Mutagen

Day 365 - 12:08 PM - Underground Passage, Muria Sacred Fortress, Mount Muria, Central Java, Indonesia

"What the hell is this?!"

General Piliang's cry of disbelief echoed across the cathedral.

With pale white skin, six bat wings, fangs, large pointy ears, and slit-shaped pupils, the old General had clearly turned into a monster.

It was when the enemy's voice entered the old General's enlarged ears, making him freeze.

"You want to defy fate by turning into a monster? You've just forfeited your ambitions to rule this country or what's left of it. There's no way people will accept a monster as their leader and savior."

Mark spoke as he walked closer to the invisible wall while holding Ignis.

"No... No... NO... NO!!!" General Piliang began showing signs of mental instability. "I'm not a monster... I'm not a monster!

This is a mutation! THAT'S RIGHT! A MUTATION! Just like those who got bitten by the [Infected] and became mutants!"

General Piliang entered a grave state of denial.

"Don't kid yourself," Mark replied. "Whatever you consumed made you into something similar to the [Face Wearers]. Not a demon, not a spirit, and definitely not a human. At most, you are a cryptid. A monster. It's the ending you chose."

"NO!"

General Piliang's eyes glowed with a reddish hue as he kept denying what he ended up as.

Accompanying General Piliang's roar, the surroundings shook. The invisible wall began expanding, and pieces of the ceiling began falling.

The contents of the vial General Piliang consumed did not only turn him into a monster. It did increase his [Telekinesis] severalfold. However, there was no way for the old General to control such overwhelming power, especially in his current state of mind.

General Piliang might have taken drastic measures to reach his goals. If left alone, he would do more.

However, General Piliang never wanted to become a monster that no one would follow.

"RAAAAAAAAA!"

General Piliang roared in anger. His sanity was waning. The instincts of a monster were taking over his mind.

"SH*T!"

Behind Mark, the soldiers kept calm, but it was hard not to panic when pieces of the ceiling began falling onto them. And considering that they were underground, getting buried alive would be something for them to fear.

As if confirming the fear of the soldiers, a nearby pillar fell towards them.

BAM!

"I got this!"

General Wijaya rushed to the falling pillar and diverted it to the soldiers.

RUMBLE!

The whole place continued to shake.

But all of a sudden...

"Huh?"

The soldiers were surprised when the whole place stabilized. Although the shaking caused by General Piliang's outrage continued, the place stopped falling apart.

"I guess this will do."

Mark's voice entered their ears. Now, he had some marble-sized crystal with a greenish glow hovering over his right shoulder.

"Sir Mark, did you do this?"

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General Wijaya asked Mark.

Mark only gave a slight nod without taking his eyes away from the enemy.

The enemy was now on his knees, clutching his head.

General Piliang was struggling. His disbelief from his transformation and the monster-like instinct was taking a heavy toll on his mentality. At the same time, the invisible wall around him continued to expand.

Mark looked at the ceiling. The invisible wall was scraping the ceiling as it expanded, allowing him to see its border. This expansion of the invisible wall was causing the whole place to shake violently, as it crushed the integrity of the underground structure.

As for why the place stopped crumbling, it was because of the crystal Mark took out. It was the [Wind Manipulation Mental Crystal], and Mark used it to make the air surrounding the surfaces of the walls, ground, and ceiling static. Normally, air would not help with structural integrity or the kind unless there was no way for air to exit and there was enough pressure gathered.

A good example would be a balloon.

With the place stabilized by static air, for the most part, Mark could now go ham on the enemy.

But first...

CLANG!

Mark tried slashing the invisible wall. However, it felt like slashing an unbreakable metal wall. To think that a wall with no substance would be this sturdy.

"Ignis."

Mark murmured as the blade of Ignis bloomed with bluish flames. Bluish flames would be hotter than regular flames. Nonetheless, these flames would be of no use if Ignis' blade could not hack through the invisible wall.

But Mark did not only leave things to Ignis. As Mark took a piercing stance, [Miasma] swirled around his left hand as he used it to touch the surface of the expanding wall.

As if it was a bunch of termites eating through wood, the [Miasma] made a hole through the surface of the wall.

But Mark was a bit surprised as he discovered that the wall was not just a few inches within the surface.

General Piliang's [Telekinesis] created the entire space between him and the border of the invisible wall into a solidified invisible force.

What stood before Mark was not just a few inches wall but a few meters thick.

But it did not matter.

The [Miasma] released from Mark's left hand thickened. It made the soldiers afraid of the swirling darkness Mark created.

Swirling like a drill, the [Miasma] began creating a hole within the invisible wall and digging deeper.

And at the same time, Mark thrusted Ignis forward. Within the still shallow hole in the invisible created by the [Miasma], the blue flames from Ignis erupted.

[Telekinesis] was an ability to move things as the user wanted. But if there was something [Telekinesis] could not affect, it was intangible things. Temperature was one of them.

As [Miasma] bored a hole and Ignis increased the heat, the insides of the invisible wall turned into a giant furnace.

The temperature increased drastically and further fueled General Piliang's plunge into insanity.

Then, General Piliang let go of his head as if all his struggle suddenly vanished. With eyes having a monstrous glint, General Piliang turned to Mark. With a body now unable to perspire, the heat was horridly affecting his body.

As the monster-like instinct took over, the first thing that entered General Piliang's mind was to eliminate the cause of his discomfort.

General Piliang stretched out his right hand and grabbed the empty space in front of his palm. It caused the hole the [Miasma] dug to start closing.

"You want a contest of energy, huh."

Mark smiled, accepting the challenge.

