The Genius Evolution Store

*Thud—!*

”I haven’t heard of that report before.” Mr. Green turned pale.

”What?” Auric was dumbfounded. ”Didn’t you read the report about the incident? Shouldn’t Supervisor Jacob know about it?”

Mr. Green shook his head. ”I don’t know what he knows, but I certainly heard nothing about the incident.”

”Ugh.” Auric grunted while contemplating. ”For now, just know that the situation is like that. From what I see, the poison they use can affect humans at Rank 2 or below, but it doesn’t mean that this is all the poison they have. They might have succeeded in creating poison that can affect Rank 3 humans or even more.”

Mr. Green’s expression turned ugly. If they really lost all those students, the situation would be dire.

A single wound would seal their abilities, so another hit would be more than enough to kill the student.

At that time, the casualties would skyrocket.

Mr. Green narrowed his eyes, while Auric said, ”I hope it’s just me being paranoid, but that’s what I would do if I were them. For now, I will keep looking at the beasts to see whether they’re coated in poison or not.”

”Yes. Please do that.” Mr. Green pinched the bridge of his nose. If they had poison like this, retreating wouldn’t change their situation. However, if they stayed and fought the beasts here, they wouldn’t last very long.

Auric had faced opponents like this, so he had mastered a fighting style that allowed him to avoid getting injured, but it wasn’t the same for everyone.

Hence, Mr. Green said, ”For now, we will proceed with the original plan. However, we might need to create another fortification to slow the beast down. The instructors can hold most beasts, but they definitely can’t stop them all. We can’t afford to have those beasts harm the students.”

”Understood. Buying time. Do you want me to heal anyone getting injured as well?”

”Can you?”

”Yes. It shouldn’t be a problem. It will only take a few seconds at most. We need to create a system where they can bring the injured people to me, though.”

”I will talk to the instructors from the UK and announce the problem to warn them.”

”Understood.”

”Anything else?”

”I think that’s all... for now.”

”For now, huh?” Mr. Green shook his head helplessly. He just walked toward the other instructors to discuss what they needed to do.

To his surprise, Auric noticed another group of people coming.

”Hmm?” Auric narrowed his eyes.

”Please wait! We are not here to fight!”

The one leading that group was actually Selena Bellegarde, the representative of Lech-Aistia.

”...” Mr. Green and the other instructors didn’t know what they were trying to do, but it was clear that this group came with their own instructors.

”What are you doing here?” Mr. Green asked, glaring at them coldly. He couldn’t trust anyone at this point.

Selena explained, ”We have heard about the situation from the livestream. We’d like to form an alliance with you.”

Mr. Green frowned. How could he just accept this without hesitation? They might use this opportunity to harm them or sabotage Auric.

On the other hand, Auric said, ”It’s better than just the two of us.”

”Can you trust these guys?” Mr. Green didn’t really like Auric’s decision.

”No. Not at all. However, in times of crisis, we need to help each other out.” Auric shook his head.

Mr. Green couldn’t refute those words. Sometimes, when they faced a crisis at this scale, two enemies should become friends until they averted the crisis. They couldn’t do anything to their enemies if they were dead after all.

Mr. Green, however, still thought Auric’s safety was his priority and accepting these people would create unknown variables.

Auric whispered, ”Besides, her element is something nice to have. I can take care of the poison, but her ability can take care of their wounds.”

Mr. Green looked down, contemplating. Mr. Green let out a long sigh. ”Fine. However, you need to follow our orders. If not, it’d be best for us to go separate ways.”

”What?!” one instructor from LA tried to argue, considering they were supposed to be equal.

However, Selena raised her hand, gesturing for the instructor not to argue. She said in a solemn tone, ”I understand. We will follow the instructions from Esfrata. I shall fully take responsibility for everything.”

Selena couldn’t afford to clash with these people who clearly had prepared more for this kind of situation.

Mr. Green ultimately accepted them. ”Very well.”

He gestured for them to assemble. ”Listen up! We will head west. We’ve called the plane. It should meet us halfway. We’ll retreat to the city and fight these beasts by utilizing the city wall.

