Mutagen

Day 127 - 8:36 AM - Atlantic 651, Absecon, New Jersey, United States of America

"Hah... Hah..."

The four mutators panted heavily. Nevertheless, most of the horde was already dispatched by them.

Compared to the commotion they had to experience back in Bally's Casino, this number of infected was nothing. However, the circumstances now and then were too different.

Inside the closed building, the narrow halls, walls, and pieces of furniture could help in hindering the infected. That way, there was a limited number of infected that they had to deal at a time. In this open intersection, however, the attacks could come from every direction, forcing them to move more than they were used to.

The most crucial thing was that they had to protect the non-combatants for the most part. Back in Atlantic City, the non-combatants would stay at the safehouse and deal with the jobs they could do there. Everyone that would face the infected on almost a daily basis was all mutators and evolvers.

This time, this was they had to fight in an open space while minding the protection of the people behind them. And due to that, they had to expend more effort and stamina to keep them safe.

They did not know why Mark and Mei suddenly disappeared. But if this was another test, they had to give their best.

Felicia, on the other hand, knew that it was more of a punishment to them than a test. This started after these men around her ogled on someone else's partner. As if she would not see that.

After all, Felicia was someone who worked on a casino before. One of their requirements was to have keen eyes and talent for observation for them to spot the literal money bags.

Although what they did was nothing but an appreciation of admiration for the scene they witnessed, it was still inappropriate.

Still, what a deadly punishment this was. One slip up and anyone could die. Was there not a safer find of punishment?

Were Mark and Mei watching? They could not even tell where they were.

And thus, they could only fight with their lives on the line. And only because of the shallow nature of men towards beauty.

Fortunately, they could manage this much.

It was quite tiring, but they were about to finish. Felicia and the others only wished that there would be no reinforcements coming.

Unfortunately, their thoughts jinxed it.

GRROOAARR!!!

A loud growl like roar was heard along with quick, heavy footsteps.

Following the sound, they saw what was coming, and the sight of the creature made them flinch.

A two-meter tall canine was rushing towards them from the direction they were supposed to go to.

Furthermore, it was not only big, but it had a lot of strange features.

It looked like a wolfdog as it had the appearance of a wolf still looked different. The wolfdog's fur was green in color, and it had a blood-red petal-like protrusion around its neck like a lion's mane. Its claws were shaped like talons of an eagle, and it had a bald, green, scaly tail similar to a rat's. As if panted while running, they could see its snake-like tongue that was also green in color like a vine and had spikes like a feline's.

After seeing it, it was not hard to think of a name.

Wolfdog Flower Chimera. No other name could fit this mutated infected beast.

The survivors gulped their saliva. They did not know if they would be able to handle this one. There was no option to flee either.

"Damn... That beast..." Arnold said as he readied to fight despite the danger. "Just where is Sir Mark... He doesn't expect us to fight that thing, right?"

"Don't worry, We'll deal with that."

A voice was suddenly heard a few steps behind the group. It made them flinch as they turned their heads towards that direction.

There, they saw Mark and Mei sitting on the pavement with the cart beside them.

"Just... How..."

Ernst could only mutter those words in surprise and confusion.

They had already seen that if Mei was to use her ability, there would be a flash of light. On the other hand, there would be a trail of fast-moving smoke from Mark. 

Both abilities should be visible to them if they were looking, and they had been wary of their surrounding since the start of this battle.

Yet, as if they were ghosts, Mark and Mei suddenly appeared just beside them.

Mark then stood up and walked in front while Mei prepared her weapon.

"Oh, all of you still have to finish the rest of the horde, alright?"

Mark said while peeking at them over his shoulder. The group of survivors felt a bit of dismay, but their mood was much better.

CLICK! CLICK! CLICK!

With several clicking sounds, the white sword in Mei's hand became a sniper rifle.

SHHHHOOOOM!!!

With a quite loud sound, Mei fired her gun. The bullet shot with strong momentum, flying towards the mutated infected beast.

This white Sniper Rifle Sword was called [Shooting Moon Edge]. It was named by Mark after the completion before the attack at the Mountain Base happened. However, he did not let Mei use it at that time to keep it as an emergency trump card.

It was Huo Long Yue's Sniper Rifle Sword engraved with the name [Yuèqiú Biānyuán] meaning, [Moon Edge]. 

Mark changed the name a bit after he modified it using the materials he had and some unfinished blueprints.

And one of those blueprints was the railgun that was yet to be finished.

Of course, turning it into an actual railgun was quite impossible. Nevertheless, an accidental result of modifying the Huo Long Yue's weapon was the bullet having at piercing power of a tank's cannon.

In the first place, the weapon was designed not only to turn into a sword and a sniper rifle. It could absorb energy from the user to empower the bullets being fired from it. 

While modifying it, Mark kept most of the weapon intact while replacing the energy conductors inside with strips of Spirit Wood he had.

