Chapter 222 B4. 16 – An Indigestible Upgrade

I rumbled a low growl, relishing the way my throat vibrated and my lungs hummed. As per tradition, I bit the air like a rabid dog. My jaws clashed, fangs slotting into the spaces between each other. Each bite was like crashing steel. The powerful impacts shook my skull and gave me a high I could never experience in my original body.

This was power! And I super loved it! I agreed with Adrian’s reason to become an Adumbrae.

What I didn’t love was the smell of petrified Adrian. Rather, the lack of any identifiable scent. I could smell his blood that had painted the car’s interior. I could pick up various odors from his clothes covering his stone body, like his perfume and what he had eaten earlier. I could smell traces of his own scent when he was alive. But his current body was just a black hole.

Even a rock should have its smell. Adrian? Nothing. Not sure what material his body was now made of.

I sniffed around the car for my scent as Erind. Any strand of hair dropped? Any clothing fibers? I doubted I left any traceable evidence in the minute or two I was in my original body. I tore up the car seats and Adrian’s own clothes, just in case it had my prints on it.

What to do with this car?

This car might have a GPS tracker thingy; it’d be found soon after Adrian was reported missing. And so, I didn’t really make any effort to hide it. I just pushed the car down a road away from the house. People driving by, if there were any, probably wouldn’t care much about this car until days later.

All in all, a successful mission. Time to find my way back home.

The night was like daytime to my eyes. Okay, that was an exaggeration. It was freaking dark, but I could see the reeds dancing here and there. Some rodents scurrying in the dirt. I could find my way just fine.

I had asked Cecilia to map a route back to downtown Vegas from this area that was free of cameras and drones. It turned out that using the Summerlin Centre corridor, jumping on the roofs of commercial buildings, was the best option. Security cameras were pointed downwards, at the streets, and there were barely any drones in the sky because of strict regulations. The rich didn’t want property values to drop because of annoying drones.

I was a shadowy blur in the night, leaping from rooftop to rooftop. The desert wind ruffled my fur that slowly grew as seconds ticked by. And it wasn’t just my fur. My claws and fangs elongated; so did my bones. Muscles enlarged, pressing outward against my skin. I was becoming stronger and stronger!

And yet, there was no one to fight.

What if I went back to the Roost? Many Adumbrae there to fight. Many prey to eat.

Stop that! This was enough recklessness. Killing a classmate should be my quota for tonight.

What if news of Red Hood’s presence in Las Vegas reached the Corebrings? They’d definitely come here. I didn’t want to move again.

Rooftops ran out upon reaching the freeway.  

Cecilia had found a way for me to cross the roads and more suburbia—tunnels. Specifically, the storm drains of Las Vegas, which were quite extensive. Many people didn’t know about these.

Las Vegas. Desert. No rains, right?

That was true. However, the city was in the valley, a catch basin for all the water if it did rain. The compacted desert soil barely absorbed water. Storm drains were necessary to prevent flooding.

“Ghraoor grrr…” I grumbled. Tunnels again.

 “You’ll navigate in complete darkness, dear,” Cecilia had told me earlier. “Will you be fine?”

“I know you really don’t care about me,” I replied. “You’re trying to guess what my power is. And don’t worry, I’ll just bring along a flashlight. Just give me the simplest path. I suck at memorizing directions.”

“You’re a law student,” said Cecilia. “Shouldn’t you have fairly good memorization skills?”

“That would be Deen,” I said. “She memorizes the black-letter law and can recite it in her sleep.”

“I also struggle to memorize,” Deen lied to downplay her academic prowess.

“As for me,” I went on, “I just remember the gist of the law. Very rare when the specific wording is the issue—I memorize the cases tackling those. That’s about it. Obviously, I can’t memorize the gist of the directions.”

“You can, in a manner of speaking,” said Cecilia. “Several tunnels lead to the same path. Here, look.”

I recalled the map that Cecilia had shown me. At the edge of Summerlin, I found an intake grate of the drains. Easy enough to pry it open. I jumped into the darkness and closed the grates above. I navigated my way to find the main tunnel that cut across the freeway and led to the busier parts of Vegas.

