Chapter 376: Giving Up

"Yes, sir. We have confirmed it with our own eyes. You can check the video as well. Auric Elfe was truly the one who had been curing the poison."

"Good work. It looks like we have to step up our game. Has everything been prepared?"

"Yes, sir. All the preparations have been completed. All we need to do is wait until the survival competition."

"All right. Stay low for now."

The man hung up the call and looked around. He found no one, so he walked normally as though he never stopped in the first place.

Meanwhile, the Director’s expression turned cold. He looked at the several people in the meeting room. Only three people were physically present, while the others were attending through a video call.

"Director, we have been wasting too much of our time. When are we going to do it?"

"It’s time for our Apocalypse to be revealed to the entire world."

"We have remained hidden for too long."

"As soon as we crush their geniuses, the economic attack will follow and destroy their hope."

"It’s because of your obsession that we’ve been waiting this long."

The Director simply glared at them. "Then, you do it. I have been the one handling this kind of problem all the time. What can you do other than providing funding and telling me this and that?

"I created the poison." The Director smacked the table. "What I want is Auric Elfe. I have already told you the reason why I even joined this group. If you are going to stop me, I have no reason to cooperate with you guys anymore."

"Director! Don’t you dare talk like that to us."

"I dare! I’ve joined you guys for a single purpose, not because of my loyalty. Threaten me again, and I’ll execute my contingency plan. Telling those hunting dogs your identities sounds fun."

"Director... you’d better watch your mouth. Do you think I don’t dare kill you?" One of the three people who attended the meeting stood up, releasing the energy similar to that of a Rank 6 human.

"You can definitely kill me, but that’s a problem. My contingency plan will be executed the moment I die too."

"You bastard..."

"You are the bastards. You invited a bastard like me to your group, so get ready for the consequences. You only have two options. Follow my plan and I’ll let this end without ratting even a single name or you can die together with me!"

All of them looked at each other. Originally, they invited the Director to create a poison that would eliminate the geniuses. After removing one or two generations, the world would be weakened and have no other way to stop the beasts.

However, the Director turned out to be crazier than they expected. It was as if they were inviting a wolf into their own house. They started by using the Director but ended up with getting used by the Director.

The Rank 6 human stopped and returned to his seat. "Fine. We’ll follow your plan. However, this is the last time, Director. You have failed a few times, so don’t expect to get another chance. If you fail again, next time, it will be our ways or else..."

"Or else what? You don’t get to threaten me. If I lose what I have, I’ll lose the last thing that keeps me sane enough to not drag you assholes with me."

The Rank 6 human gritted his teeth.

"That’s enough with the arguments. If you fail this time, we will do it our way, Director, with or without your approval."

"Hmph." The Director snorted.

They chose to end the meeting.

The Director just looked at them closely before walking away. He ended up going back to the same room whenever he felt stressed.

In the room, he saw his daughter lying on the bed, still unconscious.

The Director was crazier than these people expected. He had already lost his daughter the moment she encountered that incident.

The organization might have been giving him everything to sustain his daughter’s life, but there was no sign of recovery.

That was why it felt like he had already lost his daughter once. If they dared to threaten him with his daughter, he wasn’t the type of person who would do everything to keep his daughter alive.

After all, there was nothing he could do to wake up his daughter. So, if they killed her, he wouldn’t do anything for them or for her. Rather, he would exact his revenge even if it meant dragging these people with him.

People used to say that a hero sacrificed one person for the entire world, while the villain sacrificed the world to save one person. However, he was neither a hero nor a villain. He was simply a father who had lost his daughter once. Losing his daughter twice would just mean losing the last safety mechanism that prevented him from blowing a nuke.

The Director muttered, "Just a bit more... I will be able to acquire the method to wake you up. You are a fighter. You will definitely survive."

...

"Well..." The referee was startled when Nicholas chose to forfeit the match. He thought Nicholas would fight to the end. That was how he was going to preserve his dignity.

However, Nicholas chose a different option. After seeing how Auric handled the treatment, Nicholas knew that there was no chance of defeating Auric even once.

Granda thought that by separating the battle into three rounds, as long as they could just win one round, that would be great.

Unfortunately, Auric was just too overpowered.

