Mutagen

Day 358 - 6:05 PM - Podorejo,Ngaliyan,Semarang City, Central Java, Indonesia

"Wahyu, you bastard! You caused all of this?!"

Another member of Farel's group yelled in fury.

"Kekeke."

However, the only response the member received was a mocking laugh from Wahyu.

Nonetheless, that laugh made Farel notice something.

"You're not Wahyu. Who are you, bastard?!"

Farel shouted, immediately wielding his spear and pointing it at the enemy.

"Why don't you find out?"

Wahyu mockingly replied, seemingly provoking a fight.

"You realized, huh," Mark said to Farel. "I also don't think that thing is your friend."

"Thing?"

Farel asked. That was not a word to portray a person.

"Yep. Thing."

Mark said as he threw something at the mocking figure of Wahyu.

It was another knife. However, Wahyu was aware this time and decided to swat the thrown knife as it was flying weaker than the first one.

Unfortunately for the impostor, that weak throw had an underlying scheme.

CLANG!

Wahyu swatted the thrown knife with his hand with a mocking expression. And even though it was parried with bare hands, it made the sound of clashing metal.

But as the hand and the knife made contact, the knife exploded in a flash of light. The flash of light was not strong enough to make everyone cover their eyes. It was like a flash of a summer sparkle stick.

However, the effect was different for the impostor.

"GAH!"

An audible gasp came out of the impostor's mouth as he stepped back unstably.

And then, the impostor's face fell to the ground, literally. It was a skin mask.

It revealed a charcoal-colored face with tribal paint. As the mask fell off, the impostor's disguise also began to dissipate, revealing a tribal-looking garment, loincloth, and crown with gaudy and luxurious colors of gold and orange.

Everyone felt shocked as the true appearance of the impostor lay before their eyes.

"F*CK! DON'T THINK THIS WILL BE THE END! I WILL REMEMBER YOU!"

The creature shouted at Mark while flexing his muscles and puffing his cheeks.

"Everyone! Be careful!"

Luna shouted and readied for battle.

However, it was not a battle that came. The impostor blew out his puffed cheeks, releasing black smoke into the surroundings. It was like a squid spitting ink. It was not to fight but to flee from the enemies.

The smoke spread fast, robbing everyone in the near vicinity of their sight. This black smoke was even far thicker than the fog during the [Magic Overflow]. However, the only thing the smoke robbed from those affected by it was their sense of sight.

"Is everyone okay?"

Luna's voice echoed. It was the same for the other people, both Farel's members and the Moon Chasers.

Under the veil of the smoke, no one heard or saw Mark whisper.

"Crimson," Mark called. "Follow that creature."

And with that command, an invisible black haze flew through the smoke and chased after the creature.

As fast as it spread, the smoke dissipated. Everyone looked fine, but the impostor was already gone.

"That bastard escaped."

Farel spoke, seeing that the impostor had already vanished from their sight.

"Looks like everyone is okay. Luckily, the smoke isn't poisonous."

Luna said after assessing the situation.

"But what is that guy?"

Bajing voiced a question everyone had.

"What about Wahyu?" Farel also had his question. "Where the hell is he?"

And the unfortunate answer came from Mark with a single word from his mouth.

"Dead."

Mark then picked up the skin mask left on the ground with only two fingers as if he was picking up something disgusting. He then threw the mask at Farel, who could only catch it by reflex.

And with the same reflex, Farel threw the mask on the ground.

"What the f*ck!"

Farel felt an uncanny sensation when he held the mask. It was not made of plastic or any synthetic material. The skin mask was made of literal human skin.

"Isn't this copy of Wahyu's face? A disguise mask?"

Luna asked and was about to pick it up.

"Don't pick it up," Farel immediately stopped Luna. "That's not a fake mask. That's Wahyu's real face."

Those words from Farel made everyone shiver. The mask on the ground was a skin mask made from their friend's literal face.

"Your friend should have been dead long ago or probably a few days before your group left your settlement. A skin mask like this can't be made in just a few hours."

Mark explained.

It dawned on everyone. The Wahyu they were interacting with all this time was an impostor, and none of them realized.

"Sh*t!"

Farel cursed as he gathered the courage to pick up the skin mask. This mask could probably be the last remains of their friend they could see. It should not be left on the ground.

The gloomy and dark emotions enveloped the members of the 41st Settlement. They lost a lot in this attempt things for the well-being of their people.

And to further destroy everyone's mood, Mark spoke.

"Looks like someone or something is targeting you people. You guys should be careful."

That was the truth of things. Everyone knew that. However, they could not fathom why those enemies would go to this extent.

At this time, a pair approached Mark.

"Sir, thank you for giving me the chance to say goodbye. I wish I could do something in return."

It was Mal and Yulia, finally done with their final farewells.

"No, Mal," Yulia interjected while wiping her tears. "You're already leaving. I'll do it for you."

"Don't bother," It was Mark's turn to stop the two. "I did it on a whim. Besides, that trinket is a prototype, and I had nothing to test it on. Just think of that as the payment."

The cousins were surprised but still thanked Mark wholeheartedly.

Then, Mal turned to Farel and the others.

"Guys, I'll leave Yulia to all of you. Please, take care of her."

"Don't worry. We will do our best."

Farel assured Mal. Nothing was set in stone for the future, but Farel and the others would do their best for the worst to not happen.

