Mutagen

Day ▋▋ - ▋▋:16 PM - Spire Tree Castle, Kingdom of Black Duendes, Spirit Dimension

Alarm bells suddenly rang throughout the castle, alerting everyone of an emergency.

At this point, there was an uproar in the castle. Most of the soldiers and guards stationed inside its premises were called to assemble in the castle's plaza. A lot of them were still running out of the barracks. They slowly and sloppily gathered into two groups of lines in front of Dregor and another person.

It seemed that the training regime of this place was not polished, and the soldiers were not that organized. No, it was not like they were an unorganized army. It was more like it seemed that they were not used to dealing with sudden emergencies inside the castle.

Furthermore, the two groups were not organized because of ranks. It was by their races. The soldiers of the Black Duendes were in one group while the Demons were in the other.

The difference between the two groups was also apparent in their armors. Demons wore heavy and intimidating armors while the Black Duendes were wearing light and classy-looking ones.

"You imbeciles! How come that all of you are this slow! There's an intruder in the castle, and not all the soldiers are here to receive their orders! Damn it!"

The man beside Dregor mercilessly berated the sloppy soldiers in front of him. He did not hold back even towards the Demons that were already glaring at him.

"Ellio, my soldiers are not for you to insult. Your classy soldiers are much worse." Dregor coldly said, making Ellio grit his teeth in annoyance. "Even so, this is not good."

Dregor then turned to a robed Demon soldier that had arrived. Unlike the other soldiers that came from the barracks, it seemed that this one came from another place.

"Ol'fir, did you find any other traces?"

"No, Sire, unfortunately. The trace left in the barrier is too small as if it was just a ball. If not for the ripples I felt from it, no one would immediately notice that something went through. There was also a pair of footmarks left beside a part of a wall. However, it was too light for us to recognize, and there are no traces left after that."

"Tch. How useless."

Dregor grumbled.

"It seems like the intruders are skilled. And here we are, still waiting for these imbeciles to gather."

Ellio added to the side.

Without any other choice, the two generals dispatched the soldiers that were already gathered. Waiting for everyone was a waste of time, and they immediately needed to start the search for the intruder.

The soldiers searched for the intruder, while on the other hand, the two generals, Ellio and Dregor, went to report to their King about the situation.

***

Inside Lumeria's room, a bit of silence ensued.

Lumeria was staring at Mark, observing him due to Teremillio's introduction. The latter, however, only half-paid attention to her while sensing the situation around the castle.

A few seconds later, Mark broke the silence with a skeptical expression.

"Are the soldiers in this castle a bunch of clowns?"

Mark could not help but say that as he sensed the unorganized search happening inside the castle.

Those words from Mark, however, made Lumeria show a complicated expression.

"It's better if you two leave already. You might be laughing at the soldiers' incompetence, but it is because they are mostly for display. Luserio is the owner of this castle. Someone powerful like him doesn't need any kind of protection from others."

Mark looked at Lumeria and could not help but agree with her words. In fact, he could already sense Teremillio's father ever since they entered the castle. Someone with that strong presence was a person that was impossible to ignore.

"No, mother." Teremillio shook his head as he grabbed his mother's hands. "We are here to pick you up. We won't leave this place without you."

Seeing Teremillio's resolute expression made Lumeria touched.

But then...

"Oi, don't drag me with you. Even if you two won't go, I would."

Mark just had to destroy the atmosphere.

"Hey, don't look at me like that," Mark added as the mother and son looked at him, annoyed. "In any case, Lumeria, right? You better go with your son already. The more you hesitate, the more you are putting him in danger. You understand that, right?"

Those words from Mark hit Lumeria quite hard. She worried about her son's safety. But at this point, it was she who was putting her son in more danger.

Lumeria then took a deep breath. It might be dangerous, but it was also her first and only chance to leave this forsaken place.

"Alright, I will go with you." Lumeria tightened her grip on Teremillio's hand. "But promise me that if you need to leave me behind, don't hesitate to do so."

At those words, Teremillio smiled with a shake of his head.

"Sorry, mother. I can't promise that."

"You..."

"Mother. It had been a long time, so you might have forgotten already." Teremillio smiled. "But you have a hardheaded son."

Lumeria shook her head with a sigh, unable to refute her son.

And there, Lumeria hurriedly packed up a few things and decided to leave together with Teremillio and Mark.

The pair of mother and son being Duendes became very convenient at this point. The two reduced to their original sizes and managed to ride unto the pocket that Mark made on his armor.

"You two hold on tight. Don't bite your tongues."

Mark warned the two as he covered himself with a cloak of Miasma once again.

Still, while Mark looked calm, he was actually quite annoyed about the situation.

The whole castle was being searched by the soldiers, and it would be hard to sneak out without getting detected.

Mark moved towards the window to look outside. And now, he could not help but notice the barrier that was now covering the entire castle.

