Mutagen

Day 131 - 1:46 PM - Logan Square, Franklintown, Center City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America

With his mandibles opened wide and looking up at the sky, the Infected King released his ferocious, furious, and painful howl.

The howl that sounded like a deep-voiced screech, it caused the surroundings to rattle.

For the first time since he gained consciousness, the Infected King was wounded. As someone that had not felt this kind of pain before, the sensation was several times more painful. Furthermore, the bullet tore through his legs before piercing a hole on the broken fountain that blocked its path.

"NOT GOOD!" 

Mark exclaimed, not expecting this to happen.

His ear was ringing as the howl went on. Then, his sight started to blur.

It seemed that the painful and furious howl of the Infected King was releasing vibrations capable of affecting the cognitive capabilities of anyone that would hear it.

Thus, not only Mark. Everyone in the vicinity was affected except for the infected.

The howl caused Arnold and the others to freeze on the spot, clenching their heads and ears in pain. Even Mariella lost balance and started to plummet to the ground.

And of course, their opponents took advantage of it.

SWOOSH!!!

Suddenly, a strong gust of wind blew, blasting the remaining away from Arnold and the others while a small whirlwind cushioned Mariella's fall.

Mark wanted was to kill the Infected Generals immediately with this attack. However, with the effect of the howl, his concentration was weakened. The blades of wind he wanted to create failed to manifest.

"Retreat!"

Mark shouted as he blasted away the howling Infected King with another gust of wind. 

The Infected King was caught off guard and was thrown away by Mark's attack.

"Tch!" 

Mark clicked his tongue at the lost opportunity.

Since the Infected King was not moving, Mark might have been able to catch him. However, because of the insanely loud howl and its effects, he was not able to properly control the crystals or make a proper attack. The only thing he could do was to send a strong blast of wind to blow the Infected King away.

The Infected King rolled on the ground and finally stopped its howl. However, Mark and the others that were affected by it were yet to recover. Even Mark's vision was a bit blurry, not to mention the others that were weaker than him.

Mark told everyone to retreat. However, only Roan was able to react properly. Of course, what Roan did first was to help his sister and retrieve Mariella. The others were still in danger.

There were no other options. Mark could only frown as he mustered as much concentration he could in his current state. With his will, the [Wind Manipulation Crystal] glowed brightly.

SWOOSH!

Arnold, Sandie, and Ernst suddenly flew as if being sucked towards the direction of the vehicle.

This time, Mark's control was poor. The three were also not in the condition to react properly. Thus, Arnold, Ernst, and Sandie landed by the vehicle in an unsightly manner. The most clumsy Ernst even rolled several times on the concrete. They all received bruises from the unsightly landing. Still, it was better than facing the dangerous situation they were in just now.

The Infected Generals that were blasted away by Mark recovered quickly. As they were suddenly free of any opponent, they turned towards the nearest person to them. Of course, it was no other than Mark.

"Damn it..."

Mark cursed because of how painful his head was. It was as if he had woken up after drinking liquor for the whole night. And now, four [Level 3] Mutated Infected were rushing towards him.

Still, there was no need to keep these ones anymore. Mark only wanted to train Felicia and the others a bit. The only one he was interested in the Infected Generals was the Blade Girl because her movements were similar to a trained fighter. As for the Infected Generals, they were nothing but instinctual battlers. They only fought while being driven by their instinct and mutated abilities. 

For Mark, aside for their high mutation level and the possible Mutagen Stone inside their heads, they were worthless.

Mark's eyes turned sharp as he glared at the incoming Infected Generals. The crystal floating in front of his hand switched to the one with the white orb inside.

SHOOOOM!!! SHOOOOM!!! SHOOOOM!!! SHOOOOM!!!

With all the focus he could muster, Mark shot dozens of beams of light, burning holes through the Infected General's bodies. One by one, their lifeless bodies fell as several beams shot through their heads and burned holes on their brains.

The Infected Kind stood up, recovering from the surprise attack. Furthermore, like a real locust, it seemed that his body had fluids similar to hemolymph and was able to close the deep would he received, preventing him from bleeding out.

His ferocious face was surely furious. Even though the wound had closed already, the pain still remained. That was when suddenly, his connection to his some of his Generals was cut off in an instant. He also realized that the Blade Girl was the only one remaining from those that fought the humans.

The others were all dead, and on his side, only the Bull-sized Baby remained.

This situation made the Infected King's blood boil to the brim. He was a King of the infected. Yet, he had no Queen. All he had was his Generals. However, these puny humans killed them.

The Infected King stared at Mark. His killing intent was intensifying.

He admitted that Mark's group was different from the humans he encountered before. This was the first time he faced a setback after claiming this the Center City as his territory.

Since he gained consciousness and intelligence, he killed all the humans in his territory. None of them, even the so-called soldiers, were able to encounter him and live. Yet, this small group of humans pushed him to this point, especially the man in black clothes that led the group.

In terms of speed and strength, he was superior to Mark. However, the Infected King could not hit him at all, aside from the first kick that threw Mark towards the hotel.

