Paleblood - The Hunter's Dream Never Fades

Location: Iosefka's Clinic

Time: Unknown

Issei's Perspective [Perks]

Corrupted Divine Blood: Your body has been tainted by the blood of a corrupted divine being. Your soul and body gradually transform into a beast; only your willpower can delay the process. However, not all is bad—while you maintain your sanity and control over your body, you will significantly increase your physical capabilities. Grants the ability [Berserk Mode: Bestialization].

[Error! Error! The system has detected an ability that could harm the user. Attempting to remove the ability... Error... Unable to remove the ability... Sealing the ability... The sealing was successful!!]

Upon reading the perk, he had already suspected something like this, but the fact that his system tried to delete the ability only confirmed how dangerous it was for him.

"Thanks, system… sigh At least the rest of the abilities will be helpful."

After a few minutes, he managed to calm himself and got out of bed.

"I can't keep wasting time here. I need to clear out the remaining beasts in the clinic and find someone who still has their mind intact."

He walked toward the room's door, gripping his weapon tightly. After a few seconds, he stepped out and headed down the stairs to the first floor.

He tried to be as silent as possible. It was difficult, but at least he was starting to improve—or so he thought.

It didn't take long before he encountered the first crazed patients. There were two of them, their backs turned to the stairs.

"Damn, this is the first time I'll face two at once… but they have their backs to me. Maybe I can take one down from behind and then deal with the other."

Slowly, he descended the stairs. Luckily—or perhaps because both patients were muttering incomprehensible things—they didn't seem to hear the sound of his footsteps.

He had caught a break, and he wouldn't waste it. Gripping his weapon tightly, he swung it horizontally with all his strength, aiming to sever at least one of their heads.

To his surprise, his weapon easily sliced through the first patient's neck, completely decapitating him. The momentum carried the blade into the second patient's neck, lodging itself there. The moment he realized his cane was stuck, he activated the weapon's trick mechanism. With a strong pull, the whip blades tore through the second patient's throat, finishing him off.

Panting, he looked at the floating light over one of the bodies.

It was still a bit difficult to get used to killing, but it gradually became easier to handle.

Extending his hand toward the light, a system screen appeared.

[Mercury Bullet x2]

[Collect]

He blinked a few times before pressing [Collect].

"Why did this patient drop bullets? The others have only given me Blood Vials. I think I should have around ten in my inventory now."

He was still frustrated that he couldn't access his inventory, but he decided not to dwell on it.

Both bullets were stored in his ammunition pouch. While examining his weapon, he discovered that it reloaded automatically after each shot. He initially thought it was because of the system, but what shocked him was something else.

The gun extracted his blood and stored it in the handle. He could see a gauge on the handle filling with red liquid while he felt multiple needles piercing his hand.

He wasn't entirely sure how it worked, but from what he understood during his single use of the gun, it used blood to enhance the bullets. He supposed that was the only way they could harm the beasts.

Snapping out of his thoughts, he spotted another pair of patients.

He hoped the entire floor wasn't filled with groups of them.

But something told him it might be even worse.

This time, being outnumbered and unable to ambush them, he activated the whip form of his cane. He wasn't too familiar with this form, but he needed more reach since he was fighting against two opponents.

Taking a step forward, the patients saw him and started running at him, shouting something about him being a foreigner.

Gripping his weapon tightly, he swung at their legs, hoping to slow their movements. To his surprise, the whip blades cut and tore into their legs, successfully reducing their speed.

Taking advantage of his newfound edge, he switched his weapon back to its cane form. Now, using the cane, he traded blows with the patients. He took a few scratches, but his superior speed, strength, and intelligence allowed him to overpower and kill both with relative ease.

Slowly, his confidence grew.

And his fear faded.

The more enemies he killed, the stronger he felt.

He had learned from many anime and games that arrogance led to downfall.

But he had never felt so powerful before. He had always been weak. He had never had control over his own life.

But now, he had the power to control his fate.

Not just his fate, but that of his enemies.

Without realizing it, power had begun to go to his head.

But it wouldn't last long.

