Chapter 107: One Shot (Part 1)

"So the task you accepted is to kill people of the Chaos Alliance who are corrupted by Chaos Essence?" Evan asked as he easily followed beside Liam.

Liam’s mouth twitched slightly when he saw how easily Evan was keeping up with his pace, and nodded.

"Yeah, the academy received information that there is a base of the Chaos Alliance in this forest. Their strength is not high, so we were sent to take care of them."

"I see..." Evan nodded and asked curiously. "Do normal people look different after getting corrupted by Chaos Essence?"

Liam sighed and shook his head.

"The most annoying thing about Chaos Essence is that unless a person actively uses it, it’s impossible for you to find out whether they have been corrupted by Chaos Essence or not..." Liam’s face turned serious, and he lowered his voice. "In fact, it’s not uncommon for even some high-level Evolvers of the Light Alliance to be corrupted by Chaos Essence, and since it’s very difficult to identify people corrupted by Chaos Essence..."

Liam did not finish his sentence, but Evan understood his meaning.

’So he is basically saying there might be people corrupted by Chaos Essence among the higher-ups of the Light Alliance...’ As he thought of this, Evan couldn’t help but frown.

He actually did not care too much about this Light Alliance thing or the Chaos Race.

The reason he was frowning was mainly because he was wondering if there were anyone corrupted by Chaos Essence in the sub-academy of Planet Zarth.

From what he learned from Liam, he understood that to make sure the sub-academies operated fairly, the Light Alliance often sent professors from different planets to teach on other planets.

If among them someone were to be corrupted by Chaos Essence and was sent to Planet Zarth, wouldn’t it be dangerous for him?

Especially considering his strength was quite unusual.

’Forget it, I will think about it after going back to Planet Zarth. If I think it would be dangerous for me, I will simply develop on my own. Not like I need their help to begin with.’

Soon, he thought of something else and asked another question.

"You said unless people actively use Chaos Essence, it’s difficult to identify them? What do you mean by actively using it? Is it something like a skill?"

This time, it was Erza, who was just ahead of them, who answered.

"You can say that..." She slowed down and ran beside them. "You must have seen some pills that suddenly increase the consumer’s power greatly after taking them, right? Chaos Essence is similar. Once someone actively uses it, their power will increase greatly. In fact..." Erza sneered at this point and spoke in disdain.

"Some people who feel they are weak would actively try to get infected by Chaos Essence because it can grant them superior power without much side effect on their physical condition. You know, there are always more mediocre people in the world than smart ones. Because of this, the number of people in the Chaos Alliance who actively join them on their own is very large."

"Be careful, we are about to reach their base."

Just as they were talking, Alice’s serious voice reached their ears.

Evan looked ahead and saw the trees were slowly disappearing, and a clearing appeared before them.

Because his vision was currently 20× greater under the effect of Arch Eagle Crossbow, he saw a blue barrier in the distance.

"Hmmm?" Evan couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow when he saw this, as he could see some small buildings inside that barrier.

’So that is their base...’ He thought inwardly and soon, they emerged from the forest and stopped at the clearing. ℴℴ𝘮

When Alice and the others saw the barrier covering the entire base, they frowned, and their expressions turned unpleasant.

Evan noticed their expressions and asked in confusion.

"Is something wrong?"

Liam sighed and spoke in a low voice.

"It seems someone already informed them that we were coming for them?"

"Huh?" Evan was taken aback by Liam’s words.

Liam pointed at the barrier and explained.

"See that barrier? That thing consumes Mana Cores to be activated. Unless they were in danger, who would be foolish enough to keep it active all the time just to burn their Mana Cores?"

A look of understanding flashed in Evan’s eyes, and he turned to look at the barrier.

"Alice, can we break it?"

Alice did not answer immediately and examined the barrier closely.

After a moment, she nodded.

"We can destroy it..." She paused before adding in a low voice. "But it will take a lot of time. I am afraid since those people didn’t run away and just activated the barrier, it means they might have called for reinforcements. If we try to break the barrier and waste time here, their reinforcements could come here, and we will be in danger then."

Erza and the others frowned upon hearing Alice.

"What should we do then?"

Alice looked at the barrier for a few seconds before taking a deep breath.

"Although this task is important, we can’t risk our own safety for it..." She spoke in a calm voice. "Let’s retreat for now and inform the academy. We will act accordingly after receiving a response from them."

"Ughh... Is there no other way?" Liam couldn’t help but say. "What if these guys are just bluffing us with that barrier, or they activated it because of monsters in the forest?"

Alice frowned and nodded.

"You might be right..." She said and continued. "How about we wait for some time? If they activated this barrier because of monsters, they will remove it soon. But if it’s be—"

She was still in the middle of speaking when Evan suddenly pointed towards the barrier.

"I think your earlier guess is correct, and they already know about you guys."

Erza and the others were taken aback by Evan’s words and followed the direction he was pointing in.

As they looked ahead, they saw some people walking out of the building inside the barrier, looking at them with smiles on their faces.