Chapter 188: The Undercover Hero

I watched carefully as System Goddess, Witch, BB, and Shiguma set up a magic circle.

Although I have been studying magic, alchemy, and cultivation formations, I prefer my wives to take care of these matters so that they have a sense of accomplishment.

If I were a perfect man who can do all things, in the future my wives might feel overwhelmed which would make them feel useless and an eternal life without a purpose is one of the biggest causes of hibernation and insanity among Higher Entities.

"It's ready" - System Goddess smiled when she finished forming the circle full of strange symbols. – "Even if this worked as planned, I am still worried about the risks of this plan…"

"Do you need to do this?" – Fleonell approached me with a worried expression.

I smiled to reassure my wives. – "I am sure this will work out, besides, I have already prepared an escape route if something goes wrong"

The women sighed worriedly that something might go wrong.

The mass-produced fake heroes have a mark on their souls that verifies them as products of Paradise, something like 'Made in China'.

System Goddess was able to decipher part of the Hero Summoning Ritual with the heroes I captured and the souls I obtained from Coco's victims.

System Goddess took three days to analyze and absorb the system user's system. Although she did not become stronger, her control of the 'System' concept evolved impressively.

Now she can decipher and alter anything or ability related to the 'System' concept, for example, the 'Fake Hero Production System' used by Paradise.

While System Goddess can't steal the production system, she managed to create a loophole in the system which when combined with the alchemy circle of [Human Transmutation] results in a reverse hero summon.

The plan is simple; when the Northern Kingdom makes a hero summon, I will use this circle to impersonate one of the fake heroes and seek to contact a Higher Entity of Paradise that is in the faction of the idealists and thus makes a deal on behalf of Gaia.

Gaia does not belong to any faction and is a neutral world that has some business with both Paradise and Hell.

Although neutral groups are among the first targets to be destroyed, Gaia is a high-level world with strong laws that prevent the invasion of powerful entities, and Gaia heads a small organization of low- and mid-level worlds that only seek to exist in peace.

As a representative of Gaia, I have the authority to enter into agreements with other entities as long as that agreement is beneficial to Gaia, but in turn, if I cause trouble on other worlds then Gaia will let me die without providing help.

Although this will be more beneficial to Gaia than to me, I have already taken the Will of the World from this world so I am actually taking the jackpot. Now I just have to conquer a world with the concepts 'Magic', 'Hero', and 'Demon King' to create my own hero factory.

If I am not successful in the negotiations, I will leave this world with all the resources I have been stealing and return to Gaia.

Although it may seem like a waste to leave this world, my harem has grown quite a bit, I was able to lay the foundations of the Ortro's mythological pantheon, I obtained many magical natural resources, I got an army of Inhumans, and I greatly increased my strength. This trip has already been worth it.

"Then stay tuned" - I stood upon the magic circle. – "BB will give you the signal to mobilize the troops"

BB is not just a loud woman, she is the Outer God with the second-best spatial movement skill so even with her skills destroyed, she can ignore most barriers and move as she pleases through the multiverse, a true existence problematic.

As a side note, BB's Outer God name is Daoloth, 'The Render of the Veils'.

Each Outer God has an alternate name and appearance called 'Nightmare Form'. Outer Gods normally only use these forms during combat as in this form it is impossible to control mental corruption effects so an Outer God can kill his minions by accident.

In fact, Ortro's evil dog form is her Nightmare Form. Interestingly I don't have a Nightmare Form even though I am also an Outer God as I prefer to keep my human form and my mentality has an effect on my skills.

The transmutation circle activated so the Northern Kingdom must be doing a hero summoning.

Quickly System Goddess and BB returned to my Core of Existence while the other women looked at me with concern.

"Be careful..." - Fleonell looked at me with concern to which I smiled gently to alleviate some of her worries.

To prevent falling into a deadly situation I will not do this alone.

Tsubaki, Kon, Ortro, Shijou, and BB will accompany me and Ortro can summon Rushia, Coco, and Caladorius so if necessary I can escape if a combat-type Higher Entity appears.

Golden light covered me and I felt my body being pulled by a spatial movement ability.