In his arrogance, he faced a group of four patients without any planning.

And that was his greatest mistake.

At first, the fight wasn't much different from his previous encounters. He used the whip form of his weapon to cripple their legs and arms, reducing their mobility.

But in his arrogance and lack of combat experience, he failed to account for his surroundings.

He tripped over a fallen chair, momentarily losing his balance. That brief distraction gave one of the patients an opening to pounce on him—sinking its teeth into his shoulder with such force that he thought it would tear the flesh off.

But that wasn't the real problem.

Behind him, there was a window.

The combined weight of their bodies shattered the glass, sending them plummeting onto a rooftop that, fortunately, was at the height of the first floor.

"AAAHG!!"

With a scream of pain, he could only act on instinct. Gripping his gun tightly, he fired at the patient's head, killing it instantly.

But before he could catch his breath, he saw the remaining three patients leaping through the broken window, trying to crush him.

Once again, pure instinct saved him.

He rolled to the side, tumbling across the rooftop tiles before slamming into a metal railing.

"Shit… it hurts so much..."

With tears welling in his eyes, he looked up—only to see that, aside from the crazed patients, a few crows the size of dogs had suddenly appeared, staring at him as if he were a juicy piece of meat.

Getting up as quickly as he could, he tried to find a way to return to the clinic. Being on the roof made the situation even more dangerous, but the constant pain in his shoulder distracted him.

And his distraction cost him when one of the patients ran at him and slashed his chest with the new claws that had grown on its hands. "Ahg!" In pain but unwilling to die, he raised his cane and drove it into the patient's jaw, piercing through its head.

But this created another problem—his weapon got stuck in the skull of his enemy, and the remaining two patients didn't give him the chance to pull it out from the one he had just killed.

With only his pistol left, he raised his weapon and tried to aim at the nearest patient. When it got close enough to ensure he wouldn't waste a bullet, he fired, managing to hit it in the head due to the short distance, killing it.

But the real problem was the last one, as he now had no way to attack it. With no bullet in the chamber, he had to wait a few seconds for the weapon to reload automatically, but he didn't have that time.

With no other choice, he dropped both his cane and pistol and threw himself at the patient. Though he was slower, his strength was superior, allowing him to stop the patient's charge dead in its tracks. However, now he was unarmed, and the patient's claws were digging into his chest.

"Uhg!" Spitting blood from the impact, he glared furiously at the enemy in front of him. He had no intention of dying—he wouldn't let a mere beast kill him now.

"AAAAHH!!" With a scream full of rage, he punched the patient's face with all his strength, stunning it. But he didn't stop there—driven by fury, he kept punching its face until, without realizing it, he was now on top of the patient, whose face had been crushed.

It was obvious it was already dead, but between his fear of death and the rage he felt, he kept hitting the patient's face until only a mush of flesh and broken bones remained.

"Gasp… Gasp… Damn, everything hurts..." Unable to hold back, he started crying while spitting more blood. He had been on the verge of death, all because of his arrogance.

This would be a lesson he would never forget—if he survived his wounds. But at that moment, a screen appeared in front of him.

[The host is in critical condition. It is recommended to take 2 Blood Vials to recover to an optimal state.]

When he read the system's message, his eyes widened in surprise. He had forgotten that those vials could heal any wound. Following the system's recommendation, he drank two Blood Vials, and his wounds began to regenerate at a visible rate.

Sigh With the relief of not dying and now more focused, he looked at the crows that seemed hesitant to approach. Without taking his eyes off them, he retrieved his weapons. Not wanting to leave any beasts that could ambush him later, he decided to attack the crows, which, to his luck, were even weaker and more predictable than the patients, allowing him to kill them—though not without taking some injuries.

Seeing the various white lights above the dead bodies, he collected everything before re-entering the clinic, cautiously looking down the hallway, hoping there were no more enemies.

When nothing appeared after a few minutes, he sighed in relief and leaned against one of the walls, not wanting to leave his back exposed while resting.

This event had left a mark on him, and from now on, he would be much more careful—no matter how weak an enemy seemed, all of them were dangerous.