Now, this was freaking dark. No more grates that allowed light reached down here. But I could rely on other senses, and there wasn’t much to see anyway.

Stick to the main tunnel, I reminded myself.

I dropped onto all fours and unleashed my full speed. The sound of my claws clicking against wet concrete reverberated a rhythm that accented the hum of passing vehicles overhead.

This boring return trip after a mission usually wasn’t shown in movies. Just off-screen it. Assume that the main character had an easy time, and cut to the next scene because there was nothing exciting with this part. The only trouble I might have was finding the exit.

My target was the railway tracks running parallel to the Strip. Surveillance was nonexistent behind the shadows of the megaresort towers. No one cared about the homeless squatting in some of the abandoned warehouses, and even inside the bigger storm drains.

“Be careful not to show yourself to anyone,” Deen had earlier cautioned me. She expected that I’d use my Blanchette form if I picked the storm drains route.

“I know, I know,” I said. “It’ll be easy to avoid people,” I added, subtly reminding her of Blanchette’s senses.

“Stick with Plan A,” Cecilia said. “If your disguise powers work as well as you said. Far less problematic to drive a stolen car.”

“But where’s the fun in that? I’m just kidding, Deen,” I added, noticing her furious glare. “I’m just saying I need a Plan B. That’s being prudent.”  

The tunnels were a buffet of smells. ‘Buffet’ shouldn’t be the apt term because this wouldn’t be appetizing at all to my original brain. To my Blanchette self, however, the different scents were entertaining, as if I could read the history of stuff that had drained down here. That was probably why dogs were so interested in smelling shit.

Soon, I could smell people. Living people. I had crossed the freeway. Not sure I was running in the right direction, but the more populated the area, the better it was for me. I wondered if I should scare some people for fun when my rumbling stomach surprised me.

“Hraaorr?” I came to a stop and held my midsection.

My stomach had become bloated. It rumbled again.

I felt it. Something shifted inside. It began to move more excitedly. If ‘fluttering butterflies in the stomach’ wasn’t just an expression but a real thing, this was what I expected it to feel like.

Then it became more violent, pushing outward and trying to get out. I started coughing to expel whatever this was. The fuck was happening? I had never experienced this before! Usually, I’d digest everything I ate.

And I hadn’t even eaten anything this time. What could—? The Corequip!

I slammed my mouth shut. A big bubble of gas went up, burning my esophagus like a literally acidic acid reflux. The gas exited my nose and seeped through the sides of my mouth. I tasted and smelled my own blood and seared flesh.

That brief exhale lit the dark tunnel. Golden particles mixed with the air.

My regeneration kicked in to heal my insides. A bit of anger blossomed inside me, directed at… nothing. I was just pissed off at the Corequip trying to explode my insides. Blanchette’s rage wasn’t activated, and I definitely didn’t hunger for Trepanner.

Was it because her Corequip was already inside my stomach?

The Corebrings were telling the truth that Corequips were indestructible. I had eaten all sorts of stuff before, including monster bones and metal. None had given me indigestion.

This stupid thing’s trying to get out! My stomach heated up, as if I had drunk boiling soup. But instead of my flesh getting cooked, I felt power radiate through my body. The closest I could compare this sensation to was Pino’s battery heart providing energy to the rest of the body.

Could it be…? Was I absorbing the Corequip’s power? That best encapsulated this sensation.

I hugged my abdomen with both arms, pressing down to contain its expansion. Bursts of energy continued to rise through my gullet. I snorted gold dust and blood again and again. At the same time, I could sense I was becoming stronger.

No way I’d puke out this Corequip. This was mine! I stole it fair and square!

If I needed to remain as Blanchette to digest this bullshit object, so be it. The closest Corebrings should be a few hundred miles away—they shouldn’t feel their precious Corequip, right? Even if they could, they’d be too far away to do anything.

How long would it take to digest this anyway?

Glowy Erind, any help? Spooky Erind? No response from either.

