How to Get Girls, Get Rich, and Rule the World (Even If You're Ugly)
Chapter 72: How to Uncover a Massive Corruption Scheme by Accident (6)

Chapter 72: How to Uncover a Massive Corruption Scheme by Accident (6)

Smoke now blanketed the ceiling like a living, suffocating curtain. Runic lights flickered in panic, some bursting in unstable flashes of color. The smell of burning, blood, and corrupted magic was almost solid in the air. Inside that warehouse — part depot, part laboratory, part dungeon — reality felt suspended between logic and delirium.

We were in the center of hell.

And it was just the beginning.

Thalia was still trembling. Clinging to me, her hands gripping my shoulders like they were the last anchor between her and collapse. Her eyes red, her face smeared with soot and tears.

[STATUS: THALIA VEIL]

→ Condition: Emotional Overload

→ Mental Clarity: 12%

→ Motor Control: Compromised

→ Speech: Fragmented / Coherent but unstable

→ Sync Bond with Dante: Reactivated – 48%

"I’m sorry..." she sobbed, voice like a wet thorn. "You... shouldn’t have... come..."

"Well, I’ve never been good at ’shouldn’t’," I muttered, trying not to look as worried as I was.

But the truth? It shook me.

Seeing Thalia without sarcasm, without defiance, without pride... was like staring at a broken mirror where the frame still smiled.

She tried to say something else—but froze.

And I froze too.

Behind us, coming from the direction opposite the chaos of explosions, smoke, and screams, came a sound that didn’t belong to the confusion.

Footsteps.

Heavy. Precise. As slow as an inevitable decision.

And then I saw him.

The silhouette took shape first. Too large. Too wide.

His skin wasn’t just dark — it was a shade that seemed to absorb the surrounding light, like the world itself wanted to forget he existed. Veins pulsed with phosphorescent green, and his face...

Wasn’t human.

Not of any race I recognized.

His six eyes moved independently.

His jaw was wide and segmented, lined with black stone fangs.

And his fingers ended in claws — each one glowing with the dull glint of rune-forged metal fused into bone.

[BOSS DETECTED – NAME: ???]

→ Race: Unknown Hybrid – Titan Subspecies?

→ Threat Level: EXTREME

→ Weak Points: Not Detected

→ Skin: Hardened – Fire Resistant

→ Mental Status: Focused – Target: Dante / Thalia

"You... will bleed," he said, like he was commenting on the weather.

His voice was stone dragged across metal.

Without waiting, I pulled Thalia to the side, shoving us both into one of the carts partially covered by a tarp. The wheels creaked but didn’t draw attention — not in the middle of that pandemonium.

[Objective: SURVIVE]

→ Bonus: Protect Thalia (Critical)

→ Buffs Activated: Orc Strength + Fire Affinity Boost

I leapt from the cart, spinning the pickaxe in both hands.

The opening strike aimed at the monster’s leg.

Direct hit.

Nothing.

The weapon bounced off like I’d struck the capital’s outer wall. His arm came around in response — sluggish, almost lazy — but strong enough to launch me into a pile of runic barrels.

[Health: -18%]

→ Fractured Rib Detected

→ Skin Laceration – Moderate Bleed

→ Pain Tolerance Buff: +5% Active

"Okay," I spat blood. "Ugly dance it is, then."

I pulled one of the vials from my belt.

Bottled spell.

Tossed it at the ground.

Explosion.

Blue flames burst like snakes of raw energy, slamming into the creature’s legs and back. He roared — but not in pain. In fury.

His central eyes fixed on me, the other five scanning for a new target.

I threw two more vials.

One activated mid-air — creating a hall of mirrors illusion that warped the entire corridor. The other detonated in green fire, accidentally triggering three protective seals etched into the floor.

The ceiling trembled.

Chunks of stone fell.

Spells trapped inside boxes unleashed themselves like prisoners breaking from a century-old cell.

It was starting to look beautiful.

[Area Status: CHAOTIC]

→ Effect: Random Spell Activations + Fire Overload

→ Visibility: Compromised – 40%

→ Thalia Safety: Unknown

He charged again.

This time, I let him come.

And at the right moment — I bit.

Yes. With teeth.

I sank them into the thinnest part of the arm — where the muscles connected to the collarbone. The flesh was tough, but it gave way. The taste was awful, like old stone and blood clotted with oil.

[Passive Skill: Bite Attack – Activated]

→ Effect: -2 Defense (Localized)

→ Inflicted Condition: Distraction +2 rounds

I let go and rolled to the side. Used the pickaxe as a lever, yanked the tarp from the cart and threw it across part of the corridor. The runic spells stitched into it ignited all at once. Three exploded like emerald fireworks, sparks leaping toward the ceiling.

He roared again. This time it hurt.

And I smiled. A smile full of blood and a chipped tooth.

"How about that, big guy?"

