Mutagen

Day 154 - 2:14 PM - Tañon Strait, Central Visayas

Flying along the Tañon Strait that separated the provinces of Negros and Cebu, it became easier for Mark's group to travel towards their destination.

However, as they reached the distance where they could view the Coastal Town in Balhaan from afar, they noticed something.

As someone with the ability to see clearly from far away, Mei noticed it first.

"Gege, there's smoke coming from the town."

Mei stated.

In the middle of the apocalypse, the scene of smoke rising towards the sky was not rare. Accidents would cause a lot of fire due to the chaos everyone was facing.

This time, however, it was different.

Smoke from a burning car or house would be dark and thick. It would be clearly visible from afar as long as there was nothing to obstruct the view. The smoke that Mei noticed, however, was too thin for a fire of that degree.

"Is a house burning?"

Edzel said the first thing that came out of his mind.

"No, it's too thin. It might be some kind of bonfire," Mark said, observing the smoke. "If not, it might be someone burning something."

Everyone became alert. From what Mark said, no matter which it was of the two, it meant that there were people there. The question was whether they were peaceful or hostile.

"Should we land somewhere?"

Berrak's voice was heard from the radio. The line was always kept open, so Berrak and the two soldiers could listen and join the conversations.

At the question, however, Mark frowned.

In fact, Mark did not expect this scenario.

The reason he chose that coastal town as their first stop was the fact that it would be a dangerous place. Coastal areas were dangerous because of evolved marine animals. It was a fact that had been proven many times. Unless it was a group with high firepowers like the Military or the Rebels, no one would want to live near coastal areas due to constant danger. Thus, Mark thought that it would be the same here.

Mark was mistaken. There seemed to be people in that town. And from where Mark's group was flying, it was very likely that they were already spotted if there were lookouts in that town. He did not want to show that his group had tamed monsters towards strangers that early, especially since he did not know those people at all.

And there, a brilliant idea appeared on Mark's head. He could not help but smile.

"Berrak, listen to me."

Mark spoke at the radio in a hurry.

***

In the sky, the Dragon flying in the sky suddenly accelerated, flying in unsteadily. Behind it was the Thunderbird that began to shoot lightning towards the Dragon, only to miss because of its erratic flight.

Loud roars from the Dragon and screeches from the Thunderbird were heard, scaring the hell out of everyone that heard it.

The Dragon evaded another lightning strike from behind, but it seemed to have lost balance and began to unsteadily glide from the ground.

BAM!

The sand by the beach exploded high towards the sky as the Dragon crashed. The sounds continued towards the foot of the mountain, toppling trees along the way.

Soon after, the Thunderbird soared towards the ground. It seemed to be chasing the Dragon that crashed.

There seemed to be quite a struggle. Roars and screeches could be heard continuously as trees and structures were toppled by the two gigantic creatures.

***

At the place where Chaflar and Trua were "fighting," everyone had their ears covered with their hands.

ROOAR!!!

SCREECH!!!

Chaflar and Trua continued to make loud sounds while they let Mark's group safely down to the ground. The two were just standing beside each other.

CREAK!!! BAM!!!

Trees loudly fell, and sand scattered away violently.

It was Amihan and Ignis that was responsible for those.

Mark helped the girls off Chaflar's back while seemingly holding back his laughter.

This scene was hilarious. Aside from enduring a little bit of noise, Mark's group was fine. However, those that did not know what was happening might be shaking in fear. Those people might be thinking that there was a monster battle happening in this area.

"Just what kind of idea is this?"

Pefile was looking at Mark uncomfortably.

Usually, Mark would take a silent approach towards things. However, it was the exact opposite this time.

"We might have been seen us already. No, it's just Chaflar and Trua. There's no way that someone would see us on the back of the two," Mark replied. "In any case, they were already seen. Might as well take advantage of it."

Everyone was definitely confused. However, there was no time for Mark to explain.

"Everyone except Pefile and Berrak, stay there for a while. Just clear threats if there's any."

Mark pointed at what seemed to be a vacation home nearby. He then turned to Pefile and Berrak.

"We'll continue the act."

***

ROAARR!!!

The roars and screeches continued. It was until the visage of the Dragon and Thunderbird were seen rushing towards the sky once more. The same as before, the Dragon was fleeing as the Thunderbird chased behind it.

Those that occupied the town were now on high alert. Everyone was ready for battle. But, of course, they would prefer not to. There was no way that they would be able to escape unscathed fighting those two monsters.

SCREECH!!!

Bolts of lightning were shot by the giant bird only to be evaded. In return, the flying lizard turned its neck towards the back and spewed fire. Of course, the bird was not hit by the counter-attack at all.

The people in the town were terrified. It was because the two beasts were heading towards the direction of the town.

But then, they saw the two beasts fly over their heads. Their flight was a bit low, and everyone could see the bottoms of the monsters clearly.

They all gripped their weapons in fear. Everyone was silent, watching the horrifying scene. Although they felt the danger, none of them struck first. It seemed that they knew that it was better not to provoke the monsters. After all, the monsters were only chasing each other and not them.

