"It must be a joke," Dante thought as he looked at what was in front of him: a pack of over fifteen wolves sizing up the vampire boy.
"Nagasawa, wake up already... it's been three days since you've been sleeping, stop being lazy," he mocked and lamented as he held the woman on his back.
"Sorry, teacher," Dante said and put her down on the ground, gripping Durandal in both hands.
Dante looked at the wolves that began to move slowly while snarling softly. They had red fur and all were slightly injured in some way.
They started to encircle Dante.
"Sorry, but I'm not going to wait for you guys." He lunged forward towards the smallest wolf in the pack, an easy target for someone wounded like him.
The wolf barely had time to react and was completely obliterated by Durandal's blade, splattering blood all over the area.
"One down, who's the next dead puppy?" Dante said, looking menacingly at the wolves.
Suddenly, he vanished. With his momentum, he attacked another wolf that tried to dodge but lost one of its legs.
ARHH! WOOF!
The others began to move quickly and attacked in unison. Dante, however, didn't wait to be hit. He started using Durandal with one hand while using the other to punch the wolves more swiftly.
ARHHG!
Dante managed to kill three more wolves and began to sweat from the heat, his exertion starting to hurt his upper limbs.
"I can't prolong the fight, my muscles haven't recovered," was his only thought, to end this useless fight quickly while focusing on protecting Nagasawa.
He began attacking the wolves uncontrollably, without avoiding unnecessary movements, and became a barbarian who only wanted to survive.
The sudden horizontal slash hit two more wolves. That made it 6 down.
As he focused, a wolf tried to quickly attack Nagasawa's unconscious body, but was suddenly kicked away.
"I hate wolves," he said almost growling at the wolf, his eyes already starting to enter a rage as he remembered the werewolf's face.
He caught his breath and lunged forward again, cutting down two more wolves. The remaining wolves were slightly afraid of the aura Dante emanated; they were only 2-star Rank, they couldn't do anything against this.
"Don't run," Dante said with a terrifying look that left the wolves paralyzed with fear. "Survival of the fittest," he said and killed the remaining wolves.
"Pant," he sighed exhaustedly. "Normally this would be child's play, but what the hell is this weakness. It doesn't make sense, is it this damn cave?" he growled as he rose again. "Screw it," Dante said and walked over to the wolf corpses, brutally tearing out one's heart and raising it.
Pouring the blood over his mouth, he felt slightly disgusted by the beasts' blood, but it was the only thing he could use at the moment, as not even their meat would be useful.
"It's like drinking sewage, gross," Dante said with a bitter expression on his face.
Dante approached Nagasawa and placed his hands on her forehead, realizing clearly that she had a fever.
"Sorry, Durandal, I'll have to use you as a blade," he thought as he gathered the bodies of the ten dead wolves. He used Durandal's blade to tear their bodies open and extract the blood to put into some flasks he had inside the Spatial Ring he had found earlier.
Dante and Nagasawa had just arrived at the mentioned location. It was a small clearing within the huge cavern, with slightly dead grass and some tree trunks and roots scattered about, but not damp. That was a good sign; with the lack of moisture, he could use it to start a fire and warm Nagasawa, who was burning with fever.
Dante then prepared a small bed in a slightly more secluded and hidden corner, placing Nagasawa's body covered with the stolen cloaks from the corpses and gathered some twigs to make a fire.
"These are tough times, aren't they?" Dante said to himself as he thought about how things were outside of that hole.
He sat against the wall as he listened to the crackling of the burning embers. Slowly, he closed his eyes and tried to fall asleep. Although he found it dangerous to stay alert all the time, he knew he could suffer a lot of mental stress if he continued like this, perhaps even faint during a fight or something.
His body slowly began to absorb the blood he had ingested. Of the ten wolves, he drank the blood from the hearts of only two, afraid he couldn't handle the mana within them.
His mother's words came softly to his mind.
"You can't drink any blood you see. As partners, we consume each other's blood to increase our strength. Never drink blood carelessly."
"When we absorb blood stronger than ours, we can absorb its properties, its energy, and make it our own," he remembered that scene from his childhood, of the little vampire bursting into flames due to excess mana.
"Sorry, I guess I've broken that rule... I can't afford to be picky about food," he said as he lay lightly on Nagasawa's shoulder, who was beside him.
Closing his eyes completely, he tried to rest, but he remained alert while being in this vast dungeon.
Everything was dark, and his eyes slowly opened, adjusting to the darkness. Dante woke up after more than six hours of sleep, relieved that nothing had happened. His main concern was Nagasawa.
He turned to the woman lying down and placed his hand on her forehead. Her fever had improved, but her arms... the arm that had been hit by the Guardian Golem was completely bruised, despite the small bandages he had made to keep it immobile. Perhaps it was too late.
"Damn it... I can't cut off your arm, I won't be able to stop the bleeding, and the damage from the fire could kill you..." He was at a standstill, not wanting to resort to the last option that came to mind.
Desperately, he searched for solutions to the problems, but now was not the time to hesitate.
"I'm sorry..." Dante said as he knelt beside Nagasawa's body. He held her hand gently and felt the pulse increasing before he could do anything.
Cough! Cough! Cough!
Nagasawa began coughing and convulsing, expelling a liquid from her throat that splattered over herself.
"Naga!" Dante acted quickly, lifting her body to prevent her from choking on the vomit, supporting her as she cleared her throat.
Cough! Cough!
"Where am I?" She asked, unable to see anything in the total darkness, only feeling someone holding her.
"It's me, Dante," he said. "You're in a cave. How are you feeling?"
"I can't see anything," she replied, confused and disoriented.
Dante then conjured a small flame between his hands to illuminate the surroundings.
"Welcome back to the land of the living," he said softly, trying to comfort her as she adjusted to the new situation.