The Ancient Genes

"Where the hell have you been around?" Lear asked Max with a frown, "And, why does something feel different about you?"

"Isn't that just your imagination?'' Max asked, looking at him.

"No, I am pretty sure that something is wrong here. It is as if...are you injured?" He suddenly asked with a frown. He could not sense that strong vibe that he used to get from Max.

It could only mean that either Max was somehow hiding it from him or he was really injured.

"Nah, I am fine. But, why are you here? I thought you were at the party with Lora?" Max looked at Lear in confusion.

"Yeah! Lora has been kidnapped! And, Mom too is missing. We need to hurry up and find them.." Lear urged as he began to move with Max without any further delay.

On their way around, he quietly explained the situation to Max.

"Have you looked at this side? I heard there's an abandoned factory there," Max said as he pointed at the outskirts of the district.

Lear's face turned grim as he took out the invisible cloak and increased his pace. The next moment, he stepped into the air and took to the sky, "I will go ahead, you guys catch up soon..''

Seeing him fly away, Max stopped and so did Caira behind him.

"You think he would be able to do it?'' She couldn't help, but ask him, a bit doubtful about it.

"Well, don't underestimate him." Max smiled, looking at her.

He knew Lear well, the guy wasn't a fool. But, Caira was not wrong on her side as well.

"The enemy isn't someone he could beat on his own." Caira looked at Max. She couldn't understand what was going through his head.

But, Max just shook his head with a smile, "Did I ever say he needed to beat them?"

"Hmmn?" Caira looked at him with scrunched brows appearing even more confused.

Well, it made entirely sense though. Max wasn't an idiot to send Lear at war with someone whom he couldn't handle.

"But, I am not good enough to let him have the comfort level of the king. I don't have that liberty." Max sighed.

There was more than enough of a path for Lear to pass the mission which Max wanted him to. But, it definitely wasn't a breeze for sure.

Lear would have to think it through himself.

After all, if he didn't do anything to show his worth, Max knew that they would be doomed for and all his planning would end up in the dumpsters.

'You better not fail me. I have put everything in the place. Now, just do what you should.'

"Well, then my time is up. You better be ready to act if needed." Max looked at Caira with a serious look on his face as he felt the time running out. And, the girl nodded.

Suddenly, a strange sight appeared as Max's body dissipated into a white fog-like substance.

There wasn't a single trace left of him with that. It was as if he had left the plane itself.

"This is just too bizarre. I don't think I will ever get used to these people's weird powers." Caira shook her head with a helpless look on her face.

…

"Clink!"

Lear landed on the roof of the old abandoned factory. And, tried his best to avoid making noise.

'Hmmn?' He looked behind him and frowned. There was no sign of Max and that other girl behind him.

Even the connection that he was feeling earlier seemed to have vanished.

'Did that guy hide himself? There is no way he is dead...I can still vaguely feel a few members in the distant directions.'

The frown on Lear's face deepened. He just couldn't understand Max's actions today. He knew the guy wasn't like this. And, he certainly should have understood the gravity of the situation. There was no way that he would fool around, right?

He wanted to believe it and actually did too. But, Max's absence was making him think otherwise.

'I don't have time to go and find him. I better concentrate on what I need to do now.' Lear shook his head as he began to move.

The roof of the factory was made of metal sheets. This made it extremely easy for Lear to make a hole into it.

He just needed to use his mana and spread the surface until it became thin enough for a hole to appear.

He tried to look through the hole and saw two men below. He could sense the mana in their body. They were definitely mages.

He didn't even need to confirm it. There was definitely something suspicious here. After all, why would a Mage need to stay in a place like this? It didn't make any sense at all.

Lear got up and moved to a different side of the roof. He wanted to see if he could find Lora directly from up there.

He continued looking all around the place and saw quite a few mages around. Most of them were around Expert Tier and below.

And finally, he found the figure of a familiar looking man through one of the holes.

It was Logan.

He sat there on a chair calmly looking at the watch on his wrist. It seemed that he couldn't wait for Melinda to show up.

'Hmmn?' Lear's face turned extremely ugly when he saw two people tied to the chairs on his side.

'This b*stard…'

He didn't only kidnap Lora, but also his mother.

'How in hell did he get her though? Mom should definitely be at strong enough to defend herself from a bunch of sh*t like him.' Lear couldn't help but frown.

Even his father was afraid of his Mom's fist for some reason. According to him, it hurt like hell. But, Lear had never experienced it before.

There was no way that Logan would have come out of it unscathed.

'It's no use thinking about it…' Lear shook his head, and slowly widened the hole in the roof enough to sneak in through it.

And, once he was in, he kept himself still in the air and fixed the hole before quietly landing in one of the deserted corners.

The real test was about to begin now. How in hell was he going to get them out…

'I need to wale mom up. If I can get her up, she would definitely be able to beat the sh*t out of that guy.' Lear muttered inwardly.

Only if Max was here, they could have just put both Lora and his mother inside the spirit world. And then run away at full speed.

Not to mention, with Max here they would have a significant amount of fighting force. But, that thug couldn't be seen anywhere. This really was infuriating Lear.

Lear looked around for a bit trying to find out what could be used and what not as he tried to come up with a plan.

He then took a deep breath in before shifting his gaze to the metal beam fixed above at the entrance of the place.

Two people were guarding that place unaware of the oncoming disaster.

A Vein popped on Lear's forehead as he clasped both his hand and mana fluctuated around him.

He was trying his best to actually keep it down as much as possible. If the enemy sensed his presence, he would be doomed for sure.

"Clang!"

A low metallic noise reverberated through out the place as if something was being twisted.

People looked around in confusion. But, they couldn't find where it was coming from.

"Clang!"

This time the noise was louder, and people immediately raised their heads to see above.

The two guards at the entrance did too, but their eyes immediately widened the next instant and they tried to run away.

They has clearly freaked out at the sight of their doom.

But, it was no use.

"Crash!''

A bunch of metal bars fell from above burying the two underneath it while one even had half of his body sliced apart due to the pointed edge of one of the wide plates hitting him right on his back.

This immediately raised a commotion around and people rushed towards the place.

"What's going on?"

"Is it an enemy attack?"

"Two people are dead!"

"The structure fell on them!!"

Lear quietly moved to a different place using the chaos as a cover.

Logan frowned on hearing the commotion as well and got up to have a look while leaving behind four guards near Lora and Lesia.

The four guards were chatting about the incident as well when they heard a similar noise from above.

Their eyes immediately widened and they immediately got away from the place.

"We forgot the hostages!" One of them shouted seeing that Lora and Lesia were still tied to the chairs there.

But, who was willing to go?

The group of four looked at each other, but no one dared to move.

The clanking noise coming from above was like a grim reaper's lullaby to them.

And none of them dared to take a step forward.

On the other side, Lear closed in on his mother while wearing the invisible cloak. The noises were obviously his doing to scare the people away.

And, it worked perfectly.