I am a hero of the former civilization.

"Your Excellency, the intruders have breached the third layer of defenses," a guard whispered a reminder.

"Attack immediately, but do not notify the Moth of Flames forces. We will handle this ourselves. Furthermore, at all costs, I must contact His Holiness the Pope!"

Is this problem so easy to solve?

Seeing the bishop's serious expression, the guard could only nod reluctantly.

"As ordered!"

boom--

A storm of icy mist swept underground, freezing metal and turning a group of soldiers into ice sculptures.

"The defenses are much weaker than I expected, and why haven't the Fire Moths arrived yet?"

Ryan paused slightly, leaning on his cane and looking ahead.

He used the power of thunder to interfere with the communication system, but the city could not be isolated. Whoever escaped through the emergency exit could report to the local branch.

Rome, as an important strategic location, is garrisoned by high-ranking fusion warriors, but the reaction is quite interesting.

We had to resist, yet dared not resist with all our might...

With Ryan's keen observation, these suspicious points couldn't escape his notice at all; it seems that the Herrscher cosplay was effective.

"Never mind, I'll get on with my business first."

He continued to stroll underground at a leisurely pace, just as he would during the day when visiting a church, taking in his surroundings.

The Christian emblems are numerous, and the guards have little to do with the Moths of Fire. It is certain that they are church-owned properties. However, the experimental equipment is very complete, and the surgical equipment is comparable to that of the Fifth Research Institute.

Ryan entered a laboratory and saw several humanoid objects floating in a huge glass jar. Upon closer inspection, his eyes trembled.

The exposed muscles were very strong, and there was a layer of Honkai energy crystals on the surface of the body, which was a sign of excessive mutation. In theory, such a failed product should not have any life reaction, but what caught his attention the most was the octopus head.

'This is the monster from the Aponia sketch, I see. If I hadn't intervened, these things would have destroyed the city.'

Ryan glanced at the alien inside the glass jar and felt something was off. It seemed to have borrowed technology from the Fusion Warriors, but it was fundamentally different.

So what kind of vessel did these charlatans fuse with? Could it be that they really possess some kind of sacred relic?

Ryan casually picked up the experimental report next to him. There was no need to conduct his own research on fusion warriors. Didn't the council have Dr. Damian?

He was full of questions as he carefully examined the report, skimming through it and moving his eyes rapidly. As one of the leaders of the Fusion Warrior project, Ryan quickly discovered the problem.

"This is it, sample zero. They didn't even do any adjustments before going straight to clinical trials. That's not scientific."

Ryan still remembers how much time and effort he and Mebius spent creating the first stable gene, and how they kept adjusting it based on the vector before they finally created the first generation of hypermutant factor. These people, on the other hand, went straight to clinical trials.

Could there really be a relic? No problem, I can either find it myself or send a piece of my body tissue to Möbius.

Thinking of this, he turned his head slightly and saw that the surface of the glass jar was suddenly covered with cracks. As the bubbles surged, the alien inside opened its eyes at the same time.

Dozens of emotionless eyes all stared at Ryan.

Chapter 257 Uprooted within a month!

Click click click.

The sound of glass cracking echoed throughout, and pale green nutrient solution seeped out, spreading down the floor.

Not only in this laboratory, but in every room where the glass jars were placed, the sounds came as if hundreds of wild beasts were awakening.

Ryan stared wide-eyed, seemingly shocked but not afraid. The report had just stated that these were unfinished products, like those suffering from a sleeping sickness. No one could wake them up. The church had tried various methods, but the number of failed products kept piling up.

How did they wake up? Because of Honkai energy? Didn't the Church conduct several experiments using Honkai energy stimulation? What other methods didn't they use?

Ryan let the green liquid soak his shoes, and out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of the frozen corridor and immediately understood.

Power? They were awakened by power? That's just...

boom!

The glass jar finally shattered, and a dozen monsters rushed up instantly. Then, in the next moment, piercing ice spikes suddenly pinned them all to the ceiling.

