Choice

*Ding!*

*Ding!*

*Ding!*

The sound of an alarm echoed inside the base as the soldiers frantically went back and forth. 

A man in his forties walked down the hallway as another man approached him. 

"What is the situation?"

"We have a report that Base 01 is under attack and has the possibility of evacuation. It seems that the scale of the attack is extremely big this time."

"Any movements from other bases?"

"No. Only Base 01 is under attack. We assume that a territorial beast is getting poked by an explorer and unleashing its army."

"The investigation can be done later. First, I want information about Base 01."

"Certainly. Please follow me to the control room." 

He nodded. While walking, the middle-aged man couldn't help but ask, "Have we sent any scouts?"

"We have sent two teams to scout the base. Because of the lack of information from Base 01, we have to assume that the beasts will attack our city." 

"Send two more teams to search for explorers and soldiers. Get every piece of information they can before sending it to the city. And tell all soldiers to standby."

"Understood."

They had reached the control room where they could see all angles from the walls. Base 01 was located only five kilometers from the base, so if they were attacked, they should be able to see the incoming beasts through their camera.

"Commander!" One of the staff members saluted as soon as he noticed these two people.

"What is your report?"

"We have seen a sign of an attack. Judging from the scale, it's at least double the size of what Base 01 is capable of stopping. Full-scale evacuation has been initiated."

"In that case, inform the explorer association about the incoming beasts and hold an urgent mission. Do we have data about the people in Base 01?"

"No, Sir. We receive no signal from them, so it's safe to assume that the facility has been destroyed."

"In that case, I want all the information about all the explorers and soldiers outside the city, especially the ones leaving through the north gate."

"Let me send you the data." 

*Beep!* 

Suddenly, the tab on the commander's hand let out a sound as people's information was shown. 

"There are a total of 649 explorers and soldiers. 128 of them left through the north gate." The commander furrowed his eyebrows while looking at their faces and names. He had to make sure that there were no special explorers they should take care of due to the politics or influence of powerful explorers.

Unfortunately for him, it seemed that his luck didn't look good when he encountered three yellow-colored names. 

Clovis Hacfield.

Jay Havenson.

Kanaria Renvolt.

When he encountered their names, he almost choked when he saw these names. 

'Jay Havenson, the second son of the top explorer of this city, John Havenson? There is also Renvolt… If I'm not wrong, she has the second highest evolution rate in her family. Both Havenson and Renvolt are powerhouses in the city. And the fact that their names have been marked means the military has received special support from their respective families. But…' 

The commander fell silent when he saw the first name. 'Clovis Hacfield? Who is he? But his name is yellow… Wait a second, I think I remember there is someone with this name…' 

The commander paused for a moment before coughing out of shock. 

"Commander? What's wrong?" His assistant panicked, not knowing why the commander looked panicked.

He remained silent, but his mind couldn't be any different. 'Don't tell me… Clovis Hacfield is related to one of the top explorers in the world, Michael Hacfield. It was said that Michael Hacfield has been missing for five years, but his name is still yellow, meaning that someone is still pulling strings to make him a priority.

'No, no. If he is truly related to that madman, his importance outweighs the other two. Whether it was fortunate or unfortunate, he actually saw that these three had the same group called Libation Fiesta.

In that instant, he hurriedly shouted, "How many elite teams do we have?" 

"Two!" 

"Tell them to get prepared for a rescue mission."

"A VIP, sir?"

"Yes. So, immediately inform them. You have to find them alive."

"Yes, sir." His assistant acknowledged the order, but this was the first time he saw such a reaction from the commander. Normally, even if the other party was a VIP, he would remain calm and give a rescue mission a bit later. It seemed that the identities of the VIPs this time were much more important than any VIPs they had escorted before. 

Because of the relationship between the beasts and humans, an attack on the base was normal. The beasts attacked the humans, and vice versa. Like the humans, the beasts had also conquered the human city and used it as their nest on the surface.

That was why the commander had grown accustomed to rescuing VIPs. These people usually hail from wealthy families, powerful organizations, or are related to the government. 

