Mutagen

Mark opened his eyes, groaning in excruciating pain. Barely able to hold his head because of the tightened feeling surrounding him, he looked around. He could almost not see anything nor move a muscle. And the mixed smell of concrete and metal wafted into his nose.

Realizing Mark had no idea where he was right now, he concluded something.

"Did I pass out?"

Mark asked in his mind, or maybe he said it out loud. He also realized he could barely hear anything at all.

And the answer to his question came almost immediately.

"You lost consciousness for about a minute."

Magwayen\'s voice echoed in his mind.

Mark felt a little surprised. It was extremely rare for him to suddenly fall unconscious. This should be the third time in his entire life. The first time was when he became a [Mutator], and the second time was his first fight against Shin\'s group. And that second one would not really count, considering it was an intended effect of the song of the [Siren] sisters.

But then again, his surprise was unnecessary. What they were currently fighting was an incarnation of a powerful God. It would even be more of a surprise if something unexpected did not happen.

"What you did is commendably brave. But it is risky. If you are at least half weaker than you are now, you could have died, torn to shreds. That armor of yours also helped a lot, or you would not end up with just a minute of unconsciousness." Magwayen shared her opinion of Mark\'s risky actions. "But despite the risks, I cannot deny its effectivity. You attacked its eyes, a possible weakness. Furthermore, you burned it using the flames of that Flame Demon. Even if this snake\'s body has absurd recovery, regenerating a body part burned by a Deity\'s flames would be impossible to recover from immediately."

"For the duration of this fight, you took one of the enemy\'s sixteen eyes. You have fifteen more to go."

Magwayen continued, making Mark\'s eyebrows twitch. He could not tell whether she was encouraging him or was being sarcastic.

But then again, Maywayen said something good. Mark managed to succeed in blinding one of the Serpent God\'s eyes. A feat that no mortal should be capable of, considering even the bombardment it was receiving aimed at its heads could not even damage its eyes.

Mark took a deep breath. It felt painful, but he could tell his body was already healing with his absurd regenerative capabilities. And the question came into his mind.

"Where am I anyway?"

Mark tried moving his body. However, it felt as if something heavy was pressing on him, stopping him from moving.

"You are under a collapsed building. You crashed into it and got buried in its debris."

Magwayen answered.

"I see," Mark squinted his eyes. "I can\'t really tell. I can barely see, and I can\'t hear anything. Oh, I can\'t seem to move my body either."

"Not surprising," Magwayen replied. "You received the brunt of that snake\'s retaliation. Your eyes and ears might have been damaged. And your body is currently stuck under a collapsed structure. No wonder you are not answering your wife. She had been calling you repeatedly from your communicator."

"She is?" Mark sighed. "She must be really worried. But I don\'t know if I can answer properly. I can\'t even tell if I\'m speaking out loud or just inside my head."

Mark really wanted to reply to Mei now that he knew she was worried. However, he could not tell anything in his current situation. It was as if he was covered in eternal darkness. No sound, no sight, only the smell of metal and concrete.

The feeling of being stuck was also stuffy.

And as Mark closed his eyes, he could only rely on his [Empath] abilities to attempt to monitor his surroundings.

Then, Mark was surprised.

Mark was currently surrounded by people. Just a few meters away from him. Not just the side but also above. Most of them were unfamiliar to him, but somehow, all of them were worriedly searching for him under the debris.

As Mark monitored the emotions of the unfamiliar people, he could not help but feel weird.

The people outside were not looking for him because it was their duty. And not because Mark\'s death would mean fewer chances of survival for them, either.

Instead, they were looking for Mark because they wanted to. They wanted to help. They did not want the brave person who fought the monster in the sky to die just like this.

These strangers were genuinely worried about Mark\'s safety.

It was something that Mark never expected to receive from strangers.

That was why he could not help but feel weird.

Was this how it felt like to be valued by the people? Mark was clearly valued by the people around him, the new family he created, and the people of the Mountain Base. However, it was different this time. These people were strangers. Yet, they were frantically trying to search for him under the debris.

Feeling a stinging pain in his eyes as dust entered it, Mark could only close it by reflex. It did not matter whether it was open or closed anyway since he could not see anything in the dark and the damage it received.

But all of a sudden, a serene feeling overcame Mark\'s entirety. He felt calm and relaxed as darkness embraced him.

And all of a sudden...

"You\'ve witnessed the power of beings beyond mortals. Don\'t you feel envious?"

A voice echoed inside Mark\'s mind. It was not Magwayen, but Mark felt the voice was familiar.

It was a voice Mark heard several times before. It was a voice that joined his dangerous battles in the past.

No, Mark realized. It was a voice that had been with him since he was born. It was a voice coming from beyond his recognition but had always been with him.

It was just that Mark never had the chance to hear this voice clearly until now.

The voice avoided the detection of the [Eyes] and other godly beings, the voice that stemmed from Mark\'s bloodline.

