CHAPTER 270: STORM.

As a medical professional, Larry was used to drinking absurd amounts of coffee, but sometimes. Installing the right bionics could easily save one from the reliance on the bitter potion, but after years of enjoying the brew, it became a way of life for many.

Larry was on his ninth cup that day, having spent most of it dealing with an unexpected influx of customers. Come night, he was preparing for a good rest when news of the raid on Blue Ember hotel reached him, and at that moment, he knew there would be no rest.

Just as the clock hit midnight, he got a notification about someone being at his door, so he opened the security feed to see who it was. An instant later, he was rushing toward the door. Outside The Clinic, a young man with bright red hair was collapsed on the floor, his face as pale as a corpse. Staring at him for a moment, Larry bit the butt of his cigarette, his eyes widening, not with surprise, but with retrained anger.

"I’m getting a deja vu...."

~[ ]~

A soft crunch drew Dante’s attention. He was sure it had accompanied him for some time now, but for the first time, he looked down and saw its source. Pure white snow. Under his feet, around where he stood, as far as the eye could see. Nothing but an endless white field.

No sooner had he thought that the scene looked familiar than he realized he was inside a dream.

’... Did I make it to Larry’s?’

He was quick to recall what happened after his battle against the heroes, but until he woke up, there was no way to tell for sure if he was missing anything, or if what he remembered was true at all.

’That furry fuck...’

Just recalling his fight against the werewolf was enough to cause his blood to boil. Even with Type 5-4 equipped, the bastard was still able to keep up, and that’s looking at speed alone. He was undoubtedly superior in superior in other aspects, and if things went on a little longer, Dante knew he would have had to change into a higher-level armor just to keep up.

’A Level 5, huh...’

Volcan’s evaluation said that the furry hero was approaching the threshold and that he was still getting stronger. Then there was the strange trick he used to summon that foggy forest, which could boost his capabilities for some reason. Since it was created through Aether, that would make a Sorcerer on top of being a Genome, and to make things worse, he was still growing stronger back then.

’I should have killed him...’

As his frustration grew, Dante kicked the ground, sending some flying. He then looked through his surroundings and clicked his tongue.

’C’mon... Wake up already!!!’

There were a lot of things he needed to do, the first among them being checking if the heist was a success, and if he got paid. But more importantly, he needed to learn how badly he had screwed his body in that last fight.

’Why is this still...’

His wait went on for a while before he came to the conclusion that he wasn’t getting out any time soon. This was the third time he had a lucid dream, and the second one where he ended up in a snowy field. Since the first was born from him getting dipped into the ice tub, he thought that this one was the same. The problem was that he didn’t have any implants ready for upgrades, and he didn’t remember asking his resident AI to prepare for one.

’What is happening here...’

Dante gave up after some time, having realized that no amount of thinking would provide him with a solution. That’s why he decided to continue the walk, and walk he did.

Time and distance held no meaning in the dream world. With no landmarks around, it was impossible to tell how much he walked, and since the sun remained in the same spot no matter how much he walked, guessing the time was meaningless, too.

He had once heard that the days in Polaris Ultima go on for six months straight, but even if that was the case, he doubted that the sun would remain in the same spot the entire time. Not that he was in Polaris Ultima, anyway. That place had long since lost its melted away, becoming just another pollution-ridden hell hole. In contrast, this one was like heaven. A frozen heaven, but a heaven nonetheless.

’At least the sky is clear...’

Dante came to regret having that thought a moment later. The wind suddenly picked up, and before he knew it, a storm swallowed him. Being at the center of a blizzard was something that could kill just about anyone in a few minutes, but Dante was completely fine, even though he felt a little cold. If anything, it was the powerful winds that bothered him the most.

This should have been a good place for the dream to end, but it still refused to do so, forcing Dante to keep walking. He tried calling for Volcan and imagined equipping one of his armors, but to no avail.

Dante just gave up and kept walking. After all, except for the wind constantly blasting his face and the lack of visibility, the storm itself was more of an annoyance than a problem.

Eventually, the wind started to weaken, but just as he thought the storm was reaching its end-

"... huh?"

It suddenly vanished without a trace. The blizzard was gone, and so was the winds howling in his ears. The change was so abrupt it gave Dante whiplash, but then he checked his surroundings and noticed that he was still on the same snow-covered plains he had been wandering before.

"This is starting to-"

The words halted in his throat as he turned to the left. For a moment there, nothing seemed out of the ordinary; only an endless field of snow, just like every other direction. Dante squinted his eyes and slowly turned his head. He noticed a dark spot on the horizon, but when he tried to focus on it, the entire world went dark.

All of a sudden, his thoughts became extremely sluggish, and his head started to hurt. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to grab at his head but realized that he couldn’t move. Just then, the pain began to spread all over his body. H fought it for a moment, but it proved to be far too strong. The only thing h could do was scream, but even with his mouth wide open, the only thing that came out was a week hiss.