Blood Nemesis
Chapter 144: Squeal

Chapter 144: Squeal

Oliver wasn’t one to consider himself infallible. In fact, he often thought the exact opposite. That humility allowed him to truly understand Root’s perspective.

He paused, a few seconds stretching into deep thought.

Finally, with a soft sigh, Oliver spoke.

"If you think I’m being too cruel, then you should catch it."

Root froze, completely blindsided. He’d never expected Oliver to pivot so quickly. His question—about the risks of losing control of the mana beast—had been meant as a gentle nudge, a subtle push towards a different approach. Instead, Oliver had spun on his heel, doing a complete one-eighty, and thrown the responsibility back at him.

To confirm he’d heard correctly, Root stammered, "What do you mean?"

Oliver simply shrugged. "If you think my way is cruel, then catch it in a way that isn’t. Can you do that?"

"I..." Root was utterly stumped.

"Don’t worry," Oliver reassured him, a faint smile playing on his lips. "Take all the time you need. Even if you fail, it’s fine. I never thought I’d actually manage to catch it anyway."

"But I thought catching it was important?" Root’s brows furrowed in confusion.

Oliver’s smile broadened. "Having a mythical beast as a tamed pet would certainly be nice. But even without it, I’ll still achieve my goals. The beast was just a fail-safe, a contingency in case something truly unpredictable happened."

"Huh!" Root’s eyes widened in surprise.

Ignoring Root’s shock, Oliver continued, "Adaptability is my only true strength. Plans change, and anything that can go wrong will go wrong. I can’t predict everything, nor can I prepare for every single scenario. So, I’m perfectly fine with a few unexpected turns, as long as they fall within an acceptable range. The lost opportunity would sting if we fail to catch it, but still, life goes on."

Oliver met Root’s gaze directly. "So, are you ready to catch it in a morally and ethically sound way?"

Root was speechless. He’d never thought twice about eating a freshly caught fish. Why should a mythical beast be any different?

’Maybe I overreacted a little...’ Root mused.

"Boss, that might be a little..." He began to object, but Oliver cut him off.

"No, you’re right. I agree. I was indeed a little delusional, thinking I could enslave a mythical creature, no less. So, let’s do it your way."

Oliver left no room for rejection.

And so, after a long, winding conversation, they officially became two kind beast-nappers.

That evening, as the setting sun bled scarlet across the sky, their communication device vibrated.

A message flashed on the screen: Put on the VR headset.

Oliver swatted away a buzzing mosquito and met Root’s eyes. A simple glance, a shared nod, and they both understood—the mythical beast had intruded upon their camp.

Oliver and Root rose from their foldable chairs and stepped onto the boat. The skewers of meat sizzling on the nearby grill were forgotten as they moved to retrieve their VR headsets.

Inside the boat, Oliver slipped on his headset. "So, we’re just observing it for now, right?"

"Yes," Root replied, following suit.

"Being kind seems like a waste of time," Oliver muttered, though a hint of amusement colored his tone.

Root activated his HUD, calling up the mythical beast’s location. Immediately, a blinking red dot appeared in their view, just beyond the boat’s walls, moving slowly towards them.

"Oh! I can see it!" Oliver exclaimed, a childish excitement in his voice.

"..."

While Oliver was thrilled, Root was internally panicking. He had no earthly idea how to tame any beast, let alone a mythical one. That’s precisely why he’d suggested merely observing it today.

He bit his lip, staring intently in the direction of the slowly approaching red dot.

’How do they catch beasts in games?’ he wondered.

’In games, you throw balls at them. But I don’t have any balls... Ugh, that came out weird. Anyway, the other method is saving it from immediate danger to gain its goodwill, then slowly building rapport by feeding it nice food. Or, the less kind way: beating it into submission.’

A flurry of thoughts, ranging from leveraging luck to outright abuse, raced through Root’s mind. He’d vowed to be kind, so the abusive methods were out.

’But I can’t rely on luck to put it in a situation where I can save it.’

’So, the only option left is feeding it, hoping it’ll like me.’

Root suddenly understood why Oliver had chosen the simpler, more direct approach.

