CHAPTER 272: SLOW RECOOVERY.

[

Dante: Alright, I get that you did what you had to do.

But if that’s the case.

Why the hell do I still feel like shit?

]

Not only was he in pain, but he also couldn’t move his body at all. Compared to the agony of wearing higher-level armors, his current situation felt much worse, almost as if he got more injuries instead of healing.

Larry turned away, rubbing his neck with a complicated expression.

"Yeah, about that... I haven’t used any Nanomeds on you..."

"..."

[Dante: Are you being serious right now?]

A second after he sent the message, Dante noticed Larry’s eyes narrow before piercing him with a glare.

"What part of your body is collapsing, do you now understand!!?" He snapped. "I’m not a goddamn magician, and there is no goddamn pill that will suddenly get you back to full health!!!" Drawing a deep breath, he went on, "You already had two big doses of Nanomeds barely a month apart from each other, and you never gave yourself the time to rest. Good stitches are still stitches at the end of the day! If you don’t give your body the time to recuperate and properly heal itself, there is no point to the treatment! You can only sew something so many times before it gets too brittle to hold itself together!!!"

Being on the receiving end of the rant, Dante was entirely speechless. He couldn’t speak, of course, but he didn’t even dare to type anything on the messenger app.

Some say that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. What doesn’t kill you will leave you crippled so that anything that follows would finish the job.

The strain exerted by VOLCAN alone was bound to kill anyone who tried to use it, and when adding the damage received from battles, the chances of one’s body breaking early on were quite high. Dante thought he was aware of that reality, but now that he was forced to face it, he couldn’t help feeling like it had arrived far too soon.

’Guess I need to change my priorities...’

The next implant on his list was a pair of bionic arms, and a synaptic reflex enhancer should have followed that. Now, however, he was forced to realize that getting a bionic heart and liver might be more important. After all, if any of his vital organs were to suddenly stop working, what would be the point of having mecha arms with heated blades?

[Dante: Alright, I get it.] He sent the message after contemplating the matter. [We should start looking at other replacements. Good thing my last job paid well.]

"You... What are you..." Larry turned to him with a confused look.

Dante didn’t get why, but a moment later, he remembered a very important detail.

[

Dante: Ah, I didn’t tell you, did I?

I plan on going full cyborg.

]

"... are you being serious right now?"

It wasn’t that strange for a merc to get some enhancements here and there, but rarely do they go full cyborg. There were many reasons for that, chief among them being dying long before achieving that dream. Many aren’t too eager to shed away their flesh a well, but Dante didn’t have that problem.

[Dante: Does it look like I’m joking?]

The underground doctor grew calm all sudden, as if having no response.

"Full cyborg..." he muttered, holding a hand to his chin. "I see..."

It was clear at that moment that he had finally gotten the idea. Dante was surprised that his body was falling apart this fast, true, but when he gave it some thought, he realized it didn’t really matter how badly damaged a body part gets so long as it’s still working by the time he gets a replacement.

"Still..." Pausing, Larry stared at him for a few seconds. "Even if you want to go that route, you know it will take a lot of time, right? Pretty sure you’re already aware of the risks of implanting too many bionics in a short time."

[Dante: I have no choice but to take the risks.]

"... why does it feel like you’re going to ignore all the safety guidelines..." Heaving a sigh, the underground doctor slowly shook his head. "Alright, I get it. I will make my own preparations."

[Dante: So... Are you going to patch me up or what?]

Being stuck in his current state was a hard thing to accept, and with the Nanomeds taking time to work, the sooner they start the treatment, the better.

Larry let out a snort.

"Yeah, that’s not happening. You’re staying like this for a while."

"Wha-" Same as before, Dante’s attempt to speak ended as a series of sharp coughs.

"Don’t worry, I’ll throw in some recovery enhancement drugs. You should be fine in two weeks or so."

"Hold... hold on..."

