Hero Hack: Reversing Heroes and Raising Harem-Chapter 263: Who Even Are They?!

Flames burst from the left side of the path.

The metal floor underfoot turned red and cracked from the heat.

One of the test drones exploded nearby, sending pieces flying into the air.

Ashblade kept moving forward without stopping.

He jumped over a split platform and landed on a narrow beam.

His eyes scanned ahead.

"Two more vents. Three drones. One big gap."

He raised his hand and slashed through the air.

[Void Shear]

A thin wave of rift energy shot out, slicing through a broken pillar and cutting two drones before they activated.

Sparks flew, and the path cleared.

Whisperlash dashed behind him, three copies of her flickering around her like ghosts.

"I’ll deal with the heat line," she said, pointing to a long, glowing pipe ahead.

"It’s going to explode in ten seconds."

She leapt forward, spinning mid-air.

[Phantom Coil Waltz]

Her whip split into multiple threads.

They wrapped around the pipe, squeezing and twisting it just before it could burst.

One thread glowed faintly—it was the real one.

The others confused the system sensors.

The pipe shut down early, venting the heat sideways instead of forward.

Ashblade nodded once. "Nice timing."

Behind them, the floor gave way.

A team of three other participants fell through the collapsing bridge and hit the lower hazard zone.

One screamed before being pulled from the simulation by an auto-recovery system.

Whisperlash glanced back. "They weren’t fast enough."

Ashblade stepped toward a wide wall covered in vents and sharp ledges.

"We are."

He vanished in a flicker.

[Phantom Step]

He reappeared behind the wall, just in time to catch a waiting turret by surprise.

His blade moved once.

[Rift Cleave]

The slash passed through the turret cleanly.

A second cut followed a moment later—delayed but sharper.

The turret blew apart.

Whisperlash followed with a swing of her whip, anchoring it onto a high beam.

She flew up, twisting her body, and landed on a raised platform.

"Top path’s faster. More unstable."

Ashblade climbed the same way, using broken ledges and quick boosts.

Vents burst on both sides. Heatwaves blurred their vision.

Another drone dropped from the ceiling.

Whisperlash didn’t flinch.

[Pulse Snap: Scatter Trick]

She cracked her whip forward.

One real ether pulse and three fake ones shot out.

The real one hit the drone dead-on, stunning it and sending it spinning.

The fakes made two more drones stop mid-flight, trying to dodge something that wasn’t real.

Ashblade moved through the opening, sliding under falling debris.

"Exit gate’s ahead," he said. "One more lock left."

A heavy door stood at the far end. Fire poured out from gaps in the walls.

A code panel blinked beside it—flickering from damage.

Whisperlash stepped close, her braid flipping over her shoulder.

"It’s trapped."

Ashblade touched the panel once and pulled back.

"Three heat nodes connected. I’ll sever the first one."

He slashed into the ground beneath the door.

[Silent Divide]

His blade passed through the floor.

A delayed slash followed the same path, cutting through the node cable hidden inside.

Whisperlash used her whip to snap open a panel in the ceiling, revealing the second node.

"Got it," she said, and struck.

[Mirage Override]

She split into four illusions.

They rushed forward while she vanished, reappearing directly above the node.

One clean hit and the connection sparked out.

Ashblade moved to the side of the wall and stabbed deep into a final glowing pipe.

The third node shut down.

A loud click echoed across the trial zone.

The massive metal door at the far end opened with a groan, steam pouring from its sides.

Ashblade stepped back, blade still drawn.

Whisperlash landed beside him with a smooth flip, her whip coiling back around her hip.

They looked at the open path in silence.

They had cleared the obstacle course.

And they were the first.

A screen above flashed:

[Stage One: Cleared – Kael Seryon & Syrel Vantayne]

From the upper platforms, other heroes still struggling through the course looked toward the exit.

"What? Someone already made it?"

"No way. That’s the first team?"

"Who even are they?"

"I didn’t even see them during briefing!"

Ashblade turned his head slightly, hearing the distant voices.

He didn’t respond.

Whisperlash chuckled behind her mask.

"They’re panicking."

"They should be," Ashblade said.

More explosions echoed behind them.

One drone squadron had caught another hero team mid-run.

Heat vents burst open. A platform collapsed under someone’s feet.

Screams followed.

Ashblade moved forward and stepped onto the glowing exit platform.

As soon as both he and Whisperlash were on it, the trial system confirmed their clearance.

[Transit Gate Activating]

[Next Stage Assigned: Combat Simulation Zone – Group Clash Mode]

Whisperlash tilted her head.

"Group clash?"

"We’ll be fighting other heroes," Ashblade replied.

"Or acting like we are."

She smiled under the mask.

"Hope they aren’t too soft."

As they stood still, the platform beneath them began to glow.

A soft hum filled the air as the teleport sequence prepared.

Behind them, more voices echoed through the flames and smoke.

"They’re already gone?"

"I thought the exit needed all nodes?"

"How did they shut them so fast?!"

"Who even are those two?"

Ashblade looked down at his hands.

They were steady. No burn marks. No wounds.

Just silent control.

Whisperlash stretched her arms, letting her illusions flicker briefly as they cooled down.

"That was a good warm-up," she said.

He nodded.

"Next round’s where they’ll watch us closely."

"You think they’re suspicious?"

Ashblade didn’t answer immediately.

He watched the gate finish powering up. The platform’s light turned blue.

"Not yet. But we didn’t come here to stay unnoticed."

Whisperlash smiled again.

"No. We came to take everything."

The gate surged.

Ashblade stepped forward first, disappearing into the light.

Whisperlash followed with a spin and vanished behind him.

---

Elsewhere in the field, Vora Dace stood on her hovering platform, still watching the screens.

"First team cleared. Fastest time we’ve seen all year," she said.

One of her assistants spoke through comms.

"You want to flag them for review?"

"Not yet."

"They cleared without penalty."

Vora zoomed in on their heat map—minimal damage taken, nearly flawless movement.

She narrowed her eyes.

"Keep them on internal monitor," she said. "I want to see how they fight."

Updated from fr𝒆ewebnov𝒆l.(c)om