The Max Level Hero Has Returned!
chapter-276

“This is a warning.”

‘It’s a useless and worthless death.’

Reina could not forget how the boy had warned her with such a calm expression. The boy’s foresight was far greater than what she had expected.

“Reina, do you not have an appetite?”

Reina, who remained silent while holding a jerky in her hand, looked up at Vendique, the male beastfolk who had voiced his concern. She said, “Yeah… Sorry, Vendique.”

“You should tell us if you’re having a hard time. Let me help you.”

“Yes…”

“My life is yours.”

“Vendique, that…”

“You are the one who saved me from the brink of death. That’s what you are to me. I owe you my life and I’m willing to pay back that debt at any moment.”

Reina chuckled behind her mask before saying, “Perhaps…everything will be fine.”

“Hmm?”

“No, it’s nothing,” Reina said, saving her words and lowering her head to rub the surface of her mask.

To put it simply, Reina had taken advantage of Vendique.

She had crossed that parallel line between the future and the past. That was the reason why she could not live the same way as them. How long had she been in this timeline? To be honest, it was not that long since Reina had first come here from the future.

Back then, Reina had wondered why she had to repeat living this hell. However, she also thought about it from another perspective. If she knew the future, then she could stop it. Surprisingly enough, the reality was a bit different from what Reina knew. However, the overall flow was still moving in the exact same direction as it had done in her own timeline.

When she awakened here, she had lost most of her power. There was no one with her. The only things with her were her sword, which had bitterly endured until its ego collapsed and disappeared, and the mask covering her face. And that was more than enough for her.

Comrades? She could gather them. Her power? She could nurture it again. Reina judged her situation with harsh and cold reasoning. She would use anything and everything that she could get her hands on. There was no one she could trust. Besides, the existence that she had made a deal with had no reason to betray her.

However, that being had forbidden Reina from doing two things. First, she should never reveal the truth of her existence unless it was to a being who had escaped the flow of fate. And second, she could never make contact with the version of herself in this timeline. After all, there was only one conclusion if they both faced each other, and that conclusion was the death of one of them.

Due to the second prohibition, Reina was unable to use her position to move things. So, the first thing that she had done was to go and meet Vendique in the East. Back then, she had been told that Vendique had been thrown out of the intelligence guild.

Vendique would have survived even if Reina had not come. However, Reina had pretended to save Vendique, reaching her hand out to him and dragging him in as her own ally.

Reina hadn’t had any other choice, but she was sure that Vendique would be devastated to find out the truth about this.

After pretending to help Vendique, Reina had then gone to the Holy Empire. She had cleverly used her sword and lied about a dream so that she could be recognized as a Warrior. It was not really that difficult for her to get the position of a Warrior.

“Salvation awaits the pitiful and the desperate…” Reina mumbled quietly, chuckling from behind her mask.

This was not the world that Reina knew. In this world, the necromancer who wreaked havoc in the Pallan Empire had been stopped quickly by the allied forces. The Lyndis Empire had also not been dragged into a cold war against the several small kingdoms under them, including the Rowane Kingdom and the Boltis Kingdom.

In this timeline, she had awakened the ego of the divine sword earlier than she expected. Even the elves, a race that was completely against mankind, had been moving as their ally. Both the Saintess candidates of the Holy Empire, two people who should have died already, were also still alive and well.

But the most surprising thing here was the existence of the protagonist of the rumor that she had heard—the only Saint. Reina was sure that there had been no such existence in her memories.

Those who were exceptional would naturally stand out. However, the Saint here was different from the Saint that she knew from her own world. In fact, she was not even sure if the boy existed in the world that she had lived in. This was what made it truly unbelievable for Reina.

“There’s no hope for salvation…” Mumbling so that the others could not hear her, Reina slowly stood up from her seat. She looked like she had completely lost interest in her meal.

If there was truly salvation, then her existence should not have become so twisted and distorted. So, whether it was revenge or her own salvation, Reina would achieve it herself.

She did not have enough power? That was why they had come here before the seal of the First Lich Nyx had been lifted. They lacked preparation? For some reason, they had received the help of Grand Duchess Kathryn and had refused the help of the Saint, Prince Davey.

To be honest, the Rowane Kingdom’s Saint records were so clean that it was hard for Reina to believe. Who the hell was Davey? And why in the world had he looked at her like that? The boy’s eyes had been colored with so much pity that she could not even bear to look at them directly.

“Vendique, once Grand Duchess Kathryn arrives, please find our transport so we can leave immediately. I will go and check the equipment,” Reina said.

Vendique immediately stood up and disappeared from sight while Reina stroked the blade of her cloth-wrapped greatsword. Right now, her sword had lost its ability to use polymorph magic and was only able to release a twisted, deformed holy mana.

Back then, when Reina had desperately screamed for salvation and help, the only one that had remained by her side was this sword. She said to it, “We will end everything here. Caldeiras, hang in there a bit longer.”

Looking through the gaps in her mask, Reina suddenly realized that the surrounding air outside had turned strange. Obviously, a coastal city should be noisy. But the noise that she was hearing right now was not the hustle and bustle of people coming and going…

“Kyaaaaaaaaaack!!!”

