Mutagen

Day 368 - 6:30 PM - Mountain Back, Balong, Pucakwangi, Pati Regency, Central Java, Indonesia

"Finally tired of trying to escape?"

Mark asked as he landed in front of the target.

Currently, the Night Goddess inhabited a [Flesh Creature], which looked like a disfigured four-legged animal. It had six legs, though, all from different creatures. It included a human arm as its left hind leg. It only had one head, which looked like nothing but a spherical flesh sack with a pair of dragonfly-looking compound eyes.

Nonetheless, if one looked at the compound eyes closely, one could see layers upon layers of stacked eyes that also came from different creatures.

Disgusting, just like the other [Flesh Creatures] that littered the surroundings. It was the only proper word to describe the [Flesh Creatures].

Even so, Mark could not care less about the appearance. It was not any different from a lot of [Mutated Infected] that mutated too far from their original appearance.

Mark only cared about the Night Goddess, now inhabiting the [Flesh Creature].

Funny enough for Mark, it seemed the Night Goddess could sense the danger he posed to her. The imposing creation of the Deity of Soul Sacrifice was proud of was now stuck atop the head of the Giant Turtle, unable to think properly because of fear.

And it seemed that the Night Goddess did not recognize Mark at all. Although brief, Mark had been near the Night Goddess before, after all. Or maybe it was because Mark had a different appearance currently? It should not be the cause, though. After all, appearance should not matter to Gods and Deities who could use various means to recognize their foes.

But it looked like the case was different for the Night Goddess. Not surprising, though. While looking like a full-grown woman and behaving like a beast, the Night Goddess was only born a few days ago.

And because of the circumstances of her awakening, the Night Goddess did not get properly educated, or in this case, controlled by her creator.

The Night Goddess had gone this far, relying only on her instincts and nothing else.

"If you're not trying to escape anymore. Then, let's end this- Whoops."

Mark jumped back as a black beam of pure magical energy extended upward from the ground beneath his feet.

TAP!

Mark's right foot landed after evading, but he immediately kicked the ground to jump somewhere else. It was because another black beam tore through the space where he was about to land.

With a shrug, Mark took another quick jump to evade as another attack came from a different direction.

Of course, ending this mess would not be easy.

As some people have said, "Even a frightened mouse would fight back when driven to a corner."

In this case, the Night Goddess became so frightened that she began attacking the source. As a last resort, or maybe the only thing she could do now, the Night Goddess used the surrounding darkness to fire black beams from different directions.

"Black beams, huh?"

Mark murmured as he evaded another black beam.

CRACKLE!

Mark then observed how dangerous these beams were.

Beams of light were technically a laser. They contained high concentrations of energy and heat, which would cause things they hit to either burn or melt.

But what about these black beams?

As Mark evaded one beam after another, he could not help but notice the massive drop in temperature around him. Most of these black beams shot upwards, and only a few were from the sideward angles. Those sideward beams hit some obstacles, which were now starting to freeze.

The trunk of a nearby tree got hit directly. Unlike laser, the beam did not burn through but froze the spot that got hit and crushed through.

It was not ice magic. It was just that these beams were the complete opposite of laser, robbing the surroundings of energy and temperature.

Darkness was just the default state without light and energy. Things wrapped in absolute darkness would begin freezing.

Mark might end up freezing to death if he got hit by these black beams.

For Mark, freezing was much worse. Mark had already experienced getting burned or being surrounded by extremely high temperatures several times. As such, his adaptability and [Regeneration] had already given him some resistance to it. Freezing to death, on the other hand, was something Mark had yet to experience.

"I would rather not get frostbitten here."

Mark murmured as he landed. As the skirt of his battledress followed his movement, it bloomed while black flames exploded around him.

The black beams hit the black flames, vanishing without being able to do anything.

Seeing what happened, the Night Goddess shivered.

The black flames Mark had were not some cold-temperature fire. While it was correct that the hottest temperatures glowed white, it was because the color represented the amount of energy escaping from its source.

On the other hand, black flames could be the coldest kind of flame, or it could be something stronger than white flames.

Colors were just the result of energy discharge. If something was perfectly contained to the point it was not allowed to release or bounce off light, it would appear black in everyone's eyes.

Only those enveloped in Mark's flames would know how hot they were.

In an instant, the beams were rendered useless. As the flames spread in the surroundings, the freezing temperatures caused by the black beams returned to normal.

"Can we end this already?"

The black flames around Mark parted as he walked closer to the Night Goddess. The scene looked majestic because of Mark's current appearance, but the Night Goddess could not really care about anything while drowning in fear.

KRYAAA!!!

A loud cry escaped the Night Goddess as countless black beams rained onto Mark. But just like before, the black flames danced around Mark, blocking all the black beams and rendering them all useless.

Slowly, Mark continued to walk closer, not minding the countless black beams attacking him.

In response, the afraid Night Goddess began to take steps backward.

And at the end of it, the Night Goddess suddenly lost footing. She did not notice she stepped off the head of the Giant Turtle. Since her current body was of a [Flesh Creature], its wriggly flesh body barely had any balance or even just the ability to properly distribute its weight. So, as a leg lost footing, the rest of the [Flesh Creature's] body began slipping off.

Before the fearful Night Goddess noticed, she was already plummeting to the ground.

But as the Night Goddess stared at the Night Sky, she saw the enemy who shared a splitting image with her chasing after her.