The fight was far from over.

But for the first time...

He knew I was here.

And I wasn’t going down easy.

The ground vibrated.

The blackened wood of the warehouse cracked beneath the monster’s feet, each step like the building itself remembered who ruled here. The runes on the walls flickered out of sync. The air was thick with unstable mana, fresh blood, and magical gunpowder.

Thalia was still pressed against the side of the cart where I’d left her, wide-eyed, tears running down her filthy face, hands trembling like every part of her wanted to flee her own body.

[EMOTIONAL STATE: THALIA VEIL]

→ Trauma: High

→ Focus: 10%

→ Combat Capability: Inactive

→ Condition: "Emotional Freeze"

→ Effect: Incapable of movement without assistance

I stepped between her and the deformed titan, body low, pickaxe still glowing with dried blood and the heat of my anger. My breathing was uneven — exhaustion and adrenaline dueling in silence.

The enemy was massive. His skin was green-gray, like soaked tree bark. His eyes were dull, sunken — like he’d buried his soul in exchange for muscle.

His mouth... wasn’t really a mouth. Just a curved slit sewn shut with black thread.

He didn’t speak. He just clenched his teeth — and came at me.

I grabbed Thalia by the arm and dragged her limp body into the nearest cart. It was narrow, packed with stacked sacks marked by faintly glowing magical inscriptions.

"Stay here. Don’t open your mouth or your eyes," I told her. "I’ll handle this."

Thalia just sobbed.

[NEW STATUS: DANTE]

→ Physical Strength: x1.5 (Half-Orc)

→ Endurance: Low-Medium (Fragile skin – fast bleeding)

→ Current Condition: Lightly injured / Highly focused

→ Active Skill: Fire Magic

→ Environment: Mana-saturated – risk of accidental ignition: HIGH

The monster lunged.

I rolled aside just in time — the blow smashed the ground with enough force to crack the boards. In the same second, I yanked a vial off the side of the cart — one of those illegal "canned spells" — and hurled it at the beast’s chest.

[ITEM USED: Lightning Enchantment – Unstable Class]

→ Result: MODERATE EXPLOSION – target pushed back 3 meters

→ Side Effect: One of the runic lanterns combusted

The creature staggered. I ran. Pulled out another vial — an ice one — and threw it.

The air thickened. The wall behind the monster froze in seconds, cracking like glass.

But it wasn’t enough.

The brute charged. Grabbed me by the waist and hurled me against the back carts.

The impact shattered the structure’s side.

Dust, wood, and muffled screams filled the air.

But I used the moment.

The force of the crash opened up space: revealing a hidden compartment behind the carts — another section of the warehouse, where even more cargo was piled up.

All marked with the same symbol: a circle split by a lightning bolt.

Memory seals.

Hundreds of them.

"Sons of bitches..." I whispered. "It’s way worse than we thought."

But time wasn’t waiting.

Men came from one of the corridors.

Two... four... six.

Weapons drawn.

"Kill him!" one of them shouted.

But the chaos had already begun.

The fire from the last explosion touched one of the spilled vials.

[WARNING: Chain Reaction Detected]

→ Excess magic buildup in the environment

→ Time until general explosion: 00:00:45

→ Estimated blast radius: 50 meters

→ Recommended protection: Distance + Solid Cover

I widened my eyes.

"Oh, perfect."

Grabbed Thalia in my arms, ignoring her weak protests, and ran.

Magic bullets zipped through the air, slamming into corridors, bouncing off activated runes, throwing off bursts of light and screams.

One man tried to intercept — but was struck by an out-of-control spell — a compressed wind sphere that slammed him into the ceiling.

Another tripped on an exposed mana thread and burst into flames.

I dove into the nearest cart — its wheels still intact.

[OBJECTIVE: SURVIVE THE BLAST]

→ Status: In Progress

→ Time Remaining: 00:00:07

→ Alert: "Stay low and pray the system did the math right."

"Hold on to me," I said, and Thalia obeyed, burying her face in my chest.

[00:00:03]

[00:00:02]

[00:00:01]

[WARNING: Brace for Impact]

The explosion hit like a starving thunderclap.

The floor gave out. The walls crumbled. The ceiling turned to dust. The memories — thousands of them — detonated in cascading surges of uncontained energy, lighting up the night sky like cursed fireworks.

The cart we were in was launched into the air like a stone hurled by a drunken giant.

Light. Smoke. Darkness.

Silence.

And then...

"He’s moving!"

"Someone call the guards!"

"Is that... a cart?"

"There’s two people in there!"

I opened my eyes slowly. I was lying in the middle of the street, tunic torn, face covered in soot, and a dozen faces staring down at me with the same look: total confusion.

Thalia, still in my arms, let out a soft groan.

And I, tasting burned magic in my mouth, said the only thing that made sense:

"...I think I lost my pickaxe."