Mutagen

Day 240 - 10:23 AM - Mount Canlaon, Municipality of Codcod, Province of Negros Occidental

Sinogo's anger increased steadily.

The first goal of the [Infected] was to spread their kind, no matter how intelligent or sentient they were. But once an [Infected's] mind mutated too far, sometimes, that desire to infect others would get overridden by various factors.

It was especially the case of [Monarch Types], who developed sentience and various interests.

In Sinogo's case, after he became [Infected], he absorbed the power of the seal that imprisoned him. The unique power of the Supreme God of the Sky, Kaptan. This unique power caused his mind to grow far from the usual [Infected].

This unique power also fueled his desire to gain more.

However, that desire and Sinogo's mental and emotional growth were hindered by one thing...

Sinogo's current body... the form of a gigantic golden crocodile...

It intensified Sinogo's instincts and desires, not as a former Deity but as an Arrogant Beast.

...An Arrogant Beast that saw every living thing, not of his kind, as prey.

...An Arrogant Beast that saw everything around him as his own.

...An Arrogant Beast that saw himself as the strongest... as the king of everything.

With a stomp of his legs, Sinogo could create large waves that could swallow the land.

With a wave of his tail, he could destroy large hills and small mountains.

With a single breath, the tallest mountains could be erased in an instant.

With his scales on his body, he was invincible.

No one had ever withstood his powerful attacks.

No one had ever pierced through his tough defense.

No one...

Until this very moment...

Sinogo could not believe it.

His authority was being tarnished. He was being pushed back into the corner by the pests he saw no more than ants.

The worst thing...

Sinogo remembered one of his current enemies. The man with black armor and clothing with three pairs of wings. It was not like he remembered his appearance. Instead, he remembered the man's aura.

That aura gave him a sense of dread. Back then, during their first encounter, Sinogo felt that aura out of nowhere and shot in the direction it was coming from. It was then revealed that the aura was coming from a person concealed within the darkness of the night.

Sinogo saw that man managed to avoid the brunt of his sudden attack and escaped. However, he did not pursue the man. It was due to the dreadful aura Sinogo felt from him.

It was an animal's instinct not to pursue something they felt dangerous. There might be some exceptions, but that was mostly the case.

And now, while Sinogo was aiming to devour the magical races and attack their home mountain brimming with Magical Energy...

Sinogo encountered the man with the dreadful aura once more. And like before, he attacked the man without any warning. He did not want to deal with that man and hoped that even if the attack did not hit, the man would leave like before.

But that was not the case this time. Sinogo's attack this time was evaded by the man entirely. Worst, the man was not alone. He appeared with someone else who did not get killed by his attack.

And Sinogo could feel a different kind of dread towards that unfamiliar companion.

Sinogo, who viewed himself as the ruler of the Visayan waters, was intimidated by that pair of small ants. He could not understand why it was happening. However, his instincts were ringing danger.

The dread intensified when the man unharmed by Sinogo's attack transformed. The aura that that man released chilled Sinogo to the bone.

That was why Sinogo decided to end it quickly. Even if it would destroy his initial goal in this place... Even if it would obliterate his entire army...

Sinogo decided to end this farce with his strongest attack. It was the strongest attack he had ever created since he woke up in this world.

But to Sinogo's surprise and fear... The two people he dreaded charged toward him instead of fleeing. He could only step back and bide for his attack to fully form.

Then, it happened.

The worst embarrassment Sinogo experienced since he woke up. To be almost obliterated by the strength of his own attack.

Sinogo's body was injured. He was bleeding and was in great pain.

But that was the least of his concern.

Sinogo was furious to be in such a state. The dread he felt vanished. All he wanted was to trample on the pests that made him like this.

But that was easier said than done.

The enemies were full of tricks, aiming for his blind spots and attacking his injuries. He was in great pain and was unable to retaliate.

Sinogo thought before... Size came hand in hand with power. The larger they were, the more powerful they became.

But slowly... That ideal Sinogo had was becoming overturned by what he thought of as nothing but weak pests he could trample any time he wanted.

Size did not matter when it came to strength or power. And now... Sinogo's gigantic size was becoming more of a problem than an advantage.

Because of his size, the burden on Sinogo's body was greater. He moved slower, and any attacks shot at him would hit. There was no place to hide or retreat other than the bodies of water. But while he was near the coast, it was still a bit far to reach immediately.

ROOOAAARRR!!!

Sinogo roared. It was not because of pain but anger.

If only he was smaller and faster, these pests would not stand a chance.

***ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ (f)ire

BOOM! STOMP! THOOOM!

Mark and the rest did not stop attacking Sinogo.

The [Miasmic Flames] continued to burn on Sinogo's back as Mark continued to fuel it. Tinala and Binituin flew around Sinogo, attacking the wounds on his limbs at any possible opportunity. It was the same for Chimetrice, attacking Sinogo's feet and tearing the scales off the gigantic golden crocodile whenever he could. The only thing everyone avoided the most was Sinogo's tail, as it whipped everywhere, and a single hit could either kill or send them flying miles away.

Frustratingly... Mark and the others were barely doing any damage.

They were definitely causing Sinogo great amounts of pain, but it was far from being able to kill it.

At some point, Mark took out his [Shadow Piercer]. It was his precious self-powered railgun. Since the goal was to kill Sinogo, just disabling him would not do. They had to destroy Sinogo's brain.

Without wasting time, Mark found the right angles and shot unto Sinogo's head.

