ตอน 35: A Plan
"What the hell is this?" A soldier gasped, looking at the impossible occurrence before him. There was actually a long trail leading to Tier 1 territory. It appeared that a beast coming from Tier 1 territory actually entered the competition area.
The trail was three meters wide. Everything that it crossed was actually flattened, indicating its weight. More importantly, the trail was actually continuous as if the beast didn't leave the ground.
He had been supervising the area, yet he never thought that there would be a beast this powerful coming in.
"This is not good." A soldier picked up the radio and reported, "This is Gerry from Delta-01, I've found a trail coming from Tier 1 Territory. The trail is quite unique as if it's a snake. I need a backup to investigate this trail."
"Got it. We'll send you someone."
It didn't take too long before another person arrived at the scene, dumbfounded by the trail.
"This is…" The man gasped as if knowing what this trail was.
"Is there something wrong?"
"You idiot. Just look at the trail. There aren't many animals that can produce this kind of trail. Most likely, the one coming to the competition area is a snake or something similar."
"A Tier 1 snake?" The guy understood it but he didn't think this was a big problem. In the end, the participants were expected to have the strength to go against Tier 1 monsters. After all, they were bound to find Tier 1 beasts in the competition area.
So, having one snake sneak in shouldn't be much of a problem.
However, his superior actually shouted, "Do you not understand what this means? Just take a look around you and ask yourself if there is snake territory around this place."
"A snake territory?" The guy fell silent for a moment. There was no Tier 1 snake territory around here, but if he actually explored a bit further, there was actually one. "Don't tell me…"
His superior immediately contacted the supervisor. "We are suspecting a Tier 2 snake, Yurlunggur, to invade the competition area. We need backup and a full investigation. We also need an elite squad to take down the snake while preparing for an evacuation."
No one couldn't believe it. However, this was the only possibility. There was actually a Tier 2 snake intruding on the competition area. No participant had enough power to actually defeat this monster. There was a possibility that several participants had fallen as the snake's prey.
…
*Bang!*
Once again, the bullet was deflected, leaving only a small scratch on the snake's skin.
"Seriously? Even a Tier 1 beast can't stop Kanaria's shot. Even though the bullet is not special, the caliber is still pretty high. Then, this snake is…" Clovis gritted his teeth. Although he didn't want to believe it, he had no other choice.
"Tier 2 snake?" Jay gasped. He had never seen a snake this big. And because of Kanaria's attack, the snake was thoroughly angered.
*Sha!* The snake let out a roar before purple colored liquid came out of its fangs. With a single shake of the head, the giant poison droplet flew toward Clovis and Jay.
"Dodge!" Clovis shouted.
Jay and Clovis jumped to the side, barely avoiding this attack. When the poison made contact with the ground, it actually started melting the soil.
"Are you serious? Its toxicity can even melt the ground." Jay sucked a cold breath.
If not for the fact that the snake had to make a zig-zag movement when moving, both of them wouldn't even have the time to talk. Due to that movement, their speed in crossing a straight line was pretty much the same, so the snake couldn't really catch up to them. And if they entered the woods, they should be able to hinder the snake's movement for a bit.
"How in the world can a Tier 2 enter this area? Has it been hiding in this place the whole time?" Clovis frowned, thinking it wasn't that simple.
In the first place, the people who ambushed them intentionally brought the egg as if they wanted to frame them. Now that the snake had been lured and recognized them as its enemies, it felt like they had fallen into someone's trap.
'Who in the world actually targets us?' Clovis furrowed his eyebrows. Now that he thought about it, it felt like the beast wave they encountered previously was rather unusual.
If there was a beast wave, why would it occur during their trip? If it was just a coincidence, how about the competition? The military suddenly wanted to make a competition to clear up the surrounding area and it even had a reward that would entice anyone who heard about it. Still, if these two were still not enough, the appearance of this snake convinced him that someone had set up everything from the beginning.
In that case, who would actually target them? Were they their target? Or was it only one of them?
Kanaria was important, but someone like her should know which one was her enemy and which one was not. Since she didn't think that the enemy was coming for her, it shouldn't be because of her.
Then, was it Jay? Jay was quite eccentric and his personality felt like it would bring a lot of enemies. But the fact that his family left him alone even after running away meant that they had confidence that Jay could defeat all enemies he encountered.
In other words, the actual target might actually be him. That was right. He had heard about a few things from Gregory.
If his house had been under heavy surveillance, it meant that the enemies had noticed him. He personally didn't have enemies, but he couldn't say it was the same for his family.
What if the ones coming for him were his family's enemies? But if this were the case, couldn't they just kill them with their extraordinary strength instead of using these beasts?
Clovis's expression turned grim. On the one hand, he felt bad that this was happening because of him. On the other hand, he figured out the problem early on, allowing him to actually utilize this chance.
He should apologize later and solve this snake.
"Kanaria. Get ready to leave. It's going to be hard to maneuver around the wood, so you should go first," said Clovis while grabbing his pistol. Instead of the bullets he bought with Kanaria, he used the remaining special bullets he had. This was his last trump card and if this failed, he wouldn't have anything left to fight these snakes.
"Got it." Kanaria jumped off the tree and began moving in the same direction as them.
"Are we going to fight a Tier 2 beast?" Jay asked with a serious expression. He simply didn't know how to defeat this beast.
"We don't have a choice. If we keep running like this, sooner or later, the snake will catch up to us." Clovis sighed. They had been avoiding several toxin shots while running. Every time they dodged, the snake closed the gap. If this continued for a bit more, the snake would definitely catch up to them. So, their only chance was to fight back.
Jay couldn't deny it, but he couldn't picture how to even penetrate the snake's skin.
Even Clovis was not confident that they could defeat the Tier 2 snake. At the same time, they would be in trouble if they actually had to give up because of this and lose Kanaria.
"No, wait a minute." Clovis suddenly thought about something when the thought of losing this competition appeared in his mind. "Kanaria. Where do you think those four people are currently?"
"Huh? Since they're going for the dodo, I'm assuming that they're currently in the Glyptodon Territory by now." Kanaria didn't understand the question. Even though their lives were at risk, Clovis was actually concerned about these four.
However, he soon asked Jay. "Can we hold back the snake long enough to reach that territory? It should be only one kilometer from here, right?"
Jay instantly understood what Clovis actually wanted. "Are you serious?"
"Even if we're going to lose, we'll drag our competitor down." Clovis smirked. "At least, nobody wins."
"If that's the case, I'm going to give it all." Jay smirked, feeling excited. Although it was going to be close to impossible, they had no choice but to try.
"Kanaria. Move ahead and give us your location. If possible, find our competitors. We'll be giving this snake to them."
Kanaria certainly didn't expect this to be the plan. But it seemed that this was the best way to end the competition. Even if they were angry later, they could still use this snake to call off the competition. The worst case scenario was that there was no winner.
"Understood." Kanaria immediately put the sniper rifle on her back so that she could increase her speed. The only weapon she needed was her pistol. While scouting ahead, she had to ensure that the path was clear so that the beasts wouldn't hinder Clovis and Jay.
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