Age of Chaos
Cough!
A hacking cough echoed through the dark room.
He forced open his trembling eyelids and pried his eyes wide.
Yukal, the auxiliary bishop of Evolve.
He still couldn’t understand how he had ended up in this state.
He definitely got me.
He was different from the other believers.
More exceptional than the average auxiliary bishop.
The reason lay in Nature and the abilities of an Infector.
The synergy between the two had granted him a mind free from Evolve’s bewilderment, one capable of objective, autonomous judgment.
The moment that dragon-like Infector and the user riding on top of it barged in, everything went wrong.
Nature — self-denial — meant denying the existence of oneself.
Through it, he could sever emotions unnecessary for battle faster than the emotional control brought on by bodily enhancement ever could.
It could manipulate not only emotion, but even the strain placed on the body and the changes occurring in the brain.
It was, quite literally, denial.
That meant he should have been able to deny even the bewilderment Evolve had placed upon him.
But removing the confusion that had bound him was impossible.
Bewilderment was a force with coercive power plainly stronger than his Nature.
That was why the compulsion contained in Evolve’s orders could not be resisted.
Still, he had managed to realize at least that he himself had fallen under that bewilderment, and that the believers had become nothing more than his puppets.
And yet I thought I’d set up a way out...
A self-mocking smile slipped out.
Once he grasped that the situation was darkening, he had tried to flee using an Infector’s ability, only to be caught in the end.
I thought I could at least get this body out of here with Judgment Reversal.
It was the only Infector ability that could resist Evolve’s bewilderment just once.
The power to twist every judgment and reinterpret it for itself.
At a glance, it looked like trash, but to Yukal it had been nothing short of salvation.
Even if Evolve ordered him to become a meat shield, twisting that judgment granted him one chance to resist.
So he had intended to use it to run.
He planned to throw the believers behind as bait to buy time while he looked for another shelter.
The reason he had stayed with Evolve until now was simple.
It was the only place where, having become an Infector, he could secure his safety.
So he intended to remain there, build his strength, and run when the time was right.
Now that he had the military power of an Infector, there would surely be more than a few clans willing to take him in and treat him as a useful piece on the board.
But as long as he remained a carrier of the mutated virus, they would inevitably use him up and throw him away.
So he had planned to carve out a power base of his own.
With this power, he would satisfy his safety, his desires.
"Ah, you're awake."
But it had all come to nothing.
Because of the man who had opened the door and entered before him.
"I wonder if you slept well. I wanted to bring you somewhere more comfortable, but you know, you’re an Infector. That’s why I couldn’t take you to the Enter Room with me."
The man dragged over a chair.
Light spilled in through the half-open door, illuminating the pitch-black interior.
It was a dingy basement, thick with mold.
And there he was, bound tightly in iron chains at its center.
Yukal knew the person seated before him.
He couldn’t not know. He was the leader of the clan he had belonged to in the game.
"Jack. For old times’ sake, can’t you let me go?"
"Mm-mm. Can’t do that. It was bewilderment. That’s why you people moved so blindly."
"But that’s—"
"I'm immune. You weren’t about to say something like that, were you?"
Yukal straightened the body that had started to lurch.
His wide-open eyes sank, dull and dark, as they fixed on Jack.
"...Fine. I’m free of that bewilderment. I’m not one of Evolve’s puppets!"
"Twelve."
Jack cut him off and spoke with eyes as calm as still water.
"That’s the number of my clan members you killed. Elite among elites — people who survived the tutorial, earned points through their own strength, and rose to team-leader level through the equipment they carried and relentless training."
"...I’m sorry. I didn’t know they were Quantum clan members."
"No, you did know. And even knowing, you slaughtered them. There are convenient excuses you could slap on top of it, of course. That you were under Evolve’s bewilderment, that you had no choice if you wanted to survive, and so on."
“Aren’t I right?” Jack shrugged and leaned in close.
As he did, the iron chains binding Yukal tightened viciously.
"Ghhk...!"
Watching him swallow the pain, Jack smiled thinly.
Yukal — Evolve’s capable hound — could not be killed off here so meaninglessly.
The price he paid for the deaths of loyal clan members was not to be collected now.
It wouldn’t add up.
Whoosh—crack! So fast it left only an afterimage, Jack’s hand shot forward and pierced Yukal’s solar plexus.
"Khk!"
Meeting his eyes, now blown wide as saucers, Jack placed the thing he had been holding somewhere near the heart.
Once he withdrew his hand, the ugly hole spewed blood.
As Yukal kept staring at the wound, grimacing, it quickly began to close.
"Hmm. Good."
Only then, satisfied, did Jack shake out his hand and seize Yukal by the jaw.
He held him so tightly that he couldn’t move, couldn’t even nod properly.
"Don’t bother moving that disgusting mouth of yours. Listen carefully. You answer with your head."
Jack had already read Yukal’s instinct for survival.
So, naturally, Yukal nodded.
His eyes, soaked in unease, were shaking madly.
What did he put inside me? Is he thinking about it over and over, hundreds of times?
Jack’s lips curled as he revealed his purpose.
"What I just implanted is both a listening device and a bomb. Your pathetic little body goes pop! at a single decision from me. Understood?"
At the exaggerated sound, Yukal swallowed.
Whether he did or not, Jack went on.
"What I want is simple. You’ll be my informant for a while. Evolve — the man you put on that pedestal. Report everything he does, every move he makes, to me. Understood?"
Did he even have a choice to refuse?
Yukal couldn’t bring himself to shake his head, so he nodded up and down instead.
"That’s not all. Evolve’s scale. The number of believers and their abilities. Even the information on those at your level."