When I started to be transported, System Goddess gave me a warning. – "The entity that sent the puppet to save the heroes is nearby, but it seems to be hiding its identity so it is better not to contact that entity for now"

System Goddess thoroughly analyzed the arm that was severed by Kaito so by following the trace of energy it is possible to identify the entities of the idealist faction.

For now, I will stick with the plan.

During the moment of summoning, there is a split second when the heroes break through the barrier that protects the World. At that moment the entities of Paradise lose sight of the heroes so it is the best time to infiltrate.

Using my ability to see the Plot, I quickly identified the most important heroes to gain a new identity.

Using the Rasen Dimension's spatial movement ability I came to a hero's side, black blood covered him and he was completely devoured leaving no trace of his existence.

I quickly made my appearance identical to the hero and used [Mythomania] to make my data such as name and soul frequency identical to the hero.

With [No Otaku] I stole the place in the Plot of the boy, my name was changed to Ryou Shiramine, my stats were adapted to simulate a slightly strong human, and my supposed special skill was 'Holy Sword Master'.

This skill would allow Ryou to use the sword that had sealed Fleonell, so this boy seems to have been prepared by Paradise to retrieve the sword, which is actually a key to open a Dimensional Door that allows the entry of a Higher Entity of high level.

Although I didn't really get the skill, that doesn't matter since the Holy Sword was already destroyed by System Goddess, in fact, the ores from that sword were used by Shigure to forge the alloy used in the giant robot arm to resist attacks. based on Karma, probability, and destiny.

With my ability to devour minds, I quickly understood Ryou's memories and personality making it easy for me to pretend to be the new hero.

Luis, Seiji, Kuro, Alexander, and now Ryou… Managing multiple identities is a headache.

It took me an instant to steal Ryou Shiramine's identity so when the space stabilized there was no change between the summoned heroes.

When the light disappeared, I was in what looked like a ceremony room with 22 other people.

The 22 heroes were fake products unlike Kaito and me so I didn't care about them.

There were some slightly attractive girls, but against my womanizing instincts, my priority is to destroy this country from the inside.

From the moment I arrived at this place, I felt traces of holy energy with an authority related to seduction.

Now I noticed that one of the deities of this world was here, not as a hostage or a trophy, but as an ally of Paradise.

The biggest problem is that even though this deity has a soul related to this world, she is no longer connected to this world so I cannot use the Authority given to me by the Will of the World to control her.

Beside the traitorous goddess, there were two human-like puppets.

The male puppet seemed to belong to the racist faction and the female puppet had traces of the Higher Entity in the idealistic faction but seems to be hiding her presence to appear to be from the racist faction.

The fact that the man is an enemy and the woman is a possible ally makes me question how convenient my plot armor is...

I didn't use [Reader's Perspective] since the puppets might notice it, but with my perception abilities, I was able to analyze the whole place in an instant, though now my head hurts...

The 22 heroes were all Japanese teenagers in school uniforms so they should have been in a classroom or group activity.

Sadly this group doesn't belong to Gaia so I won't get a reward if I take them back with me.

"What's going on?"

"Where we are?! Are we dead?!"

"I remember we were on the bus when the light covered us… Did we have a car accident?!"

The students began to panic until a divine aura spread over the place oppressively making everyone silent.

It seems that this goddess is an authoritarian and narcissistic woman with, well, a goddess complex… How troublesome.

When everyone fell silent, the goddess spoke with an amiable smile worthy of an idiot who thinks of her own actions as noble and just. – "Nice to meet you young heroes, who summoned you to this world was me, the goddess Vysis…"

Vysis started a monologue explaining that this world is in danger because of the Demon Queen, she also mentioned that Fleonell used dishonest tactics to seduce a powerful hero and that is why humanity is in danger.

Because this woman's divinity is related to charm and seduction, people without mental defense skills are easy to sway so several of the students seemed determined to help the goddess, especially the idiotic men who just think with the crotch, after all, Vysis is an absolute beauty even superior to Fleonell, but inferior to Lin Ruoxi and System Goddess.

As Vysis was about to finish her monologue, I felt the male puppet use a high level appraisal skill on me.

