Mutagen

<strong>Day 152 - 1:21 PM - Mountain Foot, Catanduanes Mountains, Municipality of Bagamanoc, Catanduanes</strong>

The time after lunch. Some individuals gathered at the foot of a mountain at the center of the island of Catanduanes.

Of course, they were Mark's group along with Diwata Iraya and some of her people. Even Bathala was also present.

And why was everyone here?

It was now time for Mark's group to finally leave this island. Although it might have already been midday, they could not delay it any longer. Well, it was not wrong to say that it was actually ahead of schedule.

Mark was not finished with his plans here on this island. He also wanted to eliminate the Demons here himself. Lord Seis and his army were already dead. Even so, there were still many Demons lurking in their territory.

Even a single Demon could pose a threat to many.

However, there was no time for Mark to handle the small fries anymore. For him, a week was too short to prepare for an incoming worldwide disaster.

Sometimes, it was really better if one was innocent of the incoming danger. Those people would not feel this kind of pressure. Well, they would not have any preparations either and would likely die.

Luckily, with Bathala's presence here on the island, the Demons would be weakened further. It would be good to leave the Demons in the hands of Diwata Iraya. Besides, she had long been eager to eliminate the evil Demons on this island. However, because of the presence of a Lord that always led the Demons, she never achieved this goal.

This was a chance for Diwata Iraya to achieve her lifetime goal. Well, at least for a short time.

When the Dimension Fusion happened, more Demons would begin roaming the surface of the planet. Most of them might die because of the fusion. However, those that survived would definitely terrorize the remaining humans living on Earth.

No, not only the humans. Even the Spirits and Elementals that survived the fusion would be subjected to the same horrors.

Without a doubt, the second wave was just the start of chaos.

At this moment, Mark was struggling on the tight embrace that Aliya was giving him. He was the last to receive this embrace, with Mei and the little girls getting it first. However, Mark was sure that it was not this tight when she embraced the girls.

"Do you have to be that rough?"

Mark could not help but complain after Aliya finally let go of him.

"Don't complain like that. You're a man. You're not as delicate as the girls."

Aliya said, ruffling Mark's hair. Since she was shorter than Mark, Aliya was tiptoeing as she reached for her grandson's head.

Mark could only shrug as he stared at Aliya's eyes. She was just doing this to mask her sadness. After all, after a very long time, she met Mark, one of her descendants, with his family. It was just a short time. Now, they were leaving.

"We'll stop by before going home when we get back. If you want to, you can come with us."

Mark said, making Aliya smile. However, she shook her head.

"This place is my home. Most of my descendants are still on this island. I can't just leave this place like that."

Aliya was keen on protecting her descendants as much as she could. Even more, now that the restriction for magical beings meddling with mortals was lifted.

It meant that Aliya could directly help humans if needed.

But, of course, it was a dangerous thing too. After all, humans were always afraid of the unknown.

"Aunt." Mark turned to his aunt Gennie. "I'll leave Grandmother to you."

"Rather than leaving her to me, I might end up the opposite."

Gennie smiled bitterly. Unlike Aliya, who was now a several hundred-years old spirit, she was way weaker. At this moment, Gennie was not even that different from a ghost.

Mark did not say anything. He just mysteriously smiled as he glanced at Aliya. The latter noticed his glance and also smiled.

What the others did not know was that Mark left five [Empty Mental Crystals] for his Grandmother to keep. Yes, he had a limited number of these clear empty crystals that could absorb human psychic abilities. However, for him right now, the safety of Aliya was far heavier than the value of the crystals.

Saying goodbye to his Grandmother and Aunt, Mark turned to Diwata Iraya and Bathala.

"I guess I don't have to say anything else about the Demons."

Mark said.

"We will take care of the Demons." Bathala smiled. "You all did not have to worry."

"With Bathala present with us, we will have more than enough people to deal with them." Diwata Iraya spoke. "There is no way for them to show cowardice in the face of a god."

Sure enough, Diwata Iraya was disappointed about the warriors that did not participate in the previous battle. Now that Bathala was present, however, they would not be able to maintain their careless attitude.

While Mark talked to Bathala and Diwata Iraya, Mei and the girls also bid farewell to Aliya and Gennie one last time.

The goodbyes were done. It was time to leave.

With the sun up high in the sky, a huge black dragon and a gigantic bird of storms flew from the foot of the mountain.

On the back of Chaflar, it was the original members of Mark's group. The three new members were on the back of Trua, the Thunderbird.

Even though the number of members of the group increased, Mark expected the travel to be faster because of Berrak. It was really good that he managed to get this guy into his group.

In normal circumstances, one would worry about betrayal. It was the same situation with Berrak since he was initially an enemy before.

However, Mark had no need to worry about it any longer.

