Heroes Return

“Great warrior, through our exchange just now, we sensed that you had no intention of killing us.” The beautiful sea creature carrying the harp walked up to Lin Jie at this moment: “Great warrior, I am very grateful that you did not kill us. So we have just made a decision.”

"What decision? Does this beautiful lady have taken a liking to me?"

“If you were a sea creature, perhaps so,” the beautiful sea creature holding the harp said to Lin Jie. “We have decided not to kill you, even if it means disobeying Lord Karu’s orders. As long as you hand over the reverse scale that Lord Karu demanded, we are willing to let you leave this place.”

"I'm here to take you all down. Even if you let me go, I won't let you go." Lin Jie said to the sea creatures in front of him, "Speaking of which, I'm quite curious. Do you know what that Karu will do after he gets the weapon?"

"Upon obtaining the Reverse Scale, Lord Karu will completely control the Dragon God's army." The harp beauty said, looking at the slacker army beside her, "The Dragon God only lent Lord Karu his army. When Lord Karu returns the Reverse Scale, the Dragon God's generals will join us in launching a counterattack against humanity."

"So you're saying you knew about Karu's plan and still tried to help him?" Lin Jie asked, puzzled. "I really don't understand what you people are after."

"There are many reasons, but I want to avenge my family," the sea creature beauty said.

"Why bother talking so much to this human?" A sea creature man dressed in golden armor appeared in front of the group.

"Lord Karaka, you've finally arrived," said the sea creature beauty who controlled the sea giant. "We are powerless; we have no way to defeat this man."

"Leave the rest to me," the sea creature man named Karaka said to the group of powerful figures. "You just need to provide support."

Chapter 28

Rewind to the time when Thirteen and Lin Jie parted ways. With the help of Haina's strange magic, Thirteen gained the ability to breathe underwater for a certain period of time.

The two swam towards the seabed beneath the World Serpent's chin. After dodging a large number of sea creature soldiers gathering towards the Sea King's capital, Haina and Thirteen arrived at the base of the World Serpent's head.

There, on the seabed, lies a labyrinthine network of underwater caves beneath the head of the World Serpent.

"Are you sure we can get into the capital from here?" Thirteen asked, following Haina.

“This was originally a natural cave. When the Black Death threw the snake head here, we took advantage of the terrain,” Haina replied. “Many sea creatures know there’s an underground cave here, but no one knows I made some arrangements here.”

As she spoke, Haina led Thirteen into a hidden cave. The cave was originally a dead end, but when Haina cast a spell, a passage appeared before the two of them.

"Is this the cave entrance that leads to your palace?" Thirteen asked. "How did you manage to break through the crystallized body of the World Serpent?"

“I didn’t make this tunnel,” Hena said as she walked through it. “This tunnel was originally left by the Black Reaper. It should be said that the Black Reaper pierced through the World Serpent’s chin.”

“That’s true. The only person who could leave a scar on such a terrifying creature is probably Zero,” Thirteen said with certainty. “I really don’t know how Zero killed that big guy back then.”

"Only the Black Death himself will know."

The two of them continued forward through the tunnel.

"Thirteen, am I being selfish?" Haina suddenly asked Thirteen.

Why do you ask that?

“I exploited your friend’s guilt towards the sea creatures for my own purposes,” Haina said. “I could see the guilt your friend felt towards the sea creatures, which is why I asked him to try to kill Karu. To be honest, it was practically a suicide mission. But your friend chose an even more dangerous method.”

"Don't worry, although I don't know where Lin Jie gets his confidence from that he can attract all of Karu's experts," Thirteen said, "he must have his methods, and doesn't he also have a whale with him that flies extremely fast?"

“But he is facing a powerful army of millions equipped with long-range firepower, including the monster army of the Dragon God,” Haina said worriedly.

"Don't worry, that guy is very strong." Thirteen said calmly, "Although I don't know exactly how strong he is, I can be sure that his strength is definitely no less than S-rank. Judging from his record of easily defeating S-ranks, I think he is very likely to be an SS-rank powerhouse."

“Among Karu’s generals, there are two of your so-called SS-level powerhouses,” Haina said, frowning.

“Now that we have agreed to Lin Jie’s request, we should have some faith in him,” Thirteen said.

After walking for a while, Thirteen and Heina returned to the princess's palace once again.

