Mutagen

Day 151 - 11:15 PM - Mountain Farming Village, Barangay Mabini, Municipality of Viga, Catanduanes

"GATHER UP AND PROTECT THE LORD!"

Some higher-ranked Demons shouted in urgency. It was not only because they heard Muggur, but they also began to feel the presence of living beings in the forests surrounding them.

It was strange. These Demons all arrived here and did not detect anyone. Many of them had a keen sense of smell. Although they would not be able to instantly detect their enemies, they would be able to smell them to some extent.

Odors linger around longer and would stronger while the source stayed in place. There was no way that the Demons would not smell anything if there were enemies hiding in the surroundings. And yet, none of them detected anything until the last minute.

Did the Elementals and Spirits learn a way to conceal their presence? That was impossible. Even Nature Spirits that could meld into their surroundings would leave traces for the keen-eyed. It was impossible that different races of Spirits and Elementals would suddenly have the very same ability to hide.

Muggur and Lord Seis looked at each other. They thought differently from the majority.

Why?

It was because even the path that they just passed through had presences of enemies in hiding. Those enemies were definitely not there when they passed by.

Rather than hiding in ambush, it was more like they the enemies suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

Due to the immediate response, the Demons succeeded in gathering around their precious leader. They looked unorganized, but they, at least, tried their best to make a perfect circle around Lord Seis.

At the center of it all, Lord Seis smiled. He was not fazed by the situation at all. Instead, he felt thrilled. To be surrounded by enemies like this was the first for him. Nonetheless, he knew that aside from being surrounded, the side of the Demons was in a disadvantageous position.

After all, even if the Spirits and Elementals surrounded the Demons, the Demons still had the greater number.

It would be easy for them to break through the encirclement just through brute force.

The eyes of Lord Seis were glowing red. His excitement was intensifying his aura.

"IRAYA, YOU BITCH!" Lord Seis roared with a laugh. "I NEVER THOUGHT THAT SOMEONE LIKE YOU WOULD STOOP LOW AND LEARN TO DO THESE KINDS OF PETTY TRICKS!"

The shout of the Lord of Demons came with a surge of his aura. The air was shaking, and the leaves of plants and trees a few hundred meters around him swayed violently. Surprisingly, even the Demons under Lord Seis shivered in fear from his voice.

What was odd, however, was the intense hatred that he had when he called the Diwata's name without any shred of respect. Was this battle only because of the circumstances and millenniums of antagonistic relations between the magical races?

At Lord Seis' call, a woman walked out of the forest on the west side of the clearing. It was nighttime, and the only light was coming from the full moon. Yet, everyone could clearly see her beautiful appearance despite the darkness of the surroundings.

"It's been a while, isn't it, Argrellius. But I didn't think that I would hear that kind of complaint from one of the Demon Race that was known for such so-called petty tricks."

Diwata Iraya spoke, looking straight at the Lord of the Demons. Even though the Diwata was speaking from afar, everyone could clearly hear her voice, echoing like a Goddess.

However, like the Lord of the Demons, Diwata Iraya had a strange behavior. She was speaking calmly to the enemy, yet, there was a subtle feeling of regret hidden in her voice.

"Don't call me with that name, you worthless woman. "

Lord Seis replied, glaring hard at the Diwata.

***

At the roof of a house in the nearby village, several people sat, watching the situation.

It was no other than Mark's group, including Mark himself.

They were currently within some kind of barrier, preventing the Demons from detecting them even when they were nearby. This barrier was created by Berrak, who drew a magic circle inside the house.

And as for why... It was nothing else but to watch the show as close as possible.

Padua and Geronimo were both shocked and excited by what they were seeing. Although they already saw Mark's ancestor and even Berrak's magical creatures, the impact of those was far different from seeing two thousand mixed races of Demons gathered together. Never in their life did they expect to enter this hidden side of the world.

Edzel and Pearl sat together with Pefile near them. Although the two teenagers had seen a lot already, it was the first time they would actually see a war between good and evil. As for Pefile, he was not that interested. His life as a Tamawo was filled with life and death battles. This kind of thing was not new to him.

Berrak also sat at the side. He was looking forward to the battle. However, rather than the people involved, Berrak was more interested in the Demonic animals that the Demons had brought with them. It was clear that Berrak would get the opportunity to catch one or two if some managed to survive tonight's battle.

Lastly, Mark and the girls. They sat together with a camera set ready. It looked like Mark prepared to record this situation. Actually, the girls wanted to join this battle and not just watch at the sidelines. After all, Mark was going to the battlefield soon. Unfortunately, Mark declined them for now. Only Mei and Amihan would be allowed to participate in this event with him. Well, there was also Crimson and Ignis, but that was already obvious.

The scale of this battle was far different from the battles they previously had. The enemies were not humans, and definitely not the infected. The enemies were Demons. It would be dangerous for the girls to face the uncanny magic of the Demons with their current strength.

Because of this, Mark decided to give the girls some upgrades when they return home. Of course, it would be hard to say if he would be giving the children new Mutator abilities considering the painful experience they needed to go through. Maybe, he would give them some upgrades in other aspects like equipment.

