Mutagen

Day 378 - 2:15 PM - Barangay Codon, Province of Catanduanes, Philippines

The Codon Military Settlement.

It was destroyed by the [2nd Wave] of the apocalypse. After the survivors tried taking control of it and rebuilding it from scratch, the constant attacks from the [Infected] and [Evolved Animals] and the lack of supplies and unity caused it to fall.

And now, the Codon Military Settlement was left in ruins with no humans in sight.

Stepping through the portal, Spera looked around with Odelina and Annica, with Chaflar close behind them. While Spera did not pay much attention or interest in this place, not long enough time had passed for her to forget this place.

The first time, it was a bustling place. During the second visit, it became a struggle-driven settlement. And now, there was nothing.

GRRRR...

A low growl could be heard from the abandoned ruins. Their arrival alerted the current inhabitants of the place.

Emerging from the bits and pieces of fallen concrete and wooden walls, [Evolved Canine] animals stared at their potential prey.

"Ferals."

Annica voiced out. Her ability to tame intelligent animals after the outbreak allowed Annica to distinguish tamable and non-tamable animals in sight.

Unfortunately, the canine animals emerging from the ruins were [Feral Evolved Animals]. These animals were aggressive and nearly devoid of their survival instincts. Of course, they were still far from the [Infected Animals]. Ferals could not infect others. They were not [Infected], after all. Furthermore, their flesh was still edible except for a few parts.

It was still unknown how some animals that underwent the so-called [Mutagen Evolution] became feral when some retained their normal behavior, and others grew far more intelligent than usual.

The ferals were gathering after spotting prey.

"Let's go."

Odelina calmly called out, prompting the two girls to climb Chaflar's back.

Of course, the feral pack would not let their prey leave.

GRAOOORR!!!

The feral canines began charging at the group with terrifying growls. Furthermore, they moved faster than expected, indicating a more advanced evolution compared to the previous encounters with similar creatures.

"I'll take care of this."

Spera voiced out as she turned around before trying to climb on Chaflar's back. She then pointed her [Abysstech] pistol up in the air, an odd action because guns needed to be pointed at the enemies.

Then, Spera began firing consecutively. The magic pistol shot concentrated light beams each time she pulled the trigger. However, the beams expected to shoot up to the sky were swallowed by a hole in space floating about a foot away from the gun's muzzle.

Several holes in space appeared in front of each member of the attacking pack of feral animals.

One after another, the feral canines fell with sizzling holes through their bodies, left by the beams of light coming from those holes in space.

In a few seconds, a pack of feral animals that would likely pose a fatal threat to most survivors now lay either dead or bleeding to their demise.

During the fight with the Night Goddess, Spera used her all to divert large attacks back to the enemy using her portals. At that time, she did it in desperation and succeeded at something she had not done before through sheer luck. It also gave Spera the realization she needed. Her own way of fighting.

Still, while looking at the results of her work, Spera frowned and sighed as she turned around to follow Annica and Odelina.

"What's wrong? You stopped all of them."

Annica could not help but comment after seeing Spera's reaction.

"I intended to kill all of them."

That was Spera's exasperated and impatient answer.

Spera intended to kill the entire pack in one go. One shot at each member should be enough. Since there was nearly no gap between her shots and the opening of the portals, there was no chance for the feral animals to dodge. Yet, only a third of the pack lay dead while the others whimpered and bled from the fatal shots they received. There was no way for them to dodge. It meant that it was Spera who missed the targets.

"Practice takes time, alright?" Odelina chimed in with a smile. "Even Master do his things through trial and error."

"I know."

Spera replied with another sigh.

Odelina looked at Spera in concern. Although Mark would bring Spera around during his travels, her role in the group was limited. Although she could fight now, her role was still using her portals for transportation for the most part. Now that she found a way for her to fight even more, it was no surprise that she felt impatient to grow stronger.

'I will leave this to Master, I guess.'

Odelina thought as they took flight on Chaflar's back.

Unnoticed by the group, many creatures emerged from the nearby forest after they left. They rushed toward the dying pack of feral animals and devoured them like savage beasts, tearing the feral animals' flesh and limbs with only their teeth and hands.

However, these creatures were not members of a horde of [Infected]. Looking at their nightmarish appearance and unsightly behavior, these were wild Demons.

After the war of magical races several months ago, while most surrendered under the control of Diwata Hiraya, many of these Demons escaped instead. They scattered all over the island.

Unfortunately, the presence of [Mutagen] in the world caused the magical races to lose the ability to traverse the barrier between the physical and spiritual states. They became vulnerable to any danger the world had in store.

Currently, most of these creatures lay hidden, afraid of humans, evolved creatures, and the magical creatures under Diwata Hiraya's control. They were like beasts waiting for the opportunity to feast. And today was a lucky day for them.

It would not take long before the pack of feral turned into bones, and no one would know anything about the things that unfolded in this place just moments ago.

Leaving the ruins of Codon, Chaflar flew north parallel to the coast. The destination of the group should be the municipality of Pandan, one of the two locations where human settlements could still be found on the island of Catanduanes.

It was also the location where Mark's family were staying.

The question now was, would this place still be there?

Considering the current state of the world, there was no guarantee that a human settlement would continue to exist indefinitely. One prime example of this fact was the Muria Sacred Fortress in Indonesia. It was a fully established refuge location with walls surrounding the entire mountain and several thousands of people living within its premises.