"Where should that guy Karu be right now?" Thirteen asked.

“He should be in the Senate right now,” Haina said. “Because only the senators have crystals that can simultaneously issue commands to all sea creatures and project them.”

“Then let’s try to rescue the people from the consulate first,” Thirteen said to Haina. “I’m curious, why didn’t he just kill the people from the Senate?”

“The troops he mobilized only obeyed the Senate; without the orders of the senators, they would go out of control,” Haina said. “I think that’s why he didn’t kill the senators.”

"Someone's here. Do you remember when we were on Paradise Island?" Thirteen asked Haina.

Hena nodded, then wrapped her arms around Thirteen, and the two of them disappeared into the shadows in the next moment.

Not long after, Thirteen and Haina appeared in the square outside the embassy.

Karu's image was standing here, and opposite him was Lin Jie's image. Behind Karu, several sea creature soldiers were pointing their spears at Gray.

When Thirteen arrived, he didn't know what they were talking about, only hearing Gray constantly moaning "Woo woo woo!!"

It was obvious that Lin Jie and Karu had broken up, and then Thirteen saw Karu give the order to execute Gray.

However, as an intelligence operative with considerable strength within a secret service, Gray was not so easily dealt with. Just as the spears in the hands of the two sea creatures were about to pierce Gray's body, Gray suddenly went into ethereal form, successfully dodging the spear attacks and breaking free of the ropes binding him.

At that moment, numerous sea creature soldiers charged towards Gray.

Just as Gray was about to be caught again, Thirteen took out the black cube that Lin Jie had given him and activated the device on the cube according to the method Lin Jie had taught him.

The next moment, a black armor enveloped Thirteen. The instant the black armor covered him, Thirteen felt a powerful force surging towards him.

It felt like a miniature universe was exploding.

"Is this the skin with all-attribute bonuses that Lin Jie mentioned? It feels incredibly powerful." Thirteen's figure emerged from the shadows: "Go untie those consulate people, I'll deal with these sea creature soldiers. I feel like I can use the Pegasus Meteor Fist now."

As he spoke, Thirteen charged towards the soldiers guarding the consulate, causing a chaotic scene of men and horses falling to the ground.

Thirteen's sprint speed far exceeded his own expectations, and his reaction time was momentarily unable to adapt to his newfound speed. In the next instant after he charged forward, he collided with the sea creature soldiers.

The communication crystal was also damaged by Thirteen.

Thirteen stood up, adjusted his stance, and stretched before charging towards the sea creature soldiers once more. This time, however, he still didn't quite control his speed, but it still effectively dealt with the guards.

The high-speed collision knocked a large number of sea creature soldiers to the ground. At the same time, Haina also released the restraints on the consulate personnel one after another. Most of these people who had been sent to the sea creature consulate were elites who had undergone rigorous training, and they became a considerable fighting force the moment they were freed.

Meanwhile, Thirteen, clad in black armor, had essentially grasped his current physical state and understood the meaning of the so-called all-attribute bonus. After the initial period of adjustment, Thirteen's reactions were now easily keeping up with his body.

The black armor not only provided Thirteen with formidable physical strength, but also elevated his physical reflexes and senses to a whole new level.

With a mere flick of his wrist, Thirteen could instantly send hordes of sea creature soldiers flying. Furthermore, when he needed a weapon, the black armor would automatically generate the weapon he required.

A long sword appeared in Thirteen's hand, and he slashed it down forcefully in the direction in front of him.

The next moment, something shocking happened to Thirteen. With a casual slash, he cleaved a dozen houses in half, thankfully without harming any civilians inside.

"Is this the power of S-rank and above?" Thirteen couldn't help but clench his hands. This was the most exhilarating feeling he had ever had. "No wonder the highest rank of heroes in ordinary cities is mainly A, and those who reach S-rank are treated specially. If people above S-rank were to start a war in the city, the consequences would be unimaginable."

With that in mind, Thirteen restrained his power as much as possible and rushed towards the enemies in front of him.

With the added boost from the black armor, although there were several hundred soldiers supporting him, almost none of them were a match for Thirteen, who had cheated by buying the skin.

If Thirteen were to say it, it would be summed up in one word: awesome!

After dealing with the soldiers guarding the consulate hostages, the group cautiously made their way towards the palace.

