Mutagen

<strong>Day 126 - 1:40 PM - Mountain Base, Mount Malabito, General Nakar, Quezon</strong>

Mark smiled, seeing the shock in the face of Chaaya. After all, the current appearance of the base was one of his surprises.

It was kind of disappointing that the [Photokinesis Mental Crystal] could only support hiding the whole base for only around ten minutes. Any more than that, and it would drain the crystal completely. He was also using it earlier to hide, which made the duration a bit shorter.

Nevertheless, it was enough as the attacks coming from the base was barely working anymore. Ambush attacks were only viable for a short run. That was why most ambushes came about intending of utterly destroying the enemies in a short amount of time.

However, they could not do that. Even though Mark took the initiative to make the ambush, they were still fighting a defensive battle here. Furthermore, being outnumbered would not do any help here. It was unfortunate that he had to evacuate the others or else, they would have more people to deal with the enemies.

Despite Chaaya's surprise towards the reappearing base, the two Jiangshis did not wait. Being corpses that did not have any intelligence, they were only moving on instincts left in their bodies and the orders they received from their owner.

Thus, the two Jiangshis charged towards Mark without hesitation. Looking at it, Mark noticed that these two were different from the ones he fought last night. Those two fought using a sword and a chain. This time, he was facing ones that were using throwing daggers and a spear.

One retreated while the other charged forwards. Taking out knives from inside the sleeves, the Jiangshi that fell back threw several knives, flying at a faster momentum as the one that charged forwards. On the other hand, the Jiangshi with the spear pointed his spear forward, making a swift charge at Mark.

Seeing that the two Jianshis started, Chaaya did not hesitate anymore and also moved. She ran a few steps forwards before vanishing into the shadows.

Mark faced the two Jianghis and waved the [Slicer] and [Divider] differently. The first shot forwards while the other circled his body. Both moved like living things with minds of their own.

TING! TING! TING!

The knives arrived first at Mark, creating multiple metallic sounds as the [Divider] deflected each of them.

PANG!

Another loud sound echoed as the tip of [Slicer] collided with the tip of the spear. After deflecting the spear, the sword-whip did not stop and swirled towards the Jiangshi holding it. Seeing the danger, the Jiangshi circled his spear, trying to tie the sword-whip with its shaft.

However, as he circled the spear, the incoming sword-whip was the same. The Jiangshi was unable to do what it tried to and had no choice but to jump back and retreat.

Using the momentum of that retreat, Mark then did what the Jiangshi wanted. He controlled the [Slicer] and tied it on the spear. However, since the Jiangshi already jumped back, the spear was tugged away from his grasp instead.

Behind Mark, Chaaya appeared once more, attacking more aggressively than before. However, there was no way for her to get through with Ignis blocking the way firmly. Furthermore, every time that she wanted to skip into the shadow of Mark, the black flames of Ignis shot off, making her unable to.

Then, as Chaaya was fended off by Ignis, a spear flew towards her, which made her retreat immediately.

"Hah," Mark sighed. "Sorry, I want to play more, but I can't."

Mark said as he turned his gaze at Chaaya. His eyes glowed bright red, which complemented his expression that cared for nothing.

"GAHA!"

Chaaya fell on her knees. She held her head that felt like it was about to split.

Seeing that, the two Jiangshis rushed over to protect her. Unfortunately for the two, they were on the other side of Mark. There was no way that he would let them do so.

However, since these Jiangshis seem to be precious, he would not try to kill them. The attention of the two Jiangshis was towards protecting their current commander. Using that as the opening, Mark vanished into a puff of smoke while scattering Miasma at the same time.

Feeling the danger that the Miasma could bring to them, the two froze from going forwards. But then, from inside the Miasma, a hand burst fort from the black wall and grabbed the talismans stuck on their faces consecutively.

Unable to dodge the sudden attack that lacked killing intent or ill will, the two corpses fell like puppets with their strings cut.

The Miasma vanished, leaving only Mark and Ignis standing. Chaaya already lost her consciousness and was sprawled on the ground, and the corpses were rendered immobile. Ignis flew into the sheath on his Master's back. Mark did the same and sheathed the two sword-whips.

With a puff of black smoke that swirled around, Mark, Ignis, Chaaya, and the two Jianshis vanished.

***

At the hill, Tan Sitong suddenly stood up. He lost connection to two of his Jianghis once more. Being the Master of these jumping corpses, although he could not communicate with them mentally, he could a least feel when the talisman on their forehead was working or not.

Tan Sitong's connection with the Jiangshis getting cut off was not new. Since these jumping corpses were more adept in ancient martial arts than modern warfare, for the talismans to get destroyed because of bullets could happen. Nevertheless, it was very unusual to happen as the Jiangshis excelled in detecting danger. The last time that it happened was when they stirred some conflicts in Vietnam before but had a harder time than expected due to the Vietnamese terrain at that time.

Now, however, this was the second time it happened in just one mission. Furthermore, it happened in pairs. The more Tan Sitong spent his time here, the more he found things inconceivable.

Tan Sitong looked at the area where the connection cut off. A big explosion of Miasma was present. That thing itself was already unbelievable. Why would Miasma suddenly appear and disappear in this place for the second time?