Yet, the Muria Sacred Fortress fell into ruins at a short period. Worse, only a few hundred people survived its destruction.

A location with that many people easily fell. It might not be because of the [Infected] or the [Mechids], but it was not hard to imagine the worse to happen to a smaller location.

Thwarting any negative thought in mind, the group continued their travel north.

The travel from Codon to the northern areas of the island took around two hours. It was because they flew following the coast and not over the mountain areas, which could serve as a short cut. Why? The route over the mountains could only be called a shortcut if they were lucky. Going through that route also meant getting attention from anything living on those forested mountains. Land creatures should not be a problem, but feral [Evolved Avians] and [Evolved Gadflies] would be quite a threat to the group. And, although rare, [Flying Mutated Infected] also existed.

Spera and Annica might have [Abysstech] pistols and Odelina had an assault rifle strapped on her back, but it would be dangerous for them to come across flying enemies since none of them could fly.

Arriving at Pandan, they soon found the location. The base of the New People's Army.

And to their relief, it still existed.

"What are we going to do now?"

Annica asked Odelina.

Communicating with the Infanta Settlement and Corregidor Refuge City was easy for obvious reasons. The leaders of both places knew and trusted Mark and his entourage. It was different in this instance, however.

Mark only visited this place once and only contacted his two siblings. The rest of the people there would likely have no idea who Mark was. To suddenly show up and warn them about the incoming danger would be a stupid thing to do.

"Tell Chaflar to fly higher. Master said that its possible that there would be no need to contact them at all."

Odelina answered. It was clear that she received instructions from Mark about what to do in this situation.

"Why?"

Spera asked.

"Master visited this place before, yes? He spoke to his siblings." Odelina answered. "It seems their mother's ability to predict the future events became stronger after the outbreak. The people here are following her predictions to a tee. It might be the reason why they were doing great after a long time compared to other military-managed locations."

"Since it was possible, Master told me to observe the situation first." Odelina took out a pair of binoculars and continued. "Since it would be a large calamity, they should already be preparing for it. There was no way his mother would not know of it."

Chaflar flew higher as instructed. They flew at an altitude where it would be hard for humans to see with their naked eyes while still visible using magnification devices.

"Hmmm? Look."

Odelina noticed something and lent the binoculars to Spera.

Spera peered into the binoculars and saw the wide open area in the middle of the base. There, piles of resources could be seen covered with patched tarpaulins. As Spera watched the people come and go near the resources, it became clear the resources were not being put into storage but were pulled out of the storage instead.

Some of the resources were even being taken out of the pile and moved into what appeared to be large carts for transport.

Furthermore, there was a sense of urgency in the movements of the people.

"Looks like they were preparing to move out. They might even abandon the base considering the amount of building resources they were gathering there."

Odelina commented.

The three continued to observe, and things became clearer in their eyes.

It was a base of an armed group. The presence of a worn down training ground indicated that they would constantly train people during their free time. But now, not a single shadow of a person could be seen on that training ground.

Everyone in the base was in a state of urgency. Even the children and women were moving around with a purpose in mind.

It did not take long, and a group, seemingly from outside, returned. It seemed that the base still had working vehicles to use. And looking at the muddy tires of those vehicles, they clearly passed by wet places. Those wet places should be mountain areas.

The people of the base were already looking for a place in the mountains to relocate.

"As Master expected, there's no need to directly interfere."

Odelina voiced out.

"Then why did we go here?"

Spera bluntly asked.

"Obviously, in case that Bro is wrong."

Annica answered with a shrug.

There was a sudden silence as Annica and Spera stared at each other. Spera could not control her remarks and emotions. On the other hand, Annica was not someone to hesitate to snap back. As such, this situation was unsurprising, especially between these two girls of the same age.

"Alright, you two," Odelina lightly knocked on the heads of the two. "We still have one thing to do even if there's no need to warn them directly."

Odelina then took out a folder with several pieces of paper fastened inside.

"Spera," Odelina then turned Spera. "Open a small portal in the middle of that training ground. Just enough to let this folder through. Also, make it face the targets."

Without question, Spera opened a portal.

The portal was eye-catching. After all, it was a black hole in space, and it was in the middle of the afternoon. However, there was no one to see it since the training ground was empty.

But when Spera and Annica thought Odelina would just put the folder through, the loyal maid took out a grenade, pulled its pin and stuck her arm into the portal.

And with enough strength, Odelina threw the grenade at the targets in the training grounds.

BOOOM!

A loud explosion resounded at the base. The people immediately took their weapons and rushed to the site where the explosion occurred.

Odelina then stuck the folder into the portal and put it on the ground.

"Close it," Odelina mischievously smiled. "Then, let's go."

Annica and Spera stared at Odelina. While she was a responsible servant most of the time, she also had a mischievous side.

And it was one of those times.

The dragon then flew into a portal Spera opened, leaving the commotion within the base below.

As for the combatants of the base, they expected a grave event to occur, only to find a few broken targets and a folder neatly placed on the ground.

At first, they thought someone made a prank and planned to find who did it and bestow punishment.

However, as they read the contents of the folder, they immediately realized it was no mere prank, and they immediately rushed to inform their leaders and the [Fortuneteller].

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!