Genetic Awakening: My Genes Evolve Infinitely!

Rohan unsummoned his spear just as instructed and watched as Rudith pulled out some ropes from Joe’s bag that they used to tie down some of their camping gear the previous night.

It was a rope built for use in the Origin Realm, so it was much tougher than the ordinary ones found in shops in the outside universe.

An F rank Awakened like Rohan wouldn’t be able to break through the restraints; a rope like that would at least require him to have a strength type gene or E rank strength.

The dozen or so seconds Rudith spent trying Rohan’s hands together were the tensest moments he’d experienced his whole life. His plans for the near future basically all rested on whether he could return from the Origin in the next hour or not, and it could all come to a stop if Rudith got greedy.

His heart thumped hard enough that he could feel it even in his throat.

Even Rudith could hear it once she drew close.

"There’s no need to be so nervous, never had a woman so close to you before?" She looked at him with a smile that might tempt any man to sin. But Rohan saw through the facade.

Outwardly, he kept his face as flat as possible. The last thing he wanted now was to let Rudith sniff out that there was something off about him and go searching for the reason.

He felt almost naked without his spear in hand and an enemy so close. It had become his greatest point of reassurance ever since it evolved. Without it in his hand, standing in front of six Awakened who’d already decided that he was going to die for their benefit soon, he felt the pressure from the situation much more keenly.

"Happy?" he asked.

"Not even slightly."

She stepped in close, a coil of rope in one hand and her sword still in the other. Joe stood at her flank in case Rohan tried anything, while Noa stood at the back, arrow knocked and trained on his head the entire time.

Rudith moved behind him and grabbed his wrists, looping the rope tightly around both hands and pulled it as tight as it would go, binding them both behind his back.

"You too, Elane." She suddenly called, to nobody’s surprise.

The same process repeated and Elane was bound as well, both of them thinking that was the end of it.

Until Rudith did something neither of them expected.

"That should do it!"

She tight both knots of Rohan and Elane together, effectively linking them like slaves in chains. Escape became nigh impossible now that they were restricted by each other’s movement.

’Especially against the E rank Elite...’

There was one thing he was concerned about, but too afraid to voice. How were they so certain that he and Elane would even survive long enough for Sarah or Noa to sneak in and take away whatever treasure it was they were after?

He’d seen both of them in action previously, Sarah with her scouting and Noa in the battle against the horde of Worker Ants.

Neither of them showed a dexterity that was anywhere close to high enough to complete such a mission in a matter of seconds. After all, he and Elane would only be able to survive a matter of seconds when facing off against an E rank, let alone an E rank Elite.

’Something still feels fishy about all this, even beyond what’s already happened...’

He caught a side glance from Elane, and the suspicion in her eyes indicated she was thinking along the same lines.

’Is there some secret scheme within a scheme we don’t know about?’

Clap! Clap!

"Alright, guys its time!" Rudith pulled them along with the rope holding both of them together, forcing them to follow behind her.

The walk was short.

A huge double door stood in front of them, with the deepest, reddest looking veins lining it from end to end that Rohan had seen in the entire Firestone Forest so far. It wasn’t hard to guess what kind of place stood behind those doors.

’It’s like a boss room...’

The chamber containing the E rank Elite.

Yet even now, Rudith, Sarah, Noa and the others all looked as calm as ever. Not afraid that the E rank Elite could burst out from those doors at any second and completely decimate every single one of them.

’What gives them such confidence to act like this, so close to such a dangerous beast?’

Rohan’s danger senses were tickled, expression growing grimmer. ’There should be less than an hour left before we’re kicked out.’

His timing wasn’t perfect since he didn’t have a good frame of reference, but he knew the time was drawing near.

This was the only thing stopping his nerves from completely spiralling out of control.

The huge double doors looming before them radiated a pressure overwhelming all of their senses. Even Sarah’s senses were severely restricted in front of this terrifying place.

The dark red veins running through the surface pulsed faintly every few seconds, almost like blood vessels embedded in living flesh rather than roots or magical mineral growths.

The deeper he stared at them, the less he liked what he was seeing.

Behind those doors waited the thing whose scream shook the entire nest.

"Don’t drag your feet." Rudith said, yanking the rope sharply.

Rohan stumbled a half step, which in turn made Elane lose her balance too.

"Bitch..." Elane muttered under her breath.

Rudith heard it and smiled, but said nothing.

Joe and Aron moved towards the doors first, planting their hands against one side each. The veins embedded glowed a little brighter at their touch, and then, with a deep grating sound, the two doors began to part.

Intense heat immediately spilt out from the other side.

The dry, suffocating kind that made Rohan’s skin prickle immediately. Even if the E rank Elite didn’t immediately kill him, the heat would finish the job.

Then came the light.

The room was enormous, far larger than he expected.

The ceiling arched very high overhead, lost in the darkness where the light from the glowing veins didn’t reach, while the walls pulsed with vast networks of lava-looking veins casting everything in infernal hues.

This place was like a spitting image of hell...

And then he spotted it.

A silhouette in the corner.

’...It’s bigger than an elephant.’

The Soldier Ant only reached up to his shoulder in height, putting the disparity between an F rank Elite and an E rank Elite into perspective.

Its entire body glowed in one uniform light, with shifting layers of red and orange shining beneath and across its exoskeleton like magma flowing under cracked volcanic glass. The thick armour plates overlapped its body in immense ridges, and each one looked sturdy enough to withstand a shot from a tank.

Its mandibles were monstrous, each the length of Rohan himself, easily able to crush steel with minimal effort.

That was an E rank Elite.

The first E rank Rohan was ever witnessing in person.

His heart sank to his stomach. Nothing in his life up until that point could have prepared him for this confrontation.