Blood Nemesis-Chapter 139: Expansion

Blood was his lifeline; to Oliver, more blood was always better.

Now, with increased visibility from the ship’s bright lights, the entire body of the turtle, half-covered in dirt, came into view.

Large chunks of meat were missing from its body. Oliver could see the teeth marks left by the flood dragon on the Ironshell Turtle’s shell. He knew that if he had been on the receiving end of that bite, his body would have been torn to bits.

’The turtle must have been weak,’ he thought.

’The dragon ambushed it while it was emerging from its slumber.’

Ironshell Turtles were known to sleep underwater for months or even years. When they emerged from sleep, their bodies became weak. The dragon had used this opportunity to kill the creature and consume its flesh.

’It’s a pity that a gentle creature like the Ironshell Turtle was killed,’ Oliver mused, looking at the carcass with a hint of sadness.

Ironshell Turtles were peaceful creatures that avoided conflict, and he didn’t wish to see such creatures dead.

’If possible, taming and using them as mounts would be the best idea,’ Oliver thought, swimming closer to the carcass. This enraged some of the crabs, who raised their giant claws and faced him.

He paid them no attention. Though they were C-rank creatures, they couldn’t harm him.

Other than their hard shells, huge bodies, and crushing claws, they had nothing going for them. If Oliver wanted to escape, none of them could stop him.

So, he swam just close enough to release a single tendril of blood into the giant carcass of the turtle. He intended to absorb the blood like a mosquito.

The tendril of blood acted like a hollow straw, plunging and worming its way discreetly into the turtle’s open wounds. Then, with a single thought, he absorbed the abundant blood inside the carcass.

The turtle’s carcass was still brimming with mana, keeping the blood and flesh fresh. Oliver greatly enjoyed absorbing the blood into his body.

However, because he was doing it stealthily with a small tendril as a link, the process was slow. It took him nearly an hour to fully absorb everything he could.

Finally, after the arduous process, his blood sac was filled. All 40,000 liters of its volume were filled with fresh red blood. It flowed inside like a small ocean, crashing against the inner wall.

Oliver smiled. He could sense more blood in the carcass. Leaving it there would be a mistake.

’Should I go back to the boat and break through the blood sac limit before continuing?’ he mulled.

Root might already be suspicious about what he was doing. After all, he was watching everything from the boat. If he continued absorbing blood, he might quickly grasp what was going on.

Then, the blood ability he had kept a secret would come out in the open.

Oliver focused his eyes and looked at the boat hovering above him.

’Who cares? What if he knew? It’s Root.’

He thought and dove closer to the carcass.

He didn’t care if Root found out, but he still decided to be careful and do something that might allow him to hide his ability.

Focusing on the hundreds of crabs, big and small, crawling on the carcass, he channeled some mana into his hand and threw it forward.

This enraged the crabs, which were fighting for food.

They thrashed their claws violently.

In a moment, mud rose from the lake bed.

Their fierce struggle once again decreased visibility in the lake.

Oliver used this chance to send a message through his communication device. Then he swam quickly into one of the open wounds near the turtle’s gut.

Using his blood tendrils as hooks, he drilled into the area where the intestines and organs had been.

Once inside, he saw smaller crabs crawling in the wound, eating away the flesh from the inside.

He was not surprised; he had seen it beforehand and knew what he was getting into.

When the crabs tried to attack him, Oliver dodged them and dove deeper.

The larger crabs wouldn’t be able to break through the turtle’s shell and chase him. The wound wasn’t big enough for them to get in.

Thus, his only problem now was the smaller crabs, the size of footballs.

’I need to enter deep into the abdominal cavity and find my way into a safe place near the heart...’

As he was thinking, he noticed something white moving around.

’Silver! It’s not white.’ In the darkness, he couldn’t see color; his blood sense could only reveal the vague form of the creature.

They were small crabs, and they were silver in color.

’Don’t tell me...’

’Are they the silver crabs I was searching for?’

