Chapter 74: Corrupt

[150 GTs bonus]

They crashed into the charging wolves, their eyes widening as they felt the strength. However, while the wolves were mostly independent, the militiamen worked as a single unit, amplified by not only their armor but their shields as well.

The wolves were stalled for but a moment.

"Holy hell! They're so strong!" Alex's voice was tinged with a hint of shock and fear.

"Sylas," Morgan called over, tossing a dagger toward him.

Sylas gave a grateful nod, caught the dagger with his telekinesis, and then burst into action again, targeting one of the wolves about to round the solid wall the militiamen had formed.

The load was immediately far easier. Sylas felt like the dagger was an extension of himself, an extra limb that he could use as easily as his left and right hands.

The wolf snapped its jaws at him, but he dodged to the side, bringing it further from the group before he suddenly attacked.

His fist was about to drive through the wolf's snout when a claw swung at him from the side. It was fast, too fast.

Sylas rolled his shoulder into it, moving closer to the wolf instead of further away and ruining its play at leverage. He grunted as a sharp, three-pronged gash was torn across his arm and shoulder, but his Constitution wasn't entirely for show at this point either.

Just as he took the attack, his dagger swept through the wolf's blind spot, ripping across the tendons of its front paw.

The attack was perfectly timed. Although his punch didn't go as planned, his dagger acted perfectly as his third limb, adjusting.

The wolf was using one claw to attack when its other front paw suddenly lost its support. Its body tilted forward uncontrollably and its jaw crashed toward the ground as Sylas leapt back. It barely managed to lower its second front paw to the ground to catch itself before it lost its balance entirely, but Sylas didn't give it so much time to keep its bearings.

He moved with a flash of his steps and brought down an ax kick right onto the wolf's skull, causing its eyes to bulge out of its sockets, one of them popping out with a sickening wet sound, dangling on a string of flesh and oozing puss.

Sylas unleashed a flurry of strikes, his fists landing like hammers as he shifted to the weakened side of the beast. He seemed to want to punch right through the creature, shattering its ribs and caving in an entire side of its body.

The wolf tried to lash out with its injured paw, but it couldn't flex its claws without those tendons and ligaments. The attack ended up being easily slapped away by Sylas as his dagger shredded apart the tendons in one of its hind legs.

Sylas' assault was relentless. After the first claw strike that cut him, he seemed to have become untouchable, every strike of his more devastating than the last.

He drove another fist into the wolf's skull and it suddenly gave way entirely, crushing it to pieces.

It fell limp to the ground and Sylas didn't even give it another glance as he charged back to the main battlefield, taking on another.

He could feel it inching closer, the flow of battle he was looking for.

...

The battle ended with everyone gasping for breath. They checked for rewards, but to their disgust, there were none to be had. The result seemed as rotten as the beasts themselves.

When they tried to check for Genes, they received a prompt that made them all frown.

[Rotten Wolf]

[Gene Detected]

[Fragmented Gene: Speed (F)]

[Gene Corrupted]

[Attempt Assimilation?]

[Yes][No]

Not only was there only one Fragmented Gene, something that was completely disproportionate to the strength of the creatures, but the Gene was also apparently Corrupted?

None of them wanted to find out exactly what that meant by testing it on themselves.

The worst part was that the troubles didn't end there at all. These wolves were obviously not edible. Their coats couldn't be used for making armors, and worse than that, they couldn't just leave them out here to continue rotting.

Not only was the stench absolutely foul, but who knew what sort of diseases they were carrying? Sylas was already somewhat worried about the wound he had suffered, even though the claws of the wolves seemed like the only clean part of them.

[What is a Corrupted Gene?]

[A Corrupted Gene can come from an undead creature or a Gene processed via an unconventional method. Usually, their theoretical worth doesn't line up with their actual wealth. Their amplification to the body is almost always far more than expected, but the price to pay is heavy as well without adequate preparation.

[They are a tool often used by the desperate in an attempt to surpass Gene and Stat Limits. But with unearned power, there will always be consequences]

Sylas' eyes narrowed, looking toward the corpses with a hint of something else in his eye.

'What is "adequate preparation" to absorb a Corrupt Gene?'

[What is adequate preparation to absorb a Corrupt Gene?]

[Corrupt Genes can only be safely absorbed when high Will and natural treasures come together. These natural treasures can range from Elixirs capable of eliciting a Free Gene State to Legendary Genes themselves used as a catalyst]

Sylas knew that he was insane to even think about it. He was only given one body in this world and he couldn't just erase mistakes he made in it. But he needed to know.

Regardless, it wasn't like it was actually achievable right now.

A Free Gene State was the highest Gene State there was, one where you could absorb 100% of all the Genes you came into contact with without fail. Considering how much trouble Sylas had to go through just to get another Soft Gene State, and one that would only last three days as opposed to his current seven-day window at that, one could imagine how rare it was.