Dragon's Wrath: The Cursed Returnee

Apparently, Maerys was the leader of that camp. Still, many complained when she informed them that they would look for the other camps and move on to work with the humans. The same humans who hunted them several times in the last month. As if that wasn't problematic enough, Ethan took all of their weapons. Fortunately, all their complaints disappeared when the sick and wounded people were healed by the health potions and when Ethan began to kill monsters like a tornado.

"Cen told me about the hero you guys summoned," Ethan said after he signalized Maerys walk a little more ahead of the group. "I didn't ask him since he is just a kid, but how exactly did the hero treated you guys?"

Maerys looked away and then clenched her teeth and fists. Just thinking about that was enough to make her feel angry like never before. That guy managed to delay the defeat, but they weren't thankful for it since if he had worked seriously, he could have destroyed all the devourers.

"He…" Maerys took a deep breath before she could continue. "He treated us like trash, he demanded that we obeyed all his wishes, and when some disobeyed them, he cut their limbs, used them as bait, and even made them eat his shit… when he got bored of doing that in the same place, he moved to another village or town."

In a sense, he treated them even worse than Ethan had imagined. At first, Ethan thought the fake hero had sexually harassed the people of that world, but it looked like he couldn't see the people from the Clannian race as people. He saw them as trash and insects… that was sickening. Even only a handful demons that Ethan faced while he was on Hedo could be that despicable. It was enraging to think that a fellow human could fall so low…

"Cen said that he helped you guys a lot when he was summoned," Ethan said. "How and why was he so strong soon after being summoned?"

"Apparently, the mages who summoned them discovered a temple in which they found the means to summon a beast from another world and control them," Maerys explained. "Apparently, that beast was summoned several times in the past. However, they thought they would summon a beast because it was the last thing it was summoned from another world to this one. Anyway, the summoned creatures always had some sort of equipment with them, an indestructible weapon that could turn into other types of weapons. That was why he was so strong soon after the ritual."

"So, he had a sacred relic, and that relic was strong because the previous summoned creature had strengthened the relic to that point," Ethan said.

"Yes," Maerys nodded.

It made sense in Ethan's eyes, and he had to confirm it with Emily or Ian. Still, it wouldn't surprise him if some heroes were summoned and immediately received some amazing sacred relic that could grow stronger with them. However, while that answered some of Ethan's questions, it didn't explain the fake hero would fail to save the world. Unless… he wanted to fail.

"You are from his world, right?" Maerys asked. "Do you know him? Can you at least tell me that he has been punished for failing and doing what he did to us?"

"No, I don't know him, and even though his failure also caused problems for our planet, I can't say that he is being punished," Ethan replied. "I don't know from where he is, but I would bet that many people would overlook his actions just to stay on his good side and use him when the time comes. So, you shouldn't get your hopes too high."

"I see…" Maerys said and then clenched her teeth again.

The situation in that world was really complicated… much more than Ethan imagined. To think that someone would fail like that… Regardless, in the end, Ethan wasn't that surprised. After all, he still had his powers as a hero and Omni Hero. Now that he thought about it… some crazy individuals would fail to save certain worlds intentionally because they feared that they would lose their powers. It made a lot of sense in Ethan's head.

Although that whole story made Ethan a bit mad, at least it served well to keep his Frenzy active. Thanks to it, the fights got incredibly easier, and Ethan killed many monsters with incredible speed and precision.

When the other camps found their brethren approaching with a human, as expected, things got pretty noisy. However, Maerys explained to them what happened and what was about to happen. Many soon decided to obey since Ethan didn't look like someone who would solve things with a talk, but some others were quite stubborn.

"Tell them that I am just waiting for them to give me a reason for me to take their weapons from them," Ethan said.

Ethan wasn't joking, but Maerys laughed a little. In any case, those people softened a little when Ethan gave them potions to heal the injured and the sick. That was weird, and Ethan finally noticed.

"What the heck is this?" Ethan asked. "You guys can't produce potions here?"

"We have medicinal herbs, but they are more useful to heal some diseases than properly heal wounds," Maerys explained while scratching the back of her head.

Ethan wondered if that would help Anna's research. Still, any and information was more than welcome. In any case, despite the fact that he spent the rest of the day looking for the survivors, Ethan didn't find a single sign of the mercenaries. They were probably slacking off and feeling satisfied with the money they would obtain by selling magic stones. That worked well for Ethan.

When it started to get dark, Ethan and the survivors of the Clannian race finally reached the camp. They had to walk a lot since they needed to come from the north, and as expected, Ian, Emily, and Anna had returned a long time ago. Regardless, when Ethan returned alongside fifty or so survivors, he got all the attention of the camp to himself. Still, he couldn't care less about it.