Day 147 - 1:25 PM - Tiwi Beach, Tigbi, Tiwi, Albay
The noonti sun lit up the day in this large town.
A rural town in the mainland of Bicol Region, about forty-three kiloters southwest of Catanduanes, was Tigbi in Tiwi, Albay. If one wanted to get straight to Catanduanes from here, anyone would need to cross Langonoy Gulf.
Though at this ti, no one would attempt that, even by boat. The town had been deserted months ago, leaving nothing but the infected to roam the rural area. There were military activities here until a month ago since the infected from Legaspi City, Albay, one of the ground zeros in the Philippines, reached this place.
The infected here had grown stronger because of a [Leader Type] taking this place as its territory. That was the reason the scavenging group from Catanduanes abandoned any activity in this place.
Without any disturbance or prey aside from lost evolved marine animals at the beach or land animals from the forest, the town beca dormant.
It was until today.
An hour after noon, the infected turned their heads to the east. It was not like they decided to look that way on their own. Sothing attracted them. The urge started to overflow, not only the regular ones but even their leader.
Because of that urge, they all moved.
So ran, so walked, so stumbled, and so even crawled.
Even the roar from their leader could not stop them as they moved.
With their bloodcurdling gurgles and screeches, whether it be regular or mutated infected, they took their step into the ocean waters.
The [Leader Type] from Legaspi City roared in anger. Not because he was not getting obeyed by his horde. It was because that source of urge they felt should be his.
Thus, it ran. The gigantic bodied leader did not care about the ones in front of him. So infected were kicked out of the way while so were smashed by it its feet.
The [Leader Type] rushed into the ocean water, subrging itself as it made its way for the source.
Unfortunately, even if so of them managed to live while being subrged in water, the ocean was still not their territory.
Evolved fishes living in the gulf attacked them without too much ans to fight back.
Nevertheless, the infected still outnumbered and had higher mutations compared to the fishes.
Because of that, an underwater battle occurred.
Blood started to mix with the saltwater as evolved fishes and infected clashed.
Soon, the tide started to turn in favor of the infected. It was because the infected began to bite the fishes they caught, turning them into their own.
But more importantly, being subrged in the water, the infected started to change.
Changed to beco an even greater threat to humanity.
***
That event did not only happen to Tigbi, Albay. A lot of coastal areas surrounding Langonoy Gulf had the sa event happening at the sa ti.
Even the infected in Legaspi, Albay started to move despite the distance.
This all happened while the dragon chased after the fleeing flying serpent.
***
Day 147 - 5:41 PM - North Codon Coast, Codon, San Andres, Catanduanes
The warm, dry air from the ocean and the cold, humid air from the mountains blew, making the temperature not too cold or not too hot. It was quite a nice place to camp for the night.
Berrak silently followed behind Mark's group to this place. He was observing every mber of the group. Of course, not to plan an escape but to avoid offending any of them. In a flick of a finger, he could die. There was no way he would attempt to leave either unless he wanted to end his life prematurely.
Nevertheless, so far, what his observations gave him was nothing but more questions.
One of the things he learned in his travels was to see the auras of people.
The auras of people could show emotions, experiences, and also a bit of fate.
It was how he knew that Mark and i were, in fact, supposed to be dead people. And to say, because of Mark and i's influence, the fate of everyone in the group was obscured. He could not see anything aside from the whole group being together, following Mark's words without question.
Nevertheless, he also noticed that there were so odd things in the group. To be specific, it was Pefile and Edzel. The aura of the two was strangely similar as if they were direct relatives. However, he could see that the two did not seem to behave that way. Furthermore, it clear that Pefile was not human while the other was. It was definitely strange.
When they reached the area where Mark chose to camp, Berrak was even more confused. In the first place, it was strange that Mark's group decided not to stay inside the settlent. Without a doubt, they were VIPs there and would definitely be given a better dwelling than others. And instead, here they were, in the middle of nowhere, going to camp for the night.
Another thing that made Berrak scratch his head was the ager amount of luggage the group was carrying. All of them, even the girls, had backpacks of their own. Even so, there was no way for any kind of camping equipnt to fit inside those almost empty bags.
How were they going to sleep here in the wilderness? Using makeshift tents made of branches and leaves? Although he was also used to that kind of living, there was not enough ti to gather materials since the sun was close to setting. It might have been fine if they started preparing several hours ago, but they had just arrived here.
And that was when his eyes turned wide in surprise.
Mark and i stretched out their hands in front of them, making two black holes appear. From those holes, the two pulled out several folded camping tents and other things necessary for camping.
"S-Spatial Rings..."
Berrak murmured with a stutter as he noticed the spatial energy coming from the rings of the two. He never expected this. No wonder the backpacks that Mark's group had did not seem to be packed with anything important. It appeared that these backpacks were mostly props to make people less suspicious.