Once they entered the secret passage of Hina's palace, they were already halfway to safety. Thirteen anticipated that they would likely be surrounded by Karu's soldiers, but Thirteen, clad in black armor, was quite confident that he could fight his way out of the encirclement.

But then Thirteen realized that most of the soldiers weren't coming for them, but were rushing towards the city wall. Shortly after Thirteen and his companions rescued the consulate staff, they saw a huge iron bar propped against the city wall.

"Holy crap! Is this guy planning to run up to the city wall?!" Thirteen couldn't help but marvel at Lin Jie's suicidal tendencies.

……

After encountering several groups of sea creature soldiers, the group arrived safely at the secret passage in Haina's room.

"What's next?" Gray and Thomas asked, looking at Thirteen.

"Next, I'm going back to find that Karu." Thirteen clenched his fist.

“I’ll go with you,” Gray said.

"No, it's too dangerous. I'll go by myself, you all stay here," Thirteen said to the others.

“I’ll go with you,” Haina said, stepping forward at this moment.

“No, you stay here,” Thirteen said. “It’s very dangerous outside now. You’ve seen it yourself. There are still a large number of Dragon God’s troops in the city.”

"They've all converged on Lin Jie on the city wall." Haina then said to Thirteen, "I absolutely will not allow Karu to do whatever he wants to my capital."

"But it's too dangerous there."

"Isn't it just as dangerous for you?"

“I’m different. I have the black armor that Lin Jie gave me,” Thirteen said.

"Then you just need to protect me." Haina looked at Thirteen and said, "I know you plan to go to the Senate to rescue those senators, but Karu is there too. Although this black armor is very strong, Karu is just as powerful. The Trident of Poseidon is a terrifying weapon with the ability to ignore defenses."

That's why I hope you stay here.

“No, that’s precisely why I’m going with you. If you lose, everything will be over,” Haina said. “So I want to see you defeat Karu before Lin Jie is killed by the army.”

There's something Heina didn't say: if Thirteen loses, Heina will use her last resort.

-------------Chapter Dividing Line---------------

On the city walls, another great battle has begun.

Wearing golden armor, Karaka lightly pointed his short staff towards Lin Jie, and numerous light blue, swallow-shaped objects swarmed around his body. With a casual wave of his hand, Karaka sent tens of thousands of swallow-like blue objects flying towards Lin Jie.

From a distance, it looked like a blue galaxy pouring down towards Lin Jie.

Faced with countless blue objects that resembled a galaxy, Lin Jie's iron rod simultaneously grew to tens of meters in size, and then he swung it down at the enormous galaxy before him.

Although the iron rod in Lin Jie's hand seemed much smaller than the vast galaxy, with a swing of the rod, the entire galaxy rushing towards Lin Jie was split in two by Lin Jie's single blow.

However, those blue creatures that resembled swallows were just like real birds. After the two star rivers separated, they circled in the air and continued to rush towards Lin Jie.

Just as Lin Jie was about to make a move, the sound of the harp rang out again. As the harp music began, it was as if countless invisible hands were tightly gripping Lin Jie's body.

But at this moment, Lin Jie completely ignored the large hands that were pulling him away, and continued to swing the iron rod in his hand as usual. Countless blue swallows were sent flying by his blow, and several of them landed near Lin Jie, creating a large hole. Anything that came into contact with these blue swallows seemed to have vanished into thin air.

“These things have about the same energy as those blue cannons,” Lin Jie said, glancing at the area blasted by the swallows. “But they’re much more agile than those cannons.”

However, Karaka on the other side clearly had no interest in talking to Lin Jie. Countless blue swallows filled the entire sky above Lin Jie at this moment.

The next moment, it was like a waterfall pouring down on Lin Jie, and each of these blue swallows seemed to be alive, constantly adjusting its angle in the air.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief after seeing Lin Jie enveloped by the blue river of energy.

“We should be able to take him down this time,” said the sea creature warrior holding the spear.

“Not yet,” Karaka said. As soon as he finished speaking, a rod emerged from the energy field and hurtled straight toward Karaka’s body.

Karaka tilted his head, dodging the sudden blow.

Then the long stick drew a circle on the spot, and the next moment all the blue swallows were blown away in all directions, disappearing without a trace before they even landed.