Rampage

So this was it.

The feeling of power?

Liao Ji felt as if he'd been struck by lightning. All the parts of his body that had been operating at "low capacity" were instantly strengthened and activated, and every cell in his body began working at full throttle.

Even every breath he took felt hot, as if there were a blazing furnace inside him.

Liao Ji clenched his fist. The surging strength he felt through his senses was so intense that he thought it might actually be possible for him to knock down a tree with one punch.

Turning his attention back to the battle, he saw that the situation had become completely one-sided after his [Calamity Magnetic Pulse].

With the threat of firearms gone, Irin was like a wolf among sheep. Once she dropped her disguise, it became clear that she was the wolf in sheep's clothing. In just a few breaths, she took care of the rest of the Kalleva gang.

It was easy to see that the girl hadn't been bragging when she'd repeatedly told him she was the best scavenger in the Black Cave.

Corruption could only strengthen one's physical abilities and, at most, grant one an ability. But the combat skills Irin had so expertly displayed throughout the fight were entirely her own.

On the other hand, it was hard for Liao Ji to imagine what sort of experiences had given a girl in her teens such a talent for killing and such resolute determination—or just how cruel this world was.

His enhanced body had also greatly heightened Liao Ji's senses. He could feel several gazes focused on him.

It went without saying who those gazes belonged to.

They belonged to the people from Haisha Bar, who should have been the main players in this conflict but had, in practice, barely done more than make a cameo.

Indeed.

Brian stared fixedly at Liao Ji.

More precisely, at the mysterious young man who had arrived with Irin.

The moment the girl spoke, the bar owner had recognized her. After seeing her fight, Brian had become even more certain of her identity.

After all, he'd taught her those moves himself. Even if Irin had fought as if she were cheating, the style of her techniques hadn't changed.

And because he'd recognized the girl as Irin, Brian now wore an even tighter frown and paid even more attention to the young man behind her.

Irin's flashy fighting had still fallen within the limits of what Brian could explain as "normal."

But what the young man had just done was completely beyond his understanding.

That...

What had that been?

To the onlookers, it looked like a blinding white light had burst from the young man's hand. Then all the Kalleva gang members had fallen one after another, and every firearm they carried had gone dead.

The young man hadn't even moved, yet he'd taken seven or eight members of the Kalleva gang out of the fight.

Brian could only explain it by guessing that the young man had some kind of advanced interference weapon from the [Mechanical Alliance].

But, of course...

Deep down, there was another possibility he didn't want to believe.

That...

The mysterious young man was a Corrupted!

And that circle of light had been his ability.

If so, then considering Irin's extraordinary reflexes and strength, the conclusion was obvious: she was with the young man because...

Irin had become a Corrupted too!

"Not bad at all, old-timer!" Irin had returned to Liao Ji's side now that the fight was over.

The girl asked him with a curious look:

"Old-timer, how did you do that just now? You know, the thing that went bzzzt and then flashed like a flashbang? That was amazing! You made all their weapons turn into junk! If I had an ability like that, I wouldn't have to be afraid of Kalleva anymore!"

"So, how about it, old-timer—cough, young master? Teach me!" Irin sidled up to him, acting unusually coy.

"That's a skill only six-star Corrupted can learn. You're still a tiny bit short."

"Six-star?" The girl didn't understand what that meant, but she could tell from the context that he was talking about a Corrupted's potential.

Irin perked up. She was so strong now that she could sweep away an entire Kalleva squad without breaking a sweat, and she really wanted to know how Liao Ji rated her.

"Th-then how many stars am I?"

Liao Ji glanced at the expectant look on the girl's face and answered honestly, "Three stars."

Worried she might not understand what that meant, he quickly added:

"Most ordinary people have zero- or one-star potential. You need at least two stars to become a Corrupted, so you're not bad. At least you're not like that bird's-nest-haired guy, who's only two stars."

But Irin was clearly dissatisfied with that answer. "Th-then doesn't that still make me a total cannon-fodder nobody?!"

"You could put it that way."

"Hmph! If you don't want to teach me, just say so! Why do you have to put me down?"

"Could it be that you were the one who insisted on asking? Besides, there are plenty of low-star powerhouses. Don't sell yourself short."

Liao Ji's reassurance only made the girl angrier. Just as she was about to speak again, Irin finally noticed that there might have been something odd in what he'd said.

"Wait! Who did you say was two stars?"

Liao Ji answered with a look.

His gaze shifted to the wrecked bar counter in the distance. That was where the Kalleva leader, "Grey Wolf," had landed after Irin had opened the fight by punching him square in the face and sending him flying.

Liao Ji's reasoning was simple.

He hadn't received any experience points for the man's death.

And Irin's full-strength punch had once been enough to send a kobold weighing over a hundred kilograms flying. This time, she'd hit the most vulnerable part of a human body—the head. If Grey Wolf still wasn't dead, there was only one explanation.