If he continued this match, Nicholas knew he would just disgrace himself and elevate Auric to a whole new level.

Hence, it was better to forfeit the match. At the very least, they could say that Auric was simply too strong after seeing his treatment.

The referee asked for confirmation, "Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Nicholas!" The instructors from Granda were panicking, but Nicholas simply said, "You treat the patient. If any of you can do it, I will continue the match."

"..." The instructors looked at each other and tried to persuade him, but Nicholas simply looked away.

The referee then announced the result. "Nicholas has forfeited the match. Auric Elfe from Esfrata won!"

"Ooohhhh!" The people cheered. They thought Auric would win, but it would be because he could treat the person with an extreme element. In other words, he would win with a rather small margin.

However, it turned out Auric’s victory would be this overwhelming.

Looking at this match, Maya muttered, "Because of this, his store will most likely become even more crowded. People across the country with weird illnesses might come to visit him to get treatment. After curing Timothy and treating someone poisoned by this poison openly, he’s basically telling the world that he might be able to treat their illnesses no matter how weird it is.

"People are going to scrape together everything they have to seek his treatment. The problem will be those who have money. They might even kidnap him or whatever. No, they might even drag him with force, threatening him to cure people with his life.

"Still, the mayor is probably celebrating right now. With more people coming to the city, the economy will become even greater."

Maya shook her head helplessly. She would definitely get a headache from all this. After all, there were only a few people who would protect Auric directly.

"I can do it for now, but I won’t be with him 24/7. Besides, I really need to become a Rank 6 as soon as possible, or else I won’t be able to fend off those old foxes.

"He must already know this kind of thing will happen when he chooses to reveal his skill to the world.

"Fortunately, Gloria is going to protect him, but she’s currently Rank 4. Should I help her to reach Rank 5? She will need to stay with Auric all the time. Katarina might be good, but even her ears won’t reach everywhere.

"Ellia? Well, with her current result, she probably won’t have any more episodes with her parents or grandfather, but I don’t know what she can do and how far she’s willing to do it."

Maya scratched the back of her head. "My student is truly a troublemaker. I wonder where he learned it from..."

...

After the announcement, Auric glanced at the rest of the volunteers. The volunteers looked excited when they saw Auric could cure even the incurable condition.

They thought their cure would be guaranteed, but they were disappointed when Nicholas forfeited the match. Wouldn’t this mean they wouldn’t get a chance to be treated?

Auric suddenly asked the referee. "By the way, since the match is over, can I treat them?"

"Treat them?" The referee glanced at the volunteers.

"Yeah. They have gone all the way here to get treatment. It might be for free or it might be because they think their condition is special but can’t afford to hire a titanium-grade evolution master or an adamantine-grade evolution master. There’s no reason to disappoint them. It will only take a few minutes at most. No, maybe ten to fifteen minutes if we include the people who need to evolve."

The referee thought for a moment. There was no reason to stop Auric. If the match continued, it would surely take longer than fifteen minutes.

"I will also help with that." Surprisingly, Nicholas came to them, intending to do the same thing. "I may have forfeited the match, but I don’t want my decision to cause people to regret their own decision. This is my responsibility."

Auric was a bit surprised. He realized that Nicholas wasn’t the type of person he originally thought.

Nicholas was originally a good person. The people around him were the ones who kept pushing him to the spotlight.

That was why even in this situation, he remained true to himself.

Auric smiled. "That sounds good too. What do you think?"

"Well, there’s no reason for me to reject it. This is also good publicity for the event." The referee nodded. "If other instructors want to join, that will be good. If not, I will stop them for you so that they won’t disturb you for the next thirty minutes."

"Thank you." Auric smiled.

The students noticed what they were doing.

"W-What are they doing?"

"Are they treating the rest of the people?"

"Even Nicholas?"

"Can’t they do it? I mean, the match is over, but there’s no reason for them not to do it. At least, those people can return home with a smile on their face."

People originally thought Nicholas would have a broken heart or throw a tantrum. Yet, Nicholas accepted his loss and chose to end it with good sportsmanship.

Auric might overpower him, but it didn’t change the fact that Nicholas still deserved a round of applause for his character and achievements.

In the end, the match was closed with a handshake between Auric and Nicholas.