Chapter 337: Mark!
"Mark!"
Ethan burst through a wall of smoke, diving straight into the blazing flames without hesitation. But he suddenly froze, his eyes widening in a mix of relief and horror.
Kaela and Elara joined him an instant later.
All three stared.
Marcus Reed was standing in the middle of the destruction still, silent, and completely unharmed. Flames burned around him, and rubble continued falling from the ruined buildings. An entire section of the compound collapsed behind him, sending a wave of dust and debris across the ground.
Yet the man didn’t even flinch.
He simply stood there.
His clothes were torn and scorched, but his body itself looked almost untouched.
Ethan descended until his flaming feet hovered just above the ground.
"Mark?"
Ethan frowned, confused by the lack of response.
He slowly approached the large figure.
"Bro, how the hell are you fine in all this fire?"
Mark slowly turned his head.
His eyes settled on Ethan, but there was something off about his expression.
It was blank and empty.
There was no hint of emotion, and hidden behind the smoke, his eyes were entirely black as though they had become gateways to the abyss. Kaela walked over and casually wrapped an arm around Mark’s shoulders.
"How you doing, big guy?"
Mark didn’t react.
Kaela looked at Ethan.
"He’s definitely acting weird."
Elara blinked over beside them, her crimson armour shimmering as she examined Mark from head to toe. She raised a hand to conjure a protective barrier around him, similar to hers, but paused.
"He doesn’t have any burns?"
Ethan’s eyes narrowed.
This was all very strange, but then again, what he had sensed hadn’t been normal either. There had been a subtle, dark mana, one that almost felt dirty and as though it wasn’t even supposed to be in this world.
The closest thing Ethan could compare it to was that of monsters, and it quickly occurred to him what had happened.
’Those pills... he took them.’
It was the only rational explanation for how he was still alive, and maybe doing so hadn’t been so crazy after all. If he hadn’t taken one of those pills, he would have been blasted to pieces.
’But some of those racist fucks took them too and still got smoked.’
There was something different about Mark’s transformation.
Whatever it was, he didn’t even get a chance to ask as the giant suddenly moved. Flinging Kaela’s arm off his shoulder, he targeted the Flaming Man, who was the weakest among the three.
His fist shot toward Ethan’s face.
Ethan’s eyes widened.
It was impressively fast, and while he could have used Flare Drive or his Flame Flight to evade, instead he raised both his arms.
Boom!
The impact was literally monstrous.
Ethan’s flaming body was hurled backwards through the air. He spun once before stabilising himself with a burst of flame, stopping several meters above the rubble. His arms were trembling from the strike, but thankfully it hadn’t broken anything.
’I knew he was strong, but that was...’
It definitely wasn’t an average punch, and it would have killed any Untitled struck by it.
Ethan stared down at Mark.
"What are you doing, Marcus?"
His voice had changed, no longer amused. Ethan only called Mark by his full name when he was serious, and whether his friend had supernatural abilities or not, it didn’t mean he should suddenly attack him.
Mark didn’t answer.
He simply turned toward the others, targeting the crimson-eyed woman next.
"He’s not conscious."
Mark suddenly lunged, and Elara blinked away.
His fist tore through the space where she had been standing.
BOOM!
The shockwave scattered burning rubble, and it was even more powerful than his first punch. Elara reappeared several meters away, and while she and Ethan were worried about their large friend, Kaela was grinning.
Ethan looked at her before speaking sternly, "Don’t hurt him."
It was clear that he was in some kind of berserk state where he wasn’t in control of himself, but that didn’t change that he cared for him.
Kaela shrugged.
"I’ll try."
Mark moved again, this time going for the Riot Valkyrie.
She stood her ground, but unlike with the first two, he didn’t punch as if sensing it was pointless. Mark grabbed her arm, his fingers closing around her wrist with incredible strength.
Kaela’s eyes widened slightly.
"Oh."
Mark twisted, then he threw her.
BOOM!
Kaela’s body flew across the ruined compound and crashed through a pile of burning concrete.
Elara and Ethan stared.
A second later, the Riot Valkyrie emerged from the rubble.
She brushed dust from her shoulder as it clicked itself back into place.
"Okay."
Her grin widened.
"This is going to be fun."
Ethan sighed.
"That drug really messed with his head."
Mark stood motionless amidst the flames, his head turning slowly.
Then he moved again, his movements primitive, as if controlled by an instinct deep within him while unconscious. Ethan watched while floating above, the flames around his body flickering weakly.
’As much as I’d like to fight a monsterfied Big Mark, I think I gotta sit this one out.’
But there were two A Ranks who were itching to get some more action.
"Kaela."
She looked up.
"Yeah?"
"Elara."
The crimson-haired woman glanced toward him.
Ethan’s expression became serious.
"Deal with him."
Kaela cracked her knuckles.
"Gladly."
And thus, even more chaos began.
"We can handle the side effects afterwards," he added under his breath. His voice remained calm, but the concern beneath it was obvious.
’As long as he gets out of this alive, I’ll find a way to fix him.’
But something was off.
Ethan could feel it.
The others who had taken the drugs had changed violently; their transformations had been unstable, and their minds had been consumed by aggression. But Mark appeared oddly stable, and while his eyes appeared vacant, he wasn’t truly berserk.
He wasn’t attacking randomly.
Every movement seemed focused on one thing.
Survival.
To do so, he adapted and protected himself like a creature in a new, dangerous environment. His body was reacting to everything around him, and every time something hurt him, it changed.
And it seemed as though there was no limit to his evolutionary adaptations...