Mutagen

Day 151 - 11:40 PM - Mountain Farming Village, Barangay Mabini, Municipality of Viga, Catanduanes

At the center of the clearing, the Demons began to rampage. Being empowered by their Lord, it became more difficult for the Spirits and Elementals to hold them back.

That was why the next phase of the plan started.

The number of individuals fighting under Diwata Iraya's banner was already small. A loss of single life from their forces would be heavy. They could not afford it.

Thus, as the Demons reached the forest, the Yasaws appeared to take the Spirits and Elementals to retreat.

By the time the Demons entered the forests, ready to commit slaughter, not a single soul was present. Instead, strange vines enveloped the forest floor, crawling and twisting up their limbs. The strange vines began to constrict anything it caught. Even in their empowered state, the weaker Demons had no way of getting free from their constraints. Even the stronger ones were struggling.

It was not surprising. These vines were made by Dryads and were empowered by Diwata Iraya.

Most Diwatas were born of nature, and Diwata Iraya was not an exception. Her abilities had the most compatibility with plants and trees. With Diwata Iraya empowering the Dryads, their vines became as strong as thick steel tubes.

Being constricted by vines as hard as steel was not easy to escape from. It was even for the Demons.

The weaker Demons, the ones forcefully turned from humans using the rituals, fell after the vines twisted their bodies into mush.

As for the stronger ones, like the Flesh Beasts, the vines could only constrict them. Once the Demons were safely secured, it was only when some warriors would appear to end their lives if they could.

Unfortunately, not just any warrior would be able to end the lives of the Flesh Beasts. That was how troublesome these giant flesh monsters were.

Aside from Diwata Iraya, only one person could kill these monsters. Surprisingly, it was the cursed armor Morlkil. With a great sword in its hand, Morlkill rushed towards the Flesh Beasts and beheaded them in one swing of its weapon.

The loud clanging sound of Morlkil's body did not matter. The most important thing was among the warriors under Diwata Iraya. Morlkil was one of the strongest.

***

While the Flesh Beasts were being eliminated by the combined efforts of Mark, Mei, Diwata Iraya, and Morlkil, Mark's declaration finally reached the Lord of Demons.

Muggur's body turned into an ethereal state and formed a mist avatar that he used to meet Mark and Mei. Upon the destruction of his avatar, Muggur was forced to return to his real body.

With a gasp and frown, Muggur relayed Mark's words.

"How absurd," Legra remarked after hearing Muggur's report. "Demons working together with Spirits and Elementals to eliminate us? And just with the two of them? Something must be wrong with their heads."

"Old hag, you better not underestimate them," Muggur replied with a frown. "Ogon was killed by that Demon you're calling crazy."

Hearing that, Legra frowned. Ogon was one of her closest partners, and his sudden death was something she disliked.

"You two, it's not the time to argue," Lord Seis spoke while smiling sinisterly. "I don't care what they are, but since they are working with the enemy, we will make sure to make them face the consequences!"

At this point, Lord Seis took a deep breath.

"Legra. Time for you to move. Muggur, take the Flame Demon with you."

"IT IS TIME!" Lord Seis roared. "TURN THIS WHOLE PLACE INTO OUR HUNTING GROUND!"

As the shout of the Lord of Demons permeated into everyone's ears, the already dark night began to grown even darker.

Dark thick clouds began to appear in the sky, circling sinisterly as if it was going to summon a cyclone.

It was not only the sky. A dark knee-high mist began to spread, covering the ground like a flood.

The Demons roared loudly. The mist they stood on made them far stronger than before. However, it seemed that most of them lost their sanity. Without receiving any order, they left the side of their Lord, rushing towards the forest.

Unlike the weaker Demons, these ones were way faster. In a blink of an eye, they were already inside the forest, even overtaking the spreading mist. The Yasaws were unable to react fast enough to make everyone escape.

Finally, since the start of this encounter, several lives of Spirits and Elementals were taken away.

However, it was only the start.

Legra raised her tool. It was an old wooden staff that looked like twisted vines. It was dyed with blood. And instead of a gem on the tip, it had a skull of a newborn infant.

She raised the staff and began to chant inaudible words.

Then, the earth began to shake.

A gigantic worm as thick as a bus and as long as a train rose up from the ground. It had a wide gaping mouth that was more than enough to swallow a small vehicle whole.

BAM!

With a loud and strong tremor, the body of the worm slammed to the ground before it opened its mouth.

Then, a group of a few hundred dog-sized worms and insects rushed out of the worm's mouth. However, that was not all. There were also dozens of Small Demons, which appeared to be infants, crawling on all fours.

Tiyanaks. They were Demonic remnants of babies buried without any holy rites performed on its burial.

Fast and agile, the Demonic Babies rushed out of the worm's mouth and sought their prey. And with the knee-high mist on the ground, these Tiyanaks were basically invisible to everyone as they moved.

Aside from Legra, Muggur also made his move.

With the Flame Demon, he began to assist the constricted Demons inside the forest. With the lava-like flames of the Flame Demon, the vines of the Dryads were burned to ashes.

***

"Tsk. They are going all out now."

Mark clicked his tongue.