Though he kept calling for him, Larry just walked away without looking back. He even silenced him on the messenger app. Before long, Dante was left alone in the brightly lit room, his anger raging, but his unresponsive body and the pain tormenting it made it so he couldn’t even focus on that.

[Humans sure are frail creatures.] Volcan said. [To think that repeated repairs would leave your body vulnerable.]

’Everything gets worn out sooner or later, no matter how many times you repair it.’

As he lay on his back, Dante began to feel sleepiness take over him again. Staying awake while in this state was exhausting in and of itself, and since he wasn’t a big fan of suffering just for the sake of it, he was ready to submit to it, hoping that the next time he woke up there would be no pain.

[Dante, about the new implants.] Volcan said just as he was about to pass out. [How would you like to proceed with their upgrades? There are quite a few items from which we can harvest the necessary materials.]

’Not now.’ Dante replied. ’Just let me rest for some time...’

~[ ]~

Unlike Nanomeds, recovery enhancement drugs did just that: enhance one’s natural healing capabilities. On top of being a little slower, they come with the additional cost of energy consumption, which usually leaves the user exhausted for a while after the treatment. They were the cheaper alternative that came with side effects, but even then, a lot of people still can’t afford them.

Though he wasn’t exactly in a coma, Dante spent most of his time asleep thanks to those drugs. Whenever he was awake, he tried to use that time to send some messages, informing his contacts about his situation and gathering some news at the same time.

Even after a week had passed, the news were still focused on what happened at Blue Ember. They call it Operation Wolf Slayer. According to the media’s "trusted" sources, Klaus Stahlwölfe had collaborated with a fringe group from the Easter Star Federation to develop a new type of weapon of mass destruction, alleging that he planned on using it to overthrow the current government and establish an empire of his own.

Strangely enough, that was as close to the truth as propaganda could get. In the span of a single week, Klaus went from being one of the world’s richest elites to a wanted terrorist, which draws attention to another part of the story.

Unlike what happened with Aegis, the cover-up story offered to the heroes who died during the operation wasn’t as grandiose. For one, the public got to know that five heroes had lost their lives fighting the terrorists, but there was not a single mention of who had killed four of those heroes, nor was there any mention of what really happened to the rich scion.

As far as the public was aware, Klaus Stahlwölfe was still on the run. Some theorize that he had fled to the Eastern Federation now that his plans had failed.

Dante wasn’t expecting to get famous from this incident. After all, he had Ghost Mode active the entire time, and he had Volcan destroy the hotel’s central processor and all surveillance equipment to ensure there were no traces left of him.

The only ones who saw him and lived to tell the tale were the four members of Silver Wind, but there wasn’t much they could do with a simple encounter. Even if they were to report to their overlords at Eidolon, allowing them to figure out that VOLCAN’s host was involved in that mess, there should be no threads that lead back to him.

Well, there was only one left, and it wasn’t one he could erase.

Just like his involvement, there was no mention of Rose or the stolen relics. Of course, that didn’t mean the NVPD weren’t aware of the heist, or that they weren’t investigating it. There was also the Shiroganes, whom he had killed quite a few of. If they were to link the mysterious armored intruder and the heist, the crew and even Viktor might end up leading back to him.

Though he was tempted to erase all potential dangers, Dante couldn’t bring himself to do so this time. He didn’t know about Rose and Mr. Pike, but Viktor wasn’t someone who would sell him to save himself. The one he was worried about was Kirk, but the merc was already killed for selling out the crew.

One piece of good news was that the heist was successful. The relic was delivered to the client, and everyone got paid. Not only that, but the entire crew received a bonus as compensation for not being informed about the possibility that the heroes might come after the relic. Because of that, Dante received a total of thirty million Gold.

"Damn..."

After receiving the news, Dante made sure to check his wallet whenever he woke up. Seeing the seven digit number brought him so much joy that he could put up with his slow recovery, and because of that, he didn’t even notice the days pass.