Reincarnated Hero System

“…Considering the size of that explosion, it feels like too many made it out alive.”

At Evan’s response, Arthur’s mind immediately went to work, forming a theory. The sheer number of survivors, the bizarre nature of the explosion, and the strange dimension they’d landed in—it didn’t add up.

Noticing the contemplative look on Arthur’s face, Evan continued.

“Have you guys figured out where we are exactly? All we’ve been able to determine is that the negative energies in the air here are way off the charts.

Artemisia and Beatrix can barely use their full power.”

Arthur shifted his gaze to the others, already having expected that they’d be facing some difficulty.

Beatrix was even groaning, her frustration evident.

“Yeah, it’s been such a hassle. Earlier, when I tried using that cultivation technique, I had to filter out all the negativity in the energy before I could even use it.

I think that’s why my body couldn’t absorb it properly—there was too much negative energy mixed in, and, well, I’m on the positive side of the polarity spectrum.”

Just like Artemisia, Beatrix was inherently on the positive side due to her divinity being positive.

While some gods could attune to the negative side, most were positively aligned by default, and the heavy negative energy here was clearly interfering with her abilities.

Hibiki, who had been quietly listening, finally spoke up, answering Evan’s earlier question.

“This place… we’re in the Infernal Dimension. I was here years ago, and it’s not something I could ever forget.”

Her words drew curious looks from Beatrix and Artemisia, but neither pressed for more details, sensing from Hibiki’s tone that this wasn’t a past she wanted to revisit.

Noticing their reactions, Hibiki offered a wry smile and then turned toward Evan, raising an eyebrow as she studied him, her intentions unclear.

Evan could only give her a confused stare, unsure why she was staring at him so intently.

Then Hibiki laughed, breaking the tension, and turned back to Arthur.

“You two are weird.”

She said that with a smirk, and Arthur blinked, caught off guard by her sudden remark.

“Huh? What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

Hibiki pointed at Evan and said, “He’s grey too, but it’s much lighter than yours. He’s not as disinterested as you are given there’s a smidgen of green there as well.”

Arthur seemed to realise what she was talking about, and whatever it was, it made him burst out laughing.

Giving Evan a friendly tap on the back, he spoke.

“Come on, this guy’s already got a fiancée. Other women don’t even enter his line of sight.”

Evan, still completely lost, looked back and forth between them, trying to make sense of the conversation.

“What are you guys even talking about?”

His confusion was obvious, but Arthur just chuckled and waved him off.

“Don’t worry about it. Just Hibiki being weird.”

Evan, still unconvinced but deciding not to press, rolled his eyes and slumped back into his chair.

“I swear, sometimes you all make less sense than our current situation.”

Arthur chuckled at Evan’s comment, then clapped his hands to get everyone’s attention.

“Anyway, since five of us have gathered, it’s about time we find the sixth—Crim, who doesn’t seem to have moved since yesterday.”

The mention of Crim made Hibiki’s expression darken. She glanced in Crim’s general direction before speaking.

“Maybe she’s injured. Even if we were pulled out before the explosion could kill us, it doesn’t mean we came out unscathed. I was hurt a little myself.”

The others nodded, each remembering their own post-explosion wounds.

Evan gave a half-shrug as he said, “As was I, but thankfully I’ve got my Flames of Life, so…”

Artemisia followed up, “I can regenerate.”

Beatrix grinned and added, “And I can rewind my wounds, so we’re all good.”

Hibiki looked at them, wide-eyed with disbelief, before asking.

“Are you guys really Legendaries, just like me?”

Without hesitation, Evan, Artemisia, and Beatrix responded in perfect unison.

“Yeah, we are.”

Arthur laughed at Hibiki’s bewildered look and patted her on the shoulder.

“The three of them are non-standard, Hibiki. You’re a normal person—don’t compare yourself to them.”

With that, he leapt across the ravine he’d created earlier, landing on the other side before continuing.

“There’s no point theorising about Crim’s condition. Let’s just go over there and find out ourselves.”

He paused right after, his gaze shifting toward the jagged mountain peaks in the distance. Turning to Beatrix, who had originally been sent in that direction, he asked,

“So, Beatrix, any idea why there’s such an absurd amount of energy coming from those mountains in the distance?”

Beatrix’s smile faded as a frown took its place, her playful demeanour vanishing away for a moment.

“Yeah, I sensed that. Decided it was the wisest choice NOT to go anywhere near that place. I mean, we just got shipwrecked, yeeted through space to some unknown location. I’m not about to explore a mountain exuding transcendent-level energy on my own.”

Arthur laughed, appreciating her bluntness, and Evan chuckled as well. Beatrix had said the same thing earlier, but it was just as funny the second time.

Deciding to shelve the matter of the strange mountains for now, Arthur shifted his gaze to a nearby hilltop. He flattened it with his gravity powers, forming a raised platform where they could sit down and eat.

Hibiki, however, still looked visibly concerned about Crim, and upon noticing this, Arthur tapped her shoulder and spoke.

“Look, we’ve burned through a lot of energy just getting here. We need to rest up first, but don’t worry—Crim will be fine.”

Though her concern didn’t vanish, Hibiki nodded silently. There was no point in pushing forward while everyone was running on fumes.

Their journey would resume soon enough anyway.

