Mutagen

Day 364 - 7:01 PM - 38th Satellite Settlement, Muria Sacred Fortress, Mount Muria, Kudus Regency, Central Java, Indonesia

After finishing the job outside, Mark went back to the 38th Satellite Settlement through the gates. Of course, he did not forget to warn the guards who watched the fight to be wary of the location. It was because of the acid puddle still sizzling in front of the gates.

As Mark left the gates, he looked up. Mei could be seen descending from the sky after finishing her duty.

"Nothing bad happened, right?"

Mark asked Mei.

"No, fortunately," Mei replied with a smile. "Annica still needed more experience, but Hannah supported her nicely when needed."

"Annica's ability is far more than just taming. Unfortunately, her family sheltered her too much for her to learn to use it to its full potential."

Mark shrugged.

"I still remember her dad being too reluctant to let her come with us."

Mei had the same sentiment.

"Let's hurry back," Mark held out his hand to Mei. "I want to watch the rest of their battle."

Mei nodded as she held Mark's hand. The two then turned into a puff of black mist, flying towards the headquarters of the Moon Chasers.

Along the way, the two saw General Wijaya's soldiers gathered outside the headquarters. They then appeared at the corner of the balcony where everyone gathered.

Feng Zhiruo, Annica, and Hannah already returned after their battles. Mark lagged behind in the speed of dispatching his enemies because he had to confirm a few things.

"Uncle! Aunt! You're both late," Emika noticed the arrival of the two. "Some troublesome [Infected] appeared."

Everyone's attention turned to Mark and Mei as they approached. By the looks of it, they all gathered around the laptop and were watching through the drone's camera. The General's secretary was not here, however. She might be the one who was organizing the soldiers outside, as Mark could detect her with them.

At this moment, the giant [Infected] throwing its minions at the Moon Chasers could be seen on the laptop's screen. And beside the still charging horde, the figures of a purple, glittering-haired woman and a blurry silhouette could be seen running towards the giant.

"So, that's Luna's ability at work, huh."

Mark could not help but comment.

Looking at the two women through the screen, Bajing, an agility-type fighter, ran at full speed. Yet, Luna, who was supposed to be slower, ran at the same pace.

The horde noticed the two. It was impossible to miss Luna's hair glittering under the moonlight. However, the poor [Infected] could not catch up to them. The [Spitter Types] missed their ranged attacks, too. Although there were still some occasional faster-moving [Infected], they were not as fast as the initial wave of the horde to be a hindrance to the two women.

"Sir Mark," General Wijaya called out. "Did you figure out something from the enemies?"

Mark turned to General Wijaya. It seemed this man knew Mark went out not just to fight but also to gather information.

"Let's talk about it later," Mark replied as he nodded. "I do think I should tell you some of the things I learned from them. Our meeting isn't done, anyway."

That was right. The meeting was not done yet. It was only interrupted by the sudden horde and the intruders.

"General," General Wijaya's secretary returned. "I explained the situation to our soldiers. They had now calmed down and were waiting for orders."

Hearing the words of the secretary, it seemed that some of the soldiers began making a fuss and asking about the situation. Who would not be when the gunfire outside the settlement had yet to stop.

"Good. It's yet to be our position to step forward."

General Wijaya responded to his secretary's report. He then gave Mark a glance as if wanting to ask something. However, he decided not to with a slight shake of his head. 'Not now'. That was what could be read from his actions.

"Hey! There are people!"

Annica exclaimed, taking everyone's attention back to the screen. As she had said, a group of people could be seen as they arrived riding on vehicles.

General Wijaya's eyes lightened up as he saw the familiar vehicles. Even Mark showed a nod of approval.

"They sure are good allies."

Mark commented.

***

In the defense line, five vehicles arrived at the settlement entrance. Seeing these vehicles, the members of the Moon Chasers rejoiced in their hearts as their morale rose explosively.

"Edge! What is happening here!"

Someone jumped out of one of the vehicles. Judging by the person's voice, it was a woman.

A short girl with bubbly blue hair. She just jumped out of the vehicle's roof window without minding that it was still moving.

"KANA! DON'T JUST JUMP OUT OF A MOVING VEHICLE!"

A familiar voice shouted from the same vehicle the blue-haired girl jumped from.

The vehicles stopped shortly. The owner of the angry voice rushed out and grabbed the short girl by the hood of her jacket.

"Let me go, KELA!"

The blue-haired girl, Kana, protested to no avail.

"What is happening here? Why are the [Infected] coming from the mountain?"

A feminine voice sounded over the two as another woman, one who had gray-colored hair, stepped out of the same vehicle.

"Estia! Kela! Kana! You three came!"

Ellie shouted, waving his giant hammer. The scene gave the new people who arrived quite a surprise.

Estia and Kana. These two were Kela's friends who led the 40th Satellite Settlement together with her.

"We're here too," A familiar male voice interrupted. "No welcome for us?"

It was Farel and his group from Fire Fighters who led the 41st Satellite Settlement.

The only two groups allied with the Moon Chasers came to provide reinforcements.

"Farel!"

Edge called out with a pleasant surprise on his face.

"We have to return the favor, somehow," Farel nodded at Edge's greeting. "But what in the world is happening here?"

Farel's question was what everyone among the reinforcements that came had in mind.

"Questions later, please!" Limabela interjected. "There's another batch of [Infected] getting thrown at us!"

As Limebela had said, several [Infected] were thrown onto the defense line. One even landed in front of Estia.

