Hero Hack: Reversing Heroes and Raising Harem-Chapter 274: From Hero Exam to Hacker Hunt

Inside the control room, alarms began to flash red across the walls.

Vora Dace’s eyes scanned the chaos.

An officer at the front console stood up suddenly, sweat running down his face.

"Ma’am—"

Vora raised one hand.

"Stop panicking. Talk clearly."

The officer took a shaky breath.

"There’s something wrong. With the simulations. Stage One and Stage Two both."

She frowned.

"What do you mean wrong?"

He pointed to the main screen.

"The obstacle course in Stage One—the real one, not the virtual overlay—it’s glitching."

"Doors opening too early. Traps not resetting. Some areas closing off without command."

Another officer nearby added, "And Stage Two... the enemies are changing."

Vora turned to him. "Changing how?"

"They’re not following the set patterns. They’re attacking more aggressively."

"Some are using combos they weren’t programmed to have."

"Their power levels are spiking beyond their expected class."

Vora narrowed her eyes.

"That shouldn’t be possible. These tests are isolated."

The first officer nodded quickly.

"Yes, ma’am. That’s why we’re panicking."

"Is this a breach?"

"We don’t see any external hack signal. No one outside the system is logged in."

Vora folded her arms.

She walked slowly toward the center of the room where the full-stage maps hovered.

"Then it’s internal."

One of the engineers looked up. "You think one of the applicants...?"

Vora didn’t answer at first.

She watched the simulation feed.

Some heroes were already struggling harder than expected.

One slipped and nearly fell into a reactivated spike wall in Stage One.

Three advanced virtual enemies surrounded another in Stage Two.

They were enemies that shouldn’t have appeared for these tests.

She clenched her jaw.

"Who was the last one to fail Stage One?"

An assistant checked the list. "Izzor Valen. He de-synced a few minutes ago. Just disappeared from the feed."

Vora raised an eyebrow.

"Class?"

"Registered as Flame Spark. Mid-tier fire type. Nothing special."

Another officer quickly scrolled through logs.

"Wait—there was an unusual spike in ether data just before he vanished. We didn’t catch it earlier."

"What kind of spike?"

"Flame-encoded, layered with a masking loop. He left something behind in the system."

Vora’s hand dropped to her sword.

"Find it. Isolate it. Now."

"Yes, ma’am!"

Another alert flashed.

Stage Two enemies just overpowered a Royal-class applicant.

Simulated damage was too high.

"System override request denied," one tech whispered.

"Something’s resisting admin access."

Vora’s voice dropped, cold and sharp.

"If this is sabotage, shut the test down manually."

"But ma’am—"

"Do it. Before someone dies."

She turned and tapped her earpiece.

"All squads. Standby. This test just changed."

---

The five heroes sat quietly in the special waiting room.

It was wide and open, with a glass ceiling and padded chairs.

The air was calm... until a loud alarm blared through the room.

WEE-OOO—WEE-OOO—WEE-OOO

All five stood up at once.

Ashblade looked at the ceiling.

"What now?"

Whisperlash tilted her head.

"Something’s wrong."

Ember Striker cracked his knuckles.

"That’s not part of the test."

Sightpiercer had already pulled out one of his thin blades.

Volt Stride stayed silent, her eyes narrowing.

Then a bright light appeared in the middle of the room.

A full-sized projection of Vora Dace stood before them, arms crossed, face cold.

"You’re awake, good," she said. "Listen carefully."

Ashblade narrowed his eyes.

"What’s going on?"

Vora’s voice stayed calm but sharp.

"There has been sabotage."

Whisperlash blinked.

"Wait—what?"

"The test system has been tampered with," Vora continued.

"A hidden trap was triggered after a certain applicant was removed from the trial."

She raised one hand, and a profile appeared beside her.

A man with sharp eyes and messy dark red hair.

He wore a half-burned jacket. His file read:

Name: Izzor Valen

Alias: Dead Spark

Class: Flame Spark

Affiliation: Unknown

Ember Striker frowned.

"I remember that guy. He failed early."

Sightpiercer tilted his head.

"So he was a spy?"

Vora nodded.

"We believe he was sent by an outside faction. Possibly the Flame God Cult."

"He planted a timed ether sabotage that disrupted the simulations."

"That’s why the other applicants failed or got overwhelmed."

Volt Stride crossed her arms.

"Why are you telling us?"

Vora pointed toward them.

"Because you five were the only ones who passed all three tests before the corruption fully spread."

She paused.

"And because we need a team right now. You were supposed to be chosen for a scouting mission."

"That mission has changed."

Ashblade stepped forward.

"You want us to find him."

Vora nodded once.

"Correct. We’ve traced his ether trail to a lower industrial level below the Hero Forge District."

She waved her hand, and a small holographic map floated in front of them.

A blinking red dot marked the suspect’s last known location.

"Find him. Capture him alive if you can. Dead if you must."

Whisperlash gave a small grin.

"So our first mission isn’t scouting... it’s hunting."

Sightpiercer gave a short nod.

"Fine by me."

Ember Striker smiled.

"Finally something real."

Ashblade folded his arms.

"I assume we leave now?"

Vora nodded.

"Prep gear. Departure in ten minutes. I’ll have a dropship ready on platform G-4."

She paused again, voice softer now.

"Be careful. If he’s a spy, he may not be alone."

Then the projection vanished.

Silence returned for a moment.

Then Volt Stride walked toward the map.

"So... who’s leading this mission?"

The room went quiet for a moment.

Ashblade stood still, hands behind his back.

He glanced at each of them before speaking.

"No one."

Ember Striker raised an eyebrow.

"No one?"

Ashblade nodded.

"This isn’t a scouting mission anymore. It’s a hunt. A fast, unpredictable one."

Whisperlash leaned against the wall, smiling.

"He’s right. We don’t need a chain of command—we need results."

Sightpiercer shrugged.

"As long as nobody slows me down, I don’t care."

Ashblade turned back to the map.

"And let’s be honest," he said, calm but sharp.

"None of you would agree on who should lead anyway."

Volt Stride smirked.

"Fair."

Ashblade walked toward the door.

"We move as five, act as one... and finish this before it spreads further."

The others followed.

The hunt had begun.