"This is related to the Herrscher. That Sample Zero is more powerful than I thought."

Ryan muttered to himself, gazing at the struggling monsters on the ceiling. Blood had stained the ice spikes red, yet they continued to struggle frantically, as if the flow would never end.

Tearing flesh, shattering bones, his eyes filled with madness and greed, he forcibly ripped himself off, wanting to devour Ryan completely, leaving not even bones behind.

Ryan raised his cane and swung it like a sword, severing several heads. The headless corpses continued to rush forward, eventually being frozen into ice sculptures.

'Such strong vitality and regenerative ability, but their physical attributes are just those of slightly stronger assassins.' He glanced at the head that was still tearing at him, and saw the headless body pinned to the ice spikes gradually grow a neck.

To retract the foreword, he's still different from the assassins; his recovery speed is far too fast.

The ice spread and climbed onto the bodies of several monsters, then their growth rate slowed down, which made Ryan, an expert in the field of biology, immediately understand.

This growth is in the cellular realm; this thing proliferates extremely quickly, almost like... a virus?

boom--

The laboratory's explosion-proof glass was shattered, and more monsters rushed in, using both hands and feet, accompanied by terrifying screams.

It didn't just attack me; this thing can't distinguish between friend and foe?

Ryan waved his cane, unleashing a crescent-shaped ice ring that pulverized anything that touched it, freezing the limbs to a solid mass on the floor. Ryan peered through the breach and saw several soldiers running away while firing their guns.

They were quickly pinned to the ground, and amidst screams, an extremely bloody scene of cannibalism unfolded.

eat human?

Ryan's brow twitched at the sight of the bloody scene, which was normal, as rapid cell proliferation consumes a lot of energy and will disintegrate on its own without replenishment. But what happened next made him swear.

Grass.

The surging monsters were easily turned into ice shards, but the soldiers who were left with only half their bodies convulsed violently on the ground. They trembled all over, and then their bodies were covered with a layer of Honkai energy crystals, and their heads swelled up into the shape of octopuses.

Then, it stood up in a bizarre posture, its gnawed body rapidly repairing itself.

It's contagious, are you trying to play Resident Evil on me?

Ryan suddenly remembered what the Honkai energy crystals on his body were all about. Wasn't that a characteristic of Honkai patients? As a researcher, he quickly connected the clues.

It definitely used some characteristics of the Honkai Impact 3rd, and the core sample zero is characterized by rapid cell proliferation and infectiousness.

They were dormant, but were awakened by my authority, causing their cells to proliferate—the authority of the Herrscher.

"The Lawgiver of Death!"

Ryan found the answer. Only he knew what authority the never-seen Sixth Herrscher possessed. It was no exaggeration to say that the Herrscher of Death was the 'god' of biology.

Given the background of a Lawyer, these illiterate people generally wouldn't be able to come up with anything fancy; at most, they could only use it for themselves or as a means of attack. But if she provides the materials and a group of young geniuses develop them, that's a different story.

To put it simply, if Mebius and the Herrscher of Death joined forces, what they developed would definitely be ten thousand times more terrifying than this.

So, you can create a civilization-destroying virus by relying on this group of idiots without even showing your face? In a sense, that's far more terrifying than the Herrscher of Ice, at least it doesn't have that kind of scalability.

Ryan's killing intent surged instantly as he discovered that the 'Herrscher' had developed new characteristics, proving that combat power and destructive power were not synonymous.

We haven't even seen them yet. If these things were to go to the ground, the damage they would cause would be unimaginable. The key is that even if we wipe them all out, they wouldn't be able to harm a single hair on the Herrscher's head.

"No, some monsters have already escaped from the lab."

The raging winds revealed the landscape: monsters were devouring people, spreading, and multiplying, bringing catastrophe like an uncontrollable, deadly virus.

Ryan didn't rush to intercept them, because after he made his move, the Southern European branch wasn't blind and deaf; they had already sent their elites to investigate, and they happened to run into this group of monsters.