’Being kind is difficult and time-consuming,’ he thought, a sigh escaping him.

’I really need to think twice before opening my mouth. Who the heck am I to take the moral high ground?’ He chastised himself.

Yet, he still decided to see it through. It was just a feeling, but he knew his decision was the right one. Taming the beast with mind control wasn’t foolproof. If it failed, it could easily become a much bigger problem down the line.

"Let’s go out and watch what it’s doing," Root finally said.

Outside, the red dot calmly circled their camp.

It didn’t even seem to notice the two humans who had suddenly stepped out of the boat.

"There’s no mana disturbance at all," Oliver murmured, genuinely amazed by the beast’s incredible stealth.

The mythical beast warped the light around it, rendering it almost invisible. If not for their cameras, sensitive to the spectrum just near infrared and UV, they would have remained utterly oblivious. Beyond its optical stealth, the creature also managed to mask any mana it released.

"We should stick to our dinner plans. Let the beast roam," Oliver stated, heading back to his chair. The tender meat sizzling on the grill made his mouth water. "Let us eat while it eats its fill." His voice trailed off as his figure faded into the dimly lit camp.

As the sun dipped below the horizon, the night’s darkness seeped into their camp, swallowing everything in its embrace. For the next few minutes, Oliver and Root sat, munching on freshly cooked dragon meat to alleviate their boredom, all while watching the mythical beast’s movements.

"It doesn’t fear human presence at all. It’s completely confident in its abilities, knowing we can’t see it," Oliver mused. "I can see why no one ever found it before us."

"Boss, how did you find it?" Root asked.

"Pure coincidence," Oliver replied, holding a skewer close to his face. He bit into the hot meat, the delicious fat and juices flooding his mouth as he pulled the piece free.

"Did you buy the information on the black market?"

"No comment."

"As a fellow guildmate, you could be a little more honest."

Oliver rolled his eyes, a gesture hidden by his VR headset. "I am not kind, honest, or intelligent. You should get used to these facts. The faster you accept them, the quicker you’ll understand your predicament."

"Oh!" Root grabbed a skewer of his own, imitating Oliver’s bite.

"OUCH!" But the heat was unbearable. A jolt of searing pain shot through his tongue, straight to his brain. "TOO HOT..." He squealed like a baby seal.

Oliver’s lips curled, his smile transforming into a sly smirk. "See? I didn’t even warn you it was hot."

Root’s high-pitched squeal, however, had snagged the mythical beast’s attention. It shot skyward, circling to pinpoint the origin of the sound. Root, busy guzzling water, remained oblivious. But Oliver saw everything clearly: the red blob, no bigger than a finger, now zipping through the sky as if responding to Root’s cry.

’Was it startled?’ Oliver mused. Yet, the nagging question of ’what if’ tugged at him. What if it was responding to Root’s squeal?

’Sigh. There’s only one way to test it,’ he muttered under his breath, barely audible.

Root, still dousing his burning tongue, didn’t hear him. Oblivious, he continued to chug water until the pain subsided, leaving a numbing sensation. But just as the discomfort faded, a fist flew out of nowhere, smacking him squarely on the head.

The force behind the blow was relatively light, but the pain it induced was excruciating. "OUU..." he squealed again, battling the sudden agony.

The high-pitched sound resonated outwards, reaching the finger-sized red blob circling above. It paused, then dashed forward, directly towards Oliver and Root. Suddenly, as if remembering something, the red dot hesitated, then slowly resumed its approach.

Meanwhile, Oliver ignored the squealing Root and focused on the mythical beast. After all, he was not concerned about Root since he was the one who smacked him. His immediate concern was only the flying mythical beast closing in on them.

Root rubbed his throbbing head, gave a bewildered look towards Oliver. He desperately wanted to know the reason behind the sneak attack. Had he truly annoyed Oliver to the point of him resorting to physical abuse?

"BOSS! MY HEAD!" He shouted.

"It’s still there in one piece. But before you scream again, look at that." Oliver said, slightly moving his finger to point towards a small table nearby.

Between the table and grill, a red dot was curiously circling, looking at them.