"Lumeria. Is that barrier always there?"

Mark whispered to Lumeria.

"It's always there. But it is hidden with illusion magic, and that is why it's not detectable in normal circumstances. But it's not really for protection but detection. That is why I am quite surprised that you and Millio managed to find me without getting detected immediately."

"Then why is it visible now?"

Mark asked once more.

"They might have increased the function of the barrier to ensure that they will detect it if you tried to escape."

Mark now realized where he messed up. However, that did not matter now. He just needed to find a way to leave this place.

"Hmmm?"

Mark then noticed. The soldiers were already searching in this area of the castle. And because of that, the only way out would be the very same window that they entered earlier.

Without any other choice, Mark turned into a surge of black mist that seeped out of the window.

With his shadow mist form, Mark flew towards the hidden part of the roof above Lumeria's room. It was because he had an idea.

Mark opened his palm, creating a ball made of [Blood Metal]. With a smile, he encased the ball with Miasma. And with a baseball pitch, he threw the Miasma covered metal ball through the barrier.

He did not hesitate to use a bit of adrenaline in that throw, ensuring that it would fly far away.

And then, Mark hid by the roof.

"THERE! THE INTRUDER WENT THAT WAY!"

Those enraged shouts echoed as the barrier reacted to the metal ball that Mark threw out. Ripples appeared on the barrier as if it was water. The center of the vibration pinpointed where the metal ball went out at its center. And there, Mark saw flying demons chase towards the south, where Mark threw the ball.

With the metal ball as bait, Mark then flew in the opposite direction.

The majority of the soldiers were now searching where the metal ball landed. That was when Ol'fir, the demon monitoring the barrier, detected another fluctuation that escaped the barrier.

Unfortunately for Ol'fir, the soldiers that could fly were already searching at the south. There was no one that would be able to chase in the opposite direction.

Mark continued to appear and disappear, reaching the outer area as fast as possible.

He thought that they would be able to escape now without problems.

But then, Mark could not help but stop mid-air.

It was because Mark could not see the surroundings any more.

All of a sudden, everything was covered with thick fog.

That was when Mark detected a presence approaching them at fast speed. It was the presence of someone he did not want to encounter at all.

"Where do you think you are going to take my dear Lumeria?"

A chilling voice echoed as a figure appeared in front of Mark amidst the thick fog.

Without a doubt, it was Luserio.

Even without wings, Luserio was floating mid-air. Standing steadily without anything to step on.

Lumeria could not help but shiver inside Mark's pocket. Even though the wording was quite light, she was sure that Luserio was very angry at this moment.

But then, Mark sneered.

"Teremillio, you're father really is a master of illusions."

Both Teremillio and Lumeria were both surprised as Mark complemented Luserio's ability. It was quite sudden and felt unnecessary.

But then, they realized why Mark said that.

"How unexpected. You noticed."

Luserio said, looking straight at Mark.

"Sorry, but some illusion won't be able to stop us."

Mark said as he charged through Luserio's body, passing through it like a ghost.

And to say, Mark had quite a cold sweat there for a second. Luserio was definitely a master of illusion. Even the presence was there. Unfortunately, for the King, however, Mark was unable to detect any emotional fluctuations from the illusion. It was really strange considering how he showed his expressions and anger.

Leaving the illusion of Luserio behind, Mark flew straight without changing directions. However, he was still unable to see the surroundings because of the fog that without a doubt, Luserio's doing.

The fog was not an illusion as Mark could wave through it. It seemed that the King of Black Duendes had other abilities in his arsenal aside from his illusions.

Mark flew straight as fast as he could. However, he could not tell where he was using his eyes. All he and the two Duendes inside his pocket could see was the thick fog everywhere.

But then, Mark could not help but stop.

It was because he felt something familiar as his head started aching once more.

"Why did you stop???"

Teremillio asked.

"We fell into another illusion," Mark grumbled in an annoyed tone. "Even if I continue flying, we're just fly in circles."

Teremillio was surprised while Lumeria was really worried.

And how did Mark notice?

Right at this moment, Mark could feel the emotional fluctuation of the slaves that they saw when they sneaked inside this place.

Mark flew towards the north after exiting the barrier. However, the slaves were in the southern part of the valley.

Without realizing it, Mark already flew half a circle around the valley, arriving at the starting point of their infiltration.

"It seemed that you are skilled." The chilling voice of Luserio echoed into their ears as another of his illusions appeared before them. "You realized it without even making a whole lap around my Kingdom. I can commend you for that."

"I am tempted to recruit you into my ranks. However, you dared intrude into my castle and take away my dear Lumeria. I will need you to die at this moment."

Just as Luserio spoke those words, the fog started to lighten.

Mark, on the other hand, drew Ignis from his sheath.

The fog disappeared and around Mark, there were already about a hundred winged Demons surrounding him and countless soldiers waiting on the ground.