Blood Nemesis-Chapter 103: Gate break end

After a while, Oliver appeared near the gate, dragging his exhausted body.

The cold rain that fell during the night wiped off the dirt and grime covering his body. And yet, it didn’t do him any good. The torn clothes on his body and the rotten stench he exuded made him look like a beggar, entirely opposite to his glorious golden self. Besides that, he was covered in black and blue bruises from head to toe, amplifying his miserable appearance.

Despite wearing the golden mana armor, he had sustained some damage to his body due to his crazy battle style. He realised it once the mana wore off. The broken ligaments and tendons, cracked bones, bruised muscles–his whole body was littered with the assortment of injuries that might have incapacitated a normal person.

Even though the golden armour amplified his power and protected him from external damage, it couldn’t stop him from injuring himself. Still, it was a good experience. He learned a valuable lesson that day. Years of forcing his body through unimaginable suffering had made him forget the possibility of wielding his powers responsibly, without harm. Now he knew that there were other options. So, it was indeed a valuable lesson.

Nonetheless, by the time he reached the gate, he had healed most of his injuries, except the bruises. He did it deliberately to prevent others from knowing the full extent of his self-healing ability.

’Where is Achara?’ Oliver asked himself and walked to where the fish market once stood.

Soon, the vast crater came into his view, along with the steel giants.

The Mechs were placed near the gate, but seemed to be powered down.

The superhumans near the gate were slowly leaving. Those who were injured were being carried away by the medical personnel dispatched from the nearby hospitals.

’The battle seems to be over.’ Oliver observed the obvious fact. He already knew about that through the radio, though. So it was nothing surprising.

’The gate break was contained once the Thunder Emperor reached here.’

His eyes quickly glanced over at the crater once again.

The entire crater was filled with the charred body of the mana beasts, releasing the horrible stench of burned flesh and hair.

’I smell nice compared to that.’

’Way nicer...’

A couple of meters away from the gate, he noticed a couple of military tents on the other side of the crater.

Oliver quietly walked around the hurriedly moving reporters that were just coming to the scene and beelined towards the military encampment.

While Achara and Thunder Gramps said they were not part of the military, they were still working as a wing of it. So, he expected to find them inside.

’No, it’s Achara and the Commander Gramps.’ Oliver quickly corrected in his mind. He was told to call him Commander the moment he decided to work for him.

None of the soldiers around the military encampment paid any attention to Oliver until he reached a few meters in front of the tent.

"Ah, don’t shoot. It’s me again. Returning alive after surviving another shitty situation." Oliver said to a familiar face among the soldiers.

Immediately, the soldier covered his nose.

’What the heck?’ Oliver was offended.

The friggin burnt carcasses smelled worse than him. The soldier in front of him was calmly breathing in, taking the full brunt of the horrendous smell...and yet, he covered his nose when he saw him.

How can he not be offended by that?

"Fuck you, man," Oliver said and promptly walked closer to the soldier. Before he could evade, Oliver gave him a nice hug with a smile.

"Is Achara inside?" he asked.

The soldier hesitated for a moment and nodded.

"Thanks," Oliver whispered in his ears and released the poor man, walking calmly into the tent.

*Puke*

Immediately, the soldier felt his stomach churn. The last straw was the hug. Within seconds after Oliver disappeared, he puked his stomach out and gazed at Oliver’s disappearing figure, aggrieved.

The disgust.

The indignation.

The pain.

He couldn’t properly put into words what he felt at that moment.

At that time, he silently marked the idea of revenge in his mind. If there exists another meeting between them, he will surely take his revenge.

*Puke*

The man puked again, thinking about the horrid stench of the sewer. Just the memory was enough to haunt him for a lifetime.

–

Meanwhile, Oliver confidently stepped into the tent. Immediately, he saw the Thunder Emperor and Achara sitting near a table. But they were not alone.

His eyes lingered on the body of the third person.

"Oh, Oliver! You’re back. We were just talking about you, among other things," the Thunder Emperor announced, breaking the silence.

