The Max Level Hero Has Returned!
chapter-281

Dong!!!

The other side of the enormous clock suddenly twisted. Before anyone could react, the entire thing suddenly shattered and collapsed. The enormous clock was entirely destroyed without a single explosion.

“How is it? Do you still have some lingering regrets?”

“…”

“But you know, that thing I sent you… I sent it so you could take it a bit easier.”

From what it looked like, things did not seem to have worked out well. Reina’s expression turned ugly after listening to what Davey had to say.

“Illyna.”

Reina’s eyes widened in shock.

Anyone would have a hard time recognizing her because her appearance had completely changed. Even without her mask, her face was completely unrecognizable with all sorts of scars.

Unlike the Illyna of today, who was considered to be the continent’s greatest beauty, the Illyna who had passed through the parallel world to become Reina could not be considered a beauty anymore. No, it was more apt to call her disfigured face disgusting.

Her bright and glossy blonde hair was gone, becoming dull and lifeless. Even her golden eyes had lost their luster, turning dark. Her white and smooth skin had also grown coarse, uneven, discolored, and even distorted. Of course, her entire body had been wrecked from the earlier fight. So, there was nothing more to say. She was an entire wreck.

However, those aspects did not matter to Davey. This was because Reina’s personality and nature was surprisingly no different from the young Illyna. No, in fact, Reina was just the mature version of Illyna.

“If you truly wanted to remove all of your connections, then you should have changed everything and not just your name. You should have changed the swordsmanship and the sword that you use too.”

—Davey, I think you already failed…

‘Nyx’s death won’t solve this, because Reina doesn’t even know what she wants.’

In this situation, Goddess Freyja had made a deal with Davey to maintain their connection. She had even conveyed her will by sending him advanced payment. Needless to say, Davey had to keep his promise.

“I have signed a deal to save you.”

“…” Reina remained silent, as if she did not have any power to speak anymore.

Moments later, her eyes widened. She shouted fiercely with a grating voice, “Behind… Behind you!!!”

Bang!!!

A gigantic black demonic spear burst out and exploded before it could even reach Davey. It was suddenly blocked by a huge stream of water.

“The Water…Spirit King. Someone who is able to stop my magic and summon a Spirit King. Who the hell are you?”

[Contractor. I don’t have a good compatibility with the demonic race. And with this level of power…]

The 9th Circle was certainly not ordinary. Even Davey had not recovered his powers to the 9th Circle yet.

Well, Davey had been sure that Nyx was still weak now, since he had just awakened from his seal. However, Davey could see that Nyx had gained his full strength as well as something additional.

“Prince… Prince Davey,” Reina said in a quiet and hoarse voice as she pulled at Davey’s collar.

“Hmm?”

“O… Over there,” Reina mumbled as she desperately raised her trembling arms and pointed to one side.

Turning over to look, Davey saw Roina, who was still hanging on after being stabbed by a spear, as well as the unconscious young boy and girl who had collapsed on the ground.

“Ellaim. Let’s do a baton touch,” Davey said with a nod.

Ellaim, who was looking at Nyx warily, turned into a stream that surrounded the three injured people.

“Take this one too,” said Davey.

All three people were in serious condition, but the one in the worst condition was Reina, who was lying in Davey’s arms.

[She’s in a very terrible condition… How in the world can a human being be pushed this far?]

“Is treatment possible?”

[It’s possible for the three…but it’s already too late for that one. You, you only have a little amount of holy mana left, right? It’s too difficult to treat her with my power alone.]

Water spirits had the power of healing and recovery. However, not even a Spirit King could heal Reina, who had burned almost all of her soul away.

[I can only heal the trauma that her body has sustained… I will do my best.]

Ping!!! Bang!!!

Nyx did not want to be ignored, so he sent out five to six black demonic spears toward Davey. However, they exploded apart before reaching their target. They had been blocked even without Ellaim’s protection.

“Speak. What the hell have you done?”

Not answering Nyx’s question, Davey simply took out a small bottle from his Pocket Plane and handed it over to Ellaim.

“There’s not much left, but this is an elixir made of diluted God’s Tears. It might be impossible to cure her completely, but you’ll be able to maintain her life for a while with this.”

Ellaim remained calm as she received the bottle of elixir with a stream of water and absorbed it into her body.

Shwaaaaaaaa!!!

Then, Ellaim scattered half of her body and shot it to the sky, turning it into a light green rain. This was none other than the Spirit King’s Miracle, [Healing Rain].

Davey was drenched by the pouring rain, but he did not mind it at all. In the first place, he did not have any reason to reject the rain that contained recovery abilities.

