Mutagen

Day 368 - 6:27 PM - Mountain Back, Balong, Pucakwangi, Pati Regency, Central Java, Indonesia

"Burst. Enchant: Fire. [Flame Impact]!"

Ellie shouted as she slammed her large hammer onto a wriggling mass of flesh with six arms and seven eyes in front of her sideways. As the hammer hit the enemy, it exploded into a large mass of high-temperature flames. Instead of the enemy turning into a splatter of flesh and blood, flames engulfed its entirety. It continued to wriggle as its body slowly burned to ashes.

Unfortunately for the enemy, Ellie could not care less about how it died as she moved towards another enemy.

"Pierce. Enchant: Fire. [Penetrating Blaze]."

With her sniper rifle, Nelia was providing cover fire to her allies. Her magical bullets pierced through several enemies, engulfing them in flames using the enchantments of her weapon.

"Extension: Wind. Enchant: Fire. [Firescatter Slash]."

Not far from Ellie, Bajing's figure flickered as she ran at her fastest speed. She then appeared behind a [Flesh Creature] that resembled a four-legged animal with body parts of different creatures stuck around its body. The daggers she held flickered with fire surrounding an invisible blade of wind.

As Bajing left the vicinity of that creature towards another, it burst into flames from what seemed to be slash wounds that appeared all over its body.

"Spread. Enchant: Fire. [Flare Scatter]."

Limabela shot her pair of magical pistols. The magical bullets of fire divided mid-air, scattering before flying in different directions like homing missiles. With only a few shots, more than a dozen of these disgusting [Flesh Creatures] began to burn.

The leaders of the Moon Chasers fought bravely against the siege of the [Flesh Creatures]. And given the physical traits of the enemies, they opted for a simple but rather dangerous solution. It was to use the fire enchantments of their weapons primarily.

These [Flesh Creatures] were no ordinary enemies for quite obvious reasons. However, one of the most annoying traits these creatures had was the fact that they were hard to kill. While they seemed to have bodies retaining the shapes of different species, they were also shapeless creatures. Slashing one into two would not result in death, but both parts would turn into another smaller creature.

If a large amount of blood from these [Flesh Creatures] gathered in one place, it would also form into another creature.

To kill these [Flesh Creatures], their bodies needed to be smashed into the smallest pieces while scattering them in different places. Another was to do what the leaders of Moon Chasers were doing. It was to burn them to ashes. Fortunately, the [Flesh Creatures] seemed very vulnerable to fire, supporting the truth that they were parts of the powerful being of the night susceptible to light.

How did they realize these [Flesh Creatures] were weak to fire? It was because of Iola's barrier. Those [Flesh Creatures] that touched the barrier were not only burned by the barrier, but the flames slowly spread to the parts of their bodies not touching the barrier.

THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!

On the other side, the thumping sounds of Abbygale's steps sounded as she kicked around small barriers she conjured mid-air. Using her golem, Inaba, in [Valkyrie Mode], her steps became faster, and her kicks were stronger, although it sacrificed stealth since her steps had become heavier. Even so, it also added other functions, such as elemental enchantments around her foot.

BOOOM!

Abbygale's kick landed in the middle of a group of [Flesh Creatures]. The kick itself did not hit anything but the ground. However, the leg part of Inaba's [Valkyrie Mode] shifted with a burst of flames in the surroundings.

"YAH!"

Miracle's lively voice sounded as she punched a [Flesh Creature]. There were no flames. There was just the force of her punch. However, with Cavaal in [Valkyrie Mode], just the bare impact of her punch nearly disintegrates the already squishy bodies of the [Flesh Creatures]. While there might still be left of the flesh and blood, it was too minuscule to remain functional.

BANG! BANG!

Along with Abbygale and Miracle, Mei also fought. Even though the weapons she was currently using were just a pair of Mark's prototype pistols, they had enough function to not let her get behind this final stretch of the fight.

As for the others who were still conscious, they could only stay protected inside Iola's barrier. There was nothing they could do since they were either a bad match-up against the current enemies or just not in the state to continue fighting.

Still, Louis did his best to assist everyone fighting outside the barrier. With his [Geokinesis], he could still help by manipulating the soil to block attacks from blind spots or to stall the enemies.

And while all these happened, Elise was sulking beside Magwayen.

After all, Mark only gave her a short glance before leaving. Magwayen also stopped her from approaching Mark.

"Don't be sad," Emika tapped Elise's shoulder. "Just demand a reward from Uncle later."

There was a reason why Mark avoided approaching Elise at this moment. It was because of something Magwayen told them inside their minds in that short moment when Mark arrived.

The fight against the Night Goddess was still ongoing, and they were still under the influence of her presence. While the effects on their mental state waned during the fight, the unconscious people still remained vulnerable to it. Fortunately, Elise and the powers she currently exhibited prevented the worst for everyone. But in exchange, Elise must not move away from them.

On the other hand, in his current form, the battledress Mark wore was created using materialized [Aura of Death]. It contained the thick negative sentiment of the souls sacrificed by the Deity of Soul Sacrifice. If he approached, it would likely dispel the effects of Elise's power and have far worse effects on the unconscious people.

That was why Mark left without direct interaction with Elise. The others interpreted it as Mark being in a hurry. However, this was the truth of the matter.

Seeing that Emika misunderstood, Elise could only sigh. Even so, she could not help but give Magwayen a hostile stare, no matter how unreasonable it was.

Magwayen sensed Elise's stare, of course. Who would think that such a petite girl would have the courage to glare angrily at a literal Goddess? Fortunately, Magwayen did not really care. There was no way such a stare would affect her in the slightest.

