Nathan and Selena sat down next to each other, feeling the pressure from everyone in their surroundings.
In fact, the whole class was watching them intensely. Currently, there were two pairs they had to watch out for the most. The first would be August and Rudeus, who had set their grudge aside to win this event.
The second would be Nathan and Selena. Selena was strong, while Nathan was unique. To defeat them, it required a lot of planning.
If Nathan had to take a guess, the one responsible for this atmosphere was none other than Rudeus.
Rudeus must have controlled their opinion, which resulted in them being isolated.
When August saw all this, he couldn’t help but glance at Rudeus, remembering what he said previously.
…
A month prior.
“What? You’re going to isolate them?” August widened his eyes in disbelief.
“That’s right. It is their fault for focusing too much on themselves. Even if they have the strength, they will still need other people to survive. If they end up turning the whole world into their enemy, do you think they can survive even with their strength?
“No. That’s why it’s better to isolate them. If we isolate them, everyone will think twice if they are going to team up with them. This time, the event will require us to form a pair.
“What if the future events require a group of more than two?” Rudeus smirked.
“!!!” August squinted his eyes. The result was obvious. No one would come to them.
Obviously, Rudeus was aiming for something beyond it. When they were unable to find anyone, August would be there to help them.
Their evaluation of Rudeus would definitely improve, and they would feel they owed him for helping them.
When that happened, he could gradually influence them to go to the Liaystian Kingdom instead of staying in the Azilia Kingdom.
Nathan would be much easier to handle because his parents were commoners. Selena had a grudge with her uncle, and there was a chance for him to bring her to the Liaystian Kingdom if Nathan could become a noble in the Liaystian Kingdom. In the end, the women in noble houses would be married to their groom’s family, so she would have to follow Nathan.
All he needed to do was nurture Nathan and make him reliant on him. This way, Nathan wouldn’t have the thought of leaving the kingdom. He would also be a strong and unique summoner in the future.
And what would be for him? With such an achievement, no one would oppose him becoming the king.
Just the thought alone put a smile on Rudeus’ face. He thought, ‘Screw you, Flora. Since you’re going to play this unfairly, I’m going to do it my way.’
August looked like he didn’t accept this method completely. At the same time, he couldn’t really get a good rank if he didn’t team up with Rudeus.
Because Selena and Nathan had paired up, his choice was limited. With Rudeus as his partner, he wouldn’t scheme against him, at least in this event.
August gritted his teeth before saying, “I’ll just do it because there’s no other alternative, even though I don’t really like this.”
“Wise choice.” Rudeus had a sly smile on his face.
When August recalled that conversation, he couldn’t help but glance at Selena and Nathan. He didn’t have any grudges against them, but he had no choice but to let this be for the sake of victory. In the end, they were rivals. They were simply competing for resources.
…
In the corner of the Azilia Kingdom stood a small hut in the middle of nowhere. The hut looked nothing special, but when one entered the hut, they would find stairs leading to the spacious basement.
The basement was dimly lit. There were several tubes with varied sizes on the right and left sides of the room. A big table with mountains of papers, some of which were scattered on the ground, stood on the opposite side of the room with various tools.
The dimly green and purple glows, along with the alien corpses inside the tubes, made the atmosphere eerier.
“What do you think?” Sullivan asked.
Before him were multiple corpses of aliens and a man wearing a long white coat. The man in front of him was from his generation, yet he looked like a guy in their late thirties.
The guy fixed his glasses and said, “Where do you find them?”
“In the camp I’m taking care of right now. You should know much more than me regarding an alien like this since you are a former leading Court Researcher. It’s because I know you personally that I bring them first to you instead of the Research Department, Simon.”
Simon pointed at the human’s corpse. “Do you remember when I told you about the separation of aliens and symbiotes?”
“Yes. Five years ago, you told me we should separate the alien and symbiote as they were two separate living creatures. However…” Sullivan’s expression turned grim.
“However, the symbiote is a much more terrifying creature. They have a terrifying growth rate and act like parasites, controlling their hosts.”
“Don’t tell me…” Sullivan’s face darkened.
“It is as I expected.” Simon pointed at the veins and tentacles. “If you look at this, the tentacles are not growing. Instead, the symbiotes are the ones growing the blade, the claws, and other things. These symbiotes are actually using humans as their host. Do you understand what this means, Sullivan?”
“Are they trying to change their hosts from aliens to humans? If that’s the case, the aliens that are currently attacking this world are not in their right mind.”
“Exactly.” Simon nodded. “What if the aliens are being controlled to attack our world? What if, after aliens, we are next?”
Sullivan trembled. He couldn’t imagine what would happen to this world once the aliens started controlling humans.
Simon added, “The most terrifying thing is not about us getting controlled, it’s their exponential growth. What if these new human hosts are able to speak like normal humans? What if they take over the world? What if the me standing before you is nothing, but a human controlled by the symbiote?”
“But why would the symbiote act like this right now? Are you saying they have evolved to take over humans in the past few hundred years?” Sullivan crossed his arms.
“That’s exactly the question you need to answer, Sullivan. Aliens are supposed to be superior to normal humans, so symbiotes will choose to use aliens instead of us as their hosts. But what if… someone changed that natural characteristic?”
“What? Someone is deliberately turning the symbiotes to use humans as the hosts?”