Mutagen

The sound of blood splattering followed by the thud of a dead body falling to the ground echoed one after another. It was accompanied by the sounds of fighting and metal clashing.

Seeing that what was left of the Bay City Settlement was nothing but rubble, Mark told Chimetrice and Illia to land immediately.

Landing on sight was not really within their plans. Beforehand, Mark intended to land somewhere far, where the people from the settlement would not notice the floating vessel. After all, witnessing such a sight would lead to many questions and complications.

But since the settlement, they were supposed to avoid getting seen, was not here at all, the first plan was immediately scrapped.

For now, the most important thing that they should do was to find out what on Earth happened here.

Of course, saying that there was nothing but rubble was more or less a figure of speech. Even without the settlement here, other things were present, roaming around.

And the moment they landed and stepped out of the floating vessel, the group became the center of attention.

The center of attention of the [Infected] and [Mechids], that was.

And, of course, the battle immediately began.

CLANG! BAM!

Mark tried to slash a humanoid [Mechid] with his whip blades, the [Slicer] and the [Divider], but did not manage to slash through its body. As the [Mechid] struggled to fight back, he ended up kicking it away, heavily denting its torso instead. Nonetheless, it was far from enough to stop the metallic creature from moving.

"The bodies of these [Mechids] are annoying..." Mark said with a frown. "The strength of their bodies is inconsistent. Some are weaker than [Blood Metal], some are sturdier."

BOOM!

Another loud sound was heard. It was Chimetrice, punching another [Mechid] and sending it flying with its crushed body.

"It will help a lot if you stop holding back," Chimetrice said to Mark. "You\'re not putting any effort at all."

Mark shrugged. Chimetrice was right. It was not like he did not want to. However, he was amidst resisting something. Furthermore, a part of his attention was on his three daughters and their golems. This would be their first actual battle together. As such, he had this urge to watch.

While Mark and Chimetrice were dealing with the [Mechids], Mei, the little girls, and Feng Zhiruo were in charge of fighting the [Infected]. It was not like there was any difference in the levels of danger between the two kinds of enemies. It was just that the pattern that the [Mechids] attack was far different from the dumb [Infected].

At this time, Abbygale was leading the fight of the girls like usual. With her speed, she could run towards the enemy faster than most people in their group. But now, she was not alone charging towards the infected. This time, the canine-feline golem, Cavall, was running by her side.

The pair of a catgirl and a feline dog turned into blurs under the night sky. Because the surroundings were dark, normal people would have a hard time seeing Abbygale and Cavall running through the darkness. But, of course, the [Infected] was the same. They were not only using their eyes to hunt, but they were adept at sensing living beings.

However, the speed of the two overwhelmed their target, even though it was a [Level 3 Mutated Infected].

It was about two meters tall, moving on all fours. Despite its height, its entire body looked like dried twigs. It also moved fast. Without a doubt, it was a [Predator Type] capable of hiding in tree branches and would ambush its victims. While it was strange as to why a [Predator Type] was in the open, this [Infected] became Abbygale\'s target.

Speed versus speed. It was Abbygale\'s reason for attacking this [Mutated Infected] first. Besides, one of the most dangerous types of [Infected] were [Predator Types]. It was due to the fact that they were rarely seen fighting upfront. Just like now, Abbygale\'s target was actually trying to run away amidst the crowd of [Infected]. If it was left alone, it might attack when they did not expect it to.

Sensing that it was being targeted, the [Mutated Infected] stopped retreating. Instead, it faced Abbygale and tried to stab her with its twig-like fingers.

The [Mutated Infected\'s] attack connected... Well, with Abbygale\'s afterimage. The little girl already kicked her body to her right and maneuvered to her enemy\'s flank. And with good momentum, Abbygale gave the [Infected\'s] ribs a nice and powerful kick.

That kick would not kill the [Mutated Infected]. Still, the kick was powerful enough to make it lose balance and fall to its right side. The moment it fell, Cavall appeared and bit the [Mutated Infected\'s] nape. And with a tug of its blade-like teeth and metallic jaws, Cavall cut off the [Mutated Infected\'s] neck, dealing the killing blow.

Slightly lagging behind Abbygale, there was Miracle with Inaba jumping in front of her. The rabbit golem\'s speed and leg strength were a bit superior to Miracle\'s. It was no surprise that it was leading in front of her. However, in terms of strength, Miracle was way superior to her golem. With those in factors mind, Mark programmed Inaba to fight like this.

Since Miracle was slow, especially since her trots were short, it was better if the enemies were brought in front of her. Of course, in a manner that they did not expect at all...

...Like getting kicked by a giant rabbit on their backs!

As planned, Inaba jumped over the [Infected] closest to it and landed behind the target. And then, with a short jump, about the height close to the target\'s neck, the rabbit golem kicked both its hind legs to the [Infected\'s] unguarded back. And as expected, the [Infected] was kicked towards Miracle as it lost its balance.

Depending on the enemy that was kicked by Inaba, the result might be different. Some heavier [Infected] might only stagger, while some might actually get thrown away and ragdoll on the ground. This time, the [Infected] was a regular, non-mutated [Eater]. Its balance was almost nonexistent, and it immediately fell towards Miracle without resistance. It fell to the ground and actually tried to stand up to shamble towards Miracle. But before it was able to do so, the little girl\'s right foot stomped on its head. And then...

