Reincarnated Hero System

Chapter 1294: The Whaijan Counter-Trap [Monthly Bonus 3]

"...just what the hell is in that forest?" Zaos asked with a hint of trepidation in his voice.

"I literally just tried telling you what’s in that forest, and that clearly didn’t go well, did it?"

Evan paused for a moment after that, then continued with a light shrug.

"I only know what’s in that forest because I know bits of the future, and the law of Time doesn’t exactly take kindly to me sharing details of that future with others if they don’t already have prior information about what’s going to happen, or if they haven’t already seen signs connected to what I’m telling them.

There’ve been absolutely no signs of what I’m talking about because Sylph over here has been doing her job properly for the past few centuries."

Evan took a seat beside Kayla after speaking, then glanced at her.

"How much have you told him?" he asked, gesturing toward Zaos.

[I was just getting to the part where I’d explain how you and Leoniel planned to use the World Isolation Barrier to trap the Fourth Division of the Demonic Hand in Hauhull and kill them all when I sensed Sylph and summoned her over.

The other elf just came along with the summoning since she happened to be in direct contact with Sylph at the time.]

Upon hearing how Sylph had come to be here, Evan’s expression turned mildly worried as he asked, "Are you okay? Using your Empress’ Authority like that."

He knew the reason Kayla had been able to summon the Great Spirit over was that she exercised her Authority as a higher-ranked spirit, a Spirit Empress. However, due to the circumstances tied to her existence, using that Authority came with causal restrictions.

[It’s fine,] Kayla replied. [Something small like this won’t cause any major harm.]

When she finished speaking, Zaos knocked the surface of the table in front of him, then asked,

"Are both of you done with your little session? Now then, would you mind explaining exactly what she meant by slaughtering Demonic Hand members inside some sort of barrier while using Hauhull as a trap?"

Zaos could already feel a headache coming since he knew whatever Evan was about to say would definitely sound ridiculous.

’To think this is what Kolvar’s been dealing with over the past few years.’

It had only been a few months since he met Evan, and he was already feeling stressed by the young Hero’s antics.

"Haha, please don’t look so annoyed. It’s actually a very reasonable plan, you see."

Evan’s laughter suddenly stopped, his expression losing all traces of emotion as he said, "I really do intend to murder every single member of the Demonic Hand’s Fourth Division within Hauhull."

Zaos could sense Evan was completely serious and wasn’t trying to mess with him. Because of that, he exhaled softly before asking, "And please explain to me how you arrived at that conclusion."

"It’s simple," Evan replied. "Like I said earlier, I know bits of the future. That’s how I’ve been able to go around stopping the Demonic Hand’s disasters over the past few years.

But what I’m doing is changing this world’s predetermined future. I’m doing it fully aware that I’m altering what’s meant to happen, deliberately steering the fate of this world and the billions of people living on it away from its original path.

You don’t think I can do that without consequences, do you?"

Zaos’ thoughts went back to the static he’d heard earlier, along with the presence of the Law of Causality he’d sensed swirling around Evan for that moment.

He then said, "The Laws of Causality are after you, and let me guess, the Law of Time as well?"

Evan nodded.

"Exactly. The Laws of Causality, Time, Fate, and sometimes even Space, aren’t exactly fond of what I’m doing by deliberately changing the future.

Several years ago, on the Alpha Continent, I completely stopped a Demonic Hand Disaster from ever happening in the first place. No one knew about it, but I took a single action that erased the possibility of that Disaster ever coming into existence.

Do you know what the Law of Time did in response to that? It brought the next Disaster forward by several months.

Because of that, I wasn’t able to stop the root of that disaster from happening, and by the time I arrived, Cheverton was already dealing with an undead crisis."

Zaos knew Evan was referring to the Dullahan Attack on Cheverton in Year 1052, and with that in mind, he asked, "Are you sure those were truly the actions of the Law of Time?"

"Yes, I’m 100% sure of it. I got confirmation from the most credible source possible on matters like this."

"And what source would that be?" Zaos asked.

"The World itself."

Evan spread his arms lightly as he replied.

"I’m a ’Hero’ of this world, connected to the world itself. Your world directly told me that my actions were interfering too heavily with Time, Fate, and Causality. It also warned me that if I completely stopped a Disaster from happening, like I did with the Seven Deadly Sins Massacre that was meant to occur in Dungeon City Merdin, then one of the remaining Disasters would turn into a Nexus Event, an unavoidable point in time that can’t be altered through any outside intervention.

A Disaster would become guaranteed to happen."

There was a grim tone in Evan’s voice as he spoke, and Zaos understood the weight of what was being said.

Even his wife, who didn’t have the full context of the conversation and was only there because she’d been brought along when Kayla summoned Sylph, also understood how serious the situation was. After all, she knew the scale of the Disasters Evan had stopped in the past, and she knew how catastrophic those events would have become if Evan hadn’t intervened.

Evan saw that they understood this and continued.

"For this reason, after learning all of this, I changed my approach to handling Disasters. I’m no longer trying to stop them from happening entirely.

