I Reawakened as an Inferno Hero-Chapter 61: New plan

Axel felt tense and alarmed. His breath came in slowly before he even realized why. A prickling sensation crept up the back of his ear, as if the air had shifted and licked it. His jaw locked tight, his slow breath thinning into shallow, silent pulls. Every sound in the room seemed to stretch—too slow, too loud. His hands curled, and he exchanged terrified glances with Chrysa. Only that hers wasn’t terrified; it was only his.

He read the words again:

{Humans don’t live in this realm for long, kid... not unless they stop being human}

It felt, in a frigid sensation, like he was reading his death note. What he seemed to wonder was that—so Dan knew they were going to die? Well, how long had he been working for Royal Cloak that his evilness wasn’t noticed?

That meant that Dan had a plan all along. No wonder his mood shifted at times and he had always acted too excited to face a villain or a threat.

But, till the time he did the treacherous act, he hadn’t shown signs that he would do so. He had behaved like he wanted the best for the team, but he didn’t.

And the irony there was that Royal Cloak even made Dan leader on the mission. That meant that they had literally been led by a traitor.

Dan hadn’t wanted to show his true self earlier. He was only forced to do so when Axel’s dad came into light, and obviously, Dan had seen him as a threat to his secret plan and tried to get him out.

What they would be asking themselves was—who does Dan work for, and was he in some way connected to the Monseryan monsters? If so, which Axel could bet a hundred bucks was possible, then that meant they were cooked.

"Dan knows about Royal Cloak’s plan and how we are to stop the portal," Axel said to them all.

They looked at him, Voidbreaker even nodding his head forward repeatedly.

"You have a point," Voidbreaker said. "I wasn’t there when you guys were discussing the plan, but I’m sure he shared it more with you—and Dan, doing so more with Dan."

Axel’s father, not even knowing the background of the talk but having grabbed something, said:

"Then that means if it’s so, the Monseryan monsters will know that there are some superheroes here trying to stop them from entering the portal." He paused and said abruptly in a low, cool voice:

"They’ll know our every move, what we want to do, what we don’t."

Spinal Edge shrugged. "They are not actually seeing what we do, are they?"

Axel’s father smiled.

"I’ve been here for a couple of days now, and the only reason I’m alive today is because I’ve been ruthless and unpredictable. I was literally like a bat. They couldn’t see my next move, and that helped a damn lot."

"But Royal Cloak told us to be cunning and tactical, as that’ll be the only way to survive."

Axel’s dad didn’t know who Royal Cloak was, but he guessed he was the one that sent them on the mission. He didn’t even bother to ask, by the way, as the scene in front of him was too tense to do so.

Mirrormeld was up from sleep now. She was still on the chair though, looking at them. Perhaps she had been awake for quite long, because she was fully immersed in what they were saying.

"If Dan by chance works for them, which is clearly so, then that means we need a change of tactics," Axel’s father said.

Suddenly, he was stealing the spotlight away from his son (who wasn’t even minding), and suddenly looked like the leader of the group.

The way he talked showed that he was experienced and proved that he had wisdom.

Chrysa found what he was saying interesting, so she had to say:

"Go on."

Axel’s father, inhaling and exhaling, said:

"They’ll be prepared against us now. They’ll double-check security and make sure there’ll be no mistake when they are to unveil the damn portal and get out of this dilapidated realm."

"So what do we do then?" Mirrormeld, who had almost been invisible throughout the conversation, asked.

Axel’s father looked in her direction and said:

"We improvise. We blend in. We take our time. And then, we wait. It’s the last few seconds before the portal availing and them wanting to enter into it that we strike. We set the whole place ablaze with some really hard-to-beat technology and leave."

Silence hung over the place, and soon, Spinal Edge clapped, and then Voidbreaker and Mirrormeld followed.

For some reason, Axel and Chrysa weren’t applauding. They seemed, by the look on their faces, to be sharing the same thoughts.

"But how do we ’improvise’?" Axel asked, stretching the word ’improvise’ a little bit.

Axel’s dad shrugged.

"That’s where I run out of ideas," he said. "I actually do not know."

"I think I know how," Chrysa said.

They all veered their eyes in her direction, the former almost coming off their faces.

The looks on their faces screamed:

How?

Chrysa took a deep breath before saying:

"I have a technology in my suit which can alter our appearance to the eyes of others. All we have to do is scan the type of monster we wish to turn into and wear a chip at the back of our ears which will give us the look. Note, we won’t actually look like that, but the chip will make people looking at us think that’s what we are."

They all applauded, Axel adding:

"My father will be perfect for this. He can turn into any monster."

Chrysa walked over to Axel’s father and shook his hand.

"Well, what’s your name, sir?" she asked.

Axel’s father smiled.

"Henry."

Chrysa smiled. "Well, we’ll get started in the morning, as it’s now getting late and we need to go to sleep."

Axel thought she was joking, but when he looked out the window, he saw that everywhere was dark.

It was really nighttime!

---

Axel lay on his bed by the side of the wall doing nothing.

Feeling bored, he decided to check his system stats, as it had been long since he did so.

[Hero Profile]

Name: [Axel]

Rank: [Amateur] [F] →

Hero Points: 850 / 800

+200 for defeating an Abyssborn monster and +150 for reuniting with your father.

[Attributes]

Power: 40

Speed: 74

+1 added

Endurance: 30

Intellect: 67

+2 added.

[Hero Skills]

1. [Active Skill] Power Punch (Rank F) – Throw powerful, tooth-aching punches (Next Upgrade: 10 more uses required)

2. [Passive Skill] Battle Instinct (Rank F) – Slightly enhances reaction speed in combat. (Next Upgrade: Defeat 3 Elite Enemies)

3. [Unique Ability] ??? (Locked) – (Unlock at Rank C)

4. [The Pinch Swoop Loop] [RANK 1] [Takes your opponents on a swoop loop which flings them to the sky]

[UPGRADABLE]

[Inventory]

Golden Armour (Rank F) – Makes your flames golden and fierce. Can burn opponents easily.

Inferno Sword – Go through opponents with the similitude of flickering flames.

Basic Combat Suit – Offers minor protection. (Upgradeable at Rank E)

Energy Potion x2 – Restores stamina in battle.

[HOST!]

[You have leveled up to Rank E]

[You can now awaken weapons to add to your inventory]

[Hero Profile Scanning]

{Now – }

Name: [Axel]

Rank: [Amateur] [E] →

Hero Points: 50 / 800

Axel felt elated by what he was seeing, and he couldn’t help but smile—and then, in an effort to suppress it, grinned.