And as the Infected King wanted the Queen inside the vehicle, he could not attack it rashly. He feared that something might accidentally happen to the Queen, making everything for naught.

The Infected King had no choice now. Using his uninjured leg, he jumped towards the side of his trump card. He learned it from the humans he encountered before. It was to reserve the best for last.

"KRYAAA!!!"

The Bull-Sized Baby that was sitting and watching cried out as the Infected King tapped its shoulder.

Its cry was not any less than the ferocious howl of the Infected King. The only difference was that it had no other effects on anyone that hear it.

Instead, as it cried, its body started to swell.

And there, everyone witnessed as the Bull-sized Baby's skin tore, followed by its muscles. Then, it pulsated and regenerated before it began tearing again.

Continuous swelling and tearing, one would think that the Bull-sized Baby would turn into a bloated creature. But that was not the case. 

Mark, Mei, Roan, and Feng Zhiruo had better eyes than the others. As they watched the scene, they also saw that under the tearing skin and muscles, the bones of the Bull-sized Baby also grew.

Even though the start was slow, it started to hasten its pace.

And now, with their naked eye, they could see the Bull-sized Baby growing in size.

Three meters, four meters, five meters... It was not stopping.

Before Mark and the others were able to fully recover from the effects of the Infected King's howl, the Infected Baby was already as big as a life-sized Gundam.

BAM!

Loud booms echoed, and the ground started to shake as it stood up on its two feet.

BAM! BAM! BAM!

Of course, the baby had a weak sense of balance, and it was even worse since it was a Mutated Infected.

Trying to gain balance, however, it caused the whole place to shake. It was as if there was an earthquake going on.

BAM!

The Infected King jumped unto the Mutated Baby's shoulder as it took a step forward. As it did, many of the infected that were surrounding the Logan Square fell down.

Everyone could only watch the colossal baby approach. None of them were in the condition to continue the battle properly.

"Can you still drive?"

Mark voiced out to Roan that was helping the others enter the vehicle.

"I think I can. But not too fast." Roan replied. "Are we escaping? The whole place is surrounded, though."

"Just drive," Mark said while massaging his nape. "I'll do something to clear the way."

"Okay."

Roan replied as he rushed into the driver's seat.

Mark stared at the gigantic baby. Although it was big, its movements were slow and unstable. It was not much of a threat as long as they moved away from its range of attacks. Instead, the problem still lay on the Infected King.

Another of that howl and they would be done for. It was not something that Mark expected to happen. Nevertheless, it was not unreasonable for the Infected King to have unusual abilities.

The good thing, however... It looked like that the Infected King was not aware of that ability and its effects on them. Maybe, it was something that the Infected King used subconsciously. In that case, they better not provoke it into using it one more time.

They had to retreat for now. This was in favor of Mark as he wanted to capture the Infected King instead of killing him. He needed to do some preparations if that was what he wanted.

Mark glanced at the vehicle, and Roan was already waiting for his signal. He nodded slightly as his wings glowed red.

BAM!

Mark disappeared from his place and appeared in front of the giant baby that was midway its step. He then unleashed a ruthless kick on its forehead.

BOOOM!!!

The ground shook as the ten-meter tall baby crashed unto the blood-filled fountain.

That fall caused the Infected King to jump off with its attention focused on his remaining general.

And there...

VRRROOOOMMM!!!

The loud sound of the vehicle echoed as Roan took the opportunity to drive away.

As it swerved around the traffic circle, the vehicle rushed towards the northwest exit of Logan Square.

Seeing that, the Infected King had a look of ridicule on his face. After all, the direction the vehicle was rushing towards was blocked by several hundreds of infected.

Unknown to the Infected King, Mei was already aiming her sniper rifle in front of the vehicle.

And there...

SHOOOOOOOOOM!!!

Bright blinding light filled the whole place.

The Infected King roared at the sudden situation. It could not see anything at all. Of course, it did not take too long, and he regained his sight, only to become flabbergasted at the scene before him.

Those hundreds of infected that he was confident of being able to block the vehicle were all reduced to burned corpses in the short while that he was blinded.

KRRRYAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!

Sure enough, the Infected King let out that ferocious howl once more as the thought of losing the Queen he found entered his mind. Fortunately, the vehicle was already out of the effective range of that howl. If not, things would have turned into a mess.

Mark now stood on the roof of the vehicle. He knew that their escape could not be ensured just by this. And as he had thought, the Infected King would give chase, along with his whole army that numbered for about several tens of thousands.

Rubbing his temple to ease his dizziness, Mark stretched out his right arm.

And there, three crystals floated glowing intensely.

The sky started to darken, and dark clouds covered the sun. The sudden change in the weather made everyone that did not know what was happening uneasy. Even the Infected King felt danger.

RUMBLE!!!

The sound of thunder echoed as branches of lightning traveled from cloud to cloud.

Slowly, the clouds started to spin faster and faster. And then, everyone in the vehicle saw it.

A cone of clouds was emerging from the sky behind them.

The wind started to pick up, and the cone stretched down from the sky.

It was something that was almost impossible to happen in the middle of the city.

A tornado emerged in the middle of Philadelphia.