Online Game: My 10,000x Intelligence Buff Awakens

For Ethan, killing just one monster guard was clearly not enough to awaken his talent [Ten-Thousandfold Intelligence Reward].

After injecting the pale blue serum from [Grinning Ghost], his body reached the peak of normal human limits, and he awakened the talent [Pain Resistance].

When [Pain Resistance] kicks in, Ethan's physical stats also go up.

But the boost is too small.

In a fight this messy and dangerous, one small slip could get him caught in the chaos—injured, or even killed.

Ethan took a deep breath and yanked out the long long blade that had pierced the monster guard. He glanced at the tip and let out a helpless sigh.

This long blade wasn't special. After a few fights, the tip had completely lost its edge.

If he went at the monster guards with this long blade now, he'd be asking to die.

Ethan dared to go all out when needed, but that didn't mean he'd charge in blindly.

He led Molly, Lucas, Emma, and Dr. Axel in another direction.

Lucas had almost forgotten they were still in a deadly fight. He couldn't take his eyes off Ethan, full of shock and disbelief.

At first, he thought this patient named Ethan was just unlucky, dragged into this by Dr. Axel.

Who would've thought that this man—who seemed to only have good looks—not only figured out their exact location, but also saved them again and again at the key moments.

Lucas took a deep breath, followed Ethan, and said:

"Bro, once we get out of here, we'll have been through life and death together."

"Did you see those guys in black suits? I think my big brother [Windchaser] called them to save me!"

"Don't worry. I'll introduce you to [Windchaser]. You two should meet. You're both so strong, I'm sure..."

Before Lucas could finish, a harsh roar tore through the air.

Everyone turned on instinct. Beside test subject Jake lay four or five monster guard corpses. He threw back his head and let out a sky-shaking howl, blood dripping from his mouth.

Ethan sucked in a sharp breath. Jake's eyes were icy cold—just like that boss on B3 of Frostspire Tower in Dawnfall Online.

Seeing the blood at Jake's lips, Ethan understood. The black serum those guards injected must have gotten into Jake through the blood and triggered something in him.

Sure enough, [Iron Controller], who was fighting [Grinning Ghost], saw this and grew feverish with excitement. He shouted: "This is great power! No matter what you do, you cannot stop the coming of [Calamity]!"

As soon as he finished, Jake's figure blurred and vanished. When he reappeared, he was right behind [Iron Controller]!

[Iron Controller] hadn't noticed anything. He was about to keep talking when a huge force slammed into his back.

"Boom!"

A second later, his body crashed into the ground near Ethan and the others, smashing a huge crater into the once smooth floor.

"Pfft!"

Down in the pit, [Iron Controller] kept spewing blood. Jake's strike had clearly done serious damage.

[Iron Controller] stared wide-eyed, full of disbelief. With so many people here, how did he end up as Jake's first target?

Shaking, he slowly pushed himself up, lifted his head, and glared at Jake.

At that moment, the whole underground space fell silent.

The chaotic fight seemed to pause, like someone hit the pause button, and everyone looked toward Jake.

He was standing in a strange spot—it was exactly where [Head-Cutter] had smashed through the ceiling and dropped down.

Right then, Jake slowly closed his eyes. It was as if he sensed something, and he reached his hand up.

At once, a huge howling rose. A gale packed with countless snowflakes poured in through the hole in the underground ceiling.

Cold—bone-deep cold.

Within a couple of breaths, frost formed on every surface around Ethan.

He touched his hair without thinking. Even it felt icy and stiff.

He had never felt this kind of cold. It wasn't just low air temperature.

It came from deep in the soul, and there was no way to resist it.

Ethan felt like the blood in his body was about to freeze.

He looked around. The researchers closest to Jake had already turned into ice statues, standing motionless where they were.

Lucas, Dr. Axel, and Molly didn't look good either. Emma, though, seemed fine—she wasn't even shivering.

Ethan glanced at Emma again. Before he could think more, he suddenly stiffened.

In that instant, Ethan could clearly feel his heart go still.

It didn't stop beating—it was frozen in place for a moment, held in some state.

Right then, the roar of the wind slowly faded.

Jake slowly opened his eyes. There was no human emotion on his face at all; he was as cold as a machine.

At the same time, his eyes turned a strange blue, like the sea, full of endless calm.

[Plague Ghost] Jade saw this. He suddenly kicked out, sending [Space Wolf] flying. Space Wolf crashed into several concrete pillars and snapped them.

Jade turned his head, let out a slow breath, and said in a heavy voice:

"[Calamity] has arrived."

He slowly raised his black umbrella and pressed a switch on the handle.

At once, the black umbrella began to melt. Countless black particles spread out around him.

Jade's body soaked them up fast, like a sponge.

In the blink of an eye, Jade's human form was gone. A pitch‑black ghostly shadow stood where he had been.

The shadow was made of countless black particles. It had no face, only a pair of blood‑red eyes that gave off a faint red glow.

The moment the shadow appeared, Jake—or rather, the [Ice Calamity]—looked over at once.

For the first time, a hint of emotion touched his calm face.

The shadow Jade had become spoke in a sound like nails scraping glass: "[Grinning Ghost], clear the field!"

[Grinning Ghost] gave a quick nod and led his people over to the researchers who had been frozen into ice.

[Head-Cutter] also stopped attacking. He dragged his huge black scythe and walked toward Jake.

The mysterious figures with mirror masks traded looks, took a deep breath, and followed behind [Head-Cutter].

There is a deep conflict between the [Ghostfang] group and the [Prism] group.

But faced with the [Ice Calamity], the mirror‑masked people chose to fight together with [Plague Ghost] and [Head-Cutter].

[Calamity] is their common enemy.

Captain Lion of the Faceless Department's special operations team took a deep breath and said to Lila: "Take the others and leave. I'll stay."

Lila looked unsure. It wasn't that Captain Lion was weak—the problem was that this time the enemy was just too strong.

Lion was very firm, so Lila could only nod and agree.

Ethan was planning to fall back too. As for what came next, he didn't even have the right to stay and watch.

Jake had gone through some strange change. Just by standing there, he was already freezing many researchers into ice statues.

If he really attacked, Ethan felt that at the very least everyone in the factory would be hit in a deadly way.

Just as Ethan started to back away, he saw the [Iron Controller] slowly fly up out of the deep pit.

Without thinking, Ethan glanced at the long blade in his hand and let out a small sigh.

If nothing else happened, then even if his long blade could still be used, it still wouldn't be enough to deal with that middle-aged man who could control steel.

Ethan had never shown mercy to anyone who hurt him or tried to hurt him.

He wasn't strong enough now, but that didn't mean he wouldn't get stronger later.

He fixed the man's face in his memory.

Ethan looked down at his long blade again. He was about to throw away the weapon, which was basically useless now, when he saw the monster guard's blood on the long blade.

He suddenly thought of something and hurried to collect the blood.

Emma noticed what he was doing and stared at him, wide‑eyed.

Ethan nodded to her. He knew Emma was smart and would understand what he wanted to do.

Under Ethan's gaze, Emma slowly raised the wristband on her arm and said:

"I installed a special device inside Jake."

"If we activate it, it can release a lot of heat for a short time and suppress the Ice Virus's activity."

Emma felt it was time to trigger the device.