Blood Nemesis-Chapter 136: Wrench

Revealing the psychic’s presence would only make them cautious. A mind-based attack implied the attacker was a superhuman with mental abilities, a psychic. These individuals were often physically weaker and adept at avoiding detection. Once they knew Oliver was searching for them, they would most likely flee.

’What did I do to make a psychic, most likely a villain, target me?’ Oliver wondered, silently gazing at the aquamarine crystal in Lin Yue’s hand.

The dragon core clearly played a crucial role in the entire situation.

So, was it connected to the dragon core?

The psychic had tried to force Oliver to consume the dragon core, and they had done the same with Lin Yue.

Wouldn’t that mean stealing it wasn’t their goal?

Then what was?

Once consumed, the dragon core would be impossible to retrieve, instantly rendering it worthless.

’They want to destroy the dragon core.’ Oliver’s thoughts led him to remember its intended use.

’Lin Yue hunted the flood dragon for this core. She wanted to use it to save her sister. The only thing they achieved by destroying the dragon core was preventing the ’sister’ from being cured. Was this their goal all along?’

’But her sister was a nobody. Why would anyone want to kill her?’ His doubts deepened with each thought. Something was happening behind the scenes that he knew nothing about.

’The last time I encountered a mind controller of this level was when I saved Arthur, the son of the Continental Republic’s external affairs minister.’ Oliver’s thoughts drifted to the image of the unassuming young man.

The young man had been a target of the demons because his death could widen the rift between the Continental Republic and the Federation. His death was a pivotal point in the Federation’s history.

’There aren’t many skilled mind-attribute superhumans in the world. Even fewer who could manipulate an A-ranker like Lin Yue.’ freewebnøvel.com

’Although Lin Yue had just recently achieved A-rank, she would still possess the mental defense that the absurd amount of mana in their body provides. Thus, bypassing it and forcing her to act against her will should have been difficult.’

’He’s a strong psychic.’ Oliver’s face darkened. ’And he might be the same one who attacked Arthur.’

For a second, he wondered if Mind Hunter, the S-rank villain from the Abyss, was truly dead. This new mind controller was showing strength comparable to what Mind Hunter should have possessed. But remembering that he had personally slain Psycho, he knew his worries were unfounded.

Still, a seed of anger sprouted in his mind. He carefully controlled his expression to prevent it from showing outwardly.

’If so, demons or villain factions are involved.’

’This is getting really interesting.’

One corner of his lips tugged into an indiscernible smile.

’What importance does Lin Yue’s sister play in all of this? I need to find out.’

’This means interacting closely with the... disgusting Lin family and the Oblivion guild. It’s such a pain.’ His smile widened ever so slightly.

Although his thoughts made him resist the notion, his curiosity drove him forward. He was very interested in everything the demons did. Concluding that Lin Yue’s sister might also be a part of their plan, he decided to investigate it thoroughly. He smiled because he realized he could throw a wrench into their plans once again.

When his thoughts reached this point, he suddenly displayed a pained expression. His lips trembled and turned blue, while his eyes reddened. Then, taking a deep breath, he let out a blood-curdling scream.

"AHHH!"

Like a normal person whose forearm had just been crushed, he screamed and wailed, acting his best. His performance, for a second, was almost Oscar-worthy.

The elder’s hand, clamping down on his forearm, momentarily weakened upon hearing his scream. Oliver noticed this and laughed internally. It was all an act, designed to prevent his enemies from seeing his inhuman ability to tolerate pain and heal. Satisfied by their response, he waited for Lin Yue to regain her clarity.

The time it took from the bones snapping to Oliver’s scream was at most a couple of seconds.

Lin Yue’s dazed eyes quickly regained clarity. She noticed the blood-covered arm secured around her own and understood what was happening. Then a chill went up her spine. The screaming man had prevented her from consuming the dragon core. But the elder seemed to have mistaken his action as something nefarious and intervened.

"STOP!" She shouted in her enchanting voice.

