Mutagen

Day 41 – 5:42 PM – Residential Area, Death Valley Settlement, Barangay Poblacion, General Nakar, Quezon

Mark appeared inside a barely intact house quite a distance away from the main area of the battle outside the settlement. In his hands, a sack which bottom was red and dripping blood could be seen. Inside the sack were severed heads of the Mutators. Since the sack was already full, he needed to find a secluded place to dump the heads and chose this place.

He could have chosen a room at the elementary school but that place was still filled with people. Whether it was the slaves or the men of this settlement, someone could stumble at the heads if he was to choose that place. It was because among all the places in this settlement, the school buildings were the safest since there was still the constant rain of thorns coming from the whale. Another reason was that this place was way closer to the battlefield and it would be easier for him to go back and forth as he filled the sack with heads. For sure, this place had no lack for Mutators although the normal criminals and Evolvers were still the majority.

Since the walls of the house looked dilapidated, no one would surely think that there was something kept here. Furthermore, one of the rooms was seemed to be in good condition. The room was disguised perfectly because of the outside appearance of the house.

Mark dumped the heads inside the room and immediately left. After all, he still had quite an amount of whea-, heads to harvest. He was really like a farmer during harvest season reaping wheat using a scythe. The only difference was that he was reaping necks and harvesting heads of Mutators.

As for the scene where all the dead bodies were missing heads, it was a trick he did. Since not all people were dumb especially in this settlement which had scheming criminals, if the only the heads of the Mutators were missing, it would easily be noticed and the Mutators would tighten their backs even more. However, since all the heads were missing, they would not be able to suspect too much and they would all think that whatever was happening was targeting everyone.

Well, not everyone…

After all, Mark did not kill all of the people behind the ranks but dragged some of them somewhere hidden. It was because Mark found them different from the actual people living in this settlement. One thing he confirmed, some of them were the spies planted by the military to monitor the movements of the people here, specifically, the criminals, while the others were people forced to fight the whale from the slaves and people used as manpower.

How did he find them? It was because while everyone that really belonged to this settlement fighting the whale felt furious, these people felt rather glad at the predicament that this forsaken settlement was undergoing. Not to mention that even though they seemed to contribute in the fight, they were actually slacking compared to others.

Mark knocked those people he did not need to kill and brought them into some place hidden. Since the time he had was short, he only placed the unconscious people in a building next to the current area of the fight.

***

While Mark harvested the heads of the enemies, the spies sent by the military woke up one by one. Some of the spies recognized each other while some did not and thus, they used a code that was spread among the spies sent here and confirmed their identities. Since some of them here were experienced spies, they did not know what was happening and immediately restrained those that did not belong to their group. Although the men restrained claimed to be forced to fight for this hellish settlement, the spies could not take chances.

One of the spies who had a higher rank among others took out a small communication device that only composed of a pair of earpiece and mouthpiece.

"Shadow 1 to Specter. Shadow 1 to Specter."

Soon, a man's voice could be heard with the sounds of gunshots and fighting much louder in the background. The man spoke in a stern voice as if he was thinking about something serious. However, it was obvious in his voice that he was relieved that Shadow 1 contacted him. Still, since it was an urgent transmission, he only spoke important things.

"This is Specter. What is happening behind? They said that everyone is killed. Over."

"Sir, it seems that only the criminals are being targeted. Not only me but our brothers are alive along with people that claimed to be innocent. We should be in a building south of the current battle. Any instructions, Sir? Over."

A sigh of relief could be heard from Specter.

"No, stay put. There are a lot of the criminals dead missing their heads. If you all suddenly appear alive, you all will be in trouble. Any idea who is the one behind this? Over."

"Sorry sir but no. The only thing we noticed is the trail of black mist before we passed out. Although we expect that the person will appear again. Some of our people are still not here. Over."

"Black mist? It can't be…" Specter's voice could be heard murmuring over the communicator. "I think I have an idea who that person is. If he appears again, tell him this…"

Specter spoke a set of instructions to Shadow 1. The latter was confused but he accepted the orders with professionalism.

***

Soon, Mark appeared in the room bringing another unconscious person. Shadow 1 recognized the unconscious person and knew that the person that appeared should be what their superior was talking about.

Mark saw that the people he brought before were all conscious already. However, he was not inclined to talk to them. They were trained spies and smart people. Looking at them staying put, they should already have an idea what was happening.

"Sir! Please wait!"

One of the spies called out to Mark when he was about to leave.

