Mutagen

Day 36 – 12:34 PM – First Defense Line, Barangay Ungos, Real, Quezon

The battle between the soldiers started to get more and more intense. The main forces of the infected finally arrived putting more pressure on the soldiers and Mutators that were participating on the defense.

In terms of quantity, the forces of the settlement were totally outnumbered against the horde of infected. In the settlement, the total population was around seven thousand people. Among that large number, only around two thousand were the soldiers and the Mutators and Evolvers numbered around five hundred. The remaining population however and the majority were the non-combatants. Although this part of the population was mostly composed of the normal populace, it also included a portion of the government officials and the scientists.

In the true sense, this attack right now was a very threatening one. A single slip up could end up severely endangering the whole settlement. Due to that, eighty percent of the settlement's forces were deployed while the remaining percentage was sent to prepare for emergency measures.

A plethora of deafening sounds echoed in the battlefield as the forces of the settlement tried their best to resist the incoming infected. On the background, explosions could be seen as grenades, rockets, land mines and even vehicles exploded in the middle of the horde. Unfortunately, although those explosions damaged and killed a lot of infected, the number was still negligible. Not to mention that unlike injured humans that would stop after being wounded, the infected would not even if their wounds were supposed to be fatal. Despite their injuries and those who even had their intestines dangling out of their abdomen, the infected would still press forward as long as their heads and necks were intact.

At the area of the experiment, the battle also intensified. Although Karla was still able to hold her ground, the soldiers that were assisting the experiment no longer had any choice but to join the defense line.

"Sir Mark, please take this."

A soldier from the top of the wall came out of the gates and handed a wireless lapel and earphone to Mark.

"You guys should have given me this earlier."

Mark said with a side glance.

"Please, inquire the details after wearing it. I have to return to my post."

The soldier saluted to Mark and retreated back into the gate. While Mark finished wearing the lapel, he saw the same soldier on top of the wall behind a mounted gun firing at the infected at the distance.

"Mark, Mark. Can you hear me?"

As Mark turned on the lapel, he heard a voice. Without mistake, the voice belonged to General Faustino.

"I can hear you clearly. You guys should have given me this earlier."

"I apologize but we planned to do the test in a short period and there should have been no need for this. However, maybe, you can't see the situation in your position but the frontline is in a bad situation."

"And what do you want me to do. Don't expect me to be able to kill all these infected. In any case, won't work for free either."

Mark could hear a groan on the other side. The general should be rubbing his temples right now.

"General, please let me." Another voice could be heard. "Mark, this is Professor Suzuki. Can we do the negotiations later? As we can see here, you're just watching behind. Can you please join the defense? In any case, we will calculate the compensation depending on your contribution. It is the same with the other non-military forces."

Hearing that, Mark shrugged his shoulder.

"Just say it frankly. You just want to see me fight, right? Also, telling me that information at this point, you people just want me to contribute to the battle as much as possible. I'll tell you, you guys won't be able to pay me if I contribute as much as I can."

The other side became silent. It seemed that they were discussing something since Mark could hear faint murmurs away from the microphone. Soon, General Faustino spoke once more.

"Well, then. Please do what you can. In any case, if the situation continues, we might be able to defend the settlement but the sacrifices will be massive. We used a drone to observe the horde and we saw a group of strange infected among the horde. If those infected arrive, we expect the front lines to crumble. Unfortunately, we can't shrink the defense towards the wall."

"And the experiment? I'm sure you can't handle Karla at all."

"It shouldn't be a problem right now. Although we are also surprised, Karlene can handle her ground. Also compared to other positions, the infected in running towards the area is minimal. With our soldiers assisting her, she should be fine. In any case, her father and friend together with our other soldiers will come to assist her."

"All right. I'll handle the group you are talking about."

Mark decided to help. In any case, he would milk this settlement as much as he could.

Due to Mark's decision, the people on top of the wall sighed because of various reasons. First, they had been anticipating Mark to participate from the start and see his strength since among the people here, only Jones had seen it. Although a lot had been stated on papers, there was still skepticism with their minds. It would only be cleared if they witnessed it before their eyes or they would not be able to rest. Another reason was how Mark voiced his decision. Even though it was just through the lapel, his reply lacked the hesitation and fear of jumping in the middle of the horde. Normal and unconfident people would not be able to do that at all.

"Karla!"

Mark called out but she did not respond. He then turned to Amihan on his shoulder.

"Amihan, stay here and help Karla if she's in trouble. I'll trust you for her safety but if it becomes dangerous, escape first alright?"

