<h4>Chapter 99 The Chase. Part-1.</h4>


    The meeting hall…


    "Well… I expected them to at least have a little bit of difficulty but this…." (Ashtel)


    "yeah, this is just straight massacre, that hydra didn''t have a chance from the start…" (Ashtel)


    "This was a mistake on our part…." (Raji)


    While the three of them looked at the recording of the students working together to defeat the hydra so easily they understood that they had miscalcted. They used to think that these students needed to fight together as a group to increaseradeship and unity, but looking at the recording there is clearly no need for this, these guys are already united enough and can work together easily.


    Especially, Rio and Link both know what the other is going to use to attack due to their many sparring sessions even Lia has a good grasp on how to keep up with both of them and Liam might be new to this group but his extraordinary battle IQ has made him adapted to this group in just a single fight.


    You could say that this can already be considered one of the best batches of students in human history now. After all, defeating a peak A-rank monster while still in your second year of the academy is no small feat. It will be recorded in the books of history. Manying generations of students will read and learn about this.


    (In the future, when the students will read about the origins of the second golden age of humanity they will find that this was the day when it all started.)


    (It''s a small hint from your beloved author that, the main storyline is starting from this point guys. Everything before it was just an intro.)


    "It looks like we don''t need to work on the unity part…" (Ashtel)


    "Then let''s move on to the next phase…." (Raji)


    "Oh! About that! I suddenly have an amazing idea, heeheehee…" (Neo)


    At that very moment, Neo the ''Dragon Knight'' Looked at ''Ice Queen'' Raji and ''Elf Killer'' Ashtel (These are one of their many nicknames as SS-rankers.) with a shrewd smile leaking from his mouth, all three of their eyes lit up like old scoundrels who have been involved in many conspiracies and shady businesses.


    Looking at the three of them, General Bismoil had aplicated look on his face and a thought came to his mind:


    ''IS humanity safe in the hands of such people!!!?!!!'' (General)


    ….


    SSA, Central Area…


    All the students got teleported back to the teleportation on the altar after a few minutes.


    While the newbies were happily chatting with each other there was excitement in the atmosphere. A sudden announcement started from all of their smartwatches, which were provided by the academy to all the students earlier.


    [Attention all students!]


    [Due to certain circumstances, the content of thest test has been altered a little bit. All the students except those who have passed the second stage have been expelled from this test, they will be all evacuated from this moment forward by the teachers!]


    [Only the students from group no. 1, 2, 3, 5, and 12 should remain where they are!]


    (For reader''s knowledge- Group no. 1 is for Link, no.2 is Rio, No. 3 is Liam, no. 5 is Lia''s group and No. 12 is Riya''s group. By the way, Lia is ranked no. 5 because Fade was ranked no.4 inst year''s rankings. They think Lia is weaker than Fade.)


    [For these five groups please confirm if you want to take part in the group battle stage or not?]


    [Yes/No]


    Looking at the announcement everyone was a little surprised by the expulsion of all the other groups, generally, the other groups would have been given a little more chance, but no one said anything and just clicked on the ''Yes'' option except one person.


    "Hey what are you doing Riya!? Your whole group will not be able to enter the next stage if you press ''No''!?" (Link)


    Riya looked at Link and smiled with a silly look on her face:


    "W-well I don''t think I will able to fight the following battles after I am a healer, to begin with moreover my group is too exhausted so I will just exit here…." (Riya)


    ''I can''t say that I don''t want to fight Link and my idol Lia, I just can''t do that... he will scold me if I told him that…'' (Riya) (Riya is too innocent for this cruel world. If not for Link she may not survive long…)


    Link wanted to say more but the words stuck in his heart and in the end he didn''t say anything, he isn''t sure either if he can protect Riya while fighting people as strong as Rio. (In the eyes of Link, Rio is an eternal Rival he can''t show any weakness to him.)


    After Riya exited, an officer from the army came to escort her back, and in just a few minutes only the four groups including Link, Rio, Liam, and Lia were left in the SSA with the newbies in each of their groups.


    All four of the groups made a little distance between each other and scattered in four directions. So as to keep a bit of secrecy about their strategy. The atmosphere started to be cold and tensions started to rise. Newbies gulped their saliva with a bit of nervousness and lots of excitement.


    A new announcement was released:


    [Attention all students the rules of the group battle have been changed!]


    [Instead of the one-on-one knockout matches between groups this time a new idea has been introduced…]


    [One of the four groups will be chosen randomly and will y the part of the betrayal group which has defected to demons and has important documents in their hands, while the other three groups will be asked to defeat or make the betrayal group surrender within the given time of an hour.]


    [Betrayal group condition for winning:- Surviving for an hour or defeating all pursuing groups.]


    [Pursuing group''s condition for winning:- Defeating, arresting, or making the betrayal group surrender before one hour of the time limit.]


    [The betrayal group''s random selector starts now!]


    A roulette like a lucky draw roulette started to spin like crazy on the holographic screen, as the needle of the roulette started to slow down all the students started to stare at it with nervous looks, anyone could see that the role of the betrayal group is very difficult and no one wants to do it.


    Being pursued by the likes of Rio, each group leader is a strong individual with each of their own advantages and disadvantages of their own.


    After a while the needle broke down and stopped at a group, the number of the group turned red while others stayed green, it was all followed by a loud announcement:


    [Group No.2 has defected to the demons, all the groups are ordered to capture or defeat the betrayers and retrieve the intelligence they have stolen from the cab of a secret agent of humanity!]


    [Time starts now: 59min, 59 sec.]


    ….


    In the meeting hall, a few minutes ago…


    "I think group no. 2 is the most suitable to y the role of the betrayers…" (Ashtel)


    The other two nodded their head when they heard Ashtel.


    "Group no. 1 has Link and his insane defense, other students might not be able to defeat him in just an hour and it would be unfair for him to be in the betrayer group…" (Ashtel)


    "Moreover, that girl Lia, she managed to get her hands on that divine spirit, that thing is more than capable of hiding her group presence from even an S-ranker, so it''s total nonsense to put her in the betrayal group…" (Lia)


    "As for that kid Liam, he has a summon that can keep his group in the air for a very long time at a height that even a peak A ranker may not be able to fly to, so there would be no suspense and the test will be meaningless, so the only valid option is… This little guy…" (Neo)


    All three of them looked at a guy with pitch-ck hair and an expressionless face, the young man was standing with nkness in his eyes and staring at air. He seemed like an ordinary person when looking at the recording but his aura seemed very refined and intimidating.


    It turned out the random selector was not random at all, it was all fixed from the start.


    Rio suddenly moved his face towards the camera and tilted his head in confusion as if he noticed the camera staring at him, but was a little confused about something.


    ….


    ….


    Author''s Note.


    It''s starting the event that I have been thinking about for the past month has started, let''s see how it goes, I hope you guys will like it, I wonder if you guys are ready to see Rio''s viin phase…


    Question of the day.


    Which group do you think will win this:


    1. Link (Link seems to be favored by the author, he has the hand of the author supporting his back, so he may win…)


    2. Rio (Will Rio be able to fight Lia for this victory or not?)


    3. Lia (She may be in love but don''t forget she is called crazy for a reason, she may not think twice before fighting Rio for the revenge that she''s been waiting for.)


    4. Liam (A guy with a legendary summon, we do not know much about him, but that might y to his advantage…)


    By the way, don''t forget to use those power stones and also leave a review if you like the story. Comment your opinion about the chapter. Your support is my motivation.