Chapter 104: Past Grudges

"Helios... where is that bastard..."

Muttering under his breath, Ethan clenched his fist so tightly his knuckles turned white as he struggled to maintain his composure.

Helios. In his past life, Ethan had suffered terribly under that bastard’s thumb.

Although Ethan wasn’t an Awakener back then and thus was spared being eaten alive, unawakened survivors under Helios’s domain lived a life worse than death.

There were times Helios would force unawakened survivors to lie down in rows on the scorching pavement, pressing his fire-infused feet directly onto their bare backs to brand them.

According to him, it was to remind those "pathetic unawakened humans" that they were destined to stay beneath his heel forever.

Even after Ethan eventually managed to escape that territory in his past life, he would still wake up drenched in sweat from nightmares whenever the old burn scars on his back throbbed.

It was only much later that he heard rumors of Helios finally being killed by another Awakener, someone who had once been a citizen of his shelter, escaped, gained power, and returned to exact bloody vengeance.

Though there was no further news about that savior in his past life, Ethan had always wished he could at least thank them.

Now, hearing that Helios was alive and currently terrorizing the area, Ethan wanted nothing more than to walk straight into that shelter and tear the man apart.

"Patriarch... are you alright?"

Patting Ethan gently on the shoulder, Maya sensed the sudden, murderous shift in his aura and stepped closer to check on him.

Although she didn’t know the exact history between Ethan and this "Helios," seeing her usually calm Patriarch react with such cold, deep-seated fury told her that this tyrant wasn’t just some random low-level thug.

Aria, hearing Maya’s question, flinched visibly. Just thinking about that terrifying, burning figure made her face pale with fear.

However, looking at the three mysterious, masked figures standing before her, people who had casually slaughtered a horde of zombies in seconds, she slowly rallied her courage.

"Helios... just like I said, he’s the leader of my shelter and an E-rank Awakener," Aria stammered, her voice trembling.

"Rumor has it he’s already close to breaking through to D-rank. As one of the four rulers of Emerald City, he acts like a god here."

"Most of the women in the shelter are forced to be his concubines. Whenever he returns from a hunt, he orders everyone to assemble at the entrance and picks one random person to burn alive..."

"According to him, he wants to ’benchmark’ how many seconds it takes to incinerate a human to test how strong his flames have become."

As the words left her mouth, Aria began to shake uncontrollably.

Just over a month ago, she could never have imagined witnessing a living human burned to ashes. Now, in that hellhole of a shelter, it was almost a daily spectacle.

In fact, among the women there, Aria had only survived by keeping her hair matted with debris and smearing grime across her face every morning to make herself look completely unappealing to Helios.

"Crazy! How can such a monster exist, burning innocent people alive for fun?!" Viktor growled, his hand tightening around the shaft of his heavy spear.

"In that case, why do people still live under him? Wouldn’t it be safer to flee to another shelter?"

The moment the words left his mouth, Viktor realized how naive the question was.

It wasn’t that they chose to live under a sadistic tyrant; they simply had no alternative.

The other strongholds were either too far away, equally brutal, or completely unreachable across monster-infested streets.

If baseline humans tried to survive out in the open alone, their chances of being devoured by mana beasts or slaughtered by marauders were nearly one hundred percent.

In an apocalypse, living under a murderer was often the only option left.

Not every base was like the Smith Shelter, where Awakeners and ordinary people coexisted in peace and order.

"Patriarch, permission to go and take his head," Viktor said, his voice dropping into a deep, icy register.

"Although this old man has taken many lives in battle, as someone from the military, I know the weight of a human life better than anyone."

"To see a lowlife who takes lives for his own sick amusement... this old man will not rest easy unless we do the world a favor and eliminate him today."

Maya nodded in quiet agreement beside him.

If there was one thing the veterans detested above all else, it was bullies who abused the weak.

In their long lives, every single one of them had lost comrades, friends, or family. They understood the irreplaceable value of life.

Ethan, feeling the righteous anger radiating from both veterans, had zero reason to refuse.

While he knew the apocalypse was a cruel world and he couldn’t save everyone, if he could exact revenge for his past life’s suffering while simultaneously freeing a shelter full of victims, he was more than happy to do both.

’Plus, there’s a high probability a tyrant like him has hoarded a stash of monster cores inside his stronghold.’

’In that case, all the more reason to act!’

Decision made, Ethan didn’t hesitate a second longer.

"Permission granted."

Turning back to Aria, Ethan extended his hand, his tone calm yet absolute.

"Aria, if you lead us to your base right now, I promise that my companions and I will eliminate Helios and every single one of his enforcers."

"And if you’re worried about who will protect your shelter and your little sister after he’s gone..."

With a light flick of his wrist, Ethan pulled ten refined monster crystals from his pouch, holding them out toward her.

"Didn’t you say he was E-rank? Although you’ve just awakened and your current mana pool is weak, if you absorb the energy within these ten cores, you should be able to force a breakthrough to E-rank yourself."

"While you won’t immediately match the raw combat experience of someone like Helios, E-rank strength will be more than enough for you to take command of the shelter and protect your sister once we clear the top management out."

Indeed, Ethan had quickly formed a broader strategic plan.

Instead of bringing another group of refugees back to crowd the Smith Shelter, he would turn Aria and her base into a proxy stronghold inside Emerald City!

While the main Smith Shelter remained hidden in the shadows focusing on high-level growth and cultivation, he could use Aria’s shelter as a forward outpost, a hub to gather local intelligence, trade supplies, and track down other System hosts in the city.

Now, all that remained was for Aria to make her choice.

"However, Aria, think this over carefully," Ethan warned, his eyes locking onto hers through the black mask.

"While these ten cores will grant you E-rank power, taking them all back-to-back without properly digesting the energy one by one carries serious risks. The sudden influx of mana will be extremely painful, and if your body fails to handle the pressure, it could kill you."

"Knowing that risk... are you willing to take it?"

Holding out the glowing pile of cores in his open palm, Ethan left the ultimate decision entirely to her.