Mutagen

Day 357 - 11:16 AM - Jalur Lohbener-Cirebon, Balongan, Indramayu, West Java, Indonesia

For the entire morning, Mark and his group carefully followed the trail.

The trail was not easy to trace. Although the people who left the trail passed by just a few days ago, it got broken and hidden here and there due to the fast-growing fauna in the area.

Fortunately, even if some parts of the trail were untraceable, the people who left it were going in a specific direction. These people were heading east.

While following the trail, Mark could not help but notice that they seemed to be following a rather odd path. The trail was not going straight east but had weird turns here and there.

But as Mark's group followed it through and observed the surroundings thoroughly, it became apparent why the trail was going through with different turns instead of a straight line.

Mark pulled out his phone and looked at his offline map. It may not have all the specific details, but it should at least have some important general information. And he was right. The trail seemed to be following a national road for some reason. The evidence was not only the trail, but they also found bits and pieces of ruined asphalt road here and there.

The reason why the trail followed the road was still unknown. However, Mark's group could only follow it to find out the reason why.

Unfortunately, Mark's group could not go any faster without exerting themselves too much in this kind of terrain.

Mark and the girls tried riding on the backs of Chaflar and Laelaps. Chaflar's body was large enough to be ridden by several people, while Laelaps could transform into a three-meter-tall golden wolf. However, after a ten-minute ride on the backs of the two giants, Mark's group decided against riding on them.

The reason was mostly because of the terrain. Because of the terrain filled with trees, roots, and vines, not to mention the natural terrain of the fused Spirit Dimension, the ground was terribly uneven. Both Chaflar and Laelaps could not run to their fullest. And worst, the terrain made the two extremely shaky when running. One could not put shock absorbers on living creatures, unfortunately. Thus, riding on the back of the two while traversing this forested terrain was far more tedious and tiring than walking.

Furthermore, two running giants made much more noise than just carefully walking. In that ten-minute ride, they encountered three attacks from creatures and [Infected] attracted by the noise coming from their footsteps.

Flying was a no-go, too. It was far harder to follow the trail from the sky because of the large trees that blocked the view. Furthermore, a visible target in the sky would attract more enemies than staying low on the ground and hidden between the trees.

Thus, the group could only take it slow. Being slow and careful in an unfamiliar environment would be better than being fast and reckless.

"Oh, it's another clearing."

Annica voiced out as they arrived at another clearing that intersected with the trail.

It was not the first clearing they passed through. Looking at the surroundings, it was not that the clearing existed before the trail. It was more like these clearings between the trees came to be at the same time as the trail.

And the reason?

Mark and the group looked around. Everyone could see the trees and fauna trampled in every direction.

These clearings were the result of a big battle.

Mark paused on his feet and lowered his body to the ground. He then picked up something before noticing more of the item he picked up on the ground.

"There's also bullet casings here."

Mei noticed the item Mark picked up. And it was not only around Mark. There were bullet casings here and there all over the clearing.

"ARF!"

Laelaps called everyone's attention. The golden dog was in front of a fallen tree.

Mark and the girls approached the fallen tree. They noticed the dried blood stains splattered on the trunk as if someone or something heavily bleeding got thrown on it. There was no corpse to find, though.

"It's human blood."

Mark surmised. Blood was the medium of his main [Mutator] ability. Mark recognizing human blood was a given.

"There's also some there."

Hannah called out, pointing at an underhanging section of a large rock nearby.

This scene made everyone wonder if the people who left these blood trails managed to survive. Still, only two blood trails left in such a large clearing? It was clear that these people encountered either a giant evolved animal or even a pack of animals. But if they got two casualties, they should be skilled people.

However, Mark shook his head to those thoughts. The number of bullet casings on the ground and the damage that created the clearing were not proportional if only two blood trails were left. There should also be blood from whatever they encountered.

"There's no other blood marks. Not even the thing they encountered," Feng Zhiruo said after looking around and pointing to a large monster-like footprint left on the ground. "Did the blood get washed off by rain or something?"

Rain? Mark looked at the surroundings. It would need a heavy downpour to erase blood marks completely. However, the soil was not muddy enough to say that it rained hard a few days ago.

But then, Mark remembered. It was the greatest struggle when they left the camp.

Thick morning fog covered the forest in the morning, leaving large amounts of dew on everything. Mark and the girls even got slightly wet because of the dew. If that amount of dew was consistent every morning, it might be why the blood marks in the clearings were nowhere to be found aside from a few specific locations where morning dew would have a hard time gathering.

The group searched the area for a bit. The problem with these clearings was that it made it harder to find the continuation of the trail if plants had already covered it.

"I found the trail!" Mark called out to the girls. "Let's go."

The group gathered once more and continued on their journey.

However, after moving not too far from the clearing, the group encountered the next horde of enemies.

Yes, it was a horde. It was because the enemies were a group of [Mutated Infected].

"It's them again, huh."

Mark murmured with a frown.

It was not the first time they encountered this kind of [Mutated Infected] since this morning.

These were [Humanoid Infected] that gained the common mutation in this kind of forested environment. They had skinny limbs, light body, and skin with greenish pigmentation. If one looked closely, these [Mutated Infected] kind of resembled the [Ruin Stalkers] in Japan. However, in complete opposite to the [Ruin Stalkers], who could only function the best within ruins, these green-skinned [Infected] could only display their best abilities within forested areas.

