Mutagen

Day 41 – 5:06 PM – General Nakar Central Elementary School Multi-purpose Oval, Death Valley Settlement, Barangay Poblacion, General Nakar, Quezon

The gigantic whale continued to rampage at the eastern side of the Death Valley Settlement. Dozens upon dozens of dead bodies were scattered all over the settlement because of its might. However, the Mutators of Death Valley Settlement were also not just pushovers. They already managed to destroy a bit of the whale's almost impenetrable armor.

At the western side of the settlement, another batter had already started. Under the cover of the eye of the storm, the sounds of rain and blowing wind were overwhelmed by the blood curling screams of Sherwin. The pain he was currently feeling was not a joke. It was already admirable that he had not fainted yet from the shock.

Everyone that witnessed the scene was all in the dark as to what really happened. All they saw was Mark vanishing and appearing behind Sherwin faster than before and clutched the nape of his neck. None of them could fathom how Sherwyn's limbs were severed like magic. After all, no one saw that Mark did anything else.

Unknown to them, what Mark did was to control his blood and enter Sherwyn's body through his blood vessels. As his blood reached the limbs, he metallized his blood and severed the limbs from the inside while sealing the wound at the same time. It might take a while before the pain would subside but Sherwin would surely not die just because his limbs were severed.

In the first place, the leading cause of death in these kinds of scenario was because of blood loss. With the loss of blood prevented, Sherwyn would suffer longer, a suffering in both physical and mental aspect.

BANG!

A sniper shot was made once more aiming to make Mark let go of Sherwyn. Unfortunately, Mark had already pinpointed the direction where the sniper was hiding from the very first shot. The moment Mark felt the killing intent from somewhere he could not see, he moved the limbless Sherwyn to face the bullet of his subordinate.

"GAHAH!"

Another painful sound was let out by Sherwyn as the sniper's bullet penetrated his stomach and even pierced through his back. The wound caused by the bullet was immediately patched by Mark with his metalized blood but of course, that made the limbless man suffer even further.

Finally, Sherwyn could not handle it anymore and fainted with saliva dripping out of his mouth along with the tears on his eyes and the snot on his nose. No one would have thought that one of the leaders within the Death Valley Settlement would suffer like this.

"It's no fun at all."

Mark said as he patched up the hole he made of Sherwyn's neck and threw the limbless body as if he was a kid already bored playing with a toy. Sherwyn's body slid and rolled on the muddy school ground. After seeing Sherwyn got covered in mud, Mark turned his eyes on the other enemies.

"It's you guys next."

He let out a menacing smile.

"F*ck! Shoot! SHOOT! I don't care what you all do! Kill this monster!"

Filameno shouted while stepping back in fear. He made not only his men but the men brought by Sherwyn fight with his order. Mark knew however that why his men fight, the fat man would surely use that opportunity to escape.

As if Mark would let that happen. After all, one of the best tactics in fighting a group of mobs was to take out the leaders first. And then, Mark vanished from his place with a stomp on the ground.

The people around, both enemies and the slaves, could only see a blurry black mist that appeared in a split second and Mark appeared beside the fat man. He did not have any grudge with the fat man but since he was an enemy, it was better for Mark to not spare any of them.

Mark grabbed Filameno's wrist and blood burst out once more. The fat man's other arm and two legs suddenly separated from his body and the arm Mark grabbed followed after. The first three limbs had the wounds blocked by the blood metal but the last one was left open causing blood to gush out of the stump.

"GHAAAAH!!!! It HURTS! It HURTS! I'm going to DIE! AHHHH!"

Irritated by the screams that had the same tone as a pig's squeal, Mark kicked the fat limbless body away making it roll. He then threw away the arm he was currently holding with an obvious disgust in his face.

"The blood is too fatty."

Mark murmured.

BANG!

RATATATATA!

Gunshots then echoed.

Although their reaction was delayed, the criminals shot Mark with the guns they had. Some even transformed using their abilities as Mutators and charged towards Mark.

Mark looked around, there was about thirty men surrounding him. Fortunately, these men were too focused on him that the three slaves he recruited managed to slip away and hide.

UUUUUWWWWWWOAAAAAUUUUU!!!

SWOOS! SWOOSH!

However, Mark was forced to disappear and appear at the place where the three was hiding. It was because another volley, not the bullets but the thorns from the whale, scattered once more across the place.

As the places that those thorns would hit was entirely random, it possibility that someone would be hit by one from the thousands of thorns the whale released. Mark was right with that.

CLANG! CLANG!

,m After Mark appeared, he blocked two thorns that was about to hit Naomi and Aaron.

The two slaves were surprised to suddenly hear sounds coming from their back and were surprised seeing Mark there. After they notice that Mark blocked two thorns that almost hit them, the face of the two were will with gratitude. However, Mark was not interested in their expressions. Rather, he turned his head at Tullia who was just blankly staring at him.

