Chapter 109: Biohazard

After confirming that the Black Ooze was in the area, the three of us went to the ground and stood in silence amidst the Ooze.

I could feel it shifting and crawling along the ground... It felt like it had also gone underground.

"By the Creator...what is this horrible substance? It smells awful..." Leiso said.

"The Black Ooze. An existential threat to both Ignitus and the rest of creation. Let's make this quick," I said.

I pulled out Vengeance and...

It automatically activated sword enchant.

The golden threads connected themselves to the shotguns I had currently changed them into.

Isabella's shield also glowed brightly with the same golden threads.

As we stood there, I heard a voice speak to me with telepathy. It sounded distorted, so I could barely understand it. But it felt like multiple people were talking to me.

"He's here. The bastard is here! DIE DIE DIE!!!"

"YOU PILE OF SHIT! ABOMINABLE CHOSEN OF THE CREATOR!"

"The...Ch-chosen Hero... Ahh...I love you so much!!!"

"At last, I've come for you. I hope you're ready to suffer again, Mizik Iratus."

"...Hello..."

"Who are you people? What's going on here?" I asked.

"We are death. We are doom," A distorted voice said.

After that, I could no longer communicate with it...

Good thing, too, because the longer I tried to talk to the Ooze, the more I felt like I was going insane.

"Mizik, I hear...voices..." Isabella said.

"Me too," I said.

"Are you two okay?" Leiso asked.

"We're fine. Let's just secure the area and-"

Suddenly the ground began to shift around us and the Black Ooze formed into a monster.

It was a simple horror with a humanoid form. It had eyes and mouths all over its body.

"Kill...what...? Eat...all...GAAAHHHHH! END...ME...." It said in a distorted voice.

Leiso was visibly disturbed at seeing this monster and took a step back.

"How do I tell where the core is!?" Leiso asked.

"We don't know! We never figured that out!" Isabella said.

Suddenly, several more began spawning all around us as I heard high-pitched maniacal laughter.

"GAHAHAHAHAHA! KILL THEM ALL! CAPTURE THE BOY!" The distorted voice said.

At once, I manifested several javelins of light and divine power, then shot them at the monsters.

Since I wasn't attacking with my sword that had the golden threads on it, the creatures didn't disintegrate. Some of them took the attacks and kept walking towards us.

Then Leiso snapped her fingers and a field of blades appeared all around us... They began rotating rapidly and shredded the monsters, but...

The Ooze latched onto the iron blades and started warping them.

I was speechless at this...

It...consumed Leiso's attack.

Suddenly, all eyes went to her.

"Leiso! Get behind me!' Isabella said.

Leiso immediately jumped back behind Isabella as several of the humanoid variants charged at her.

I started shooting at this point.

Instead of shotguns, I elected to get as many bullets off as possible. So I changed my weapons into submachine guns and let loose with a hail of glowing bullets.

Leiso continued attacking with iron blades and water jets.

Together, our attacks were enough to completely obliterate the enemy.

Once they were all down, I heard a voice once more.

"Plenty of time, plenty of time... Your world is doomed. Bye for now!" The voice said.

I still couldn't help but wonder about the feeling I got when I heard that voice... And the others, too...

Two of them sounded angry while one of them...

Sounded in love with me...?

"Area...secure...?" Leiso said uncertainly.

"Get the hazmat team down here, now!" I said.

* * *

Once the hazmat team was down, they made quick efforts to collect and store different samples of the creatures as well as the Ooze on the ground.

At one point, however...

"AHHHH! GET IT OFF ME!!! IT'S EATING ME!!!" One of the men shouted as the ground opened up and covered him in the Black Ooze.

Isabella ran over and began casting divine cleansing magic on the man.

He was quickly cleansed of the Ooze, but...

"Ah...I'm alive... What...the horror..." The man said.

He collapsed to the ground and started crying.

"GET HIM OUT OF HERE, NOW!" Leiso shouted.

At once, he was taken aboard the aircraft and the rest of the team finished their collection of the Ooze.

Soon after, Isabella wanted to try something.

"I want to test if I can wield this power to cleanse the Ooze," she said.

"Okay, but do it quickly. We need to leave this place," I said.

The longer we were here, the more uneasy I felt. Like I was being watched by several pairs of eyes.

Isabella clasped her hands together and was enveloped in a bright light. A pillar of light formed around her and suddenly...

The ground was cleansed.

"I see...so that's the power we hold..." She said

I looked at her and she smiled.

"Mizik, I'm able to wield a fraction of the power from the unknown skill to bolster my divine attacks. You should probably try to make use of it as well, okay?" She said.

"Yeah. I'll get to work on that. Let's get out of here first," I said.

She nodded and we finally boarded the aircraft.