”There is another thing I need you to know. The beasts might have been coated in poison. That poison might potentially prevent anyone below Rank 3 from using their energy.

”Hence, our strategy will be simple. We will retreat halfway and fortify our positions if necessary.

”If you get injured, stay alive no matter what. Help the people around you and retreat to the center. Auric Elfe will handle the poison. Meanwhile, I’ll have to ask Selena Bellegarde and anyone who has healing ability to help with treating the injuries so that you can continue to fight!

”We have limited manpower, so make it count. I won’t accept any objections or complaints. This is a life-or-death situation. If everyone understands, we will depart in five minutes. We will continuously shoot the flare to the sky to inform the others of our location. This way, others might be able to catch up to us.

”Instructors! I need you to help those students as soon as they are visible in our group. The beasts will be coming in a few minutes, so we have a very strict time window. Keep watching your surroundings and get ready to fight at all times. However, don’t panic. Understood?”

No one said anything. They were worried about the poison, but panicking in a situation like this was basically a death sentence. So, they had no choice but to follow Mr. Green’s instructions.

They waited a bit longer as more and more students arrived. There were students from Dermania and Granda among them as well.

In fact, Nicholas was among them.

After a brief discussion, they decided to take everyone. They had also heard that the event had been canceled, so they needed to retreat to gain an advantageous position.

Unfortunately, out of all 500 students from five countries, there were only 243 students that reached their locations. Even the UK and Esfrata only managed to have about 80% of their students reach them.

They wanted to wait a bit longer, considering some students were located at the east side of the competition area, which would take them quite some time to reach this place.

Unfortunately, they had no choice but to leave at this time.

Mr. Green declared, ”It’s time. Let’s shoot the first flare. Shoot it again every thirty seconds. There are many squads, so we have plenty of flares to spare. Instructor Gray!”

Instructor Gray gave a thumbs up while shoving the small sign that told everyone to continue west. This was an instruction for the students who couldn’t reach this place on time.

”Excuse me, Mr. Green.” Surprisingly, Instructor Gray from the UK looked at Mr. Green as if he had made his resolve. ”I’d like to stay behind. I will wait for the students as long as possible. I hope no one will be left behind, either from the UK and Esfrata.

”If there’s someone here, they will at least get clearer instructions on where to go. Even if they can’t get to the plane on time, I will do my best to escort them to the city.”

”!!!” Mr. Green looked surprised. This was the ultimate sacrifice from the instructor. There was a chance they would also end up getting overrun while helping the students.

Instructor Hagen also chose to step forward. ”I think he’s right. We can’t leave them behind. I will be responsible for bringing them to you.”

Mr. Green narrowed his eyes before biting his lip. ”Fine. We’ll try to wait for you as long as possible. Make sure to bring them all alive!”

”Understood.” The two instructors nodded solemnly.

”The rest of you, follow me!” Mr. Green shouted while shooting the first flare into the sky.

”Go!” The students started running. They had to match the pace of the Rank 1 students who were the slowest. They ran as fast as possible, but it was still quite slow.

Meanwhile, Supervisor Jacob had regrouped with all the other instructors from the UK. It looked like some instructors from Lech-Aistia had also come to provide some support.

”I am not your boss or your superior, so I won’t give you an order. However, I will just let you know our job here.

”We will have to hold them back and buy the students some time to retreat. There’s a possibility that a Rank 7 beast will appear as well, so be prepared for it. We won’t be able to defeat it, but we can work together to somehow slow it down.

”Do whatever you can to slow those beasts down. Once we reach the city, reinforcements will come, and we will turn the situation around.” Supervisor Jacob briefed them on his general plan.

As he said, they really didn’t have time.

Supervisor Jacob couldn’t explain it further because he had to turn around after sensing multiple presences.

There was a cloud of dust rising on the horizon. It continuously expanded sideways, showing how many beasts were coming.

”Well, it looks like our guests have come. Let’s greet them.” Supervisor Jacob smiled.