Each of them had burned through a significant amount of energy just to make it back and regroup, leaving them far from full strength. Resting now was the best way to ensure they’d be ready if a fight broke out later.

◇　◇　◇

After they finished eating, Evan turned to Arthur, seamlessly switching into his rarely seen ‘serious mode.’

“So, Arthur, there’s something I need to inform you about. While Artemisia and I were alone before we met Beatrix, we had a little encounter.”

He raised his hand and used his Hologram Creation to create a hologram of the devil bird that he’d caught stalking him earlier.

At the sight of the hologram image, Arthur and Hibiki’s eyes widened in surprise, a reaction Evan didn’t miss.

“We had one of those watching us too, I captured it, but we couldn’t get any information. Whoever was controlling it removed its ability to speak, so it couldn’t spill anything. Then they killed it remotely.”

Arthur shared his own encounter with the devil bird depicted in the hologram, surprising Evan as he hadn’t expected that the creature was mute from the start.

‘But I’m pretty sure it screeched when I caught it… It shouldn’t be able to do that if it was mute, right?’

Evan wasn’t familiar with the anatomy of devil birds, so he couldn’t say anything for certain. There was also the possibility that the one following him and the one observing Arthur and Hibiki had been sent by two entirely different factions of devils.

“Well,” Evan continued, “unlike you guys, I did something a little different. I may have mentioned before, but I have a skill called Track Down. It lets me mark people or objects with my magic, and then I can follow that mark to find their exact location.”

He snapped his fingers, and a faint golden light appeared on Beatrix’s shoulder. Her eyes widened in surprise, and even Artemisia turned toward Evan, her expression far more animated than usual.

Before Artemisia could speak, Evan smirked and answered her unspoken question.

“I was able to pinpoint your exact location, even though the tokens only gave general directions. Didn’t you find that fishy?”

He let the implication of his words sink in before continuing.

“I used my skill on all of you. That’s how I found your locations.

Anyway, when I captured the monster bird that was watching us, I got attacked by flying monsters.

So, I made a split-second decision—I used my Track Down skill on the bird before letting it go to deal with the attackers.”

Evan raised two fingers as he listed the outcome of that decision.

“First, the monsters gave me a ton of experience, so I levelled up from that. And second, whoever was behind that familiar didn’t kill it.”

Arthur’s eyes narrowed as he quickly connected the dots.

“Because they thought it escaped, they didn’t need to kill it. They just called it back to them.”

Evan nodded, confirming it. Since the bird wasn’t dead and had returned to its master, he could now use his skill to trace it straight to the source.

“Well, well, looks like we’re going to have to pay our watchers a little visit,” Arthur said, cracking his fingers.

Evan chuckled at his tone before adding, “Let’s find Crim first. Then we’ll go pay our watchers a visit.”

◇　◇　◇

The group continued their westward journey, weaving through the mountainous terrain until volcanic peaks came into view.

Some of the mountains belched ash and sulphur into the air, staining the sky with a smoky grey hue.

Seeing this, Hibiki clicked her tongue in frustration, drawing Arthur’s attention.

“This volcanic terrain… ashes and sulphur, It’s exactly the kind of place Infernal Devils love. We need to be careful.

Don’t forget, this place is in the Infernal Dimension. If there are natives here, they’re likely devils. And if we’re going to encounter any of them, it’ll be in places like this.”

Arthur gave a nod and pulled out his token, eyes scanning the path ahead.

“And that’s exactly where Crim is.”

With caution rising among them, the group pushed forward. The air grew hotter as they neared the volatile peaks, and before long, Evan spoke up.

“Crim is close—just one or two mountains ahead.”

As they neared the first mountain, Beatrix glanced up and noted,

“We’re getting very close to the source of that energy Arthur mentioned earlier.”

The closer they drew, the more obvious it became that something rather… violent had unfolded here.

The ground was torn apart, blood soaked into the soil, and broken weapons were scattered around. The corpses of Infernal Devils littered the area, their wings torn off, tails severed, and one particularly grisly sight stood out—a devil with the tip of its own tail driven straight through its eye socket.

At the sight, Hibiki sighed, a wry smile forming on her lips.

“It’s Crim.”

The others turned toward her as she nodded in confirmation.

“It’s definitely Crim.”

Pointing at the devil with the tail through its eye, she added,

“She always does that when she runs into Infernal Devils. Also, I can sense her residual energy on this severed tail.”

Arthur and Evan exchanged a glance, a blend of disbelief and amusement crossing their faces. Crim’s methods were… unconventional, to say the least, but neither of them voiced those thoughts.

They pressed onward toward the mountain, passing by a few natural caves until Evan came to a stop and pointed at one in particular.

“The signal’s coming from inside.”

They made their way toward it, and just before stepping inside, Arthur halted and looked off into the distance.

He sensed scattered sentient humanoid presences, likely surviving cultivators gathered together, but chose to ignore them. Crim was the priority, so he followed the others into the cave.

At the end of the tunnel, they emerged into an open-air clearing lit gently from above by natural light.

There, in the centre, Crim sat cross-legged in a lotus position, absorbing the ambient energies swirling thick in the space around her.

The sight of her cultivating wasn’t a surprise to Evan and Arthur.

Crim was a vampire, a race aligned with the negative side of the polarity spectrum by nature. The sheer density of negative energy in this place made it an ideal spot for her to cultivate.