It only took a few seconds, but it felt like an eternity. Fortunately, even though the two monsters were shooting lightning bolts and spewing fire, they only passed above the town. The people could only sigh in relief as they saw the two monsters fly away, chasing each other.

Well, not all were happy. It seemed that there were many individuals in the town wishing for it to get destroyed instead.

***

Chaflar and Trua flew away from the town, still pretending to chase each other. It was until it was sure that they were far enough from the town that they stopped.

On the back of the two beasts, figures emerged out of thin air. It was no other than Mark and Pefile on Chaflar's back and Berrak on Trua's.

Mark reached towards the gloomy crystal flying in front of him. It was the [Photokinesis Mental Crystal] that did not have too much energy in it. After all, it was only the other day that he completely depleted its energy to kill Lord Seis. Not only this one, but the other crystals he used at that time were also still in the middle of recovering their energies.

Unfortunately, Mark had no choice but to use a portion of the energy in this crystal once more. It was to hide their bodies while riding the two beasts. There was no need to regret, though. The reconnaissance was worth it. They managed to see the town and the things in it closely.

In fact, it was too much of a success that behind Mark, Pefile was deeply frowning.

Why would Pefile not frown? The town was actually occupied by his tribe. The defenses of the town were not human-made barricades but trees with roots and branches woven together. It was a living wall, to be exact. The insides of the town were filled with wooden structures and even magical plants.

It was not only Tamawos who were present in the town. There were also humans. However, as Mark detected from his empathic abilities, the humans seemed to be divided into two groups.

The first group and the smaller one seemed to be women. Most likely, the wives who were charmed by the Tamawos. They seemed to be in a lovestruck state as Mark felt.

On the other hand, the larger group was the exact opposite. Most of them seemed to be in low spirits. Mark saw some in the streets as the Tamawos did not seem to care about the safety of those humans. They wore ragged clothing and had traces of injuries in their bodies.

There was no need to guess. Those humans were slaves to the Tamawos that occupied the town.

The worst thing that they saw... Was the source of the smoke they saw from afar.

It was a pile of corpses, chopped up like butchered livestock. It could not be confirmed whether the corpses were infected or not. The bodies were already burning, after all. However, the way they were chopped up was quite suspicious.

Mark glanced at the silent Pefile behind him.

"Do you guys eat human flesh?"

Mark asked.

Unexpectedly, while Pefile heard the question, he did not reply.

It was a silent yes.

Finally, Pefile spoke after a few more seconds of silence.

"We might be a tribe of forest dwellers but we don't eat weeds and grass on a regular basis. We prefer meat. Raw meat. Besides, we are not like humans, our sharp teeth and claws can tear flesh without problems.  Our tribe did have the culture of cooking, but we did not really practice it for our consumption. We only cook for our wives. They were human, after all."

"So, human meat is also included."

Mark said.

"Yes." Pefile finally answered. "But it is not like we are hunting humans for consumption. You seemed versed in different races. You must have heard about us abducting the sinners that defiled the waters of Kawasan Falls, right?"

"I know about that."

Mark replied.

"Those sinners are destined to fill the plate of the offering feast," Pefile said with a sigh. "It's only the time our tribe would usually eat human flesh."

"So, you already tasted human flesh."

Mark said as a fact.

"I did," Pefile did not deny it. "It's our culture. I had to. But it's something I didn't really like. The others don't mind it but it made me feel like a beast."

Pefile was not wrong in that statement. Even their kind condemned eating each other. And not only their kind looked similar to humans but their mothers were also mortals.

As it appeared, it seemed that Pefile had a different mindset compared to his tribe.

It made Mark wonder about Ordulk that was with his Aunt. However, while having the same race, there were different tribes of Tamawos. That Ordulk might have come from a race friendly to humans.

Silence enveloped the three. Berrak did not ask anything and was only listening on the radio. Mark did not push more questions either as he felt that Pefile was getting a bit distraught.

In any case, Mark got the information he needed. This town was, without a doubt, a hostile one. As they flew across the center of the town, Mark also managed to count how many individuals were inside. There were not many. There were only fifty Tamawos. The humans were numbered to a hundred and thirty-two.

Unfortunately, Mark did not detect anyone directly related to either Pefile or Edzel. It meant that Edzels mother was not inside the town.

It was safe to say that they were still in the sanctuary of the Tamawos.

Well, it was now time to return to the group. They circled around the mountains, avoiding the sight of the town. They also went around the territory of the Tamawos.

As they flew, Mark paid attention to the view below. His eyes lit up.

It was another unexpected thing as they flew above another settlement by accident. The place another town was about three kilometers south of the previous town. Unlike the previous one, however, this one was governed by humans. 

The people on the next settlement were also surprised by Chaflar and Trua flying over them. Fortunately, no one attacked first in fear of provoking the beasts.

Still, Mark saw something. There seemed to be military personnel present in this settlement.

Mark decided. Their next stop would be this one.