The previous City Lord was an old man in his eighties, now feeble due to his deteriorating health. However, he still maintained his body density to a certain extent. Though, as he lacked an arm and both legs, he was frail, barely getting by.
Upon looking at Krune, the old man's eyes widened in surprise before he shouted, "Praise the heavens! Our city's finally blessed with a savior!"
The old man was up and about in tears, seemingly delirious. Krune was confused at the reaction, looking at the City Lord in confusion.
The City Lord shouted in return, "What the hell are you saying, father? I have told you many times. Our city's perfectly fine. We are able to hold our ground, and for the past decade, we have been pushing the demons back."
"That's what they want you to believe." The old man snapped back. "All they need to trash our entire city is for a Black Demon to attack with twenty other Red Demons. With a Black Demon in the lead, it should deal enough damage to us."
"We have the Godly Summons to rely upon in that case." The City Lord snorted. "Didn't you use the Godly Summons to push back a Black Demon that appeared forty years ago?"
"A Godly Summon…hah!" The old man snorted. "What do you think a Godly Summon actually means? Huh?"
"It's our gift and trump card!" The City Lord argued.
"Idiot!" The old man snapped back. "We're relying on the power of the gods to do that. Every time we do it, our city destabilizes a little. Ever since our city was established, we have used the Godly Summon nine times. If we use it a tenth time, our city would no longer be able to float atop the Abyssal Trench."
"So, we 'e on our last line." The old man grumbled, finally gazing at Krune as he continued, "And, a hero is our only salvation."
As he looked at Krune, he suddenly trembled, sensing the frightening presence Krune exuded, also noticing a sharp killing intent in his body. And only now did he see Hazak standing at the corner of the room, silently meditating while keeping its eyes closed. "A Black Demon!"
"Hazak is with me," Krune hastily said, watching the old man wheeze in pain, paranoid about seeing a Black Demon.
"Relax!" Krune aimed his hand towards the old man, unleashing a beam of light-filled with the healing effect, quickly calming the old man while also beginning to heal his injuries, swiftly curing him.
The old man looked at his limbs that had regenerated, amazed at them for a moment before he bowed on the ground. "Thank you, Lord Savior."
"You should have had enough Water Essences to heal yourself since you're strong. Why didn't you do it?" Krune asked soon after.
After a couple of minutes had passed, the old man got up from his prostrating position, saying with a respectful tone, "I was afraid we wouldn't have enough Water Essences to heal our warriors when we truly needed them. So, I saved them all in the royal treasury."
"How many Water Essences have you stored?" Krune asked in curiosity.
"Around 7000 of them," the old man said in worry. "Sadly, they are hardly sufficient. If a real war breaks out, they won't even last a day."
'So, he's been afraid of the city being put in a precarious situation. Indeed, it's possible. If the Black Demons have all learned to cultivate like the one I killed, then they aren't opponents the humans can face,' Krune thought, realizing the reason why the concept of heroes was brought up.
It was actually to fight against the Black Demons that have begun cultivating. Only with their passive and active abilities were they capable of facing such powerful beings that had surpassed the peak of Layer 2.
After a moment of thought, Krune asked the old man, "How do you communicate with Gehen?"
The old man summoned his tablet and explained, "During my time as the City Lord, we had faced crisis numerous times. In response, I had to activate the Godly Summons thrice to tide through the crisis. Once I did that, I obtained the knowledge that the city would fall into the Abyssal Trench once the Godly Summons had been activated ten times. With that, a section also opened for me that allowed me to chat with Gehen once a year for a short duration. It is at most a couple of minutes."
"When will it open the next time?" Krune asked, feeling his heart thump.
"Actually, that time is now," the old man replied, motioning for Krune to stand beside him, pointing at the tablet that changed its screen soon after. "Had you arrived a couple of minutes later, you would have missed it. It seems you wished to talk with Gehen about something. Please tell me what to say. The conversation happens by relaying our thoughts to each other through this tablet."
"There's a person named Feifei in Layer 3. Once she obtains an active ability, send her to this city as a hero. She's my wife, and I wish to ensure her safety. Do this, and I'll elevate you to the peak of Tier 6," Krune said his terms.
The old man's breathing grew ragged at it, quickly closing his eyes as he cleared his thoughts, thinking of what Krune had said. After a couple of seconds, the old man opened his eyes, asking Krune, "Gehen is asking for your name."
"It's Krune," Krune replied.
Once the old man communicated, he frowned, only speaking after a couple dozen seconds had passed. "It seems this person named Feifei had caused chaos in Layer 3 once she obtained an active ability. She's wanted as a terrorist by many groups there. It seemed she had offended too many people after killing a group that had bad blood with her. However, it seems she has already met with a Checkpoint Turtle an hour ago and has arrived at Layer 2. And... it wasn't as a hero."
"Damn it!" Krune cursed at the top of his voice, causing the City Lord and the old man to shudder at the sound that rattled the walls, causing faint cracks to form on them.
"Hazak! Let's move! Now!" Krune shouted as he flashed before Hazak, causing the other party to hurriedly grab hold of their things as he summoned the Cloud Whale, heading straight towards the city's exit.
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