Darkness swirled around Mark. [Miasma] began to pour onto the invisible wall, eating every single bit of energy that created it. Worse, the energy the [Miasma] absorbed increased its speed as it dug through the invisible wall.

Behind Mark, General Wijaya and the elite soldiers could not believe what they were seeing in front of them. There was nothing but darkness around Mark. The only source of light was the sword that continued releasing bright blue flames.

General Piliang's instincts realized that he was losing. The [Miasma] ate through the invisible wall faster than it could repair. With a fierce glare that would make people shiver in fear, he raised his other hand, aiming his palm at Mark.

Then...

CRUSH!

Mark felt an invisible force covering his body and crushing his body inward.

But Mark smirked as the [Miasma] around his body destroyed it instantly. And to retaliate, his eyes glowed red, targeting General Piliang.

General Piliang froze. He understood something.

The enemy outside his wall was not something he could win against.

Those red eyes showed that he was nothing but a toy in the eyes of the true monster.

That was why General Piliang stood up straight.

With foreign emotions enveloping his entire being, General Piliang's instinct dictated only one thing.

It was to run away.

"Huh?"

Mark was a bit surprised as General Piliang turned around and flew towards the door on the far southeast of the cathedral. Without even looking behind, it escaped.

"What the heck?"

Mark did not expect this. The emotion he induced in General Piliang was rage. He was supposed to begin raging and go berserk, removing his intent to repair the invisible wall.

General Piliang was not supposed to flee under the influence of Mark's [Empath] ability.

Worse, the invisible wall stayed in place, hindering Mark and the rest from chasing after General Piliang.

"He escaped again..."

General Wijaya voiced out.

"I'm not blind."

Mark lashed out in irritation.

General Wijaya felt a bit wronged, but he did not mind it. The problem right now was the invisible wall before them.

But instead of continuing to eat through the invisible wall using his [Miasma], Mark absorbed everything and moved toward the southern wall of the cathedral.

General Wijaya and the soldiers watched him in confusion. But then, they saw Mark as he thrusted his sword into the wall.

Then...

BOOOM!

The wall exploded, revealing the rocky cave wall that was hidden behind the smoothed and carved cathedral wall.

Then Mark thrusted his sword into the cave wall.

BOOOOM!

Another explosion ensued as the cave wall collapsed further.

Now, General Wijaya and the soldiers understood what Mark was doing. He was digging another tunnel using explosions.

What the invisible wall covered was only the empty space within the cathedral. It would not scrape on the surface of the ceiling and the walls if it also covered beyond the surface.

Mark could feel where General Piliang was with his [Empath Detection]. He was not too far. It seemed that the original mind of General Piliang was still struggling with his instincts taking over control of his body.

Explosion after explosion, the rear part of the cathedral was now filled with dust and debris.

But still far from the door, Mark suddenly stopped.

"Is something wrong?"

General Wijaya asked as he saw Mark tapping his foot while staring at the floor.

"No. Just step back and take cover. I'll go with a bigger one."

Mark said, causing the General and the soldiers to immediately follow his instructions.

The [Wind Manipulation Mental Crystal] hovering on Mark's shoulder shined brightly. And with his command, the [Flame Manipulation Mental Crystal] flew out of the [PsyCrystal] to heed his call.

Then, Mark thrusted Ignis' blade into the floor as the air around him began changing. High concentrations of hydrogen and oxygen began gathering around Mark. It was enough to cause difficulty in the breathing of the soldiers.

The breathable air in the underground was already thin. Now, most of it was being gathered by Mark in one place.

And without warning, Mark ignited Ignis and the [Flame Manipulation Mental Crystal] at the same time.

BOOOOM!

A huge explosion occurred right under Mark's feet. The scary explosion nearly collapsed the cathedral and shook the underground system up to a few hundred meters.

"Sir Mark!"

General Wijaya called out in worry. Mark's suicidal method of making a way to chase after the enemy sure was worrying.

However, from within the thick cloud of dust from the explosion, General Wijaya heard Mark's reply.

"The way's open! Let's go."

With those words, the dust was suddenly blown away, revealing Mark, safe and sound, and the large hole on the floor.

"General," A soldier suddenly called General Wijaya. "You two go first. I hate to admit it, but we won't be much help if our guns don't work. We'll catch up after pathing the wounds of the injured."

General Wijaya was hesitant at first but nodded.

"Catch up quickly. Be safe."

"Same to you, General."

The soldiers saluted as Mark and General Wijaya jumped into the hole.

TAP! TAP!

The two landed in an identical spiral staircase. By the looks of it, the place continued to go downward.

Without wasting more time, the two ran down the stairs. General Piliang was not too far.

But as the two went further down, Mark suddenly froze.

"What's wrong?"

General Wijaya could not help but ask.

"Get ready for a massive fight."

Mark said as he ran faster. General Wijaya was confused but followed along.

And then...

They heard the steps of the fleeing enemy.

Mark suddenly turned into a clump of mist before General Wijaya's eyes, which rushed forward.

BAM!

Mark appeared in front of General Piliang, unleashing a powerful kick.

Kicked with full force, General Piliang, filled with disbelief, was thrown back.

But another impact hit General Piliang as General Wijaya caught up and unleashed his metallic punch on the back of the enemy.

General Piliang, who received the two attacks from Mark and General Wijaya, did not falter as he used the force of the second attack to propel him forward.

BOOOM!

General Piliang rushed through the large stone door at the end of the stairwell, destroying it in the process as Mark and General Wijaya chased after him.

Behind the door, another far larger cathedral was found, with all 9000 members of the cult.