Oliver tilted his head in confusion.

"Me?"

"Yes. We were watching your video."

"Hm?"

Oliver was bemused, then he joked after a slight pause, showing a hint of hesitation.

"The one where I was a doctor or the one where I was a plumber?"

His innocent question caused Achara, who was sipping tea nearby, to cough.

*Splurt*

She sprayed out the tea, almost drowning in it.

Meanwhile, the other two people, the Thunder Emperor and a similarly old elder, looked at him and Achara in confusion.

’Confusion reflection achieved.’ Oliver was satisfied with their response.

He didn’t understand what they were talking about, and neither did they understand what he was talking about. That was a satisfactory outcome.

Meanwhile, his eyes glanced at Achara sitting next to them, wiping the spilled tea. He was surprised that she got the reference.

A sly smile appeared on his face when their eyes met.

Achara immediately turned away, breaking eye contact.

Meanwhile, Thunder Emperor stood up from his chair and walked up to Oliver and asked:

"You used to act?"

The elderly fossil of a man was far more innocent than Oliver could imagine. He decided to stop teasing him and answered truthfully.

"Yes, in my past life."

"Now you are making no sense."

"Life is a bunch of nonsense tied together by the strings of time and space."

Oliver replied with the aura of a zen master, teaching his pupil the profound truth he understood from life.

Then he walked closer to the table and took a paper cup to pour himself a cup of tea. freeweɓnovēl.coɱ

"Nice tea." He commented after taking a sip.

The sweet and refreshing tea with milk added to it satiated the itch in his mind. Finally, his brain, which was about to shut down from overwork, sprang back to life. His thoughts began to churn again. Finally, he connected the dots and realised what video the Thunder Emperor was talking about.

’It might be the video from the battle near the gate.’ He concluded.

After gulping down the hot tea like a madman, he placed the paper cup back onto the table and lifted his head to look at his surroundings.

"Are you done?" Thunder Emperor asked, noticing the life return to Oliver’s eyes.

For the past few seconds, Oliver had been running on autopilot, answering mindlessly and acting without his usual restraint. While the Thunder Emperor didn’t understand the joke, he had recognized Oliver’s state.

"Did the sugar wake you up?"

"Yes, it did." Oliver nodded.

Then his eyes finally turned to the third person in the room. His exhausted brain didn’t care about the person. But once he drank the tea, he began scrutinizing the old man sitting next to Achara.

Before Oliver could ask who he was, the short and stout man with receded hairline said:

"Hello, Oliver. I am the regional head of the Hero Union."

The man was wearing a normal business suit. But finally, Oliver noticed a pin attached to the lapel. It was a circular pin with metallic chrome finishing with an S engraved on it.

The pin was nondescript and beautiful.

"An S rank hero?" Oliver exclaimed.

S rank hero didn’t mean the person was an S rank superhuman. The Hero’s Rank reflects the achievements of the person rather than strength. But both are not mutually exclusive. Usually, the stronger people are higher ranked in the Hero Union. After all, only the strong had the power to achieve something great.

"My name is Kumara. You can call me Mr Kumara or by my hero name, The Boulder."

"Mr Boulder?"

Oliver said after hesitating for a while.

Oliver didn’t really have much memory about the boulder guy. Other than his position as an S-rank Hero and regional head of the Hero Union, there was nothing peculiar about this person. He just looked like a normal old man who would pamper his grandkids and buy them snacks.

’Now that I think about it. I am fucking famished. Is there anything to eat?’ Oliver glanced around to find anything edible.

Soon, he noticed a bag of biscuits hiding near the corner of the table, behind a box.

He desperately wanted to crawl up to it and eat it.

Although Oliver could heal his body infinitely with blood and offset the negative effects of hunger, the feeling of hunger would still persist. Thus, he preferred eating a good meal.

Mr Boulder noticed his gaze and reached out to grab the bag of biscuits. Then, with a smile, he handed them over to Oliver.

"Oh! Thank you."

Forgetting about everything else, Oliver took a seat and started to consume it.