Mutagen



Day 341 - 1:35 PM - Frontlines, Ariake, Reclaimed City, Ruins of Tokyo

The interactions between Mark and the children gave a lighter atmosphere for everyone around to raise their morale. Unfortunately, it got cut quite short.

ROAR!

The roar louder than before entered their ears. It was the rampaging Serpent God getting too close to the barrier again.

Everyone flinched as they saw the gigantic body of the Serpent God closing in like a road-roller's steel drum. And it was not just a small steel drum but a size of a large building. Imagine a small group of mice in front of the steel drum to scale.

Even with the barrier the Priestess erected present, everyone could not help but feel scared.

BAM!

The gigantic body of the Serpent God violently crashed against the barrier. Fortunately, the barrier stood strong. Despite the impact and weight of the Serpent God, it could not destroy the barrier easily.

The unfortunate thing was that despite the barrier withstanding the impact, it still gave aftereffects.

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The Temple Priest, Akio, shouted to everyone near the point of impact.

One of the aftereffects was the shockwave created after each impact. Although the barrier could block attacks from outside, especially magical attacks, the shockwave created by the impact within the barrier was different. The barrier had no way of blocking something created from within.

The soldiers tried their best to keep standing on their posts, but many still fell to the ground. It was worse for the [Ability Holders] as many of them could not resist the shockwave and sustained some injuries.

On the other hand, those who were there right in front of where the Serpent God collided with the barrier stood safely. It was because the three people who fought face-to-face with the Serpent God would not let their members become victims of the shockwave. And in turn, those around unaffiliated with the three got caught inside their protection.

Mark, for example, did not only stand in front of his family and members but also protected the five brave children behind him.

And just like before, after causing a little bit of chaos, the Serpent God erratically flew away before crashing into the already flattened area of Toyosu.

By the looks of it, the Serpent God would not calm down anytime soon. Or probably, it would not for a long time until its eye could heal without hindrance.

And the possibility of that was highly unlikely. The only way it would be able to heal its eyes was to take it out and let a new one regenerate. Unfortunately, even if the current Serpent God was a fragment of the Legendary Yamato-no-Orochi, it had nothing but beastly instincts. The level of intelligence that the Serpent God had was not enough for its mind to consider something not meant to happen with its biological nature.

After seeing the Serpent God continue its rampage somewhere else, Mark lowered his guard a bit. It was time to plan how to end this chaos.

But first, Mark turned behind him.

"You kids okay?"

Mark asked the five children.

"We," The oldest boy looked at his friends. "We're okay."

Like the boy said, they seemed fine. Well, they were a little shaken up, but that was it.

"Good," Mark patted the boy's head. "You kids should go back inside the shelter. Mina will be sad if you kids get hurt here."

Hearing what Mark said, the kids nodded and left. The nearby shelter might be full of people, but it was safer there than outside.

  "I didn't expect you to be that nice to children."

As Mark watched the five children return to the shelter, the Priestess approached and remarked.

"I don't mind being nice to good children," Mark replied. "But I also won't hesitate to slap egoistical, ill-mannered brats who think they are the center of the world."

"Isn't that too specific?"

The Priestess was rather speechless. It made her think that Mark had some bad experiences with those kinds of children.

"Well, just don't expect me to deal with bad children in general."

Mark said before he started looking around.

"You lookin' for this?"

A familiar voice entered Mark's ear, making him turn his head.

It was the Elder Blacksmith, Yasuo. And in his hands was Mark's treasured sword.

"This fell right before you crashed," Yasuo explained. "Figured I might as well do a quick maintenance."

It was a sword that Mark and Yasuo made together. As such, Yasuo could perform proper maintenance to the sword even if it was an artifact.

Still, it seemed that Yasuo was not even a tiny bit concerned when Mark crashed into that building and got buried under the debris. It was hard to say whether Yasuo did not care or if he was confident about Mark's abilities.

Yasuo handed Mark's sword back. It sure looked cleaner and sharper than before.

"The red crystal is all dim. Is that okay?"

Yasuo asked, talking about the [Flame Manipulation Mental Crystal].

"It's only out of energy," Mark replied. "Although I sure can't use it right now."

Mark said as he moved the fixing around the crystal, and with a few clicks, the crystal popped out of the sword.

"Let's use this one this time."

Mark said, replacing the red crystal with a greenish one. It was one of the features of Mark's new sword. Not only could it utilize the crystals, but the crystals were easily replaceable. This feature made the sword also an all-purpose tool.

With the crystal replaced and Mark armored up, he was ready for the next bout.

But the problem now was how.

The Serpent God's rampage was causing a raging magical storm outside the barrier. One step outside and injury would be imminent if one did not get obliterated immediately.

Mark turned to the Priestess and the Empress.

"You two got any plan to deal with that thing outside?"

Unfortunately, the two had no concrete answer to Mark's question.

"I wish I had an answer, but even if you gave me this staff, I barely have any idea what it could do. In the least, I can ensure everyone's safety for a longer period of time, but attacking it from here would be difficult."

The Priestess said. She then created a ball of fire on her hand before throwing it out of the barrier. The moment the fireball flew out, it instantly vanished.