And as the question entered his mind, Mark gave a smile.

"Why should I be envious? Those powers aren\'t mine. They acquired those powers through their own means and grabbing chances, which had nothing to do with me. They only had time longer than me. But now, I\'m pretty sure I\'m in the same starting point as them. And time is not something I\'m lacking. I have plenty more of it now. So, I don\'t need anyone\'s help. I\'ll grasp the same strength on my own."

After Mark gave his answer, there was a long silence. Did Mark hallucinate the voice and the question? But before he thought so, the voice came once again.

"So be it. But we will be waiting to see what you will show us."

And there, the voice vanished, and the serene feeling Mark had disappeared.

"Are you fine?" Magwayen\'s voice echoed inside his mind once again. "You seemed to lose consciousness once again. You might have received injuries far graver than we expected."

"You didn\'t hear it?"

Mark probed.

"What should I hear? You just fell silent."

Magwayen replied, clearly had not heard the voice just now.

"No, nothing," Mark slightly nodded, realizing that the voice was no one else but for him to perceive. "Anyway, I\'m fine. It\'s still dark, but I can see my surroundings now. I can also hear the noises outside. And I can move now, too."

"As expected, you\'re an absurd mortal," Magwayen scoffed. "It might just be an incarnation, but to heal too fast from injuries received from a Beastly God, your healing capabilities are already beyond mortal."

Magwayen might have thought that way, but Mark had a different thought. What happened to him might not be because of the injuries he received but because he was under the influence of something.

"Anyway, there\'s no point in staying here now that I can see my surroundings."

Mark said as he tried to leave using [Shadow Mist Movement].

But then, Magwayen spoke.

"Before leaving, grab that thing in your right hand and leave with it. Then give it to that white-robed woman protecting this human settlement."

Mark was a little confused. But as he closed his right hand, he felt grabbing a tube-like thing.

"What is this?"

Mark asked in confusion.

"I don\'t know either. It\'s not a request from me but someone else. Just do what I said."

Magwayen answered, which made Mark want to complain. But now was not the time for that.

After grabbing the item, Mark\'s body turned into a ball of mist that surged out of the tiniest gaps within the pile of concrete debris.

***

"Remove that large one! Be careful not to make the ones below crumble!"

Such shouts could be heard as the people tried to remove the pile of debris from the location where Mark had fallen.

"Karla! Cut that bent metal there! I\'ll hold the concrete steady!"

It was not only unfamiliar people. Karlene and Karla were also present since they were the closest to the location of the crash. There were also the members Mark brought here. However, since it would be dangerous for everyone to just try and dig through the debris, only a few of them were around.

The most important was Mei, who could accurately pinpoint where Mark was under the debris.

With the abilities of Karlene and Karla, they could swiftly cut pieces of concrete and metal to be moved away. They should be able to dig through the collapsed building in no time.

But then...

"Wait!"

Mei shouted, making Karlene and Karla pause, followed by those people who could not understand what she had just said.

To everyone\'s surprise, a surge of black mist seeped out of the debris. The unknowing on-lookers immediately retreated. After all, the [Miasmic Residues] also came about in the same manner.

But Mei did the opposite.

As the mist showed a humanoid form and someone\'s figure emerged, Mei already had the person in her worried embrace.

"Gege!"

Mei cried out. Her helmet was off, so everyone could see her teary eyes as her hair fluttered due to the surging wind.

"Sorry to worry you. I was out for a bit."

Mark apologized as he tried to caress Mei\'s head, only to stop his hand midway.

It was because Mark saw that his gauntlet, no, his entire armor was actually mangled to shreds and barely hanging onto his body.

"Papa!"

The three daughters also arrived, and the two youngest joined their adoptive mother to show their worry. Amihan also followed suit, landing on his shoulder.

Everyone was here, even the Priestess and the Empress. He could also feel Chimetrice and Ilia inside The Cube, now floating above Ariake.

But then, the question came.

Why was everyone here? Even if he got knocked out, there was no reason for everyone to stop fighting.

WHOOOSH!

Mark squinted his eyes as he noticed the surging wind. And as he raised his head, he realized what was going on.

The remaining areas of the Reclaimed City barely stood due to the barrier the Priestess successfully erected. But everything outside the barrier was now turned into complete ruins.

Even the bridge the soldiers tried hard not to destroy was now nothing but barely standing foundations.

Furthermore, no [Infected] nor [Mechids] were in sight outside the barrier. They had all been obliterated, if not blown over somewhere else.

And the culprit was there in the sky.

It flew around aggressively, not attacking the Reclaimed City but aimlessly flailing around its whole body. It was hurt, that was without a doubt.

But aside from receiving a grave injury, it seemed that Mark\'s suicidal attack caused it to become berserk. And now, it was releasing massive amounts of magical energy, creating a destructive, magical storm outside the barrier.

And if not for the Priestess\' barrier, everyone and everything inside would have been swept away by the tsunami-like torrents of magical energy outside.