Chapter 533: Beast

A massive black hand, created by combining Ptah’s Assistant and the Black Suit, hurled the Quarterstaff under Oliver’s command.

Red Hood, impaled by the Zombie Puppet-Werewolf and deprived of its mobility, couldn’t evade this time.

The Quarterstaff, enhanced with black magic, struck Red Hood and drew a black line through the air before crashing into the Verdant Forest.

Boom!!

The Quarterstaff, which fell diagonally into the forest, stirred up a cloud of dust like a meteor, uprooting trees and overturning the ground.

Oliver shrank the damaged Zombie Puppet-Werewolf with reduction magic, put it in his coat, and then transformed the Black Suit into wings to glide down like a glider.

He landed with a soft tap.

Once on the ground, he observed the deeply gouged earth, uprooted bushes, broken trees, and the dust that rose higher than a man’s head.

The scene clearly demonstrated the power of the Quarterstaff.

The dust was so thick that it obscured the surroundings.

In the haze, Oliver focused on one spot as he began to speak.

“Impressive.”

Oliver cleared the dust with emotion particles before speaking again.

As the dust settled, Red Hood, now with a torn arm, and the fallen Quarterstaff became visible.

“To extend your arm in that brief moment and infuse it with black magic to defend yourself… truly impressive.”

Oliver admired.

This ambush, executed with the dimensional teleportation item from Hogg of the Road Gang, wasn’t just to divert the Wolf-Creature’s attention.

The goal was to fully subdue Red Hood in one go through the unpredictability and stealth inherent in teleportation magic.

Oliver predicted that without quick action, Red Hood would destroy the Zombie Puppet-Werewolf at the moment it was activated.

Everything went almost exactly as Oliver predicted.

However, Red Hood minimized the damage during that brief moment by sacrificing one arm, creating an opportunity to escape.

All this while being in a state of fear. It would be a difficult response for anyone without strong mental fortitude.

“…I cast the black magic Calm… for you.”

Red Hood replied in a gRavely voice, like something between a man and a beast, his words slow and halting.

“I wanted to talk with you.”

It was genuine. Oliver had cast Calm just before the attack to have a proper conversation with Red Hood.

Usually, beasts freaked out at the mere sight of Oliver, with some even harming themselves or suffering physical problems.

It would’ve been a shame to lose a talking beast just like that.

“Seems like you’re capable of more than just talking.”

Oliver thought as he observed Red Hood’s left arm, which had been split in two but was now gradually rejoining.

Parasites slithered from the torn surface and reconnected the flesh and nerves.

Squirm, squirm, squirm.

It appeared that the black magic used was of a disease-related type, manipulating the nature of parasites to form a symbiotic relationship with the host.

“You seem to possess considerable skill.”

“…?”

“The black magician who created you, Red Hood. Twisting the essence of a creature to such an extent isn’t easy.”

Oliver spoke based on the dark magic books and research journals he had studied.

While it’s easy to make animals more ferocious or insects more poisonous through black magic, modifying intelligence or altering the intrinsic nature is extremely difficult.

It’s like trying to make fire cold. A completely different mechanism is required.

There have been attempts, but no successful cases, and you are living proof standing before me.

“But it seems you don’t see it that way, do you?”

Oliver remarked as Red Hood, trembling like an animal, recalled shame, fear, anger, hatred, and resolve.

It was unclear what exactly happened, but it seemed the experiment to gain intelligence was not a pleasant memory for Red Hood.

And it was understandable. Most experiments conducted with black magic involved tremendous suffering.

“But isn’t it better this way?”

Oliver maintained his scholarly demeanor—as the creature before him was, after all, still an animal.

“You gained human intelligence, didn’t you?”

Red Hood stayed silent, filled with disgust and humiliation.

Even though Oliver had no intention of causing such feelings.

Who would humiliate a beast? After all, it’s just a beast.

In fact, Oliver’s words were purely based on curiosity and admiration.

Nevertheless, Red Hood felt only humiliation and disgrace.

A conflict between perspectives—between man and beast.

Interestingly, before, Red Hood couldn’t have felt such emotions.

Instinct would have left no room for such sentiments when faced with Oliver. But now it was different.

Ironically, thanks to the Calm spell Oliver cast to enable conversation, Red Hood could now feel the luxury of humiliation even in Oliver’s presence.

Whether that was a blessing or a curse, no one knew, but Red Hood opened his mouth anyway, stuttering.

“Did…you…chase me…just to…talk?”

As Red Hood broke the silence, Oliver responded immediately.

“No, technically, it wasn’t just about that. The reason I’ve been chasing you is because of the key.”

Red Hood, hearing Oliver’s response, felt a sense of understanding.

That’s usually the only goal these people had here. It was strange for a being like this to covet the Flesh Cook’s legacy.

“And there’s one other thing I would like to ask.”

“…?”

“Why are you afraid of me?”

Oliver asked earnestly. He really didn’t know why beasts freaked out whenever they saw him.

“…Don’t you…know?”

Red Hood asked with difficulty.

It made sense. After all, Red Hood was the one curious about this creature masquerading as a human, standing on two legs.

Without the witch’s experiment, Red Hood would still be a mere beast, fleeing instead of questioning.

But after consuming human flesh, gaining intelligence and ambition, now face-to-face, the suppressed desire to question surged up.

What kind of unreasonable existence are you?

“What…are…you?”

“Pardon?”

“What…ARE you!?”

Oliver looked at Red Hood with great interest.

Red Hood’s earlier response was fascinating, but this question was even more so.

Questions are active, while answers are passive.