[System Notification: An appraisal skill has been used. The skill 'Mythomania' has falsified the potential and skills of the user. The user has been registered with an S-rank aptitude and the unique skill 'Holy Sword Master']

Even though he is just a puppet, my mental abilities allow me to see emotions easily so I saw that the male puppet was excited seeing my skill.

Vysis also used an analysis skill and seemed to notice the potential in all of the students.

Although these students are disposable heroes, some of them have the potential to be useful soldiers so this is actually a good harvest.

"But before we start…" - Vysis sneered at a black-haired teenager. – "Umm… Mimori Touka? You are hereby disqualified"

"What?" – The boy named Touka seemed confused and worried.

This guy has the worst raw potential out of the people present and is basically trash, but there's one thing this guy excels at, he's a genuine protagonist.

Judging from the thick golden aura around him, I can tell that this guy has great potential, plus he's connected to Vysis with a black thread that I think represents a blood feud. I still have to study the meaning of these threads.

Although the Higher Entities know about the destination, there are very few entities that can see it, so it is normal that the two puppets did not notice this detail and thought that Touka is trash, although the female puppet was making an effort to hide her fury since she seems to hate the injustices.

Vysis explained that a hero's potential is a pyramid where S rank is a true hero while E rank is worse than trash so Touka would be discarded to not get in the way of the other heroes.

This is stupid since even garbage serves as cannon fodder, but whatever.

Touka seemed to be the outcast of his group as most of the students started muttering that it would be better to get rid of the garbage in order to return to Japan unhindered.

"Wait please!" – A pretty girl with the attitude of a kind and naive person intervened in the discussion. – "Mimori-kun is our classmate!"

"S-rank hero, Sogou Ayaka… correct?" – Vysis smiled gently as she hid deep anger, without a doubt she is going to hit the girl. – "I hope that a person as wise as you can understand the importance of this decision"

"We cannot agree to this!" – Ayaka interrupted the goddess again making her furious.

If it wasn't for the puppets, Vysis might have already killed the girl.

Now the situation is simple.

I am the hero that Paradise needs to stop Seiji because with my unique skill I can steal the property of the Holy Sword.

Paradise thinks that Seiji became the owner of the Holy Sword and that sword is one of the three key points needed to complete the Dimensional Gate that allows the invasion of this world.

On the one hand, it will be good for them that I am a noble and selfless hero since it will be easier to convince me that the Inhumans are the enemy, but in addition to the ideals, it is necessary that I have a defect that they can exploit to control me without rely on mind control since mind control has risks of breaking which may cause me to join Seiji.

In this way, what Paradiso needs is for me to be a kind and noble idiot with a great lust for beautiful women. A man who thinks with his dick is easy to control.

When Ayaka turned around to try to convince her classmates to protect Touka, I approached the girl with a speed above the average human, but still within human standards.

Vysis came up behind Ayaka to hit her on the back of the head so with my left arm I hugged Ayaka around her waist to pull her back while my right arm came up defensively to block Vysis's blow.

Although the goddess wasn't strong and she held back, the deity's strength was enough to inflame the muscles of an ordinary human so I made it look like my arm was injured.

"S-rank hero, Shiramine Ryou… If I'm not mistaken, you don't know these people, and you were summoned together with them by chance" – Vysis smiled at me while hiding her extreme fury. - "What do you think you're doing?"

I took two steps back still holding Ayaka, only now did the girl notice what was happening and although her face blushed as she was hugged by an unknown man, she didn't try to get away from me.

I smiled stubbornly like an idiot with a high sense of justice, but still showed subtle traces of lust as I looked at Vysis's breasts. – "A goddess trying to hit a kind girl who just wants to protect her classmate… If I sit idly by in the face of such injustice then I don't deserve to become a hero"

My left hand subtly caressed Ayaka's waist and although she didn't notice it out of shyness, the two puppets noticed my actions.

The male puppet seemed to approve of my behavior as he began planning how to manipulate me.

The female puppet was slightly disappointed by my actions, but at the same time seemed satisfied with my resolution to face a goddess in order to protect innocent people.

