The Ancient Genes

"Gr!!!"

The vehicle continued to push forward through the forest. But, the mood of the duo in the vehicle had turned heavy. They would have never thought that things would turn like this.

Suddenly, Max's ears perched up and his face turned black. He let out a forced smile as the roars of the beast entered his ears. The rumbling of the land had already gotten very strong. It looked like there wasn't much gap left between them and the horde.

They had already traveled a distance of 100km and there was only 50km more left before they reached the border city.

" August let's take the broken bridge. If we don't, the horde will catch up with us.", Max mumbled as he turned his head back.

" That is not safe for travel. If we use it, we might fall to our death.", August shook his head in refusal.

The bridge that Max and August were talking about was one of the first projects that humanity had tried to carry out in orena.

The project was a success in the supervision of a Master tier Mage. But, such a level of expert couldn't act as a guard. Once he left, the Orena made its move. It was then declared that it was impossible to carry out any kind of man-made projects in Orena unless humanity wipes it out and make Orena their own territory.

" The horde is getting close, August!! Turn the wheel!! Dammit!! I know that the bridge is damaged. But you know that it would reduce the distance we need to travel by 45 km. 5 km of distance!! Even if we travel by foot, we will still make it before the horde. F*ck!!  Look behind, they are already near us.", Max cursed as he kept glancing back.

The sun was about to rise and sky had lightened up a bit. Max could clearly see the shadow of the crumbling forest behind him.

" Y..You. Fine.. don't blame me if we die.", August gritted his teeth as he turned the steering.

The vehicle deviated from its original path. But a few minutes after they left, the beast horde arrived and a howl was heard. As the howl reverberated, a section of horde immediately deviated from their original path and followed after the trail left by Max and August.

If some expert were to observe the actions of these beasts, they would definitely be shocked till their jaws would touch the ground. A group of beast acting like this, it would be possible only if a peak level 3 ★ Mystic beast equivalent of a Human Supreme was leading the charge.

…

" We are finally here!! ", Max shouted as the sight of the bridge entered his eyes.

But at this moment, Max suddenly felt a sense of danger and without a second thought, he turned the steering.

As the vehicle moved, a tree smashed on the position it earlier was.

" Bang! "

Max immediately turned his head and noticed a group of beasts emerging out of the thick forest.

The group was led by a Rock Head Hippo, a low-level savage beast and there were several other ferocious beasts behind it. It was a bizarre combination. Max was amazed to watch these different beast cooperating which usually don't even interact in their natural habitat.

" W..What is happening!! ", August asked since he was unable to see anything behind him in his current position.

" They have caught up...but it looks like that the one in the lead is a savage beast. Take over, I will use my power to stall it. Even if it is a dozen times stronger than us, it doesn't mean that we can't stall for a bit of time.", Max said as he twisted his body and somehow managed to squeeze out a bit of space for August to reach the gas peddle.

" If it is about stalling, I am more powerful than you.", August replied.

" But, I can't drive...just take the gas paddle and let me shift to the back seat. As long as we manage to cross the bridge, I will destroy the bridge and we will be able to get out of here safely. I can guarantee that if you entrust me to drive, I will end up destroying the bridge with my driving skills. So, just shut up and drive..", Max said with a laugh as he changed positions with August.

The vehicle swayed heavily but luckily they somehow managed to get it back in control.

As Max got on the back seat, he took in a deep breath and tried to calm down his trembling body. There was a horde of beast in front of him, how could one not fear it.

' System activate « Bloodlust» ', Max commanded.

As soon as Max commanded, a dense amount of killing intent started to leak out of his body and his eyes turned bloodshot.

August suddenly felt a chill as if he was lying on a bed made of ice. He slightly turned his head and only to be surprised by the sudden change in Max. But it wasn't time to question. Besides, everyone had a few secrets.

With the activation of the skill, Max's strength started to surge reaching the peak of mid level mage and even surpassing it by a small margin. But it still wasn't in the domain of High tier mage. He felt that his thirst for blood was rising. But he was still aware of his surroundings.

" Let's check to what extent my elemental ability has rose…", Max said in an eerily voice as the sleeve of his right hand turned into ash with the sudden burst of flames.

He smiled as he lowered his stance and used the most basic move that he could come up with.

" Fire Fist!! "

As Max punched, a huge fist made of fire flew and landed in the horde of beasts.

" Boom! "

The lower level ferocious beasts instantly turned into ashes while the other dashed through the flames with burn marks.

Seeing that his method worked, Max released a barrage of fist towards the horde.

The cries of lower level beast rang out and several messages flashed on the screen.

« Host has killed a Star Wolf ( 1★ Ferocious ) gained 500 FP...»

« Host has killed a Iron Horn Deer ( 1★ Ferocious ) gained 500 FP...»

« Host has killed a Star Wolf ( 2★ Ferocious ) gained 1000 FP...»

…

…

…

At this moment, the Rock Head Hippo roared and the speed of beasts increased.

" F*ck!! August are we here yet!! ", Max shouted in his eerily voice.

" Yes, we are about to get on the bridge…", August replied.

Max turned around to attack once again. He was already nearing his time limit for the skill. Just a bit more and they would be out of here.