The Ancient Genes

"Aria, are you fine?" Lisa got off of Twice and helped Aria up.

Aria immediately hugged her, she should be the one asking that question to her and not the opposite way.

"Can you back us up?" Venice's urgent voice sounded towards them. The guy from the Blue City who was the weakest among the trio had just suffered a serious injury and was forced to retreat from the battle increasing the pressure on Venice and Arthur.

Aria immediately came back to her senses and took up her sword.

Lisa looked at Aria rushing ahead and moved ahead as well.

If she wanted to escape, no one would be able to stop her. The sewers were dimly lit. If Lisa used her darkness element along with Twice's shadow escape, she could easily get out of here.

This was the reason that Max felt he wouldn't need to interfere. 

But Lisa didn't want to leave Aria alone and decided to support the group.

Twice heeded Lisa's command and disappeared in the surroundings. She planned to use him at the right moment.

Aria had already arrived bear the the Swamp Lord, it's body was the largest among all the other swamp crocs. A single glance was enough to tell it was the master of the swamp.

Venice immediately took a step back seeing that Aria had arrived. But even while leaving, she used her element and froze the Swamp Lord's feet.

Aria immediately used this opportunity and took a leap. Her rapier thrust forward as she activated her true spell.

"Overlord's Thrust!''

A giant crystalised sword immediately appeared above the Swamp Lord's head.

At one look, it seemed that the Swamp Lord was dead but alas, Aria was nowhere near its level. She was at the stage where she could break anytime into Advance Tier. Yet, she already had the capability to fight an Early stage Advance Tier.

But in front of the Swamp Lord, it was just enough to give it a few scratches at most.

The Crystalised Sword shattered on coming in contact with the beast's head instead of impaling it.

The Swamp Lord's tale suddenly struck towards Aria but Arthur immediately used his sand gourd to block in time.

The water around had made his sand heavier and slowed him down. It was really disadvantageous in a sense but on the other hand, it had increased the defensive power.

"Crack!"

The ice trapping the Swamp Lord's feet cracked and Aria immediately retreated.

Lisa had already made her move by now. The dark matter oozing out of her body had already spread around. No one could see it in the dimly lit surroundings.

The Swamp Lord felt it's senses degrading for some reason. It opened its mouth and released a breath attack but missed its target.

Arthur felt the oddness and his eyes gleamed looking at Lisa. 

"Miss Walker! Back me up…" His words attracted Lisa's attention.

Arthur immediately made a move seeing Lisa nod and boldly closed in on the Swamp Lord.

Aria waved her sword and dozens of the crystals conjured in the air shooting towards the Swamp Lord to distract it.

Venice saw that Arthur was determined and took a huge risk. If they failed and lost him it was over for them. She knew that it wasn't time to hold back and hence began to make her preparation.

At this moment, Arthur was already in front of the Swamp Lord. Sand flew out of the gourd and he didn't hesitate to empty it out.

"Sand Prism!"

"Roar!!!!"

The Swamp Lord began to create chaos as the sand restricted its movement. But Arthur still managed to seal it. But his condition didn't look good. He was constantly consuming mana to keep up the seal.

"Move!!! This is the chance to break through…." The guy from Blue City roared and took the lead despite his injuries to break through the blockade.

The students behind roared as well and rushed after him.

At this moment, cracks began to appear on the end prism and blood began to leak out from Arthur's nostril and mouth.

Slowly the cracks spread before the entire sand prism and the Swamp Lord's claw broke through the sand. The sand prism was unable to contain the terrifying might of the beast any longer.

"Boom!"

Arthur staggered a few steps back and he couldn't hold any long and omitted out blood.

He looked at the prism and knew that the beast would break out in a few seconds.

"Twice!!"

Lisa screamed as she used her power and a terrible sucking force emerged pulling Arthur away.

With Artur out of the way a white beam of light crashed into the sand prism which had almost collapsed.

The Swamp Lord which was under heavy restrictions took a direct hit. It's scale broke and blood splattered as it was sent flying away along with the remnants of the sand prism stuck to its body.

"Let's go!!'' Aria shouted as she grabbed Arthur while Lisa went towards Venice on Twice's back and took her up.

The group fled as fast they could and soon caught up with the rest who were still trying to break through the siege.

This was the last push. It depends on them now whether they could break through and survive or the Swamp Lord would recover and make them forfeit.

Roars of the beast continued to ring out while flames, wind, water…every kind of spell was thrown out. The battle shook the sewers and students continued to move forward.

The battle was not an easy one, one of the weaker students couldn't take it any longer and when a breath attack struck him, he took the opportunity to forfeit.

"We are finally here!!!!" A student shouted when they could finally see a light in the distance. 

The exit was finally in sight!!

The students cheered and began to fight even more vigorously.

But at this moment, a roar shook the place. The water in the sewers rose like a tide and the whole sewer began to shake.

"Don't stop!! We are almost there!!" Arthur shouted and took the lead himself.

When they were still a few meters away, the Swamp Lord had returned. It's eyes had turned red, showing that it had entered the berserk state.

Everybody's face sank. Lisa immediately held Aria's hand. She was confident in escaping….she only needed to be faster than these people.

But at this moment, a terrifying fluctuation spread throughout the sewers and a chill accompanied it.

Lisa looked at Venice. Others failed to notice the source but she didn't. She felt that the energy coming out of her at this moment was different. She was different from others...or somehow similar to her and Max.

Finally, Venice walked out of the crowd in front of everyone's astonished gaze.

No one knew what she did but her aura drastically rose breaking through Expert Tier in one go and then hell broke loose….

"Ice Age!!"