Instead, Magwayen's eyes were focused on the sky.

***

"Bask in the moonlight. None shall escape thy shine. [Moonlight Seeker]."

Luna floated in the sky as she chanted. As she called out the name of the attack, more than a hundred fist-sized orbs of light appeared around her. And with a wave of her hand, the orbs of light scattered like shooting stars.

Seeking their targets, the orb of lights chased after the enemies in the sky. Upon contact, the orbs of light expanded and vanished, engulfing the [Flesh Creatures] and not leaving any remains behind.

The [Flesh Creatures] in the sky died one after another. However, Luna was not done yet.

"Like tears of life. Rain through the darkness. [Moonlight Drizzle]."

And like rain, countless streaks of light fell from the sky. The rain of light did nothing to the ground, the trees, and Luna's allies. However, when a single drop of this rain of light touched the [Flesh Creatures], it dug through a large hole in their bodies. And since it was a rain of light, the [Flesh Creatures] within the range of the attack were not only hit once or twice.

The rain of light hit them several times to the point that no remains of their bodies were left.

Unfortunately, while the scale of Luna's attack was large, the range was limited. Since the number of enemies was enormous and covered a large area, she had to move and continue fighting.

"GRRRR!!!"

On the ground, a slaughter ensued.

With muffled growls coming from his throat and ivory-like claws glowing in the darkness, Edge tore apart the countless enemies swarming at him.

Edge's claws glowed, containing the same properties as Luna's attacks. In each of his claw strikes, the flesh and blood of the [Flesh Creatures] would disintegrate.

Of course, Edge's barbaric ways of attacks still caused flesh and blood to scatter on the battlefield. After all, the only things he could disintegrate were those that his claws touched, while the other parts of the supposedly killed enemy would fall to the ground, trampled by the others.

Those "dead" parts would soon reemerge and reshape as another creature to attack Edge. However, it seemed that it did not matter at all to him. Even if they returned, he would end up slashing them once more with his claws, and the process would repeat until no remains of those enemies would be left to revive.

Nonetheless, it seemed that the number of [Flesh Creatures] around Edge accumulated too much to the point of being dangerous.

That was why...

"AROOOO!!!"

Edge howled. His silver-colored fur and mane glowed brightly. He then punched the ground, causing a large crater to emerge. At the same time, the light covering his body was released, engulfing several dozen meters around him with bright light.

After the light vanished, only Edge was left within the crater.

In that instant, Edge killed more than a thousand enemies around him without leaving any remains to revive. Unfortunately, it was just a small portion of the enemies as more began to swarm the space he had just freed.

"Hmmph."

Edge harrumphed. He was still lively and energetic. He could still pull off many attacks similar to what he did just now.

***

Lastly, Mark. He was now soaring through the trees of the forest on the mountain on Mountain Back's shell.

The forest was also filled with [Flesh Creatures]. They all attacked Mark without fear, only to turn into nothingness as [Miasma] swallowed their entirety. Unfortunately for these [Flesh Creatures], Mark had no time to hold back. He had already used a large amount of [Miasma] earlier anyway.

There was no point in worrying if the [Infected] that would likely be roaming this area after this battle would take on the [Miasma's] properties.

Besides, they would leave this place after this battle. While [Miasma-infused Infected] might appear in the future, they could go and deal with them when the time came.

At this moment, the most important thing to do was to deal with the main enemy.

It was the shadow that Mark was currently pursuing. Quickly and nimbly, the shadow jumped into a [Flesh Creature] before jumping into another. The shadow could not exist without any medium, as it seemed. That was why it was using the [Flesh Creatures] as a means to flee. It also used the [Flesh Creatures] it possessed to hinder Mark before jumping into another body.

Without a doubt, the shadow, no, the [Soul] of the Night Goddess, thought she could throw off Mark's pursuit this way. In the first place, she was utterly confused as to how her pursuer had the same appearance she had, which caused momentarily confusion in her mind. But when the confusion vanished after she was attacked, only one emotion was left within her.

It was fear.

The Night Goddess could not understand. When she fought these supposed prey, when her body was damaged, and she went berserk after her body showed its true form, she never felt any fear.

When the Night Goddess fought Luna and Edge, she was more delighted than scared. She began learning, copying attacks of the two, which had similar properties to her own.

But when the woman with the same appearance as her appeared, the Night Goddess' soul shook. Her entire existence trembled. She could not understand why. The only thing she knew was that she needed to escape no matter what.

However, to the dismay of the scared Night Goddess, the pursuit continued no matter what she did.

In the end, the Night Goddess reached the top of the giant turtle's head. But here, she had no other bodies to use and transfer to.

The Night Goddess was trapped. The only thing she could do was to jump off the head and join the horde of [Flesh Creatures] below, which she could use as a diversion to escape.

Unfortunately, the mind and soul of the Night Goddess were now filled with nothing but fear. It was too much that she stopped thinking after she saw the dead end with nothing to run to.

TAP. TAP.

The sound of feet landing on the hard scales sounded. Hearing the sound, the [Flesh Creature] the Night Goddess was now inhabiting flinched. The [Flesh Creature] turned its eight heads around and shivered.

There. The woman bearing the Night Goddess' appearance stood, staring at her silently with a mysterious smile.

"Finally tired of trying to escape?"

The sweet voice filled with pressure entered the ears of the Night Goddess. That voice made her shiver in fear even more.

Without a doubt, the Night Goddess was cornered, deprived of the ability to contemplate whether she could continue escaping, or fight with everything she had left.

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