The Ancient Genes

"Splash!"

Blood splashed onto the ground as the tattooed man's headless body fell onto the ground. And, it kept twitching for a good while before coming to a stop.

Blinken's face twitched on the sight of it.

'What the hell? Since when was it hiding there?' Blinken looked at the Beast with a dark face. He had no idea where it had come from, but beasts were definitely not friendly unless tamed. Hence, he was not happy in the least that it had killed these people.

He would be more happy to fight those people to death than seeing this thing appear here at all.

"Growl!"

'Hmmn..' Blinken suddenly frowned when another two similar beasts a little smaller than the initial one stepped out of the bushes.

'F*ck..' Blinken's face contorted. He knew he was done for. He actually had thought that it was only one, but now he knew he was wrong. There were three of them.

'I am too exhausted..' Blinken muttered inwardly realising that his current abilities had degraded a lot. Even to the point that these Beasts were able to move in front of him so thoroughly that he couldn't even tell how many of them were there.

"Come if you wanna die.." Blinken spoke not trying to appear weak. Weakness was something not to be shown in front of Beasts.

"Grrr!!" The Beast on the left growled at Blinken revealing its fang. It didn't seem to be pleased with Blinken's words.

But, the bigger beast in the middle turned its head, and let out a light growl which immediately made the guy turn quiet while lowering its ear a bit.

'Is that the Alpha?' Blinken surely noticed what had happened. But, he was really curious about what kind of these beasts were. From the looks of it, it resembled Shadow Leoprards, but their size was really something. Not to mention, there were some differences, and even if one turned a blind eye to it, the power and abilities these beasts displayed were no were near what a normal one could do.

'Something feels off..' Blinken thought with a little frown on his face. The beasts seemed to have retraced their killing intent. And, neither did they seem interested in feeding on the corpses below. If the dispute was for a territory issue, then it still seemed odd that they were willing to spare him.

'Don't tell me that these guys think I am too weak..' A vein popped up on Blinken's forehead as he thought about it. But, the thought only lasted for a second. He was no fool after all.

At this moment, the Beast in the lead suddenly let out a light pur. It seemed to be a gesture that there was nothing to be afraid of. It then leapt to one side, and slowly sat down comfortably while the other two beasts similarly moved, and took positions as if they were on a lookout to guard the place.

'They are protecting me?' Blinken was really confused by the scene. He knew he was no beast tamer, and neither did he have some strange affinity with beasts except for the fact he loved their meat. But, that sure wouldn't help him earn their friendship or anything.

'Wait..' Suddenly, something seemed to hit Blinken, then he realised. 'Don't tell me, it's that guy's plan..'

He once again remembered how Max had told them not to worry about these people. And, that he would definitely handle them at all cost. If these beasts were indeed his, then it explained where Max's confidence came from.

'But, this is strange…what kind of beasts are they..' Blinken was not sure. He wanted to get a closer look. But, he decided against it for now. He didn't want to get close to that thing in the absence of its owner, and that too when he hadn't recovered his strength. It was definitely not worth the risk.

'Wait a second..'

As Blinken as about to turn to cave, and take some rest for his own self. He was once again stuck with a realization that left his face extremely dark.

Until now he had thought that he and Max had fought at full strength. And, he even had a little advantage in his own eyes. But, if Max were to bring these three out, could he really say the same?

'That guy didn't fight me at full strength..' His face twitched as he forced a smile.

He was a genius. Called one for the whole life. Getting his pride trampled like this sure didn't feel good at all.

…

Ocien Academy…

"The competitions are going to start tomorrow. You better focus on that. Stop taking people like them seriously.." Janet spoke with a sigh as she looked at Aria standing on the balcony with a serious look on her face.

"I am telling you. Something felt very wrong about that guy…" Aria shook her head, not willing to let it go this easily.

Janet sighed once again. They had tried to talk to the little girl to see if she knew the man from before. But, the girl just shook her head, but one could see the fear on her face easily.

They couldn't come to any conclusion with just that though. It might be just that she was a bit too scared of the man's face, words or there could be other reasons. After all, Janet had done some inquiry. And, it seemed that those off limit areas were specially made for people from the Ancient Families who were here to supervise.

Janet knew that the chances of a connection between that girl and the man was very slim. The two didn't even fit in a sentence. The Ancient Family after all, had no dealings with the outer world.

So, the little girl knowing the man seemed absurd.

"There is no need to be so worried. We are here to look after her. We won't leave her out of our sight for a second. So, be at ease, and do your best tomorrow." Elly suddenly walked up to them from behind.

"As for the man, let it be. Don't interfere with him.." Elly spoke with a serious look on her face. She too knew a little about Ancient Families from her grandfather. After all, now that these guys were coming out, it was obvious that their presence was soon going to be known to everyone.