Mutagen

Loud sounds echoed across the forest.

The gigantic monster stomped, jumped smashed, and destroyed everything in its path. All of it happened as it raged to catch the ant in front of him.

Unfortunately for it, no matter how its rage rose, the ant was too slippery. All of its attacks were missing by a large margin.

Furthermore, it was receiving a searing wound from time to time when the ant in front of it was able to find a chance to counter-attack. The current situation made it even more furious. Its attacks became more aggressive, its movements became faster, and its attacks became even more powerful.

Its strength was growing to the point that its slight punch would leave a large crater on the forest floor. Even the swings of its hands started to slap the uprooted trees flying in every direction.

***

"This guy..."

Mark\'s frown did not leave his forehead since he started to fight this thing in front of him.

Unlike the battles he experienced before, the level of repulsiveness this enemy was giving him was very high.

He could ignore the hundreds of pairs of eyes staring at him ferociously. However, the splashing putrid juices from one of its hands prevented Mark from lingering near it.

Furthermore, it was impossible for Mark to not notice. This monster was growing more powerful for some reason. As its anger rose, its strength rose along with it.

BAM!

Mark jumped back once more as the monster slammed its hand to the ground in an attempt to turn him into meat paste. After its right hand slammed on the ground, it used that hand as support to launch its enormous body towards Mark.

Its other hand then swiped towards Mark.

Mark kicked with his left foot and propelled his body upwards with a bit of spin. The large hand passed under Mark, who was upside down in the air.

SHING!!!

Flam drew an arc with its flames as Mark swung it at the wrist of the monster that passed under him.

"Tsk!"

Mark clicked his tongue as he jumped back once more as the hand with rotting bodies smashed towards him the moment he landed.

BOOM!

The hand hit the ground, causing a loud sound.

Mark was also getting frustrated on his own. Although he was a person that would not mind many things, one of the things he could not help but pay attention to was this. Getting bathed with blood was one thing. To get soaked with rotting juices was another.

Even blood from Eaters was not as repulsive as this. There was not much blood left on those bodies. All he could see was the stale looking disintegrating flesh. Sometimes, it was even green colored.

As Mark dodged too much, Flam started to shake.

"Yeah, yeah." Mark understood what Flam was saying. "I know. We can\'t beat the sh*t out of it without getting closer."

Mark considered using Miasma on the monster. However, he decided against it. The effect of Miasma on human flesh would make it decay. It would become worse since this thing was just using four rotting bodies on its hand, and it was already this troublesome.

Furthermore, this thing was an evil spirit, most evil spirits could use Miasma to empower themselves. Not to mention that this one was also a monster with a body mutated by Mutagen. Carelessly using Miasma on it could cause it to grow even more powerful rather than actually harming it.

Not to mention that with the hundreds of pairs of eyes watching Mark, this thing had no blind spots at all. There was no head to kill it by beheading either.

GRAAAAAA!!!

The monster was feeling even more furious. Although Mark\'s counter-attacks barely damaged its humongous body, it still felt pain at every slash on its arm and wrist. It attacked and attacked and attacked. Yet, it could not touch even just the shadow of its enemy.

It was a battle of frustration for both sides.

BAM! BOOM! BAM! BAAAM!

The hands of the monster moved faster and faster in every attack that its hands and arms turned into blurs.

"Its really getting frustrated."

Mark found it quite astonishing that a creature\'s anger could raise this much. No wonder this guy was beheaded. If it had its real head, it surely would not be able to contain this much anger.

"This guy is really getting faster and faster."

Mark said as he spun his body to the side as he slashed the wrist of the monster while dodging its attacks.

GRAAAYYYYAAAAAA!!!

That attack was rather good as it sliced the back of the monster\'s wrist horizontally. It could not help but roar in pain.

\'Chance!\'

Mark thought as the veins on his foot glowed red.

POOM!

He kicked the ground as strongly as he could, causing the soil to scatter behind him. Then, he charged in between the two arms of the monster.

Since Mark could not think of many ways to kill this thing, he aimed for the heads dangling on its body. Maybe, by removing these heads, he could force out the evil spirit out of its current vessel. If it was forced out, it would be easier to kill it.

SHING!

Flam burst into flames as Mark released a horizontal slash on a row of heads on the monster\'s chest.

GUUURYYYAAAAAAAAAA!!!

All of the remaining heads screeched loudly. It was too sudden and loud that Mark started to hear ringing in his ears.

He then opened his wings before flying sideward to avoid the two arms frantically trying to attack him.

BAM!

GRRRRRAAAAAAAAAA!!!

The monster was out of control. It even smashed some of the heads on its body when it tried to attack Mark.

Feeling the pain that was becoming even more severe, the monster started to roll around on the ground with its high pitched screams. Some of the heads on its body were crushed by its weight, causing it to trash around even more.

