Mutagen

Day 239 - 12:05 AM - Secret Realm, Mount Madia-as, Panay Mountain Range, Province of Aklan, Island of Panay

Outside the vicinity of the sleeping [Pure Spirit Tree]. Right at the location where the [Mini Cube] landed.

Mark's group gathered, waiting for Ilia to return.

They were outside the vicinity of the [Pure Spirit Tree] because it would not be nice if they waited under this realm's Sacred Tree. After all, unlike Mark's group, the people they were waiting for were not allowed to be under the Sacred Tree's veil.

Even Mark was not a distasteful person to deny and defile others' faith and culture. And even if the people in question were not humans, Mark would still respect it.

Of course, Mark had no respect to spare towards enemies.

Ilia was not slow with her task. Before Mark and the rest could properly settle down to wait, she was already on the way back, with Bella and Donna leading the group following behind her.

"I'm back!"

Ilia greeted everyone with the gleeful attitude she always had.

"But it looks like you haven't convinced them yet."

Mark shrugged, knowing that Ilia did not really finish her task to recruit the sisters.

Ilia was sent to recruit the sisters, after all. And it was clear that it was not the case yet.

"Well, I tried measuring the two's mentality, and I'm pretty sure I won't be able to convince them on my own. The sisters have quite a hardy mentality. They will need a concrete explanation to convince them and not just simple words," Ilia said with her own shrug. "Besides, I'm not good at dealing with women. I'm a [Succubus], remember? I'm best at seducing men."

Mark looked at Ilia and then at Chimetrice. Unfortunately, even with his intimate relationship with Ilia, her statement did not bother him.

Seriously... The relationship of the two, not only as Master and Servant but also as lovers, were questionable in many ways.

'And another thing...'

Mark thought as he turned towards the confused group that Ilia brought.

"I thought there were only five of them."

Mark voiced out.

That was how many people it was supposed to be. The two sisters and three children. However, there seemed to be an extra that accompanied them.

"She came along when I told the sisters to follow me," Ilia explained. "Well, they don't really trust us. Who would trust people they just met anyway. It is already good that they followed me without too many questions."

Ilia's argument had a point. And it seemed that the woman that tagged along was rather close with the sisters. It was despite not leaving with them. Well, looking at her figure, it was not hard to speculate things as to why she decided to stay.

"You people have been talking in front of us after bringing us here. Can we please get straight to business?"

Bella interjected since they also did not have much time to stay around if they wanted to leave this place. It was already clear to her that time here flowed slower than outside. In that case, while they were spending time here, they were losing precious daylight outside.

"Oh, sorry about that." Ilia apologized. "Well, as I said before, we wanted you all to join our group. We'll also prove what I said before about how dangerous it is outside."

"And even if what you said about the danger is true, what is the catch?"

Bella asked another question.

At this time, it was Mark who spoke, finally interacting with the sisters for the first time.

"Catch? Nothing, really." Mark said, making Bella, Donna, and Ilma turn to him. "And if you two wanted a reason, it's because of your abilities as [Mutators]."

"[Mutators]? Us?"

Donna asked, not knowing what the word meant.

"Looks like you two never learned about it. It confirms that you never managed to interact with the military on this island." Mark replied and continued to explain. "[Mutators] are people who got bitten by the [Infected], or those that many people like you called zombies. But instead of turning, they mutated, gaining physical abilities that normal people never had."

"Isn't that the case for you two?"

Mark added the question, staring at Bella and Donna.

The two sisters now understood why Mark's group was interested in recruiting them. It was their abilities. Anyone would be interested, given that it was a power outside the norm.

"Well, I don't really reveal this intentionally, but to show our sincerity. I'll tell you that I, my wife here, and our children are all [Mutators]. Although, I can't really say that we are normal people even without our mutations."

As Mark declared that, he conjured a blood blade connected to the side of his right forearm.

The scene sure surprised the group receiving the explanation. After all, the group trying to recruit them had not only one but five of those so-called [Mutators].

"But what about her?" Donna interjected, pointing at Ilia. "Is she also a [Mutator] or something?"

"Huh?" Mark turned to Ilia. "Did you show them something unnecessary?"

"This."

Ilia said, conjuring another ball of light, making Mark shrug. Since it already came to this, it would not hurt to explain.

"She's not a [Mutator]. She's an [Elder Succubus]."

"Yeah, she's a Demon."

Mark added, seeing the surprised but wary reaction of Bella and Donna. It seemed that they understood what a [Succubus] was.

"I and my family here are also Demons," Mark added. "I'm already saying this since you will know sooner or later once you join us, and it doesn't matter if you did not. But we are former humans. It just happened that our ancestors were Demons. The Demon blood in our veins ended up awakening after the outbreak."

Mark decided to explain. In any case, it was not entirely the truth since only he had the ancestry of a [Blood Demon], and he just turned the others by their request, except for Iola and Miracle, who became a [Blood Demons] by mistake.

"And if you have other worries, these two are humans, although not normal either."

Mark turned to Spera and Feng Zhiruo, who stood at the side.

