Chapter 81: The Chainsaw Killer?
On a desert highway cutting through the New Mexico wilderness, a modified pickup truck was speeding along.
If anyone could see the driver, they'd be surprised to find that the person behind the wheel was actually a remarkably attractive young woman.
"Looks like your healing ability is pretty damn impressive! It's only been less than a month, and you've already made a complete recovery."
Chris rested his hands behind his head, propped his feet on the dashboard, and chatted with his new follower with genuine interest.
"This is all thanks to your serum, boss. Without it, I never could have regenerated this severed arm."
"Ha! I just wanted to run an experiment, but I didn't expect the dragon blood serum to be that powerful. It even repaired your genetic damage at the cellular level."
Chris looked at Ruby, who'd undergone a complete transformation, and was genuinely impressed by Stewie's research capabilities.
After he'd finished clearing out the other cannibal clans in that mine network—with Ruby's guidance—Chris had discovered that those creatures' life essence was also missing by approximately one-third.
From this pattern, Chris determined that these cannibal clans were all empowered by some unknown supernatural entity.
And the way that entity obtained power was definitely connected to ritualistic cannibalism.
By researching various folklore and legends from this region, Chris had finally narrowed it down to two most likely candidates.
One was the Wendigo—a supernatural monster from Native American legends that gains power through consuming human flesh.
The other was the European Ogre from Old World folklore.
Considering his current location in the American Southwest, Chris didn't need to deliberate much. He confidently concluded that the entity connected to these cannibal clans was definitely a Wendigo.
Or rather, it wasn't exactly a blessing these creatures received. It was more that by performing ritualistic cannibalism—which most closely aligned with the Wendigo's fundamental nature—they naturally gravitated toward becoming Wendigo themselves.
Perhaps it was precisely because of this spiritual connection that after Chris killed those cannibal monsters, a portion of their essence was automatically siphoned off by the Wendigo.
After all, the Wendigo was the archetypal embodiment of gaining power through cannibalism. It made perfect sense that it could strip power from its spiritual descendants.
Once he'd confirmed this theory, there was naturally nothing more to discuss.
Chris had spent several days acquiring this truck and a substantial arsenal of weapons and equipment, then set off with Ruby on a journey to systematically eliminate every cannibal clan in the Southwest.
To enable Ruby to better serve as his assistant, Chris had even given her a dose of dragon blood serum, wanting to test whether it could regenerate her severed limb.
He just hadn't expected the serum's effects to be so dramatic. Not only did it regrow her severed arm completely, but it also reversed the genetic damage from radiation exposure, directly transforming her back into a normal human being.
Furthermore, because she'd previously undergone the cannibalistic transformation ritual, her baseline life force was considerably higher than ordinary humans.
Fortunately, it was only marginally elevated—not completely transcending human limitations.
Otherwise, after Chris eventually left this universe, her only viable food source might have been human flesh.
That definitely wasn't what Chris wanted for her.
But as things stood, everything was ideal. Ordinary human food could satisfy Ruby's nutritional needs, and there was no risk of her continuing to evolve into a full Wendigo.
However, because her life force was only slightly elevated above normal human levels, her physical strength wasn't dramatically superhuman either.
Even during nighttime—which was most advantageous for creatures touched by darkness—Ruby's raw strength wouldn't exceed six hundred pounds, barely reaching peak human capability.
And during daytime, her strength was drastically weakened, reduced to less than one-third of her nocturnal capacity.
According to Chris's testing, that came out to just over two hundred pounds.
Though still stronger than most ordinary people, it was disappointingly weak by supernatural standards.
Chris had confirmed these limitations through an unfortunate incident when he and Ruby had overslept one morning. His four-hundred-forty-pound body had ended up pressing down on Ruby, nearly crushing the newly recovered girl.
It was only after that awkward episode that Chris gave up any ideas about certain physical positions during daylight hours.
Through this experience with Ruby, Chris had also confirmed something important about his future.
