The Ancient Genes

"Beast Horde City?" Eren asked in confusion.

"Aren't we miles away from the border? Don't tell me they are going to make us travel all the way…." Riser said as after a bit of thinking.

"How is it possible? Tomorrow is the opening ceremony and there isn't much of a gap before the first event…we won't even make it to any of the border cities…" Valko said with a frown.

"I don't have any idea about it. But it seems they will be having this form of competition…" Mark said with a helpless look. He too was a bit confused.

It wasn't a surprise that people found it hard to believe. In this type of event, they needed a large number of beasts....large enough to create a horde. There was no way to find so many beasts inside the Capital.

"Don't tell me your plan backfired and they faked the event after knowing what you guys were planning…" Lear said as he looked at Axel and then at Mark.

"You don't need to worry about it." August was the one who spoke. He was from an Ancient Family, he knew it wasn't a big deal to create a simulation of Beast Horde if one of the Supreme Formation Master's stepped ahead.

"The competition is different this time…nothing is impossible…"

Some were still doubtful but most of them were well aware of Demons and Ancient families and so it didn't take them long to understand that those people might have a way to do it…

"Anyway, so moving ahead. These guys are totally planning to screw all the Academies at once…" Mark said with a troubled look.

"If they really succeed then there won't be a need for any further competition.."

A frown appeared on everyone's face as Mark continued to explain the rule.

The even would be a 7 day competition.

One the first day, one team from every Academy would enter the city and with each passing day, another would enter until all four teams were in the City.

For the first four days, no direct combat among will be allowed among the participants but the last 3 days...it was an all out fight.

The results would be based on the number of beasts killed. There were also designated areas whose recovery would also give a large number of points. Aside from that, there would be hidden dummy survivors whose rescue would be another plus points for participants.

Basically, no one was getting points for fighting amongst each other but still you could pull others down.

Orca chose this because the people on their side were capable of causing large scale destruction.

Kain Walker had a Destruction Variant.

Alen Blackwood had a Poison Variant.

Warner Ovens had a Decaying Variant.

Nathan Edwinson with a Light Variant.

These guys really had an advantage fighting large numbers.

They had chosen Blood Eating Bat as the main unit of the Horde.

Most of the people's faces contorted in pain when they heard that. A Blood Eating Beast Horde was led by at least a Low 1★ Mystic Beast which was equivalent to mid level Master Tier Mage...were these people planning to kill everyone…

Technically not, since they would be helped out in case of danger as soon as they forfeit….but that would mean being disqualified…and if they still stubbornly insisted to stay even in danger then….the experts would make their own call on when to intervene. But that would mean suffering heavy injuries and further participation in other events might become a question then….

Max couldn't help but smile. Orca really thought it through. Blood Eating Bats were nocturnals. It was weak against light and had poisons as its main weapons apart from its strong body.

Orca really thought it through. If they carefully played it, then they could win this thing as Nathan could restrain the bats and Alen's could help to deal with poison.

"Won't we die if the Commanding Beast makes a move?" Rias asked as she looked at Max.

"It won't make a move that easily. If it is a Mystic Beast then it should have strong Savage Beasts to command. If all those beasts die then it might make a move but it is very unlikely to happen. Aside from that if you manage to irritate it somehow then...yeah that can kill you too.." Max replied with a smile.

"That's the problem. Those guys are planning to snipe the Commanding Beast using Nathan's light variant on the last night of the competition..." Mark said with a grim look on his face.

"They have fully prepared the means to survive one night under the beast. I don't know what is going to happen to everyone else…."

"Aren't they taking it a bit too far for a mere competition?" Terry asked in confusion. He obviously had no idea that the Ancient Families were here to select some outstanding younger generation something that every Noble House was willing to kill for…

"So, any ideas on how to tackle this problem?" Mark asked as he looked at everyone.

"Let's decide the team members first…" Max said as he looked at Mark.

Mark nodded. They had only decided the leaders not the members.

"I just wanna ask it once. But is Kevin really going to participate?" Mark said as he looked at Kevin.

"I don't want to insult him. But he could get hurt…" Mark further said as he looked at Kevin.

"Don't worry. He might be weak but he can take a beating. He will be the best punching bag for the beasts and our opponents. Even a High Tier Mage can't take as much beating as him…" Wilson said with confidence.

Wilson and August had ended up hitting Kevin with full force accidentally when he jumped in to stop their fight once. The result was a swollen face and a few minutes of unconsciousness. And then an hour of crying after waking up.....that wasn't something even High Tier Mage could do..

Mark looked at Max.

Max didn't know what to do…it was true that the guy could take a beating and had more chance to survive than any other candidate who they could possibly replace him with...

"Kevin...it might not be safe...you really wanna do this?" He asked.

"Umn...I want to help…beside I am a Blacksmith…. fighting isn't my main stream...but I can help with other things...'' Kevin timidly replied.

"Well that's true….the city should be in ruins...you people have more mechanical knowledge when it came to fixing things... survival is important..." Lear replied.

"We are not plumbers, mechanics or electricians…" Max said as he looked at Lear.

"You can't do it?" Lear asked as he looked at Valco.

"No...blacksmithing requires much more skill and we usually look into stuff like that for inspiration so it isn't like we can't deal with them..." Valco replied.

"Yeah, you just need to look at the things and understand the structure….it's not much difficult…" Kevin replied as well.

Lear looked at Max with a smug face.

Max's face twitched. He wanted to defend his dignity as a blacksmith. It wasn't his fault that the blacksmiths could easily understand the structure of things and were good at stuff like building and dismantling.