Chapter 110: Chapter 98: Old Man, Who’s Family With You?

Just as Hugh Warren was trying to figure out how they could all retreat safely, Mason Adler suddenly spun around, clutching his eye. Blood was streaming from between his fingers, showing no signs of stopping. If he didn’t get medical attention soon, it could permanently affect his vision.

"Young Master, why don’t we just let them go? We’ve already lost too many people." In this apocalyptic world, superpowers were a direct reflection of one’s strength. They had worked hard to gather this group of ability users. Although they were only level one, they had already discovered a method to upgrade their superpowers. Given time, these users would become their most powerful weapon.

But Mason Adler wasn’t listening.

"Hugh Warren, hurry up and help me kill this woman, kill her! Don’t let a single one of them get away! I want this woman to wish she were dead, so kill her! Ahh, my eyes!"

Hugh Warren frowned as he listened to Mason Adler’s screaming. When he saw Flora Bloom looking his way with a cryptic smile, an indescribable terror crept over him.

Seeing Hugh Warren neither speaking nor moving, Mason Adler continued to shout, "Are you all deaf? Can’t you see this bitch hurt me?! Hurry up and kill her for me! I want her dead—no, I want her whole family, her friends and relatives, all of them to die with her! Let her know the consequences of hurting me!"

At that moment, Hugh Warren’s focus was no longer on Mason Adler’s injury. His attention had shifted the moment Mason had screamed that he wanted "her whole family and friends to die with her."

Flora Bloom stood among her seven companions. Her figure was petite, but her beauty was dazzling. Upon hearing Mason Adler’s shouts, she suddenly smiled, revealing two uneven dimples. The viciousness in her eyes made Hugh Warren’s heart skip a beat.

’Something’s wrong. The look in her eyes... it’s not right. Even though we have them outnumbered, Flora Bloom shouldn’t be reacting like this!’

"Wait, don’t!"

The words had barely left Hugh Warren’s mouth when a school of silvery-white halfbeaks suddenly shot out from the water like a reverse waterfall. They swarmed together, forming a massive, rotating sphere.

This was a scene that Flora Bloom’s party of seven, along with Hugh Warren and Evan, recognized all too well. It was the signature hunting tactic of the halfbeak school from Navy Avenue.

"Earth Ability Users, now! Earth wall, quick! Make it as big as you can, the thicker the better! Move!" Hugh Warren suddenly yelled. Even Evan was gathering his Earth Ability to rapidly erect a wall in front of them.

The earth wall, erected by three Earth Ability Users working in concert, was massive enough to shield their entire group. The spherical school of halfbeaks suddenly broke formation, their sharp, pointed heads all aimed at the thick earthen barrier.

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH! With a series of sonic booms, cracks appeared on the earth wall, which was a good several inches thick. The structure began to crumble.

A deep blue mist emanated from Flora Bloom, her body enveloped by a dense concentration of the Water Element. In her hands, the lively elemental energy was as obedient as a child.

Flora Bloom controlled the Water Element with one hand, forcing it down into the sea. When she lifted her hand again, she raised a massive wave.

The wave was a deep, dark blue, with several small, inches-long halfbeaks churning within it.

With a flick of her hand toward their crumbling earth wall, the massive wave surged forward like a dam-breaking flood. The moment it flattened the wall, it crashed into the group of people, carrying the school of small halfbeaks with it.

Mason Adler fared the worst. His eyelid was already sliced open in a deep gash, revealing the bloody eyeball beneath. Now, carried by the force of Flora Bloom’s wave, the sharp point of a small halfbeak’s head pierced directly into his closed, wounded eye.

"AHH! FUCK, my eyes! My eyes! I’m blind! I’m going blind!"

Seeing the enemy thrown into chaos, so terrified by the halfbeak attack that they couldn’t even find a way to escape, Flora Bloom sneered inwardly.

"Trying to run? I told you. I’m going to feed your eyes to my fish."

As she spoke, another school of halfbeaks swimming in the water around Hugh Warren and his men’s feet leaped into the air. They coalesced into the familiar sphere they always formed before an attack, ready to strike again.

Just then, Flora Bloom, with her heightened senses, picked up the sound of a group of people rapidly approaching from a distance. Judging by the noise, it was a large party.

At that same moment, Caleb, who had been cradled in Cynthia Grant’s arms the entire time, slowly opened his eyes. After a moment of adjusting to the light, he murmured groggily.

"Flora Bloom."

Caleb’s weak, child-like voice drew Flora Bloom’s attention, and she immediately turned to check on him.

The strange magnetic field was gone. Probing with her spiritual power, Flora Bloom’s eyes instantly lit up.

Caleb, feeling the probe from Flora Bloom’s spiritual power, gave her a strange look. He didn’t know why, but even though Flora Bloom hadn’t touched him, he could clearly sense her examining a specific spot inside his head.

And when Flora Bloom detected her own spiritual power that Caleb had devoured, a relieved smile finally spread across her face.

’This little one... he really is full of surprises. To think he’d awaken a Spiritual Ability superpower. I can’t even determine its specific nature. I just hope he wasn’t too traumatized by Sienna Kensington’s abuse to be left with any lasting psychological scars.’

"Cynthia, I want to get down."

Now that he was awake, Caleb had already recovered. In fact, he seemed to be in even better shape than before. He eagerly jumped out of Cynthia Grant’s arms, splashed through the seawater to Flora Bloom’s side, grabbed her arm, and pulled her down to his height.

He whispered in Flora Bloom’s ear, "I can hear that man shouting for help again."

"An older man shouting for help? How do you know it’s an older man? You didn’t mention that last time," Flora Bloom asked.

"Yeah. This time I can feel it. It’s an old man."

’Even though she couldn’t figure out the specifics of Caleb’s newly awakened superpower, Flora Bloom knew one thing: there was no such thing as a useless Spiritual Ability. The Control Ability that Shelton Underwood had taken from his brother in her past life was just one type of Spiritual Ability.’

The halfbeaks in the water swirled around Hugh Warren and his men, swimming merrily about their feet. They seemed to be waiting for Flora Bloom’s command to tear the flesh-and-blood mortals before them to pieces and devour them.

Flora Bloom glanced at Hugh Warren and his men, who were surrounded by the halfbeaks and dared not make a move. At the same time, she could clearly hear the distant footsteps drawing closer.

Milton Adler, injured and dressed in plain clothes, had led a large contingent of men to surround the lighthouse area. They had formed a perimeter several layers deep. Every man was armed with a submachine gun or a rifle, and there were likely sniper rifles positioned farther away.

Now, Milton Adler, accompanied only by Edwin Warren, was slowly walking toward them.

Flora Bloom wondered if she was imagining things, but as Milton Adler approached and saw her again, the light that shone in his eyes was almost frighteningly fervent.

As those eyes looked at her, all his usual craftiness and deep-seated cunning vanished without a trace. Flora Bloom even thought her eyes were playing tricks on her. Did she really just see a hint of... blatant... fawning in Milton Adler’s eyes?

’Fawning? What could I have possibly done to make a man like Milton Adler want to fawn over me? It was a question Flora Bloom simply couldn’t answer.’

As Milton Adler drew near, he completely ignored Hugh Warren and his men—lambs to the slaughter, still surrounded by the halfbeaks. Instead, he looked at Flora Bloom with a beaming smile.

"Flora, my dear. This has all been a terrible misunderstanding, like a family turning on its own. If only I had known..."

Flora Bloom didn’t wait for him to continue, cutting off his ridiculous attempt at friendly banter.

"Old man, who said we’re family? Weren’t you injured? What are you doing back here?"