Chapter 159: What a liar.

Amid the monster’s furious barrage of attacks, Eva managed to see a thick red mist spreading through the air, which quickly led her to think of all the unconscious savages on the ground. Imagining what had happened, her face turned greatly pale, and she covered her mouth to avoid vomiting—though even if she did, she really doubted anything would come out.

But despite her body’s discomfort at the thought of the massacre that had occurred, Eva truly couldn’t feel the slightest bit of compassion for those savages. Even though she had never been able to understand a single word they said, it was more than clear to her that they were the worst type of scum that could exist. Especially that bastard son of a bitch of a “leader”.

Those savages had not only tortured her, raped her, and used her in the worst possible ways—always threatening her with her son’s life. In reality, she and her son were the last survivors of a group of nine who had arrived on the island after surviving a dramatic shipwreck and furious storms. Besides being tortured and mistreated like her, they had already fallen victim to the “ritual” these savages carried out once a month.

While Eva recalled the faces of her deceased companions, her discomfort quickly calmed, even as her fists clenched from the powerlessness and pain of months of pure torture. But right at that moment, she was suddenly called by the fairy, who announced in a voice filled with seriousness.

“Master is about to arrive. Prepare to depart.”

Upon hearing the fairy’s words, Eva couldn’t help but look at her in surprise, yet with a hint of burgeoning hope. She still remembered the fairy’s earlier words, telling her that her “master” would bring her son, which made her clench her wounded fists tightly.

If that “master” truly was capable of saving her beloved son, it didn’t matter what price she had to pay—she would pay it gladly. With a big smile, she would hand over all her possessions and do anything he wanted, even if her very dignity as a human and as a woman was placed on the gambling table.

In this world, there wasn’t a single thing she wouldn’t do for her son’s safety. Moreover, in these months on the island, there had practically been nothing she hadn’t already been forced to do. Men and women alike had humiliated and destroyed her in every way they could imagine, so she was already numb and ready for anything.

“He’s here! Let’s go!”

Just then, while Eva was filled with hope and resolve, she again heard the voice of the beautiful fairy, telling her something that made her heart jump and adrenaline flood her body. She quickly leapt up from the ground in a single bound, prepared for whatever might come and not caring in the slightest about her nakedness, which revealed her abused state, covered with various cuts, burns, and huge bruises.

…

…

…

[Master?!!!! Are you alright?!!!]

Flung away by the sudden attack, Kai suddenly received a telepathic message from Sage, who asked in a panic-filled tone. He quickly responded while gritting his teeth to endure the pain that coursed through his entire body, still crashing into trees at high speed.

[Don’t loosen Eva’s defense, no matter the cost. Keep her safe!]

[Understood…] After a moment, Sage replied, albeit with great reluctance. But Kai quickly added in a hurried tone.

[The thing that hit me might be able to teleport and also cause severe internal damage. Immobilize it before it does anything!]

[Understood.]

Sage responded quickly in a serious tone, the moment Kai collided forcefully with an especially thick tree—at least four meters wide—which managed to halt his trajectory at the cost of being completely destroyed. The tree began to fall slowly to the ground as Kai tried to recover from the brutal impact.

(I really kicked the hornet’s nest…)

As he tried to mend his resentful organs, Kai couldn’t help but think bitterly to himself because he could sense at least a hundred “voices” of different levels of power rapidly approaching. Those ranged from small fries to a strength level comparable to Mirko’s—and there were quite a few of the latter.

But even worse than that hundred “voices” was that among them were two standout presences of particularly great power, which, thanks to Trace, Kai could identify as part of the original group of five he had marked—specifically, the spider with [Geological Manipulation] and the one with [Gas Generation].

(It was a mistake to expose myself; the correct decision was to ignore Eva…)

Rising from what remained of the gigantic tree, Kai couldn’t help but think to himself because the spiders’ power was too frightening, not something he could easily handle. Even so, there wasn’t the slightest trace of regret on Kai’s face. Instead, he wore a defiant smile.

(Hehehe, what a liar. As if I could ever let that face die before my eyes…)

Filled with derision at himself and his own foolishness, Kai quickly accelerated his thoughts to the maximum, causing potent purple lightning to flicker in his eyes. The world around him seemed to come to a complete stop thanks to his sped-up perception, but at the cost of a terrible headache due to the overexertion.

Ignoring the pain, Kai swiftly organized his thoughts and carefully analyzed his situation, quickly arriving at a feasible plan to rescue both Eva and Oliver. But at that moment, a thought crossed his mind that inevitably made him reflect.

(Why did they eradicate almost all living things on that island? Is it connected to the reason Eva is here? Why did they leave just one survivor and one corpse?)

Though he went over it several times in his accelerated mental state, Kai couldn’t arrive at any answer, so he had no choice but to set aside those thoughts for now and quickly focus on the plan. He studied the terrain and the nearby presences to make small adjustments before communicating with his reliable assistant.

[Sage, I’ll use Shadow Cloak again and meet you with Oliver in exactly 2 minutes and 13 seconds. Make the necessary preparations.]

[Understood, Master. I’ll use Absolute Fortress.]

Kai’s simple statement was more than enough for Sage to understand his intentions, so she quickly responded in a serious tone, causing Kai to nod in satisfaction. It was the best solution because using Shadow Cloak meant he could only use 5% of his aura. Against that monster, that basically spelled death for Eva.

