CHAPTER 430: DRAGON.

[Wait on the other side, got it?]

Dante didn’t wait for the girl to reply before pushing her through the portal standing in front of them. The exit led to Hollowstreet. Though he would have preferred a different location, he didn’t have anything better among the options available to him. At the very least, the lights were still on the other side, and though the sky above was pitch black, the absence of a ceiling was a hundred times better than the cage she had been trapped in all along.

The portal vanished, and the corpse came to sight once more. Staring at the dead politician, Dante was once again overwhelmed with disgust.

Opening his Storage, he selected an item and took several copies out. On the floor surrounding him, five cloaked figures appeared, each one kneeling before him. He gave their operator a few instructions, and as soon as he was done, they all bolted out of the room.

Walking over to the dead politician, Dante knelt down and placed a hand on his head. He didn’t bother closing the corpse’s rolled-back eyes, wanting the look of absolute terror to remain frozen on its face until it was time to dispose of it. For the time being, it was going to remain in his Storage until he decided what to do with it.

Hearing loud bangs echo through the corridor, Dante stood up and gave a mental command. As he turned to the exit, his dark armor disintegrated into countless threads of light.

[

Name: Dante

Species: Human

Threat Level: 2

Baseline Retention: Advanced (75%)

Stats:

Strength: 8 (+20)

Durability: 32 (+40)

Agility: 28 (+12)

Dexterity: 32 (+10)

Computing Power: 40 (+30)

Energy: 0 (+700/700)

Implants:

Neural Interface Module (C)

Optic Augmentation Module (C)

Diamond Fist (D)

Kinetic Absorption Protective Sub-Layer Generation 15 (C)

RespiraCore Series V (D)

NephroCore Series X (D)

Overmind Cortical Interface Module (A)

Overmind Neural Response Enhancer (A)

Armor: Type 1-3

Abilities:

Dragon Touch

Dragon Flame

Dragon claws

Dragon Fang

Dragon Breath

]

Among the armors Volcan had in his arsenal, Type 1 stood out as the most bizarre. It started the same as the others, with the first level being mostly tight black fabric with a helmet for the head and some plating around the chest, arms, and legs. Level 2 was much the same, with the alloy expanding to cover the rest of the body, leaving only a few spots uncovered.

Level 3 is where things start to change. For one, it was one of the largest Level 3s in Volcan’s arsenal, with a particularly bulky frame that nearly doubled the wearer’s size. The helmet took on a more animalistic shape, but it was the right arm that drew the most attention.

Instead of a gauntlet that matched the one on the left, a dragon’s head grew from the elbow down. It was larger than one’s head, and though it matched the helmet’s terrifying appearance, the second head seemed to be much more alive.

Dante stepped onto the corridor just as a swarm of pests crawled from the rooms on either side. The fact that they took the shape of naked men only added to the disgust their presence inspired, and seeing them through the visor of his helmet, Dante reaffirmed the decision he had already made.

Raising his right hand, he directed the beast’s head toward the insects he wished to burn. Then, with a single thought, Dante activated the Level 3 ability Dragon Breath. The gauntlet spread its jaws, and orange flames spilled out. In an instant, they turned into a rushing torrent, filling the entire corridor.

Type 1 focused on combustion and thermal energy, which is how Volcan had explained it before. Though the dragon theme seemed to match it quite well, Dante couldn’t help but wonder why it was the only one to have such a unique design.

Dragon Breath seemed far from an ability a Level 3 armor should have. Its power was proportional to the amount of energy it consumed, and if he were to feed it all 700 points, it could easily deal a lot more damage than a tank was capable of. Dante didn’t go that far, however. He snapped the dragon’s jaws shut just as his energy counter dropped by five points. The flames vanished from the corridor an instant later, leaving behind a few embers clinging to human-shaped pieces of charred charcoal.

Satisfied with his work, Dante was about to give his resident AI the command to move on to the next floor. That was when he caught sight of movement in the corner of his eye, and when he turned to check, he saw that one of the pests had survived his flames and was now running down the stairs, crying for help.

Having resolved himself to rid the world of every last pest in this accursed mansion, Dante followed the survivor and incinerated him whole. When he checked the 3D model pressed to the side, he noticed a bunch of green dots scattered just around the corner, and among them were two that didn’t belong: one red, another purple.

Though he was aware that the dots’ position might no longer be the same now that he no longer had Spatial Awareness to update the 3D model, Dante still decided to go down and check. It was on his path anyway, and if anything were to get in his way as he continued with the pest extermination was going to kill as well.

The purple dot represented Jason, one of Black Skull’s lieutenants and the target of this operation. The instant Dante laid eyes on him, he wanted nothing more than to burn him to a crisp. Rose had already called dibs on his head, however, so he decided to leave him be for the time being.

That said, Dante was a little confused to see the skull-faced man there. He remembered giving Rose a time limit of five minutes, hoping they would get the bastard and leave before he went berserk and burned the entire building. But here they were. Not only did they fail to capture the target, but they were still loitering around even as guards rushed inside after hearing the earlier commotion.

As he tried to understand why it was that they had yet to finish the job, his eyes fell on the hulking figure standing among them, holding a power suit clad man with one hand as if he were a toy. Studying his appearance led Dante to see the horns on either side of his head. Dante had seen those horns more than once before, and finding no trouble remembering who they belonged to, he didn’t hesitate to aim the flame thrower on his right arm.

The bbull-headed freaksensed the danger and turned to face him right away. Dante didn’t hesitate to activate Dragon Breath, but just as the torrent of flames launched, something slammed into him with incredible force.