“Since I’ve solved this part, it’s time to deal with my business now. What did you ask earlier? How did I get rid of your attack?”

To put it simply, Nyx could not understand how his Death Spear, an 8th Circle magic, had exploded in the air without Davey defending against it. He also could not understand how his 9th Circle dark magic, Death Sentence, had been cut down so simply by a blue afterimage.

Nyx could only understand how his second Death Spear had been blocked by Ellaim’s power. As for the following Death Spears that had disappeared without reaching Davey, he was completely confused.

“That’s right. I cannot understand at all.”

“Why can’t you understand? This is the first magic that mages learn upon reaching the 3rd Circle.”

[Dispel.]

Nyx’s gaze trembled as he asked, “Are… Are you saying that you used Dispel?”

Simply put, Davey was saying that he could interrupt and cancel Nyx’s 8th Circle magic with a simple Dispel.

“What? You got a problem with that?”

“That’s impossible! You have to be at the 9th Circle to dispel magic at the 8th Circle at the very least!”

Nyx was right. One had to be at the 3rd Circle before they could dispel magic at the 1st Circle. As for magic at the 5th Circle, one had to be at the 7th Circle for them to dispel magic of such caliber. As far as everyone knew, one had to be at the 10th Circle or above for them to dispel magic at the 8th Circle, or so the theory stated.

“Theoretically, the 8th Circle of magic should have been impossible for Dispel.”

“If we’re talking about regular circumstances, then it should still be impossible. After all, according to theories and hypotheses, one has to be at the 10th Circle at the very least for them to cancel magic at the 8th Circle.”

Nyx was obviously Davey’s enemy, someone to be eliminated as the Demon Lord’s confidant, the First Lich. And when it came to magic, Nyx was undeniably a great force.

Davey always avoided unnecessary cruelty when it came to dealing with enemies. And as someone who had studied magic so intently, he did not want to deny all of the things that he had learned and accumulated.

“The 9th Circle is the pinnacle of magic… There’s nothing above that…”

“Why should it not exist, you stupid baldy?”

“Bald, baldy…” Nyx muttered, feeling shocked by Davey’s sarcasm.

“The 9th Circle is not the end. There’s no end in this world.”

Just as there was no end to simple swordsmanship skills, there was also no end to magic.

“Are you telling me that a bastard like you has exceeded the 9th Circle and reached the 10th Circle?” Nyx asked Davey as if trying to confirm the ridiculous revelation.

“No. There is no such thing as a 10th Circle, stupid baldy.”

There was 10th Circle holy magic, but the 10th Circle did not actually exist.

The three stages of the 8th Circle: Perception, Assimilation, Materialization.

The three stages of the 9th Circle: Comprehension, Realization, Transcendence.

What existed above these levels was clearly different from the concept of the Circles. If Davey were to tell the truth, the magic that he used was different from what Nyx used. Apart from their mana volume, the depth of his enlightenment was also very different from the First Lich. However, Davey had absolutely no reason to give him any information.

“Bastard!!! How many times do you have to call me baldy, huh?! Are you making fun of me?!”

Davey just shrugged at Nyx’s furious cry.

‘Look, if you make fun of that bastard for being bald, he’s going to respond to you.’

This was the method that Ares had used to agitate Nyx and cause him to weaken his defenses.

Sword God Ares had been a gentleman. Although his outward image had shown him to be an outstanding swordsman and a very good man, the Ares who Davey knew had been a mad dog that bit tightly on his opponent’s weaknesses. In that respect, Davey could say that Ares had been no different from the Heavenly Destroyer Dokgo Jun.

To be honest, Davey could even say that Ares had been far worse than Dokgo Jun.

—Looking at this, it seems like my father also had some brains up there.

‘Do you think that lazy and ill-tempered guy said anything to me?’

Absolutely not.

“This repeated provocation is intolerable! Good. The existence of a Spirit King is quite surprising! However, I will show you my true power, a power that is different from before!” Nyx shouted furiously as his gigantic body started to float again.

Then, spreading his hands, Nyx erupted a violent and vast amount of dark mana like a volcano and covered the entire area.

“Urk!” Reina groaned.

She was slowly recovering in Ellaim’s arms, but her expression darkened. She seemed very surprised to see that the opponent who she had been fighting for so long had not yet shown her any of his skills.

—Urk?! Davey, at this rate… His mana volume far exceeds yours…

Nyx was known to be at the 8th Circle, but he had awakened earlier and borrowed the power of something that was not from this world. He also appeared to have done so unknowingly.

No, to be exact, someone else was giving power to Nyx. Due to this reason, the weakening of the seal, something that could still go on for a very long time, had progressed at a faster rate.

