Mutagen

<strong>Day 240 - 12:26 PM - Mount Canlaon, Barangay Pula, Canlaon City, Province of Negros Oriental</strong>

The battle against Sinogo was finally over. However, despite Sinogo's death, the darkened skies had yet to show signs of returning to normal. It was likely that it would. But since the phenomenon's cause originated from the power of the Sky God, it might take some time.

Furthermore, the entirety of the battle had yet to end.

Since Tañon Strait and the areas east of Mount Canlaon became the center of the battle, it was now brimming with residual energies. The battle itself definitely alerted the [Infected] from the surrounding areas. Sooner or later, the residual energies would cause the [Infected] to mutate into powerful creatures that could cause havoc in the future. Although it was less likely that they would reach the level of Sinogo, a huge number of [Infected] at the level of the first [King Type Infected] that Mark encountered would still be dangerous.

There was nothing wrong with saying that this area would be the most dangerous place in the entire Philippines in the near future.

Unfortunately, the whole battlefield could not be walled in, and there was no way to stop the [Infected] from coming. There was nothing much that could be done to prevent this from happening.

***

Since the battle was finished, Fourth and Nineteenth left. There was nothing left for them to keep staying. And as per their usual routine, they departed as fast as they arrived.

The [Eyes] could not be blamed, though. They were busy looking over the current state of Earth and could not just stay in a single place for too long.

Furthermore, not only that the [Eyes] could not stand the presence of Magwayen, but the others were also uncomfortable with their presence.

And with the battle finished and the two [Eyes] gone, Alawana, the current [Diwata] leading Mount Canlaon, invited Mark and the others to their Secret Realm.

It was rare for the creatures of Canlaon to invite outsiders to their realm, especially not towards Demons, and extremely rare towards Humans. However, while it was not their exact intention, Mark's group helped and saved their mountain from utter destruction. It was a well-deserved exception.

That was why right at this moment, Mark and the rest of his group rested under the shade of a magical tree in the Margaha Valley, which was an old crater of Mount Canlaon.

Outside, the fauna and flora inside the valley was rather lackluster. It was not surprising due to various factors like volcanic chemicals or temperature of the ground, slowing growth of plants and trees, leaving animals with barely anything to eat.

Inside Mount Canlaon's realm, however, the valley was different. Despite the realm mimicking the outside appearance of the terrain, the valley had a rather rich of plants and animals.

This was the fourth time Mark had seen a place that was not supposedly seen by most people. First was in Mount Banahaw, which had a flowery grassland occupied by [Sylphs] and forest elementals. The second was the Hiraya in Catanduanes, a set of hilly and mountainous forests with [Yasaws]. The third was Mouth Madia-as, a mountain with a world of its own. And now, Mount Canlaon, which also had a different theme.

It was a forest-covered volcano with what seemed to be a plantation at its base. The residents of the realm were also more diverse than the previous ones.

Wearing new clothes, Mark sat with Mei and the others around a table made of vines. It was already lunchtime, and they were all hungry after an arduous battle.

However, even if they had just won a difficult battle, there was no time for celebration. The food on the table was their usual meal of preserved meat, boiled rice, and canned goods. The only different ones were glasses made of large leaves filled with what seemed to be sweet honey. It was something that Alawana prepared for their honored guests.

And while Mark's group had their lunch, the remaining residents of the mountain did their work. It was to retrieve as many bodies of the warriors that fell in the battle. Elementals and Spirits might turn to dust upon death. However, the other races that did not belong to such categories, such as Cryptids, would have their bodies remain.

To those that turned to dust, they could only light a campfire to mourn and respect their brave deaths. Those that still had bodies should be buried properly.

Mark glanced at the busy creatures passing by from afar.

It might have ended with a win, but the loss was pretty massive.

The army of magical creatures that fought Sinogo and his army of [Infected]. Only around a fourth of them returned alive. The population of the entire Mount Canlaon was down to less than a third in just a few hours.

Thousands of those creatures perished. Those creatures who initially lived in this mountain and those who took refuge after the Fusion of Dimensions died. This would leave a great impact on the lives of everyone left to mourn them.

As for Mark... He could only sigh.

Although Mark was trying to act normal, he was severely weakened after this battle.

The injuries and pain that Mark received in this battle caused accumulated fatigue and strain on his body. Even though his regeneration and the [Butterfly of Knowledge] helped heal him physically, the pain still lingered in his mind.

As Mark chewed on a spoonful of rice and meat, he was sizing up the current state of his body. And it was not an ideal state.

Mark lost a lot in this battle. The majority of the [Miasma] he had under his control was lost, to be exact. Even when he first acquired this ability, Mark easily surrounded a whole area in Bay City with [Miasma] and fought Gar'Vlam without problems. He also increased his [Miasma] after various battles he went through. But now, it would be questionable if Mark could even surround a small bungalow with walls of [Miasma].

