Infinity Is My Affinity?!?-Chapter 100: The Privilege Of The Strong

-AAAAHHH!

The infected man unhinged his jaw, letting out a feral shriek, and leaped straight at me with his blood-soaked hands outstretched.

It should have been the perfect jump scare. A point-blank, highly lethal ambush from a fast-moving zombie.

But... well, between my two-second Precognition and the 5 MP worth of Ice Reinforcement actively supercharging my brain, the element of surprise didn’t actually exist.

-Whip!

A thick, almost pitch-black root violently erupted from the ground right as the infected man launched himself into the air, locking around his right ankle like a snare, and pulling taut before he could even cross half the distance between us.

-Crash!

The man slammed face-first into the hard-packed earth, his jaw cracking loudly against the stone floor.

But the heavy impact didn’t even slow him down. He instantly scrambled to his hands and knees before thrashing wildly like a rabid animal caught in a bear trap. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

He lunged forward again, violently snapping his blood-stained teeth at the empty air while the root anchored his leg firmly to the ground.

Thick, contagious green pus sprayed from his nose and mouth with every feral shriek while his glowing red eyes stayed locked dead onto my face as he desperately dug his bleeding fingernails into the dirt, trying to drag his body closer to me.

"Okay," I breathed, keeping my distance from the violently thrashing man. "Now, how do I help him?"

[I have the Grade-9 Cleansing Potion in my inventory. I could just pour that down his throat, but I don’t know how rare or expensive these potions are supposed to be... Could raise questions.] I frowned, watching the thick green pus splatter against the dirt.

-Ding!

{Host, the subject’s infection is too far gone to be treated by a Grade-9 Cleansing Potion.

Recommended purchase: Grade-8 Cleansing Potion.

Price: 1000 Credits.}

[If only I had that kind of cash,] I half-laughed, shaking my head. [Guess we’re doing this the hard way.]

I kept my eyes locked on the frenzied man while I pushed another pulse of mana into the ground beneath him.

-Creak!

Three more thick roots erupted from the dirt around him.

They moved like living serpents, snapping tightly around his flailing arms and his free leg before forcefully yanking his limbs against his sides and straightening his legs out, effectively pinning him completely flat against the cavern floor.

With his thrashing immobilized, I pushed a little more mana downward.

A fifth, arm-thick root sprouted from the ground before swiftly coiling around his trapped body, winding upward from his ankles to his shoulders like a thick spool of thread until he was entirely encased.

Once he was fully wrapped, I poured a heavier dose of mana into the root, instantly hardening his little cocoon.

Even though he couldn’t move an inch, he kept violently snapping his jaws to gnash his bloody teeth at me.

Nudging a thinner offshoot of the wrapped root upward, I forced it directly through his open mouth like a horse’s bit before thickening it into a solid wooden ring. I hardened that too, completely locking his jaw open and neutralizing the bite threat.

Once he was properly secured, I mentally severed the roots right at his side, exactly like snapping a piece of heavy thread as close to the knot as possible, leaving the hardened black root securely coiled around him.

Fully restrained and perfectly gagged, he still glared at me with those violently glowing red eyes, but the immediate physical threat was completely gone.

"Perfect," I muttered, wiping a cold bead of sweat from my forehead. "Package is secured... And ready for delivery."

Shifting my focus back to my mana pool, I poured the free 43MP directly into Ice Reinforcement, feeling the familiar, freezing sensation crawl up my limbs.

A layer of frost rapidly materialized over my boots, calves, and hands, thickening into solid armor that felt little lighter than my full-powered reinforcement, but it was more than enough to get the job done.

I walked over to the bound man while he continued to glare at me with pure, rabid insanity.

Ignoring the wet, guttural snarls bubbling up around his wooden gag, I grabbed the hardened black roots and hoisted his solidly cocooned body over my shoulder like a heavy log, and broke into a dead sprint straight for the dungeon’s exit.

-Thud-Thud-Thud-!...

Each slam of my ice-armored boots against the ground sent sprays of frozen dirt up in the air.

The man didn’t stop fighting the whole way. Even bound and gagged, the infected adventurer thrashed wildly against his little cocoon.

I had deliberately positioned him so his head hung far away from my back so that the contagious green pus aggressively dripping from his chin would completely miss my tunic and splatter harmlessly onto the dirt trail behind me.

[Thank god I thought this through...] I mentally breathed, keeping my blue-glinting eyes locked dead ahead. [A single drop of that garbage on my skin and I’d be just as screwed as him.]

