Mutagen

Day 126 - 1:31 PM - Mountain Base, Mount Malabito, General Nakar, Quezon

A large number of projectiles flew towards the members of the group tasked to investigate.

Since Chaaya led this group, they were all shadow people. And thus, they disregarded the projectiles flying towards them even though they saw them coming.

Human weapons would not harm them, even regular bullets or explosions, would not, despite ruining their robes. Their bodies were ethereal and were untouchable without their consent. Only special bullets and weapons could harm them.

And those projectiles flying towards them were nothing but wooden arrows. There was not even a metal tip on them. Of course, the shadow people would not pay it any attention.

That was the second mistake.

Chaaya, who had a higher danger awareness, did not feel right and immediately hid in the shadows. As the attack came too suddenly and unexpectedly, she had no time to warn her soldiers.

And thus, the arrows flew through the shadow people's bodies, tearing their bodies apart, giving them the shock of their lives before their deaths.

Aside from the Commander, Chaaya, the whole group sent to investigate, turned to dust, leaving nothing but their torn robes behind.

***

Standing behind the ranks of the enemies, Mark smirked. Taking the enemies by surprise was a hard tactic. After all, they were veterans of the conflict, being an organization hiding in the darkness of human society.

Thus, he had to think of a way to surprise them.

Mark started it with the Miasma eating away the thing they called Féth Fíada. The magical veil of an old tribe in Irish Folklore. Who would think that Miasma would suddenly erupt and consume the magical energy of the mist before them on a large scale? Thus, not only it terrified them, but also caused their attention to focus on the situation.

Having the enemies' attention elsewhere made it easier for him to assassinate Huo Long Yue. Mark's [Emphatic Detection] covered the whole area, and Huo Long Yue was the only one who showed a sign of realization.

Initially, Mark wanted to capture him alive. Chinese cultivation methods known since ancient times was something that would interest him. Unfortunately, the Crazy Dragon realized something after experiencing the battle last night. And since cultivators had many surprising trump cards, they usually hid, it was better to kill him as fast as possible lest he tried something that would hinder his plans.

Then, after killing the rogue cultivator, next were removing the Miasma in an unexpected way and the vanishing act of the base.

Miasma would linger and spread. That was how it usually worked. However, for both the Miasma and the base vanishing like that, the enemies would surely send people to investigate. People who were untouchable and should be able to dodge regular dangers. The shadow people.

Unfortunately for them, the wooden arrows they belittled, had tips made from the core of the dying spirit tree. In other words, it was a waste of resources, using a valuable magical material for disposable projectile weapons.

Nevertheless, it was worthwhile. The group of forty people sent to investigate vanished with only one person surviving the assault. It was quite a substantial blow to the enemy, considering that the actual battle had yet to start.

Then, while everyone was still shocked at that scene, the arrows that targetted the group sent to investigate, flew towards them.

However, as they already saw it before, only a little number was hit by the arrows. Furthermore, only fewer died.

BANG!

Then, the sound of a sniper rifle echoed out of nowhere. A bullet flew, tearing the bodies several shadow people at once.

Many froze to that sight.

At first, it was just arrows. Now, a sniper bullet came out of nowhere.

Fearing that they also had other weapons like that, everyone rushed to find cover.

Mark looked at the hill overseeing the whole situation with a stifled laugh.

The leader of this mission was already standing with his fists clasped tightly. His furious expression was quite a sight. Mark never thought that a dead person would still be capable of these expressions.

However, what could they do if they could not see the enemy at all?

Blindly charging forward would only cost them more casualties.

None of Tan Sitong's plans were usable at this point. Thus, he turned his eyes to the meat shields that seem to be disregarded by the attacks.

The humans they gathered cowered in fear as they lie down on the ground, shrinking themselves as much as possible. Since their guards were still around, these humans could neither run away nor hide. Rolling on the ground like a ball was the best that they could do and wish that none of the arrows and bullets shoot them.

Thus, Tan Sitong decided to send these weaklings forward.

He was about to issue the order. Then, one of his aides suddenly stepped in front of him.

SPLAT!

The head of the Jianshi exploded to pieces.

Tan Sitong felt cold. That shot aimed at his head without a doubt.

Fortunately, the Jiangshi's body was strengthened and was able to stop the bullet despite its head exploding. Losing the Jiangshi would be a big waste. Nevertheless, it was not as valuable as his life.

This situation was the worst con of regaining consciousness after being a Jiangshi. Jiangshis relied on nothing but instinct to detect danger. For him, who was never a fighter in the first before he died and regained intelligence, he had to rely on his consciousness to do things.

It also became his weakness as even weaker Jiangshis without consciousness would be able to detect that incoming attack.

Tan Sitong immediately retreated to cover while the remaining Jiangshis protected him. His face was even more furious. Although the easiest way to end a battle was to slay the general, it was not in a way like this.

Tan Sitong was a great warlord. He even managed to overwhelm military bases before just using an army of he created.

