Mutagen

<strong>Day 23 – 9:14 AM – Ungos River Crashed Airbus, Barangay Daraitan, Tanay, Rizal</strong>

SQUISH… SWIRK…

Sounds of squishing flesh and spurting blood could be faintly heard as Mark slowly prepared to fight that old witch looking creature. Mark stealthily sliced the wall of flesh blocking one of the doors on the left side of the airplane using his katana and two of his [Blood Whips]. While the katana sliced off the wall of flesh, one [Blood Whip] was draining the blood from the wall while the other was blocking the sliced parts with [Blood Metal] to prevent it from regenerating.

The situation was quite tense since he needed to make the opening without alerting the enemy. Moreover, he needed to finish the opening before the witch returned. Fortunately, Mark would be able to tell whether the creature was coming by paying attention on the unconscious Biters and with the semi-transparent woman's warning. It seemed that she was able to detect the witch for reasons unknown to him.

Actually, he was quite vexed that he had to do this slowly but he should not let the place get ruined because of her. He could only bring the battle outside.

It did not take too long, about fifteen minutes or so, he finished removing the thick flesh wall and uncovered the whole door. Luckily, the witch did not come back during the process. The unfortunate thing was that the door mechanisms were all corroded and broken. Probably, due to being in contact with the enzymes on the flesh wall all this time.

Mark could only open this the hard way and it would surely alert the enemy. However, he had no choice at all.

He did not want to do it like this since there were several possibilities that could ruin his plans. First, what if the one maintaining the place was that witch and killing her would immediately destroy this place. If that was case, he wanted to wait until he felt another living blob so he would at least had another [Blood Child] before he kill the witch. However, that could only happen if he could open the door without making any noise that was too loud.

'Whatever. No choice.'

With a black flash, he brandished his katana and slashed the side of the door breaking all the connecting parts of the door to the body of the airplane. That already created a loud metallic sound but another loud bam sounded as he kicked the door off making it plunge at the river outside.

The sudden intrusion of bright light hurt not only his eyes but also the semi-transparent woman and she could not help but let out a muffled cry of pain. Looking at the woman, it seemed that not only her eyes were affected to the light but also her semi-transparent body. Mark hurriedly looked around and found a rather wet and stinky blanket on one of the flesh covered seats. He took it and draped in over the woman's naked body before he went to hide as he was sure that the noise would surely attract that creature.

Soon, the witch who rather looked angry came back to the Economy Class Cabin and let out an enraged roar when she saw the opened door. She ran towards the door in a violent manner. Even though her body looked weak, it contradicted her running speed which was even faster than an average man running a hundred meter dash. When she ran, Mark could feel the whole airplane shaking which also showed her immense strength on her thin body. After reaching the door, she flinched for a second due to the sudden change of lighting but it did not take long and she squeezed her tall body through the door to look.

Seeing half of her body and her right arm were suspended outside the door and over the broken segments of the wing, Mark who was hiding behind the row of seat just beside the semi-transparent woman made his move.

The witch was too distracted about the door that was open and did not notice the movements behind her. It that then that the rage that filled the witch's eyes turned into surprise when she felt a painful grinding feeling on her left arm and both legs before she lost her sensation on those limbs. When she started to lose balance, she felt a strong force from behind her back which suddenly pushed her off the door. Her large frame plunged into the river dying the water in red as the blood from her dismembered limbs scattered.

As the part of the river under the suspended airplane was shallow, she was not washed away. She managed to balance herself properly and used her remaining arm to pull herself ashore. Looking up from the door of the airplane she fell from, her eyes became filled with rage once more. At the door, someone stood pointing a bow like weapon at her.

Mark aimed started to aim his folding bow at the witch that had just come ashore. When he jumped off the row of seats, he immediately slashed his katana down on the witch's left arm which was holding onto the side of the door to prevent her from falling accidentally. At the same time, four of his blade armored [Blood Whips] hacked towards the witch's legs which grinded her lower limbs before getting dismembered. Finally, he gave her his strongest front kick on her back and pushed her off the door that way.

He wanted to attack her neck and head but it was impossible since her whole torso was blocking the way due to her hunched body. It he did attack her spine and she did a suicide attack causing the destruction of this place, then his efforts would be for naught. He could not risk another suicide instance to happen like what the stone clad woman did before.

When she fell, Mark hurriedly pulled the dismembered legs and arm inside. If the witch was the reason for the flesh membrane that filled the whole airplane, there was no way that he would do the mistake of throwing her limbs back. If the witch's ability had something to do with flesh or meat, it was very likely for her to be able to reattach her dismembered limbs.

SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!

Mark clenched his fist which pulled the trigger of the folding crossbow. Three blood metal crossbow bolts flew towards the supposed defenseless Mutator which arrived in front of her almost instantly. At that moment however, the witch raised the stump of her dismemberedleft arm and a sudden explosion of flesh appeared blocking the three blood metal bolts. No, it was not an explosion but a sudden burst of a ball of flesh coming out of her dismembered limb.

After blocking the blood metal bolts, the disgusting deformed ball of flesh pulsed and wiggled horrendously before forming several flesh tentacles. The appearance of the flesh tentacles were strikingly similar to those that were shoved into the genitals of the Biters inside the airplane. After three two meter long and wrist sized tentacles formed on her missing arm. It was then followed by another burst of flesh on her dismembered legs.

The flesh on her legs started to wriggle and take shape but it was not legs or tentacles but a large sludge of flesh which made the witch look like a half-man half-slug flesh beast. She stared at Mark without concealing her killing intent.

Looking at this, Mark finally ascertained that this woman was really a full Mutator. However, there was no chance for any negotiation even if that was the case. From the first time Mark saw her, he knew that she was already broken. She was insane from her skin to her bone. She was not even talking but just growling.

Using one of his [Blood Whip], he reloaded his crossbow and fired three more blood metal bolts. Of course, it did not hit as the witch slapped the incoming blood metal bolts away using her flesh tentacles.

As the long ranged attacks were not effective, Mark jumped off the door towards the direction of the rocky riverside.

Mark knew that both of them were currently disadvantaged fighting here. Since the witch lost her legs and was only standing on her slug like lower body, she would not be able to move from her current position as fast as before. He on the other hand would have a hard time maneuvering around due to the rocks that covered the riverside.

'Whoops.'

He was mistaken. The witch did not need to move at all. Her flesh tentacles shot off from her extending towards Mark in fast speeds. It was not as fast as his blood metal bolts but it was still fast.

That attack made Mark kick his right foot to the side propelling his body to the left. Using that momentum, he started to run circling the witch while closing his distance. The witch reacted to his dodge by continuously stretching her tentacles chasing Mark from behind. At the moment Mark stopped even for an instant, he was likely to get caught and restricted by these flesh tentacles.

Slip!

Mark stopped and hurriedly balanced himself. The rocks on the riverside around the airplane were covered with the red mycorrhiza which made the rocks even more slippery. At that moment, the eyes of the insane witch lit up and the flesh tentacles shot off faster towards him. However, to her raged surprise, the blade armored [Blood Whips] on Mark's back moved grinding the incoming tentacles slicing them like cucumbers.

She looked at Mark who was now looking at her with a stern face. The [Blood Whips] continued to defend against the flesh tentacles as Mark shot off running directly towards her.

He should not prolong this any longer as he was actually the only one disadvantaged by the terrain. Remembering how the airplane looked like inside, he should have expected that this witch could extend her ability in a large area. Well, it also made him realize how it was better that he kicked her off the airplane. If they fought inside, it was very likely that she would be able to control the whole airplane to her advantage.

Four [Blood Whips] were moving at his back while one started to reload his crossbow once more. Since the flesh tentacles was chasing behind, he aimed the crossbow towards her once more and shot. Sure enough, it was blocked as her slug like body sprouted several more tentacles. Although it was a good block, it also blocked her line of sight.

The flesh tentacles behind him stopped for a moment and he took that opportunity to move closer. The moment the witch removed the tentacles in front of her, Mark was already just three meters away from her. Shocked, she screeched. Hundreds of flesh tentacles burst out of her body drowning the area including Mark.

'It was smelly and disgusting.'

That was what Mark thought as the flesh tentacles coiled around his waist lifting him up. He was caught for sure and only his right arm was not restricted by the flesh tentacles. The [Blood Whips] on his back and the one reloading his crossbow were all restricted. However, the witch did not make the final blow. She was intending to add him to her victims inside the airplane for sure.

The flesh tentacles that covered the area moved aside and Mark was brought in front of the witch. Mark tried to reach her with his right arm but she kept him about two meters away from her as she observed him with a savagely disgusting smile.

While she was smiling however, Mark also smiled which puzzled her. His hand was trying to reach on her face but of course he could not reach her. At that moment, a hole appeared on his palm which took her attention. The next thing she knew was her sight that started to fade to black.

Mark shot the final [Blood Whip] he could control towards her forehead which instantly killed her. The sneak attack was very effective since she finally let down her guard.