Amihan turned to Mark and towards Karla who was still wildly decimating every infected that came her direction. Hearing the word trust, her expression became resolute as she nodded.

"Don't worry My Lord. You can count on me. I'll blow away any dangerous enemy towards the other people there."

Mark looked at Amihan with a strange expression. She was pointing at the soldiers fighting on the other side. However, what she said was not wrong either. That was the only kind of protection she could give out since there was no way for her to kill the infected even with her wind control.

This thought gave Mark a sudden idea. Maybe, he could try and teach this little sylph if she would be able to do some attacks with her wind control ability. Similar to the ones used in RPGs, [Wind Blades] and the like.

After Amihan flew off from his shoulder, he vanished in a puff of black mist. With several appearances and disappearances, he finally arrived on a roof of a two story house in the middle of the battlefield. This house was literally in the middle of the horde, about two hundred meters away from the wall of the settlement.

Even though he was in the middle of the horde, Mark could not feel anything at all. It was a perk of being a Mutator and this way, he was able to concentrate on his fights since he would not panic even if he wanted to. He would not get scared either no matter what.

Ignoring the horde below and the drones that were hurrying to chase after him, Mark started to prepare. This time, he wore the pair of gauntlets, [Attacker] and [Defender] but he rotated the bracer placing the needle case on the back and the needle launcher under his wrist.

Using his [Blood Whips] he activated a mechanism on the [Defier] on his back and the outer layers of the shield separated into two parts before the two parts detached from the centerpiece and the inner layers. Leaving the centerpiece and inner layers on his back, Mark attached the two parts of the shield on the back side of both his gauntlets while he held the [Slicer] and [Divider] whip swords on both hands.

With the two parts of the shield on his both arms, he could defend himself just by putting his arms together while the swords on his hands would do the offensive.

Since he was going in the middle of the horde this time, he took another precaution. His [Blood Whips] seeped from his neck and unto his face before it formed a mask and metallized. And for just a bit of style, the remaining [Blood Whips] formed several loose metal threads and turned into something like a short metallic scarf.

Mark looked above and the drones had already had him on the camera. Although he hated being captured in pictures and videos, it could not be helped this time. It was also one of the reasons he made a mask to conceal his face.

"Since you guys wanted to see me fight. Then watch."

He murmured with a glint in his eyes.

Looking around the vicinity, he saw his first target, a mutated infected that was behaving oddly. It had a lean body and sharp claws. Unlike other infected that was charging towards the defensive line of the settlement, it was lurking behind buildings and blending with the normal Biters and Eaters was it closed unto the soldiers.

He chose this target not because it stood out on his view but because he could feel the [PsyCrystal] on his arm vibrating as he stared on the infected.

'This should be the [Predator Type] they said.'

He thought as it reminded him of the infected with claw arms that attacked his base before.

Looking like a certain ninja from a mobile game, he vanished in the mist and waved through the air before appearing behind the [Predator Type] infected.

The mutated infected seemed to have noticed the use of his Psychic ability and tried to turn around. However, it was already late. A blade was already hacking towards its head.

As he appeared, Mark swung the [Divider] from above which totally split the infected's head into two. Since the infected tried to turn towards him, the face of the infected was totally removed from its head and fell first before its body did. The black pebble flew out of its head which Mark hurriedly grabbed and hid from the drone above.

It was a quick kill but his appearance halted the advance of the infected in the area. All the infected that saw Mark growled fiercely as they all turned away from the initial direction of their charge. Instead, they all ran towards Mark as if they all agreed to swarm him.

Ignoring the seemingly dangerous situation he was in, Mark rotated the blades on his hands and held the blades in a reverse grip. With a flick of his [Blood Whip], the connected blades turned into whip blades before he swung the blades on the incoming infected. The first ones to run towards Mark stopped on their tracks as their heads fell on the ground. Avoiding the blood that spurted out of the infecteds' necks, Mark jumped towards the nearest wall and propelled himself upwards before kicking the wall.

Mark spun his body and hacked at the infected that jumped at him at the same time. Obviously, this one was another mutated infected which should be an [Agility Type] as it was able to jump over the other infected in order to attack.

The two blades hacked the arms and the neck of the mutated infected and fell from its lunge. Mark then landed his foot on another infected smashing its teeth in the process. He then kicked downwards which broke the infected's neck before he vanished from the sight of the infected charging towards him.

Mark then appeared elsewhere hacking towards another mutated infected with strange features. While he fought in this area, his main target finally arrived. As the general said, it was a strange group of mutated infected. Unlike the others, these mutated infected always moved together. Not only that but each of the infected looked strong. Seeing this group, Mark started to wonder what the catch with these guys was.

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