Mutagen

Day 253 - 9:25 AM - Mountainous Crater, Municipality of Viga, Province of Catanduanes

Within the dark room filled with black, disgusting goo, a lone screen lit up its surroundings.

The screen repeatedly flashed, with noise and glitched interface blocking the error signs it showed.

Without a doubt, the main system of the factory was damaged due to the things happening outside.

The [Giant Mechid] was not a factory. It was a giant mobile mechanical infrastructure that served as a warehouse and hangar. It was given the structure and equipment that allowed it to move in order to deploy the utility robots it stored more efficiently. Of course, all its artificial intelligence became corrupted after it became a [Mechid], which caused its behavior despite mostly being under the command of the main systems of the factory.

And the real factory? It was the structure now buried right at the center of the crater. This factory contained the infrastructure that continued to build and create [Mechids] using materials processed from within the island that was gathered by the [Mechids]. It was just showed how advanced its facilities and the artificial intelligence that managed it.

Unfortunately, instead of its intended goal of maintaining the artificial planet, it came from, the [Mechid Pathogen] turned it all into something that aimed to kill all the living.

CRACKLE!

Wires surrounding the screen released sparks. The damage to the factory became much worse after the purple lightning pillar from the sky touched the ground. Most of its equipment was busted, and the black goo within its premisses sizzled as if boiling.

Its fuzzy screen displayed a being hovering in the skies outside. All of its alarms muffledly echoed as it detected large amounts of concentrated unidentified energy from that being. However, despite the fact that before the energy in that being exploded into existence, that being was still living.

But right now, the black goo, the essence of [Mechid Pathogen], could not detect anything from that man. If not for the fact that the still working sensors within the factory and the [Mechids] outside, the A.I. might treat that being as dead.

The factory was damaged. Its operations could never continue. With most of its means to hunt down the living, it also decided to make its last stand.

***

Outside, everyone looked at Mark with a strange feeling.

Even Thirteenth had a momentary state of confusion. However, in a few blinks of her multiple eyes, she finally got the gist of the situation. She might not be as intelligent as the [Eye of Interest], Nineteenth, but she was still an [Eye] that experienced many things that mortals could not.

One could feel a lot of things from the living but mostly nothing but lingering emotions from the dead. With those emotions constrained, it left nothing but emptiness.

That was Mark's current state. Since Mark removed the malevolent intent from the [Aura of Death], the aura that currently enveloped his body gave him an almost dead-like state to those who saw him.

All over the crater, the [Mechids] tried to recover as fast as they could.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Loud booms were heard coming from different directions as three red figures shot from the ground to the sky. Another red figure followed the three from another direction. However, the last one flew without a boom.

The four [Fighter Mechids] emerged. Although their movements were still fast, they were considerably slower than before, especially the last one. Since the four were near Mark, the moment the tribulation descended, all of them were directly hit by the powerful pillar of lightning. All of them showed obvious signs of damage, with sparks crackling all over their bodies. The last one to emerge, the [Fighter Mechid] with the sword and shield, had already lost its shield and most of its transformable bits. This [Fighter Mechid] was closest to Mark when the lightning fell from the sky.

Like how it was from Chinese novels, tribulations should not be interfered with. It was a trial that only the designated person should endure and would likely cause the death of those that tried to interfere. If not for the fact that the [Fighter Mechids] were non-living beings with naturally strong bodies, they could have turned into piles of coal the moment the pillar of lightning descended.

The [Fighter Mechids] received varying damages. The sword-wielder lost its shield and boosters, the dagger-wielder lost one dagger, the gauntlet user's body was crackling consistently, while the spear-wielder's spear was now crooked and jagged.

But despite the damages they incurred, these [Mechids], like the [Infected], would not stop in their tracks until their vital parts were destroyed.

BOOOM!

The three faster [Fighter Mechids] left the fourth one and charged at Mark. Coming from three different directions, a gauntlet, a dagger, and a spear attacked Mark.

Mark was currently looking at the markings that now covered his arm. He did not seem to show any kind of reaction to the three incoming attacks.

Under everyone's shocked eyes, the three attacks connected...

Well, it should have been.

Mark's figure flickered. The three [Fighter Mechids] lost control and shot away from him after phasing through his body as if it did not exist in the physical realm.

After the attacks, Mark glanced at the most damaged [Fighter Mechid], ignoring the other three. His figure then blurred as he flew towards it. The damaged [Fighter Mechid] weakly waved its sword at Mark, trying to intercept his movement. It was a rather pitiful sight at the [Fighter Mechid] in front of Mark clearly had nothing left to continue the fight.

Mark did not evade the sword. His body flickered, and it passed through his body.

It was not the first time Mark had shown this move. When he gained the [Shadow Mist Movement] ability, he used it partially to avoid bullets coming his way.

However, Mei, who had seen that ability before and put extreme attention to detail if Mark was involved, knew that what Mark was showing this time was different.

The partial activation of [Shadow Mist Movement] would cause Mark's figure to constantly blur and even distort a little while he phased through two different spaces. A bit of black mist could also be seen during this action.

What Mark showed now was just his figure flickering the moment the enemy's attack connected.

In response to the pitiful attack of the sword-wielding [Figther Mechid], Mark muttered a few incomprehensible words from his mouth. The scythe he held in his hand suddenly burst with black-colored lightning.

