Reincarnated Hero System

To those voicing their concern, Zula simply lifted a hand to quiet them before responding.

“Remember, our barrier keeps us hidden. The attacker won’t be able to find us. As for the outsider, he’ll join the others to help with the monster hunts.”

After this brief session, he led Evan to where the other cultivators were resting before leaving to handle other tasks.

Once the man had gone, Evan turned to observe the gathered cultivators for a moment before starting a conversation with them. Among them were some with snobbish attitudes, but Evan ignored those and only spoke to those who approached him first.

Through these exchanges, he learned that they were from various middle-tier sects on Denerth Prime, and after the ship was destroyed in the explosion, they had crashed nearby and had been searching for any trace of civilization. It was during this search that they encountered hunters from the village, who later brought them here.

After speaking with them for a while, Evan left to wash up and change into a fresh set of clothes.

Some of the cultivators eyed his robes curiously and asked what sect he belonged to, but his response left them confused.

“Hmm… I’m not exactly from a ‘sect’,” he said, placing a hand on his chin as he muttered to himself, “Would I say I’m from Gozon or that I’m with Aidos? Technically, I’m from Aidos, but currently with Gozon.”

The others exchanged puzzled glances upon hearing his mutters, and at that moment, one of the cultivators who had stepped outside returned. Upon seeing Evan, his eyes widened with shock and immediate recognition.

“Wait… weren’t you the one that the Demon King was with?!”

The mention of a Race King immediately caught everyone’s attention, and as they turned to question him, the cultivator revealed that he had been among those nearby when Jamie was speaking with Evan, Arthur, and the others just before they boarded the ship.

At that, they realized Evan hadn’t been speaking nonsense when he mentioned hegemons like Gozon and Aidos.

Naturally, their attitudes toward him changed, with some becoming noticeably more friendly, while others began to regard him with a mix of jealousy and caution.

Evan, however, didn’t really care.

◇ ◇　◇

The night passed uneventfully, and the next morning, Evan joined the cultivators and hunters in clearing out the monsters that had been threatening the village’s livestock.

After successfully culling the monster numbers, they returned with the corpses and prepared them for a small feast.

Following this, Evan wandered the village, exploring its simple facilities. He discovered a part of the forest that rose like a small hill, sparsely covered with trees.

He’d heard the view it offered of the surrounding woodland was spectacular, so he went to check it out for himself and see if it lived up to its reputation. While there, he took the opportunity to organize his thoughts and lay out his plans moving forward.

Through conversations with the villagers, Evan learned that the continent they were on was called Iohodis, though none of them knew the name of their world.

He wasn’t particularly surprised, given that they were a small settlement in the centre of a forest, and he hadn’t expected much in terms of their literacy.

Still, he managed to gather some useful information. The dominant races on the continent were spirits, humans, and elves. When he asked about other races, a few of the hunters mentioned the existence of Infernal variants of the main ones, such as Infernal elves, Infernal humans, and so on.

Most of the information Evan gathered came from the village chief, who had been especially accommodating after witnessing the impressive performance Evan had displayed during their earlier hunt.

While he was deep in thought, Evan sensed someone approaching, and upon turning, he saw Zula walking up the hill.

“Huh? Oh, Evan! What’re you doing here?” Zula asked upon noticing him as well.

“I heard the view was nice. Wanted to see if it really was.”

Zula smiled at Evan’s response, his gaze turned to the horizon as he nodded.

“Ah, yes. This is the best view in the village.”

He stepped closer and then spotted a bottle near Evan’s feet.

“Oh, you have wine? Can I join you?”

“No problem,” Evan said, not minding sharing, especially since it wasn’t one of his prized strawberry wines. He poured a glass and handed it over.

Zula took a sip and smiled appreciatively. “Ah, this is good stuff.”

“True,” Evan agreed, taking another sip of the wine.

He turned his gaze to the sky, watching as the star hidden behind the clouds slowly dipped beneath the horizon.

After taking a sip of his own wine, Zula turned to Evan and asked with concern, “What about your injuries? How are they?”

At that, Evan sighed lightly and shook his head.

“Even though I heal quickly at my level, the injuries I sustained were pretty serious. It’ll take a while before I’m fully recovered.”