Under that emotionless gaze, Mark slightly shook his head and vanished once more.

Back at the battlefield, several men were wailing in pain while some fell down on the muddy ground, dead. These men were too focused on Mark that they failed to perceive the random attack headed their way.

Inside some of the cages of the school grounds, more slaves lay over the pool of their own blood. As there was no way for them to run, hide or dodge inside those small cages, they could only accept their miserable fate.

"Well then. Let's play with these guys. I got a good idea."

Mark started running. He appeared and disappeared tapping every one of the men that managed to survive. With his every tap, the men would scream in pain as something drilled into their bodies the moment Mark tapped them. Even though they could not tell what, they were sure that something entered their bodies.

At the last of the men that surrounded him, Mark remained grabbing him.

"Hiii!!!"

The man was too scared that a warm yellowish liquid sullied his pants. Same to what happened to Sherwyn and Filameno, the man's limbs separated and the weak willed man immediately passed out.

However, Mark did not let go of the man as he needed him to demonstrate something.

"Hey you lot!" Mark spoke as if he was looking at things worse than garbage. His eyes were glowing red as he panned his eyes upon his enemies. "You all should have felt that I made something enter your bodies. That something will devour your bodies slowly until you die in excruciating pain, something like this."

Mark showed them the man he was holding as his body started to deflate. Even though he was unconscious, it was surely painful as his body started shaking in pain. Soon, the man looked like a balloon empty of air. Although he was not a dried mummy, his appearance was surely close to one. With what happened to the man, he immediately stopped breathing and died.

"You all would turn into something like this soon."

He threw that dead body in front of the men that were shaking in fear. Their ferocious faces and haughty attitudes from before vanished in this instant. After all, these men were just normal criminals that indulged themselves in lawless pleasure. They were not those that were trained to face death without fear. Seeing what happened to the man Mark used as demonstration, they were all filled with despair. Towards that despair however, Mark spoke.

"However, if you don't want to die… I want you all to do something."

The men's ears perked up at the possible salvation.

Under those uncomfortable stares, Mark brought out the [BloodChild] he had just found.

"Find me more of these. I don't care how you all do it but if you bring me one of this, a living one. Anyone who can bring me one can exchange his life."

Mark panned his red glowing eyes towards the men.

"Got it?!"

The men gulped and nodded unconsciously.

"Now go or else, you all might die before long."

Mark shooed the men away and watched their pathetic backs with a smirk. Learning that they could trade their lives win one of that strange creature, they would surely do anything. They were criminals after all. Probably, they would end up killing each other. That would be quite a sight to see.

As the men on the school ground scrambled away leaving the dead bodies, Mark vanished heading towards one of the school buildings. He was quite annoyed with the sniper that was able to react to the normal speed of his [Shadow Mist Movement]. In any case, he would deal with the dangerous guy.

It seemed that the sniper managed to gauge the situation. Mark did not find the sniper in his initial position. He even left the sniper rifle and the bag of bullets in this place. However, Mark could still detect the man who was currently running down the building.

Turning into mist, Mark entered the small space between one of the windows. The man who was running away turned into a corner. After that… No, there was no after. The moment he turned into the corner, his body slumped on the floor while his wide eyed head flew forwards a distance away.

Mark who now had a sniper rifle hanging on his body appeared behind the corner with his blade on his hand. As the man died, he vanished and returned to the rainy school grounds.

He just had to wait a bit and window shop at the abandoned school ground.

This time, even though there were still people of the settlement around, none blocked his path. Even the slaves suffering inside the cages were too reluctant to call to him to ask help.

"Bos-no, Master, thank you for helping us!"

Aaron and Naomi appeared dragging Tullia with them. It seemed that being slaves were ingrained to their minds that they even changed the address they supposed to say and changed it. It did not really bother Mark though. In any case, he already recruited these three although only two truly accepted his invitation.

Mark then brought the three to the large tent behind the stall where Mark found the [BloodChild]. The tent might look filthy and smelled bad due to urine and feces and of animals but it was way better than staying outside. Besides, Chaflar was also waiting here since the cold weather outside was already affecting the large lizard badly.

Leaving the slaves and Dragon inside, Mark went out to look for the men that were currently scrambling around to look for the [BloodChildren]. Seeing their frightened faces, Mark wanted to laugh.

While it was true that he made his blood enter their bloodstream, it was a lie that they would die like that man he used as example. Although there were chances that they would still die due to his blood blocking their blood vessels, the chances where too slim. They could only feel his blood inside their bodies because the composition of his blood was way different than normal.

Besides, he could not control that blood from far away and without a direct contact. Those men ran away searching for the [BloodChildren] for their lives due to an empty threat.