As if trying to convince Mark, the Priestess conjured different elemental attacks and shot them out of the barrier. But all of them either vanished or turned to dust after leaving the protection of the barrier.

It was not like the violent magical storm was like blades of energy, but the pressure the magical energy was creating seemed to be crushing everything that entered its area of effect.

"My [Manifestation] barely lasted inside the storm," The Empress chimed in. "A minute and a half. That is how long I can last in my manifested state if I were to use everything I have."

The Priestess then turned to the soldiers.

"They also tried attacking with artillery and the cannons of the warship. But all turned to nothing once they left the barrier."

It seemed that while Mark was unconscious, the Defense Forces tried various means to stop the rampaging monster. However, in the face of raw Godly power, everything was just dust.

"Should I step in?"

At this time, another voice entered Mark's ear. The same voice made both the Empress and the Priestess a little wary.

It was because the person was the most powerful person present here. It was the inhuman being from the lost era.

The [Humanoid Chimera], Chimetrice.

Mark turned to Chimetrice, who flew down from The Cube hovering above them. If it was Chimetrice, the magical storm would not have much effect.

However, there was a reason why Chimetrice was not going all out in the previous battles, even after he recovered his strength. While one was because he was letting Mark grow, the other was because of a possible deadly threat.

Chimetrice's younger brother, the other [Humanoid Chimera] created by their Creator, was still a mystery. It was possible that if Chimetrice were to use his full strength, it would cause their abrupt reunion. And his younger brother was definitely not a friendly being. While the possibility was low, it was not entirely none.

This was why Chimetrice's participation would be the very last option, even if more sacrifices had to be made.

Mark closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He then answered Chimetrice's question.

"I still have a few things to try. If it fails, we'll have to gamble with you."

"Good."

Chimetrice agreed without question and took a step back.

The Empress and the Priestess were confused. However, they did not voice any objections either. If such a powerful being had to hold himself back, there should be an important reason.

Mark then faced the Empress and the Priestess. Right now, only the two of them could help Mark fight the Serpent God.

As such, Mark relayed some of his ideas, although they would need to be tested first.

And there, everyone began their preparations for the last attempt to kill the Serpent God.

The Empress and the Priestess rejoined their respective groups for their preparations.

On the other hand, Mark looked at the people he brought with him.

"You all really want to see this through?"

Mark asked as all of them refused to return home through Spera's portal.

"Master, we are already here. We might as well see it to the end."

Odelina relayed everyone's thoughts at the moment. Yes, they could not do anything to fight the Serpent God directly, but as people who followed Mark and his unusual encounters, they learned of a few important things.

One was that Mark and Mei had the possibility to become Gods in the future. And because of that fact, the pair had another thing that could give them power, albeit only a tiny bit. It was the power of faith, the source of the power of the Gods of the past.

And Mark would definitely need it at this moment.

Mark did not try to convince them anymore and just gave a small smile as he turned to face the rampaging Serpent God.

Within Mark's mind, multitudes of thoughts echoed as if trying to find something. It was not to defeat the Serpent God but to why the voice appeared with such an enticing offer at this moment.

[Manifestation], enticement, ability, Deities. Seemingly random thoughts flashed inside Mark's mind.

Mark then looked at his hand. He was still holding onto the Mina's sash that the kids gave him.

At this moment, Mark knew he really needed the luck that a [Zashiki-Warashi] could bring. Wishing for such a miracle, Mark wore the sash as a scarf around his neck.

Then, Mark carefully stretched out his right hand, letting the tip of his index nail out of the barrier for a second. It instantly got trimmed, turning the tip to dust.

Mark's body would not be able to handle the magical storm.

But as Mark felt the magical storm through his finger, his eyes opened wider.

As they said in Chinese Cultivation fiction, turn an adversary into an opportunity.

And right now, Mark accidentally found out something.

Mark stretched out his other hand, letting the other index fingernail out of the barrier. But different from before, the nail was clad in black mist, in [Miasma].

The nail was intact, not even scratched by the magical storm. In fact, the [Miasma] managed to absorb the magical energy that tried to crush it.

This was when Mark realized.

The [Yamata-no-Orochi] might be a Godly creature, but it was no Divine being. Its energy, from the start, did not have much purity. All it had were elemental attributes and raw strength.

This situation was different from Sinogo's, who was a messenger of a Supreme God. Sinogo's magical energy was pure because of the God that created him.

And the [Yamata-no-Orochi] was no pure being.

Finally getting a hint, Mark's aura flared. It alerted everyone who could sense the change in the surroundings.

The Priestess and the Empress tried running to Mark as quickly as they could to ask what was happening.

However, everyone could only freeze in their tracks.

It was because from where Mark stood, a surge of black mist began spreading out fast. It was so fast that it formed a cloud in a few seconds and a wall soon after.

Everyone stared as the black mist began blocking their view of everything outside the barrier.

And the culprit, Mark, stood there with his hands outside the barrier. He had a fierce smile on his lips and a joyful glare in his eyes.

It was as if the luck of the [Zashiki-Warashi] manifested at Mark's behest, turning the dangerous situation into the greatest opportunity.