Killing intent flared in Jack’s eyes.
He poked at Yukal’s already healed solar plexus.
"Report everything exactly as it is. I’ll hear it all through the device I put inside you, and I’ll make whatever judgment I please."
The stabbing grew stronger and stronger.
"So you’d better get used to talking to yourself, too. For my sake."
Jack’s finger, having gone too far, pierced his solar plexus once more.
Yukal endured the fresh surge of agony while continuing to nod over and over.
Even when he didn’t speak. Even when he only laughed.
He had no choice.
Otherwise, he had no idea when this pain would end.
"You’d better also secure a detailed map of the seed repository occupied by Evolve. If you faithfully carry out my instructions like that, then when we meet again—"
Jack hooked a finger like a claw and pulled.
The finger that had dug in finally tore away a chunk of flesh as it came back.
"—I’ll remove the bomb from your body. Ah, and don’t try to have it secretly taken out. You know that a bomb enhanced by a Tool Master can only be removed by a Tool Master, right?"
As if he needed to be told. Yukal, his face already drenched in a cold sweat, nodded once again.
Only then did Jack release his grip on Yukal’s jaw.
Yukal hauled in a breath he’d been holding and glared at Jack.
Jack seemed to still have business to attend to, because he was rummaging through his own coat.
The sight made Yukal involuntarily shrink back.
He was afraid what would come out of there would be yet another bomb.
What his body reacted to on instinct and what his eyes recognized, however, was not a bomb at all.
It was...
A holy relic.
Had he stolen the one he’d been carrying?
Yukal swallowed dryly as he watched Jack hold out the relic.
Then came the question he had expected.
"Then I’ll give you your first mission. Tell me honestly what this is. If I think you’re lying, I’ll blow it up immediately. So don’t even think about deceiving me. My Analysis Nature has a pretty keen nose."
Staring at the faintly pulsing relic — no, the piece of flesh — Yukal opened his mouth.
"That is..."
***
"So this is a substance manufactured by weakening and cultivating the power of an Infector core. An optimized medicine for improved D-Virus infectees."
"Medicine?"
Yoo Sung-jun tilted his head at the Higher Being’s words before him.
At last, he had reached user rank 7.
And the Higher Being, whom he met again through that advancement, had for once shown interest first.
Not in Yoo Sung-jun, but in the piece of flesh recovered from the believer.
When he asked for an explanation, this was what happened.
Even without using a question, the Higher Being had told him honestly what it had learned.
"Yes, and in a fairly stable state at that. That Evolve fellow — the leader of that organization — seems to be an Infector with quite a deep understanding of biotechnology, doesn’t he?"
"What does it do? My teammate said he definitely killed it, but it came back to life. Is it some kind of immortality thing?"
"Haha, nothing that omnipotent. If anything, it’s just a substance that rapidly recovers you as long as you still have a breath left in you, and drastically amplifies the power of whoever takes it."
Calling that just a thing was quite the understatement.
Though to the Higher Being, perhaps it really did seem trivial.
This just got annoying.
If every believer carried one of these, taking Evolve down would become a far more difficult task than expected.
He was wondering whether he should spend his question right here, in order to poke at that weakness, when the Higher Being smiled.
Yes, smiled.
Its appearance since their last meeting had changed quite a lot.
It had grown from the size of a child to something like a boy, and its features had become clearer, less blurred.
It was still a bundle of questions, but now it was at least pleasant to talk to.
At the very least, he could see it smile or think.
"Even if they mass-produced it, they wouldn’t be able to make it in large quantities. They’re short on materials, so they need a supply line — and you, Yoo Sung-jun, cut that off, didn’t you?"
"Ah..."
The Infector core that had served as the heart of the individual.
Destroying it had earned him over four million points in one go.
The point distribution for hunting Infectors still favored Yoo Sung-jun.
As he and Jack Kalt had discussed before, the point ratio was 10 to 0. Naturally, Yoo Sung-jun took the ten.
So every time he hunted in other sectors, a huge number of points came flooding in.
Taking out Evolve’s believers was a bonus.
This turned into an insanely profitable deal.
He had even recovered all the brains, so when they were converted into points later, that would add several million more.
So he smiled in satisfaction.
At that, the Higher Being walked with small, dainty steps and sat down at the table floating in space.
"Take a seat. You can perceive the higher dimension now, so this should be easy enough."
Yoo Sung-jun was still thinking.
While sitting in the chair in front of him at the Higher Being’s words, he kept mulling it over.
What should I ask?
Honestly, this had been a call he could have pushed aside.
The reason he had accepted it in the first place was Evolve, but the creature had gone ahead and revealed the core of the matter on its own.
So now he had to think of another question...
Jack Kalt.
The leader of Quantum, a man who still had not been made to answer for anything.
Choi Hyun-seok was now dependable enough that Yoo Sung-jun could understand what he was thinking and what kind of resolve guided his actions.
But Jack was different.
It was still unclear why they had formed an alliance and chosen to work together.
At first, he had vaguely assumed it was because of the upper-limb extermination.
But now I know that wasn’t it.
So he might as well start asking around.
If they were going to keep working together, then he needed to judge Jack’s purpose and plans accurately.
"That’s the question I want to ask."
"And what is it?"
"What’s Jack Kalt’s ultimate goal?"
"As I thought. I knew that was the question you’d ask."
"Really?"
"Of course. I’m an existence that perceives and analyzes everything up to the present."
The Higher Being thrust its chest out and answered with a flourish.
"So I’ll tell you. Jack Kalt. The ‘ultimate’ he desires."
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