Mutagen

Day 151 - 8:30 PM - Gigmoto Mountains, Barangay Biong, Municipality of Gigmoto, Catanduanes

The Demons continued to move through the mountains in droves. The more Mark observed, the more he understood what was going on with the Demons.

They were not only unorganized. What caused these utterly scattered groups of Demons was the more powerful ones wanting to be the first to the frontlines. It was not surprising for races that loved the scene of bloodshed.

Nonetheless, the more they scattered around the mountain, the more things went in Mark's favor.

Since Mark already sent the go signal, the creatures he took under his command began to make their moves.

It was one of the conditions Mark told Diwata Iraya after agreeing to help. He took some of the Diwata's people to take under his command. Mainly, the Yasaws, which were deemed to be harmless and useless in battle.

Yasaws were not elementals and not exactly a Spirit Race. They were creatures of the night and were known to be among the minions of Aswangs. However, they were not exactly Demons either. They were unlike the other Demon Races that could kill enemies, especially humans, without remorse. The Yasaws were the opposite. The worst that they could do was play harmless pranks on people. They were never known to harm humans unlike other minions of the Aswang.

That was why when a portion of the Yasaws in the island decided to join Diwata Iraya's side several decades ago, the Diwata did not hesitate to accept them. Being accepted into the Diwata's sanctuary, they did not let her down and they soon managed to get a concrete position among the Spirits and Elementals.

Their origins were unknown and no one knew about the past of Yasaws. Nonetheless, they were prominent creatures in Bicolano Folklore.

It was not a secret that the Demons also had Yasaws in their camp. But, of course, they were treated as the lowest of the low. They were never included in battles and served as lackeys and servants for the more powerful Demons.

Unfortunately for these Demons, the Yasaws they belittled would be the tide turners here.

Mark closed his eyes, putting his entire concentration on the terrain below. Soon, a large portion of the mountain was already monitored by him.

"HU-ACK?!"

Suddenly, a muffled cry echoed from a Demon. However, not only that the Demon's cry was not heard by others, his presence vanished afterward.

Mark smiled. The ambush was starting.

The Yasaws were not really built to fight. They might have claws on their fingers but their childish bodies brought them a great disadvantage in almost every aspect. The only thing that they had over others was their ability to travel fast.

Actually, saying that it was some kind of fast travel was an understatement. It was not wrong to say that they were capable of distorting space, allowing themselves and some people with them to move in fast paces despite appearing to be traveling at normal speeds.

Today, instead of resting, Mark experimented instead. He took some Yasaws as volunteers to test this unique ability of theirs.

Unexpectedly, this [Fast Travel] ability had some limitations. One, they could only travel in a straight line while using it. The only way they could turn was to stop the ability and use it again after facing the right direction. Next, they could only allow people to be included in this ability if they were moving in the same direction as Yasaws were.

Mark remembered when he first met Diwata Iraya and her people. Surely, they only moved straight, and Mark and Chaflar followed behind the Diwata Iraya and the Yasaws at that time.

It also made Mark remember his mother's story about encountering the Yasaws while going home from the church. According to what his mother said, she was walking along with the Black Children while they were talking. It meant that she was likely to be moving in the same direction as the Yasaws and got caught in their ability.

With that as a clue, Mark found out something unexpected. He remembered that his unconcious brother was brought with them at that time. He was included in the ability while being carried along. Normally, one would just pass that by as a normal mechanic. But then, thinking about it, Mark's brother was being carried in the same direction as the Yasaws using their ability.

There, Mark tried something.

Mark tried to jump backward and told the volunteer Yasaws to activate their ability in the same direction that he was moving.

As a result, Mark got dragged in and was moved along with the Yasaws.

Mark's landing at that time was unsightly as he lost balance due to sudden movement. However, Mark could only smile as it was the key to utilizing the Yasaws in battle.

And now, the same tactic was being used by the Yasaws as Mark taught them.

On the opposite mountain of the one being traveled by Demons, the groups of Elementals and Spirits laid in ambush.

They formed groups with Mark's instructions.

The main formation was two to three Yasaws and a Sylph in each group, along with any Elemental or Spirit that had enough strength to push or stagger an enemy.

Mark turned towards the opposite mountain. Another ambush group found their target.

As they rehearsed, the whole group moved towards the target using the Yasaw's [Fast Travel]. However, the intention was not to block the target's path. Instead, they appeared to the east side of the target.

When everyone appeared, the first thing the group did was turn around, all of them. It made them all face the very same mountain where they came from, the mountain west of Gigmoto.

Then, the Slyph activated her magic, stopping any sound from leaking out.

The target Demon noticed the people appearing beside him and yelled in surprise. However, the Sylph already blocked the sound, and no one else was able to hear the Demon.

