Mutagen

Day 131 - 1:28 PM - Logan Square, Franklyntown, Center City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America

The ground shook, the skulls hanged on the trees fell, craters appeared on the cement, and dust and debris flew around and scattered.

As Mark intended, the fight in six other areas of Logan Square also started. This situation was only possible because, even though these generals were high level infected, their intelligence did not develop high enough to override their instincts and make their own decisions.

Without the command of the Infected King, they would only attack the non-infected creature in front of them. And at the moment, their King was too enraged to give further instructions.

Why did Mark do this? No reason in particular. He just did not want to make the others to only watch him fight. Besides, it was not a good thing if they really end up relying on him for everything dangerous.

Thus, they must learn that Mark would not let them stand around as the gallery.

And now, the battle commenced, with thousands of infected watching around Logan Square.

***

On the southeast side of Logan Square, the nearest area to the hotel where Mark crashed before, Roan and the Fur-Covered Man was located.

After being kicked away by Mark, the Fur-Covered Man rolled on the ground before crashing at a metal post. It was one of the metal posts around the square where flags of different countries were displayed. In this case, it was the flag of Spain.

The metal post bent from the impact. Of course, it was not enough to actually damage the Fur-Covered Man.

With rage fully expressed on his face, the Fur-Covered Man stood up. There, he saw Roan standing in front of him.

"Boss already told us about Mutation Levels of infected. Just what level is this guy?"

Roan muttered as he was basked with the killing intent of the enemy.

BAM!

The Fur-Covered Man kicked the ground and rushed towards Roan. That stomp of his foot actually created webs of cracks on the cement. The man ran like a ferocious wolf and arrived in front of Roan to grab him.

But then, to the man's confusion, Roan's image blurred. As he grabbed unto Roan, his arms passed through Roan's visage as it vanished.

It was an afterimage after Roan moved in the last second before he was grabbed.

The man immediately turned to his right. There, he saw Roan standing several meters away.

Roan was a [Level 3 Mutator]. His strength was considerably enhanced, but that was not his forte. Since he had a cat mutation like his younger sister, his specialty was speed.

In a speed contest, Roan was still slower compared to the Infected King. But there was one thing that he excelled over the insanely strong infected.

The Infected King relied on the mutated muscles on his legs, using its strength and muscle springs to move fast. That was why every time the Infected King used his speed, he would end up crushing the ground because of the first kick. Because of this, every time he moved, there would be considerable noise and damage to the surroundings.

Roan, on the other hand, was entirely different. He relied on his strengthened leg muscles leaned towards flexibility and motor functions. And the result, no matter what movement Roan had, there was almost no noise that was created by his feet. He was like a fleeting ghost.

Or in video game terminology, he was an [Assasin Type].

With his sharp claws and that kind of noiseless movement, there was no doubt that he was in that category.

Seeing Roan after evading his attack, the Fur-Covered Man clenched his furry fingers, letting out several large claws not any less sharp than what Roan had. With that, he rushed again. This time, intending to tore Roan apart with those dirty claws.

WAM!

The Fur-Covered Man pounced at Roan and attacked from above. Roan, however, swayed his body out of the way before taking several steps back. As the attack missed, the large claws dug into the cement without any resistance.

Since Roan evaded once again, the man quickly pulled his claws out of the ground, tearing a large part of the concrete road.

BAM!

The man smashed the concrete stuck on his claws to the ground, crumbling it to pieces, and charged towards Roan once more.

But there, Roan leaned forward and vanished from the man's eyes.

SHING!

The Fur-Covered Man froze. He turned his head behind him and saw Roan standing with their backs facing each other.

"I'm not really fond of dragging things out so, I'll end this here."

Roan said as he waved his had to the side, splattering the blood on his claws to the ground.

With those words, the Fur-Covered Man's head fell to the ground first, followed by his body.

Roan looked at the others. Their battle was still ongoing. However, that was not what worried him. The real threat here was the quantity of infected that was eager to tear off their flesh. He had no idea how everyone would be able to escape this without sacrificing anyone.

***

On the northeast side of Logan Square, where the statue of Galusha Pennypacker stood, Felicia and the Blade Girl contended.

Compared to her brother, Felicia was having a hard time with her opponent.

Felicia could fight based on her experience and with the aid of her Mutation. However, she was never actually trained to do so. She had clumsy acts and a lot of unnecessary movements. Her speed had compensated her lack of skill in this regard.

But now, she was fighting an infected with the same speed as hers.

Because of this, her lacking skills became more apparent.

The worst part here was that... The Blade Girl was moving like a professional fighter. If not for the lack of intelligence of the Blade Girl, Felicia would have long been beaten in this fight.

Flexibility, speed, the sharpness of attacks, and killing intent, the Blade Girl had all this.

SHING!

The Blade Girl swung her right arm, with her blade intending to behead Felicia. Felicia jumped back unnecessarily, afraid of the attack.

If one could overwhelm his enemy, these kinds of large movements were still acceptable. However, as Felicia was on the weaker side, these kinds of unnecessary actions could spell life and death.

