229 Wiped Out, The Ending of the Outlaws of Marikina-Infanta Highway (1/2)

Day 36 – 12:09 AM – Barangay Poblacion I, Real, Quezon

Mark wielded the odd looking weapon with both his hands. This was not the first time he used this weapons, all these weapons had been tested back before he left the base while doing a supply run alone. Still, he had not used these weapons in an all-out battle with other humans. This was why he took out weapon after weapon. After this battle, he would storm his brain for issues and work of modifying the [Darkness Shade] set further.

Still, it was obvious that the veteran mercenary, Ogre, was taken aback and was confused as to why their enemy would use such an inconvenient to use weapon. The torso sized shield after being attached to the almost two-meter long whip blade looked totally like an oversized flail. In terms of pure power, this kind of weapon was strong but in terms of speed, convenience and effort needed to swing it, it lost to all other cold weapons he had seen before even abroad.

On the other hand, Drake felt even more furious. He also realized the deficiency of such weapon but if felt like their enemy was underestimating them too much to use that odd and hard to use weapon.

Mark also knew of those deficiencies and would not be able to actually use this as such. However, he had his own methods to eliminate such deficiencies.

Holding the [Blade Star] behind him through his right side, Mark kicked forward his left foot that was on front of the other.

PUFF!

Mark vanished into the black mist that sent the remaining outlaws into extreme vigilance. He then appeared in front of stone skinned man. The [Blade Star] was already on full swing. Using the acceleration he could get from the subspace created from his ability, he swung the weapon inside the subspace and appeared at the moment the swing was about to finish.

Without any chance to dodge and also due to his stone skin ability hindering his movements, the outlaw was hit squarely on his waist by the edge of the shield. The stone skin ability of the outlaw prevented his body from being bisected by the blades at the edge of the shield but the impact of the hit obviously churned his organs.

Despite the looks of the [Defier], its actual weight was around six kilos even without the other weapons. It was all due to the mechanisms in the shield that it accumulated that much weight in its small looking body.

The outlaw's body was hit straight with a lump of metal that heavy at the speed of a racecar. The outlaw slumped on his knees and started to vomit all what he had eaten earlier together with clumps of thick blood.

”Big Brother!”

The man with fast hands immediately came to rescue the stone skinned man. However, the shield already appeared in front of him making him jump back by reflex. He managed to dodge the attack and the shield swung past by his side. At the moment he jumped back, two of the other elites rushed forwards taking advantage that the shield had already been swung away.

With the shield and the whip blade at the center, the fast handed outlaw together with the other two ran along the sides of the whip blade as they aimed for Mark.

At that moment, Mark suddenly twisted the whip blade and pulled it back mid swing. The swing of the shield stopped midair but it would not easily comeback even if pulled that way and that reason bolstered the courage of the three to hasten their charge. Still, they underestimated the shield that they ran past through.

The whip blade retracted causing several clicking sounds inside the [Defier]. Before the three outlaws charging at Mark could know what happened, they lost the feelings of their bodies and fell down on the ground at the same time. Not only them fell but another elite outlaw that was about to follow the attack of the three. Behind them, shield had already lost the blades on its edge. As for the blades, some of them were embedded on the ground while some were embedded on the bodies of the outlaws that had just fallen down.

The moment Mark pulled back the whip blade, the mechanism of the shield to launch the blades on its edge activated which hit the bodies of the outlaws without them knowing. Then, Mark pulled the shield back to him and also caused blades to return to the shield. Each of the blades had two almost invisible metallic tread attached to them and the shield. The mechanism was like a grappling hook and the hook this time which were the blades would be pulled back to the launcher due to the threads.

”DIE!!!”

Drake shouted as he bolted off towards Mark before he was able to fully retrieve his weapon.

There were only three of them left. If he, the boss, still did not make his move, they would surely be annihilated here without a fight. Who knows how a dangerous monster appeared here and his men had gotten into conflict with this monster but it was already too late to retreat. If there was someone to blame, it was that Observer that did not give them accurate information about the enemy.

Not only that he did not manage to get revenge, he was even at the risk of dying right now.

As he charged towards Mark, Drake's body grew larger and became covered with reddish scales, his eyes turned golden in color and his pupils became slits like a snake. His tongue elongated and split into two and red scaly wings burst forth from his back. His nails turned into claws and the temperature of his throat became higher and higher that when he opened his mouth, it had a sort of glow. From his running stance, he started to glide towards Mark in a very fast manner.

Living up to his name, Drake, his ability was [Dragonification]. He turned into half-man and half-dragon in almost an instant.

Drake tried to punch Mark with his right fist but Mark had already vanished once more. Without the target, his punch swept through Mark's previous position down to the ground. His red scaled fist hit the ground a creating a loud boom with a half-foot deep and a foot wide crater left on the ground.

Mark was a bit surprised to the outlaw leader's transformation. He was not just some [Lizardman] like Chameleon but an actual [Dragonewt]. Still, the stronger the enemy, the faster he needed to deal with him. Not to mention that this guy had wings and could escape by flying. After his weapon was retrieved inside the subspace, he appeared once more but further away from Drake in his [Dragonewt] form.

This time that Mark appeared, his weapon had a different form once more. The whip blades retracted to its original shape while the [Defier] was not on the tip of the blade anymore but actually just above the handle of the sword. The blade was pierced through the shield where the shield looked more like an overly large hand guard.

Before Drake managed to see his figure, Mark pulled the sword to the back of his neck and did a very wide and every strong wave of his sword. As he waved the sword, the shield shifted positions from the guard of the sword to the tip. The moment he stopped the slash midair in front of him, a whirling sound was already present coming from the [Defier] it then detached and flew forwards Drake. As it detached and flew forwards, it started to spin horizontally and the speed of the shield's spin started to pick up.