And thus, the powerful firepower of the weapon was the result.

The end product was both a failure and a success. 

Mark failed in turning it into the weapon in his mind but still succeeded in making it a powerful weapon.

Of course, it was not something that anyone could use. The recoil from firing the weapon was enough to dislocate the arm of an ordinary person. However, Mei was not one of them. She was also a Blood Demon and was a partial pureblood at that.

The bullet Mei fired flew at fast speeds.

Unexpectedly, the beast suddenly swayed its body downwards, evading the bullet for the most part. 

The bullet still hit the Wolfdog Flower Chimera. Well, just the end of the tail of the mutated infected beast.

GGRRROOOORR!!!

Nevertheless, it seemed to be painful as a loud growling roar was heard from the beast.

SHHHOOOOOMMM!!!

Another shot was fired by Mei. This time, the beast did not just sway its body to evade but jumped to the side as fast as it could while it charged towards Mark, who was already standing in front.

In fact, the beast was paying attention to Mei and wanted to attack her first. However, Mark blocked its path.

Comparing sizes, Mark and the beast was not far from their heights. However, the enemy still had a larger body.

It seemed to be an intelligent infected. However, it looked like it could not assess the strength of the one it was trying to attack.

Reaching a few meters from Mark, the beast pressed its two front paws to the ground and pounced towards Mark. The attack was fast and ferocious. If it was one of the mutators behind Mark received this attack, they would definitely die.

Mark's body turned into a puff of black smoke, making the beast miss its attack. However, as it was a mutated infected, it did not think anything about Mark suddenly disappearing and immediately switched targets.

But then, it froze as it felt danger from above.

Mark appeared above it, waving the [Slicer] to behead the beast.

The blades of the [Slicer] waved towards the beast's neck. That was when the petals around its neck closed.

CLANG!

Unexpectedly, it gave out a metallic sound when the blade of the [Slicer] and the petals clashed with each other.

Still, the attack was too powerful that the body of the beast staggered after receiving it.

That situation gave Mei a chance.

Mei fired another shot, aiming for the gap on the flowers at the forehead of the target.

SHHHOOOOOMMM!!!

SPLAT!

Blood and brain matter splattered everywhere as the bullet bore a fist-sized hole on the beast's forehead.

Mark stared at the body by his foot. It was such an unusual kind of mutated infected. In fact, he also wanted to catch it.

Unfortunately, Aephelia was not here. Even Mark and Mei restrained it, there was no way for them to travel with this gigantic load.

Behind Mark, the battle of the survivors from Bally's Casino was also finished. They were panting hard as they were tired from the fight.

It was just two hours after they left the Royal Lodge. Yet, they were already tired. It seemed that the physiques of these people were not suited for long travels, not to mention that they had to fight along the way.

"Done? Let's go."

Of course, Mark had no plan to rest. They could slow down their speed, but they definitely could not stop moving.

Hearing him, the survivors felt dismayed. However, none of them wanted to be left behind.

Mark took the cart once more and led the group in a speed that was easy for tired people to catch up.

Everyone noticed the change in speed, and their dismay vanished. Of course, aside from Felicia, they were still wondering why Mark subjected them to that dangerous battle.

And for sure, no one would try to tell them.

Leaving the bloody intersection, they continued traveling on the road called Atlantic 651.

It was a good route as they were trying to avoid the central areas of the city. In fact, after they turned left from that intersection, the cityscape started to change, even though they had not left the city at all. It was because, for the most part of this road, it was filled with greeneries.

Trees were everywhere, in and out of the backyards of the houses by the roadside. Furthermore, as they walked away from the intersection, the more forests they would see along the way.

And there, they stopped by a pretty nice place to rest, by the side of the Atlantic City Reservoir.

The area near the road was wide open, it was easy to spot danger while they rest. The cold breeze also felt good, though the water seemed to be quite murky. Nevertheless, its green color complemented the forest surrounding the reservoir.

Because of the fight and the tension it brought, the survivors felt a bit hungry. They decided to snack on what was left of the chocolates that Mark gave them yesterday.

The spot was actually a pretty good place to have an early lunch. Arnold also suggested it.

However, Mark was against the idea and could only follow his order despite not knowing why.

Mark and Mei, however, stared at the murky water. Although it was not very noticeable, small bubbles were floating up to the surface.

It meant that there was something under the water, waiting for everyone to lower their guards. Furthermore, it was not just one, but there seemed to be a lot... A LOT.

Mark could not even count the number of presences he was detecting underwater.

Whatever these creatures were, it was better not to fight them and waste time.

And thus, before the creatures underwater could make a move, they left the area.

Then, following the rest of the road without taking any unnecessary turns, they arrived back at the main road, the Atlantic City Expressway.

They wanted to follow the road as peacefully as possible. However, it seemed like trouble liked to come to the group every now and then.