The Ancient Genes

Competition ground, Trinity Academy.

"This annoying rain will finally be over today..' Terry muttered as he looked above into the sky.

"Make sure that this is the only water I see falling today. I don't want to see some falling from your eyes later on. So, you guys better give your best. If not then.." Axel looked at them with a menacing smile on his face, and left the sentence incomplete. They could play all fill in the blanks they wanted. It was all up to their imagination, they could just think to themselves how worse Axel could be.

This time the area for the competition was in the mountains. And, obviously, it was raining like crazy, no doubt about it. This has made the already difficult to maneuver terrain even more difficult.

Axel didn't know if these guys had discovered his mana scope or not, but this terrain sure was not good for him to use that thing here as places which were closer to nature usually had higher concentration of mana, and this was even more so for a more mountain. If he was not wrong, this place was simulating some area in Orena.

A place out of human territory. It was really difficult for him to get a proper grasp of his enemy's position here.

Not to mention, there were a lot of places to take cover here.

"Whoosh!"

A sudden movement occurred in bushes, and this immediately took the trio by surprise. It hadn't even been 5 minutes since they entered the place. It couldn't be that the two teams were dropped so close to each other.

Terry was very quick to react to this movement, and an arrow immediately went flying towards the bushes and disappeared into it.

The next instant, the bushes turned silent all together.

Axel immediately turned his mana scope on, but didn't see anything.

"I will check.." Eren, who was the melee of the team, took the lead. Terry, on the other hand, prepared himself as well, putting another arrow on his bow. He was ready to strike any moment.

But, when Eren finally entered the bushes, the sight in front of him left him speechless.

It was just a wild boar.

It was not even a mana beast.

"Are there animals on this mountain as well?" Axel frowned.

If that was the case, then it certainly was going to be troublesome. They would have to be careful while differentiating between animals and enemies. If not, they would end up wasting their ammo and energy.

It seemed Trinity had really prepared things very well.

'Since they had planned this event, it also means that they definitely have a method to differentiate between the movements and disturbances caused by these animals. If not, then there was no meaning in this..'

"Be careful, don't shoot randomly. If there is any movement in the distance, then I will confirm it. And, in case, there is an abrupt ambush like movement, then we can't help it. In that short moment, it will be foolish to wait and see whether it is an enemy or not. So, feel free to shoot in such a situation."

Both Eren and Terry nodded on hearing that.

The group then began to move.

Their aim was obviously to move towards the higher ground. The first group to take a higher position than the other would be in an advantageous position as that would help them to figure out their enemy's location with much ease.

Also, it was not something new. It was a common strategy in wars to secure a high ground when the battle was in rocky terrain.

"Keep your eyes out Terry.." Axel reminded him, "If we manage to find them, then you will go ahead to slow them down while Eren and I will go ahead and secure a position first."

"In no situation should they get above us. If that happens, we would surely be doomed."

…

"Hurry up.. I am sure they are moving towards the top too. This is our event, we can't let them beat us here or we will become fools.." Melan's face had a serious expression on them as he rushed towards the top at full speed.

"There is a smell of blood.." The third guy in the team suddenly spoke.

Both Melan and Oslen stopped for a second and looked at him.

This person was a part of their team, and he was actually a Beastman.

"Can you sense which direction is it coming from?" Melan asked him.

The guy nodded and the next instant, his skin turned orange and black stripes began to appear on it. His figure grew larger in size while his eyes turned sharp like that of a beast. His teeth slowly transformed into sharp canines which seemed to be powerful enough to even chew steel with ease.

The guy had clearly transformed into a half human and half tiger state.

"It's coming from that direction.." He pointed in a certain direction.

"It must be them." Melan's eyes lit up.

He looked at Oslen, and spoke, "You continued to head up. We will chase after them."

Oslen nodded, and then they parted ways.

"Lead the way.." Melan looked at the tiger guy and the person nodded before rushing ahead.

This person's movements were fast and natural like an animal. It was as if he had been roaming around this place since birth.

Even Melan couldn't be help, but be amazed every time he saw this guy.

To be honest, even he felt a headache dealing with Beastman like this in a forest.

These guys could be annoying as hell when you meet them in places like this. You only had to look in their eyes, and you could clearly tell those were the eyes of a predator looking at their prey.

…

"Something is approaching us.." Terry suddenly frowned as his ears picked up some noise.

His words immediately alerted the other two.

Axel activated his mana scope, and his face turned serious, "Prepare yourself, they are here.."