At first, Berrak was afraid of him and followed. However, he slowly adapted and turned his misfortune into an opportunity after seeing Mark's strength.

Now, it was different. Berrak was following Mark with reverence. It all started last night after it became known that Mark's group personally knew a living god while Mark was being given special treatment by beings stronger than gods.

It was not only Berrak. Both the two young soldiers were the same. Their eyes were now opened to the truth of the world. With the look in their eyes, it was clear that they would never regret joining Mark's group even if it was a dangerous trip.

"Boss!"

Suddenly, Berrak's voice was heard. It was from the radio hanging on Mark's belt. Unfortunately, the signal was a bit hazy. After all, they were flying, and the strong winds were messing with the radio frequency.

"What is it?"

Mark answered the radio.

"We are going to Cebu, right?" Berrak replied. "Where exactly in Cebu?"

It could not be helped that Berrak asked. After all, Mark did not give any concrete explanation to everyone about what they were going to do next. In fact, it was only Mark and Pefile that knew the exact details.

Furthermore, with the meeting last night about the incoming disaster, there was no time for Mark to explain the circumstances to his group. Besides, they were being careful that Edzel would not know what was going on. Pefile did not want to tell the truth even now.

In any case, the exact destination was not something that was a secret.

"Kawasan Falls."

Mark replied.

"Huh?"

Berrak seemed to be confused, and his gaze fell on the back of Pefile since they were flying behind Chaflar.

"That's right," Mark spoke to the radio before Berrak could ask further. "It's Pefile's homeland."

"Hey, Uncle." Emika suddenly spoke behind Mark. "Isn't Cebu too far from here?"

Mark glanced at Emika.

"More than four hundred fifty kilometers."

Emika winced.

The distance from Infanta to Catanduanes was about two hundred and fifty. It took them more than a whole day to reach the port in Caramoran, and it was with them already rushing it.

If they left in the middle of the afternoon, they might need about two days in this case. It might be faster if they had an airplane, but it was different now.

Besides, traveling in the sky during the apocalypse was not safe either.

"Don't worry," Mark spoke. "I don't intend to fly there in one go. Chaflar won't be able to handle that. We can land somewhere before dark and camp out. We might reach our destination tomorrow if we are lucky."

"Boss, do you have a beef with the Tamawo's there?" Berrak's voice was heard from the radio once more. "From what it looks like, we are not just going there to visit."

"Of course, we are not." Mark smiled. It was a disturbing smile. "We are going there to cause trouble."

Mark glanced at the silent Pefile. He seemed to be in agreement with what Mark said. In fact, he was also smiling sinisterly. Pefile could not wait to make a mess of his former homeland.

From the place where they started this journey to the southwest, the direction they were flying to would allow them to fly over the military settlement in Catanduanes.

As they flew closer to the settlement, Mark told Berrak to fly higher. If Chaflar and Trua flew too low over the settlement, things might become troublesome. It would be bad if the soldiers in the settlement panicked and just opened fire on them.

Looking down from the sky, everyone could see the current state of the Military Settlement in Codon. It was quite a disaster.

Although small, like ants, they could see a lot of people busy cleaning the surroundings of the settlement. It was not just soldiers but even civilians. And the reason was the mountains of dead bodies that littered the surroundings outside the walls.

As it appeared, the soldiers seemed to have a rough time last night.

It was not surprising. The fluctuation from Berrak's summoning already called hundreds of infected from across the gulf. Of course, the energy fluctuation from the battle last night was much worse.

Fortunately, the chance of another intelligent [Leader Type] infected appearing once more was quite low. If another one existed nearby, it could have appeared back then because of Berrak.

Still, it seemed that all of the infected stuck under the gulf came ashore. There were a whole lot of dead bodies. The numbers might even be more than half of the previous time.

Flying at the sky, it seemed that some people below also saw Chalfar and Trua. However, they were having a hard time trying to stare because the sun was right above, blocking the view from below.

In any case, Mark had no plans to stop by the settlement. His business in the settlement was all finished. The only thing left was his deal with Val Flora. However, there was no need to find her as she would be the one going to find him in the future.

Soon, they flew past the settlement and away from the island.

Mark could not help but look back. The very first relative that gave him unconditional warmth was on this island.

"Gege, we'll come back here again."

Mei, who was sitting beside Mark, said as she leaned on his shoulder.

"Yeah, we're going back here."

With those thoughts, they left the island.

The scene below alternated between water and land. After some time, Chaflar would need to go down to the ground to rest a bit. Of course, they did not stop but continued moving on land.

Fortunately, the journey until sunset was quite uneventful. Aside from a few infected on the ground, no notable event happened on the way.

They continued with the journey until the sky changed color.

Flying over mountains, towns, and villages, Mark found a place for them to spend the night.

It was a small farmhouse by the shore in the Municipality of Cawayan on the Island of Masbate.