Looking at his mission progress, he at least felt some relief seeing that he had already killed all the patients on this floor.

"Idiot..." Because of his lack of experience and arrogance, he had almost died.

Sigh He looked at the floating screen in front of him. "If it weren't for that ability, I'd be dead right now."

[Hunter's Basic Combat Style Lv1 Leveled Up x1]

[Hunter's Basic Combat Style Lv2]

[Basic Coiled Cane Mastery Lv1 Leveled Up x1]

[Basic Coiled Cane Mastery Lv2]

[Iron Will Lv2 Leveled Up x2]

[Iron Will Lv4]

[Blood Vial x10]

[Quicksilver Bullet x4]

[Blood Echoes +2150]

When his [Combat Style...] skill leveled up, that's when he realized why he had survived this time. This skill didn't just implant information into his mind—it also imprinted it into his body.

In simple terms, his body followed the muscle memory implanted in him, which allowed him to dodge some attacks and stay alive.

But for now, it seemed that the ability only provided information on how to move and evade in combat. That would explain why it hadn't helped him with weapon handling—perhaps he needed a higher level to acquire that knowledge.

"Uff… If it weren't for that skill, I'd be dead now, and these are just my first beasts… What else will I have to face? … But for now, let's check this mission."

[Hidden Mission: Taking Care of a Loved One – Part Two. (Completed)]

[Description: Your care and affection for a loved one led you to seek a way to keep them safe. Seeing that the clinic's patients attacked you on sight, you decided to eliminate them all to ensure your loved one's safety. Kill all the patients on the first floor (40/40).]

[Reward: Taking Care of a Loved One – Final Part, 3000 Blood Echoes]

"Only the last part of this mission remains." He decided to open the mission to check what he had to do.

[Hidden Mission: Taking Care of a Loved One – Final Part.]

[Description: Your care and affection for a loved one led you to seek a way to keep them safe. Seeing that the clinic's patients attacked you on sight, you decided to eliminate them all to ensure your loved one's safety.

Kill all the patients on the ground floor (0/30).

Kill the Infected Beast (0/1).]

[Reward: ??? Skill Upgrade and ???, ???, 4000 Blood Echoes]

"Infected Beast? Could it be the thing that attacked me in my dream?" With doubt in his mind, he could only sigh, hoping he would be able to kill this beast.

"But first, I need to explore the rooms on this floor. Maybe I'll find something useful. Sigh, I didn't even check the rest of the rooms on the previous floor..." Not wanting to waste any more time, he began searching all the rooms, finding a few Blood Vials—until he came across a room that seemed to belong to a clinic staff member.

[Alchemy Lv1: A useful skill for creating medicines and potions that can heal or provide benefits to those who take them. You can also create potent poisons to silently kill your enemies. At more advanced levels, you can craft elixirs that grant permanent enhancements to those who consume them. Currently, you can only make basic health and mana potions.]

"A very useful skill, but... the way I obtained it was horrible... But what is this Lucidity?" When he opened his status, he saw that below his level, a new stat labeled "Lucidity" had appeared with 2 points.

He wasn't sure what it was for, but something made him feel it was related to the Great Ones. For now, he decided to continue his hunt for beasts and cleanse the clinic.

Without further delay, he finished searching the first floor and found a blood vial. It didn't take long for him to descend to the ground floor and start silently eliminating the remaining patients.

His weapon handling improved gradually, and he even acquired the [Stealth] skill. He felt himself getting stronger, but learning from his mistakes, he didn't let it go to his head. He always sought to ambush his enemies and never fought more than three patients at a time.

In a shorter time than expected, he managed to kill all the patients and found Blood Vial x8 and Quicksilver Bullet x6. Inside one of the rooms, he discovered a chest.

When he opened it, a strange symbol floated inside. Curious, he reached out to touch it, but the strange eye on his wrist suddenly absorbed it.

Looking closer at his wrist, he noticed the eye was now slightly open, and the symbol that had been floating in the chest was now engraved beside it.

