Mutagen

Day 364 - 6:54 PM - Gates, 38th Satellite Settlement, Muria Sacred Fortress, Mount Muria, Kudus Regency, Central Java, Indonesia

Quite a distance outside the gates, the silhouette of a man holding a sword surrounded by six inhuman beings could be seen.

At a glance within the darkness, one would think that the man was in a predicament. But the situation was quite the opposite, especially for those guards atop the walls who could vaguely watch the ongoing fight.

Mark calmly stood in place. With Ignis in his hand, who turned closer into an oriental sword from his original form of a flamberge, he looked like a samurai from Japanese myths facing evil beings with his sword.

As for the six [Face Wearers], their expressions looked ugly.

It had been several minutes since the fight started. Although they were not the strongest of their kind, these six [Face Wearers] were far stronger than their common folk.

Yet, these six [Face Wearers] could not even touch the hem of the cloak the man standing before them was wearing.

And their mission was to kill this man, the creator of the badges that hindered the goals of their kind.

Kill this man? What were they thinking when they thought of such?

This man was no mere human. They underestimated him as nothing but a mere human.

Why would someone like him appear in this place all of a sudden? This question was what the leader of this group of [Face Wearers] had in mind.

"Say..." Mark spoke. "You guys aren't going to run away? I'm pretty sure that's what you guys are best at, right?"

It was a mocking question. However, it was something the [Face Wearers] could not refute, either. Not all of their kind were suited for fighting. In fact, while they had some uncanny abilities that defied the common sense of humans, only a few of them were gifted the ability to fight.

There was nothing wrong with calling the [Face Wearers] a cowardly race. Or else, why would they settle with disguising as humans and slowly whitling their ranks instead of outright fighting them face to face despite their abilities?

And it was going well so far. The [Face Wearers] managed to replace a huge chunk of the human population in this mountain while causing trouble in the dark to reduce their numbers.

It was going well so far, and the humans had no idea at all. After all, the [Face Wearers] could not only disguise but also perfectly copy the personality and habits of the person they disguised after.

If there was something the [Face Wearers] could not copy, it was the uncanny abilities mutants had. That was why these mutants were the second in the list to be eliminated from this mountain.

The latest kills would have been a complete wipeout as the members of the 41st Satellite Settlement faced an unescapable setback.

However, this man before them appeared without warning, discovering the fake Wahyu and revealing the existence of [Face Wearers] to the unknowing humans of the fortress.

Worse, this man began to support the humans their kind hated the most. The 38th Satellite Settlement, specifically, those that carried the ancient bloodline.

Not only did their kind get revealed, but the plan to slowly kill one of the three people first on their list failed. The little girl should have died after some time, turning her soul into nourishment for their kind.

To create a more powerful being among their rank.

Yet, the girl survived, and the creature they reared to harvest the girl's soul somehow did not escape.

The several months of work were all for naught. All of their kind that infiltrated the humans had to escape back to where they came from. They were back to zero for everything.

That was why they had no other choice but to release the specimens as a distraction. It was to draw the bearers of ancient blood away and destroy the cause of their failure.

How naive of them to think they would easily succeed.

"No reply?" Mark asked. "If none of you are going to talk, there's no need to prolong this farce any further. I already got what I want, anyway."

Those words made the six [Face Wearers] flinch.

For several minutes, the six [Face Wearers] relentlessly attacked Mark to no avail. Nonetheless, they were also unscathed all this time.

Now, thinking about it, the man before them never attacked all this time. He only dodged and parried while defending against the ranged attacks from time to time.

They were unscathed, not because they were skilled.

It was because the man wanted something from them.

And, by the looks of it, he already achieved what he wanted.

"▊▊▊▊▊," The leader of the [Face Wearers] spoke some incomprehensible words. "▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊▊"

Mark frowned. It seemed that the [Face Wearers] also had their own language aside from the local language used in this country. But then again, it should not be surprising at all.

A different race having their own language should be expected.

The [Face Wearers] were no mere brainless monsters. They were a race of sentient creatures.

But what language they did not matter. If there was something Mark had to gain from playing with these guys, it was a clear understanding of their mental and emotional fluctuations.

There was something Mark realized when he caught the soul of Dr. Murni's impostor Abbygale defeated. While the [Face Wearers] could be affected by his [Empath] abilities, their emotional fluctuations differed greatly from humans, animals, and other magical creatures. It caused Mark to gain nothing from "interrogating" the tightly-lipped soul he captured.

Now, while still not perfect, Mark managed to gain some insights into reading the emotional fluctuations of these creatures.

That was why he could stop playing now.

After the leader of the [Face Wearers] spoke that unrecognizable language, the group went into formation.

A suicide formation.

The [Face Wearers] were beings who had "escape" as their nature. However, it was not like they feared death, considering their first action upon capture was to kill themselves.

If they were given no way out, they were always ready to kill themselves. And if they were given a chance, they would kill themselves with their enemies.

Oddly enough, Wahyu's impostor was not included in the formation. He was a melee fighter so far as this battle went. Yet, he positioned behind the two ranged members of the group, the acid spitter and the bone shooter.

"You guys want him to escape, huh," Mark shrugged. "For what? To inform your leader?"