The Summoner could not help but focus on the rings that Mark and i were wearing. Both the two had two pairs on their hands, but one pair emanated the spatial energy as Mark and i took out the camping equipnt.
Those reddish-black rings looked simple but with intricate carvings. The ring itself did not seem magical. It was the stones embedded were the fundantal part of the item.
According to Berrak's knowledge, depending on the thods and materials, making these kinds of equipnt could either be easy or extrely difficult. So materials required intricate refining, while so only needed to be inlaid and dripped with blood. But what made Spatial Equipnt really rare was not the thod of manufacturing. It was the scarcity of materials with the Spatial Attribute.
This world was not any kind of fantasy world despite its rare fantasy elents. It was Earth. Magically infused materials were not easy to co by on this planet unless one had access to the other dinsions. Still, it did not ensure that there would be Spatial Attribute materials among the things they could collect from there.
That was why Berrak was too surprised that Mark's group actually had Spatial Equipnt. And not only one but two. This was way too shocking for him.
"Your jaw is dropping."
Berrak flinched as he heard Pefile's voice. Embarrassed, he sighed as he took a seat under a nearby tree. It was not that he chose the tree randomly. It was where Edzel and Pearl were also sitting.
In the whole group, these two seed to be the most normal.
"Hey, I want to ask." Berrak looked at the two and asked with a low voice. "What kind of person is your leader?"
Berrak wanted to learn what kind of person caught him.
Edzel glanced at Pearl before turning to Berrak.
"Why do you want to know?"
Edzel asked back.
"I'm already stuck here with you all. I wanted to know what kind of people am I going to follow now."
That was sound reasoning from Berrak. Edzel could only agree with that.
Along the way, the group already learned that Mark forced Berrak to join him. Of course, the thod was not disclosed, but it did not matter to them at all. Now, it was more reasonable if Berrak wanted to know more about the group, especially Mark.
"About Boss..." Edzel looked at Mark and i, sorting out the things they took out with the little girls. "He's not a bad person. But not a good one either."
"What do you an?"
Berrak asked for an explanation.
"You see, Sir Berrak..."
"Just Berrak is fine. Being called Sir sounds stuffy."
Berrak interjected.
"Okay, then... Berrak." Edzel shrugged. "Boss is not a good one since he won't care about what would happen to people unrelated to him. He can watch unrelated people die without batting an eyelid and kill those that stepped over the line he created without hesitation. Like what happened earlier."
Those words made Berrak rember the scuffle this afternoon. Furthermore, Mark killed the soldiers under General Seguerra without remorse.
"In the least, Boss really values the people under him," Edzel added. "Look at us. While everyone is suffering without enough food and clothes, here we are, eating delicious food and wearing new clothing."
Edzel opened his arms, showing the clothes he was wearing.
This made Berrak a bit embarrassed. He did not care much about this stuff before. That was why even if he had the capability to gather new ones, he was wearing ragged clothing that the settlent had. Really, compared to what Mark and the others were wearing, his was severely lacking even just with cleanliness. The only one close to what he had was the green-haired girl.
"How did you join this group?"
Berrak changed the topic out of embarrassnt.
"I did not join it on my own." Edzel shook his head. "Boss found at my lowest tis when I'm feeling helpless. He promised strength, and here I am now. Although I can't say that I'm strong physically, at least I think, I grew ntally from when I started to follow him."
That was right. It was one of the strengths that a person should have. Even if a person was weak, being ntally and emotionally stronger could still give way to things that one wanted to achieve. It was what Edzel learned while watching Mark.
Berrak then noticed Edzel, holding Pearl's hand tightly. The girl with an ugly scar on her face seed to be feeling down for so reason.
It made Berrak assu things.
'What if this girl was also forced to follow like him? Maybe, this Edzel was not as good as it seed.'
The Summoner thought.
He decided to ask her later when no one was around.
It was when Mark's voice was heard by them.
"Edzel, unfold so of the tents and choose where you want to sleep. Pefile, can you get so firewood for the campfire? Also, Pearl, help i'er prepare dinner."
With those words, everyone started to move. Well, one had a complaint, though.
"Hey, didn't you have a stove? Why do you need firewood?"
Pefile asked.
"The stove is only for cooking. The campfire is for keeping the place lit up. We can't work in the dark, right?"
Mark replied.
"Don't you also had those installable lamps?"
Pefile retorted.
"Seriously, just get firewood and stop asking questions."
Mark argued.
With a roll of his eyes, Pefile made his way into the forest. He was a forest person, after all. Getting firewood would be a piece of cake for him.
As the little girls were also helping with things they could, only Berrak was left without anything to do.
"What about ?"
He asked Mark.
"Take one tent and build yours. Then, you can continue asking questions, no one will stop you."
Mark replied, making Berrak frozen.
He had cold sweat now. He did not expect that Mark could actually hear them, despite the low voice.
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