Mutagen

<strong>Day 151 - 11:51 PM - Mountain Farming Village, Barangay Mabini, Municipality of Viga, Catanduanes</strong>

Turning into a wavy surge of black mist, Mark charged towards the giant grub, which was supposed to be the old hag's mount.

It was an entirely unexpected move from Mark. Even Legra, or what she appeared like, was shocked.

Legra was a Mambabarang, not only a regular one but an elder that lived since mid-colonial times. At that time, because of her fame, the church was already hunting her.

After a few years of cat and mouse chase, Legra got severely injured by her pursuers. Although she managed to escape soon after, she was already dying.

On the verge of death, that was when she received enlightenment about her demonic powers.

Her human body, a bag of useless flesh, was already facing death. At first, Legra thought that it was the end. But then, she came to a realization. If her body was dying, Legra just needed a new one. At that time, she did not know whether it was possible or not. However, she had no choice but to gamble.

Unfortunately, the only thing Legra had at that time was her Demonic Insect Queen. It was her catalyst in her curses and the medium to control the insects she raised. And to say, it was not a good-looking insect. It was a red-colored maggot about the size of an adult's fist.

Nonetheless, Legra had no choice.

Invoking a curse with the last ounce of her demonic energy, she bound her soul to her Demonic Insect Queen.

Usually, bounding a person's soul on an insect in her possession was meant to curse that person. Once the curse succeeds, Legra could use the insect to affect the target with unsightly things. One of those effects was making the victim vomit small creatures like cockroaches, maggots, and worms.

In Legra's desperation, she revised the bounding curse. Instead of just connecting her soul and the Demonic Insect Queen, she made it that her soul would be pulled into it instead.

Using all her energy on the verge of death, Legra blacked out.

After Legra woke up, she was not human anymore. Furthermore, without the restraints of her human body, her abilities became more open to other things.

Legra developed her abilities, becoming not only someone that controls insects but also someone that could create monsters that were not supposed to exist.

And now, Legra was unexpectedly facing a threatening situation. It was the first time since she almost died years ago.

Legra did not know how Mark found her. It was true that the old hag was her appearance back when she was human. Now, however, it was only a replica made out of shape-shifting insects Legra created. It also became her vessel as her current body was not something convenient to use for the things she wanted to do.

When her vessel was shot down by Mei, Legra took a careful move. She left the vessel and hid inside the grub she was riding. It was no problem since she could still command the vessel like her own body.

Seeing Mark charging at the grub where she was hiding, Legra focused her concentration.

Waves of cursed energy surged out of her body to block Mark. Although it seemed that physical attacks would miss Mark in his current form, there was a possibility that raw energy attacks might hit.

A reddish surge of light attacked Mark. Sure enough, he was hit.

The cursed energy came at Mark like a torrential flood. There was no space to sneak into for him to avoid.

Thus, Mark was forced out of his subspace, appearing midway through his charge towards Legra. Furthermore, because of the cursed energy, Mark could feel the searing pain on his skin. If he was not a Demon, this energy would be enough to give him third-degree burns on his whole body.

"GOT YOU!"

Legra roared as dozens to hundreds of flying insects charged at Mark. The cursed energy froze him in place for all the insects to attack him at once.

The wasp stings of the insects pierced Mark's body, and the mantis-scythes slashed his skin...

Or that was what was supposed to happen in Legra's mind.

Legra's eyes dilated. It was because Mark was smiling.

A black surge of energy enveloped Mark, allowing him to turn into black mist again. Entering his subspace once more, Mark charged towards the grub, unobstructed like a fish in the sea. All of the attacks of the insects did not hit anything but air.

Legra could not understand what happened. She knew that her cursed energy affected Mark for a brief moment. But what happened?

Unable to believe it, Legra intensified the cursed energy she was releasing. It was too powerful that even the nearby Demons fell to the ground with their skin turning red as if it was being melted. It was worse for some Spirits and Elementals nearby. They immediately turned into melted corpses before they turned to ashes.

As for Mei, she already retreated. Mark ordered her to prioritize her safety. In this situation, staying beside Mark would only make her more of a hindrance than a helper. Thus, she could only watch him at the side while eliminating the insects around her.

Legra was agitated as the surge black mist continued to charge at her. She was already reaching the limits of her energy reserves. Yet, she was not able to stop Mark at all.

And for fear of her life, Legra finally decided to flee.

Legra burst out of the giant grub's body, revealing a bright red wasp-like creature. It was not big at all, about the size of an open palm of an average adult. It had the appearance of a queen wasp if not for its nightmarish characteristics.

Although it had a triangular head that a queen wasp had, the two compound eyes it was supposed to have had a human's instead. Its tiny limbs were actually tiny human arms and legs filled with thorny spikes and had red-colored skin.

As it appeared to be, although she succeeded in her life and death gamble and lived, she turned into an imperfect being. It was no wonder that she used a human-shaped vessel instead of showing this unsightly appearance.

