of the corridor, blending in with the corpses by laying with them on the ground. What he saw was horrifying. The two of them weren’t fighting dungeon monsters, they were fighting human like creatures.