He did not expect that someone within the ranks of the Demons to be able to summon a giant worm. Mark noticed that he could not detect any mental fluctuations from the insects. However, the Tiyanaks did have some. If the worm had been here all this time, Mark would definitely detect those little Demons.

Nonetheless, Mark was sure that this gigantic thing just appeared out of nowhere.

Furthermore, there was this black mist on the ground. It gave an eerie feeling even for Mark. It was very likely that anyone that touched this mist would lose their minds.

In fact, some of the Spirits and Elementals accidentally touched it. They were now charging at their enemies like madmen. And since they already charged towards the mist-covered area, there was no saving them. Anyone that would try to would also fall into madness and follow their steps.

"A strategy breaker, huh."

Mark frowned.

It was one of the reasons why human war strategies barely worked against Demons. The weaker ones might only rely on their sturdy bodies and physical prowess. However, the stronger ones had nasty abilities that could affect their enemies physically and mentally.

There was nothing to joke about this. Some of the victims of Aswangs that managed to survive the attack would likely succumb to illness and die soon after.

It was a good thing that Mark did not let the other members of his group participate in this fight. After all, in terms of mental manipulation, the Demons in the Mortal World were far more adept compared to the ones in the Spirit Dimension.

In the Mortal World, if Demons wanted to survive, they must be able to manipulate humans. Thus, they gained and trained these types of abilities. It was unlike the Demons in the Spirit Dimension. They always relied on the brute force since most Spirits and Elementals there also had resistance to these kinds of skills.

And, of course, the worst factor here was the Demon, Lord Seis. So far, he was the strongest Demon that Mark encountered.

Back then, at the battle in the Kingdom of Black Duendes, none of the Demons gave Mark an eerie sensation compared to Lord Seis.

Mark looked at the sky. This black sky sure was eerie. Just a little more, and it would be as black as his Miasma.

At this point, the only source of light was the flames that already covered parts of the forest. The moon and the stars could not be seen any longer.

"KEEEK!!!"

Suddenly, a cry entered Mark and Mei's ears.

A small shadow jumped towards them, which Mark mercilessly swatted to the ground.

SPLAT!

A naked infant with rotten-colored skin crashed to the ground with a loud splat. Its head turned to mush.

"Tiyanak?"

Mei asked Mark.

"Yeah," Mark replied with a frown. "These guys are too fast, huh. Be careful not to get bitten. These guys had poison on their bodies."

Mark warned Mei. It was because he could see the murky and bad-smelling liquid oozing from the dead Tiyanak. The grass where the Tiyanak fell immediately withered as a sign of deadly poison.

Looking at this scene, a sinister thing entered Mark's mind.

These Tiyanaks were not born naturally. These were babies turned into Demons and were raised to bear deadly poison

Since these Tiyanaks came from that worm's mouth, it was very likely that the master of those insects was also responsible for these infants.

"Let's go."

Mark said as he soared to the sky with Mei. He then held her left hand as he let out a crystal. Before they flew over the trees, their bodies could not be seen outside anymore.

From the sky, Mark observed the ground of Demons that had yet to move from their spot. The leader was easy to find since he was releasing large amounts of magical energy at the center of their group.

However, the leader was not Mark's aim.

Mark was looking for the master of the insects and Tiyanaks. Right now, they were the most dangerous.

It just took an instant. Mark found the culprit. She was not hard to find, considering she was riding on a giant insect herself.

Mark let go of Mei's hand and pointed at the old hag. At this distance and elevation, there was no way that Mei's sniper rifle would miss.

However, before Mei could aim her gun, the attention of the two was taken away by something.

Around the forest, light bloomed like the sun during sunrise.

"Diwata Iraya also made her move, huh."

Mark murmured as the ring of light surrounded the clearing where the Demons stood. The ring of light stopped both the fire and the black mist from spreading further.

Unfortunately, Diwata Iraya's position could not be hidden because of this. Her magical energy was already released like a dam. Even those not sensitive enough to feel magical energies would detect her by instinct.

Thus, Diwata Iraya soared, floating above the forest.

"IRAYA! You finally showed yourself!" Lord Seis laughed as he suddenly turned his head behind. "And you two there. How long are you going to hide!"

Mark frowned. Unexpectedly, the Lord of Demons could detect them.

It was pointless to waste the crystal's energy in this case. Thus, Mark hid the crystal, showing his and Mei's appearance to the Demons below.

Nonetheless, the Demons were surprised.

It was because, on Mark's and Mei's backs, there was more than one pair of wings. An indication of Pureblooded Demons.

"So, what Muggur said is actually true. Hahaha!" Lord Sies was laughing hard. "What an opportunity!"

Mark frowned. He did not know what was going on with Lord Seis' mind. However, it was clear that it was something sinister.

In any case, Mark had nothing to say. Since the guy below did not stop talking, Mark gave the signal to Mei.

BANG!

Mei fired her sniper rifle.

Everyone was frozen. No one expected that Mark and Mei would not show any courtesy and attacked while Lord Sies was still talking.

The Demons examined their bodies and their Lord to see if anyone was harmed.

It was when they saw Legra fell off from her ride with a bloody fist-sized hole that tore through her head.