On my second playthrough, they were full of malice towards me.

Upon receiving this answer from the man in black, Charlotte's initial fear instantly transformed into ecstatic joy. He hadn't expected that the old alliance hadn't abandoned him; on the contrary, they had...

Another high-ranking official was sent to pick me up!?

In Charlotte's escape plan, the only one of the five major forces that was not mentioned was the Forest Alliance. As a member of the Old Alliance, he knew very well that to enter the ethereal Forest Alliance, one had to become a "Forgotten One," and he was not qualified yet.

As for outsiders wanting to enter the Forest Alliance, that's even more impossible. The Forest Alliance is almost the complete opposite of Shanghai, practically a closed-off country with very little interaction with the outside world, let alone accepting outsiders. Many people who want to go to the Forest Alliance end up just getting lost in the Illusion Forest, going around in circles.

but now

Could it be that his efforts have finally been recognized, and instead of being punished, he will be rewarded? Did Lord Hero come to take him to the Forest Alliance, to the legendary headquarters of the Old Alliance, the underground sanctuary?

Across from him, Hero watched Charlotte jump off the carriage and saw the look of ecstatic joy on the minister's face. He shook his head and said:

"I think you seem to have misunderstood something?"

"Misunderstanding?"

"Simply put, I'm here to send you on your way." Hero spread out his white gloves.

After thinking for a moment, perhaps to make sure Charlotte died knowing why, he added another sentence.

"Because you are part of the deal I'm going to make next."

"To be precise, it's a free gift."

Chapter 144 Hero (Part 1)

Charlotte's mind went blank for a moment, and when she came to her senses, the ecstasy on her face was replaced by fear.

He began to back away from the man in black in front of him, shaking his head frantically and making heart-wrenching noises.

"No, no, no, no! I... I've served the Old Alliance for so long, you can't treat me like this!"

"Although I have lost my power, I still possess many, many secrets of the Dragon Kingdom! I still have value! A lot of value! I can still continue to serve the Old Alliance! You cannot just abandon me like this!"

“Speak! Answer me! I am a member of the Old Alliance, I have the right to appeal to the Sanctuary! Take me to the Sanctuary! Take me to our Lord! Even you have no right to decide my life or death!”

Charlotte was nearly driven mad by her screams, which was understandable. She had just seen a glimmer of hope and was only one step away from escaping the Dragon Kingdom, but the organization she had once served was blocking her way at this crucial moment.

Charlotte felt a deep sense of betrayal and resentment. Suddenly, as if he understood something, his expression quickly turned into anger.

"I know! It must be the Empress! Hero! You betrayed us! The Empress sent you here!!"

"Colluding with the Empress! Have you forgotten our old alliance and our revenge?! How can you face the others? How can you face Lord Ba'er who sacrificed himself?! How can you face the 'Lord' who bestowed our power?!"

On the surface, Charlotte seemed to have lost his mind and started questioning others in a haphazard and aggressive manner, but in reality, he was just trying to buy time with words.

They were very close to the rendezvous point he had agreed upon with Kyle Technology. As soon as he realized something was wrong with Herlo, Charlotte immediately and secretly used the transmitter in his pocket to send a signal to Kyle Technology requesting emergency support.

This will definitely lead to him suffering losses in subsequent negotiations with Kyle Technology, but right now Charlotte can't care about that. The premise of everything is that he can leave Dragon Kingdom alive.

By constantly diverting the attention of the man in black with words, Charlotte, who was retreating, had quietly returned to the side of the pack animal. The next moment, he suddenly sprang up, quickly untied the rope connecting the pack animal and the carriage, and then flipped onto the pack animal. He then lashed out with his whip, deliberately choosing the spot where he had previously been wounded.

The pain stimulated the beast's nerves, and having become accustomed to treating pain as a command, it immediately began to gallop away with Charlotte on its back. As for the six relic envoys who remained in place, Charlotte didn't even glance at them.

Although Charlotte abandoned them and ran away alone, the expressions on the faces of the six relic envoys showed that they had no complaints whatsoever.

Even though he was "sealed" by his own abilities and unable to use the relics, making him just a slightly more powerful ordinary person, they still continued to surround him, as if they were risking their lives to hold him back and buy Xia Luo time to escape.