After sending the last farewell to the rest of the group, Mal vanished, and the medallion Mark lent them fell to the ground. The crystal at the center of the trinket was already devoid of its shine, indicating that it lost its last shred of energy.

Mark looked at Mal even though everyone else could not see him anymore. Mal gave another thankful smile at Mark before his existence traversed out of the mortal realm.

At this time, Mark felt a gaze. The gaze was just short, but he felt how familiar it was. It was the same gaze he felt back in Catanduanes after the fight with the [Mechid Factory]. It was the gaze of Death. Not his end, or anyone here, but Death itself.

And after Mal left, so was the gaze.

Yulia burst into another fit of tears, and everyone tried to console her. She gave a brave front before Mal departed, but it should still be painful for Yulia to see the last of her family go.

FLAP! FLAP!

All of a sudden, the serene atmosphere was once again disturbed. The loud flap of the wings closing from the sky indicated a large creature flying toward their location.

Farel and his group were in dismay. They were ragged, tired, and injured. If the current situation became dangerous again, they could only rely on the Moon Chasers.

"Don't worry," Mark spoke. "I told them to come here."

Those words from Mark made the members of the Moon Chasers realize what it was. Of course, Farel and his group were still confused.

It only took a few seconds, and the reddish-black dragon landed from the sky with two girls on its back.

Mark approached them, and they happily greeted him in return as he assisted them off the back of the dragon.

"L-Luna," Farel stuttered as he asked Luna. "What in the world is that?"

Luna, Bajing, and their other members looked at the reaction of Farel and his group. They could only laugh inside, knowing they had the same feelings during their first encounter with Mark's group.

Even Yulia, who was in the middle of grieving, could only stare at the magnificent but terrifying beast in front of her.

"Mama!"

The voice of two little girls called unto one of the girls riding the dragon.

And the two little girls in question? They were sitting on the back of the leader [Ground Hunter]. The [Ground Hunter] was already conscious. However, it did not dare move an inch. It knew that the girls on her back could turn her into a pile of minced meat in seconds.

Mark helped Mei and Annica get down from Chaflar's back. He called them here because of the leader [Ground Hunter].

"Woooah!"

Annica felt excited after seeing the catch. She immediately knew that it had enough intelligence for her to tame.

"Can you tame it?"

Mark asked Annica.

"Yeah! No problem!" Annica smiled. "And it's too scared it's less likely to reject."

"Then, proceed with it," Mark gave the go. "We need to ask it why it attacked and chased after that group."

"Okay, give me a minute."

Annica nodded as she put her two hands on the head of the lizard, which was a few times larger than her.

On the side of the people from Indonesia, they watched Mark's group while they continued tending to the injured.

"What are they doing?"

Farel, in curiousity, asked Luna.

"I don't know. Don't ask me."

Luna replied.

"Same here."

Bajing said after Farel's eyes switched on her.

"Aren't those people your members?"

Farel asked.

"When did we say that?" Luna sighed. "When you asked earlier, we didn't answer."

"That's..."

Farel was speechless. However, it meant they were being helped by some mysterious group even the Moon Chasers barely knew.

After a minute, Mark's group approached the two other groups. Farel and the others could only flinch as they saw the leader [Ground Hunter] freely walking behind Mark's group.

"Don't worry, she won't attack anyone here anymore," Mark said. "More importantly, it seemed that these lizards attacked and chased after you because their nest got raided, and you guys had the strong smell of their broken eggs."

"What?" Farel and his group members were shocked. "We never approached any [Ground Hunter] nest."

"That's the point," Mark replied. "It seemed that the creature that took your friend's identity used this to get your group into trouble. You better check your belongings if there's something odd."

With Mark's words, Farel and his members rounded their belongings and checked. To their horror, most of their bags had pieces of broken eggshells inside. And when the leader [Ground Hunter] saw those eggshells, it could not help but roar in anger.

"Calm down," Annica knocked on the [Ground Hunter's] head. "It's not them who did this. There's another enemy who did, and they are victims."

The [Ground Hunter] calmed down as if it understood Annica. This scene was a surprise to everyone watching.

Mark's group was not just strong. They had the ability to instantly turn monsters into their allies.

"We should prepare to leave."

After a short talk, Luna suggested.

"We also want to," Farel agreed. "But are you just going to leave these behind?"

Farel was talking about the corpses of the dead [Ground Hunters]. The leather of [Ground Hunters] was sturdy enough to turn to light armor, while the meat of even one could feed a family for several days.

"We already had our hands full, you see?" Luna shrugged. "And it might not feel right since they just turned a [Ground Hunter] into a pet.

Everyone agreed on where Luna was coming from. However, Mark had a different say.

"She doesn't mind, though?" Mark interjected. "They are a group, but they are still solitary animals. It's a survival of the fittest, even in their group. Sometimes, when one dies, the others cannibalize the dead. So it's fine if you harvest the dead ones for resources."

Luna looked at Farel's group. The Moon Chasers really had their hands full because of the remains of the [Fog Crawler]. However, the members of the 41st Settlement needed to bring something home, even if it was not enough to recoup their loss.

"Let's head to the camp first so the injured can rest," Luna suggested. "Then, we can go back to get things we can bring home."

No one disagreed with Luna's suggestion. Everyone returned to camp. With the help of both the Chaflar and the leader [Ground Hunter], it became easier to carry the injured.

Everything became stable until they returned to camp. Farel and his members could not help but feel another wave of shock after seeing the gigantic head of the rumored [Fog Crawler] being transported by the Moon Chasers.