Mutagen

Day 59 - 3:34 PM - Roxas Blvd, Baclaran, Parañaque City, Metro Manila

The battle outside the walls of the settlement was an intense one. No, calling it as just intense was not enough as the non-humans battled against each other.

It was the battle of Mark, the one deemed as unknown by three deity-like beings, and the king of the infected reigning over more than a hundred thousand infected.

Just the battle in their area alone made the battle between the army of infected and the forces of Bay City Settlement pale in comparison. The latter only had numbers while the former had strength. Of course, it was not that the forces of Bay City Settlement or the infected horde were weak. They were strong compared to the normal level. It was just Mark and the Infected King was far more inhumane.

***

At the sky, Mei and Chaflar teamed up to deal with the flying infected. With the dragon's help and letting Mei ride on its back, she had a more stable footing and was able to do more attacks. She did not have to worry about the recoil of the sniper rifle causing her to lose balance or not being able to maneuver properly.

It had not been long since Mei gained her wings. Unlike other Mutators that were able to create blades of bones, transform to enhance their bodies, or just their mutations changing their body structure, gaining wings was like having another pair of arms. She was able to fly and maneuver to an amazing degree but a sudden lapse in her concentration could cause her to lose balance. It was the reason she relied too much on her [Force Blink].

Now that she was on Chaflar, although her line of sight became limited, she was able to attack more. She was even able to properly aim at the weak parts of the enemies unlike before where she would need several shots to take down some of them.

Chaflar and Mei rode the wind with the dragon breathing flames while being surrounded by beams of light around that disintegrated the infected to dust. It was quite a sight to see.

***

Aimee below currently standing atop a small building inside the walls of the settlement. Her tentacles were all facing the sky shooting beams of light towards the infected. All her eyes were moving rapidly making sure that each shot not only killed at least one infected while not hitting Mei and Chaflar on the sky.

***

At the bridge of the southern gates, the infected were still swarming to go across it. Nevertheless, very few of them were able to take a step midway the bridge.

If it was not a volley of poisonous needles that smelted their body parts, they would be greeted by strong winds that would knock them off from the sides of the bridge.

Unfortunately, some were impervious to both those attacks. Of course, they were no other than the [Catapults]. Not only that the poisonous needles were unable to pierce their skin, but they were also too heavy that they were able to ignore the strong wind.

And thus...

BAM!!!

A white-haired girl with cat ears and tail would handle them. Jumping around in the air, she would gather as much momentum as she could and deliver a kick to the back of the knee of the infected giants. The moment their knees bent and their balance was broken, several tentacles would drag them down off from the side of the bridge.

Abbygale and Miracle repeatedly did that for every Catapult. There were times that the two reckless girls would be approached by other infected but a corrosive barrier would always protect them. The eldest sister, Iola, was always watching the two.

With the teamwork of the three girls, things were becoming more and more stable on their side.

***

Back at the area of the collapsed corporate building, the battle was yet to continue.

It was not hard to see what was going on. Mark and the [King Type] were in a staredown.

Both of them deemed each other as dangerous.

Mark was trying to see what did the changes on the [King Type]'s body brought. On the other hand, while it was trying to hold back its urge to attack, the [King Type] was waiting for Mark to move first.

However, of course, Mark would not do the first move. He had all his time to stare at this guy for now. Because the [King Type] was entangled with him, it was unable to give instructions to his army. Due to that, the burden on the defenders of the settlement was lessened.

If they just had to stare at each other, Mark would be able to find out more things about the [King Type] while the infected army was being annihilated. At that time, it would be easier to capture this thing and get the answers he wanted to know as help would come.

Mark had been in confusion. It was why he was staring at the enemy. The mutated infected, once mutated, would stay mutated. They would not have the ability to transform back to their normal humanoid form. That was how it was so far. Yet, the [King Type] suddenly became filled with muscles contrary to its previous appearance.

It was almost similar to the smiling hero, the symbol of peace.

Maybe, it was the ability of infected at the [King Type]'s level. Still, he wanted to be sure.

Of course, while Mark had enough patience, the infected king did not.

RAHHH!

Fed up from the staredown, the [King Type] moved.

With its muscled legs, it kicked the ground creating a crack on the cement under its foot.

It charged towards Mark, a bit faster than the attacks it made before. The about twenty-meter distance between Mark and the [King Type] was traversed by the latter in less than a second.

The moment it appeared in front of Mark, it was already unleashing its punch.

Seeing the punch coming, Mark knew that it was not something that his body would be able to handle. Just the threatening pressure from the [King Type]'s stance was already trying to push him back.

Sure enough, a single hit from a punch like this would kill him despite his armor.

If it hit, that is.

