Dragon's Wrath: The Cursed Returnee

In a hurry, Ethan used his wristwatch to obtain access to one of the many monitors of the school. He wasn't the type of person who watches a lot of TV, but he didn't have to look for a long time to see what Ian mentioned. He was right about the surprise.

"Breaking news: Five more dungeons appeared on Earth," Ethan frowned when he read that. "Seriously?"

That would explain why he didn't see anyone at school. Who would care about classes when something like that happens? That was an important moment in human history, for the good or the worse. Regardless, Ethan began to connect the dots pretty fast… for five dungeons to appear on Earth, five heroes had to fail to save five worlds. The fact that they failed at the same time wasn't a coincidence. It couldn't be a coincidence.

"That asshole was planning to make the devourers let loose at the same time with those five dungeons… Still, where those dungeons appeared?"

Instead of waiting to hear that on TV, Ethan searched on the internet. He found pretty fast that the dungeons appeared respectively in Sweden, Ghana, Paraguay, New Zealand, and Mongolia. For a coordinated attack, the places where the dungeons appeared were pretty far away from each other.

"Wouldn't it be better if those appeared around the same area? Maybe no one can control where the dungeons appear… Still, it is very weird."

Ethan wondered why going that far if controlling where the dungeons appeared wasn't possible? If that were the case, it would be better to make as many dungeons as possible to appear. Considering that one thousand American students went and returned from other worlds in a year, Ethan was pretty sure the number that was still trying to fulfill their jobs was pretty high. While Ethan was thinking about that, Ian called again.

"What do you think, Ethan?" Ian asked. "I am not good with those large-scale plans. If you were on the enemy side, would you make five dungeons appear at the same time in different points of the world?"

"I am not really sure," Ethan said. "The most logical explanation would be… that this is a distraction for the real attack."

"That seems logical, but it wouldn't be a waste to use five dungeons for that?" Ian asked.

"It depends on how many heroes are still working on other worlds," Ethan replied. "Do you have any idea how many people disappeared that fit the criteria?"

"… A few thousand," Ian replied after a few seconds of silence.

"There you have it," Ethan said. "Five dungeons are nothing with a number of that scale… Still, it makes me wonder how the enemy managed to coordinate all this. I can't say that it would be difficult to convince immature kids to join the dark side. Still, I can't believe that whoever planned this can manipulate all of them."

"That goes without saying," Ian said. "Still, there are other methods to achieve this without having the cooperation of a hero… if the hero refuses, then just kill them. If a hero that is trying to protect the world that is on the brink of destruction dies, then that world is pretty much if gone."

Ethan didn't consider that possibility, but he could understand what Ian said since it also seemed logical. Still, to think that even external factors like that could cause so many problems… that really was troublesome. Considering that, Ethan couldn't help but wonder why an emissary of the dark side didn't try to contact him.

"I can't catch a break…" Ethan sighed. "Did your father hear anything?"

"Nope," Ian replied. "I guess everyone else is thinking the same as you. Still, it is a bit soon to receive any message from those countries asking for help, and we will just have to wait and see."

pαndα`noνɐ1--сoМ Ian ended the call, and Ethan began to search for videos about those incidents. Unfortunately, most footage had been blocked by those countries. Still, Ethan will make some videos eventually. In Paraguay, the dungeon appeared pretty close to the capital, Assuncion. So, many people managed to record the incident… few of them managed to escape and tell the tale. Although the quality of the footage wasn't good, Ethan saw some gargoyles flying and even knocking down several military choppers. The number of those creatures in the skies was over dozens of thousands. Meanwhile, the soil was being dominated by Golems capable of kicking cars and making them fly for several meters.

"I guess their numbers are close to the number of devourers we faced… Still, this is just the first wave of attack, and their numbers may increase even more…"

It was worrisome, but Ethan could only hope that the summoned heroes who returned to those countries would be able to control the situation. Still, just to make sure, Ethan decided to call Hannah, and unfortunately, she couldn't accept the call.

"She is probably too busy… I will leave a message just in case."

The message was simple, Ethan wanted her to call him if something happened. After that, Ethan entered the simulator and began to open his way toward the upper stages with his fists alone. As expected, cleaning the early stages was simple. His strength had increased considerably, after all. Although his speed was also a huge advantage Ethan had over the monsters, things got complicated when golems began to appear.

"I guess it can't be helped… the only things I can do is endure the pain or use the elemental enchantments to counter their properties. Let's do it in a difficult way first…"

Although Ethan knew more or less how to kick a foe, he was determined to proceed as much as possible using only his fists. Besides, he had kicked monsters now and then was just him improvising. In the end, Ethan managed to endure the pain and pass the stage. However, the simulation ended since the system concluded that he had suffered too much damage. It was a pain in the ass.