And since Mark had no capability to generate [Miasma] on his own, it would take time and effort to return the quantity back to how much it was before. It was a Deity level of [Miasma] Mark had before, and it was all lost because of Sinogo.

Mark's magical reserves were also near zero. He could not even conjure a speck of [Miasmic Lightning] at the moment and could only light a candle-fire-sized [Miasmic Flames] on his index finger.

<strong>CLANG!</strong>

Mark accidentally dropped his spoon. It bounced off the table to the ground.

"Gege, here."

Mei immediately fetched a new spoon and gave it to Mark, not questioning why the spoon in his hand fell. She knew that Mark did not want to talk about his current state in front of everyone, and she was being considerate.

Mark could only smile bitterly as he received the new spoon.

The transformation left a huge strain on Mark's body after he returned to normal. Well, normal might not be the correct term here. His muscles were aching, and it was not going away, even with his regeneration. Although Mark could ignore it, it still had effects on his movements and actions.

Furthermore, his left eye was now permanently purplish, even if he was not activating his [Clairvoyance].

And Mark's right hand now had a darker tint compared to the rest of his body. It was not tan-like tint but literally blackened.

It was the effect of uncontrollably using the ability of the Earth Demon Deity, Terrae.

Terrae was the Demon that orchestrated the evil acts of the [Tamawo] and possessed Pefile's brother. This Demon was notorious in the past. He even got the ire of the [Eyes] and the [Observer] to be eliminated on sight.

It was not because Terrae was extremely powerful or anything. It was because his actions affect things on a greater scale. Not to mention that he refused to dwell in the [Spirit Dimension] and wanted to wreak havoc in the [Mortal Realm].

However, Terrae was slippery. He even escaped Fourth in her relentless pursuit. It was because the Earth Demon had the ability to separate his soul from his body. Even though his body was already destroyed by Fourth, he still managed to remain in this world.

Terrae was notorious in a way that he liked to manipulate from the shadows. He would choose a person with great influence as a host and slowly turn the person into a puppet of sorts.

But Terrae's unique ability was entirely different. It was not separating his soul from his body and definitely not manipulating people.

Terrae had the ability to physically manifest magical energy. The manifestation may vary, but it was mostly shown in a mutation-like transformation.

The Earth Demon used this on his hosts and puppets, draining their magical energy and turning them into giant monsters when he was done playing with them.

Back during Mark's battle with Terville, the recent King of [Tamawos], Terrae used his unique ability to turn Terville into a giant monster.

Unfortunately, Mark's group defeated Terrae at that time, and he took his soul into the [PsyCrystal], turning the energy of his soul into a crystal. The process took some time, not giving Mark a chance to try the crystal beforehand.

And after Mark integrated with Terrae's unique ability, he realized why the crystal failed to work. The transformative ability work by gathering magical energy first before transforming the user. However, only one type of energy could exist within a single crystal. Thus, it could not gather the needed energy to trigger the transformation.

When Mark finished the integration, the energy he had left was also not enough to fully utilize the [Physical Manifestation]. Thus, when Mark faced the [Tribulation] with Sinogo, he actually absorbed a great chunk of its power to trigger the transformation, causing that form of his to emerge.

And that strange arm he had while transformed, Mark used a good amount of his remaining [Miasma] to create that. Since it was a [Physical Manifestation] of [Miasma], it could cut through Sinogo's aura without dispersing.

As for the [Blood Metal] armor, Mark had no idea either. His blood must have reacted to the transformation. However, even if his body looked large, the amount of his blood would not increase at all, resulting in the rough-looking and unevenly created armor.

After everything, the energy used by the [Physical Manifestation] cannot be retrieved. Once the transformation was over, the energy it consumed would be gone for good. As such, it really emptied Mark's magical reserves that were already low in the first place.

And since Mark gathered as much energy for the [Physical Manifestation] past the safe limit of his body, it left some permanent changes such as his purplish eye and darkened right hand.

Well, these permanent changes were way better. Those victims, which underwent the same circumstances in the past because of Terrae, ended up dying even if they were not intentionally killed. It was either due to a severe lack of magical energy or due to their bodies being unable to handle the transformation for too long.

Mark was still lucky, not to mention that this ability was now in his control and not Terrae's.

Still... A loss was a loss. If some powerful creature at the same level as Sinogo appeared at this moment, there was no way that Mark could fight them in his current state.

That was why even though the battle had just ended, Mark was already racking his brain on how to recover his strength.

Or at least... The amount of [Miasma] he had.

'Oh well... I'll just enjoy lunch for now.'

Mark thought as he carefully swallowed another spoonful of food.

Now that Sinogo died, one of his worries was gone. It was not wrong to take a bit of a breather. Although he was unsure if this country would continue to exist in the future, he at least bought some more time.

They could only wish that nothing major would happen while Mark and the others were still recovering from this battle.

<strong>-VOLUME 14 END-</strong>