But now, the targets were not playing by the books. Not even in Tan Sitong's most brilliant intelligence expected a scene like this to happen.

More sniper bullets flew towards Tan Sitong. However, non of it hit him as the Aides already got their weapons out to deflect the bullets.

By this time, the army of Auraboros already retreated into the woods, leaving the humans behind, cowering in fear.

The arrows and bullets could still take out one or two, but the cover of trees and rocks greatly hindered the efficiency.

SHING!

Mark beheaded another member of Auraboros that was behind the lines without making too loud sounds. While everyone went into hiding, it also made then even more vulnerable to sneak attacks.

Thus, Mark threw Ignis forwards. In the Demon Sword flew away to slay the enemies.

Mark then took out the updated versions of his [Slicer] and [Divider], the two sword whips he made before, and started the slaughter behind the lines.

Like a shadow in the dark, Mark ran stealthily. The two whip-like swords in his hands danced around the trunks of the trees, shredding his enemies into pieces.

On the other hand, Ignis was more swift. He flew around the trees, piercing through the bodies of the enemies before flying to the next target.

No one realized yet. Even though the arrows and bullets were deadly, it was nothing but a diversion and crowd control. Although they could see the direction where the attacks were coming from, they could not rush forward as they could see nothing in front. The only thing they could do was to hide within the forest around the base, in which their ranks would break.

The army of Auraboros managed to hide from the front, but not from the back. Entering the forest not only broke their ranks but lessened the visibility around them considerably.

This situation made it hard for them to notice that someone was hunting them from within their ranks.

Unfortunately, this situation would not last long.

Mark managed to slay about fifty enemies when two Jiangshis stepped forward to block his front. He could only shrug.

It was not surprising considering that many of the members he killed were shadow people. There were those with ugly faces and green blood. Mark could keep the corpses as long as they fit his ring. However, the blood that splattered on the ground and the trees were hard to remove. As the smell of blood in the surroundings thickened, it was not easy to conceal what was happening here anymore.

Still, Mark found it annoying that these Jiangshis could approach him without him noticing. They were corpses without consciousness, after all. They would not enter his [Emphatic Detection].

"Unlike this one."

Mark murmured with a smirk as he waved the [Slicer] behind him, ignoring the two Jianghis in front.

A shadow dodged away forcefully. There, Chaaya was present, trying to commit a sneak attack at Mark.

It might have higher chances of working if it was the Jianshis who did that. Well, the enemies never knew that Mark could sense everything with consciousness and emotions in a large area around him. They never knew that sneak attacks like this would not work on him.

"Tsk!"

Chaaya clicked her tongue as her attack failed miserably. She stood about five meters away from the enemy staring warily with her black daggers on hand.

"Who are you?"

She asked as the enemy was wearing the same Robe as their regular members, the plain Gray-colored Magical Robe. Furthermore, like shadow people, his face was obscured by darkness.

But when Chaaya stared at the enemy's face longer. She noticed that his body was not like a shadow person, but there was just a dark haze blocking most of his face.

SHING!

Chaaya suddenly spun her body and blocked an incoming attack from behind her. There, Ignis and the black dagger clashed, creating a loud metallic sound.

After the attack was blocked, Ignis flew beside Mark, floating like an avatar behind him, peeking above his shoulder.

Seeing the sword, Chaaya frowned. There was no need to ask anymore. This person wearing their Magical Robe was the same person Huo Long Yue encountered last night.

"Dammit, where's that crazy idiot when we need him."

Chaaya cursed.

Huo Long Yue was the one that managed to witness how Mark fought. Thus, it would be easier to fight him if Chaaya worked with Huo Long Yue.

Unfortunately for her, Mark took out something.

"Are you looking for this?"

Mark smiled as he threw the thing towards Chaaya. The item rolled on the ground, which immediately froze the Shadow Commander.

It was Huo Long Yue's lifeless head.

Chaaya's actions did not falter that much, but her expression and emotion were very constrained. She never expected that the contrary to what they thought, Huo Long Yue did not run off once again. He already died by the hands of the enemy in front of her without anyone noticing.

Not minding Chaaya and the two Jianshis encircling him and Ignis, Mark took out a glowing crystal. The glow of the [Photokinesis Mental Crystal] was already very dim.

"Time's up, huh."

He murmured as he tapped one of his rings. Then, he deactivated the crystal.

Tan Sitong and the other members of Auraboros became shocked.

On the other hand, Chaaya witnessed everything.

The moment that the glow shrunk into the core of the crystal, the base appeared. As if a veil of light shattered around it.

They thought that it vanished, but as they expected after the attacks commenced, it was still there.

But still, what was with the current appearance of the base now? Before they activated the Féth Fíada, it was nowhere like this.

Right now, even though the previous appearance of the base was still present, vines, leaves, bushes, and strange green trunked trees surrounded it.

It was as if the immediate surroundings of the base became a strange forest.