Mark's figure blurred as he half entered his subdimension. The punch was unleased but it just phased through his body. He then lowered his body and his blurry visage turned back to normal. At the same time, he drew Flam from its sheath once more with his right hand and immediately made a flaming upward slash to counter-attack.

He was aiming to dismember the left arm of the [King Type].

The slash hit and the sizzling smell of burning flesh appeared. Nevertheless, Mark just managed to make a half-inch deep wound on the [King Type]'s armpit. It was stopped with just the [King Type]'s flesh.

Of course, Mark would not stop at something like that and the [King Type] was the same.

As its punch was dodged and it received the counter-attack on its left armpit, the [King Type] felt hurt. It was late to retract his right arm that was still stretched out and its left arm had gone numb. Thus, it moved its left shoulder back pulling the sword with it while it unleashed a kick with its right leg. This diagonal kick was obviously aiming at Mark's head.

Mark smiled. He tilted his body to his right while pulling his left shoulder at the same time. The swift kick passed just an inch away from his chest and face. Then, he used his left foot to follow the sword that was pulled back. He then let go and switched his hold to a reverse grip.

The veins on his arms, waist, and right leg glowed brightly. He tightened the grip on the sword and kicked the ground with his right leg. It caused his body to spin counterclockwise with the strongest and fastest force he could unleash.

A flamberge was a sword with a wavy blade that was almost identical to the shape of a saw. That sudden pull of the sword made by Mark created a grating sensation as the wavy uneven blade of Flam dug deeper on the [King Type]'s arm. Combined with a huge burst of flames, the flesh was cut easier.

SHHIING!!!

A vertical wheel of flame was created by Mark's movements as the sword finally cut off the left arm of the [King Type]. The force from the spin and kick he made him fly back spinning several times before landing on his feet and the flames lessened.

GGGGGUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!

A piercing scream was heard as the [King Type] staggered backward clutching the stump remaining of its left arm.

PLOP! PLOP!

The muscled left arm rotated in the air before plopping on the ground.

Mark was then surprised.

The arm started to deflate returning to its previous state. However, that was not the surprising part. What surprised Mark was because as it deflated, it released miasma at the same time which immediately dissipated in the air.

"No way."

Mark murmured. He never heard or seen something like this even from the memories of the Deity of Bloodshed. It was an entirely unknown thing to him.

He turned his eyes back to the [King Type] struggling with the extreme pain it was feeling. From the stump, Mark had just cut, miasma was leaking. The cut part also started to deflate.

There was no doubt. This infected was using miasma to enhance its body.

His eyes became eager.

He had a very large amount of miasma in his body. If he could turn it into strength without releasing it, it would be easier for him to handle beings like this Infected King.

GGRRRRRRRRR!!!

The [King Type] glared at Mark while in pain. It looked at its dismembered arm. It then moved. Of course, to retrieve the arm that was cut off.

Nevertheless, as the [King Type] was about to grab it, a wavy black mist passed by and the arm vanished.

The mist swooped upward and Mark appeared on the air while holding the [King Type]'s left arm.

"I don't know if you can reattach this thing but I will not let you have it."

Mark spoke.

GGGGGGGRAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!

The [King Type] roared menacingly. That roar made a lot of the flying infected above sweep down and gather around the [King Type].

However, with the state of the [King Type] right now, it was the best time to catch it. Mark would not back down because of some flying infected.

Holding the arm in his left and the flamberge clad in flames in his right, he took a deep breath. The veins all over his body glowed brightly as his blood circulated fast inside his body. Both adrenaline and the enhancer on his blood circulated along with his blood.

At the same time, the enumerable amount of flying infected charged towards him.

SWOOM!

He flapped his wings charging forward with high speed. He landed on the ground. Matching his speed, he started to spin around while running causing a waving movement of flames all around his body.

As the flames spun and waved following his spins and movements, it was like he was dancing. No, it was definitely some kind of dance.

"Dance of the Fire God."

He murmured along with a song playing in his mind.

His sword and body spun around slashing everything that came his way. The flying infected, one by one, was slashed to death while covered in flames.

Finding an opening, he kicked the ground at the same time his wings propelled his body, he appeared in front of the [King Type].

Furiously, the [King Type] ignored its pain and counter-attacked with another punch. Nevertheless, unlike before, its movements were sluggish.

The Infected King was not an Eater but a highly evolved Biter. Its senses fully worked and the pain from losing an arm affected it severely.

Mark kicked using his right foot avoiding the punch while sending his body for another vertical spinning slash.

RAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!

With the grating sensation on his hand, the remaining arm of the [King Type] detached from its body.

"Time to end this."

He said as he spun around the back of the [King Type] and the flames waved towards its legs. Flames circled and danced around them causing an intense scene.

THUMP!

The limbless body of the [King Type] fell down to the ground as the miasma in its body started to dissipate along with its weakened roars.

***

-VOLUME 6 END-