CHAPTER 153: MONSTER

Seeing the little koi faint again, Oliver felt an unimaginable rage bubble up inside him.

Usually, rage consumes a person’s mind, deteriorating their decision-making ability and causing them to do irrational things.

However, for Oliver, it did the exact opposite.

He was someone who thrived in chaos.

When rage consumed him, his mind became sharper, more focused, and active. He felt his heart thumping harder, his blood flow increasing, spreading a cocktail of hormones to every part of his body to combat the stress.

Instantly, the true Oliver, who went through unimaginable suffering and spread fear into the hearts of his enemies, woke up.

From that point onwards, every one of his actions became precise, cold, and calculated.

Gently lifting the feeble body of the little koi, he walked back to the boat.

Meanwhile, a tendril of blood covered the large gash across its back, coagulating over it.

The blood was that of the koi, so he was not concerned about it affecting it in a bad way. Then, a steady flow of golden mana flowed out from his body and strengthened the koi’s body.

If it had been his past self, Oliver would not have been able to perform such a delicate use of mana. After all, unlike other superhumans, his body was dull, incapable of storing or using mana.

But now, after training for months, he was capable of slowly extracting a minuscule amount to cover the body of the koi with enough precision not to cause any harm. In a way, this time, his inability to store mana actually helped.

If the mana had been stored in his body for a long time, it would have acclimated to his body, negatively impacting the receiver. However, by generating it instantly with the help of the coin, he prevented it from being tainted by his consciousness or body.

So, only pure, unadulterated mana flowed out from his body to the koi, allowing it to be accepted into its body without any negative effects.

Oliver breathed out when he noticed the little koi’s body had stabilized.

After doing all that, he walked into the boat and kicked the bunk bed where Root was sleeping.

The drowsy Root opened his eyes, saw Oliver’s grim expression, and instantly felt his heart drop.

This was the first time he had seen Oliver like that.

It made him panic.

Quickly, he jumped down from the bed and looked at him.

On Oliver’s hand, there was something small and black, with a bit of red liquid covering it. When his eyes focused, Root realized it was the little koi. Immediately, he grasped the general sense of the situation.

"How was it injured?" he asked, his tone bleak.

"I don’t know, but I am going to find out," Oliver said with a murderous glint in his eyes.

Root felt the cold eyes move over him as a chill crawled up his spine.

"You need to take care of it. I have stabilized its injuries." Oliver moved the koi towards Root.

Root received the koi promptly.

Then, Oliver continued to speak, "It looks like it was injured and was being chased. I found it in a bush nearby. It must have hidden there after escaping from whatever was chasing it." Oliver wiped off the blood from his hand. "The creature that is chasing it—the creature that injured it—would most likely track and come here. You need to apply medicine and observe its condition."

Oliver spoke and moved to the side.

His hand moved quickly to a weapon rack in the middle of the boat.

The weapon rack held the alloy swords, spears, axes, and other weapons they used. Oliver’s hand bypassed all of it and pressed an invisible scanner behind it.

Immediately, the weapon rack slid to the side, and a new set of weapons appeared.

Even Root, someone who connected with the boat’s system, didn’t know something like that existed. He was shocked.

Hiding electronic tools from him was basically impossible unless Oliver kept them powered down most of the time. Oliver must have prepared the secret compartment to hide it from him.

His eyes focused on the new weapon rack that appeared. Once he saw it, he swallowed hard as he watched Oliver move his hand forward.

The new set contained hot weapons like grenades, pistols, and rifles.

Oliver’s hand was moving towards the mana grenades.

Unlike normal grenades, mana grenades were designed to penetrate the protective mana covering of superhumans and mana beasts. Even A-rankers would find it troublesome if a mana grenade exploded near them, so it was a great weapon to have.

As Oliver tightened the belt of grenades around his waist, Root wondered how he had gotten his hands on them. However, Oliver didn’t give him much time to ponder.

"Root, take care of it. Let me see which son of a bitch dared to harm it," he muttered and walked towards the rear exit.

"Wait a minute!" Root called out. "Something which can detect this little guy when he is hiding would be strong." His eyes lingered on the body of the little koi.

Though weak, the koi was a master of stealth. It was capable of hiding in plain sight by masking its presence and bending light around it. And most importantly, it was a smart creature that knew how to be careful.

If not for Oliver’s devious schemes, they wouldn’t have even gotten a chance to see it, much less interact closely. So, Root concluded that anything that can harm the little fellow might be a strong creature. His voice showed a hint of concern as he spoke to Oliver.

"Boss, you have to be careful."

"Don’t worry about it," Oliver said, picking up a slender sword. Then he turned to Root and asked, "Do you remember the first advice I gave to you?"

Root nodded.

"To escape if the situation worsens. To always prioritize my life over everything."

"Yes, that’s right."

Oliver muttered and walked out, leaving Root and the unconscious koi fish inside. Root stood still for a second, but he quickly regained his composure and piloted the boat. Within seconds, it rose into the sky and disappeared.

After that, Oliver didn’t have to wait for long. He smelled something carrying a thick scent of blood creeping up on the campsite.

Something indeed came, chasing the little koi. As the sun slowly rose into the sky, the bloody smell climbed up from the bottom of the hill.

*Thump*

*Thump*

Oliver could hear the thumping sound of heavy footsteps.

The creature was moving at a leisurely pace, as if it were sure the koi couldn’t escape from it.

Suddenly, a huge hand grabbed a rock ledge and climbed up.

Finally, Oliver could see the creature as it emerged from behind a steep portion of the hill.

Dark blue skin, a giant body over five meters tall, built like a gorilla with the face of a bat and the webbing of a frog.

"A monster?"

The moment he saw the creature, he realized it was a monster: a mutated mana beast that had evolved its body through rapid evolution.

He could see all the features of a monster in that creature.

Once the creature climbed over the ledge, it lifted its grotesque face and looked at Oliver. The creature’s mouth was filled with razor-sharp triangular teeth, covered in blood. The foul smell of death and blood was coming from its mouth.

Oliver’s nose twitched.

"A semi-aquatic mutant built like a gorilla."

"Mana radiating would place it in the B-ranks."

"A frigging water monkey did that?"

Oliver couldn’t believe that a creature like that—a monster with low intelligence—could find and injure the little koi.

"Anyway, since you came, I would prefer if you stayed."

Oliver muttered and tightened his grip on the sword.

He was someone who recently helped kill an A-rank flood dragon, so a less intelligent monster was not enough to scare him. In fact, Oliver was confident that he could rip the creature before him into shreds because of his recent improvement in strength.

As Oliver was thinking, the monster’s red eyes drilled into his body. With a low growl, it immediately leapt forward.

"Armor, fucker, this is to help the little koi," he said and burned the blood in his control and converted it to mana.

Instantaneously, a thick veil of golden mana sprouted from his body and covered him. The golden mana tightened around his body and compressed to form an illusory golden armor with a scaly texture.

While the monster charged at him, Oliver didn’t even bother dodging. With the armor covering him, he was not afraid of a physical confrontation.

He flicked the sword up and slashed at the monster’s huge fist, slamming towards him. The mana sent through the sword was enough to shatter a reinforced concrete slab. And yet, it couldn’t pierce into the sturdy fist of the monster.

The monster was sturdy.

*Thump*

Releasing a deafening sound, both collided and were repelled.

Oliver dug his foot into the ground to stop his sliding body while the monster clawed the ground to quickly stabilize itself.