Even though it was short, it was capable of captivating the minds of young and old alike. Oliver had heard her voice before. Still, this time, the voice of her younger self was even more charming. He had to give her credit. He now understood why she was so popular. She had everything a hero needed.

’No, that’s a stretch. It’s wiser to say she has everything to win a popularity contest.’ Oliver corrected his thoughts.

Meanwhile, Lin Yue continued to speak:

"It was a misunderstanding. Elder, please let him go." Her words became softer, her voice weaker, pleading with the elder to release him.

The elder was confused. His eyes darted between Oliver, who was clenching his jaws in pain, and Lin Yue’s eyes. Then, with a hint of hesitation, he released his arm.

Root, watching, felt his body relax.

He had been desperately trying to pull the elder away from Oliver. Oliver’s gut-wrenching scream had scared him to the core, guilt brimming in his heart. After all, it was he who had asked Oliver to help the Lin family members.

Despite not thinking Oliver could truly help, he had asked to test Oliver’s conviction.

From his perspective, he thought Oliver would back away instantly, not interfering in the battle since he was weaker. As a minimum, a hero should have done that, right?

He thought he understood Oliver. But Oliver, breaking all his notions, had jumped into the battle headfirst the moment he agreed to be part of the guild. Seeing him leap into the fight, trying to save Lin Yue, Root had thought he was crazy.

But soon, he realized Oliver was anything but that. Though he acted eccentric, often saying undeniably stupid, unrelated, and incongruous things—for example, calling a boat a car, calling himself the hero of the sea when they were in a freshwater lake—he would do everything meticulously. Clearly, there was a mismatch between what he said and what he did.

This realization allowed him to peek into the depths of what Oliver truly was. Though they had spent only a few hours together, Root was finally convinced of Oliver’s conviction and strength. Even Lin Yue suddenly seemed diminished in front of the screaming young man.

Why?

Root’s brows knitted into a frown.

He suddenly noticed the mismatch again.

While others couldn’t see it, Root saw a small, imperceptible smile forming on Oliver’s lips. If he hadn’t spent some time with Oliver, he wouldn’t have noticed it at all.

Immediately, he realized Oliver was acting. Although his bones shattered under the A-rank elder’s palm, the injury didn’t seem serious enough to make him scream. In fact, Root was sure Oliver was smirking in his mind, acting like a weakling.

A weakling!

A weakling after helping them slay a flood dragon?

Root didn’t understand what Oliver was doing, so he hid his thoughts and moved to Oliver once the elder released his palm. The seed of guilt in his heart also disappeared.

Wheezing, Oliver took a deep breath. He coughed and pulled away from Lin Yue. His forearm was snapped in the middle, and the bones had crumbled into tiny bits, causing it to flip sideways when he stepped back. The arm flapped in the air as Oliver loosened the remaining muscles on it. Those watching could feel the pain from afar.

As if to escape the pain, Oliver sacrificed his blood and formed golden mana over his body once again.

This time, the armor didn’t materialize fully because of the lack of mana; it barely covered his head.

The scaly, illusory golden armor thinned to barely a millimeter thick and connected from his head to his arm, supporting the broken bone and arm. Oliver brought the injured arm closer to his chest and held it with his other arm, pain visible on his face.

While he did all that, Oliver scanned the forest. He acted as if he were disoriented and struggling to find balance. But in reality, he was searching for the enemy. His head, now covered in thin scaly armor, allowed him to peer into the darkness and target the unknown enemy.

Last time, Oliver had seen the red target appear in his vision. He hoped he would see it again. Fortunately, this time, the temperamental armor appeared since he was using it to help Lin Yue.

As his eyes glanced over the treeline, he suddenly noticed a vague red glow behind a tree. The person was hiding behind a tree trunk hundreds of meters away. Still, the armor sensed his presence and made his body outline glow red.

’There is a third party.’ Oliver felt vindicated when the third person appeared.

But he couldn’t relax yet. More red glows began to appear all around the person. There was more than one enemy. His face darkened.

Lin Yue saw Oliver stumbling, disoriented, and jumped into action. Before Root could get near, she came forward and supported Oliver with her hand placed on his shoulder.