After hearing the voices from the other side of the line, Elizabeth knew that the situation was chaotic there. Apparently, the present magical beasts' upsurge happened because Collic wanted to create confusion. This would allow him to enter into the hunting ground unnoticed.

"We have already sent out a team of Evolved Beings. What are your coordinates?" the woman on the telephone asked.

"South lat.i.tude 77.34215, West longitude 21.73214," Elizabeth replied with her exact location.

The rescue team was then dispatched. The people on the other side of the line were all silent now, as Elizabeth had hung up the telephone.

Even though they were sending their rescue team over at their fastest speed, many of the people who had been commenting in the background feared that Steve might be killed by Collic before the rescue team arrived. Regardless, they knew that it was their duty to send help. Even if they could not save Steve, they must at least try to eliminate the source of the magical beasts upsurge.

The surface area of the whole hunting ground zone was huge. The magical beasts' upsurge had caused many students to be trapped, which meant that the rescue team would not be able to reach all of the disaster spots to save them individually. Thus, their only recourse was to eliminate the source, thus saving everyone at the same time.

Elizabeth and Selma were feeling very anxious. They had already done their part by calling for help. However, even if the rescue team responded at their quickest pace, they would not be able to reach them for quite some time. As such, it was difficult to tell if Steve would be able hold out until help arrived.

...

After Elizabeth and Selma left…

"Both of them have left now, so it's time to hand over the treasure," Collic said coldly to Steve.

"Don't be so anxious. They just left. You can easily catch up with them in an instant with such a short distance between you." Steve smiled, refusing to be fooled by Collic. He then asked, "Do you think that I am unaware that you wish to kill them as well?"

Collic's facial expression changed, as he had not expected the young lad to be so cunning. He then said, "Okay, I will give you another 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, they should have escaped far enough. By then, you must hand over the treasure."

"10 minutes is too little a head-start. I demand that you give them at least 60 minutes," Steve said calmly.

At this time, it would benefit him more to drag the conversation out longer. Therefore, even if it was a conversation that led nowhere, the main objective was to drag it out as long as possible.

"Sixty minutes? You think I am an idiot? By then, your human rescue team will have reached us!" the demon said angrily, then added, "I will give them 11 minutes, no more!"

"That is still too little, so let's make it 59 minutes. This is my biggest concession!" Steve firmly said.

This demon sure is stingy to the core, calculating over every minor thing!

"What's the difference between 59 minutes and 60 minutes?" Demon Collic asked coldly.

"There is also no difference between 11 minutes and 10 minutes! I will take 58 minutes then!" Steve gnawed his teeth and said.

Steve continued to deliberately delay the time by ha.s.sling Collic. The two kept negotiating over the time, neither wanting to make the biggest concession.

After a while, Collic suddenly sobered up and said angrily, "You are deliberately delaying the time!"

Steve realized that Collic was really angry and had the intention to kill him, so he hurriedly said, "Twenty minutes. If you kill me now, you won't get the treasure!"

Collic calmed down when he heard that Steve was willing to lay down his life as a bet. As such, instead of wasting time negotiating with Steve, he knew that he should just agree to the timing immediately.

"All right, I agree," Collic said angrily. Steve was relieved for a moment, as every second counted.

Collic then sneered, secretly thinking...Haha, this young lad thinks that I do not know what's in his mind. He is trying to delay the time and wait for the rescue team to come.

"Unfortunately, you are wrong in your calculations. It will take at least 90 minutes, even for the Evolved Beings to travel from the safe zone to here. In these 90 minutes, I have enough time to kill you!" Collic then declared.

As it turns out, even before Collic made his first move, Collic had long predicted everything. That demon had completely seen through Steve's plot! Collic was so cunning, the demon had even gone to the extent of deliberately pretending to fall into Steve's trap!