SPLAT!

While tainting the little girl\'s metallic shoes with blood and brain matter, the [Infected\'s] head exploded just by the strength of Miracle\'s stomp.

That was one down for Miracle. There were a lot more to go.

As for Iola, she was standing behind her two younger sisters as usual. Her duty was to provide support, making barriers to protect Abbygale and Miracle at times they were about to get attacked.

This time, however, Iola had someone to assist her. Brynhildr stood by Iola\'s side. The maid golem was already in her so-called [Combat Mode]. Brynhildr\'s right hand had a sword while her left had a shield. She was pretty much like a valkyrie that was sworn to protect Iola.

Any [Infected] that approached Iola was not only met with her burning barrier but was also killed with Brynhildr\'s sword. It was more efficient than needing anyone else to finish the [Infected] blocked by Iola\'s barrier.

With the help of the golems that Mark created, it opened more styles of fighting for the girls, not to mention being safer and more efficient.

The little girls were not the only ones on the battlefield. Mei and Feng Zhiruo were also there as their guardians.

This time, Mei was not using her [Shooting Moon Edge] as a sniper rifle but as a large blade. Furthermore, her way of fighting was far different from before, which only looked like a beautiful woman wildly swinging her sword blindly.

At this moment, Mei looked like a dancer, dancing with the [Shooting Moon Edge] on her hands as she decapitated the heads of the enemies around her.

Near Mei was Feng Zhiruo. Her sword flashed under the sky of the night as she also danced while fighting the [Infected]. Her way of dancing was similar to Mei, although also different. In fact, she was the one that taught Mei the sword stance that she was using right now. It was the same sword stance and fighting style. The cause of the difference was that while Mei was using the [Shooting Moon Edge], which was a large sword, Feng Zhiruo\'s sword was a thin and shorter one.

There was also the fact that Feng Zhiruo could only teach Mei the basics as she was not an expert in it either. As such, Mei developed those basics into a stance that was comfortable for her. Nonetheless, it looked more rough around the edges compared to Feng Zhiruo\'s style.

"Look\'s like they were doing fine."

Chimetrice said to Mark.

"I know." Mark shrugged, looking uncomfortable. "Alright, let\'s just get rid of these pests."

At those words, Chimetrice noticed that something was wrong with Mark. He looked fine just now. But the next thing he saw as he looked at Mark was the sudden foul mood out of nowhere.

Furthermore, Mark would usually see the [Mechids] and the [Infected] as research specimens. It was the first time that Chimetrice saw Mark really uncomfortable to the point of treating [Mechids] as pests.

And as Mark said, he stopped holding back. His body blurred, turning into black mist. The [Mechid] that was about to attack Mark froze as it suddenly lost its target.

But then...

CRACK!

The [Mechid\'s] neck bent to the side as Mark shoved his armored fist onto its head. But, of course, while the [Mechid] staggered due to the impact and was confused due to the sudden breakage of its sensors, it was still moving.

​ Unlike dealing with the [Infected], just destroying their heads would not stop [Mechids] from moving.

And before the [Mechid\'s] AI recovered from the unforeseen attack, Mark gripped his fist tightly as the veins of his arm glowed brightly. At the same time, a greenish crystal floated around Mark\'s wrist, glowing while gathering blades of wind around his fist.

BOOM!

Mark\'s fist collided with the [Mechid\'s] body. However, instead of just getting blown from the impact, the [Mechid\'s] body spun like a washing machine as the blades of wind spiraled inside it like a small tornado.

The [Mechid\'s] body was not instantly broken. But the repeated spinning of the wind blades slowly shredded its body until it turned into bits and pieces of scrap metal.

Finally, the [Mechid] stopped moving. Mark did not stop there, however. He then threw black flames unto the broken [Mechid], burning the black puss-like liquid that began to spill out of the [Mechid]\'s body.

As for Chimetrice, he had no problems dealing with the [Mechids]. He was not trying to dodge the attacks either and just let the attacks touch his body. The fully recovered Chimetrice sure had an invincible body as the attacks, even the lasers, barely scratched his skin. And using his plethora of abilities, he quickly dispatched his enemies while letting Mark burn the black liquid afterward.

After about fifteen minutes, the ruins of Bay City were already devoid of both the [Infected] and [Mechids]. The traces of battle that ended just now was still scattered all over the place, however.

How many enemies were there? Mark\'s group failed to count. There were probably several hundred. It was not surprising since the location was previously a settlement that should attract the attention of enemies.

If it was regular people, they would probably die with such numbers of enemies, not to mention there were dozens of gigantic [Mutated Infected] among the horde. The most memorable one was an obese-looking [Infected]. It was about the size of a three-story house. The moment Mark dealt with it, exploded into a rain of acidic goo. Luckily, Mark already put into his considerations that bloated-looking [Infected] had the possibility of exploding and made the others retreat as he killed it from a distance.

There were still [Infected] coming from other places, attracted by the battle. The [Mechids] was nowhere to be seen, however.

With the enemies already dealt with, they could finally start the investigation of what possibly happened to the Bay City Settlement.