Vysis narrowed her eyes as she maintained her gentle smile, the temper of a treacherous viper. As long as this woman doesn't do something completely stupid maybe I'll add her to my harem...

Vysis was about to say something, but the male puppet approached us with a friendly smile that seemed to calm whoever saw it, the acting abilities of the entity that controls this puppet are almost perfect.

"Vysis-sama, this matter is insignificant for you to handle, so let your servants be the ones to attend to our guests" - The male puppet spoke respectfully, making it seem that he is a loyal servant of the goddess, but the truth is that he is telling the goddess to shut her mouth.

"Take care of these heroes" – Vysis acted as if she lost interest in us, but the truth is that she is scared of the puppet.

Vysis left the summoning room with the female puppet, it seems that the second puppet's job is to supervise the goddess.

"Then, distinguished guests, allow me to show you your new residences" - The puppet clapped his hands to get our attention and smiled politely.

The students calmed down thanks to the puppet's charisma.

The doors to the summoning room opened and various butlers and maids entered to begin guiding the students to their new rooms. The men were handsome and the women beautiful so it seems like a tactic to trap the heroes.

"...E-Excuse me, could you let go of me?" – The girl in my embrace spoke to me shyly to which I smiled awkwardly and let go of her waist.

"Ahem, sorry about that" - I laughed awkwardly like a harmless teenager.

The boy named Touka walked up to us with an expression of gratitude. Although his gratitude was mainly directed at Ayaka, he was also grateful to me since defending the girl technically prevented the boy from being expelled from the group.

"Thank you Shiramine-san… Is it alright if I call you that?" – The boy gave me a courteous bow.

I smiled friendly. – "I prefer if you call me Ryou, it is easier to pronounce"

"I understand, thanks Ryou-san" – The boy seemed more comfortable with my friendly attitude, it seems that he has few or no friends.

I saw that this guy had several threads of fate connected to his body so I can use him as a lab rat to understand the effects of each thread.

I had a little chat with Touka and Ayaka until I was interrupted by the puppet who approached me with an expression of polite concern. – "Certainly you are a genuine hero, but even if you are strong that blow must have hurt so let me take you to the medical area"

"Ryou-san, you better get your wound checked" – The girl looked at me with concern since my arm had made a small cracking sound when I was hit by Vysis.

I smiled kindly and nodded, then accompanied the puppet.

As we walked, the puppet began to talk in a friendly way using a bit of psychological manipulation to make me think that Inhumans are evil creatures that take delight in the murder of innocent humans.

I pretended to be outraged at the inhumans' actions which made me smile at the puppet.

When we got to the medical area I was disappointed that it was the puppet who attended to the wound on my arm and not a sexy nurse, a tragedy.

After curing the swelling on my arm, the puppet extended his hand to me in a friendly way. – "My name is Diedhauser, I hope that in the future we can collaborate to make this a better world"

Sometimes idiots make things easier for me, this idiot gave me his real name...

[System Notification: A mid-level Contract has been prepared]

[Contract: A little birdie told me

The user can choose three requests from the 'Diedhauser' entity and by fulfilling those requests, the user can ask three questions that the 'Diedhauser' entity will have to answer honestly.

After the termination of this contract, both parties will forget everything related to this contract, including the questions asked and the answers given.

Warning: Whoever breaks this contract will lose all traces of their 'Mind' including 'Memory', 'Personality', 'Self-concept' and 'Worldview']

[System Notification: The title 'Silly Jack' and the energy 'Anti-Rasen' have blocked any trace of the contract 'A little birdie told me'. The contract will only be noticed upon activation]

I smiled politely and shook his hand. – "It is a pleasure to meet you Diedhauser-san, let us strive to make a better world for humanity"

[System Notification: The contract 'A little birdie told me' has been accepted by both parties.]

Maybe it's not a bad idea to join Hell, after all, my methods are no different from those used by high-level demons...

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Author's Note:

Vysis and the students are from the novel/manga "I Became the Strongest With The Failure Frame [Abnormal State Skill] As I Devastated Everything"

Ryou Shiramine and Diedhauser are from the manga "Maou to Ore no Hangyakuki"