Chapter 5.5 – Dream of Changes
For Su who had returned to the base, this was a rare break within an endless war.
When the hands of the clock pointed towards three at night, Su suddenly sat up on his bed! He first calmed down his breathing, and then he slowly released the pent-up energy from his chest. Su’s body was covered in sweat, and even a portion of the bedding had been soaked through. He quietly got off the bed, standing naked in front of the bed just like that, exposing his body to the cold air. The sweat covering his body was quickly reabsorbed. For Su, the act of wasting water was an intolerable offense.
Through the dust covered window, Su watched the base that was still brightly lit and full of activity despite it being this late into the night.
Pendulum City had already been changed into an enormous military and resupply base. The original infrastructure Roxland invested heavily on was excellent, making the restoration process extremely easy. The factories and power supplying systems were remodeled on their original spots, becoming the dragonriders’ military factories and repair stations. There were quite a few dragonriders who excelled at night combat, so this period of time that originally should have been for rest was actually when their operations were being carried out.
Outside the window was a mix of staff members’ voices and rumbling of machines. These abandoned constructs that had been temporarily patched up didn’t have much soundproofing capabilities, and Su wouldn’t waste any money on something like this. The first reason why Su established a temporary place of residence was to match his status as a dragonrider lieutenant commander. He now understood what the meaning behind doing something like this was. The second reason was to have a place for Li and Li Gaolei to rest. They weren’t like Su who had self cleaning abilities.
On the bed behind Su, Li turned around, muttering something unclear before once again falling into a deep sleep. She was completely unaware that a large part of her wonderful bottom had been exposed outside.
This temporary room didn’t have any air conditioning installations, so the temperature of the room was low enough to freeze water. Li’s constitution could naturally handle this degree of coldness, but Su still walked over and placed Li who was sleeping rather sloppily back under the covers. She was knocked out, completely unaware that she was being moved. When he saw her sleep like a baby, a slight smile appeared on the corners of Su’s mouth. Her face that was completely without worry brought peace and happiness to Su’s heart as well.
This was also a type of happiness. He didn’t need to obtain anything himself. As long as those he cared about were able to sleep peacefully, this was also a type of happiness. When he was young, Su, who was watching Madeline throughout the night, had a similar type of smile on his face.
Su returned to the window again. He reached out his right hand, and, borrowing the light that flickered between bright and dark, he carefully looked at his own hand. His fingers were long and slender, his skin so fine that it made women go crazy from jealousy. His somewhat translucent skin and perfect lines gave Su’s right hand somewhat of a dreamlike charm.
However, this was still the hand of a human. There weren’t any green scales covering his hand, and his five fingers weren’t strange to the point where they shone like gemstones. His fingertips and wrist even more so didn’t have any sharp parts that could lengthen and shorten to produce blades. Meanwhile, the strange symbol on Su’s palm that had left Su feeling a bit fearful had completely disappeared as well.
On his bare chest, forget about there not being a massive black oval crystal, the seven smaller crystals around it had completely disappeared as well.
His back felt spacious and empty, as if something that was extremely large, heavy, and strenuous to move was missing. Su’s impression of those things was extremely vague as well, unable to think of what they were at all. The only thing he could vaguely recall was the feeling that they were extremely powerful.
Finally, Su’s vision returned to being 180 degrees in front of him, no longer a panoramic view that covered every direction.
Su placed his hand on his chest and carefully touched his own skin. The feeling his fingertips transmitted back was strange and unique. The smoothness and exquisiteness of his skin was something he had only experienced from Persephone, the little girl from back then, and Spider Empress Lanaxis’ bodies. No other women’s skin could even be compared to Su’s.
However, wasn’t there supposed to be a layer of transparent flesh here? It should be extremely thin and soft as well, able to isolate the most harmful radiation and rays, and when needed, it should be able to produce scales that could compare to the highest grade metal to protect his entire body within.
Su felt a bit of a headache. This, of course, wasn’t not because the gracefully shaped horns on his head had disappeared, but due to excessive thinking. Even now, Su, who had stood in front of the window for ten entire minutes, still hadn’t completely woken up from the dream he just had. If not for Li who was sleeping on her bed, as well as her valiant performance during that intense battle, the realness of that dream might have made Su believe what he was experiencing right now was the dream.
That’s right, after sleeping, Su had an extremely strange dream.
If it wasn’t because of those four rounds of special biological lifeform bullets that forced Martham back, the price they would have paid to force back Martham would have maybe been Li, maybe Li Gaolei, but definitely not Su. Su’s powerful regenerative prowess made him extremely difficult to kill. In addition, under the stimulation of the strange summoning, the calling out of his instincts had already increased several times. Su began to doubt what would happen to him if he truly was in danger of dying. Would his instincts completely take control of his body and force him to run? His second battle against Martham already displayed that his ability to escape was extremely outstanding.