[Congratulations on finding your first Caryll Rune]

[Acquired Communion Rune +3: Grants the user the ability to store 3 blood vials in a subspace that can be used automatically whenever the user thinks of it. The subspace will be refilled with blood vials from the inventory while not in combat.]

A truly useful ability—being able to use up to three blood vials automatically without wasting time could save his life more than once.

Shortly after, he arrived at the room where Iosefka had treated him. Similar to when he found the research documents before, a golden light was now on Iosefka's desk. When he touched it, something appeared that could be a lifesaver in critical moments.

[Alchemical Recipe: Refined Blood Vial - Created by Iosefka]

[A recipe to refine blood vials and create vastly improved versions, capable of healing severe wounds with greater ease and efficiency, as well as restoring a moderate amount of mana.]

Without hesitation, he selected the option to learn it, and within seconds, all the information was in his mind. He wondered why it wasn't as painful this time—not that it didn't hurt, but it was much less intense than the previous sensation.

He could only assume it was less painful because, compared to that crazy bitch's documents, Iosefka's recipe contained much less information.

'Sigh' Although he wanted to start creating refined blood vials immediately, he still had a mission to complete, and he knew this time would be harder than facing the patients.

Looking at the only door he had yet to cross, he swallowed hard and started walking slowly. He carefully opened the door to see a staircase leading downward.

Descending, he entered a common room with several stretchers and some empty cabinets, but no sign of anything living—at least, nothing he could find.

He walked toward the door on the other side of the room and went down a few more steps, reaching a large hall filled with stretchers, most stained with blood. In the distance, he could hear the growling of a dog—or what he thought was a dog.

Every few seconds, the sound of flesh being torn and bones cracking echoed as if something was feeding on a chunk of meat.

As he took a few steps further into the room, he saw, near a door, two Yharnamites being devoured by a werewolf. The creature was injured, bearing multiple wounds across its body.

It was obvious it had fought those two villagers and won, now feasting on them.

Watching the beast cautiously, he slowly approached, aiming to deliver a surprise attack. As he moved closer, he kept his pistol ready, aiming at the beast in case it noticed him.

And, just as he had predicted, the beast did indeed notice him, turning around and letting out a roar. But the roar was cut short when a bullet entered its mouth, tearing through its insides and eliciting a pained scream from the beast.

Not wasting the opportunity, he sprinted at full speed toward the creature, stabbing his cane-sword into its eye. However, it didn't reach the brain. When his weapon got stuck, he quickly transformed it into its whip form and yanked it out with all his might.

This caused another agonized scream as the beast's eye, along with part of its face, was torn away.

At that moment, the creature tried to attack, but it was already too late. Aiming his pistol at its head, he fired, and this time, the beast fell to the ground, dead, with a hole in its forehead.

[Blood Echoes +150]

"Sigh... Finally, this mission is over... Now, let's check my rewards." With a more cheerful and excited tone, he checked the notifications he had been ignoring for a while.

[Hunter's Basic Combat Style Lv2 → Lv3]

[Basic Firearms Handling Lv1 → Lv2]

[Basic Cane-Whip Handling Lv2 → Lv3]

[Iron Will Lv4 → Lv7]

[Hidden Mission: Caring for a Loved One – Final Part (Completed)]

[Description: Your care and appreciation for a loved one led you to seek a way to keep them safe. Seeing that the clinic's patients attacked you on sight, you decided to eliminate them all to protect your loved one.

Kill all the patients on the ground floor (30/30). Kill the infected beast (1/1).

[Reward: Upgrades the skill [Hunter's Basic Combat Style Lv3 → Lv4] and [Basic Firearms Handling Lv2 → Lv3], [Inspection], 4000 Blood Echoes.]

[Blood Echoes: 20,100]

[Inspection Lv1: Allows the user to analyze/inspect objects, people, monsters, and anything in sight. As long as the level difference is not too great, the user can obtain all relevant information about the target.]

After checking everything, he decided to return to the medical room where he had met Iosefka. He wanted to create some Refined Blood Samples before continuing his journey.

When he arrived at the room, he spent several hours crafting refined blood vials. It was strange, but creating them felt surprisingly relaxing.