On top of that, the fact that the divine sword Caldeiras had failed to notice Nyx’s unsealing was huge evidence that this was a very unexpected event.

Now, Nyx had more power than what he actually had in his prime 3,000 years ago. However, the majority of the power was too different to be called Nyx’s power alone.

“Doesn’t this feel strangely familiar? Huh, Perserque?”

—Yeah…

“The other side of the coin.”

Davey had had a similar feeling when he entered the underground space of the vampires’ ancient ruins. This was the very same unknown feeling that he had felt in the space where the gigantic Dragon Bones had been hidden. It was none other than the power of the Abyss.

Perserque’s expression grew solemn at Davey’s words.

“Those bastards on the other side are doing whatever they want. I should at least put the breaks on you, so you will proceed with caution.”

Clang…

Nyx was releasing mana that went beyond the total amount that Davey currently had. Clearly, he was not a 9th Circle mage for no reason.

Creak, creak, creak, creak! Thud!!!

Unable to withstand the pressure, the ground beneath Davey’s feet began to crack and collapse. The surrounding dark mana, with no magic cast at all, began to crush the ground beneath Davey’s feet, as well as everything around him. He could feel the pressure on him.

This phenomenon was only possible if someone had an overwhelmingly large amount of mana compared to their opponents. It was a very inefficient method, a simple show of strength that had little to no use.

Seeing this, Davey took out the necklace that hung around his neck. The necklace looked simple and dull, but it had a small jewel hanging from it. The jewel was none other than the mysterious item that the current World Tree, Al, had given Davey when she had awakened. It was something that Goddess Freyja had given him as a reward.

As if it had been triggered, the jewel began to display some changes.

“Let’s try synchronizing then.”

The jewel responded to Davey’s voice excitedly as it started to activate.

“You like fighting with force? I also like fighting dirty like this.”

Thud!!!

A brief crash rang out in the area as Nyx’s dark mana, which was running rampant all over the place and putting pressure on Davey, suddenly faltered. It had seemingly turned rigid.

“How about this? Let’s have a fight with brute force.”

Shwaaaaaa!!!

A bright light suddenly flared up from within the jewel as pure, refined mana appeared and moved crazily within Davey. Soon, an entire Circle was created within him. The additional mana circle resonated with the mana circles in Davey’s heart, rotating fiercely and roaring like a majestic beast that had awakened from its deep slumber.

As a reward, the first use of the jewel had been activated.

When Davey used the Abyss’ Authority, he saw three lines being added to the jewel’s description.

[The Jewel’s First Liberation.]

[Limited consumable. Can be used for a limited time. Strictly restricted to Davey O’Rowane.]

[Complete synchronization of body and soul.]

This was a small compensation for pulling the rug on Davey during the situation with Saintess Candidate Alice, the situation where he had made a fuss.

Davey’s soul could be said to be complete, but his body wasn’t. With the jewel’s help, the two could finally be perfectly synchronized.

Nyx’s dark mana, which ran rampant all over the place, was trampled on by the force that burst out of Davey. Nyx never imagined that his power would simply be overwhelmed by another power, especially since the mana in his body was tremendously vast.

In fact, by simple calculations, Nyx’s current power was as strong as the Demon Lord of the past. In terms of combat capabilities, Perserque could easily triumph over Nyx. However, when it came to the amount of mana, Nyx, who had lived longer than Perserque, would definitely gain a landslide victory.

“Urk?!”

“Come down,” Davey said as he looked into Nyx’s shining blue eyes.

He pointed at Nyx before pointing to the ground.

Thud!!!

At the same time, Nyx was crushed by the overwhelming pressure of the mana. He was sent flying down to the ground. Yes, this was a very inefficient and meaningless power struggle, but it was more than enough in this case.

“Keheok?! This… This is impossible?!”

“How is it? Fucking awesome, right? I’m very confident when it comes to a battle of brute force.”

Even in the Hall, there had only been a few heroes who could force Davey down on his knees with pure mana alone. It was a very meaningless and inefficient show of power that even those crazy bastards had failed to bring him down so easily. So, how dare Nyx try and do that to him, right?

A vicious smile tugged at the corners of Davey’s lips. At the same time, a strange sense of lightness and imbalance washed over him. It was as if he was tipsy from drinking alcohol.

—Davey?! You… What’s wrong with you?!

Crack, crack, crack, crack!!!

Nyx’s gigantic skeletal body struggled fiercely against the overwhelming pressure, but he couldn’t withstand it in the end. He was slowly crushed by the mana, as if being flattened by a huge press.