However, if Helen didn’t have Li bring over those four special bullets…
Su didn’t want to think about what could have happened if they didn’t have these special bullets. Regardless of whether it was Li or Li Gaolei, it would be hard to accept the deaths of either one of them. Su loathed his own weakness, but he knew even better that strength wasn’t something determination alone could acquire. The road to obtaining higher level and more powerful abilities was always difficult, and countless unexpected things would inevitably appear in his path. The current Su who had entered the realm of seventh level abilities deeply understood how every step forward came from a combination of sweat, courage, willpower, blood, and luck. This was something that was needed extremely urgently, yet something that urgency couldn’t help at all. However, even though Su understood what he had to do, he still found it a bit hard to suppress his own impatience.
That was why that strange dream happened.
In his dream, Su needed powerful defenses, so incomparably tough scales as well as tough and durable transparent flesh appeared. Su needed domineering offensive power as well, and as such, he obtained thin and retractable blades. There was a Martham in his dream as well, and he completely smashed apart Su’s left arm with a punch. However, in the dream, Su’s bones continuously twisted about, regenerating, replenishing his bones with a new unknown substance and ultimately forming an incomparably complex skeleton. When he took on Martham’s astonishing fist power, the new skeleton quickly redirected and scattered the power across its entire structure. Originally, Martham was displaying such overwhelming power that Su wasn’t even given the chance to use his various new body parts that had unknown effects.
Then, Su saw what he looked like inside of this dream, and then he immediately woke up. His body was dripping with sweat.
Correct, the Su inside of his dream was extremely powerful. In that form, he even had confidence in facing Persephone. However, Su understood quite clearly that the him he saw in the dream wasn’t human. Exactly what was he? Even after waking up now, when he carefully searched through what he knew, Su still couldn’t find an answer. The only thing he was sure of was that that was definitely not human.
Su definitely did not want himself to become like that, because excessive mutation was a path of no return. At that time, he would inevitably become more and more distant from Persephone.
But…
Su stared deeply into the darkness outside the window. He sighed deeply.
If mutation was the only way to obtain more power, then he likely wouldn’t refuse the mutation, even if it ended his relationship with Persephone. He needed power, and power was the only thing that guaranteed the protection of those around him. He would still go down this path, even if what the mutation brought wasn’t only power, but also an enormous shadow of an unknown origin. When he was in the wilderness, Su would always stay away from quickly gaining strength, because he always felt an indescribable fear towards great power.
Su raised his left arm and gently moved his fingers. After just a day, his left arm’s bones had already begun to heal. Right now, he already didn’t need any defensive measures, and he could already engage in movements that weren’t too intensive with it. However, if he wanted it to completely recover, he still needed at least a week’s worth of time. This was already an inconceivable speed for normal people. Su wasn’t in any hurry either. The series of battles he fought had already brought him twenty evolutionary points. What he needed now was rest, as well as some time to properly plan out the direction where he should take his abilities.
Right now, all of Su’s attention was focused on his left arm. He didn’t notice that the light seeping in from the window had illuminated his body, casting a shadow on the wall behind him.
That shadow suddenly became enormous and sinister.
When the sky brightened again, Su quietly left the base with his subordinates and soldiers back to Dragon City. The dragonriders that were still fighting in Pendulum City suddenly discovered that the Scorpions of Disaster soldiers that were previously swarming like locusts suddenly retreated like the tide, concluding this battle without any signs at all. There were a few dragonriders, who, perhaps out of unwillingness to give up, or maybe their military merit didn’t make up for their losses, chased after the enemy in spite of the lieutenant colonel’s order to pull back.
They pushed forward aggressively. Apart from the few Scorpions of Disaster soldiers that were cut off in the back, the main army was fleeing in disorder, their speeds not matching their seemingly weak individual strengths at all. The dragonriders hadn’t fought to their heart’s content for a long time. To be more precise, it had been a long time since they last defeated a powerful enemy so thoroughly.
Misfortune always descended at the most critical moment. The dragonriders that had gone in deep suddenly discovered that they were completely surrounded by Scorpions of Disaster soldiers, their numbers great enough to completely crush and trample themselves and their weak subordinates. All of their routes of retreat were cut off. These dragonriders who had ample experience immediately formed a defensive formation, using their superior firepower and powerful individuals to try and defend their position while waiting for the base to provide reinforcements.
However, they didn’t manage to last until the Scorpions of Disaster’s attack, let alone the chance for base to provide help. Their formation hadn’t even been properly established when waves of strange whistling sounds rang through the skies. Despair filled the eyes of those experienced veterans. What appeared in the end was an expanse of heavy artillery that descended like dark clouds.
Thus, the battle ended in a flash.
At the final moment of Pendulum City’s battle, the Black Dragonriders’ casualty record was shattered. Four dragonriders died in total.
Meanwhile, a bit earlier, within the Scorpions of Disaster forward operating base’s command room, Diaster closed the virtual command apparatus in front of him. He already issued the final order, so for him, this stage of the battle had already ended.
He didn’t even wait for the heavy artillery to descend.