Seeing the enormous monster inflict more damage on itself, Mark felt good. That feeling did not last, however, as he saw the monster roll around the heaps of rotting bodies. Its body then started to absorb the corpses in the same way it did with its fingers.

Mark wanted to stop it. He attacked furiously while flying around. Shockwave after shockwave exploded in every flap of his wings that were glowing red. He flew back and forth, shaving as many of the heads on the monster\'s back with his flaming sword. Each of the head he attacked was not only destroyed but also burst into flames.

Nevertheless, it was not enough.

As if crawling on its body, the rotting corpses were pulled onto its skin, creating a disgusting looking armor of greenish juicy flesh.

Many of the heads on its body were covered with the rotting corpses. Although it impaired its ability to see Mark in every direction, it also made it troublesome to attack without getting covered with rotting juices.

"Flam, do you have any kind of area attack?"

Mark started to ask the cursed sword for an impossible thing. The most that Flam could do was to release a burst of fire in a short distance like a flame slash. As for an area attack that on a huge scale, it did not have the ability to do so.

As the monster was still absorbing the rotting corpses, Mark flew above trying to think of something.

\'How about explosives.\'

Mark thought. However, a few grenades would not do. Even the soldiers did not have that much supply. He started to consider calling Chaflar and Aimee who both had long-ranged and highly destructive attacks.

While Mark was thinking, his eyes suddenly went blank.

***

In a split second, the scene in front of him changed. He was not in the forest anymore. He was inside his subconscious. In front of him, a little boy stood while staring at him.

"Just what are you doing, we are still in the middle of the battle."

Mark said with a frown.

Although the time inside his subconscious could become faster or slower, it would still consume time outside. If he was forced to enter, it meant that Flam did it. It would only happen if something tried to take control of his body, after all.

"Master." Unexpectedly, Flam kneeled on one knee. "Give me a name."

This was unexpected.

"What is this about?" Mark was confused. "Isn\'t Flam your name."

In response to Mark\'s question, Flam shook his head.

"Flam is not my name but something they just called me. The only person that can name me will be my only master until their life ended."

Mark tilted his head. This was quite unusual. Not to mention that Flam who could curse a lot and was usually rowdy was speaking formally.

"How many masters did you have so far?"

Flam smiled bitterly.

"I only have one. At the time I was not a cursed sword yet. The very first person to use me to kill people in his era. However, as he died early. He was never able to give me a proper name."

Flam then added.

"As the naming ceremony will bind me to a person for the span of his life, I never did it with anyone."

"So you finally decided to become my sword?"

Mark asked.

"I\'ve been considering this for a while now," Flam replied. "All I wanted before was to fight. However, since I was not able to control your body when you caught me, I was forced to experience a lot of different things. Honestly, it\'s not bad. I even felt more fun than just slaughtering humans. That is why I wanted to do this for days now. But, I never found a good timing. I also don\'t know if you will really want an annoying sword like me."

Flam then added.

"Unlike other swords, my shape is harder to use as it was unconventional. I am made to inflict as much pain to the enemies than killing them."

Mark smiled. Flam was being adorable just now. He did not mind as long as this guy swore loyalty. In fact, if Flam did not tell him this right now, if Mark became careless and let other people touch it, it could control them and it might be able to escape Mark\'s grasp.

However, it actually told him which indicated that it chose to swear true loyalty to him.

"Tell me, just how many cursed swords are there on Earth?"

"I don\'t know. I haven\'t seen many of us."

"Then, why won\'t I want you?"

Mark patted the boy\'s head making his face lit up.

***

GRRRAAAAAAAA!!!

The menacing roar echoed as Mark returned to reality. Below, the already disgusting monster became even more unsightly. Rotting corpses covered its whole body with hundreds of festering limbs sticking out of its skin.

It was roaring at Mark because he was hovering too high from its reach. The moment Mark returned, he flapped his wings back to avoid the putrid corpse thrown towards him.

Mark did not mind the smell anymore.

He was feeling good this time.

"Say, do I really have to recite all those cringy lines?"

Mark suddenly asked Flam.

The flamberge replied why shaking violently. It seemed that the sword was rather excited about this.

Mark, on the other hand, was also the same. However, the process of naming was not as simple as just giving it a better name.

A chant was required to do so. After all, it was not a normal sword but a cursed one. A sword that needed to bind its spiritual connection to its chosen master.

Furthermore, Flam also told Mark that the naming ceremony would have effects on both of them.

As Flam also never tried this before, it did not know what these effects were. As such, it was also a gamble.

Nevertheless, things like this were why gacha games were rather fun to do.

Mark took a deep breath.

"Alright, here we go!"

He shouted as Flam burst into intense flames that it never released before.