Paige Summers was fighting a mutant wolf. It stood almost as tall as her waist.

Sharp teeth and claws were its most basic weapons, but its most terrifying aspect was its ability to use its Wind Ability at will.

Humans were evolving, and so were the animals.

As time went on, more and more of the Mutant Animals that hadn’t been killed by humans began to possess superpowers.

Like the mutant wolf before her.

It could continuously spit Wind Blades from its mouth, launching them at Paige Summers.

The only fortunate thing was that it hadn’t grown strong enough yet.

In terms of both speed and lethality, the Wind Blades were not enough of a threat to Paige.

She hadn’t finished it off immediately, instead choosing to engage it in close combat with her blade because she wanted to observe it for a moment. It was obvious this mutant wolf hadn’t possessed its superpower for very long, probably equivalent to a human Superpower User between the First and Second Order. She hoped to notice some clues, like how it differed from other mutant wolves she had seen before.

After all, if all Mutant Animals developed superpowers, or if their superpowers could also Promote—and do so too quickly—it would be a massive problem for humanity.

But her hopes were quickly dashed.

A streak of Flame shot over from the side, striking the mutant wolf squarely in the head. The intense heat of the Flame immediately set part of the wolf’s head on fire.

It let out a bloodcurdling howl and charged desperately at Paige Summers...

Clearly, it thought the ambusher was her accomplice.

Although the sudden turn of events surprised Paige, her reaction was incredibly fast. She immediately gave up her observation and brought her heavy blade down on its neck, severing it halfway.

The mutant wolf stumbled forward two steps before collapsing to the ground. Blood gushed out; it was clearly dying.

But Paige was extremely displeased.

She turned to look in the direction of her supposed "accomplice."

’If that was someone from the Bloodfall Hunters,’ she thought, ’I’d beat them into shape without a second thought and teach them what respect means. If it was someone from another Hunting Party, I wouldn’t mind informing their captain so they could be properly disciplined.’

But when the standard-issue black military combat uniform came into view, she suddenly felt at a loss for words. Especially when the other person’s eyes seemed to convey a message: ’You don’t have to thank me. I only helped because you were too slow.’

Of course, not everyone in the Power Corps was so clueless.

But they had received an inviolable order: end all battles as quickly as possible. Therefore, their actions were guided by the principle of rapidly exterminating Mutant Animals, by any means necessary.

Paige didn’t approve.

However, she could understand the military’s urgency to keep moving.

She shot the person a glance but said nothing.

The problem was, not everyone had the same absolute confidence in their own strength as she did.

For most of the Mercenaries, the reality was that the Power Corps had them engage the Mutant Beasts first, only to abruptly interfere, regardless of whether the Mercenaries were capable of killing the beasts themselves!

Not to mention, some of the Power Corps members’ superpowers weren’t all that effective.

Take the one who had "helped" Paige, for example. His attack didn’t kill the Mutant Beast but instead sent it into a greater frenzy. This was seen as a classic example of the Power Corps not only failing to help but actually causing more trouble.

Of course, even if they had managed a one-hit kill, the Mercenaries certainly wouldn’t have been grateful.

They would see it as an insult!

So, when most of the Mutant Beasts were dealt with, the various Mercenary squads exchanged glances and instinctively moved closer together. At the same time, they all turned to look at the soldiers of the Power Corps.

The atmosphere, far from relaxing, grew even more tense.

Ultimately, the root cause of this situation was the poor communication between the Government and the military.

The two sides were acting independently, with no regard for coordination, which naturally led to all sorts of friction.

But from the Mercenaries’ perspective, many of them already held a prejudice against the military, which was now only growing stronger. Compared to the expressionless soldiers, Sidney Warren’s affable face was clearly more to their liking. Many of them didn’t want to pin the blame on him.

As for the Power Corps... ’We’re just following orders. Besides, it’s your own fault for being incompetent. We wouldn’t have had to step in otherwise!’

Similar sentiments were common among them.

Compared to the Mercenaries’ lack of confidence, the Power Corps clearly possessed a greater sense of superiority.

They either came from good backgrounds and had never associated with Hunting Parties, or they had left Hunting Parties to undergo rigorous selection to join the Power Corps. But regardless of their origins, influenced by the prevailing attitude, a good number of them looked down on these people who risked their lives daily, traveling in and out of the cities, fighting desperately for Credit Points or Crystal Cores. They even saw it as a sign of incompetence.

The prejudice, or perhaps the chasm between them, had existed for a long time.

It just hadn’t surfaced before because, on other missions, the Power Corps usually held a leadership position.

This time, however, was different.

The Hunting Parties had become Mercenaries hired by the Government, which gave them more confidence.

Even Sidney Warren, visibly displeased with the military’s behavior, let his affable expression darken as he insisted on speaking with the military’s highest-ranking officer.

When he was refused, some of the more hot-tempered individuals could no longer hold back.

Maxim Wendell was one of them.

He stepped forward at once and shot a hostile question at the military. "Why are you afraid to show your face? Doesn’t your commanding officer have any explanation for your foolish actions?" 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

His words were scathing, immediately provoking a reaction from the Power Corps.

"Shut up! How dare you insult our commanding officer!"

"What right does an incompetent like you have to be shouting here?!"

"Don’t embarrass yourself! A Superpower User who can’t even handle his own prey and needs someone else to help has the nerve to stand up and talk!"

"..."

The person in charge on the military’s side was also clearly unhappy with Maxim Wendell’s remarks, but he couldn’t act too violently in front of Sidney Warren. So, he allowed his soldiers to retort before slowly calling them off.

However, this indulgence of his only fueled more resentment from the Mercenaries.

At that moment, several more people stepped up to stand beside or behind Maxim Wendell, showing their support.

The situation escalated from tense to volatile.

Paige Summers and Claire Chapman exchanged a look, then gave a slight nod.

They came to a silent agreement: their whole group would remain at the back and not get involved.

To them, a dispute like this in the middle of a mission was both pointless and dangerous.

In fact, Paige found Sidney Warren’s attitude very strange.

’The Power Corps might have acted inappropriately,’ she thought, ’but he could have requested a private meeting with their leader to explain the situation and ask for cooperation.’

’Doesn’t he know that publicly expressing his dissatisfaction with the military could lead to a situation like this? Or... was this his intention all along?’

She decided to wait and see how things unfolded.