"Those two had some history, didn't they?"

While Mark was thinking, the silent Pefile spoke.

The others could not help but nod. Even those with no ability to read minds and emotions would be able to pick things up from how Diwata Iraya and the Lord of Demons spoke to each other.

"Maybe, they're lovers?"

Padua chimed in, making the others look at him. Sure enough, what he had said was incredulous considering the behavior of the two people in question.

Ignoring Padua, Mei spoke to Mark.

"Gege, aren't we going to join them?"

"Yeah, Master." Amihan agreed while lying down atop Mark's head. "They are going to start soon."

"We are joining them, but not immediately," Mark replied to the two. "We are more or less the trump cards of Diwata Iraya. It won't do us good if we joined at the start when the enemies probably had their hidden cards too."

In the first place, Diwata Iraya did not ask Mark's help to be their proxy in this battle. Her pride as a powerful being did not allow her to request such a disgraceful thing to Mark.

Moreover, this battle was supposed to be faced by the Diwata and her people. It was their duty that they could not pass onto others. It was even if they were on the losing side.

That thought made Mark give this Diwata some respect. She had her own pride and dignity. While Diwata Iraya asked for help, she was not like some useless Role-Playing Game Non-Player Character that would let the player do the quest all on his own.

In fact, Diwata Iraya asked Mark to only join in if there was no hope for them to win.

And that was why Mark gave them some suggestions that would help turn the tide of the battle among his conditions in accepting Diwata Iraya's request for help.

***

"I don't know how you learned or how you did it. You managed to reduce our numbers and even surround us." Lord Seis smiled with ridicule. "But Spirits aren't born every day. Do you really think that your numbers would be enough to trap us here? This is the end for you and your weak subordinates."

That was right. Diwata Iraya's side severely lacked numbers. In the first place, they only had three hundred warriors, and the Demons still had more than one and a half thousand people at most. Maybe, they had even more hiding somewhere.

Compared to Demons, Spirits and Elementals were not born just because they wanted to. While some of Spirit Races had the ability to procreate, it did not mean that they would have their offspring just because they could do so.

It was unlike Demons that could turn weaker races like humans to their side using rituals and sacrifices. While a person's compatibility was still a deciding factor, it was not as strict compared to the conditions of turning a human into a Spirit. A human turning into an Elemental was even rarer considering that it could only happen as a course of nature.

That was one of the reasons why, compared to humans and Demons, Spirits and Elementals were far fewer. Furthermore, most Elementals were born by accumulating magical energy in nature, and magical energy was what the Mortal World severely lacked.

"Fate is unpredictable." Diwata Iraya replied with a stern look. "No one will know who is going to face their end."

And as Diwata Iraya said that, she raised her hand.

SHING!

​ A blinding light surged fort in the area.

Since all the Demons were focused on the single enemy that showed herself in front of them, their light-sensitive eyes were all blinded by the sudden bright light.

SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!

"ARG!"

"ACK!"

Suddenly, swishing sounds were heard all over the place followed by the painful grunts and roars of the Demons.

***

"Oooh..." At the roof, Mark smiled. "I didn't think that this would be too effective."

"Boss, is this your idea?"

Berrak asked Mark because of his remark.

At Berrak's question, Mark shrugged.

"From the start, everything is my idea, you know? You dabbled with magical things, so you probably know how simple the mindsets of these races."

At Mark's reply, Berrak nodded. He had encountered secluded magical races in the mountains while finding magical creatures to tame. And to say, their mindsets were too simple.

"They didn't lack the skills, but they severely lacked innovation."

That was right. Since the world turned in favor of the humans, the Spirits, and Elementals that did not migrate to the Spirit Dimension continued to live in fear and survival. Because of that, they did not have the chance to properly develop, and their mindsets stagnated.

These races became stuck to their ways of the past, lacking many things that humans managed to learn throughout the years.

And because of that, Mark did not hesitate to give Diwata Iraya and her warriors some ways to win this fight.

First was utilizing the abilities of the Yasaws as they did before. The Yasaws were just rough gems waiting to be polished. They were not weak as others deemed them to be.

The second was this encirclement. Initially, Diwata Iraya and her warriors wanted to stay inside their territory and fight a defensive battle. However, by then, it would be the witching hour and the Demons would already be empowered by its effects. It would be a bad situation especially with the Spirits and Elementals having a wall behind their backs.

That was why Mark convinced them and even utilized the Yasaws once more to form a sudden encirclement that no one would expect.

Next was Diwata Iraya showing herself. Even if the Lord of the Demons did not call for her, she would come out. Mark told her to do so. At first, the warriors around her insisted that this was dangerous. However, once Mark said that it would lessen the possible deaths of their people, she immediately agreed.

As she showed herself alone, all the attention would be on her. That was when she would use the opportunity to release a blinding light in the middle of the night to steal the enemies' vision for a period of time.

And then, that would be the time when the rain of arrows would strike the enemies.

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