Herlo shook his head at this.

In that case

In the eyes of the six relic envoys, Hero, dressed in black, still stood quietly in place. The only difference was that he slightly raised his forehead, revealing the face that had been hidden in the shadow of his hat.

It was a pale, slightly delicate young male face that gave off a sickly feeling at first glance. But in the next scene, the other person's eyes began to bleed, and the bright red blood quickly gathered in the pupils, outlining a strange pattern like shattered jade.

Before the six relic users could react to what kind of eye technique this was, a scream from their companion rang out. The first one to fall to the ground was the relic user who had attacked Hero first at the beginning, the one wielding the "ice bow".

He clutched his chest in agony, as if pierced by something. Then, a large amount of frost climbed onto his body, and the cold devoured his last bit of life. In just a few breaths, he was completely turned into an ice corpse.

The next one to let out an even more horrific scream was the second relic user who attacked Hero, wielding a "staff." He fared even worse than the first "ice bow" user, as his entire body spontaneously combusted, turning into a giant fireball in the blink of an eye. When the flames died down, he was left with a charred, unrecognizable corpse.

Later, no one could escape, because they had all "attacked" Herlo at the beginning.

The wind blade user was slowly torn apart by her own wind blades. The chains that had bound Herlo's limbs were now wrapped around the corresponding relic user, strangling her. The relic user who had pierced Herlo's heart with a spear collapsed, clutching the bloody hole in her chest. The last relic user to witness this, wielding an axe, was filled with terror upon seeing the tragic state of her companions and remembering the way she had "attacked" Herlo.

"Devil! Devil!"

He turned and ran, his spirit completely broken. But he had only taken one step when his vision began to spin, finally settling on his headless corpse falling to the ground from the momentum of his run.

The entire process took less than half a minute, and by then, all six of Charlotte's carefully cultivated relic assassins had been wiped out.

It's no wonder that the final relic caused them to collapse, because each of them had essentially died at the hands of "theirselves."

And that is Hero's ability.

It is an ability he was given as a member of the "Special Forces" race.

However, rather than calling it an "ability," Herlo prefers to consider it a curse.

Five hundred years ago, in the wasteland shrouded in turmoil, some races were born with special abilities. Their abilities did not need to be learned; they were innate and accompanied them throughout their lives.

Such races were collectively referred to as the "Special Race" by the people at that time, and the Special Race often held a high status among other races due to their innate strength.

Except for one particular pulse.

The special race of this lineage possesses innate abilities unlike other special races, such as better use of the Turbid Calamity, greater strength, or superhuman regenerative abilities.

Their ability is to inflict "retribution" on their enemies.

That is, after being attacked, the damage can be returned to the attacker in full.

In the harsh wasteland environment of that time, this was undoubtedly a very useless, even ridiculous, situation, because the primary need of all races in the wasteland was survival, and better resistance to natural disasters and monsters.

However, their abilities only allow them to trade one for one with the Turbid Monsters. But the Turbid Monsters are infinite, while their population is finite. With this ebb and flow, their lineage is on the verge of extinction.

However, such an ending is actually quite common in the wasteland; the extinction of one race after another is the main theme of that cruel world.

But clearly, they were lucky, at least that's what their ancestors thought.

Because just when their clan was on the verge of extinction, they were discovered by "that person".

Yes, that's what happened later.

Emperor Ashes.

At that time, "that person" was not yet an emperor, but merely a powerful warlord who dominated a region. However, for their nearly extinct race, he was still an absolute big shot.

What happened next made the ancestors feel like they were dreaming, no, they couldn't even imagine it in their dreams. With the help of "that person", their entire tribe was transferred to a safe haven in the rear, where they were provided with an extremely comfortable environment to thrive and multiply.

With the support of "that person," their lineage grew rapidly, and new members sprang up like mushrooms after rain, increasing the population several times over.

However, the gifts of fate always come with a price. Just as the "pack beasts" were protected by humans because they became their mounts, they were able to reproduce continuously in captivity and become the largest group among their kind of beasts.

They are the same.

