Bane surveyed the aftermath. His gaze passed over the twisted, lifeless bodies of Imperial soldiers strewn across the cold ground, their lifeless faces locked in expressions of terror and agony.
This was the massacre he had orchestrated just a few minutes ago.
After melting the flesh from their bones with toxic blood, fear had made these soldiers desperate, but he had cut through them, charging forward with one of the fallen soldiers' bodies as a shield, his revolver in his other hand.
Bullets had pummelled on him relentlessly, tearing through the makeshift shield, but he had paid them no mind, pressing forward with ruthlessness until none remained standing.
Now, in the eerie silence of the narrow street, Bane took a moment to inspect his own condition.
"Shit." he muttered with a wince as his fingers trembled. He checked his chest and arms, wincing again as he pulled his blood-soaked shirt back. His bloody skin was poked with bullet wounds, each one slowly expelling the embedded bullets with a sickening tapping sound as they clattered to the surrounding ground.
But unlike his usual, almost instant healing, his regeneration was dragging, each wound taking excruciating minutes just to clot, and even longer to close.
The delay was a stark reminder that he was running on fumes. His body's reserves were nearly depleted.
"Just as I thought," he muttered grimly, grimacing as a particularly deep wound in his side throbbed with pain. "Stuffing myself with food won't fix this. Without proper rest, my recovery metabolism will not work."
Bane slumped against a wall, taking a few precious minutes to let his body stabilise, hoping that the blood flow would slow enough to keep him functional.
He knew charging in the sewer hole recklessly when he can't even move fully will only make him an easy target.
So he stayed still, focusing on steadying his breathing, letting his muscles relax just enough to regain some semblance of control.
After about fifteen minutes, his wounds had clotted enough that he felt ready to move without collapsing.
Pushing himself back up, he walked towards the sewer hole. His eyes narrowed as he took in the sight.
Large claw marks etched across the metal lid and surrounding concrete, as if something enormous had torn it open.
The sewer hole cover was twisted and broken, the opening widened.
So before making his descent, Bane crouched near the sewer hole, his hand sliding into his long coat's pocket to pull out a small, white snake that coiled in his palm.
He held the snake up to eye level, its gaze meeting his as he focused, channeling his ability to merge his senses with the serpent's.
Almost instantly, his vision blurred, shifting as he saw the sewer tunnel through the snake's perspective, feeling its instincts and senses flow into his own.
"Alright," he whispered, lowering the snake toward the sewer. "Find out what we're dealing with."
The snake slithered down into the sewer hole, its sleek body gliding silently through the dank, narrow passage.
Through its senses, Bane could feel the dampness of the stone walls, smell the stale, metallic tang of blood mingling with the rot of decayed flesh.
Every sound echoed in his mind, the faint trickling of water, the distant skittering of tiny creatures in the darkness.
'Fuck, I shouldn't use all the senses.' With a grimace, Bane restricted his sensory input, focusing solely on sight and hearing.
As the snake moved deeper into the sewer, the narrow passage opened up into a larger tunnel. And there, illuminated by the faint glow filtering in from above, Bane saw them, through the snake's eyes, the vision tinged greenish in the dim light.
Four hulking creatures loomed in the shadows, their hulking, blue-fleshed bodies undulating with a sickening rhythm as they tore into something sprawled across the floor.
It was the corpse of a human, limp and shredded, the man's eyes staring lifelessly upward as the creatures devoured him with ravenous fervor.
Their slimy tentacles twisted and wrapped around his limbs, ripping flesh from bone, their movements unnerving and aggressive.
Blue, glistening skin rippled over their grotesque bodies as they moved, each creature sporting nine glowing eyes that darted around, scanning their surroundings, their hunger for flesh insatiable.
Bane felt his stomach churn, but he forced himself to keep watching.
The creatures' slimy, flexible tentacles moved like coiled springs, ready to lash out at any sign of movement, their aggression a brutal contrast to the eerie silence of the sewer.
But before he could learn more, one creature turned, its nine eyes glinting as they fixed directly on the snake.
There was a brief moment of stillness, then a tentacle shot out with blinding speed, slamming into the snake.
The connection severed instantly, and Bane's vision snapped back to reality as a wave of disorientation washed over him. His own eyes refocused, but a sharp pain shot through his head, and he felt a warm trickle of blood begin to drip from his nose.
He grimaced, wiping the blood away with the back of his hand, feeling the exhaustion deep in his bones.
His mental reserves were already low, stretched thin by the strain of guiding another snake he'd sent with Bulat to help him navigate his way out of the lower district.
"Damn it," Bane muttered, pressing his fingers against the bridge of his nose to steady himself. He hadn't expected such a vehement reaction to losing the connection, but he knew his limits were already frayed.
Maintaining control over multiple snakes, combined with his physical wounds and low energy, was pushing him to his breaking point.
With a steadying breath, he forced himself to focus. He knew now what awaited him below. The creatures were not only aggressive but alert, and they wouldn't let him pass without a fight.
"Of all things… that tentacle creature with multiple hearts and a full gang of them at that," he muttered bitterly, running a hand over his face. "Screw you, life."
He knew exactly what awaited him down there. Yet he couldn't ignore the possibility that Sheele and the others might still be trapped inside, facing something more ominous.
Bane already came to know more about the creatures after taking from Bulat.
Bulat had told him that Mine had killed the man controlling these abominations, which made them go on a rampage.
With a sigh of resignation, he prepared himself. Whatever he felt about his dwindling strength or the insanity of what he was about to do didn't matter.
He would go down there because, as much as he hated to admit it, he was an idiot.
Before making his descent, he scoured the soldiers' bodies for supplies.
He ignored any armour and firearms, against those creatures, neither bullets nor metal would make much difference and armour would only slow him down, he needed every ounce of agility if he was going to make it out alive, otherwise even his bones might not be left by those man-eating abominations.
A short period of ransacking yielded useful items. He found sturdy boots for wear and a pair of single-lens night vision goggles designed to improve visibility in the dark environment of the sewers.
Slipping them over his bandaged face, he adjusted the strap, letting his eyes adjust to the green-tinged view. A handful of unused grenades lay scattered among the supplies, which he gathered, slipping them into his belt for easy access.
He knew it was dangerous to use grenades inside a sewer as the entire structure can fucking collapse on him, but he can still use it in ways that will give him some edge.
Lastly, he grabbed a torch just in case of emergency and a coil of sturdy rope, tying one end to a nearby tree while securing the bundle to the other end.
Taking a deep breath, Bane crouched by the sewer hole, pulling out two grenades.
'Just don't fucking collapse please,' he thought as he held his breath. He pulled the pins and rolled them both into the dark opening.
As he fell back, he watched as they disappeared into the shadows below.
A second later, the explosion rocked the sewer entrance.
BOOMMM!!
The blast echoed up the shaft, sending plumes of smoke and debris spiralling into the night air.
The ground shook beneath him, and he could hear the furious shrieks and guttural roars of the creature below as the grenades detonated, shrapnel and fire tearing through the confined space.
The narrow tunnel funnelled the blast, amplifying the force.
The smoke cleared slightly, but Bane didn't waste any time. He gripped the rope tightly, readying himself for whatever was left below, and began his descent into the dark.