That was a blatant lie. Evan had already completely recovered.

As mentioned before, the damage he’d sustained had been less severe than expected because he protected himself during the Spatial Storm.

Even earlier, during the attack at the volcano dungeon, the enemy’s attacks had been focused on Arthur, the strongest among them. Even the black dragon that appeared in the end had targeted Arthur directly. Evan and the others had mostly gotten caught in the aftermath.

Plus, Evan had used many potions, Mesarthim’s Flames of Life, and even more potions the previous night and this morning. With all that effort spent on recovery, it would be weirder if he wasn’t at 100%.

But he kept that to himself.

Hearing his response, Zula raised an eyebrow.

“Is that so? And when you finish healing, what then? It’d be great if you could stay a bit longer and help us calm the monsters. They’ve been in some kind of frenzy lately.”

Evan shrugged at that.

“Maybe I will. I do plan to regroup with my companions eventually, though.”

“Oh, I remember the others mentioning they carry tokens that help them sense their companions.”

Evan nodded silently, prompting Zula to ask another question.

“Have you used yours to check for your companions?”

At that, Evan searched his memories and then came to a realization.

“I actually haven’t.”

He hadn’t so much as touched the token since arriving in this world. Unlike the others, he had his Track Down skill so he hadn’t bothered about the token.

Just as Evan was about to pull his token out, Zula added, “Though, I’m not sure if it’ll even work. The others said their tokens haven’t been reliable lately. Probably because their companions are on the other side of the Chasm.”

At the mention of this unfamiliar term, Evan pushed the token matter to the back of his mind.

“The Chasm? What’s that?”

Zula explained, “It’s the Great Divider in the centre of the continent. It’s so huge you can’t miss it, even from far away.”

Upon hearing this, Evan recalled how there had been strange interference when he tried to use Track Down to locate Arthur the day before.

‘I see. Arthur must be on the other side of this Chasm.’

The knowledge of the Chasm’s existence triggered another thought, and Evan turned to Zula, asking, “What exactly is the Chasm made of?”

“Elemental energy,” Zula replied, “so much elemental energy that it’s almost unbelievable how it all holds together in that wall.”

His words confirmed the suspicion that had formed in Evan’s mind upon hearing about the Chasm.

‘The ‘wall’ I blasted through at the end of the spatial tunnel before falling out contained many elemental law energies. That must be the Chasm Wall…

But…’

Evan’s thoughts quickly turned to the fact that Track Down had shown no interference when locating Beatrix and Artemisia, which meant they were also on this side of the continent.

‘If they had smashed through that barrier like I did, then their condition might be worse than I assumed.’

Concern for Artemisia and Beatrix filled his mind, but before he could dwell on it too long, he reminded himself,

‘I have to deal with my own situation first.’

Taking a deep breath, Evan returned the wine bottle to his inventory, and Zula, noticing this, raised an eyebrow.

“I was hoping for another drink.”

“Maybe another time. I don’t have much of that wine left,” Evan replied, finishing his glass and sending it into his inventory as well.

Then he turned to Zula with a question.

“Hey, how did you do it? I’m genuinely curious.”

He was hoping Zula’s answer might give him some insight he could use to refine his Wolf of the END plan.

But Zula seemed puzzled by the question.

“Do what?”

“This whole village. Are the cultivators completely clueless, or they’re in on it too?”

Zula frowned, still confused. “I don’t follow. Clueless about what?”

At this, Evan sighed, glancing up at the sky as he spoke.

“I just need to know, so I can decide whether to go through with the plan I’ve been thinking about, or if I’m just going to get random people caught up in it.”

He yawned lightly, then turned back to Zula and asked,

“I’ll ask one last time. Are they dead men walking, or are they still very much alive?”

Silence reigned, quiet enough to hear a pin drop.

Zula blinked, his expression still clouded with confusion. He wanted to respond, but before he could speak, Evan suddenly clicked his tongue and scratched his head.

“Things like this can get pretty irritating.”

In that same moment, the Unforged appeared in his right hand, crimson flames engulfing its blade.

Before Zula’s eyes could even widen in shock, Evan swung the sword down onto his neck.

And the entire village was swallowed by a raging inferno.