Mark decided to call these [Forest Stalkers]. There was no need to overcomplicate the name. It was better to give it a similar name to the [Ruin Stalkers] due to their similar behavior while giving an indicator of the difference in their habitat. Mark's naming sense kind of followed the same pattern and rules of giving scientific names minus the complicated Latin stuff.

"Same strategy! Watch out for attacks from above!"

Mark yelled as everyone moved into position.

Like Mark had said, these [Forest Stalkers] preferred attacking from above. They jump from tree to tree and try to pounce on their victim from tree branches and leaves. These [Mutated Infected] were fast-moving, and the green pigmentation on their skin made it easier for them to camouflage themselves in plant-covered environments.

Unfortunately for this horde of [Forest Stalkers], they picked the wrong opponent this time.

There were fifteen [Forest Stalkers]. In a common scenario, this number would be fatal for many small survivor groups, not to mention it was the perfect environment for these [Mutated Infected]. However, Mark's group was not only composed of humans and Demons. They also had two animals and three golems.

Laelaps in her small body could outrun these fast [Infected] and even counterattack. As for Chaflar, he did not even need to dodge. The poor [Forest Stalkers] that attacked him tried to bite, but their rotten teeth could not even leave a scratch on the dragon's scales.

The horde of [Forest Stalkers] turned into corpses in three minutes. It could have taken less time if not for the trees, which ended up blocking most of the attacks of Mark's group.

It was not wrong to say that Mark's group had yet to become accustomed to fighting in a forest as thick as the ones currently in Indonesia. Even the forest around the Mountain Base was not as thick as this. Nonetheless, they were getting used to it.

"Only three, huh."

Mark complained as he used the [PsyCrystal] to suck out the [Mutagen Stones] from the corpses of the [Forest Stalkers].

By the looks of it, these [Forest Stalkers], albeit mutated, were not too different from common [Infected]. It was the same for [Ruin Stalkers] too. Despite being mutated variants, finding [Mutagen Stones] from their bodies was as uncommon as finding stones on nonmutated [Infected].

This situation made Mark consider differentiating [Mutated Infected] into two categories. One was the [Natural Mutated] and the [Catalyst Mutated].

[Natural Mutated] were like [Ruin Stalkers] and [Forest Stakers], which mutated as they naturally adapted to their natural surroundings and geography.

On the other hand, [Catalyst Mutated] were the ones who mutated due to unnatural factors. Furthermore, these ones had a higher chance of having [Mutagen Stones].

In any case, Mark had yet to adapt this differentiation fully within his records. After all, Mark had only seen two kinds of [Infected] that he would consider as [Natural Mutated]. If he managed to find more, then he probably would finalize it.

After dealing with the [Forest Stalkers], Mark's group hastily left the area. The battle and the blood would definitely attract some unwanted attention. Furthermore, the dead corpses would also serve as bait to lure away any nearby enemy instead of making them follow Mark's group.

The group continued moving, following the broken trail. They did not even stop for lunch and ate food on the go.

But as they reached a certain area, everyone noticed something odd.

"Is it just me, or is the surroundings getting foggy?"

Emika spoke.

It was not only Emika. Everyone had already noticed the fog rolling in the surroundings.

"Should we move to the coastal areas?" Feng Zhiruo asked. "The fog seemed to be coming from inland."

The coastal areas should be north, while the fog seemed to be thickening from the south.

"Yeah, let's go."

Mark nodded, and everyone moved faster than before. They even began running while still being careful of the uneven footing.

Having their sense of sight taken away was the worst scenario in a heavily forested area. And it could also be a poisonous fog. It was better to avoid it.

Unfortunately, their speed was not enough. The fog spread out faster than the speed at which they could run.

"Spera! Open a portal!"

Mark issued his command and made Spera open a portal to escape. The target location was not important as long as it was outside the scope of the fog.

However, they were in for an unpleasant surprise.

"Wah!" Spera exclaimed. "The portal is not opening!"

Everyone was shocked by the unexpected development. It was clearly not Spera's fault. She had already gotten better at his ability, and opening a portal, even in this situation, should be a piece of cake for her.

Then, if there was nothing wrong with Spera, then it was something else.

It was the fog.

"Amihan! Blow the fog away!"

Mark commanded, and Amihan began to control the wind around her.

However, as the wind made contact with the fog, Amihan lost control of it. And yet, the fog did not show any kind of reaction.

"It's not working!"

Amihan yelled in shock.

Mark also tried using the [Wind Manipulation Mental Crystal], but just like Spera and Amihan, the crystal failed to work properly.

Unfortunately, the fog caught up to them, encasing them all in a world where they could barely see anything.

"Is everyone okay?!"

Mark yelled. Fortunately, he received a positive response from everyone.

However, Mark was frowning. Usually, he did not need to ask. He could just detect them using his [Empath] abilities to see if they were okay.

But Mark realized that, within the fog, even his [Empath] abilities became restricted.

It was no ordinary fog. An ordinary fog should not affect magical abilities.

And as Mark was getting annoyed by the situation, an answer unexpectedly came. Of course, it was from no one else but the Visayan Goddess of the Underworld.