In a panic, the Night Goddess fired off black beams once more. But, of course, it was all useless. The black flames blocked all her attacks and shot towards her, engulfing her entire body and soul.

The Night Goddess felt extremely afraid. But the fear aside, the black flames felt extremely warm.

It might be the end. But it was not a bad feeling, in the least.

And with those final thoughts, the artificially induced darkness in the surroundings vanished, indicating the defeat of the Night Goddess.

***

"Okaaay~"

Mark landed on the ground below the Giant Turtle, now surrounded by countless [Flesh Creatures].

Without hesitation, the [Flesh Creatures] pounced at him for whatever purpose they might have, just like the [Infected].

TAP!

Mark tapped his right foot on the ground. Black flames burned around him, spreading for around a dozen meters away. It burned everything that tried to pass through, and no flesh creature, whose bodies were extremely vulnerable to fire, could pass even an inch into the wall of black flames.

"Well, now..."

Mark shrugged as he looked at his hands clutched into his abdomen. As he put his hands near his face and opened it slowly, a black ethereal ball was inside it, surrounded by the light emitted by his hands.

"I'll be taking it back~."

Mark happily said as he took something back from the ethereal ball. These were the emotions of fear and anger that he bestowed right at the moment she was born.

The black ethereal ball was nothing else but the waning soul of the Night Goddess. The things Mark was taking back were the emotions he put in her during the ritual of her awakening. These emotions were the cause of everything that ruined the plans of the Deity of Soul Sacrifice. These were also the causes that made her go berserk.

With pieces of memories left of the Dieity of Soul Sacrifice, Mark learned many things. One of them was that the Night Goddess was supposed to be created without any ego. A near-perfect puppet God. That was what the Deity of Soul Sacrifice wanted to create. After all, there was no guarantee that a creation with an ego would be loyal to him if he was the weaker one.

If anything, the only thing that the Night Goddess should have that could be considered as ego was her supposed loyalty to her creator. It was the reason why the final sacrifices to create her soul were the loyal army of [Face Wearers] the Deity of Soul Sacrifice had painstakingly created. It was to carry over their loyalty to the soul of the Night Goddess.

"Hmmm. Good."

Mark smiled as he saw the Night Goddess' soul become dormant after he extracted the unnecessary emotions. The Night Goddess returned to what she was supposed to be. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, it would take some time for her to wake up since her fight with everyone nearly drained her of everything.

In fact, the Night Goddess' soul was already on the verge of dissipating. It was only because of Mark's [Spirit Healing] that her existence could be kept like this.

Hmmm? Was Mark supposed to kill her?

That was the intention until Mark absorbed the Deity of Soul Sacrifice. But now that Mark had the fragments of the annoying guy's memories, Mark could put this fragmented knowledge to use.

Besides, Mark was pretty pissed. He lost his armor and weapon. The battle was annoying. Even the "Arrogant One" and the "Narcicisstic One" managed to escape. Furthermore, the Deity of Soul Sacrifice destroyed his soul on purpose to hide something from Mark. The fragmented knowledge Mark gained would not be enough compensation for all the trouble in his eyes.

As such, Mark would be taking this puppet for himself. A Deity-level servant would be nice to have.

Yes, Deity-level. The current Night Goddess was just Deity-level.

The original level of the Night Goddess was more or less a DemiGod, or a lower God at most. However, that level was achieved with the combination of her soul and body. Unfortunately, Mark only had the soul in his hands. As for her body, there was nothing much to say about it since it was pretty obvious where it was now.

The body...

"Haahhh..."

Mark sighed as he looked around him and sniffed the disgusting smell left by burning flesh.

It would be a pain to clean all of these up.

There should be tens of thousands of [Flesh Creatures] now surrounding them. While Mark already captured the Night Goddess' soul, and there would be little to no chance of her reviving using the [Flesh Creatures], these disgusting creatures could still develop into something really troublesome if left alone.

Although these [Flesh Creatures] did not pose much threat individually, they were more or less a Sinogo-level threat when put together. There was also the possibility of them trying to rebuild themselves as one gigantic individual.

As such, everyone would need to clear all this mess. And, of course, deal with the incoming mess too.

It was because the battle here should have already alerted all possible enemies in the vicinity. It would not be a surprise if hordes of [Infected] arrived here in the next several hours.

In any case, Mark joined the extermination efforts. First was the enemies on the back of the [Giant Infected Turtle]. And then, the countless [Flesh Creatures] below and in the sky.

Everyone helped as much as they could. Even the unconscious people helped after they woke up and were briefed on the current situation.

Nonetheless, mortals had limits. After a few hours of constant battles, everything ended up being left in the hands of Mark, Amihan, Edge, Luna, and unexpectedly, Kana. Everyone tired took some rest and even slept to recover fatigue. After they rested, they joined the battle once again to be of help even a little.

In the next several hours, Mark's thoughts were proven to be correct. Hordes of [Infected] appeared. However, instead of joining the [Flesh Creatures], a war between the [Flesh Creatures] and the [Infected] erupted instead.

Everyone could not help but watch in amazement as the enemies tried to take care of each other. It also lessened the burden on everyone and gave them some extra time to rest.

In the end, the sun was already rising when the last enemy was taken care of. Tired from the night-long battle, everyone cleaned up and fell into their beddings soon after.

Without a choice, Mountain Back stayed in that place for another day. Not only for everyone to rest but also to observe the place in case they missed something.

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