They were the sound of desperate screams, the cries of those who were filled with fear.

Reina sprang from her seat and immediately loosened the cloth that wrapped around Caldeiras. She ran outside of their accommodations.

Ping!!!

“What…is this…?”

Reina was greeted by hundreds of thousands of fiery arrows that began to rain down on the city.

***

Screams rang rampant in the city as a sudden attack from someone unknown had appeared in the skies above them. Seeing the torrential downpour of fire arrows, Reina realized that she could not delay any further as she gripped her sword.

[Longsword]

[Tearing Heaven and Earth]

Swoosh!!!

A powerful wind erupted from her sword as Reina released a very powerful and heavy sword energy. In just one swing of her sword, the rough and coarse fire arrows lost their momentum and broke apart in the skies.

Thud!!! Thud!

Reina did not stop there. She continued to swing her sword, releasing her black and white flames. Her flames looked like a spinning top as they twisted around, rotating smoothly while smashing all of the arrows that they passed by.

“Haaa… Heup!” Reina gasped.

Not long after, she saw small monsters starting to climb ashore. Shockingly enough, the goblins that appeared were wearing metal armor that protected their vital points. Even their movements were completely different from ordinary goblins. They moved intelligently and with such agility.

Crackle!!!

After stopping the downpour of arrows, Reina immediately changed directions. She went in the opposite direction of the fleeing and screaming residents of the coastal city of Valkass. She moved faster and faster, attacking the goblins that moved to attack the city.

Was the goblins the beginning of the invasion? Of course not. The route of the invasion was strictly through the coasts of the city. The goblins were bad swimmers, so they actually needed a ship to enter the city through the waters.

This plan of attack was generally too smart for a goblin. After all, how could an ordinary goblin think of using a ship while wearing high-end armor and weapons to plunder?

However, this was the reality that Reina was witnessing.

Hundreds of thousands of goblins had suddenly appeared and charged toward the city. The goblins had already caught several young boys and girls from the coastal city of Valkass, dragging them to their ships while cutting down the others at random.

“Mom! Mom!”

“Save me!”

Pandemonium broke out in the coastal city of Valkass. The scene was like hell itself. Valkass was originally a very small and peaceful city with no monsters nearby, so the soldiers protecting the city all lacked experience. The king of the city-state of Valkass also never thought of improving the nation’s forces. After all, who would attack them after they had expressed their neutral stance, right?

And that proved to be the problem. The goblins attacking them meant that there was nothing absolute in this world.

—Roaaaaaaaaar!!!

To make matters worse, huge monsters started to appear as the huge ships landed ashore. These monsters were none other than the trolls and hobgoblins, monsters known to be the epitome of resilience and regeneration. There were also ogres that looked to be over five meters in height, carrying huge weapons on their backs, appearing one after another.

“Reina!!!” Vendique, who had left to find the ship that they would use, rushed toward Reina.

“Vendique… What in the world…?”

“I also don’t know. Ships from who-knows-where started to appear and ram into the harbor. The monsters all came out from those ships and are still continuing to do so!”

Unless she was a fool, Reina would be able to understand what this all meant. It was obviously an attack that someone had deliberately staged, and it was a shocking surprise attack too.

Vwoooong!!!

As if they were aware of the situation, the skies turned dark as red stars began to twinkle from above.

Reina, who had remained calm despite the sudden monster’s attack, started to feel flustered. “N… No… The seal… The seal has been released…”

Something or someone had moved a step faster than them. Reina knew that there was no guarantee that the ritual would be held at the same time as in her world. After all, this world was not the same world that she had lived in. However, this was still too fast.

“Waaaaaaaaaah!”

“Mom! Mom!”

Children burst into tears. Some of them even sobbed as they hugged the bodies of their dead mothers.

The number of monsters was reduced to some extent since Reina had cut some of them down. However, the fact that they would flock again remained unchanged.

“No… If we don’t go and stop it right now…” Reina murmured worriedly.

If they left right away, they would have enough time to stop First Lich Nyx from being unsealed. However, the results were obvious if they left this place.

Reina was left to make a very difficult choice with the sudden appearance of the hundreds of thousands of goblins. Should she throw it all away, or should she just watch as Nyx got unsealed?

Just when Reina was about to shout out a decision after agonizing over the matter…

—Kiyeeeeeeeck!!!

A loud and majestic cry rang loudly from the sky as a huge presence appeared above them. At the same time, hundreds of balls of flames appeared in the sky, illuminating the darkness that shrouded everything before falling down in unison.

When she turned to look, Reina saw the head of the troll that was approaching her get caught in the vice grip of a gigantic metal golem before getting slammed into the ground.

“What is this…?”

A flash of blue light appeared from the metal golem’s eyes, turning the troll’s head into nothing. Then, the golem slowly looked at Reina before turning away.

At that moment, Reina heard the golem muttering to itself as if it was communicating with someone somewhere.

[Executing command. Decepticon Fleet. Eliminating the monsters.]