I’m going to allow them to begin and progress up to a certain point, then I’m going to change the ending. That’s what I did in Tarse last year, and that’s what I intend to do in Isolon this year.

I’ll let the Demonic Hand come in and carry out whatever plans they have, but at the final moment, when it’s time for them to turn one of the kindest people on this planet into a monster of mass destruction capable of turning his entire country into stone, I will intervene.

I will take away all the hostages they intend to use against him through the World Isolation Barrier, keeping the Demonic Hand members and their affiliates trapped inside that barrier while removing everyone who doesn’t belong to that classification.

With only the Demonic Hand members left inside the barrier, I, alongside a select few other powerful existences, will proceed to slaughter every last one of them."

Pointing at Zaos, Evan then concluded.

"I want to add you to that list of select few powerful existences. That’s the reason I came here today, Elven Emperor.

So, would you help me wipe out the Fourth Division of the Demonic Hand?"

Evan finished speaking with that question directed at Zaos, and the elf didn’t respond immediately.

He thought over Evan’s words in silence for a few seconds while his wife looked at him, a trace of worry visible in her eyes.

Finally, the man spoke. "It’s a very tempting proposal, and I’d like to be on board, but first, I want to hear the full details of your plan and how you intend to carry out this elimination of the Demonic Hand’s Fourth Division."

Evan nodded in agreement with his request.

"No problem. I’ll fill you in on every single detail of the plan, but first, there’s something else I need to ask of you. A more urgent matter."

"Which is?"

"I’m sure you sensed it when Leoniel and I were in the Kudatha Mountain Range two weeks ago."

Zaos nodded silently, and Evan continued.

"We fought the Third Finger of the Demonic Hand and destroyed one of their major bases. That action angered the leader of the Demonic Hand so much that he’s now upgraded me from a target of elimination to a target of instant elimination."

Zaos’ expression turned confused at Evan’s words, and Evan chuckled lightly before continuing, "To put it simply, the Demonic Hand has prepared a trap for me in Whaijan, and they intend to use your daughter as bait to lure me there since it’s definitely something a Hero would get involved in."

The mention of their child immediately darkened the expressions of the two high elves before Evan, and he quickly raised his hands in surrender as he said, "Wait, don’t look at me like that. I’m not the one trying to involve your daughter in this. It’s the Demonic Hand that’s trying to use her to lure me into a trap."

"And how do you know this?" Zaos asked with narrowed eyes.

"I have an insider within the Demonic Hand who passed this information to me. So I know that whatever they plan to make your daughter come across will lead her to a Fourth Division base in Whaijan, which she’ll then tell me about, making me go there.

It’s all set up as a trap with the goal of drawing me in. The problem is, I don’t want to raise suspicion on my insider, so I’m going to play along with their trap."

"That is very risky," Zaos said.

"I know it is, and that’s why I came to see you, to add you into the equation and lower the risk factor."

Zaos immediately understood what Evan was aiming at with that statement.

"Ah, I see. So you want me to follow you into the trap the Demonic Hand prepared for you."

"Yep. The Demonic Hand doesn’t know how strong I really am, so that’s already outside their estimations, even if they overestimate me based on what I’ve shown them. And they definitely won’t be expecting you to come along. They also wouldn’t expect me to bring Leoniel, one of their targets, into the fold."

Evan’s mention of Leoniel prompted a question from the Elven Empress.

"Leoniel Franco? Why’s the Marquis a target?"

"Because he’s the core of the next Disaster. You heard me earlier, didn’t you? They want to turn one of the kindest people on this planet into a monster and have him petrify his entire country.

The Demonic Hand needs him for their next plan, so whatever trap they prepared for me won’t function at its full capacity if I walk in there with Leoniel, whom they need for their plans to work."

Zaos thought over Evan’s bold words in silence before exhaling once more as he said, "I’ve been sighing a lot lately because of you."

Getting up from the table, he then asked, "Where is Abigail? I want to speak with her first."

"I left her in Jine-Alora with her best friend, but, uh... are you in, or do I need to find another Transcendent who’s willing to follow me into the Demonic Hand’s trap?"

"And who do you intend to bring? Kolvar? Rathal?" Zaos asked. "Take those two out of the Alpha Continent, and who knows what the Demonic Hand would do in their absence."

Evan chuckled lightly at Zaos’ words and replied, "Exactly. So right now, you’re kind of my only option."

The High-elf shook his head at Evan’s response, then said, "Fine. Scout the area first. Find out everything we can about this Fourth Division base before we go there.

And the trap, huh..." Zaos paused before continuing, "They prepared a trap for you. I hope they’re ready to welcome an army."

With those words, the man left the room while Kayla returned to her cat form and jumped onto Evan’s lap.

Evan then looked up at Siora before saying, "I shall see you later, Your Majesty."

Then he turned towards the Wind Spirit now beside her and added, "Go back to your task, Sylph."

After saying that, his shadow expanded beneath him, and using Kuro’s Shadow Movement skill, Evan vanished from the room.