It seemed he'd realized that he'd been exposed.

The bar counter, which had been completely still throughout the fight, began to seep a blood-red mist through the gaps between the piles of overturned tables and chairs.

Irin's expression changed instantly. Some of the Haisha Bar patrons standing nearby had come into contact with the red mist, and several of them clutched their heads in pain.

Brian, the bar owner, reacted in time. He quickly pulled them back and shouted for everyone to get as far away from the mist as possible.

No one could mistake the red mist seeping out from behind the bar.

Because it was...

Corrupt Calamity!

Corruption!

"Hehehehe! You brought this on yourselves!" a hoarse, strained voice rasped from the wreckage behind the bar.

A moment later, there came a crash. Tables, chairs, and shards of liquor bottles were thrown aside, and a swaying figure rose from behind the bar.

One half of the figure's face had swollen, and his features were so mangled that only a faint resemblance to the former Grey Wolf remained. Irin's "face-breaking punch" had certainly contributed, but more than that...

The man's expression was twisted and savage, and his crazed eyes were webbed with blood-red threads.

From the man's rolled-up left sleeve, Irin spotted a tiny puncture mark.

"I was saving these for when I climbed higher, but now I'm going to kill you! Every last one of you!" the man roared, pulling another reagent from his waist.

Inside the transparent vial, a dark red liquid swirled. Just one glance at it made people feel sick, as though they were seeing chaotic hallucinations and hearing mad whispers.

There was no doubt that what the vial contained was Corrupt Calamity. Despite the many impurities still visible in it, this was undeniably Corrupt Calamity that had been smelted down and extracted to such a high concentration that it had liquefied.

As Grey Wolf laughed maniacally, the man grabbed the reagent and plunged its red-glowing needle into his left arm, injecting the liquefied Corrupt Calamity into his body.

Stop him!

He had to be stopped!

That was the only thought in Irin's mind.

Now that she was a Corrupted, Irin understood even better how terrifying and powerful Corrupted could be. If she let him keep absorbing Corrupt Calamity and growing stronger, the consequences would be unimaginable!

But what the girl hadn't expected was...

The moment she moved, the young man beside her reached out and stopped her.

When Irin looked at him anxiously and in confusion, Liao Ji shook his head, then continued to watch the man's transformation with an intrigued gaze.

"Guh... Aaaah!"

"This is it! Power! Magnificent power! Unparalleled power! The power to destroy everything!" After a brief groan, Grey Wolf began tossing his head from side to side and laughing manically.

The man's muscles bulged abruptly. His old gang uniform held out for less than half a second before it burst apart. Grey Wolf's entire body grew larger, and his knotted muscles had gone far beyond normal, hanging from him like grotesque, terrifying tumors.

His appearance was hideous, but his strength had genuinely increased. Grey Wolf seized the bar counter with his bulging, bloodshot arm. The iron table, which must have weighed over a hundred kilograms, was now tossed aside like a toy.

Dark red markings, indistinguishable from veins or Corrupt Calamity, covered the man's chest. After flipping the bar counter away, Grey Wolf strode toward the others. It was clear that the man's strength had surged after injecting the Corrupted Reagent, but his reason had deteriorated just as much.

He seemed filled with arrogance and conceit. Rather than attacking them right away, he wanted to savor the fear and trembling of everyone in the bar.

Liao Ji moved as well, heading toward Grey Wolf.

The girl at his side immediately tried to follow and help. Even Irin felt wary of the aura Grey Wolf was giving off now, but Liao Ji stopped her.

"Leave him to me. You stay here."

"Don't move." Liao Ji made a point of emphasizing it.

The young man passed the girl and entered the center of the bar. His conspicuous presence, combined with the way he seemed to taunt Grey Wolf by acting as if he were beneath notice, drew an angry roar from the man, who immediately attacked him.

The man took a great stride forward, and the bar's floor seemed to shake with every step. He charged at the young man like a tank. Compared to the Corrupted Grey Wolf, whose back and shoulders had swollen under the Corrupt Calamity until he stood over two meters tall like a giant, the young man looked so small.

Grey Wolf swung his thick, hideous fist with all his strength. It cut through the air as it slammed toward Liao Ji's head. The man could already picture the young man's brain bursting like a watermelon.

"This is the power Kalleva gave me! This is what happens when you go against Kalleva!"

Thud!

The heavy punch landed. Irin, behind him, forgot to breathe. She didn't even realize that she'd clenched the hem of her clothes in her hands, but her trust in Liao Ji—and his instructions—kept her rooted to the spot.

"W-what!" Grey Wolf cried out. The bloodshot eyes filling with red threads regained a little clarity amid the madness, and the man stared at the scene before him in disbelief.

His fist... had been stopped.

More precisely, the young man had casually raised one hand and effortlessly caught his full-force punch with a single arm.

"N-no way! This can't be!"