It didn’t take long for the dim, bluish-green glow of the spirit moss to give way to the crisp natural light of the morning sun.

And a few seconds later, I burst out of the massive cavern mouth. And the immediate reaction was absolute chaos.

The two knights stationed by the checkpoint tables violently jolted in their seats. The few heavily armed guards standing by the entrance instantly grabbed the hilts of their swords, their eyes widening in shock as they took in the sight of me hauling a violently thrashing, pus-leaking zombie out of the dark.

"Hold there!" one of the knights yelled, half-drawing his blade. "Drop the-"

"Infected!" I shouted over the zombie’s muffled, feral snarls, completely ignoring the knight’s order and blowing right past the checkpoint table without slowing down. "Fester and Frenzy! Make way!"

Hearing those two specific diseases spoken out loud was apparently the magic password. The guards visibly recoiled, their hands dropping from their swords as they rapidly backed away to avoid catching any of the contagious splatter hitting the dirt behind me.

I didn’t stop to chat. I kept my dead sprint going, veering sharply to the right the moment I cleared the checkpoint, making a beeline straight for the small, well-kept Shrine of Amaterasu.

I

"Incoming!" I yelled as I aggressively kicked the shrine’s wooden double doors open.

An elderly priest in pristine white robes jumped in surprise from behind a small wooden desk. His eyes darted from my face to the wildly thrashing, green-oozing man securely tied up in pitch-black roots on my shoulder.

"By the Goddess," the priest gasped, his face paling as he immediately recognized the symptoms. "Bring him to the back! Quickly! Before the core fully ruptures!"

I followed the priest into a small, sterile back room lined with beds before unceremoniously dumping the violently shaking cocoon onto the nearest one.

"He’s heavily infected and fully feral, happened just a few minutes ago..." I warned, taking a wide step back to ensure I stayed clear of the pus. "I hardened the roots to keep him contained, but I left his head exposed. Do your thing, doc."

I took a few steps back to give the priest some space before grabbing a small wooden stool and sitting down heavily, trying to calm the chest that heaved with every breath, and the heart that pounded the frantic rhythm against in my chest

I kept my feet planted firmly on the floor, ready to instantly spring back into action if the infected man managed to break free from my hardened roots.

While the elderly priest hurried over to a nearby shelf, pulling out a small bundle of scentless incense sticks before lighting them up.

He brought the smoking sticks back to the bed. Gripping them tightly between both of his palms, he closed his eyes before slipping into a state of deep focus while he stood over the thrashing man.

"O Radiant Mother, vanquish the endless night," the priest whispered, his voice carrying an impossible resonance that seemed to make the very air vibrate. "Look upon this corrupted vessel. Burn away the festering shadows, and quiet his frenzied blood. Let your purifying warmth return him to the waking world."

The moment the final syllable left his lips, the atmosphere inside the infirmary violently shifted.

My Domain was still active, but it didn’t register a single drop of mana.

Instead, a strange, overwhelming energy instantly flooded the room. I couldn’t pinpoint a source, nor could I quantify it. It was just suddenly there, like the warm presence that felt less like a spell and more like a literal sun igniting inside the sterile clinic.

The thin wisps of smoke rising from the incense instantly turned a brilliant, glowing gold before drifting downward like liquid light, washing directly over the violently thrashing man.

The moment the light touched his skin, the feral shrieks instantly died in his throat, and the sickly green pus bubbling from his nose and mouth began to visibly sizzle, evaporating into harmless white steam before it could even hit the sheets.

In a few seconds, even his thrashing limbs slowly eased while the rabid red glint in his eyes faded until his eyes rolled back into his head, leaving him slumped in unconsciousness.

While the golden energy in the room slowly settled, my mind wandered.

I watched the scene unfold with wide eyes while an unconscious smile curled the edge of my lips.

This was it. This was the exact feeling I had been chasing. It was the very thing I had silently promised myself last night while sitting beneath that tree with my knees hugged tightly to my chest.

I wanted the strength to actually afford doing things my way. The right way.

If I didn’t have the sheer firepower I possessed today, I never could have fought off that goblin swarm.

And if I hadn’t just unlocked Dominium Radicis, I wouldn’t have been able to safely restrain him without getting infected myself.

The me of yesterday would have had absolutely no other option but to put a buckshot through his head the second he lunged.

But in this specific instance, I actually had the power to force the situation down a route that led to my ideal outcome. And holy hell, it felt so damn good.

[To be able to afford the life you wish to lead...] I thought, wiping the blur of tears from my eyes. [That right there is the privilege of the strong. Today I have it... And I’m never letting it go!]