Loyalty Locked at One Hundred: A Hero!

The moment the deep voice rang out.

Inside the golden hall of the Hero Altar.

A figure clad head to toe in jet-black armor, mounted on a warhorse, appeared in midair.

The instant this spectral figure appeared, it reached out and clenched its hand at the void.

A pitch-black spear condensed out of thin air.

The moment it gripped the spear.

Roaring flames suddenly erupted all over its body.

This flashy entrance left Fang Yuan utterly stunned.

"Holy shit!"

"She may be an Orange Hero, but her entrance has even more grandeur than Lilith's."

"They say cultists have all sorts of tricks."

"Looks like that really is true!"

Just as Fang Yuan was marveling at this, Breni, the hero summoned in midair, seemed to grow somewhat impatient.

She thrust out the spear in her hand, pointed it directly at Fang Yuan, and barked.

"Answer me!"

"Heretic!"

"Faith or destruction!"

The unfriendly voice immediately snapped Fang Yuan out of his thoughts.

Looking at the spear blazing with black flames before the tip of his nose.

Fang Yuan did not feel the slightest fear.

Though they appeared to be so close.

Before he agreed to recruit her, these awakened heroes still remained within the River of Time.

A dimensional barrier stood between him and the hero.

Truly worlds apart despite being inches away.

And the key to opening that dimensional barrier was his Lord Chip.

The Lord Chip contained Blue Star's power of rules and carried the Civilization Fire of Blue Star.

Only an item imbued with the rules of the Great Dao could break through the dimensional barrier and fish them out of the River of Time.

Thus, faced with the fierce questioning of the new hero Breni, who held a flaming spear in hand.

Fang Yuan not only remained calm.

He instead began to examine her carefully.

"She holds a cavalry lance and rides a warhorse. She's a cavalry hero."

"Both the warhorse and the hero herself are clad in heavy black armor. Looks like she's a heavy cavalry hero."

"Her gender can't be determined from her appearance. She's covered in heavy armor from head to toe, and even her face is hidden."

"Judging by her voice and name, she should be a woman."

"How strange. The three Hero Units I've recruited are all women."

"Still, the first two may have been luck. This third one should be related to the recruitment item. Based on what she just shouted, she should be from the Spirit Flame Cult."

"And according to the records beneath the bishop's lance, the Spirit Flame Cult initially wanted to lure in the youngest daughter of the Golden Flower Family."

"But when they failed to lure her in, they ended up dragging themselves down instead."

"Putting aside the consequences, if they wanted to get close to an earl's daughter, they definitely couldn't send men. They could only send female cultists."

"So it made perfect sense that the Spirit Flame Cult hero I recruited was a woman."

While Fang Yuan was studying her.

The awakened Breni was clearly becoming impatient.

"Mortal!"

"State your purpose!"

"If it is to fight for the Spirit Flame Cult, I can join your command."

Her tone was much better this time.

But in Fang Yuan's eyes, it was still not enough.

As someone who knew the Spirit Flame Cult's past secrets, he naturally did not believe a word she said.

She kept demanding that he believe in the Spirit Flame Cult.

To Fang Yuan, she was most likely up to no good.

If he compromised just to recruit her, then even if he succeeded, her loyalty would likely remain low.

She might even gain the upper hand over him.

After all, she was the leader of a cult that worshipped demons. She was certainly different from Lilith and Christian.

So, to be safe, Fang Yuan decided to take her down a peg.

He said disdainfully, "What Spirit Flame Cult?"

"Didn't you pledge yourselves to the Golden Flower Count's daughter?"

"You had already betrayed your faith in demons long ago."

"What?"

"Are you going on and on about Spirit Flame just to conceal your history of betrayal?"

The moment Fang Yuan's words left his mouth, Breni seemed as though she had been struck by lightning.

"B-Betrayed Spirit Flame!"

She muttered twice before roaring, "No, we never betrayed it!"

"It was Lord Monarch who stopped answering our prayers!"