Did his Jiangshis got caught by the sudden surge of Miasma?

Tan Sitong already had to issue commands to deal with the reappearance of their target base. They could not just charge in blindly considering that the current appearance of the target was vastly different from the reports he received.

His temper was getting riled up. Furthermore, Huo Long Yue was still missing. He also started to suspect the unexpected.

"Use Berserk Pills. Send in the humans."

He ordered in a cold manner that chilled even the person he gave the order.

The messenger immediately vanished to relay the orders to the squad handling the humans.

Frowning deeply, Tan Sitong waited for the execution of his orders and the retrieval of the two Jiangshis if there was still any corpse left. But to add salt to his already riled up temper, none of it happened.

Tan Sitong was severely furious, yet, it made him realize something.

The enemy was within their ranks. If this was the case, it might be possible that Huo Long Yue did not run off again but was already dead. It should be the same for the messenger he sent, or else, why would the humans remain there not moving?

Thus, he shouted from the top of the hill.

"Release the Soulless Ones!"

With that command, the army composed of five-hundred [Level 3 Mutated Infected] charged forwards with their ferocious roars.

It was already unnerving to see a horde of normal infected coming towards anyone's settlement. But to see half a thousand highly mutated infected, most people would have abandoned their bases and fled already.

This horde was something that even the soldiers of settlements would struggle to fend off.

Roars and growls echoed loudly as the mutated infected closed in towards the base. Some were fast, and some were slow. Nevertheless, that disarrangement showed which ones were attackers and which ones had a higher defense.

But contrary to anyone would expect, the base continued to fire towards the hiding members of Auraboros. They completely ignored the ferocious horde that was coming their way.

And then, they saw a strange sight.

The horde arrived at the strange forest that surrounded the base. Once the mutated infected entered, however, the infected started running off in every direction.

They did run off in every direction except the direction of the base they should attack.

Some would run off along the strange forest, while others would end up running out towards the direction where they entered.

Those infected that got out of the forest would reenter, following the orders given to them but would end up doing the same, repeating the process.

This strange sight staggered everyone's thinking process.

As for Tan Sitong, he stared widely at the comical act before him.

None of his plans here was working. This situation was unacceptable to his ego and reputation.

Something was missing in his calculations. It was the owner of the Spirit Tree that never appeared at all. Their only clue was the report given by Huo Long Yue, but that was never concrete.

Tan Sitong hated one word the most. Nevertheless, it seemed that he had no choice but to use it twice in this mission.

"Retreat!"

He shouted as loud as he could, delivering his order.

It was a different command if Tan Sitong shouted that word along with other orders. Shouting that word alone, however, meant that they were canceling the mission and needed to evacuate the area.

None of the members of Auraboros here though that they would hear that from their leader. Nevertheless, they understood why.

All that happened here was inconceivable to the degree of fantasy. It was even though the existence of the members of Auraboros should include themselves in that genre in the first place.

Abandoning their posts because of the order, they followed the escape plan drafted in case that something happened.

Tan Sitong might hate that word and act. Nevertheless, he was careful enough to make several plans of retreat for situations like this.

The question, however, lay in the enemy whether they would let them retreat or not.

It was not new for the winning side to pursue the enemies and slaughter the losing side.

And that was not wrong.

As they to form their retreat, the enemy within their ranks finally revealed himself.

With two swords moving like whips on his both hands and a flying black Flamberge beside him, he started to kill without mercy. With his glowing red eyes, everyone around him froze, and the blades of his swords danced.

No one was able to resist as they could not move a finger.

Seeing that, Tan Sitong immediately sent his remaining aides to assist his people. Tan Sitong knew about this from Huo Long Yue. The mental attack that the Crazy Dragon experienced the night before.

Nevertheless, who would have known that this mental attack was something of an area effect instead of a targeted one?

Huo Long Yue lacked that information as he was alone with two mindless corpses when he received the attack.

The four remaining aides tried to hold back the enemy. In terms of close-quarters combat, these corpses fighting together was equal to the fighting strength a medium-sized squad had.

But then, another burst of Miasma exploded, covering the four Jiangshis.

Tan Sitong stared wide-eyed as his connection to the four was lost instantly.

And now, he finally determined that the sudden appearance of Miasma in this place was not a coincidence. It was the enemy all this time. And without a doubt, the owner of the Spirit Tree they were trying to acquire.

An Unknown and unexpected existence. A being capable of wielding Miasma despite having a mortal flesh.

While in that predicament, however, the sky suddenly turned dark. The black, heavy clouds violently swirled as if it was already the end of the world.

For the first time since the Qing Dynasty, the time of his execution, Tan Sitong felt fear. He thought that the sky darkening was also a move of his unpredictable enemy.

Then, a ridiculing voice echoed from the sky.

"Scurrying like rats. Is this the most that the China Branch can do?"

Everyone looked up. No one was an exception.

From the circle of the vortex of clouds, a silhouette of a figure emerged.

It was high, but not high enough that everyone here that was beyond human could not see.

Nevertheless, all they could see was a robed silhouette covered in a black haze.