As we got moving, I could see the man who had been attacked had dark purple mixed into his pupils.

He looked like he had gone completely insane and was whimpering constantly.

I decided not to worry too much about it and sat down to meditate.

I peered into the chasm of magic and tapped my unknown skill.

{You may not modify this skill.}

The message flashed before my eyes.

Tch...I just need to access it the sane way Isabella did... How should I go about-

My thoughts were cut short as another nessage appeared.

{Request approved.}

Huh...?

Then I felt myself grasp a measure of power from this ability.

I felt a bottomless amount of pure divine energy within the confines of this skill...and I was allowed to tap into it ever so slightly.

I connected this with all of my skills to allow my magic to affect the monsters we would soon be fighting and then...

I heard someone laughing.

"YES! YES YES!!! POWER! WE WILL DEVOUR EVERYTHING! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! ULTIMATE POWER!!!" The man who had been previously infected shouted mightily.

I opened my eyes just in time to see his physical body shift into a behemoth variant.

"KILL THAT THING!' Leiso shouted.

"GRRRROOOOOOOOAAAARRRRR!!!!"

I immediately fired a spear of divine light into the creature and it instantly disintegrated.

Everyone looked at me in surprise.

"I'm not in the mood for this shit," I simply said.

"Damn. The Warmage is hardcore..." An Attendant soldier said.

"Mizik...what just happened there!? I thought you said your magic was useless against these monsters. And...how are you so calm right now after witnessing that?" Leiso said.

"He got infected. That's what happens. I've seen it a few times already, so it doesn't bother me. Also, I wasn't kidding about my magic being useless. I just used the Archmage to find a workaround."

"Well, what about the Enforcers? My attacks worked, but they seemed ineffective," Leiso said.

"More than likely, they were useless for destroying them completely. But this is a learning experience and we might benefit from some testing," I said.

"Our powers are at your disposal, Warmage," Leiso said.

"Leiso, you're a friend. Just call me Mizik," I said.

"Force of habit. My apologies, sir," Leiso said.

What's with her? I'm acting as a temporary superior and she starts being so formal?

"I think she's just following the command structure, Mizik. Regardless, we might be able to imbue the Enforcers with enough divine energy to destroy the horrors. Although I don't know if it's possible..." Isabella said.

Leiso smirked at the comment.

"That's what we have Carlos for, isn't it?" She said.

* * *

We returned to the facility late at night and transferred the samples to Carlos. He requested that we stay within the lab in case it reacted the way I explained it could before. As such, we slept in shifts in the corner of the lab.

We did this for three days and three nights.

Carlos rarely slept, it seems...but he worked very diligently to ensure safety protocols were followed as he handled the hazardous substance.

Carlos ran many tests on the Ooze and eventually requested my assistance.

"What do you want me to do, Carlos?" I asked.

"I want to record the specific type of divine energy used to destroy this substance. Can you do that?" Carlos said

The small sample of Black Ooze sat quietly on a flat table under a microscope.

I was surprised to see it so docile here, but I still didn't trust it...

I placed my hand over it and it seemed to shift away from me...like it was afraid.

Then I channeled some of my divine power out using the unknown skill and reduced the Ooze to ashes.

At once, Carlos began tinkering with the nearby machines that recorded the entire thing.

"Interesting...it seems like this particular type of divine energy is much more pure than the power Iris gives us... Also, this power is given a foundation of the element of light," Carlos said.

"Element of...light?" I asked.

"Yes. It seems that this ability of yours is using a foundation of your light element. It's what gives this power form and the ability to be used as a potent weapon. If possible, I would like to try and absorb some of this power from you. If I can inject it into our fellow Enforcers, we might stand a chance at being able to defend ourselves and the world from the Ooze. Will you consent?" Carlos said.

"Do whatever you have to do. I want to protect this world as badly as everyone else does and if this is how it'll be done, so be it," I said.

After that, Isabella showed up as well.

"May I also be of assistance?" Isabella asked.

"Certainly," Carlos began. "But, we might require someone on the front lines while the other stays here and helps me run tests... We can speak of it later. Aside from that, I would like to share my current findings with you two."

"Okay, then. Tell us what you've learned about the Ooze," I said.

Carlos began quickly explaining his findings to us.

His findings were...somewhat startling.

For the past few days, he had been testing many different chemical compounds and mixtures. He also tried other reactions like heat, radiation, and even poison.

He even fed it a piece of meat to see how it reacted to flesh.

The tests were all pointless. None of the things he did had any negative effect on the Ooze.

Additionally, the Ooze was recorded to devour everything it touched on a genetic and atomic level.

Once it had finished deconstructing something, it would convert it to the same substance as itself and gain mass.

There were so many more things that Carlos was concerned about it potentially doing, but as we were speaking...Iris appeared in the lab.