However, the spikes that the [Shadow Piercer] shot could not pierce through Sinogo's skin and flesh entirely. The most it could do was burrow half of the one and a half foot arrow spikes, leaving it stuck on Sinogo's head without even dealing any noticeable damage.

Nonetheless, this was becoming a one-sided fight. The barrage of attacks at different angles rendered Sinogo unable to counterattack. Once he tried to, he was attacked from a different angle, taking away the chance and his attention. If they continued this, there would only be two possible outcomes.

It was whether they wear off Sinogo or they would be the ones worn off first.

In any case, this was the better scenario than letting Sinogo rampage around.

But then...

ROOOAR!!! THOOOM!!!

All of a sudden, Sinogo roared as he released blinding light from his body.

Mark and the others immediately retreated. To their surprise, the light did not do them any harm. But Mark immediately realized what happened.

"This guy..."

Mark murmured as she stared at Sinogo.

Sinogo discharged his Magical Energy in a way he never did before. Unlike the previous ones where he shot his Magical Energy like beams, Sinogo released them around his body like a wave. The wave of energy only extended a few meters around Sinogo's body. But it was more than enough to completely put out the [Miasmic Flames] burning on his back and make everyone move away.

An opportunity for Sinogo to retaliate unexpectedly opened.

ROOARR!!!

And once more, another unexpected attack came from Sinogo. Unlike before where beams of light came from his mouth, smaller balls of light formed around his wounded body.

Then...

THOOM!!!

Each ball of light fired smaller beams towards Mark and the other three.

Chimetrice disregarded the beams and did not even try to evade them. His tough body did not even get scratched by the smaller beams.

It was the complete opposite to Mark and the two [Diwatas], however. One hit from these beams would tear open a hole in their bodies. A single blow could mean their death. They had no other choice but to evade every single beam of light if they did not want to die.

But how many beams were there? Ten? Twenty? It was hard to count.

This was bad. It was clear that SInogo was slowly learning new things in the middle of the battle. It was better if they end this quickly than to let Sinogo grow further.

"Tsk."

Mark clicked his tongue as he waved his hand. Black, misty balls of smoke shot off his hand to cover his body. He then pushed both his hands forward, launching surges of the black mist towards the balls of light floating around Sinogo.

For the first time in this battle, Mark used [Miasma] to the surprise of both Tinala and Binituin. The surprise only lasted an instant, however. They needed to pay attention to the attacks coming their way instead of gawking at Mark's unexpected ability.

Mark's [Miasma] immediately reached and slowly swallowed the balls of light in his close proximity.

The surge of [Miasma] seemed to have caused Sinogo to step back. However, the injuries Mark and the three inflicted hindered the gigantic golden crocodile from doing so. As a last resort, all the balls of light he conjured left the other three and shot towards Mark and his veil of [Miasma].

Mark's both eyes glowed violet. With dozens of beams shooting toward him at once, he had no choice but fully utilize his [Future Predictio] to avoid each attack.

All of Mark's wings worked to the limit. He also used his [Shadow Mist Movement] repeatedly at any given opportunity. He was facing attacks moving at the speed of light, each one capable of killing him or at least severely injuring him.

A single hit would determine Mark's life and death.

It was a good thing that the veil of [Miasma] Mark conjured could reduce the intensity and strength of the beams that passed through it. It would have been more favorable if the [Miasma] could absorb those attacks. Unfortunately, such thinking was asking for the impossible.

These beams of light were created by the magical energy of the Supreme Sky God, Kaptan. The magical energy of a god was the bane of Demons and negative energies such as [Miasma].

The beams of light tore through Mark's veil of [Miasma]. It was amazing that Mark was still alive and basically unscathed despite the barrage of attacks.

Even so, dodging the attacks was the most Mark could do in this situation. He could only clench his teeth as he felt the searing heat from each beam passing near his body.

But with Mark taking all the attacks, Chimetrice and the two [Diwatas] became free to move.

Chimetrice immediately hid his presence, running under Sinogo's belly. The two [Diwatas] joined together and created a two-person [Joint Magic] of their own.

BOOM!

Suddenly, Sinogo fell, creating an earthquake-like tremor as his underside slumped to the ground.

Chimetrice used his wits and attacked Sinogo's right forelimb from the inner side before shooting himself towards the other forelimb in an instant. The two [Diwatas] also contributed as they shot their own ball of magical energy unto Sinogo's back.

With both Sinogo's forelimbs thrown outwards by Chimetrice and the heavy impact on his back because of the two [Diwatas], he fell to the ground without being able to resist.

As they said... The larger they were, the harder they fell.

Sinogo's large body crushed the ground beneath him. The impact also stopped his barrage of attacks, and the balls of light around his body vanished.

The fall might have rattled Sinogo, but it was not enough to stop him. He immediately tried to recover from the fall.

But unexpectedly... Sinogo found himself unable to move. His body felt paralyzed from the inside.

​ Mark stopped mid-air and looked at Sinogo below. He then looked above. The [Mini Cube] was flying way far above the area of battle.

If one was not paying attention, they would not notice. However, small bits of white dust were falling from the sky and covering the entire battlefield around Sinogo.

This was the best opportunity to finish this battle.

As such...

Mark extended his hand, taking two items from his ring.

The [Butterfly of Knowledge] and the [Crystal Staff].

Holding the two items in his hands, Mark shouted to Chimetrice and the two [Diwatas].

"Retreat! I'm going for a big one!"