My body began to vibrate like a hummingbird. I wasn’t doing this consciously. Individual muscles expanded and contracted, independent of each other, making me move in impossible ways, straining my joints and tendons. I couldn’t stop myself from flailing my limbs as Adrian did in his last moments.

Concrete exploded where I smacked the tunnel with my arms or legs. This was a demolition, and I could barely regain control.

But I didn’t want to stop. This shit was working! I grew rapidly while digesting the Corequip. Problem was, I’d soon fucking clog this tunnel!

Second problem—if I stayed in one place, I’d collapse the tunnel with my thrashings. I shouldn’t reveal my location while in a vulnerable state. People above probably thought there was an earthquake.

My body still wouldn’t listen to me. It was like when I got electrocuted. Just one arm! Focus all my will! Dust powdered me as cracks spread across the ceiling.

Forward! I clawed my way onward with my twitching right arm.

How much longer? It was getting cramped! I couldn’t even stand because I had gotten too big. My enlarged belly made it seem like I was pregnant with an equally gigantic baby. Was I going to explode? Could I survive a blown-open stomach?

And then…

Darkness. Complete darkness that my eyes couldn’t pierce. All my senses got switched off.

A heartbeat. A burst of blinding light.

I opened my eyes to a tunnel illuminated with golden light.

I jumped in surprise.

Hang on… Why could I fit in here again? I had returned to my normal Blanchette size. Examining myself, I realized that wasn’t exactly right—I wasn’t normal Blanchette. I was deluxe, special-edition, ultra-rare, golden Blanchette!

My hoodie had turned from red to gold, its glow slowly fading like cooling metal. Thick shackles bound my wrists, ankles, and neck. And the most significant change was behind me. It literally grew out of my behind—a swishing tail of lush, golden fur. Swish, swish, swish.

Most importantly, my stomach had returned to its flatness. Slight grooves defined my abs. The Corequip had calmed down.  

How did this happen? I tried many times to turn into Golden Blanchette to no avail. I had no idea how it happened the first time, when I attacked the 2Ms’ base at the docks.

Well, I still didn’t know the exact mechanics of how it happened now.

But I could reasonably assume that the Corequip had something to do with it. It rushed my growth to become a giant werewolf, and then forced my evolution to my golden state. My current strength should match how strong I had gotten as a giant werewolf before evolving.

I punched the tunnel wall. In a blink, my fist penetrated inches deep. The shackle on my wrist followed. The concrete belatedly exploded, as if the wall didn’t immediately realize I had struck it.

The world slowed as my senses hastened. I observed concrete slabs peel away from the wall like layers of bark. And then, the concrete couldn’t handle the bend anymore and broke into many pieces. I honed in on each one that came at me; I could make out their individual features. The chunks slapped the whole front of my body, crumbling upon impact.

I huffed to blow away the dust clouds, revealing the crater that had formed around my mist. Torn rebar bent outward like a blossoming flower.

Very poetic description, I thought, marveling at the supernatural power of my punch. This went way beyond strong. This broke physics! Like, a very strong punch shouldn’t work that way.  

This wasn’t a one-time thing, was it? It didn’t feel like I had thoroughly digested Trepanner’s Corequip. Indestructible and all that.

With this, I was confident I could wreak Clive’s team. I wanted to return to La Esperanza for round two! I’d eat more Corequips!

Relax, Erind, I coaxed myself. I wasn’t Myra, always raring for trouble. I shouldn’t pick fights until I had thoroughly tested my powers.

In fact, my Golden Blanchette form had one more ability. When I fought Adumbrae and augmented goons at the docks, my artificial Core jutted out of my chest and generated a large dome. While inside this dome, any damage meant for me was transferred to my enemies. This was the kind of bullshit ability I needed to beat Euphonia and the Corebrings.

How do I make my artificial Core appear? I tried tensing my body, concentrating, but nothing happened. Oh well, Glowy Erind might know. Another meeting of the Council of Erinds was coming up. I could sense it.

I thought I messed up big time when I ate Trepanner’s Corequip. It was self-implanting a tracking device. But it was actually the right move! I claim full credit.

Funny how this return trip that would’ve been off-screened turned out to be significant.