I Reincarnated into a Single-celled Organism! - Chapter 184

Click. Click.

A person, clad in black, tinkered with the lock to the door leading into the treasury room. Their fingertips were deft and worked quickly. No sooner had I arrived in the hallway than there was a click at the door. I didn’t understand how, but they had already disrupted each of the mana circuits, blocking the energy and keeping the alarm from triggering. They stood up with a mildly cocky swagger, but as they reached for the doorknob, they froze for a second.

I thought they were checking one more time to make sure there was no additional security, but their other hand came out of a pocket and then spun and threw a small dagger. The dagger was aimed directly for my heart, and I could see a gleam of some poison on it. My instinct was to dodge, but I was honestly interested in being exposed to more poisons. They would help me create better poisons of my own, as well as create antidotes.

I cut off the circulation to my hand and lifted it just in time for the blade to strike my palm. My defense was at a level that the blade would bounce off harmlessly, but I also figured out I could lower that stat at will. I let out a fake cry as I caught the blade in my palm, the blade penetrating my hand completely. I could feel the components of the poison immediately empty into myself. It immediately started killing my cells en-masse. A blackness spread out from the wound and covered my palm in moments. I could tell it had some mana component to it.

[You have been poisoned. You have taken -1,520 hp in damage.]

How ruthless! Such a poison would be enough to quickly send even a 3rd level paragon straight to the grave. I quickly pulled out a knife and cut off my hand. I snatched both, hand and knife, and tossed them into my Luminal Space. This did not slow down the poison as it spread to the fingertips, but I used some of my parallel processing power to study and understand how it spread.

My would-be murderer looked stunned. They looked at me consideringly for a moment.

“I didn’t know the Capala household had any elite guards left,” they spoke, their voice having a strange reverberation which told me they must’ve been using some kind of method to mask it.

“Whoever said I was a part of the Capala household?” I responded, altering my voice in a similar way.

They looked at me a second time, taken aback by my words. “Another family? It’s too late. I’ll be claiming the technique.”

“Do you think I’ll let you?”

“I’d be worrying more about myself if I were you,” they pointed. “You may have acted quickly, but my poison isn’t so easily quelled.”

[Poison has continued to spread. You have taken 10,782 hp in damage.]

“Interesting…” I commented as I looked down at the area they were looking.

I frowned as a black corruption crawled up my arm. It seemed that there was no limit to the amount of damage the poison could do. As the poison spread, so did its field of damage. Furthermore, it spread extremely fast. Even after restricting my circulation and cutting off my hand, the poison had persisted. My hand had already become a blackened piece of flesh within the luminal space.

“As you see, your hours are numbered. If you run back to your family, perhaps they’ll have an alchemist who may be able to keep you alive.” They chuckled.

“Doesn’t that mean the poison is curable?” I asked innocently. “And who would carry a poison without also carrying the antidote!”

I leaped forward. Although I didn’t really need an antidote, it was a perfect excuse to attack them. They made an irritated noise, pulling out two batons from their back. I lifted up my handless arm and blocked the first, but as soon as it struck, I felt a jolt of pain shoot through my body, forcing me back to take a breath. It felt like my arm had nearly been broken for a moment, but the skin and bone were both fine after checking it.

“Do you like?” They chuckled darkly. “This is my pain stick. It delivers pain ten times greater than expected.”

“It’s not that bad,” I lied, trying not to wonder how such an effect could be recreated biologically.

It wasn’t specifically an electric shock. Pain could be induced by neurotransmitters or hormones. Chemicals could be effective too. However, this baton didn’t  break my skin, so how did it delivery such excruciating pain? It had to depend on this world’s so called life energy. I could even see mana circuits covering the batons. It looked like I might need to learn a bit more about circuits.

“So you think.” They chuckled again and started swinging those pain sticks.

The baton struck against the side of my head. I was already braced and ready, and I managed to reduce the pain by shutting off the feedback system. They were expecting me to tumble over, so they weren’t prepared when I reached out and grabbed their wrist and twisted. They let out a cry as their second baton fell to the floor. I then continued to spin, sending over my back and slamming to the ground. They tried to bring the other baton up, but a quick kick to their hand sent it flying. I moved again, this time pinning their legs together with mine. I kneeled into their stomach, causing them to grunt as I reached out for their robe.

“Where is the antidote?” I asked.

“Are you even human?” the enemy cried out as they tried to punch me.

I caught their fist, and then sent my other hand into their robe. I immediately got a hand full of something round and soft.

“What’s this?” I squeezed.

“Y-you dare!” The voice’s deceptive filter disappeared, and it was a distinctly female voice this time.

It didn’t take me more than a second to realize what I was touching, although I didn’t let go. Instead, with my handless arm, I reached up and pushed back their hood, revealing a young woman. Her face was bright red and she wore the most indignant expression. I immediately recognized her as Tiffany Stride. She had been the guest who entered the Capala residence earlier tonight. This was also the woman who was working with those bandits and Grandmaster Bai in secret.

“Oh, you’re good…” I smirked. “By visiting earlier, you made yourself too obvious. Once the technique went missing, Abigail would suspect anyone except you.”

“Are you done? You know my identity, yet you still dare to touch me this way?”

I tilted my head and squeezed her boob again. “They’re not as large as Fate’s chest, but they are still promising.”

“Would you like to die?” she growled.

“Too late, remember?” I showed the blackness now up to my shoulder. “If you don’t want me to do whatever I like to you before I die, you’d do best to give me the antidote.”

Her eyes glared at me intently, but I met her glare until she finally snorted and looked away. Her hand went down into her robes and a moment later, she came up with a vial. I snatched it and threw it into my Luminal Space. She looked at me in surprise.

“You’re not going to drink it?”

I laughed. “It could be poisoned. Don’t I have to check first?”

She made a face. “It’s real. However, it may not be effective. It’s supposed to be taken immediately, but you’ve already let it spread so much. You’d probably need ten times as much.”

“That’s for me to be concerned about.” I stood back up.

She propped up her upper body as she stared at me. “That poison should have killed you in under a minute. You must have some poison resistant mutation for it to spread so slowly. Just who are you?”

“Why do you think I’d tell you?” I asked her, finishing my analysis of the antidote.

I had already created my own antidote, but I wanted to see what they used. After looking at both of them, I was able to improve upon the design and thus I had a third antidote. However, I didn’t administer it to my entire body. I allowed the blackness to continue to spread, albiet slowly. There was no point in letting her know more than she needed to know.

“You’re the boy who snuck into my mansion before?” she asked, her eyes unphased by my presence. “You must be him.”

“Why are you here?” I asked, feeling a bit irritated that she recognized me, even if it was my other face.

“I came to steal a technique my brother informed the family about.”

“Do you know what technique it is?”

“No…” She shook her head. “I only overheard them… after my brother mentioned it, he whispered some words with the family head and the two finished their conversation behind an acoustic grid.”

“I see…” I presumed an acoustic grid was the name of the circuit they used to block sounds.

At least her family wasn’t foolish enough to spread around the true worth of this technique, even to their own people.