However, before the [Infected] could even recover, the [Infected's] neck was cut. Estia dealt with the enemy swiftly with a sword now in her hand.

"Alright, questions later!" Kana shouted as she bobbed her body while running to the front of the defense line. "Then! BOOM!"

Kana stretched out both her arms with her hands still hidden within her oversized sleeves. And then, water gushed out of her sleeves like a cannon, pushing away any nearby [Infected].

Farel and his group also followed suit. They might not be as powerful as the others, but they made up with their experience and expertise.

The defense line was sure to stabilize soon. The only thing left was to deal with the last boss.

"Wahyu?"

Farel also noticed the current figure of their missing comrade. Who would have thought that he would end up like this?

***

"Luna! Look!"

Bajing exclaimed while running with Luna past the horde.

Luna also looked behind at the defense line as her eyes lit up in delight.

"Reinforcements!" Luna smiled. "We don't have to worry about them now! Let's concentrate on Wahyu!"

"Okay!"

Bajing also gained more courage.

ROOOOAR!

Wahyu noticed the two women charging at him. As the two ignored the minions and came straight at the boss, he seemed to be infuriated.

SWOOSH!

With a wave of his left hand, Wahyu threw the entire tree he held at the two women.

The tree flew like a boomerang, spinning violently and obliterating everything it hit. Several [Infected] were hit by the branches and had their heads exploded in an instant. The throw and spin were that strong.

Bajing bent her knees as she landed her next step. And like a loosened spring, she jumped over four meters to the sky, totally evading the area affected by the thrown tree.

On the other hand, Luna took a different approach. Strange enough, she had a slight pause. She then hesitatingly waved her keris right at the tree. A brighter glitter appeared on Luna's hair as the keris emitted a strange glow. The glow then extended outward almost instantly, cutting the trunk in half, causing both parts to deviate from its path and avoid hitting Luna.

Luna showed a surprised look on her face as she hurried to catch up with the similarly surprised Bajing.

"How did you do that?!"

Bajing could not help but question.

"It's not just me!" Luna replied. "It's Melfiss! She told me to do that!"

"Then, that's great!" Bajing shouted in glee. "It's not only us who got a powerful weapon upgrade!"

ROOOAR!

The angry Wahyu just got angrier. Evading the tree he had thrown was one thing, but what provoked him more was the fact that Luna cut the tree in half.

ROOOAR!

Wahyu grabbed several [Infected] gathering around his feet. He then threw them at Luna and Bajing.

However, the two women were far too agile for these slow [Infected] to become a threat to them. At their current speed, they would reach Wahyu in a few seconds.

Soon, after evading several more [Infected] thrown at them, Luna and Bajing arrived at a distance where they could attack Wahyu.

Bajing immediately jumped forward. They could not let Wahyu throw more things around.

Doing the opposite, Luna circled around Wahyu, readying her keris to cut through Wahyu's leg tendons and immobilize the giant.

However, Wahyu suddenly raised both his hands.

"Watch out!"

Luna immediately responded to the unusual action and jumped back.

Bajing also retreated without hesitation after hearing Luna's voice.

BOOM!

Wahyu smashed his gigantic fists on the ground. It turned some [Infected] into pulp, but most importantly, it caused the ground to crumble and dust to spread out.

A smoke screen and a shockwave. Wahyu sure was a difficult enemy to fight in both long and close range.

BOOM!

A loud sound came from the cloud of dust as the silhouette of Wahyu could be vaguely seen swinging his arms.

Bajing's ears picked up a sound in front of her, and she immediately jumped to the side. A severed head flying at the speed of a cannonball passed by her previous position.

On Luna's side, she also had to evade as a headless body came flying in her direction.

It was not just whole [Infected] and trees. Wahyu was even making use of the corpses that littered the ground to attack.

"HMPH!" Bajing snorted. "HASTE!"

All of sudden, Bajing's speed had an explosive increase. At the same time, the daggers Mark gave her began to glow.

SWOOSH!

Bajing shot through the cloud of dust and attacked Wahyu.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

A metallic sound echoed as Bajing's daggers and Wahyu's armored arms clashed violently. In just a couple of seconds, Bajing exchanged several clashes with the enemy within that cloud of dust.

The amazing thing here was not Bajing, however. Instead, it was Wahyu, an [Infected], who actually moved to defend himself from the attacks and succeeded.

BAM!

Wahyu smashed the ground again.

Bajing could only retreat out of the dust cloud.

"Geez! Is this guy really an [Infected]?"

Bajing could not help but voice her frustration. It was the first time they fought this kind of [Infected].

The current Wahyu was too smart to be an [Infected].

WOOOM!

Another body was thrown at them through the dust cloud.

"It doesn't help that he could see us through all this dust screen he made."

Luna also complained. It was not just visibility that the dust cloud affected. One wrong move and the dust could get into their eyes and steal their sense of sight.

"Huh?" Luna suddenly muttered. "Are you sure?"

"Luna, what are you talking about?"

Bajing asked in confusion, thinking that Luna was talking to her.

"No, not you," Luna immediately replied to Bajing. "It's Melfiss. She said she wanted me to try something, so jump back a sec."

Bajing was a little confused. However, she did as she told and jumped a little behind Luna.

Luna then bent her right arm, placing her keris over her shoulder. Then, there was another intense glitter on her hair. It was too bright that it made her hair look silver-colored.

At the same time, the keris, Melfiss, also showed the same glow.

SLASH!

Luna then slashed.

And with a blinding flash of light, the cloud of dust in front of them vanished instantly and revealing the enemy within.