Mutagen

Pulled by gravity, the blasted remains of the infected got swallowed by the raging waters. The waters of the gulf that was supposed to reflect the sky had lost that property. At this moment, the water was already murky red because of the blood from the infected. The color even began to spread out further away.

In the sky, Mark stared at the head of the infected he was holding until it slowly died. Even as a severed head, it still managed to live longer than other infected. It was something to expect from a mutated infected capable of fusing infected bodies using a flesh membrane. It even tried to cover its bleeding neck at the last moment, but Mark did not let it do so.

And with this, Mark successfully secured a potentially valuable ability. After seeing the things that it could do, there was no way that Mark would let it go away.

While Mark hovered in the air, holding his bounty, Mei and Berrak returned in a rush, pulling his attention.

"You two okay?"

Mark asked. What he did was nearly a suicide attack. With that explosion of extremely compressed air, it was no surprise that Mei and Berrak got blown away.

On the other hand, Berrak gawked at Mark\'s words. No matter how anyone saw this situation, it should be Mark who should receive such a question.

Mark\'s body was blood-covered, his clothes were almost ripped to shreds revealing wounds on his skin, and his right arm barely had any skin left. And yet, he was the one who had the gall to ask if they were okay. If not for the fact that he was afraid of Mark, he would not hesitate to ask the question back.

Mei, on the other hand, approached Mark without disregard for his appearance. If not for Mark stopping her, she might have gone and embraced him. She was really worried when Mark just went and dived into the infected\'s body without saying anything. And now, although Mark would not seem to feel the pain in his current state, Mei would.

Mark could only bitterly smile as he saw her expression. But it could not be helped. This much injury was worth the sacrifice, not to mention that it would heal immediately. The only actual damage done to him was his clothes.

In fact, his body already started healing.

Berrak\'s eyes widened as he saw Mark\'s skin started to slowly return. With that inhuman healing speed, no wonder he did not mind getting such a catastrophic injury.

But still, why would Mark go so far? Even injuring himself to such extent?

Mark glanced a bit at Berrak and shrugged. From the [Psycrystal] that was now fully exposed at the back of his wrist, an [Empty Physical Crystal] flew out. The crystal then floated in front of the forehead of the decapitated head that Mark was holding.

And with a few minutes of silence and Berrak gawking at the spectacle, the crystal finished its work with a flash of blinding light. Mark then tossed the head away like he was throwing away garbage.

"What..."

Berrak wanted to ask. As a practitioner of magic, this kind of thing interested him a lot. But of course, he could not openly ask Mark. Although he was almost, he still managed to hold his curiosity inside. Instead, he focused on returning his other summons, only leaving Trua, who he was using as a mount.

Despite the questions, there was no doubt that the battle here had already ended. There might still be a whole lot of infected underwater. But without the [Leader Type] and the magical energy in this place to attract them, the threat they could give was way lower. It was unless the people in the settlement were stupid enough to do something to lure the infected back to shore.

In that case, however, it was not their business any longer.

There might also be the remaining part of the [Leader Type] that was still underwater. However, while the infected that became part of it were freed from the controls, they were still stuck together. Those infected could only wait until they were helplessly eaten by evolved fishes of the gulf.

"Let\'s go."

Mark said, which became the signal for them to return.

Leaving the scene of the battle, Mark\'s group flew away. As they did, the waves started to calm down, and the clouds began to dissipate.

***

Day 147 - 9:19 PM - Port Area, Catanduanes Settlement, Codon, San Andres, Catanduanes

The port had gone silent.

Everyone saw that the greatest threat was gone. Surely, they were supposed to cheer in glee. However, the things that happened were just too surreal that it was hard for them to take in immediately.

They all knew that they should be happy. However, what was with the complex feeling that was boiling in their hearts and minds?

"General, did he just..."

Andrew, whose eyes were better than most people here, could not believe what he had just witnessed. He clearly saw that it was Mark who finished off that huge thing. As the thought sunk into his mind, he could not help but gulp.

That person that destroyed that amalgamation was the very same person he tried to subdue this morning. He could not help but feel lucky that he was stopped by other soldiers. If not, who knew how he would have died.

Although there was the event this afternoon, the impact was lesser than what they witnessed just now.

On the other hand, General Padilla was frowning. No wonder now that the letter he received from General Faustino said to never try to provoke Mark and his group.

Those beams of light, that eerie formation of clouds, and that unknown force that destroyed the majority of the monster\'s body. Aside from those, there were also the girls that showed their prowess this afternoon. Not to mention that the man called Berrak was now with their group.

A power like that, even the whole settlement might not be able to handle their wrath.

