“Why are trashes so unreliable?” Tian Ling shook his head as he looked at Miles lying motionless on the ground.

“Reynold, go and check it out.” Tian Ling said to the man standing behind him. Reynold was the son of the chief guard at their mansion. Luckily, they both spawned in the same stronghold, and ever since, Reynold became his right-hand man.

“Yes, boss.” Reynold nodded and walked to Miles, lying face down on the ground. He kicked him when he approached and saw the blood. “He must have gotten some injuries when he was in the river.”

None of them were able to see Miles self-injuring himself with the sword, so they assumed he had internal bleeding, causing him to pass out cold. Reynold then crouched down and was about to turn Miles over when a hand grabbed him by his arm. Before he could react, he was sent flying.

Miles pulled Reynold by the arm, while turning his back to the ground. He pulled Reynold on his feet, as he pulled his knees in. On the other hand, Reynold laid on his feet looking at the ceiling, thinking what the hell just happened. Before he could react, Miles pushed his feet to the sky, throwing the teen into the sky with great force, sending him off to the rocky island.

Miles put all his power onto his two legs and threw Reynold off. All of these happened in a split second. Tian Ling and his goons were too slow to react when they realized what was happening. Reynold got sent flying towards the island.

Miles self-injured himself by cutting the palm of his hand with the sword Tian Ling gave him. He had to act weak to pull one of Tian Ling’s men to distract the monster. Otherwise, there is no way to escape at all. Even though it was risky, it was the only thing he could do. Miles's body was already aching due to the adrenaline rush he had earlier when the serpent-like monster came chasing him. He was about to pass out, but he hung on to get out of this predicament.

Reynold flew over the pond and was at least 5 meters in the air. He was around 90 kilos. Any person could only throw him a meter or two in the air. But Miles was able to send him flying more than that. He was someone who had used the second Strengthening Serum. Even though he had not reached maximum strength yet, he could still throw a person 5 meters in the air.

Unfortunately, that distance wasn’t enough to evade the giant monster lurking beneath the water. It was then that the monster jumped out of the pond with its giant maw aiming at airborne Reynold.

Reynold's surprised face lost its color when he noticed the monster. There was not much he could do in mid-air.

Tian Ling saw his right-hand man being bitten by the beast, and roared in rage. Water dragons started to form in the air.

Miles couldn’t wait any longer, nor did he care what would happen; he held his breath and jumped into the pond. He dived deeper and deeper in a short second. He had only one thought in mind, that was to escape.

Miles, of course, did not trust in his luck. He and Coin reasoned that the monster would not chase him while Tian Ling and his men were left in the cave with its child unprotected. Secondly, there was more fresh meat in the cave. Why would it chase after him? He was right, though. The monster indeed stayed in the cave but gave out a scream.

“This can’t be good.” Miles thought and had activated his heat vision. He looked through the thick walls and saw that the monster, which was by the entrance of the cave, was now in the river, diving with record speed.

Miles's back went cold even in the freezing water. He donned his maroon armor and pulled out the newest orb he acquired. The orb charged on its own with an electric sword appearing in his hand.

When Miles feigned fainting, he turned the sword Tian Ling gave him into orb form and hid it in his bag. Since Tian Ling forced him to die, he, of course, wouldn’t be nice to him. Now that he had two electric equipment, he felt more secure.

Not long after, the giant monster appeared in front of Miles with its maw wide open. Miles floated in the water as he waited for it to approach him.

As it arrived, he unleashed his strongest attack. Blue current coiled around his maroon armor, and in a short second, a globe of lightning unleashed in the underground water.

Water was conductive, and most of the aquatic creatures were susceptible to electricity. Miles was hoping this monster would be as well. When the globe of blue light passed through the monster, it screamed underwater, roaring at Miles. It got stunned with the strengthened lightning thanks to water, giving Miles a breathing room, figuratively.

Miles didn’t dally around. He retracted the sword back to its orb form after attacking once with it and swam away as fast as he could. He didn’t look behind and swam with his already tired and aching body. His speed was a lot slower, but still faster than any pre-invasion man could swim.

The monster didn’t stay stunned for long. After five seconds, it could already move and chased after Miles. It hated this human because he hurt it so much, and so, it wanted to eat him even more.

Miles was underwater. To get out, he started to swim upward. With the help of buoyancy, his ascending was faster than his swimming, and he could see the rays of light piercing the murky water. He swam towards the light with hope and ignored the monster behind him. He knew he couldn’t swim too long, so he had to find a way to evade the beast.

Miles was close to the surface when he fished out another two orbs, one pink in color and the other was purple. He kept them in his hand as he surfaced out of the water. He had heat vision the monster didn’t have. As soon as he was out of it, he turned back and observed the monster by its heat signature.

Not long after, the monster surfaced out as well. Its leap was higher and would land on the shore without a problem. However, it was a shame that it was unable to see Miles while it was underwater.

By that time the beast surfaced, Miles had already charged the orbs he fished out, and it turned into a giant pink stick with a net on top, the other one was a shield with spikes at front. It was the orb he earned by saving Porseila and the shield orb was the one he acquired from porcupines. At first, Miles groaned at having such a useless item such as a fishing net. He never thought it would come in handy so soon, shield was just in case.

As the monster rose to the air with its giant-scaled body, Miles already drained his leap and started to fall. He put the shield between himself and the monster. As soon as the monster clashed with the shield, like a torpedo, the force swung Miles back towards the shore. At the same time, the fishing net in his hand swung to the monster's muzzle and covered the monster’s long neck. Unfortunately, the monster was too big, and the net couldn’t cover its whole body. But it was good enough.

Miles used all his power to deviate the monster from its trajectory and was able to swing it to the water once again with the net still on its muzzle. The monster tried to bite it to get away but to no avail. Although the monster was pinnacle-tier, the net was also high-tier. It couldn’t be destroyed so easily.

Miles controlled the beast towards the river. He quickly ran away from the river as soon as he landed and used the power of the armor too. He left the bloody river, the bloody-eating monsters, and Tian Ling and his men to their bloody fate.

When he was a little distance away, he quickly fished out his transportation orb and charged it. Miles hopped onto the car and let Coin drive him away while he recuperated. He felt every part of his body was aching, and he couldn’t even move his body. Maybe adrenaline was the only thing keeping him moving. Perhaps, it was something else entirely. But now that he was relatively safe, he couldn’t even move a finger.

Coin drove towards the stronghold, and Miles slept at the back of the car.

However, they weren’t meant to arrive at the stronghold. Not just yet.