The Ancient Genes

"Is this it?" Eida's voice sounded as he entered the cabin. His gaze met with Max, he couldn't help but sigh feeling a bit disappointed. The demonic aura began to leak out of him and Max could feel a chill. The feeling was very similar to the time when he was facing the breath attack from the mana beasts. The guy was definitely going for the final blow.

At this moment, Max who had been lying disoriented from the crash suddenly got up and rushed towards Eida. The spear which had been lying a few meters away from Max flew towards him as he raised his hand and flames emerged from Max's entire being making him look like a ball of fire. The flames then took the shape of a vague figure with wings above Max.

Seeing Max rushing in, Eida made a move. He swung his claws tearing apart the curtain of flames and several more cuts appeared on Max's body as a result of it. But Max didn't back down, the spear in his hands danced and moved along bringing along the flames as his true spell exploded and Max pushed himself to his limits.

Eida's face turned serious and the demonic aura busted out of his body and a black ball of demonic energy formed around his hands. When Max's flames closed in on him, Eida raised his hand the black ball of energy busted into a ray of destruction colliding with the incoming flames.

"Bang!"

The Collison occurred and flames flew all around as Max felt himself being pushed behind, but he didn't give in and pushed ahead with all his might.

Suddenly, the flames parted away and Eida emerged from it. There were burns on his body but nothing serious. His claws moved and dug their way towards Max's throat.

Max immediately moved and dodged towards the side.

"Shnk!"

It seemed that he wasn't able to move in time as the calws pierced through his shoulder and appeared out of his back. Blood immediately rushed up through Max's throat dying his clothes which were already full of blood even redder.

"It's over… you were strong…" Eida looked at Max in the eyes as he spoke with an arrogant look on his face.

Max slowly raised his hands and grabbed Eida's hands.  "Do you think it's over yet?" Max raised his head and Eida felt a chill seeing the smile on his face. He tried to retreat, but Max's grip tightened around his arm.

"Now!" Max roared.

Before Eida could do anything, he saw a shadow from the corner of his eyes zooming towards him. It was a beast.

One, the shadow leopard whom Max had released before Eida entered the cabin had been hiding in the corner. When it saw Max's signal, it immediately pounced with his fangs baring at Eida's neck.

"Clang!"

A metallic clang rang. Eida had reacted. He had brought out his saber and managed to defend himself. He pushed the beast and it flew away landing behind Max as it continued to growl and bare its fang at Eida.

"Hahaha…is this what you planned for? I really felt scared for a moment…" Eida laughed as he mocked Max. It was a close call though, but he wasn't going to admit it in front of Max.

"It isn't over yet." Max's voice sounded and Eida felt a prick on his feet. He immediately turned his head below and found a centipede-like creature with its pincer in his feet. His eyes turned grim and he swung his saber towards it using his other hands.

Max obviously wouldn't let him do so, he pulled the guy's hand which were still stuck in his shoulders.

Eida lost his balance and fell to the ground along with Max. Juju used this opportunity to run behind Max. One immediately stood in front of Juju protecting it like a guard.

Max and Eida tussled on the ground. A black dagger had appeared in Max's hand he struck at Eida's neck while the guy brought out his saber and blocked Max's attack.

"What did you do, Coward?" Eida grumbled with a clear rage in his eyes. He could feel a burning sensation in his legs which was slowly spreading towards his entire body.

"Coward? I don't want to hear it from you people who have taken hostages and are killing innocent people…" Max replied with a scowl on his face.

"Bang!"

Eida kicked Max and the duo finally separated from each other.  Eida felt his face contorting in pain and he glared at Max in realisation. It was poison. He couldn't believe that something like this had happened. He was definitely going to give Max a painful death. But he had to do something about the poison first.

Max smiled. It was the poison of the Water Cobra which Juju had absorbed from Max. It was a fatal poison.  Back then, the posion had almost melted away Max's body when it had made an external contact. One could clearly tell how potent the poison would be when injected internally and it seemed that the poison had even mutated after being absorbed by Juju.  After all, Max didn't expect it to take effect on a strong guy like him this quickly.

"Khe-khe!"

Max looked at the little guy and it seemed to be enjoying Eida's situation as it continued to laugh in its strange voice. "Come back, you two did a good job. I will take it from here," Max commanded and the two guys returned back to the spirit world unwillingly, they were clearly excited after all, battle was in the instincts of the beasts.

Max looked at Eida who had begun to sweat. The poison had begun to spread for sure. He knew what he needed to do. Max immediately moved and a spear appeared in his hands. Eida gritted his teeth as he moved. He knew that the more he moved, the quicker the poison would spread. Max knew the fact very well too.

The battle continued and Max could feel himself gaining an upper hand as Eida's movements began to look sluggish in his eyes. Max smiled and the next moment, his wings unfurled as he transformed pushing his sense to the max.

When Eida's fist came towards Max, he moved in instead of blocking. He slightly tilted his head and the fist grazed past Max's cheeks drawing out a bit of blood. But that was nothing in comparison to the opening that Max had managed to find. Max swiped his spear vertically managing to tear apart the guy's clothing and the scales beneath.

"Splash!"

Blood ran out like a stream from the deep cut on Eida's chest as he staggered back a few steps before falling onto his knees.  His breathing had become restless. Max felt pretty amazed at the fact that he was still able to maintain himself. The poison was no joke after all, Max had experienced it first hand and he could tell that if it was any other expert tier mage, he would probably be dead by now.

'I should end this.' Max thought as he could feel his hands shaking. His body was hitting the limit. Any more and he would be depleting his life force to fight. This was the same as walking towards his death.

Max slowly took a step forward and stabbed his spear towards the guy's throat. But before his spear could penetrate the guy's throat, a hand grabbed it. Max turned his head and saw that a person in black colored cloth had appeared beside him.

"You did quite a number on him," the old man said with a smile as his spear broke apart with a bang.