Peering at the sky with his night vision binoculars, the General\'s eyes followed Mark\'s group that was already flying away from the scene of the battle.

And there, he started to move.

"General, where are you going?"

Andrew asked.

That was also the question in the minds of all the other soldiers around them.

General Padilla stopped and looked back.

"To convey our gratitude for their help. Andrew, keep an eye on the direction they are flying to. We are going to meet them."

The General replied before he continued to leave.

Since the General left before he could reply, Andrew could only stare at the General\'s back. Nonetheless, he still followed the orders and carefully watched Mark\'s group as they flew.

***

"Just what in the world are those people?"

A playful voice could be heard inside the forest not far from the port area.

There, several shadows were lurking, watching the battle against the amalgamation after the infected retreated from the settlement.

Among them was no other than the man that was talking with Vanessa.

"Hey Roach, are you listening?" The playful voice pestered. "Vanessa tasked you into tailing them, right? You should have some information."

Annoyed, the man called Roach replied.

"There\'s barely a day that I\'ve been observing them. What do you expect me to know?"

With that, the playful guy finally shut up.

On the other hand, a calm sounding voice asked a question to Roach, instead.

"Do you think we can recruit them to the organization?"

"I don\'t know about that. We still don\'t know their intentions."

Roach replied.

"I\'m not asking about them." The calm voice added. "I\'m asking about your opinion."

Roach looked at the man that asked that question. Then, shook his head.

"I don\'t think so. Being a member of the organization is being under it. However, that guy called Mark. Rather than someone serving, it felt more like he is someone to be served."

"Someone who is born to be a leader, is it?"

The calm man deduced.

"No," Unexpectedly, Roach disagreed. "Not a leader. That Mark could be at the border of being a Tyrant."

"It doesn\'t matter if he\'s a leader or a tyrant."

And this point the last member of the group chimed in.

"Just don\'t unnecessarily provoke them. We are just here to observe things."

To those words, everyone agreed. As their business here was also done, they all vanished into the shadows, returning to their posts.

Unexpectedly, one of them, the playful one, returned to an unexpected place.

It was towards the southwest direction, outside the settlement.

***

At the sky, Mark, Mei, and Berrak flew over the settlement once to see the situation. Seeing that most of the commotion had settled down, Berrak could finally breathe in relief as they flew away.

"Gege, is that really good?"

Mei asked, looking at Mark that was still holding the new crystal he acquired.

"Very likely." Mark smiled. "Do you know why?"

Of course, Mei shook her head. She would not ask that question if she knew.

"Remember Elona?"

Mark asked.

Mei nodded. Of course, there was no way Mei would forget the most unique girl in the base. Her eaten arm was replaced by Mark, after all.

"Back then, we managed to create a new arm for her with Miracle\'s help. But we can\'t do that anymore, right?"

That was right. Although they managed to do that once, it did not mean that they could do it again in the future. Of course, it was not because Miracle\'s ability changed or anything. It was because the arm was created with the help of Aephelia, who was inside Miracle\'s body at that time.

Just Miracle alone would not be able to properly create a similar thing. Especially since she was a child that lacked knowledge. In the future, there was a possibility. But definitely not too soon.

"If I\'m correct, this ability\'s potential did not lay on fusing bodies."

Mark said, raising the crystal.

And with that, the idea dawned on Mei.

"Is it a similar ability to Miracle?"

Mei asked.

"Not exactly." Mark shook his head. "Miracle\'s body is made of flesh-like blood, so it\'s not similar. Remember how the flesh membrane of the [Leader Type] look like? It\'s like a roughly created muscle tissue. What if we give this ability to someone with proper knowledge, maybe we will someone that could deal with threatening injuries at the base."

Mei finally understood why Mark would go so far for this ability. If he was really right, then injuries that could not be healed with [Regeneration Medicine] would have a remedy now. Missing tissues could be replaced, and very deep wounds could be patched.

It would be a good thing for the base as a whole.

The only question now was who would they give the ability to. So far, they only had one doctor in the base. It was Phillip, the old medical instructor from Perpetual Help University. Unfortunately, they did not know if he had expertise in muscles and skin.

While talking about the crystal, they closed into the southwest area outside the Catanduanes Settlement.

Sure enough, while the presence of the little girls and the other members of their group, there were other people. Unexpectedly, though, it was just a few with about fifteen people.

For sure, as these people were captured, they were from the rebels. But by their number, they must be a scouting group to check the situation of the settlement before attacking. In fact, Mark could sense another larger group from quite far away. The second group seemed to be waiting for something, possibly the signal from the first group.

Still, that was not where Mark\'s attention was focused. It was at the captured group. In fact, in Mark\'s eyes, there was a little bit of genuine surprise.