Judging from the commander's reaction, it seemed that these people were much more important than anything they had seen before. 

While the assistant was speculating, the commander was completely in distress.

'But I haven't heard anything about someone from the Hacfield Family coming here. I did hear that the Sunrise Base, where the Hacfield Family resided, was destroyed and became a Tier 7 Danger Zone. I thought that the Hacfield Family was destroyed, especially since the famous Michael Hacfield disappeared five years ago.

'Don't tell me, Michael Hacfield is in the city? No, no. By any chance that Michael Hacfield returns and knows that his grandson dies in this place, he might destroy the entire base with his crazy power.' 

The commander gritted his teeth. He knew that even if the other two died, Clovis needed to survive.

He didn't know that he had severely underestimated Clovis and his group. 

…

"Kill it right now!" Kanaria shouted. 

Jay and Clovis swiftly approached a beast from two sides. Even when the beast blocked Clovis's attack, Jay took this opportunity to swiftly cut it before the beast could inform its friends. 

Clovis couldn't help but ask, "Don't you think that the area becomes more active?"

"That's true." Kanaria agreed without hesitation. "Even though we've encountered a Tier 1 bear, I don't think it will be this active. There are beasts roaming everywhere."

"Should we retreat to the city instead?"

"The city is 5 km away from here, while the base is only 1 km away. I think we should go to the base," Kanaria explained. 

"But the base is near Tier 1 territory. If we run to the base, the enemy's level should go down, right?" Jay asked. 

Clovis also thought about that option, but he couldn't be sure which one was the correct choice. Should they go to a closer place but with a higher risk? Or should they return to a safer place that is far away? 

"I think we should go to the base. While it's more dangerous, it's closer to us, meaning there are fewer variables." Clovis looked back. "We have to keep moving or the bear might find us again."

"Got it." Since the captain had made a decision, Jay and Kanaria dropped their argument and followed his decision.

However, it seemed that the decision was more dangerous than they originally thought. All of a sudden, a boar came in their direction. 

"Huh?!" All three of them froze for a moment. The boar was quite big—three meters tall with a wingspan greater than two meters. It had a robust and powerful build with sharp, slicing teeth. They felt like a single charge from this creature would be enough to break some of their bones. 

"Entelodon?!" Kanaria gasped. "Get away!" 

Clovis seemed to be the one targeted, so he hurriedly tossed the short sword into the tree branch and leaped into the air, barely jumping over the boar.

The boar's speed was lower than that of a Tier 0 dire wolf, but its tremendous strength smashed the trees on its way. They should never get hit by this boar. 

"What is Entelodon?" Jay asked.

"A type of pig, often called 'killer pig' because… of what it'd just shown earlier." Kanaria explained as simply as possible before the pig turned around. 

At the same time, he heard the roar of the bear as the destruction gave away their locations. 

"Are you serious?" Clovis looked back, worrying about the bear. On the one hand, they had to run away from this pig, which looked impossible. On the other hand, they had to escape from the colony of short-faced bears. 

They only had two choices—either run for their dear lives or fight these beasts. 

"Clovis!" Jay shouted with a serious expression. He wanted to remind him what kind of situation they were in, as they had little time to think. Even the Entelodon had turned around, ready to charge again.

'The captain's role is to protect the teammates.' Clovis took a deep breath. "Jay, can you stop this Entelodon by yourself?"

"Leave it to me." Jay smirked while glaring at the boar as if trying to grab its attention. 

"Kanaria. This is going to be a hard task, but we will be killing the bears. If you take a look at the boar, it's clear that the Tier 1 beast is moving toward the city's direction, so there's a chance that they're launching an attack there and we're currently in their path. If we run to the city, we're bound to meet other beasts. So, we'll kill them here and make our way to the base." 

Kanaria couldn't deny the possibility. It seemed that they had no choice but to make loud noises if they wanted to survive. 

Clovis also attached the short sword to the magnet on the bracelet before grabbing the pistol on his back. His grandfather told him that he shouldn't use the pistol easily, but they were currently in a life-and-death situation, so he had no other choice.