The Ancient Genes

« Bahamut : A Supreme has appeared...»

As Max looked at the message, he felt his scalp going cold. A supreme was only a concept which only belonged to legend. But now…

Sshh!!

He took in a deep breath and calmed himself down. As he further looked at the messages, he could only find that there were only two ways for them to get help.

First one was to find Derek the only survivor and successor of Pride.

And the second was to find concrete proof.

Things were not looking good. Even though Max had considerably improved to the level where he could take on mid level mages, in reality he was still far from the true elites of the Capital. And not to mention he still needed to go beyond that level if he wanted to save the world.

With his current strength, getting involved in this trouble was no different than committing suicide.

" Get down here, help me in setting up the tent.", August shouted, jolting up Max from his train of thoughts.

Max got down from the car and helped August in setting up a tent before having the dried ration they had brought with them for dinner.

After completing their meal, August spoke, " Even though it is the outer region, we should still take precautions. We shall take turns guarding the camp. You can take rest first. I will call you if I feel sleepy."

Max nodded in approval but before he could take a step, an ear piercing howl shook the land.

" Awwooohhhh!!!!!! "

Max fell to the ground and felt his head would burst apart but luckily the howl didn't last long. He raised his head and saw August on the ground. His face was pale but his condition looked better than his own.

Max and August struggled back onto their feet. They hadn't even calmed down yet before a rumbling sound entered their ear.

Max clearly felt an ominous feeling as he looked ahead. He could clearly feel the light tremors which appeared to be getting stronger.

" Run!!! "

August's voice entered Max's ear and before he could even turn, a hand had already grabbed him.

August pulled Max and dashed towards the vehicle ignoring everything else. But, he made a mistake. He had thrown Max in the driver's seat.

" F*ck!! We don't have time to change the seats. Kick the paddle, I will control the steering.", August bellowed and leaned on Max's thigh to hold the steering.

" Grrrr!!!!! "

The wheels rolled and within seconds, the car was speeding through the thin route in the deep wilderness.

After a few minutes, the rumbling seemed to become stronger, the tents and the trees started to shake and before long a frightening scene occurred.

Dozens of trees were flung up in the sky like a soccer ball and a group of Black Head Rhinos emerged from behind in a state of frenzy. They were followed by dozens of other beasts like Star Wolf, Red Head Lion, and several others. The number seemed to be unending and it looked like everything standing in their path would definitely be crushed.

….

" What's happening? This doesn't seem to be an earthquake…", Max asked as he looked behind but the darkness in the forest prevented him from getting any idea and the rumbling seemed to be growing stronger.

" Y..You.. How the hell can you not know about it? Don't you know about the tragedy which occurred 60 years ago?", August frowned.

" Y..You..mean… the tragedy of Vina City...Beast Horde!!! ", Max's eyes widened and his body trembled.

Vina City was one of the largest thriving border city with a population of more than 3 million. But, a tragedy struck 60 years ago when a Beast Horde led by Lava Hawk, a Mystic beast attacked the city. No one was prepared for such an incident and it led to the massive tragedy in the history of the continent with millions of lives being lost.

" Y..You.. We are going back towards the city. What about everyone else?", Max asked with wide eyes.

Hearing him, a painful look emerged in August's eyes but he still spoke, " For a beast Horde to occur, the leader has to be at least a peak level savage beast. A peak level savage beast can easily rip apart expert tier mage. Don't have any kind of expectation. They are probably dead unless they were prepared for it and had found a hiding place. Besides, think about yourself. Do you think we can get out of this easily? If we are lucky enough to reach the border city. The defending forces from the union and Association might be able to hold them back and we might be able to return to Arcane alive. "

" No..we can't leave them like this. Turn back!!"

How could Max accept this? How many people did he have with him? These were his only few friends and now, he was asked to leave them behind to die.

" Shut up!! Do you think that I don't treat you all as my friend? This is not the time to act rash. Think carefully. If they had found a hiding place, they should be fine for now. If they haven't…...Anyways, the only way we can help is to get back and get help as fast as possible. Besides, I don't want to say it. But that howl earlier, I am not sure if it was a Savage beast…."

" Y..You..mean...a m..mystic beast? ", Max asked while trembling.

" I said I am not sure. But, I am saying this only for one reason. One of us has to survive and get back to Arcane. If that howl really belonged to a Mystic beast, I am afraid that the border city won't be able to hold it for much longer. And the city right next to it is Arcane. The border city here is quite small and 95% of people here are Mages. But that is not true for Arcane. We need to evacuate the city. If it really is a Mystic beast, I am afraid there would be no more Arcane from tomorrow.", August said with a depressing smile which clearly showed his powerlessness in this situation.