Chapter 51: Healing skill

Dante looked at them. Then he looked at his left arm. The skin was black at the edge, and he couldn’t feel his fingers.

’One arm is enough,’ he thought. ’For now.’

Balor straightened up. The cut threads had hurt him, but he was still a five-meter half-dragon, and his pride hurt more than his body.

"You cut my mountain," he said. "I will cut you into pieces and feed you to it."

He kicked off the floor with both wings. The vault shook, and his claw came down fast.

Dante didn’t run. He raised the invisible blade and met it.

CLANG!

The claw cracked at the tip. The hit went back into Balor’s arm, twice as hard, and the sound of breaking bone echoed through the room. But the red threads lit up, and the crack closed in two seconds.

"Same trick again!" Balor laughed. "It won’t work!"

"It’s not a trick," Dante said. "I’m counting."

He stepped in with Void Step and cut through a second bundle of threads. The room went dim. Balor screamed, spun around, and swung his tail.

Dante jumped over it. He landed, and the floor under his foot was warm in a way it hadn’t been before.

His eyes went wide.

’A vent.’

Balor smiled with his dragon mouth. He stamped his foot.

The ground under Dante burst open. A slab of black stone as big as a cart flew up, hit him in the side, and dropped back down on top of him.

The slab pinned his left arm. Something in his ribs snapped, and something in his arm snapped louder. The pain was so sharp that the world went white for a second.

"Dante!" Esabella screamed from across the room.

The northern soldiers started cheering again. "The Warlord got him! He’s pinned!"

Gideon ran forward, shaking his head. "Don’t move, kid! Don’t try to lift it!"

Dante lay on his back with his teeth clenched. He could taste blood. His breath came in short, hard pulls.

’ fuck ,If I keep lying here, i can’t do anything, i need to get up’

Balor walked closer. Each step cracked the stone. He raised his claw high.

"Any last words, human?"

Then a line of light appeared in front of Dante’s eyes.

[Midnight reached. You receive 1x Free Daily Spin.]

Dante almost laughed. ’Now? Really?’

[Spin Complete!]

[You got: ’Cracked Bandage’ (F-Rank Healing Item).]

[Description: An old cloth bandage. Closes very small cuts.]

A small roll of dirty cloth fell onto his chest.

Balor’s claw came down.

[System 2: 100x Sovereign Multiplier Triggered!]

[’Cracked Bandage’ (F-Rank) ---> Multiplied by 100x!]

[You got: ’Sovereign’s Mending Thread’ (SSS-Rank Healing Skill).]

[Effect: Heals burns, wounds, and broken bones on the user’s own body. Takes thirty seconds to finish.]

[Limit 1: Once per day.]

[Limit 2: Cannot grow back a lost limb or bring back the dead.]

[Limit 3: The user will be very hungry and weak afterward.]

The cloth lit up with gold light and turned into long, thin thread. It wrapped around Dante’s left arm, then his ribs, and sank into the skin.

The claw hit his chest. The Mirror Body threw it back. Balor’s whole arm snapped in three places, and he stumbled away with a roar.

Dante lifted his right hand and pushed the slab. It didn’t move.

"Come on," he said, and took the dark sphere from his pocket with his teeth clenched. "Core Matrix. Make it light."

[Ground Weight Control activated. Target: this slab. Pressure: 1/100.]

The slab rose off him like a sheet of paper. He rolled out from under it and stood up, breathing hard.

His left arm hung at his side. Under the skin, he could feel the bones moving. It hurt, and it also felt like a hand pushing them back where they belonged. Click. Click. Click.

’Thirty seconds,’ he thought.

Esabella reached him first. " Dante, I thought... you were..."

"Later," Dante said. "Keep him busy."

She nodded and turned. Her dragon-sword blazed, and she ran at Balor. Balor had already recovered. He breathed out a stream of white-yellow fire.

Dante walked into it. He held up the dark vase.

[Mineral Fluid Extraction activated.]

The fire bent. It turned and poured into the mouth of the vase in a long, loud rope. The heat on Dante’s face dropped so fast that his teeth stopped hurting.

The soldiers stopped cheering. Gideon let out a slow breath. "Where did he get that?"

"My fire," Balor said, almost in a whisper. "He’s drinking my fire."

"Your mountain’s fire," Dante said. "And I’m not done."

He closed the vase. The fire inside rolled around like a small storm. Then he drew the invisible blade with his right hand and ran.

Balor swung his claws. Dante slid under them. He cut one thread, then another, then jumped back before the tail came around. His legs felt slow, His left arm was still healing and hurt with every step. But he kept moving.Twenty seconds. Esabella locked her sword with Balor’s claw. The ring of metal on bone hurt everyone’s ears.

The thread in his arm dissolved into warm light. He flexed his fingers. They moved. He touched his ribs, and nothing hurt.

[Mending Thread complete. Cooldown: 24 hours.]

His stomach twisted. It felt like he hadn’t eaten for three days.

’There’s the cost,’ he thought. ’Fine. I can pay it.’

Balor staggered, looking at him. "You were broken. I heard it. I heard your bones break."

"They got fixed," Dante said.

"That’s not fair!"

"No," Dante said, almost gently. "It’s not."

He stepped toward Balor. Balor stepped back. Only one thread was left, thin as a hair, and the whole mountain was shaking.

Then something strange happened. Balor’s chest began to glow gold.

It wasn’t fire. It was warm, like morning light. The glow rose through the cracks in his scales and reached across the room toward Esabella, who had stopped dead with her sword half raised. Her hair lifted around her face. Her eyes went wide.

"Father?" she whispered.