Chapter 170: Diagnosis.
The few minutes that followed his return to the city hall were the most stressful, and with his body in the condition it was in, Dante remained on the verge of passing out the entire time.
His main source of stress was the fact that he had been noticed by Erebus.
The shadowy hero was the most mysterious among Flame Guard’s members and not much was known about his powers, but it was rumored that he had the tendency of appearing where he was least expected, which gave rise to the theory that he had long-range teleportation and the abilities to support it.
Barely conscious, Dante trudged back to where the remaining rioters were gathered. The mess had quieted down after the devastating thunder shook the entire building a couple of minutes ago, but from the looks of it, things were picking up once again.
The original plan had to undergo one more adjustment before it could be brought to its end. Turns out the guards and authorities had decided to let the rioters run amok without offering the slightest bit of resistance, which didn’t work for Dante, since his goal had always been to get a good beating before calling it a day.
Left with no choice, he found a group of very angry-looking thugs, punched one of them in the jaw, then let them do the job. Of course, he had Volcan keep track of their NIMs so he could thank them properly later on.
Dante did his best to remain conscious until things calmed down and the authorities showed up. Once he was in an ambulance rushing away from the white building, he finally allowed himself to relax and lose consciousness.
~[ ]~
The next time he opened his eyes, Dante found himself staring at a white ceiling, but that didn’t really matter as he was immediately struck with an unbearable agony, drawing a guttural groan out of his throat.
It took some time, but he was eventually able to ignore the pain long enough to survey his surroundings. The lined beds, the chaotic chatter, the crying, screaming, and cursing, all of it gave him enough hints about his current location, and as if to confirm that, someone appeared beside his bed not long after.
"You’re awake." A man wearing light blue scrubs and a surgical mask looked down at him. "Can you hear me?"
Dante didn’t move, only turning his eyes in the man’s direction. He seemed to be a nurse, and an overworked one at that, as indicated by the dark circles under his eyes. He reached down to Dante’s face and forcefully spread his right eye open before pointing a light at it.