"To find Lord Monarch, we traded our loyalty to Audrey for a chance to go to the Abyss."

"But we failed!"

"The Abyss vanished. In the end, to fulfill the contract, every knight of the Spirit Flame Cult died fighting for the Golden Flower Family in the North!"

"We!!!"

"Never betrayed it!!!"

She practically screamed those final words.

Yet after hearing her, Fang Yuan did not feel offended in the slightest.

Instead, a sly smile appeared on his face.

"I understand."

"As long as I promise to help her find the Abyssal Demon, she'll trade her loyalty for it."

"That's far more worthwhile than joining the Spirit Flame Cult myself."

Fang Yuan then said with a smile, "The Mist Gods invaded, and the main material plane fell."

"According to the information I have, the Abyssal Plane most likely fell into the hands of the Mist Gods."

"If you want to find the former Abyssal Monarch,"

"then there is only one path now."

"Swear to serve me unconditionally!"

"If you agree,"

"I will repay you by finding the former Abyssal Monarch."

"Whether dead or alive!"

Hearing Fang Yuan's words, Breni fell silent.

Fang Yuan was in no hurry.

Although Breni was human, she worshipped demons, so she should be considered Chaotic Evil.

This was also his first time recruiting a unit from that faction.

Lilith, whom he had recruited before, was obviously Lawful Neutral, while Christian was Lawful Good.

Different factions meant differences in a hero's personality, recruitment methods, and more.

He had already learned about this back on Blue Star.

Generally speaking, human lords who were Lawful Neutral rarely recruited heroes from the Chaotic Evil Faction.

For one thing, recruiting them was troublesome. For another, even if they were recruited, their loyalty would be low, and they might even rebel.

Though he had studied this before, things could always go wrong in practice.

Now that he had already begun recruiting her, he could not give up this opportunity. He had to do everything possible to bring her under his command.

Even if she rebelled immediately after being recruited, it did not matter.

At worst, he would simply surround and kill her. The artifact would not be destroyed anyway.

It would be worth it to sell the strange item once he got it.

Just as Fang Yuan was quietly making plans in his heart, Breni suddenly spoke from across from him.

"I saw the arrival of the Great Cataclysm Era within the River of Time."

"The gods fell, evil gods descended, planes collapsed, and all living things suffered."

"Though I know the Abyss could not escape it either."

"As long as I have not seen my monarch's bones, I will not abandon my faith."

"Human from another world!"

"If you promise that, in the future, you will find the Abyss for me and find the monarch I believe in."

"I!"

"Breni, the 103rd bishop of the Spirit Flame Cult, am willing to follow you. Even if I am shattered to pieces, I will never betray you!"

A faint smile appeared on Fang Yuan's face when he heard this.

Because as long as he continued to develop, he would inevitably come into contact with this world's deeper secrets in the future.

And the Abyssal Plane, once one of the most powerful planes, was certainly something he could not avoid. Finding it and exploring it were inevitable.

So, to Fang Yuan, this was a promise he could readily make.

On the altar, Fang Yuan fixed his bright gaze upon Breni, the Abyssal Bishop floating in the void.

Then, in an incomparably solemn tone, he said, "I!"

"Fang Yuan, Lord of the Wasteland Territory, promise this."

"If my strength permits in the future, I will certainly seek the entrance to the Abyss and find the Abyssal Monarch for Breni!"

As Fang Yuan made his oath, the next moment!

Breni leaped down from his warhorse, dropped to one knee, and bowed to Fang Yuan.

"Breni greets my lord!"

At the same time, a notification from the Lord's Mark sounded.

"Ding, do you wish to recruit the Orange Hero, Abyssal Bishop Breni?"

"Yes!"

"Ding, you have obtained the Hero Unit Abyssal Bishop Breni, with loyalty locked at 100 points!"

When Fang Yuan heard that final notification, and saw the hundred points of locked loyalty, he murmured, "Worth it!!!"