Before the Demon could fully react to the situation, the Spirit Race, this time, a Kabalan, which was a centaur-like creature, charged and tackled the Demon.

Unable to react, the Demon was flung away. The moment that happened, the Yasaws activated their ability.

The next thing that the Demon knew, as he lost balance. He was already on a different mountain. His eyes turned wide as he saw the enemies surrounding him. Before he could react, spears pierced his body, splattering black blood to the ground.

Without understanding anything that happened, the Demon died miserably. However, its body did not turn to dust. As it seemed, it was one of the humans that was turned into a Demon using the ritual. Their bodies would be left intact until the sun rose in the morning and turn it to dust.

Mark looked at the situation with satisfaction.

There were several dozen groups moving in unison on that mountain. They were dragging the stray Demons one by one, killing them without letting the enemies know.

Mark could tell that the Yasaws were still nervous. It was the first time that they would join a battle like this at all. However, as they succeeded more and more, dragging enemies away from their groups, the confidence of these child-like creatures rose.

"Whoops."

Mark murmured as he turned into a surge of black mist and charged into the forest.

One of the groups messed up and failed to notice that their target had another companion nearby. Even if they succeeded in dragging their target away, they would be seen by the other Demon.

And there, it was Mark's duty to avoid that situation.

Sure enough, the group was seen dragging their target away. The group also noticed the other Demon. However, it was already late, and they could only run away.

But then, before the Demon could shout anything, Mark appeared in front of him, grabbed his neck, and the two of them turned into a surge of black mist that flew away.

No one else among the Demons noticed anything.

Mark managed to catch up with the group that messed up. Their target was already killed by the warriors on stand-by. Still, the group was nervous because of what happened. They did not want to be the cause for the enemies to know what was going on.

As he arrived, Mark threw the suffocated Demon on the ground. It made the group relieved as they recognized the Demon that Mark caught.

The warriors around immediately killed the Demon, making sure that it would not get up anymore.

"Be careful not to mess up again."

Mark said as he flew off, going back to monitoring the surroundings.

Aside from some mistakes like that, the plan was going smoothly. Going back and forth, the forces of Spirits and Elementals already managed to kill more than two hundred scattered Demons without others noticing.

It was an amazing feat, considering that they did not even lose a single person.

What attributed to this was the Yasaws' ability. Furthermore, since they were weak creatures, it was easier for them to discern the more powerful Demons and avoided them. Surely, what they dispatched were just regular, low-strength Demons. Nonetheless, every single enemy they killed would lessen the number of enemies at the main battle.

One and a half hours passed. The kill count of the ambush reached half of a thousand.

There were dozens of close calls, but Mark managed to do his best to remedy the situation.

In one instance, Mark had to kill three Demons on the spot. It was one of the things he wanted to avoid since the smell of Demon blood might alert the others because it had quite a different stench on it. Fortunately, Mark managed to do a last-minute move. He stored the dead bodies of the Demons inside his ring and threw several dead evolved animals in the scene. These carcasses were just lying around everywhere in the mountain because of the Demons and were easy to find.

Because of that, the next Demons that passed by the area noticed the smell of the blood of their brethren. However, since they saw dead animals at the scene, they thought that the owner of the blood got injured because of the beasts but still managed to kill the enemies before continuing on.

The trickiest one was when one group tried to drag away their target, a female Demon. Unexpectedly, the target turned out to be a Manananggal. The group managed to tackle their target, but as they moved to drag the enemy away, the torso of the woman detached in a panic.

Normally, Manananggals needed to undergo some chants and rituals before their upper and lower bodies detached from each other. By what it seemed, this Mananaggal was quite a veteran to be able to detach her body instantly.

Because of the sudden separation of the Manananggal's body, what the group dragged away was only the target's lower body while the upper body was left in confusion.

Mark had to rush to the Manananggal as it almost flew away to alert all the Demons. It was quite tricky since a Manananggal could not be killed easily once they transformed. It was not wrong to say that they were semi-immortal beings. The only thing that could kill them in this form was magical attacks or the light of the sun.

However, they could not do either in the current situation. Using a magical attack that was needed to kill a Manananggal would cause quite a huge fluctuation. It would alert the higher-ranked Demons.

The only thing that they could do was to capture the Mananaggal and kill it later. Fortunately, Mark's [Blood Metal] could do the trick.

After killing half a thousand low-ranked Demons, Mark signaled the retreat.

Mark noticed from the sky that a large group of the Demons was coming. Many of them had powerful fluctuations from their bodies. There was even a guy fully clad in flames. It made Mark question if it was alright for a guy like that to walk across the forest.

Unlike the first groups, this group was far more organized. It was likely to be the leader's main troops.

There was no way that the same trick would be successful against these guys.

In any case, the ambush was already a success.

Mark could not wait to see the reactions from these Demons after knowing that they were missing a large fraction of their army.