SHING!

With a swing of that lightning-clad scythe, the sword-wielding [Fighter Mechid's] body was decapitated horizontally. Not only that but all the energy in its body was sucked away as it fell from the sky.

Mark calmly looked at the falling [Mechid] without any shred of emotion. Then, his body flickered again as the dagger-wielding [Figther Mechid] caught up to him and stabbed him from behind. However, its attack phased through Mark's body once again, making the [Fighter Mechid] lose control of its flight once more.

But before the dagger-wielding shot away from Mark's body, he turned his body around, pulling his scythe, still clad with black lightning, along with him.

The dagger-wielding [Fighter Mechid's] body was ripped apart due to its uncontrolled speed that was suddenly blocked by the scythe's blade. The black lightning then crackled all over its body, not only draining its energy source but also disabling its remaining transformable bits from detaching from its body.

Mark turned his head. Only two left.

At this time, lasers shot towards the sky from all over the crater. All of them were fired with Mark as their target.

Mark glanced below and began to move. For some reason, he evaded the lasers. If he could not avoid one, the more familiar partial activation of [Shadow Mist Movement] could be seen along with its full activation. This drew the conclusion that what Mark showed before was clearly different from [Shadow Mist Movement].

At this time, a large laser was fired, mowing the [Mechids] that were shooting lasers at Mark.

Arrows also rained from the northwestern peaks and flew far from the range the arrows should be able to reach, shooting flying [Mechids] down from the sky.

Mark gave a glance at the northwest with a slight smile. He was amidst dodging the lasers while tapping on his ring. Now that he caught the attention of all the [Mechids], it was now fine to let the others join the fray.

BOOM! BOOM!

Two sonic booms were heard. The two remaining [Fighter Mechids] were not giving up on fighting. They charged at Mark with their weapons.

ROOARR!!!

At this time, a fierce roar took everyone's attention.

A giant wolf-like creature could be seen jumping off from the eastern mountain peaks that surrounded the crater. There was no doubt that it was gigantic, with a height of five meters and a length of seven meters. Any larger and it could already be classified as a [Behemot Class]. It began tearing off all the [Mechids] that took its attention.

It was a [Mutated Infected Dog], without a doubt. However, it was strange that it was mowing down [Mechids], which was mostly ignored by the [Infected].

But then, given that the [Mechids] that came from this crater were killing off everything around the crater, including the [Infected], there would be no surprise if the [Infected] began seeing them as enemies.

As for why this [Mutated Infected Dog] was here, there was only one reason. The dense magical energy left by the tribulation, not to mention the commotion caused by the battle.

It would be no surprise either if more [Infected] came here at this moment.

Ignoring the rampage of the new guest, Mark fought the two remaining [Fighter Mechids]. Unfortunately for the two, they were no match to Mark anymore since their attacks could only phase through his body, and they were already damaged by the tribulation. There were a few attacks where Mark still evaded, but it did not take any longer, and the two were eliminated.

Unlike the other two, however, Mark took the bodies into his ring. Letting the two [Mechids] fall to the ground was already annoying since Mark wanted to store them, so he did not let go of the remaining two.

After dispatching the two, Mark was ready to mow down the remaining [Mechids]. It would take a while due to the large number, but Mark was confident now that he could deal with them.

But then, Mark froze and abruptly turned his head towards the center of the crater. He could not help but frown as his eyes could see a large clump of black mist emanating from the center of the crater.

"CHIMETRICE!" Mark called out to the [Humanoid Chimera] below. "Retreat! Quickly!"

After Mark shouted, he flew towards the northwestern peaks.

Chimetrice, on the other hand, followed the order without question. Since Mark gave his command in a hurry, there should be an urgent reason.

While Mark flew, he tapped on his ring, giving Mei the same orders.

When Mark arrived at the mountain peaks with Chimetrice following closely behind him, Mei and the others were already in the middle of retreating.

A large portal was already opened by Spera, and everyone present was jumping into the portal.

RUMBLE!

Suddenly, an earthquake occurred.

Mark made Mei jump with the little girls first into the portal together with Spera. Everyone else also entered, with Mark and Chimetrice entering the portal last.

All of them emerged at a mountain not far northwest of the crater.

Standing atop the rocky mountain peak, everyone shivered as they watched the crater.

The wind buzzed, and the ground shook. A bright dome of light could be seen blooming far above the mountain peaks that surrounded the crater.

Everyone watched in both awe and fear. The light swallowed the entirety of the crater, even past the border of the mountains surrounding it.

Everything the light swallowed was disintegrated.

"Tsk."

Mark clicked his tongue. He wanted to see the actual factory. However, it exploded before he could even take a proper look at its exterior.

Who would have thought that the factory's artificial intelligence was too keen on destroying lives that it would not hesitate to self-destruct as its last means to kill?

Still, Mark was lucky that his new abilities allowed him to detect the danger. If not, with how quickly the light swallowed the crater, many casualties could have occurred.

Mark closed his eyes and calmed himself down. As his body reverted back to normal, he was greeted by Mei and the rest of their group.

The battle on this island had yet to end. This battle was sure to draw more dangers from the surrounding waters in the next few days. Still, it was good that the most dangerous threat was finally eliminated.