The mythical beast liked to eat silver crabs. He was planning to use rock eel bait to catch them.

But now, when he wasn’t searching, he found them.

’This is great.’

The silver crabs moved ever so slightly as they used mana to claw into the turtle’s flesh.

There were hundreds, if not thousands, of similar glowing creatures all around him.

’When did I get so lucky!’

Oliver was thrilled.

He excitedly swam inside the cavernous body of the thirty-meter-wide turtle.

Most of the internal organs near the rear portion of the carcass, where the wounds were, had been consumed. So, the internal area became a large, open cavern where he could freely swim.

With the added power of his blood tentacles, he moved effortlessly inside while avoiding the majority of the crabs.

His eyes glanced from left to right, scanning the entire area to quickly estimate how many silver crabs were inside.

’Thousands...’

’There are thousands of them.’

This was more than a pleasant surprise.

’Maybe the silver crab population of the entire island is here.’

Silver crabs were supposed to be rare, but coming across them in such numbers almost made him laugh with joy.

His eyes twinkled with the thought of catching them all.

’First, I need to expand my blood sac. Then I should return with a net.’

He thought and swiftly made his way into a relatively safe part of the turtle.

It was near the heart.

The rest of the internal cavity was being consumed rapidly. But the crabs had yet to reach the area where the heart was.

Thus, Oliver pressed and squeezed through the flesh, organs, and chunks of fat to get into the heart.

The giant heart was three to four meters wide and muscular. Oliver pierced a vein and squeezed through it, reaching the inner cavity.

Promptly, he relaxed his body and floated in the thick blood inside.

’Now I need to do it.’

Other than safety, he had more reason for coming into the heart of the creature.

’I can consume the blood inside the heart to power my anaerobic respiration while I use all the blood inside the blood sac to expand it.’

The conditions were perfect, and he began to focus on his blood sac.

The golden coin was still spinning inside it, but it was barely visible under the viscous blood flowing inside.

’Swirl.’

He thought and manipulated the blood to move with practiced ease. As someone who had lived twice, his control over his ability was precise and calculated.

The blood began to spin in circular motions, pushing against the walls of the blood sac.

Oliver felt the pressure increase. Only by filling his blood sac could he get the initial pressure to crack the blood sac wall. He was satisfied with the situation.

As the pressure increased, he began to feel a tiny bit of pain.

’Here we go.’

As the blood moved, he willed it to rotate faster and faster.

The pain also increased as time went on.

Then, finally, after a few minutes of continuous effort, the churning blood built up enough pressure to crack the inner walls of the blood sac.

"Ehh!"

Oliver groaned.

The soul-wrenching pain he felt every time he expanded his blood sac was tremendous. Even Oliver, who had experienced all kinds of torture, found it difficult to bear.

However, he was not going to give up.

Pain was part of this process.

There was no gain without pain. Oliver knew it and further increased the velocity of the spinning fluid.

Splintering cracks that looked like lightning formed on the inner wall of the blood sac. The cracks moved through it and expanded, revealing dark patches.

These patches were weak spots. If left unchecked, the blood sac would completely tear apart and become unusable, crippling Oliver.

So, he had to be extremely careful now.

Focusing his mind, driven by his iron will, he moved a portion of the churning blood towards these cracks to fuse.

Once fused, the crack would be mended, returning to its previous state.

While Oliver was doing that, other cracks began to form all over the blood sac.

He had to split his mind to take care of all that simultaneously.

As the volume of the blood sac increased, it became harder and harder to expand. And the area of the blood sac wall directly influenced how much pain he would be feeling per second.

So, through all the suffering and pain, he focused intensely to channel the blood to heal the cracks.

Meanwhile, his body outside consumed the blood inside the turtle’s heart to heal itself and support his respiration.

It was a lengthy and challenging process that took several minutes.

Oliver’s unwavering will was the only thing keeping him sane through it all.

Soon, all the blood inside the sac was consumed to heal it.

"Ah..."

Oliver groaned and opened his eyes.