The Ancient Genes

Scarlet House, Ocien.

"You are back?" Naze looked at Max, who had just returned after roaming around the villa for a bit.

"Yeah," Max nodded before taking a seat.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" Naze asked curiously.

Max shook his head, "I didn't. But, I sure did find something else. It was worth it."

His main reason for roaming around earlier was to try and locate Wilson's mother. But, even after going around most of the place, his senses couldn't pick her up.

Either she was hidden behind some thing which even his spirit energy couldn't penetrate through, or she was not in this Villa.

"What now?"

"We have a lot of time on hand. We will be practically staying here," Max calmly replied, "You can try as well. See if you can find her."

If even their combined efforts couldn't find her, then he would have to just ask Scarlet Lord for an audience with his first wife. It was obvious that he would have to come up with some reasoning. But, that shouldn't be a problem, she was one of his friend's mom, they were treating him with such hospitality here. It wouldn't be odd if he wanted to give her his best wishes for recovery.

"Anyway, I will be going out for a while," Naze suddenly said.

"I thought you were my bodyguard?" Max looked at him with raised brows.

"Don't joke with me, since when did you need to have bodyguards?" Naze shook his head with a smile.

"Since you followed me around, don't think you will leave this easily." Max gave him a look. He was planning to make full use of this guy. He dared to get him in trouble with Axel.

Max was known to hold grudges, especially little ones like this.

This person was sure to regret it.

"Tell me what this is about, and I will think about granting you leave now," Max further added.

Naze's face twitched. But, he could only force a smile on his face, "Don't joke like this.."

"Do you think I am joking?" Max asked him in return.

"Do you think you can stop me if I want to leave?" Naze tried to take the strong way out.

"Then you will have to work a lot harder the next time you want to follow me around or initiate contact with me.." Max smiled at him.

'This guy…' Naze was really speechless. This was clearly blackmail. Now that Max was an important ally for them, it was important for them to stay in touch with him.

"Fine, I actually had a friend who died here in Ocien. I was just planning to visit his grave.." Naze sighed as a complicated look flashed through his eyes.

Max was suddenly dumbfounded. He wasn't expecting the situation to turn so serious in a moment. This really came out of nowhere.

"O-Ok..you can leave.." He just waved his hand with a weird look on his face.

…

Competition ground, Trinity.

"You two stay here and handle the guys coming after us." Axel commanded. "I can see only two of them, I am afraid one of them is heading above. I will go and intercept him."

As he was about to turn, he gave them one last piece of advice, "Don't face them head on. You wouldn't be a match for Melan."

Eren nodded.

The group then immediately split apart.

Axel headed above at full speed while Eren and Terry hid behind the rocky Terrain to ambush the enemy.

Soon, two people arrived at the place. One of them was Melan while the other was Tiger guy.

"Are we there yet?" Melan asked him. They had spotted the dead boar a while ago, but had yet to meet the group from Arcane.

"Yes, a little more.." The tiger guy nodded. Even in the rain, he could still use his sense of smell. It was beyond amazing. But, he was not your ordinary tiger after all. He wasn't following their body odor only, it was more like picking the trace of mana through the smell and following after it.

"Careful!" The tiger guy screamed when he suddenly realized that from the path ahead, only one smell lingered around while the two others had just stopped there.

Melan's eye constricted and he immediately moved.

"Whoosh!"

An arrow tore through the air, and headed straight towards Melan. But, the Tiger guy's warning seemed to have helped him avoid a deadly blow and the arrow missed.

The two turned their heads, and saw Terry standing on the huge boulder ahead.

The enemy was finally in sight.

But, before the two could relax. The huge boulder in front of them suddenly cracked and water began to leak out of it.

"What's going on?" Melan frowned, but his eyes immediately widened when Terry jumped high into the sky using his wind element and the boulder beneath him exploded.

"Boom!"

Pieces of rock flew out like bullets and a tons of water blasted along with it finally revealing a figure behind it, standing there with an axe in his hands.

"Splash!"

The rocks and waves crashed into Melan and the tiger guy sweeping them a few feet away.

They just couldn't understand how these people had found out about their arrival. They had carefully planned the finals, and released all the animals in the areas to make differentiation a very tough matter for them. And, yet they had been ambushed like this.

This had to be a joke.

Their preparations shouldn't have guaranteed them a win, but it should have guaranteed them that the enemy wouldn't be able to ambush them this easily, and yet the same had happened.

"Whoosh!"

"Whoosh!"

Several arrows flew through the air landing on both Melan and the tiger guy. The water had affected their ability to move. And, Eren had surely picked a few moves from the battle last time under Axel's leadership.

"You people.." Melan's face turned dark.

When you are plotting against someone stronger than you, one thing has to be kept in mind. You had to end it in an instant without giving your opponent a chance to fight back. And now, Eren was about to learn it the hard way.