More fascinating was that Red Hood was still afraid of Oliver—to the point of shaking like the other beasts.

Yet, even while scared, it was still asking questions. Even though it had gained intelligence by eating humans, it was limited.

Acquiring intelligence through flesh-eating is only a partial shortcut. Red Hood’s active stance was the result of its own will—an animal’s will.

It was truly fascinating. An animal had the will of a person.

It made Oliver want to capture and analyze him.

Did Red Hood read into Oliver’s thoughts? Red Hood’s fur bristled, and he quickly retreated, increasing the distance.

He didn’t completely flee. Only because he feared sudden movement might provoke his death.

Thus, Red Hood simply withdrew to stay alive.

Oliver, recalling the beasts he encountered before, noticed Red Hood’s fear and walked forward with his undamaged left hand out, scooping up the Quarterstaff.

“Don’t be afraid. I have no intention of harming you.”

Oliver spoke as he had when he first dealt with animals.

Back then, no explanation worked, and he had given up, but this was different as he tried explaining again to Red Hood.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

Still, there wasn’t much difference.

‘After all, is a beast just a beast?’

Oliver wondered as he saw Red Hood trembling fearfully, huddled up, and clenching his teeth.

It was just like the rats that swarmed the orphanage or the dogs that barked at the kids in the mines.

Oliver saw the same fear as usual. No matter how many times he said it was okay, the reaction never changed, and in turn, Oliver decided to no longer concern himself with animals. Because—

—Thud.

Red Hood, trembling, threw something with his hand.

An old iron key.

Oliver immediately recognized it as the key to enter the ancient castle, where the Flesh Cook’s legacy was hidden.

“…”

Red Hood threw the key while avoiding Oliver’s gaze.

He had just surrendered his desires, ambition, anger, humiliation, hatred, and resolution to Oliver.

He seemed to be saying, take this key and leave me alone. Fear had swallowed everything else.

Seeing that, Oliver realized something.

Given his state, trying to ask why he was afraid would not yield a proper answer.

Oliver hesitated, wondering if he should continue the conversation or just take the key and leave.

Professionally, taking the key would suffice. After all, that was the reason he had come here in the first place.

However, personally, he found it hard to just leave. How often does one get the chance to speak with a beast?

For Oliver, who had resolved to learn more about himself, this opportunity was too valuable. Very, very valuable…

Still, after long consideration, Oliver decided to withdraw.

While he was curious about why Red Hood feared him, it would be difficult to get a proper response in this state, and the beast was utterly terrified.

Of course, there were means to extract an answer forcefully, but seeing Red Hood trembling… that didn’t seem right.

Oliver didn’t know the specific reason why, but—

Ultimately, Oliver decided to just stick with the key and be satisfied.

“After all, a beast is just a beast?”

Overcome with disappointment, Oliver mumbled as he reached for the key on the ground.

At that moment, a black flash surged as numerous projectiles rapidly flew and struck Oliver, followed by a series of massive explosions.

Boom!!

They weren’t just simple explosive projectiles.

Red Hood had projected his own sharp claws into the projectiles, adding a physical force that burrowed deep into the target right before the explosion, while focusing on the same spot repeatedly, aiming to pierce through any potential defenses.

A powerful yet meticulous attack.

Nevertheless, Oliver countered it using a shield in the shape of a convex lens.

“Grrrrrr!!”

“Raaarrr!!”

“Hissss!!”

“Howl!!”

But Red Hood wasn’t caught off guard. He created four more Wolf-Creatures just like before, attacking Oliver from the front, left, right, and above.

Despite the enormous pressure from the wolves attacking from four directions at once, Oliver remained calm and deployed shields to block all four directions.

The giant wolves collided with the black, transparent barriers, creating massive shockwaves in the air simultaneously.

As the shockwaves resonated from all four directions, the shields received severe impacts, causing a crack.

Whether by design or coincidence, the reinforced shields, meant to withstand significant force, cracked and shattered.

Through the fractures, the teeth of the Wolf-Creatures snuck in, aiming at Oliver, but he quickly responded with black magic.

[Objective Hate]

[Black Shield]

Rather than disintegrating into dust, the shattered shield fragments turned into bullets, piercing the Wolf-Creatures that had destroyed them.

The fragments embedded in sensitive areas like the eyes, nose, and mouth, caused the creatures to momentarily freeze in pain.

Oliver then added emotion to the fragments, reactivating Black Shield, which shredded the Wolf-Creatures into pieces.

In a swift attack, the creatures disintegrated and disappeared like smoke. Just then, Oliver detected a strong magic field and spell through the fading creatures.

Zzzzzzzz!

Lightning pierced through the dissipating creatures and rushed forward with a terrifying, grating sound electrical surges would make on a massive steel structure.

Both the earlier fire magic and the Wolf-Creatures were mere setups for this one strike.

This one attack would have severely injured even a high-level mage.

Most wouldn’t expect a Wolf-Creature using dark magic to suddenly employ a top-tier lightning-based spell while charging.

Fortunately for Oliver, he wasn’t just any mage.

In that brief moment, he twisted his body and used the Quarterstaff to block the incoming lightning.

Facing backward, he turned to look at Red Hood, still clad in electricity, and asked.

“Why did you suddenly start fighting?”

“I’m…not a beast!”

The wolf—no, Red Hood—replied as he stuffed the key he had thrown into his mouth, along with a piece of dried meat.

He had made up his mind.

As the key, dried meat, and resolve went down his throat, not just dark magic but also various forms of energy, including nature’s power, radiated, and he leaped forward, vanishing with a shockwave.