Chapter 145 Hero (Part 2)

The so-called favor from "that person" was nothing but a false pretense. What the other party truly valued was their ability. However, the ancestors at that time were well aware of this, since it was their only special quality. Therefore, after being recruited by "that person," many clansmen did not hesitate or waver at all. Instead, they were filled with gratitude and rushed to report to him.

It has to be said that it was no coincidence that "that person" became the Ash Emperor, because anyone under his command could have their greatest value extracted.

Their ability, which was considered "useless," shone brightly in the hands of "that person." The method was actually quite simple: the objects they used to "trade one for one" were the ubiquitous monsters of the Turbid Calamity, which is why it seemed very cheap and worthless.

But what if the target were an "elite" Turbid Calamity monster that would require the loss of over a dozen lives to eliminate? Or a "leader" Turbid Calamity monster that had polluted an entire region and threatened the lives of tens of thousands of people in the shelter?

The answer is obvious.

Later on, their abilities were further developed by "that person," who not only returned damage to the enemy but also inflicted various negative effects on them. His previous attempt to "seal" the abilities of the relic users was just one example.

So it evolved into them being used by "that person" to take the hits for others time and time again, and sometimes they were even ordered to take the hits themselves in order to weaken key enemies.

And because they are a "special" race, their abilities are innate, and they don't need to consume many resources to perfectly fulfill "that person's" requirements. Now that I think about it, perhaps "that person" had already thought everything through from the first moment they saw their race.

On the one hand, they provide them with the most suitable environment for reproduction and survival, and on the other hand, they constantly draw manpower from their tribe. After all, their characteristics mean that the more injured they are, the more effective they can be. With an extremely high casualty rate and the sacrifice of one group of tribesmen after another, they have achieved one victory after another for "that person".

The most ridiculous thing is that our ancestors still have no complaints about "that person". Many ancestors even took pride in being able to sacrifice themselves under "that person's" command, because they firmly believed that "that person" could use their sacrifice to save more people, create more living space, create a world that no longer needed sacrifice, and create a better future.

indeed.

They succeeded.

The calamity has been eliminated, and a bright future has finally arrived, but then what?

In the eyes of "that person" who had become the Ashbringer, did he still remember them? Did he remember those ancestors who sacrificed themselves because of him?

No.

Nothing.

Because in "that person's" eyes there were only "the five of them," and all the glory was attributed to "them." They were merely "tools" and did not deserve anything. Even later generations praised only those guards with strong individual strength and those with superpowers and gorgeous magic, while no one cared about or talked about them as a "special" race.

Hero took a deep breath.

That's why he's unwilling to use his abilities.

Every time he used it, he felt sorry for his ancestors from five hundred years ago, felt injustice for the forgotten tribe, and was even more angry at his own weakness and powerlessness.

fortunately.

He was also lucky, because "Mother" found him when he was most confused, allowing him to finally emerge from the shadow of "that person" and giving him a second life.

Although his entire body was transformed into filthy black mud composed of turbidity, his abilities did not disappear. Instead, he became immortal and could use his abilities without any worries. Just like at the beginning, he first let the six relic wielders "kill" him to their heart's content, and then returned these "deaths" to them.

So

The spell in Hero's pupils did not end. After flickering for a few moments, it unfolded a blood gate that allowed him to traverse space in front of him.

The principle is also very simple. Charlotte's previous questions to him can also be regarded by Hero as a kind of attack and harm to him, which is why Hero did not interrupt Charlotte.

Now it's his turn to return these things.

After passing through the blood gate, he was greeted by rows of dark gun barrels pointed at him. Many of them were fully armed and had a symbol on their uniforms that looked like an "angel halo." They were the troops of "Kel Technology."

In the center of these troops, you can see Charlotte riding a pack animal, her face filled with terror.

"No! Don't open it!"

When Charlotte saw the black-clad figure chasing after them, he instinctively spoke up, trying to stop Kyle Technology's troops from firing, because of his previous experience with the relic envoy. Unfortunately, it was too late.

As a well-trained elite force, they pulled the trigger the moment Hero appeared. In order not to underestimate the enemy, several rocket launchers on the armored vehicles were also aimed at Hero, and missiles roared away one after another.

Boom—