Leave the surface to the Fire Moth, I'll handle the underground. Damn it, I'm currently disguised as the Herrscher of Ice.

Ryan felt a sense of irony and stepped into the depths of the laboratory with a cold face. These monsters, apart from their infectiousness, were not strong in themselves; at least to him, they were not even minions.

The rampaging Honkai energy could turn an entire corridor into a meat grinder, turning dozens of monsters into finger-sized pieces of flesh. As Ryan stepped on these trembling chunks of flesh, his face grew increasingly grim.

Not only can it spread, it can also evolve. He has already seen several monsters swell to more than three meters tall. However, if they are allowed to evolve for a few more months, they will be no match for Ryan.

"But for ordinary soldiers and civilians, it's a nightmare. Human civilization can't be reduced to just a few strong individuals, can it?"

Using the power of wind to detect and then freezing with ice, he arrived at the central control room in just half an hour, tapping his cane lightly on the heavy alloy door.

The steel froze rapidly, and with just a light tap, a large hole was torn open. Ryan, carrying a frozen monster in one hand, buried his head inside.

He saw a man in a red robe, a color worn only by high-ranking members of the Christian Church, and the man's expression was quite interesting.

There was some fear, but more confusion and anger; just from that expression, Ryan understood.

"You feel you were deceived by the Herrscher? You obediently followed His orders, achieved considerable results, and were then wiped out?"

From Astu's perspective, this really seemed like a case of discarding a useful tool after it has served its purpose. But as soon as he opened his mouth, he found that he had lost the ability to speak, and his eyes became even more terrified.

Ryan had no interest in listening to his excuses. After realizing that this was an ordinary person, he directly used a mental shock to destroy his consciousness and incidentally gave him a gift.

The ice melted, revealing the monster's octopus-like head, which was frantically devouring the air, before a piece of succulent meat was presented to it.

"Ah-"

Screams echoed in the room as the monster gnawed at the bishop's thigh, its movements slowed by the frozen body.

Ryan acted as if he hadn't heard anything, turned on the central computer, and his fingers flew across the keyboard, his pupils reflecting the flashing data.

"I'm asking you, are you Councilor Zhu Huo? Where did you meet the Lawyer?"

"I was just carrying out the task assigned by His Majesty. I have never had any contact with the Herrschers, nor have I ever met any Fire Chaser Councilors!"

Amidst screams and replies, Astu, of course, didn't want to speak; he was nearly fainting from the pain. But his mind was controlled, forcing him to talk.

"So he's a trusted confidant. No wonder. If he were a true key figure, he wouldn't have been so easily fooled." Ryan listened to the 'accompaniment' and continued searching for information. The information that allowed him to 'seize' the Herrscher's authority must be top secret.

"Your master is very lucky; he managed to dodge this. By the way, where did he go?"

"New York!"

"Oh, no wonder. They must have been setting a trap for me. I didn't expect my luck to improve after meeting Paddo." Ryan shrugged, his eyes scanning the core data, and he roughly understood what was going on.

As he expected, these bastards actually made contact with the Herrscher of Death and received her 'blessing,' then secretly gathered experts to begin their research.

The Church of Christ had explored the use of Honkai energy before and, having obtained valuable materials, quickly achieved results. Of course, their goal was not to create any killing weapons.

If one wants to replicate the authority and gain complete control over cells, this is also a way out if becoming a fusion warrior is not an option.

Ryan had asked the Takeuchi brothers in Japan and learned that the 'Faith Faction' had no faith; most of them only wanted to gain power and achieve immortality. Authority, a kind of 'magic' that transcends science, was obviously a good breakthrough point.

As far as the target is concerned, the authority of the Herrscher of Death is the most suitable, after all, it is 'magic' in the field of biology, and then these idiots were deceived.

He glanced at the still-breathing, broken body with disgust. The Herrschers were completely different from the demons in fantasy novels. They never thought about ruling the world and taking in servants or henchmen. For the sake of the end, they could even sacrifice themselves at will.