Blood Nemesis

Oliver walked through the familiar alley to find the nearest gaming cafe. He wanted to relax for a few minutes until the exam was over.

As he was walking, he suddenly felt a cool breeze rub against his cheeks. The morning breeze should have been cold, but…

Tilting his head up, Oliver looked at the sky.

Rain clouds were creeping over the city from the east.

"Cloudy with the chance of rain…Cloudy…" Oliver frowned.

"...Cloudy?"

As he observed the crowd, he noticed something amiss.

The cloud was there.

However, something else was moving within.

He squinted his eyes.

Tiny black dots were moving through the cloud.

An ominous feeling began to envelop Oliver. He glanced over the streets and ensured no one was nearby before jumping onto the nearest building.

He used the railings around the building to climb up rapidly.

Within a few seconds, he was on top of a ten-story building.

His visibility improved instantly.

The entire cloud soon came into his view.

Far away, high above his head, the entire eastern horizon was covered in a similar-looking cloud.

"Fuck!" Oliver cursed under his breath.

As soon as Oliver realised what was happening, he cursed.

A few peaceful months in Dragon City made him believe it was the norm.

But it was anything but that…

Because of the presence of permanent gates and high mana density in the air, almost all mutant beasts target the city. After all, it was the best place for the mutant beast to live, since they needed mana to evolve further.

"From the looks of it, that's a swarm."

In the sky, the tiny dots he saw and the cloud were some kind of insect-type mana beasts. They were swarming towards the city.

"Mutants. Which type of mutant?" Oliver wanted to take a closer look.

The swarm was flying towards him, but it was still far away.

As he stood there frustrated, the sirens along the city began to come to life.

"Paaaaang…"

It rang with a sound that made the city stand still. Soon after, an announcement came through the same speakers.

"Orange alert. Orange alert. All citizens are advised to remain within their homes. A swarm of blood beetles are detected flying towards the city. I repeat, the mutant beast, Blood beetles, are seen flying towards the city. Everyone is advised to remain within their homes. For safety, please shut your windows and stay within…."

The voice continued to speak without stopping. The siren rang along with it in specific intervals.

"Blood beetles?" Oliver was unimpressed.

Blood beetles were not that dangerous. They were a low-ranked mutated version of a beetle found on Earth. If strictly classified, they could be considered an F-ranked mana beast. As such, a single beetle would only have a unit of mana within their body.

It was barely amongst the ranks of mutant mana beasts.

The only real problem with them is their large numbers. Once it swarms the city, it will kill and drink the blood of anything it sees.

However, they pose no real danger to humans as long as you're careful because they won't chase you down, nor can they break into your house with their measly strength.

Once the hunters and other superhumans are deployed, they could kill them all. And without a source of sustenance, the blood beetles would die off in a week.

They were nothing to be worried about.

Other than wasting time, it posed no real danger.

Oliver quickly pulled out his phone and called home.

Due to the orange alert, everyone was already preparing to leave work and return home. The SMB and Hero Union are already taking measures to control traffic and ensure the public can safely reach home.

The rest, who can't leave work, were being sealed inside the building.

"Mom, I won't be coming home for a while," Oliver said when the person on the other side accepted the call.

Maya knew that, as a superhuman, her son would have to work, and she didn't try to convince him otherwise. She just accepted it and asked him to be safe.

Oliver accepted it and jumped off the building, returning to East High School.

Most people would remain within the building they were in for safety. After all, the swarm was already upon them; the east side won't have the time to evacuate.

Thus, Oliver decided to stay there and see what was about to happen.

Furthermore, the exam was in progress. They won't be stopping for a mutant beast invasion of this scale.

Blood beetles were considered far too weak for them to stop the exams.

"If it were a red or black alert, the exam would have stopped," Oliver said, looking back at the school and the people panicking.

"Ah…sigh. Why today of all days?" Oliver said and looked up at the sky.

As time passed, the dark clouds over them were thickening. The forms of the dark-shelled beetles flying in tandem were being revealed.

Each Blood beetle was the size of a coconut. There were millions of them flying over him.

"The main food of the blood beetle is…obviously blood. This is an opportunity to upgrade my rank or increase mana sensitivity."

"Uh!" With a disgusted look, Oliver shook his head. "But I don't like beetlejuice." He muttered.

—

A few seconds later, the phones of all superhumans lit up simultaneously. They were called to take action to eliminate the beetle swarm.

Oliver watched the people disappear into their cars or nearby buildings while clutching their phones.

His parents were in a safe space.

His brother and sister-in-law were at home.

Root's family was at home.

The remaining people he cared about were taking the exam.

Additionally, for all of them, an extra layer of security was provided by military personnel. So, he had nothing to worry about.

When he looked around, he saw superhumans emerge from nearby buildings with weapons in their hands.

Guns, swords, spiky shields, spears and much more were in their hands.

"Let's do this," Oliver muttered, and he took out an alloy utility knife hidden under his tracksuit, which was strapped to his thigh.

As usual, he was prepared.

There was a set of swords on the minivan parked nearby, too.

He had plenty of weapons at his disposal.