"Sir, I received an order from our superior that is still outside through the communication device."

***

Mark appeared above the battlefield with a streak of wavy mist.

There, he saw several smaller groups of Mutators detaching from the main force that was battling against the Mutator Whale.

From what Mark heard from the spy called Shadow 1, their superior who was currently one of the commanders left here in the settlement and the one who was leading the defensive against the whale.

Under the guise of investigating what happened at the ranks behind, the spy captain with the call sign Specter, would send several groups to search the area in different directions.

It was quite a plan to whittle away the forces of Death Valley Settlement little by little. For some reason however, Mark felt a bit uneasy.

p Currently, there were three groups that were sent in three directions. Since it was still convenient, Mark followed the plan. He followed the closest group until they were detached from the main force.

The first group became easy prey to Mark's ambush. The chain of command in their group crumbled the moment Mark appeared behind the leader and the strongest among them and reaped his head off. With the sudden dead of the leader and appearance of the assailant, the members of the group that were already nervous to begin with either started shouting. With too many voices trying to command, confusion rose and their coordination was broken. Even though they saw Mark and tried to counter attack, it became easier of Mark to reap their lives.

It was the same for the second and third groups. The members that were mentally affected by the scene of many headless bodies of their comrades left under the rain. That nervousness they had was taken advantage my Mark who intensified their emotions before attacking. Due to that, some of them mistakenly shot their comrades the moment Mark darted back and forth while killing them one by one.

However, a situation risen when the fourth group was dispatched.

"It is an ambush."

Mark smirked.

The fourth group stood in the open like they were doing their business but the atmosphere on this group was way different from the previous three. They were all strong Mutators and experienced criminals. It was obvious from their eyes and movements.

Not only that but hidden among the houses and buildings around that group, about fifty people was waiting in ambush. Not only that they were at the same caliber as the members of the fourth group but some of them were actually equipped with explosive launchers that they were supposed to use against the whale.

Did the plan get leaked? Of course, it was not.

Since the start, it was the plan to try and trick their assailant into this ambush. As for the first three groups, they were just disposable pawns to make their assailant complacent with cooperating and lower his guard.

Unfortunately for them, the assailant was Mark who could detect people despite the fact that he could not see them. Their plan fell the moment their ambushers were found.

As for the leader of the spies who crafted this plan, Mark was already suspicious from the start. It was because if the leader of the spies were currently commanding the battle against the whale, he would be surrounded by the men of the settlement and would have no way of communicating with his subordinates. The fact that he was able to despite no leaving his post became one of the keys.

"A double agent…"

Mark's eyes glinted.

That was when Mark started dealing with the men hidden in the dark while the impatient faces of the people in the group became apparent.

***

"Are all of you sure that the bastard that killed my men will appear?"

One of the members of the group, a short figured man, spoke.

"Just be f*cking patient or the plan will be busted. From what we know, that f*cker should be the cause of death of Drake. If we handled it carelessly, we'll be the ones that get f*cked."

A foul mouthed man beside the short man replied.

That was when they heard a voice from behind.

"You people waiting for me?"

The impatience and sloppy attitude vanished from the members of the group as they all jumped back and readied themselves to fight. It was something that could be expected from professionals.

"You really appeared huh. Well then die f*cker!"

That moment, the foul mouthed man waved his hand as signal for their men hidden around the area to make their move.

However, that wave of his hand amounted to nothing.

"Huh?"

All of them were dumbfounded.

"If you are calling those people hiding everywhere, then don't bother. They are all dead already." Mark smiled. "I'm surprised though how you people could scatter your manpower like this even though you all should use this manpower to deal with that whale over the other side. Wait, probably it's because it's unexpected… I see."

Mark spoke his question but he realized the answer by himself. Nevertheless, the members of the group did not bother listening and attacked. Even though they lost the backup from those that supposed to do the ambush, they were still strong people. All of them activated their Mutator abilities and attacked at the same time whether it was ranged or close quarters combat.

Unfortunately, none of them survived.

Although they were strong physically due to their Mutations, they did not stand a chance against the strongest kinds of people and creatures these days. Even if they ganged up, the chance of winning were very low.

Mark became aware of that recently. The strongest beings in this outbreak were people and creatures with the similar circumstances as him.

Like the whale that he lured in to destroy this settlement, a person like him and a person like Annica. The stone clad woman was also the same. Mei and Iola was also in the same circumstances.

Everyone was Psychics that were severely affected by Mutagen.