Oliver left block 5 with a heavy heart.
He didn't have any time to bury the bodies of the children.
'Does respecting the dead matter when you can't even respect the living.'
Oliver shook his arms and wiped off the dust on his body.
The combat suit hugging him was torn in multiple places, and all his instruments were broken. Only the dim light provided by the glowing spectre lighted his path.
Oliver swiftly wiped the dust on his body and lifted his combat knife, preparing to deal with unexpected scenarios.
"What made you think I can't kill the flesh lump monster?" Oliver asked.
"The monster is evolving at a pace you can't imagine. Soon, it will lose both its mind and body and become what you call an abomination." The mink replied while slowly guiding Oliver into the heart of the outpost.
It was fulfilling its promise that it would help Oliver save his teammates.
"I thought so."
"Currently, even A rankers don't stand a chance against it. With your strength, you would have died if you followed it."
The mink was obviously looking down on Oliver. At a glance, it knew that Oliver was not a strong superhuman. With the knowledge it amassed on superhumans, it could easily make that judgement.
"You barely have any mana in your body. The abilities you have are blood control and superhuman healing. Both are a bad match against that creature…"
The mink floated next to Oliver's ear.
The four-meter-long, dimly glowing body of it flowed like water as it moved.
"Just like you, it can drink blood and heal." The mink added.
"You seem to be underestimating me. I always find a way to kill those who are stronger than me. And this time, it will not be different."
As Oliver was speaking, the mink suddenly paused. It caught him off guard and his body walked right through its intangible body.
"What?" Oliver exclaimed.
"This is bad for you." The mink's ears twitched, its head turned to the south and all the hair on its body stood up.
"This is really bad." It spoke, exasperated by what it was sensing.
As a creature that was made up entirely of mana, it could feel something in the south direction.
"What is?"
"The snake woke up earlier than expected. It seemed to have sensed the abomination."
"What snake!"
"The mountain king." The mink seemed to have gained more knowledge about human words after it shared memories with Oliver. It expressed its concern in a grave tone.
"The mountain king is preparing to attack the abomination."
"The S rank mana beast?"
"Yes. You have to hurry if you want to save your friends. It will attack anytime now."
'Abomination is a threat to even S rank mana beast. It's not out of the ordinary that it will attack an abomination that was being born. No wonder the mountain king showed signs of awakening when we set out.' Oliver thought.
"We don't have much time. As we planned, I will distract the monster. You will save your people."
"Okay, but what exactly is the mountain king doing?"
"From what I could feel, it is preparing mana for a large-scale attack."
"So, I would have to save them and bring them far away. Would it be possible?"
"Maybe." The mink made no promises.
The mink didn't know much about the mountain king. All it had was the information Oliver and the kids had, basically nothing.
However, it knew that an S-rank mana beast was dangerous. So, it predicted that the attack would also be extremely dangerous.
Just the mana it sensed was enough to make it wary.
The mink's survival depended on the ancient temple beneath the mountain. However, it didn't know if it would survive once the mountain king attacked.
However, it hid all its worries and helped Oliver.
It had to keep its promise.
"Let's hurry."
Oliver quickened his pace. They were heading to block 9 and were taking it slow since they were trying to be cautious. But now, time was of the essence.
After a short while, they reached the inner part of the outpost where block 9 was.
However, they didn't see any signs of the monster.
"Are you sure it's inside?"
"Yes."
Oliver and the mink whispered.
Oliver crouched and slowly made his way towards the front door of block 9. He tried to peek inside to take a quick scope of the situation.
Meanwhile, the Mink came in front of him and shook its finger.
'Don't do that.'
It was not difficult to understand what it meant.
However, Oliver's terminal distrust towards others forced him to take a peak.
With a glance, he scouted the situation ahead.
Just like what the mink had said, the creature was inside.
A monster that was a couple of meters tall, looked like a blob of rolling flesh, stayed right in the middle of block 9.
The scientific equipment and computers were covered by its flesh tentacles.
When he looked up, he saw flesh sacs hanging on the ceiling. Inside it were bodies of people.
Oliver quickly peaked once again at the ceiling.
There were about fifty sacs holding the sedated people.
'According to the mink, the monster was using people as mana batteries to accelerate its evolution. On one hand, it was good that people were considered useful because they were kept alive. But on the other hand, they will die once their usefulness expires.'
"You know what to do, right?" Oliver asked the mink.
"Hmm." The mink hummed in affirmation.
"Okay, let's do this."
Oliver took in a deep breath and ran to a discrete corner.
Meanwhile, the mink sprang into action and flew towards the monster.
Although it was a manga-based creature without a physical body, distracting the monster was not without risk.
While it can ignore physical attacks, the ones that contain mana could harm it.
For example, the explosion attack the monster used on the command centre could certainly harm it. So, it had to be careful while leading it away.
The spectre flew right above the monster and caught its attention.
Instinctively, the monster stopped what it was doing and chased the mink.