My (Monster?) Hero Life

Chapter 172: Dead Man's Bloom

Meanwhile, Charlie was staring at Dao with a dumbfounded expression etched onto his face. 'He should be screaming in pain! Why isn't he in pain!' He eyed the colourful blood that flows through the air infant of Dao's muscular build. The poison that had been injected into him was slowly being broken down and fused with it. 

Dao smiled at his helpless enemy. Of course, he would be confused. He was not old enough to know about the secret force of the vampires. Dao was the last living Gardener. It was a force created from a single-family born with a natural ability to absorb poisons. Their blood was unique in the fact that any poison that they ingested would become their own weapon.

They were able to summon the effects of any poison sample within their own blood. So a single drop of Dao's blood was ultimately considered the greatest poison that had ever been created. There was a reason, however, that Dao had attempted to avoid injecting this particular poison. By vampire law, any Gardener that harboured this poison would have to be put down. 

This was due to the fear that they could turn it against their own comrades in a bid for power. Although this poison was useless against humans, in Dao's hands that was no longer the case. His blood analysed the poison and crossbred it with several others that would recreate the effects on humans. Essentially, Dao was already a dead man walking. As soon as the crisis was over, he would assuredly be put to death.

In the meantime, he had to be sure to kill off as many heroes as he could. Swinging his fist out in the motion of a right hook, the river of blood followed suit. It formed a giant fist as it swung its way towards Charlie. Who, in turn, recognised the danger that it posed to himself. As a master of poisons, how could he not recognise the ominous colour and smell emanating from the blood fist?

Charlie was quick on his feet as he performed an agile role that allowed him to move underneath the fist unharmed. There was one thing that he hated more than anything else. That was somebody willing to challenge his supremacy in the art of poisons. However, now he found himself completely outmatched. How do you poison someone immune to all poisons?

The answer was actually quite simple. Just find or create an effective poison! Charlie was a practical man. He did not believe for a moment that anyone or anything could be one hundred percent immune to everything. It was just a case of the right poison had not been discovered yet. If he got the chance, he would have to develop something that would work on the abnormality before him.

For now, he had only brought several other poisons with him. So all he could do was test each one of them to see if they generated a reaction. He swiftly leapt to avoid each blood attack that Dao launched at him with all of the accumulated experience that he had gained over his long life. If Charlie was not such a natural fighter, then he would have been killed long ago.

Dao did not show the slightest hint of hesitation upon his face as he systematically assaulted his opponent. His mind was calm and steady, like a serene sea. Each attack flowed to the next as fluidly as a river meandering its way down a valley. For once in his life, Charlie got to feel the same emotions that his own enemies felt when facing him.

He had to be careful not to receive a single scratch as he had no idea what it could lead to. He was not willing to risk it, even if it meant the chance to land a killing blow. Charlie highly valued his own life, his only vice was that he enjoyed tormenting his opponents a little too much. If he died here then would never get to hear that sweet cacophony of pain ever again.

Charlie was growing tired of being on the defensive. He was a firm believer in suppressing his enemies with sheer power. So he had to find a way to escape from his current predicament. He could always hunt down this opponent again at a later time when he was far more exhausted from the continuous battles.

Thinking up to this point, Charlie pulled a special fuse from one of his many pockets. It only took him a few nimble movements while avoiding his opponent to attach it to every one of the vials that he currently had on his person. When he avoided the next attack, he activated one of his own skills that were very dear to his heart and had saved him multiple times.

Dead Man's Bloom!

Mana rushed from his body through the fuse that had been attached to his vials. This skill gave the poisons contained within a three hundred per cent increase to their potency. At the same time, it made them extremely volatile. He threw the bundle high into the air above and behind Dao. Making sure that the crowded vampires on the sidelines would be within its area of effect.

The liquid rattled around inside its containers, causing the injected mana to go wild. The bundle blew up in a colourful display similar to fireworks as a multicoloured rain descended upon the heads of all of the vampires, including Dao. The potency of each poison had become so great that even poisons that would have usually never have affected them caused quite a bit of damage.

Unfortunately for those who were caught in the blue rain, their bodies began to petrify into stone. The people inside it would still be alive and aware of their surroundings which made this particular poison especially cruel. Even though they were turned to stone, they were extremely fragile. So you can imagine what happened when they were hit with the other colours directly afterwards.

These living statues were shattered into many different pieces. The people trapped within could feel every moment. That's right, not a single vampire perished from the attack. Instead, they were doomed to spend an eternity suffering from the pain of having their bodies torn apart for every second of their miserable existences.

Charlie laughed the whole thing off as he dove over the rampart. Providing Dao with a salute of the middle finger as he disappeared from view