Namely, if he wanted intimate companionship going forward, he absolutely couldn't rely on ordinary human partners.
At minimum, he'd need to find women who'd already exceeded baseline human capabilities. Otherwise, with his increasing weight, he could genuinely cause serious injury if he wasn't extremely careful.
In fact, as Chris's mass continued increasing, the caliber of compatible partners would also need to increase proportionally. Eventually, he'd only be able to pursue relationships with genuinely supernatural beings.
Because as he'd absorbed the life essence from various cannibals over these past few days, Chris discovered that his weight had begun increasing again. After weighing himself this morning, he'd already exceeded four hundred eighty pounds and was approaching five hundred.
Fortunately, Chris could travel between different universes, so finding supernatural-level partners wouldn't be particularly difficult. He wasn't worried about his romantic future.
"This must be Texas! I wonder if we'll run into the Texas Chainsaw Massacre scenario here?"
Seeing a highway sign indicating they'd crossed state lines, Chris sat up and spoke with genuine enthusiasm.
Then he asked Ruby, "By the way, have you ever heard of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre? It's a classic masterpiece in horror film history—basically pioneered the entire slasher genre."
Ruby, focused on driving, heard her boss's question and thought about her extremely limited knowledge of cinema. She shook her head. "No, boss. But I did hear from my tribesmen that about a decade ago, there was a family somewhere in Texas who liked killing people with chainsaws. Never saw any movie about it though."
"Oh?" Chris was intrigued, then remembered that The Texas Chainsaw Massacre had been based on real events—loosely inspired by Ed Gein and other serial killers. "What you're talking about is probably the real-life inspiration for the movie! I'm just curious whether they'd become Wendigo-influenced because of their cannibalism."
Ruby heard Chris mention the Wendigo again and grew increasingly curious about what kind of creature it was that made her boss—who possessed such incredible abilities—treat it so seriously.
However, since Chris didn't volunteer the information, she wouldn't ask directly. For Chris, who'd given her a completely new life and humanity, Ruby had long since regarded him with near-religious devotion.
She would believe in him wholeheartedly and obey him without question.
Chris noticed through his empathic sense that the girl's loyalty toward him had somehow increased even further, and he wondered what she'd been imagining to make her devotion reach such levels.
But before Chris could ask, he heard a burst of gunshots echo across the desert. He poked his head out the window to investigate.
He spotted a muscle car speeding up behind them, and the gunshots were coming from a young punk in the passenger seat casually firing a revolver into the air.
Seeing it was just two reckless teenagers screwing around, Chris pulled his head back inside the cab and decided to ignore them.
However, while Chris didn't want to bother with them, the two young men apparently didn't want to let Chris's truck pass unmolested.
When Chris had stuck his head out to observe them, they'd naturally gotten a good look at him too.
After exchanging glances and stupid grins, the young man holding the revolver aimed the weapon at the truck's side mirror and pulled the trigger.
However, the punk's marksmanship was terrible. The first shot went wide and missed the mirror completely.
Seeing these idiots taking actual shots at his vehicle, Chris wasn't about to give them a chance for target practice. He casually reached into his interdimensional storage, pulled out a rocket launcher, aimed it at the muscle car, and fired.
After a thunderous explosion, the two energetic young men and their car were transformed into a flaming pile of twisted metal and charred meat.
"Goddamn idiots, ruining my good mood!"
Chris returned the rocket launcher to storage, glanced at the still-burning wreckage in the truck's side mirror, then muttered with annoyance.
However, after calming down, Chris realized those two punks had looked somewhat familiar. He was pretty sure he'd seen them in some horror movie before.
[+500 Power Stones = +2 Extra Chapter]
[+10 Reviews = +1 Extra Chapter]
If you enjoyed this chapter, leave a Review!
P*atreon/Soulforger (30+ advanced chapters)
Buy me coffee - ko-fi*com/soulforger01