The Ancient Genes

"Whoosh!"

Max swiftly dashed through the forest with a heavy frown on his face. His clone which was supposed to serve as a bait didn't seem to work for a long time. He had severely underestimated the ability of his pursuers.

Currently, he could tell that there weren't any Supremes showing up around. It was very odd, but it seemed that the Crimson hadn't deemed him as a sufficient threat. But, that shouldn't be the case when he had destroyed their entrance. The only explanation here was the fact that they knew it was Max.

And, because of this, they didn't send out Supremes as it would be a waste of ability. It also meant that they were very confident that Max wouldn't be able to leave this place at his will at all. The entrance was very likely being repaired and guarded by Supremes. Hence, it was only a matter of time to see how long Max could struggle.

Max currently had no idea that the reason no Supremes had been sent wasn't because it was an overkill. It was because the Matriarch had once again made another bet with the Second Matriarch.

….

A few minutes earlier..

"What a strange ability.." The Matriarch muttered with a frown on her face when she observed the clone leave Max's body.

"He is indeed full of surprises. No wonder the other Ancient Family values him so highly.." The Second Matriarch muttered with a smile on her face.

"Hmph! What if he has some ability? Isn't he still asking for death by barging here like this?" Matriarch snorted with a little disdain. She didn't have a bad impression of Max honestly. It was just that losing the bet had made her irritated.

"Well, that certainly is true." The Second Matriarch sighed. With existence like theirs in this place, there was no way for Max to hide. "But, I think he still has some ability. He can't be so simple, considering he has my lineage."

The Matriarch's face twitched when she saw the gleeful smile on her sister's face.

"Is that so? Then why don't we make a bet again?" The Matriarch asked as she looked at her sister.

"Again? It seems you haven't had your fill yet.." The Second Matriarch let out a teasing smile on her face.

"Fine, we will see. Let's do this then. I say that we won't need a single Supreme in catching that brat.."

As the Matriarch revealed her bet, the Second Matriarch's face twitched. There had to be a limit to shamelessness. They were already using numbers against the kid, and she had to say that they wouldn't need a supreme.

But, she too knew her sister well. She hates losing. The last bet must have been weighing on her mind. If she didn't get it off, she would probably take it out on Max. ƒ𝑟𝙚e𝔀𝗲𝒃n𝒐𝘷𝗲Ɩ.c𝗼𝚖

Yes, she was a petty old woman.

Think this, the Second Matriarch sighed, and agreed. The stakes of the bet were the same as earlier.

If the Matriarch won, they would be even, and if she lost, her time of labor would be twice that of earlier.

….

On the other side..

"Search around! He has to be in this vicinity!!" A guard roared and the group soon separated into the surroundings.

As the group spread out, a figure descended from the tree above.

"These guys caught up a bit too soon.." Max frowned as he hid his presence using his stealth technique. It seemed that they were somehow able to trace him. This was going to get troublesome.

"I have to change the route…" Max muttered to himself, and immediately did it. He carefully sensed the direction in which guards were moving to search for him, and then slowly headed towards the opposite direction.

As Max moved through the forest silently, he suddenly felt the hairs on his body stand, and the next instant, he ducked.

"Whoosh!"

The moment he did it, a sharp blade passed through the place where his neck earlier was, missing him by a hair's breadth.

"Oh! So close!!" The person who had just attempted that attack let out a miserable cry as he stopped in front, and then slowly turned around to look at Max.

It was actually a young guy, and was around the same age as Max. And, he wasn't alone. There were a total of four of them, and three had surrounded Max.

"You idiot! We are not supposed to kill him!!" The person on the left scolded the short guy who had made the move earlier.

"Will you guys stop fighting!! We are supposed to deal with him!!" The third member was a girl, and seemed to be the leader of the group. A very Crimson thing indeed.

As for the fourth guy, he hadn't appeared, but Max could feel his presence.

'A Peak Master Tier..'

That certainly made Max's lips curl up a bit in expectation. As for these guys, well, Max was sure that these were just the younger generations of the Crimson Family like Synthia and the other guys.

Max didn't pay much attention to them to begin with. If he was honest, he didn't think that they were even on the level of other young geniuses from the Ancient Family. After all, they had been in hiding for too long.

"I don't have time for you guys.." Max took a step ahead, and continued with another.

"Look at this arrogant guy.." The short guy looked at Max with a smile. He seemed very confident in his ability even after missing his first strike.

But, the girl in the lead, seemed to have noticed something odd, and her intuitions began to yell. After all, unlike the other two, she had been to the outside world and had experienced a lot. This was the privilege of being a female in the family. She was not on the same level as them.

"Careful!!" She immediately warned her companions, but Max had already moved.

"Bang!"

Before the guy knew what had happened, a fist burrowed into his stomach, and his eyes immediately rolled back as his body slowly slid onto Max's body and he collapsed onto the ground. 𝗳𝘳𝐞e𝙬𝙚𝚋𝗻𝚘𝚟𝗲l.𝑐𝑜ｍ

"Did I hit too hard?" Max's face twitched a bit when he saw the guy's mouth foaming. 'He wouldn't die, right?'