Trash in the Apocalypse

Chapter 279: A Treasure Presents Itself Unwillingly

"Are you okay?" Adrian asked, followed by Sheila and Edward's inquiries. "Is he okay?"

At the same moment that they got out of the cave, wild bats respawned and rushed at them. He set Jun on the viewing platform's resting area before running to help Edward. While passing by, he reminded Sheila to tend to Jun. "Watch over Boss Jun for a few seconds. I think he's already regained consciousness and would wake up in a bit.."

"Okay!" Sheila nodded and stayed beside Jun with a spear on her hand. Both healing skills were still in cooldown; however, due to the long duration of Cure, the skill was able to help Jun gradually recover his energy.

With their current levels, it was guaranteed that they would never get harmed inside wild dungeons. Even tamed dungeons served no difficulty at the moment. As long as one learns of the mob's attack pattern, together with adequate armor and weapons, clearing dungeons would become a breeze.

Jun felt lightheaded. Exhaustion conquered his body. He had the feeling of being submerged underwater, and yet it was like he was floating in the air, soaring towards the sky.

He felt high as if he went back to using something not good. His body was engulfed in a burning sensation that he can't escape. No matter whether he tried to twist his body or breathed air repeatedly, the immolation continued to increase.

A soft restrained groan was released from his mouth. Sheila who heard him groan turned in worry and hurriedly tended to Jun. She placed her hand on his forehead.

"She's burning up! Is he sick? But how?" Sheila exclaimed in shock, panic clouding her ability to think clearly.

Edward shouted while fighting the wild bats. "He got bitten earlier by the vampire leader, right? One bite causes sickness. Normally, we could ignore single bites since our resistance to regular sickness have improved. However, considering that it was the vampire leader, it must have done something to Brother Jun. That must be it. It's the only thing that I could consider to be the answer."

Adrian nodded and agreed with Edward's reasoning, then chipped in his contribution. "Help Boss Jun to circulate his energy. That vampire leader should have potent infection or disease that got transferred after biting Boss Jun."

After receiving suggestions from the two, Sheila focused on gathering her energy and shifting it to Jun. She slowly guided Jun with the basic circulation pattern that everyone has been using for a long time.

Breathe from the nose and cycle through the diaphragm before exiting back to the nose. This was the most basic breathing technique that could increase stability and blood flow. Typically, it would three short inhales with one long exhale, but Jun couldn't do it right now, and only breathed regularly.

Inhale. Exhale.

Sheila's palm radiating energy helped Jun breathe calmly like how a menthol ointment can relax one's sore throat and ease the individual's breathing.

Most skills originate from basic ideas and further branch out to complex ideas depending on need. Everything was made for a purpose, just like how inventions were invented because it was needed.

In the future, anyone could learn therapeutic healing if someone had enough energy control and max energy.

Jun tried to squirm from the darkness but still couldn't move. He exited his inner spiritual realm to wake up but encountered Yetu's trap on his way out.

It was nothing but a simple spirit shackle like last time. The only difference was he was trying to get out of his spiritual realm, which caused the corruption inside his spiritual realm to continue devouring his soul.

Thanks to the warm energy coming from Sheila, he managed to gather enough energy to break the spiritual shackle that blinded him.

Before he could even open his eyes, he immediately went back to his inner self and grabbed the black orb that was trying to devour his soul.

The moment he touched the black orb, it suddenly squirmed and became a liquid substance that transformed into a wild bat. The wild bat was dozens of inches bigger than the usual wild bat that respawns from the wild dungeon.

The wild bat screeched and caused a sonic wave attack that pierced through his spiritual defenses. Afterward, it flapped its wings, causing sharp bone needles to eject from its wings.

Jun easily dodged the attack, before sending one of his own. He gathered a small spiritual energy ball on his palm and threw it like an experienced baseball player.

Though he doesn't play baseball a lot, throwing and hitting things had been a part of his teenage life. Together with the skills that help him aim, the spiritual energy orb flew at high speed towards the wild bat.

The wild bat screamed in pain as its spirit burned from the attack.

Jun readied another spiritual energy ball and waited for the wild bat to transform into its vampire form, but it never did. It fell to the ground and twitched continuously as the last spiritual essence left its body.

The wild bat's body slowly faded as smoke rose from its body.

Jun stared puzzled at the place where the wild bat died. An ivory fang with the size of a pinky finger dropped as loot, then started floating towards the white orb. The fang joined the other rune skills and circled around his soul.

"Is that it?"

Jun couldn't believe what was happening. He was reminded of Yetu's threat from earlier and expected a terrifying enemy that would surely bring trouble for him. However, what he got was an evolved wild bat that could use some skills, but was too fragile. It couldn't even endure one attack from him!

In reality, things weren't as simple as what he thinks it is. The wild bat was the spiritual essence of the wild bat from the vampire leader. It should have been much weaker, but with Yetu's possession, it was evolved and learned a few tricks.

Accidentally, they were inside his spiritual realm and the wild bat was already exhausted from Yetu's possession. It could only send out basic attacks without even being able to transform into a vampire.

There was no escape route and it couldn't connect to its body to recover spiritual energy. In simpler words, Jun had the homecourt advantage! No matter what happens inside his spiritual realm, as long as the fight could go on, his enemy would run out of spiritual energy while he continuously recovers.

There was no chance for him to lose a battle of attrition unless the opponent was many tiers above him!

As for Yetu unable to beat Jun, there were two variables to that. The vampire leader had limited max energy outside and couldn't outright his group, so he chose a spiritual attack. Unfortunately, Jun woke up and broke free from the spirit shackle.

He only had the same amount of spiritual energy the vampire leader had. He used a small portion to escape while using the rest to set up another trap. That was why Jun had a hard time escaping the spirit shackle on his own.

When Yetu left the black orb and abandoned the vampire lord's corruption inside Jun's spiritual realm, the vampire leader was only left with a sliver of spiritual energy to fend off on its own.

After the crack in the void was sealed by Jun, the vampire leader couldn't establish the connection to its body further weakened since it was on another spirit's territory.

Without any knowledge of this, Jun could only assume that the vampire leader's spirit was weak.

Jun watched the white orb shine brightly as it became pure again. The black orb sticking to it like a lecher became smaller and went back to its initial size, after the vampire leader's corruption disappeared.

Jun touched the black orb and receive no response from it. The corruption became inactive again.

As to why some corruption still remained, he had no concrete proofs, but he had a few ideas in mind. 

Jun verified whether there were no threats remaining before going out of his inner self.

The first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was two dazed heads staring at him. It was Edward and Sheila looking down on him. They were staring at him as if he was a puppy inside a carton box.

"Hey, you guys okay?"

The two smiled at Jun's casual remark.

Jun stretched his arms then sat up. Afterward, a notification appeared in front of him.

[Innate Ability "Energy Absorption" acquired.]

You have successfully acquired a new innate ability! Every time your attacks pierce your enemy's body, there's a slight chance to steal some of their energy.

"Holy sh*t! I got a new innate ability!" Jun exclaimed in surprise. It was a momentary slip in character, and he shrugged the confused stares at him.

When he regained composure, he stood up and dusted himself.

"Let's go out. I'll explain it on the way back."