Bella and Donna stared at Mark's group with both cautiousness and awe. What kind of powerful group was this? By what Mark said, none of them were normal people.

At first, the sisters thought that Mark's group wanted to take advantage of their abilities, being those so-called [Mutators]. But if their group was this powerful, there was no need to take advantage of them at all. Furthermore, Bella noticed two more things. On the leader's shoulder, a small fairy-like creature sat. And the muscular and handsome man at the side did not get any kind of introduction whatsoever.

But if the others in the group were not normal, it was possible that every member was not.

"Do you people really want us to join you? It looks like you don't really need our help. Won't we just end up dragging you guys down? We also had children with us, and just normal children. Not [Mutators] or Demons like your girls there."

Bella asked.

"So, you're not going to question us for being Demons?"

Mark asked back. After all, most people would definitely have a negative attitude once they heard about Demons and stuff.

"What you are is not really the question here." Bella shook her head. "What mattered is the reason why you wanted us to join you and whether you will allow powerless people too and secure their safety."

"Furthermore..." Donna joined in. "You guys haven't proven if the world outside really is that dangerous."

"Well, I guess it's better to see for yourselves."

Mark said as he turned his head towards the sleeping [Pure Spirit Tree].

"We're going!"

Mark shouted using the [Spirit Language], sending his farewell to Silim, who was watching from afar.

"You guys follow us inside."

Mark said to Bella and Donna.

"You too."

Mark added, looking at Ilma, who was hesitating.

Without any choice, Bella and Donna led their group. They followed Mark's group inside the suspicious large cube in front of them.

And to their surprise, it was not some sort of structure. The sisters could not help but exclaim in surprise when they arrived at the bridge, where what seemed to be Sci-fi controls were located.

Even Ilma and the children could not help but look around in awe.

"Please, don't touch anything and just watch at the side."

Chimetrice spoke to the group for the first time as he took the central chair and station. Ilia took the seat in front of him, and to the guest's surprise once more... The [Mini Cube] took off.

The guests watched as the scene in the windows in front of them changed. They could see that they were really flying.

"Spera, outside Mt. Madia-as."

Mark commanded.

"Okay!"

Spera replied as she waved both hands in front.

This time, a large black hole opened, causing the children to feel afraid. Bella and Donna were the same, but as they saw Mark's group did not seem fazed, they managed to calm down a bit.

The [Mini Cube] entered the hole.

Everyone inside the floating vessel could not help but wince as their eyes were slightly blinded by the sudden light.

Once their vision returned, the nighttime of the Secret Realm was nowhere to be seen. Instead, it was the afternoon sunshine of the Mortal Realm that greeted everyone.

Seeing the outside for the first time in a while, the sisters' group could not help but run forward to the front of the bridge. None stopped them as they got closer to the window.

And they were shocked.

The outside had no signs of any civilization. All they could see were forests and trees for miles and miles away.

Being locals, they were sure to see roads and stuff at the coastal areas of the islands. However, such roads were nowhere to be seen.

"The world changed a lot after the earthquake." Mark's voice entered their ears, but their shock stopped their eyes from turning away from the scene outside. "It's not just some normal earthquake, after all."

"Bella! Donna! Look!"

Ilma exclaimed in fear, pointing in a certain direction.

There, they could see some sort of creature. They could not measure its actual size because of the distance, but it was definitely taller than most of the trees around it.

"Are these the kinds of creatures that roam the Earth now?"

Bella finally turned to Mark and the others, asking.

Mark moved towards the window, looking at the same creature.

"Around five meters, huh," Mark murmured. "They are pretty rare, but not too rare. If you're lucky, you can encounter one or two of those monsters every week. Not to mention the larger ones."

Bella, Donna, and Ilma could not help but swallow their saliva. What was lucky about encountering such monsters? They now understand a bit of how dangerous the current world was. With their current equipment and number of people... Their journey outside would be nothing but suicide.

"So, you all want to join us now?"

Mark asked the women.

"C-can we think about this for a bit?"

Bella sure was now tempted to accept. Not only that it would be safer to travel with Mark's group, but they actually had this strange flying thing to travel with.

However, no matter how tempted she was, it was not for her to decide alone. And now, even Ilma was dragged into this when she already decided to stay behind.

"Well, it's fine," Mark said, but we'll continue our travel this way. "Just let me know your decision. And don't worry. We can send you guys back if you decided to reject."

"Then, thank you."

Bella gave her gratitude for allowing them to think about it. Furthermore, Mark conveyed to send them back if they decided not to join them.

Here, Bella gathered her small group to a corner of the bridge. They began their meeting, even asking the children to join.

Mark watched the group with a shrug. He was already sure that the group would have no other choice but to accept the invitation. Everything already went as planned.

Well, the chubby woman was outside the plan, really. But it did not mean that Ilma could not be included at the last moment. Besides, she seemed to be really close with Bella and Donna. Including her in the invitation raises the chance of the sisters joining. It was not like the chances were low, but there was no harm in raising the stakes further.

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