Seeing the message stating that his health had decreased once again, Quinn only became more aggravated.
The Rattaclaws didn't look like they would be leaving anytime soon, and Quinn needed to come up with a plan.
As he looked around, he found a broken piece of a mech nearby. It was a long metal piece, shaped similarly to a pole. But he had no idea what part of the mech it was.
Quinn picked it up, and looked off into the distance. He aimed carefully at another one of the destroyed mechs, this one further up, and off to the side of the front entrance. Quinn threw the piece of metal with all his might, causing it to travel a great distance. It was an amazing feat, and looked almost superhuman. Of course, Quinn was only able to perform such a feat due to his enhanced strength.
The piece of metal landed exactly where he was aiming for, making a loud, clanging sound as it hit the mech. The Rattaclaws then snapped their heads towards the noise. They quickly scurried off towards the sound.
Seeing this, Quinn smirked.
"Now's my chance!" He replied.
Using all the power in his legs, Quinn bolted towards the now-abandoned entrance.
The entrance was like a hallway, surrounded with walls on either side. And further down, there was a set of steel doors.
Quinn tried pushing the steel doors open, but there was no luck. The doors were undamaged, like the rest of the building, meaning that they were most likely made out of the same material. As he looked around the door for anything, Quinn found another keypad. Just like the one connected to the storage container he had found in the previous building.
Quinn immediately rushed over to it, and activated his Inspect Skill.
"Don't let me down, System." Quinn muttered. A moment later, a System message appeared.
[Military Training Area Main Entrance
A set of steel doors connected to a passcode machine. Inputting the correct code will cause the doors to open. The correct code is 33346253778.]
Seeing this, Quinn smirked in triumph. He started punching in the code. However, as he did so, the Rattaclaws had returned.
As the Beasts saw Quinn, they shrieked, and called out to another two Beasts. There were now four Rattaclaws in the group.
As Quinn heard the sound of the Beasts behind him, his hands began to shake.
"Come on…Come on!" Quinn muttered.
The screen of the passcode machine flashed red, and three rapid "beeps" were heard.
"Damn it, I must have messed up the code somewhere!" Quinn muttered. His nerves were getting the better of him, and his concentration was being broken. He used his Inspect Skill again, just to double-check to make sure he had the right code. He started inputting the code again.
As he was frantically punching in numbers, he felt something chomp down on his leg. He felt pain course through his leg, and a System message appeared.
[-1 HP. HP: 9/50]
As Quinn looked down, he saw that it was one of the Rattaclaws biting his legs, and he also saw that the other Rattaclaws weren't too far behind.
Quinn swung his hand down as hard as he could, smashing the Rattaclaw's skull. The Beast was forced to let go, but it wasn't dead.
The other three Rattaclaws were now too close, and Quinn no longer had any time to impute the code.
"Flash Step!" He replied, activating the Skill.
Quinn was now suddenly behind the Rattaclaws, but was still too close. Like with Tsukuru's Video Glitch Skill, Quinn's Flash Step only had a maximum range of 5 meters.
The Rattaclaws turned, and they all ran back towards Quinn.
"Guess I have no choice!" Quinn replied.
He held out his palm, outstretched.
"Blood Spray!"
The shotgun-like spray of blood bullets shot out towards the approaching Rattaclaws. It pushed back four of the Rattaclaws, and killed the already-injured one. A System message appeared.
[-5 HP. HP: 4/50. You have killed a Basic-Tier Rattaclaw.
100 Exp received. Exp: 900/25600]
Quinn then rushed forward towards one of the Rattaclaws that had been knocked back. Holding both hands wrapped up together above his head, he smashed them down onto the Rattaclaw's head like a hammer.
Instantly, the Rattaclaw died. A System message popped up in front of Quinn.
[You have killed a Basic-Tier Rattaclaw. 100 Exp received. Exp: 1000/25600]
Around this time, the remaining two Rattaclaws had recovered, and were quickly closing in on Quinn once again. Out of desperation, Quinn swiped his down, activating the Blood Swipe Skill. Due to the Skill now being Level 2, the Blood Swipes were stronger, and had killed each of the two Rattaclaws in a single hit.
A System message popped up in front of Quinn.
[-2 HP. HP: 2/50. You have killed two Basic-Tier Rattaclaws. 200 Exp received. Exp: 1200/25600]
With his HP, and thus, his time, now running incredibly low, Quinn didn't even bother extracting the Beast Crystals. On top of that, there was also the fear that more Beasts might be coming. He went up to the door, and this time, imputed the correct code. The screen flashed green, and an electronic "beep" of confirmation was heard.
Quinn entered the building, and shut the door behind him, making sure it was locked. He was now in what appeared to be some sort of reception area. It had a canteen, just like back at the base, as well as a desk near the front. It was in top condition compared to the rest of the shelter. In fact, it looked like a completely different place.
The building had two hallways, one leading to the left, and the other, to the right. Both paths had the words "training area" written above them. With his health so low, Quinn now only had two hours to find the Portal.
He entered the main training hall. It was a large room, with several seats in the stands. It reminded Quinn of the "Arena" in Power Fighters. It was quite similar. Both rooms were completely white, and had a modern, empty look to them. But as Quinn stared at the empty field in the center, all he could see was disappointment. The arena down below was completely empty. There wasn't a single thing down there, not a single scrap of metal, let alone a Portal.
Quinn fell to his knees in despair. This had been his last chance. There was no longer enough time for him to continue scrambling around the shelter, looking for the Portal. But, he didn't give up yet.
He lifted himself off of the ground, and searched and searched around the training area. He searched in the preparation rooms, the offices, the gym, and even back in the reception area. But…nothing. There wasn't a single thing he could find.
He now laid there on the floor of the training area, looking up at the ceiling. A System message popped up in front of him.
[-1 HP. HP: 1/50]
The pain in Quinn's stomach was now too strong. His vision was now blurring, and he could no longer think properly, or even move.
"So, this is where my life ends, huh?" Quinn muttered, looking up. "Mom, dad, why did you even leave me this book? I thought when I had gotten this System that maybe I might be able to change something. But I guess not."
Then…the final hour passed. A System message popped up in front of Quinn like a death knell.
[-1 HP. HP: 0/50
HP has reached 0 due to hunger.
Transformation will now begin.]
As soon as Quinn saw this message, he felt an unbearable pain all over his body. It felt as if his insides were burning with white-hot fire. The whites of his eyes slowly started to turn black, and his teeth started to grow in size. However, the pain didn't stop there. His whole body started jerking up and down, as if something was trying to break free, and his skin started wrapping around his bodyeven tighter. The features of his bones started to become more pronounced, and his hair started falling out of his head.
Another System message popped up in front of Quinn, but his mind was too far gone to perceive them. His consciousness had alreadycompletely fallen apart.
[Your mind has become unstable.
Your Bloodlust has reached its maximum level.
You are now a [Crazed] Bloodsucker.
All Stats have been doubled.
Your health has been halved.
While transformed in this state, all Blood Skills will be unavailable.]