Grey Wolf couldn't believe it. He tried to pull his fist from the young man's palm, but it was clamped tight as if by iron pincers. No matter how hard he struggled, he couldn't break free of Liao Ji's grip.

Only then did Grey Wolf realize the difference between them—the difference was a chasm.

"You—you're a Corrupted too! No, you don't have any Corrupt Calamity on you at all! Wh-who are you?!"

Liao Ji's answer to the man's question was simple.

It was the fist he'd already readied in his other hand.

Thud!

A second muffled impact echoed through Haisha Bar. History repeated itself with startling similarity: Grey Wolf, a giant more than two meters tall, flew backward like a cannonball and crashed into the bar counter again.

This time, even the wall behind the counter collapsed with a roar, caving inward to form a huge crater. Grey Wolf's limp body lay in the rubble.

Liao Ji didn't let Grey Wolf go.

The man had a gaping hole in his chest from Liao Ji's punch. The only reason Grey Wolf was still alive was the tenacity of a Corrupted's vitality; he was merely clinging to life.

"D-don't kill me! You might not fear Kalleva, but th-they'll investigate! You can hide it as well as you want, Kalleva will get to the bottom of this!"

Grey Wolf lay limp, staring up at the young man as he came closer, and began making his final plea. To the man's delight, the young man nodded, confirming what he'd said.

"You're right. Once blood had been shed and people had died, this was bound to blow up. It might not just be Kalleva—The Church could get involved too."

"Th-then let me go. I'll—I'll cover this up, and I won't collect from Haisha Bar anymore..."

Grey Wolf's broken words were cut off by Liao Ji.

"I'd rather trust myself than rely on someone else, so I'm sorry, bird's-nest-haired guy."

As he spoke, Liao Ji seemed to perform a magic trick, pulling a dark red crystal from his clothes.

The instant the dark red crystal appeared, Grey Wolf looked at it with several times more shock than before, even horror, despite how close it was to him.

"A crystal... crystallized Corrupt Calamity?! Impossible! Even The Church is still studying this technology! H-how do you have it?!"

It seemed he'd accidentally learned something else.

But when Liao Ji tried to ask him more, the man—perhaps already on the brink of losing control—came into contact with the high-concentration Corrupt Calamity emanating from the crystal and could no longer listen. He did nothing but shake his head in terror and howl.

"Get it away! Get it away! Don't come near me! Don't—no!"

Of course, Liao Ji ignored Grey Wolf's pleas.

Instead...

Just as he'd done with Irin, he pushed the [Small Corrupted Crystal] in his hand into the man's body.

The moment the crystal sank in...

"Aaaaah! Guh—!"

A scream of agony burst from Grey Wolf. His limbs began to spasm and thrash violently, but Liao Ji held the man down with all his strength and watched him closely.

Unlike the girl, this time the man had no Contract with him.

In the blink of an eye, the man's blood vessels began to rupture and his skin to dissolve. Web-like Corrupt Calamity markings quickly spread across Grey Wolf's entire body. Then his eyeballs burst, and his face began to warp into something monstrous.

The power of the Corrupt Calamity began repairing the man's body. Even the gaping hole Liao Ji had punched through his chest was filled again with flesh. But Grey Wolf paid with his life. Corrupt Calamity completely took over his mind. His arms became fleshy scythes, his feet turned into claws, and the name displayed for him in Liao Ji's game system changed.

[Low-tier Corrupted Corpse]

In Irin's words, he was a monster of Corrupt Calamity formed after a Corrupted "ran wild."

"Hm. So without a 'Contract,' using a [Corrupted Crystal] directly on someone turns them into this? It seems people's resistance to Corrupt Calamity has declined quite a bit in the world five hundred years later. They can't even withstand the lowest-grade dog food. It actually transformed him straight into a Corrupted Corpse."

"And judging from this Corrupted Corpse's strength, it seems to be quite a bit stronger than the ones in my first playthrough."

"But looking at it from another angle, does this mean these [Corrupted Crystals] I use as dog food could also be used as weapons?"

"Hmm..."

As he watched and thought, the Corrupted Corpse Grey Wolf became increasingly difficult to restrain. Even Liao Ji began to struggle, and he could feel himself on the verge of losing control of it. On top of that, the enhancement buff from [Calamity Magnetic Pulse] in his status bar was about to end, so he decided to put an end to the conflict.

Taking out a pistol, Liao Ji pressed the muzzle against Grey Wolf's forehead. As long as he was still a "Low-tier Corrupted Corpse," the head remained a fatal weak point.

"Thanks for cooperating with my experiment. I learned quite a lot."

"And now, the whole incident can be written off as a simple case of a Corrupted running wild."

"A Corrupted went on a killing spree in a bar. We fought back with everything we had and finally managed to kill the monster."

"So... try to be a better person in your next life."

With those last words to the man...

Liao Ji pulled the trigger.

Bang!