Chapter 182

182 Don’t forget the antidote, please! part “Dude, what the shit!”

Luke cursed out loud after seeing Ryu jab the venomous stick into his neck and pump the poison gland emptying its content entirely.

“Why did you do something like that Ryu!?”

Bob couldn’t believe his eyes. Sera was speechless, she couldn’t say a word as her thoughts were flooded by regret thinking she shouldn’t have provided him with the means to take his own life.

Ryu’s complexion became pale and his stamina was drained quickly, soon enough he wasn’t able to even stand on his own so he sat right next to Anne.

“Calm down guys, I’m not dead”

“How can you be so calm? Didn’t you see Lea almost lose her life trying to save Anne?”

“Just listen to me, everything will be alright”

“What could possibly make you think that poisoning yourself in such a stupid manner is going to make things better?”

.....

“You just said it, all we need to do to save Anne is to make some anti venom. My resist poison skill should be higher than Anne’s. Thanks to Lea’s healing, Anne has enough health points to hang on for a while, now all we need to do is wait until my body fights the poison and then draw my blood and give it to Anne”

Everyone was absolutely dumbfounded by Ryu’s simple way of thinking and the fact that he was able to behave normally after almost pushing Lea to death in a horrible and painful way only added to their amazement.

“That is the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen you do Ryu, and that says something”

“What do you mean Luke?”

“For starters, you may not survive the poison but, even if you do, how are you going to make a transfusion? because we don’t have an intravenose”

“We could use the same venom gland to suction my blood and then give it to Anne, see?”

Ryu pumped the exposed venom gland in the poison sting, then jabbed his vein with it, after letting go of the poison sack it drained some of his blood. After pumping it again, it returned to Ryu. He did it with such naturality, as if it was obvious, but Luke was about to get a stroke.

“You are so fucking reckless!”

“Ryu, even if it works like that, Anne could have a different blood type and that could lead to severe consequences”

Bob said a bit more calm, but still worried because two of his friends were now poisoned and they didn’t have an antidote or antivenom, but then Sera spoke in a cold manner.

“I don’t know anything about this, but if mister Ryu it’s clearly because he ws desperate. Even if it doesn’t work, at least he would be absolutely sure he did everything on his power to save Anne. None of you both did anything to save her, yet you jump to point all the mistakes at the first chance. It may not work, but it may as well do!”

Sera had made up her mind long ago to support Ryu in everything and anything. of course she wasn’t happy to see him risk his life, but going against his wishes or nagging at him needlessly wasn’t in her plans.

“Look, we already know the medicine is not effective against the poison, but it could be effective against the consequences of receiving a different blood type. The only certainty we have is if we do nothing, Anne will die”

The forest was calm, completely impervious to the drama unfolding within their borders. Birds sang in the distance and the branches creaked with the soft breeze, the fragance of the forest soothed Ryu who waited patiently for the poison to be dissipated from his body.

Luke used consider on Ryu every so often to check if his (poisoned) status was still active. Ryu remained conscious, despite the pain he was experiencing, because he was worried something could go wrong if he let himself sleep.

Fortunately for everyone, the pain subsided soon enough, along with the stattus effect.

Luke hurriedly shook Ryu to let him know, he was about to fall asleep leaning on a tree while Sera took care of him with a wet towel.

“You’re alright now! hurry up and do the transfusion”

“I don’t know Luke, I don’t feel so good”

Ryu said barely moving, he looked the same as if he was wasted on alcohol, but it was because of the poison. Luke facepalmed at Ryu’s statement, not only it was obvious, but also because everything would have been worthless if he wasn’t able to do it.

“Let me do it!”

Sera rolled on her sleeves and picked the rock scorpion sting, she pumped some blood from Ryu and then put her into Anne. Luke made sure to check on both Anne and Ryu’s healthpoints to make sure he would notice as soon as it took effect.

The rock scorpion venom wasn’t fast acting, but it was strong, not only did they use it for self defense, but they needed to use it to feed. They didn’t gain much nourishment from fresh victims and their mandibles made it difficult for them to chew on their victims.

But nature is wise on every possible world, and rock scorpions had an interesting way of procuring food. After poisoning their target, they didn’t fight to kill, all they needed was to stall for time and by the time their enemy drops dead, their flesh would be tender and juicy, perfect for their consumption.

That was precisely what made it so difficult to deal with the rock scorpion venom, because it wasn’t intended to paralyze a victim, but to digest them from the inside out. Most prey would meet their end before even killing a single rock scorpion, because they were so sturdy it took a long time to defeat them.

Thankfully, the venom being slow acting was also the only reason why Anne was able to hold up until they cameup with a method for curing her. It didn’t take long before Ryu’s blood traversed Anne’s circulatory system getting rid of the poison and, luckily, she also didn’t experience any side effect from receiving another person’s blood.

Now, the group was facing another problem, they couldn’t move because most of them were either hurt or tired, making them easy to hunt down by their pursuers.