After evading the attack, Felicia wanted to counter-attack. However, Felicia was farther than she needed to do it. Not only that, but she also staggered as she lost balance for some reason.

And when she raised her head, the Blade Girl's blade was already shining before her eyes.

In fear, Felicia closed her eyes by reflex.

CLANG!!!

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! DON'T CLOSE YOUR EYES IN THE MIDDLE OF A FIGHT!"

Felicia heard a voice in front of her, shouting in anger. Of course, that voice could not be any more familiar to her.

"Roan..." 

Felicia muttered, seeing her brother, blocking the blade of her opponent.

SHING!

Roan waved his claws, which the Blade Girl evaded without problems.

Seeing the enemy dodge and retreat, however, Roan did not chase her. The Blade Girl also did not move, wary about Roan's sudden appearance.

"Our family just reunited! What are you doing? Do you want to die just like that?!"

Roan harshly reprimanded her sister.

That harsh scolding whenever she did something wrong. Felicia kind of missed it. It always happened before, but she was too stupid to understand it at that time. After all, she was only a person described as book smart. Her social sense was harshly lacking. She did not even acknowledge her mistakes and never apologized.

But this time was different.

"Sorry."

Felicia, this time, apologized for her mistake.

That stunned Roan, but he could only let out a satisfied smile.

"I will not finish this fight for you," Roan said as he stepped aside. "I'll guide you from the side. You better follow my instructions."

With those words from her brother, Felicia nodded. She readied her claws once more, facing the Blade Girl.

Like a fleeting ghost, Roan appeared beside the statue to watch his sister's battle and instruct her.

Seeing that the person that intervened left to the side, the Blade Girl seemed to be confused. However, she did not have any time to choose who to attack as Felicia charged forwards.

CLANG!

The blade and the claws clashed with each other.

Roan was also surprised as his sister's opponent actually knew how to block attacks with great precision.

SHING!!!

The Blade Girl counter-attacked with her free arm. The horizontal swing of the blade towards her neck caused Felicia to fall back once again.

"You don't have to retreat that much because of an attack like that! You can just duck or bend your body away! That way, you can do a counter-attack immediately after her attack missed!"

Roan shouted, giving pointers to his sister, one after another.

"Okay!"

Felicia replied as she panted.

"Don't take short breaths!" Roan followed up. "Take deep breaths instead! Panting is unnecessary in battles! It will only make you more tense and uncomfortable! You will also lack enough oxygen that your body needs to function properly! That is why you staggered earlier!"

Felicia did not know why her brother knew these kinds of things. However, she had no reason to doubt him either.

Thus, despite her nervousness and stress, she started to breathe deeper.

And as she was in a dangerous situation, Felicia was able to feel the effects and become conscious of it. Taking a deep breath, she started to feel relaxed. Her muscles also lost its stiff sensation.

SHING!

The Blade Girl charged towards Felicia and swung her blade.

Felicia's eyes dilated. However, unlike before, she was able to see the attack more clearly.

Felicia was about to take a great distance once more to avoid it. But what her brother said before echoed in her mind.

'Don't retreat too much. Just bend my body...'

Felicia spoke in her mind.

The Blade Girl swung her arm, trying to behead Felicia. And there, Felicia bent her body backward. As if things slowed down, she could clearly see the blade passing over her face.

She was unused to that movement, however. Felicia lost balance and fell backward instead. However, she was not too nervous anymore. She was able to judge the situation differently from before.

Felicia did not let herself fall to the ground. Instead, she bent her body further, with both her hands reaching the ground before her head or back. 

She then kicked the ground, wanting to bend her body to an upright position and recover from the fall. After kicking with the left foot first, the right foot followed.

BANG!

That was when she felt something getting hit by her right foot.

In a hurry, Felicia landed upright and quickly looked at her opponent.

"Ah?"

The Blade Girl was sent flying with blood splattering from her mouth.

"What happened?" Felicia was both surprised and confused. "Did I do that?"

Felicia looked at her brother, who was also surprised.

Roan did not expect that to happen. When Felicia kicked the ground, her left foot was in the right direction. The right, however, went up directly from under the Blade Girl's body. Since the Blade Girl was amidst her attack, her body was leaned forward.

Felicia's right foot heavily bashed against the Blade Girl's chin, causing her head to get forcefully knocked upwards following her slender framed body.

The Blade Girl landed about three meters away with a thud. As soon as she could, she stood up once more. Several teeth fell as she opened her bleeding mouth. Of course, this injury was far from something that could kill her.

Still, Felicia was now on the right track. With her brother's instructions, she started to overwhelm the Blade Girl. As that happened, Felicia began to gain more confidence in her abilities, and it helped a whole lot in the situation.

And soon, the Blade Girl was unable to move anymore, with her body having a lot of injuries from the battle. The thing only left to do was to destroy her brain.

As Felicia and Roan were about to do that, however...

"Hey! Is that still alive? If she is, don't kill her! We might be able to use her later!"

Mark shouted from his location, making the siblings look at each other with a sigh.