Those words from Mark greatly shocked the group of [Face Wearers]. After all, how would he know that? This group realized Mark was not someone they could defeat, but they failed to realize they were playing over his palm all this time.

The very moment Crimson returned earlier, Mark gained so much information these [Face Wearers] would not imagine. While the baby mind of a [Blood Child] like Crimson could not understand everything he saw, he could at least relay everything he saw to Mark, who would understand it.

Crimson was not away for several days for nothing. The diligent [Blood Child] followed Wahyu's impostor around to the point of almost getting caught.

In the images Crimson brought back, Mark saw the true leader of the [Face Wearers]. And that person was someone an Otaku like Mark would expect to be involved in this mess. After all, it was a common plot in fantasy and isekai stories. But this would be for later.

Mark tilted his head to the right. Then, he raised his left arm.

SWOOOSH! CLANG!

A bone projectile wooshed beside Mark's cheek, and a blade arm clashed with his left gauntlet.

The [Face Wearers] attacked without warning. They were adamant to get Mark's full attention. They wanted to succeed in their final order. An order to exchange their life for.

Just as the clash between the blade arm and the gauntlet happened, the thin [Face Wearer] that attacked Mark immediately retreated. It was because a blanket of acid was already on its way to rain on Mark.

At the same time, the other thin [Face Wearer] and the one who had just clashed with Mark attacked behind him from different sides.

Last was the leader, who charged behind the blanket of acid.

It was a great combo of attacks. It would not only get Mark's attention, but the blanket of acid blocked his line of sight in front.

When all of that was happening, Wahyu's impostor began his escape, running back to the woods they came out of. Furthermore, he did not run straight but at a slight angle to prevent lucky shots from behind the blanket of acid.

Looking at the incoming blanket of acid, Mark gave another shrug. The attacks behind him were also coming. If these attacks hit Mark, he would be forced closer to the acid before it rained on him.

But as the two blade arms were about to touch Mark's back...

PUFF!

Mark vanished into a puff of black mist.

The eyes of the two thin [Face Wearers] widened in shock and dismay as they failed their attack and were enveloped in the blanket of acid from their ally.

With the intensity of the acid, the two thin [Face Wearers] dissolved before all of the acid fell to the ground with a foul-smelling sizzle.

The leader did not stop his charge. He jumped over the puddle of acid on the ground and lunged at the figure of Mark, who had just appeared.

Without regard for his safety, the leader made a leap of fate.

Mark did not even have to move much. He only raised Ignis in front of him, and the leader impaled himself. But instead of stopping, the leader landed on the puddle of acid and kicked the ground to impale himself deeper.

Ignis was locked in place, clutched within the muscles and bones of the leader as he grabbed Mark within his two muscular arms.

Then, arm-sized bone spears shot from the skinny [Face Wearer] as his arms welt limp. The ability of the skinny [Face Wearer] to shoot out his bones was not infinite. While his bones could regenerate fast to create small projectiles, launching larger attacks would need a sacrifice. In this case, the bones in both his arms.

The bone spears penetrated the leader's body...

CLANG!

...Straight into Mark's armor.

Surprisingly, the bone spears made of arm bones bent at the joints, clutching around Mark's waist as they fixed Mark tighter in place.

Then, a fat silhouette could be seen looming over Mark and the leader. The fat [Face Wearer] also charged and jumped up high as if to flatten the two.

And then...

BOOM!

The fat [Face Wearer's] body exploded as he made his sacrifice, turning his whole body into a massive amount of highly corrosive acid.

SIZZLE!

The massive amount of acid rained on Mark and the leader. The foul stench of the acid spread out as it melted almost everything it touched, even the surface of the ground.

As the skinny [Face Wearer] watched that scene with his limp, boneless arms, he was overwhelmed by emotions. This sacrifice should be worth it. Wahyu's impostor should have gotten away already.

It was because they failed to kill the target.

The leader sure was melted into the puddle of acid. However, the figure of their target was still there, unscathed, even when he was supposed to be drenched with that acid.

"You must be feeling relieved, right?" Mark suddenly spoke to the remaining survivors of the enemies. "But do you know? That guy escaped the first time, not because he can."

AHHHH!!!"

A faint scream was heard from the woods. It was definitely the voice of Wahyu's impostor.

"It's because I let him," Mark smirked. "Only once is enough."

The skinny [Face Wearer] looked at Mark. In his eyes, this was no human anymore. He was a Devil.

They failed. They utterly failed.

With those thoughts, the skinny [Face Wearer] manipulated his neck bones and beheaded himself, turning into ash.

"Welp, I'm done here."

Mark said as a surge of mist came out of the woods before materializing into Crimson and plopping on his head.

Looking at the surroundings and trace left of the [Face Wearers], Mark felt a bit of pity. Not because he pitied the enemies, of course.

"I really want to capture all their souls... But I only have a few canisters. I haven't gotten enough materials to make new ones. I need to leave them vacant for more important souls."

Mark then shrugged as he stretched out his hand, and several mall pylons returned to his grasp.

"I guess you'll do."

Mark said as he raised a different canister with a new soul.

The soul of the leader shivered. He never expected something like this to happen.

"Well then," Mark looked in the northwest direction. "I think I'll still make it to watch the climax."

Mark then turned into a surge of black mist, vanishing from outside the gates.