Legra flapped her wings at sonic speeds. Even with her unsightly appearance, her flying speed was still unparalleled. In a second, she was already at the border of the forest with all her flying insects protecting her.

However, it was of no use.

Mark appeared before her, blocking her path of escape.

"NOO!!!"

That was her last word as the Flamberge clad in flames bisected her disgusting body vertically.

BOOM!

Legra's magical energy exploded, causing a shockwave in the surroundings. Even the mist that was released by her Lord was swept away by the shockwave.

Mark was almost swept away by the explosion too. It was too sudden, after all. Who would have thought that Legra's magical energy would explode after her body was destroyed? It seemed that she was forcefully containing magical far greater than her body should be able to.

Flapping his wings, Mark managed to stay in place. He would not waste the chance to get some harvest from this kill.

Legra had a lot of magical energy. It meant more magical energy for the [Psycrystal] to absorb. Maybe, Mark would also be able to get Legra's ability. Mark was not sure, though, as Legra's body was thoroughly destroyed by the explosion.

***

The sudden shockwave of energy took the attention of the whole battlefield.

Lord Seis frowned as he felt Legra's energy explode. It seemed that even the Lord of Demons was frustrated upon losing a powerful subordinate. Unfortunately, he could not help the old hag at all. His hands were also full with Diwata Iraya before him.

'Tsk. It seems Legra was not able to handle a Pureblood.'

Lord Seis thought.

However, in his mind, it was a situation that could not be helped at this point. They were caught in a battle before the Witching Hour. Although Legra would still not be able to kill the enemy since they were also Demons, Lord Sies would at least be able to give assistance.

In any case, a loss was a loss.

Legra was weaker, and that was why she died.

'In any case, it was not like her death was useless.'

Lord Seis smiled as he shot several balls of Demonic Energy towards his opponent.

***

Legra died. Was it a good thing, though?

Because of their master's death, the insects and Tiyanaks lost control. In the first place, these creatures were nothing but stringed puppets without their own will. Now that the string was cut, they had gone haywire.

Whether it be Demons or Spirits and Elementals, the insects and Tiyanaks attacked.

The already chaotic battlefield became even more chaotic with the insects and Tiyanaks rampaging.

All of it happened while Legra's vessel slowly disintegrated as the shape-shifting insects began to die one by one.

***

Inside the forest at the east side of the battlefield, Morlkil faced both the Flame Demon and Muggur. As a Mist Demon, Muggur could switch into a mistlike and physical body at will. Because of that, his forte was scouting and assassination.

However, it was just...

Morlkil was the worst enemy for Muggur.

Although Morlkil was something that had a soul, it was still not a living being. It was a moving set of armor. Something that was not alive at all could not be subjected to any kind of assassination techniques.

With his sinisterly-looking dagger, Muggur appeared behind Morlkil and stabbed between the gaps of the armor. The attack connected, but of course, it was not effective. Instead, Muggur was almost slashed in half as Morlkil counterattacked.

The Flame Demon continued to hurl balls of flames towards the Cursed Armor. However, aside from a few scorch marks, Morlkil was still unscathed.

Muggur and the Flame Demon were fighting a battle that they could not win.

Yet, why were they still here? Would it not be better if they just left and slaughter weaker enemies?

The unintelligent Flame Demon aside, Muggur tried to escape. It was better to use his time on other things that waste it here.

However, as it was called a "Cursed" Armor, it actually released a curse upon Muggur and the Flame Demon.

An illusory chain was tied on the ankle of the two. The other end of the chain was connected to the chest of Morlkil. The two were tied to the Cursed Armor with these chains. The worst part was that the chains were slowly draining their energy. Furthermore, the further away they were from Morlkil, the greater the amount of energy being drained from them.

As it was a curse, the only way to dispel it was to kill the source. It was what exactly Muggur and the Flame Demon were doing.

Unfortunately, it was a hopeless endeavor.

'DAMN IT! I shouldn't have fallen from this guy's provocation!'

Muggur cursed in his mind. This situation came about after he became offended by Morlkil's provocation.

Nonetheless, there was nothing they could do but try to destroy this Cursed Armor before their energy was drained entirely.

Legra was already dead. He would not want to follow her steps at all.

Turning into mist and appearing above Morlkil, Muggur wanted to knock off the Cursed Armor's helmet with a kick. Maybe if he could see the insides of the armor, he might find anything that could help with the situation.

CLANG!

Muggur succeeded. Morlkil's helmet was flung away by the former's attack.

As he was about to look into the armor, however, Muggur could not help but retreat. The Cursed Armor actually managed to attack back even without its head!

That was when Muggur noticed that the helmet that was flung away actually landed facing its body. It could clearly see what Muggur was trying to do and stopped him.

"Damn it!"

Muggur cursed out loud. But then, hopelessness overwhelmed Muggur. To the side, he saw two figures land on the ground.

"Well, We're here."

One figure said.

It was actually Mark and Mei that was already finished with their business with Legra.