Liam received the notification, confirming that the rat was dead.
Moments later, he saw a large ball of light appear above the area where the rat had died.
The ball of light transformed into a crystal orb — or rather, a skill crystal.
(C Tier Skill "Double Slash" — a skill that causes each of your sword slashes to become two every time you swing your sword!)
Liam could only roll his eyes seeing that it was just a C Tier Skill.
Doubling a sword slash? That's too little. If it multiplied to a hundred, then it would be truly powerful, he thought. But if it reached a hundred, I doubt it would still be a C Tier Skill — maybe even an A or S Tier.
He collected the crystal but wasn't interested in using it for himself.
For now, he stored it in his inventory.
When he glanced back at Carlos, he was startled.
The boy, exhausted, was now being helped by Joel and Anthony. They even brought a student with healing abilities to assist him.
With their help, Carlos recovered quickly.
Of course, despite the assistance, Carlos still maintained his arrogant attitude. But Joel and Anthony treated him well, introducing themselves and explaining that they controlled two-thirds of the power within the fortress — meaning they could decide who was allowed to stay or be expelled.
When Carlos asked if he and his group could stay inside the fortress, they gladly agreed.
Liam could easily guess that they were intentionally recruiting Carlos for his strength.
He didn't have to think hard to know they would soon try to use him for their own selfish desires.
Naturally, Liam didn't really care about whatever they planned.
While they were looking at him, he casually opened his red portal.
The black rat he had killed then emerged from the portal.
"Master!" the rat immediately greeted Liam respectfully.
Carlos was left speechless, mouth agape in disbelief.
The rat seemed to fully retain its memories from before its death.
After greeting Liam, it glanced sharply at Carlos.
If not under Liam's control, it likely would've immediately pounced on the boy.
"Follow me!" Liam said to the rat and Alice, but not to Paul.
He only wanted these two to follow him as he set his sights on the residential complex behind the school.
It was a large complex. He wanted to explore it, thinking he could further increase his strength there.
He left Paul and the husky behind to guard the others in case something happened while he was away.
"Master, you may sit on my back!" the black rat offered as Liam prepared to move.
Hearing this, Liam quickly leapt onto the rat's back.
It was big — clearly a much more comfortable ride than jumping from rooftop to rooftop.
Of course, he also ordered Alice to ride on the rat's back, and the rat had no right to refuse since his mind was directly linked to Liam's will.
Splash! Splash! Splash!
The rat swiftly moved through the residential streets.
The floodwaters were deeper here, but its long legs made it seem like it was merely stepping through puddles.
Liam stood on its back, not sitting.
His eyes scanned house after house, searching for any survivors.
Naturally, at the start of the disaster, this complex should have been quite empty, as most people would have been at work. At most, there might have been a few unemployed residents or housewives caring for young children.
Since not everyone had immediately turned into zombies, there was always a chance of survivors — whether through clever use of their skills or by hiding effectively.
Unfortunately, even after traveling over 300 meters into the complex, Liam found no signs of life besides zombies.
But this was only one street, and the complex still extended far beyond.
"Hmm..."
While scanning house after house, something suddenly caught his eye — a glowing red light in a small playground within the complex.
The center of the playground had turned into a crater.
He couldn't tell what was glowing since the red light was coming from deep within the crater, but fortunately, the playground itself was on slightly higher ground and hadn't been flooded.
"Go there!" Liam ordered the black rat toward the playground.
The rat jumped directly into the playground, landing in front of the crater.
Liam then saw a glass bottle containing a red liquid. It was this liquid that emitted the red glow.
Interestingly, as he examined it, a virtual screen appeared above the bottle displaying its description.
("Demon Wine" — a drink that grants you madness while significantly boosting your strength for the duration of its effects. This is a treasure that directly descended to Earth, waiting for anyone who finds it!)
Liam couldn't help but make a strange face as he read the description.
He instinctively jumped into the crater, grabbed the bottle, and observed the red liquid inside.
'It's probably similar to that fortress — a treasure that fell directly from the sky,' he thought.
"But... how crazy is its effect? And how much stronger would I get if I drank it?" he wondered.
With his personality, always maintaining his composure, he doubted he would ever willingly drink it.
Even if desperate, he would rather have someone else drink it first.
However, he wasn't sure if it could be given to zombies or monsters.
'I'll just store it for now,' he decided, transferring the bottle into his inventory.
"Tch, they're coming so fast," he muttered, looking up to see a wave of zombies approaching.
Naturally, they ignored Alice and the large black rat, only fixating on Liam with bloodthirsty eyes.
Unfortunately, among them, he couldn't spot a single Level 4 zombie — the minimum level that would earn him Battle Points.
Whoosh!
Alice swiftly moved, slaughtering them all with ease.
She wouldn't allow Liam to be troubled by these weak zombies.
Liam climbed out of the crater after all the zombies were dead and returned to the rat's back.
"Go deeper," he commanded.
The rat immediately continued forward, crossing a four-way intersection that divided the road into four directions.
Liam instinctively glanced down both the left and right paths.
As he turned from right to left, his gaze abruptly locked onto something in the distance.
A terrifyingly large figure was standing far ahead.