Therefore, the solution was simple: pay the cost up front. The way to do that was straightforward. The skill cards took the total aura cost in advance, so even if he could only use 5% of his aura, the Absolute Fortress barrier wouldn’t be affected. And since it was his strongest defensive skill, he could rest easy.

The Absolute Fortress card functioned somewhat similarly to his Isolation Veil card. To activate it, he had to say out loud the size and the duration, which would conjure incredibly sturdy walls at the place where the card was activated, and they couldn’t be moved. Additionally, those inside the barrier could leave, but nothing could enter—not even sound.

Furthermore, the walls’ strength depended on the size and duration. The smaller and the shorter the time, the tougher they were, starting from 1 meter for 1 second, up to 30 meters for 15 minutes, with the minimum being almost indestructible. The maximum was strong enough to withstand Kai’s most powerful attacks, sustaining only scratches.

In exchange for such impressive defensive power, the Absolute Fortress card could only be used eight times a month. Also, activating it at its maximum range and duration cost two of those uses. Moreover, though Sage, as part of Kai himself, could activate the cards, there was a penalty if Sage was too far away, increasing the number of uses consumed accordingly. In this case, it cost two uses, leaving only six more.

“[Shadow Cloak] On!”

Having settled on the route and sensing the large aura drain from activating [Absolute Fortress], Kai quickly knocked out the nearby spiders—which, fortunately, were weak—then cast and activated the skill card, soon enveloped by the black cloak and disappearing completely. At that moment, he crouched down, forcing his leg muscles to work at full capacity and bulge disproportionately.

(I only have one chance to rescue Oliver and hurry to get Eva out of this spider hell. There’s no room for mistakes. If all those spiders show up, I’m a dead man.)

Confirming his plan of action once again, Kai shot forward at high speed toward the spider that was about to capture Oliver. But to his surprise, at that moment, he sensed another spider appearing out of nowhere in the area—one of the original five, the one they theorized had [Web Master] as its Quirk.

(Is teleportation common here or what?! How the fuck did it appear out of nowhere? Even worse, why didn’t it appear in front of me like the other one when I revealed myself?)

Though surprised and somewhat irritated, Kai kept going through the air without the slightest intention of stopping. After all, he was racing against time; if he couldn’t get Eva and her son out before the spiders converged, the game was basically over. Abandon the child or face death—that was all that remained.

In just a few seconds, Kai could see with his own eyes the spider that was dragging Oliver, which was about two meters in length and somehow seemed made of magma. It featured a hard black exterior shell with various cracks through which a reddish, fire-like light shone.

Meanwhile, next to it was a spider that looked fairly normal aside from its size—about a meter tall, black, with a body structure that made it look agile. It was releasing webs from its enormous abdomen, apparently creating its own defensive perimeter—obviously, it could control them at will.

Seeing that the area was filled with webs stretching between trees and vines on the ground, Kai slowed down a little and examined it, because for some reason, those webs made him feel uneasy. Quickly, he stopped and touched a nearby tree, extending his aura through it until he found a small insect, which he then manipulated to approach the webs.

The moment the insect came into contact with the webs, it immediately dissolved into a strange, bloody pulp, which startled Kai a bit. Not wanting to find out just how effective those webs would be on his body, he quickly studied their positions. Shortly after, he found a route that would let him avoid touching them, at which point he rushed forward at full speed.

(What the—?!)

Right when Kai crossed into the area surrounded by webs, he suddenly saw a vision of himself in the future, trapped by them, with his skin melting. He tried to stop, but before he could do anything, webs materialized out of nowhere around him, forcibly deactivating his Shadow Cloak. At the same time, a sharp pain tore through him as his skin began to melt at an alarming rate.

“Shit!”

Letting out a cry of pain, Kai was instantly surrounded by dark purple electricity, while his Armament Haki protected his skin, halting the melting in its tracks. But despite all his strength, he couldn’t break the webs. At that moment, he saw how both the fire spider and the black spider noticed his presence and attacked simultaneously—one launching something like a fireball, and the other shooting several terrifying webs.

Kai instantly sped up his thoughts to the maximum, then summoned six Jian swords in the air. He hurled two of them at the spiders, propelling them with powerful electromagnetic fields. Another two he used to intercept the enemy attacks, while the last two he controlled to rotate around him at high speed, managing with some effort to cut through the webs—a testament to how damn strong they were.

Once free, Kai ignored the parts of his skin that had melted in several places and quickly turned his attention to the outcome of his attack, quickly noting that although the fire spider was completely impaled by his sword, it was still alive. Even more incredible, his other sword had gotten stuck in the webs just before striking the black spider, which inevitably made him click his tongue in annoyance.

(They’re so tough!)

Without wasting a second, Kai pointed one of his hands at the impaled fire spider—or more specifically, at the sword that had run it through. A terrifying purple bolt immediately shot from his fingers, striking the sword dead-on and electrocuting the spider from the inside. Meanwhile, another Jian sword appeared in his right hand.

Even though Kai had done all this, only an instant had passed. The black spider, which seemed to move in slow motion from Kai’s perspective, began to produce more webbing to attack him again. So Kai accelerated quickly, leaving an electric trail behind him and appearing behind the spider with the intention of stabbing it.

But once more, without him understanding how, Kai found himself enveloped by more webs, which not only completely bound him but also clung firmly to the nearby trees and the vine-covered ground. His momentum was so great that they were quickly torn apart, but at that instant, Kai felt Oliver’s “voice” grow even weaker.

“Shit!!”

***

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