Uriel's voice rang through his head as he felt a sharp sting from his back.
Metal fragments tore themselves free from Zion's back, forming a large clump of floating metal behind him.
Zion's eyes, however, remained on the shadeleecher as it lunged towards him.
Hearing a soft hum behind him, his eyes widened as the shadeleecher suddenly plummeted straight down.
He raised his arm with the charging railgun at the creature as it slammed into the ground.
Determination flashed across his face as he fired the railgun at full power.
A massive blue beam burst from his arm, tearing through the shadeleecher mid-screech and vaporizing everything around it.
As the beam faded and Zion saw nothing left to threaten him, he pressed his scorched arm against his open wounds. His jaw clenched as the searing pain shot through his nerves, the smell of burnt flesh filling his nose.
[Warning, energy at one percent,] Uriel's voice echoed through his head.
But by the time his wounds had sealed, his mind had long drifted off, his body falling unconscious several seconds later.
Then—complete darkness.
An unknown amount of time passed before Zion felt a dull ache in his limbs again.
He tried to open his eyes, but they wouldn't move. A wave of panic hit him, he was still trapped in the dark, his body refusing to respond.
'Wait,' he thought, memories of the fight and the poison flooding back to him. 'The paralytic poison should be doing this.'
Slowly, the pain came back as he regained little movement in his body.
His back felt like it had been crushed, his left arm was scorched and completely numb, and the wound on his stomach throbbed with sharp, burning pain.
Letting out a groan, Zion managed to force his eyelids open.
The cave around him was dark, even the light from the pod having been turned off.
"Uriel?" he asked, his voice strange from the poison.
No response.
"Uriel?" he called out again, confused.
That's when he finally remembered Uriel's words just before passing out.
"He's… out of energy?" Zion mumbled.
His attempt to stand up failed, feeling like his body weighed more than ten times its original weight.
'I need to wait until the poison has completely worn off,' he thought, laying on his back.
Minutes passed before he finally turned his body around and forced himself up on his hands and knees.
Then, reality really set in.
"How am I going to be able to get back to the ship," he questioned, panic setting in. "It would take days if I had to crawl all the way back, not even mentioning my likely death to deathstalkers."
That's when the pod entered his eyes again.
His expression lit up. 'Uriel might be able to recharge with energy inside the spare batteries.'
Gritting his teeth, he crawled closer to the pod.
It took a while, but once he got there, his eyes fell on a stack of yellow batteries inside.
He raised his arm with difficulty, managing to barely pull one out.
'Now what do I do with it?' he questioned, holding it in his hands hoping for anything to happen.
Cluelessly, he tried placing it against multiple spots on his body.
'Nothing's working,' he thought, frustrated.
That's when he noticed a familiar port on the top of the battery.
"Wait…" he said, glancing back at the cable still connected to the other battery.
Crawling over to it, he ripped it loose and connected one end of the cable to the port.
Then, he grit his teeth and stabbed the other end into his arm.
Suddenly, a small blue screen opened up in his eye.
[Recharging…] it said.
A wave of relief washed over Zion as he let his body rest on the ground while it charged.
'I did it,' he thought, finally feeling his accomplishment. 'I beat a D-rank creature while being an E-rank.'
Several minutes passed before Zion finally heard Uriel's voice again.
[Energy levels at 1%,] Uriel's voice echoed mechanically through his head.
"Uriel?" he whispered.
[Reinitialization…]
Suddenly, Zion felt the weight pressing down on his body grow lighter.
[Host,] Uriel's voice echoed through his head excitedly, no longer sounding like a robot.
"Hey Uriel," Zion said dryly, as he stared up at the ceiling.
[We… survived?] Uriel said in disbelief and relief.
Zion chuckled slightly. "Yes, we did."
Both of them fell silent for a moment, enjoying the peace.
[I need to recharge more energy before we go back,] Uriel said softly. [Current energy levels at 2%.]
Zion nodded. "That's fine, I wasn't planning on moving anytime soon anyway."
They sat in silence for an hour before Uriel spoke up again.
[Current energy levels are at 10%,] he said. [Host can go now.]
Pushing his hand against the pod behind him, Zion slowly stood up.
As he stared at the countless items inside the pod, his face went blank for a moment.
"How am I going to take all of these items back?" he muttered blankly.
[Host doesn't need to take everything back,] Uriel said cheerfully. [I'll name only the necessary items for the ship. That way it should be possible to take everything in one trip.]
A look of realization entered Zion's eyes as he shook his head in embarrassment.
'To think I missed such a simple thing.'
One by one, Uriel started listing items and guided Zion to them if he didn't know what they were.
After a few minutes, his bag and his arm had been completely stuffed with the necessary items.
[There's still plenty of basic materials for the frame on the main ship,] Uriel said as Zion made his way through the dark tunnel.
Zion nodded, gritting his teeth through the pain as he stayed alert to every sound around him.
Once he crawled back onto the surface, the cold night air hit him and he realized both suns had already gone down.
He looked around carefully for any deathcrawlers before sneaking through the city toward the main ship.
As he stepped back into the cracked earth desert, he let out a sigh of relief.
'Thankfully, there weren't any deathcrawlers,' he thought, glancing at his battered body.
Zion stared up at the stars as he walked. 'It won't be long anymore.'