Chapter 22: My Legs Are Numb?

"Help me!"

The Alchemist screamed for help, his neck caught in the sharp claws of a merfolk Tidehunter, swallowing several mouthfuls of water in quick succession.

The two swimming ahead heard the Alchemist's cries for help and had no choice but to stop.

If this guy died, they'd be out of healing potions...

"Fuck! We shouldn't have let you come!" The Berserker cursed under his breath, preparing to swim back when his body suddenly shivered, and his legs felt as if they had completely vanished. No matter how desperately he tried to move his legs, there was no response.

The prowler noticed something was off too. "Damn it! What's happening? Boss... My legs feel like they're cramping up!"

They had just fallen into the water right where John had poured the succinylcholine potion. Although the potion had been diluted by the river, they had ingested a considerable amount of water without any precautions, and the succinylcholine began to take effect in their bodies.

In the moment of their hesitation, the Alchemist was dragged underwater.

Blood gushed from beneath the surface as a pack of merfolk converged and instantly tore his body apart, feasting on it.

"Forget him! Let's go!"

The two desperately moved their arms, swimming towards the shore in front of them.

Fortunately, the merfolk behind them were preoccupied with feasting on the Alchemist's body and didn't directly chase after the two.

Both of them were Awakened, with physical abilities far beyond ordinary people. Despite losing sensation in their lower bodies, they managed to keep up with John in the distance and struggled onto the shore.

The Berserker now resembled a paraplegic, sitting at the shore, moving his body with great difficulty using his arms.

His abdomen continued to bleed, looking utterly wretched.

The prowler also made it ashore, looking even worse off, with a large chunk of flesh bitten off his buttocks, causing one side to cave in significantly.

Fearful of the merfolk catching up, the prowler used his arms desperately to crawl onto the shore, even employing his chin in the effort.

After much struggle, the two managed to get about ten meters away from the shore.

John, standing aside wringing water from his clothes, looked at the two in their sorry state. He immediately realized they must have accidentally ingested the water mixed with the anesthetic.

He couldn't help but laugh and asked, "What happened? Why is it just the two of you? Where's your Alchemist companion?"

The Berserker, seeing John's schadenfreude, was so angry he nearly crushed his teeth.

He cursed, "You bastard! Fuck off! Mind your own business!"

The prowler looked at John with confusion. This man and woman not only could walk but didn't have a single injury on them.

The prowler murmured softly in his mouth. "Something's not right. How come they're completely fine?"

He initially thought the paralysis in their lower bodies was due to toxic substances in the lake water.

But if that were the case, these two should have been poisoned as well!

John, struggling to hold back his laughter, retorted, "What's wrong with me? You two look like you're paralyzed. I came over to check on you out of concern, and now you're questioning me?"

Although taking out these two malicious Awakened wouldn't take much effort.

For John, dispatching them would be as easy as squashing an ant.

However, he chose not to, as that would be too boring.

Besides, he still had plenty of poisons that hadn't been tested on humans yet...

The forthcoming gates to other worlds wouldn't just unleash monsters. There would be people from other worlds too, equally formidable enemies.

Having these two societal rejects die in his experiments could be seen as recycling waste, making some contribution to humanity.

The Berserker knew John was there to mock them and was about to burst into a tirade.

The prowler quickly grabbed his cloth. When the Berserker turned, he saw his partner shaking his head, signaling him to keep calm.

At that moment, several merfolk leaped from the lake.

Victoria had been waiting for this moment. She swiftly advanced with her dueling sword ready to confront the enemy.

John momentarily set aside the two men and moved forward to cover Victoria, preventing her from being surrounded by the merfolk.

Seeing the two leave, the Berserker asked, "Why did you pull me just now?"

"Bro, don't be rash!" The prowler took a deep breath, suspecting the Berserker had water in his brain for not realizing the gravity of their situation.

He explained seriously, "Our Alchemist is dead. And we're seriously injured. If we offend him further, we might not leave here alive..."

The Berserker glared at John's retreating back and spat on the ground beside him.

He gradually calmed down, realizing the prowler was right. Their priority should be healing their wounds.

Then, the Berserker noticed his toes slowly regaining sensation, the numb feeling fading.

"I think I can move my feet..." He said to the prowler.

The prowler also rubbed his feet, feeling some sensation returning, "Mine too! Thank goodness!"

John, though fighting on the shore, kept an eye on the two men behind him. It seemed the effects of the anesthetic had worn off.

After all, diluted as it was in the river water, causing them to lose sensation in their lower bodies for a few minutes was quite effective.

The two, regaining their mobility, took out their weapons and approached.

Seeing John look back, the Berserker forced a slightly stiff smile. "Brother, could you spare us two healing potions? We'll join you in the fight..."

"Sure." John agreed readily, taking out a healing potion from his system backpack. "But I can only give you one. I don't have many in stock."

The prowler, seeing John's quick agreement, suddenly felt an ominous premonition.

He had been suspecting why, despite everyone falling into the water, these two were unaffected. There was only one possibility: the poison in the water was from this Alchemist.

"Thanks, bro. My bad for earlier. You're a good guy!" The Berserker, holding the healing potion, could hardly conceal his excitement, surprised at his effortless gain.

The two of them retreated a few steps to a safe location to apply medicine to their wounds.

"Boss, something feels off about this Alchemist. Could he have added something to this healing potion?" The prowler urgently spoke up, seeing the Berserker about to use the opened potion.

The Berserker frowned and opened his system panel to read the item information.

[Item Name: Healing Potion]

[Quality: Common]

[Attributes: None]

[Effective Duration: 31 hours 43 minutes]

[Special Effects: Has a significant wound recovery effect, can be ingested or applied externally.]

After a quick glance, the Berserker shook his head. "It looks fine to me. Plus, I've heard from Alchemists before that if you add other substances to a potion, it would directly alter its magical structure, rendering it ineffective."

"I think that kid doesn't have much of a scheme. He probably wants to recruit us. After all, just the two of them would have a hard time conquering the gates to another world." The Berserker felt as though he had seen through John. "Here, you apply it first and see if there's any issue."

"What?" The prowler was taken aback, but intimidated by the Berserker's fierce look, he reluctantly opened the potion and was forced to be the guinea pig.

He applied the potion to his wound, and the emerald green healing potion quickly seeped into the injury. A cool and refreshing sensation followed, and the wound began to heal rapidly.

"See? I told you there was nothing wrong." the Berserker huffed, starting to evenly apply it over his abdomen.

After applying the healing potion, the wounds of both men healed quickly.

The Berserker tossed away the empty potion bottle and looked back at the two still fighting in the distance. He then turned to the prowler, signaling with his eyes: "Get ready to make a move."

The prowler nodded in agreement. They took out their weapons, having decided not to conquer the gate to another world.

Given the current situation, killing the opposition to take their items and then escaping was the wisest choice!

They even wouldn't need to deal with the bodies. The merfolk would take care of them, leaving no trace of the dead.