The Max Level Hero Has Returned!
chapter-282

The power that erupted from Nyx could change the sky and bring a red star out in the open. Instead of a natural star, it would be the ‘stars’ and ‘constellations’ symbolizing him and his power. And those red stars…

“They’re…disappearing,” mumbled Reina, who was now in a much better shape, as she looked up at the sky from where she laid down.

It should not have been a surprise that the sky was changing, but the change held great meaning. It meant that the boy in front of Reina who was not yet in his twenties could overwhelm the No Life King, the Demon Lord’s closest confidant. The boy could defeat the being who had slaughtered and massacred countless humans in her own world.

From what Reina could see, the power of Nyx in this world was far more devastating than the power of Nyx in her own world. This appeared to be unsurprising when someone like Reina had appeared in this world and blown the bloody wind of war in this continent.

However, even the stronger Nyx was being trampled on. In this situation, he was like a child fighting against an adult.

“Keheok! According… According to the contract made in front of all creations, from the origin of everything…”

[Dispel.]

Crack!!!

“Keuaaaack!!! Feast! Wail! Live under my feet…”

[Dispel.]

Clang!!!

Whenever a magic was forced to end using Dispel, the power that the mage was casting would reverse in flow and return to its caster. This was true whether it was in the 7th Circle, 8th Circle, or even the 9th Circle of magic.

Nyx poured out magic after magic, but none of them were completed.

“Hey. What are you doing? Aren’t you going to get up?”

Crack, crack, crack, crack!!!

Nyx’s skeleton, the skeleton that was hard enough to withstand the attacks of a Swordmaster, was slowly breaking under the pressure of Davey’s mana.

The difference in their power was very obvious. Davey was just too strong. He was so strong that anyone who saw him would feel depressed, their minds wandering off into a daze as they watched him do something so nonsensical.

The boy’s power did not have an effect on the surroundings, but that was far from the truth. His power could influence the surroundings, and it was so vast that he had changed everything completely.

Was this something that a single being could truly accomplish?

[Contractor…]

At that moment, Reina heard Ellaim mumble incoherently to herself. Curious, she turned to look. Her eyes could not help but grow wide at the sight of Davey’s smile.

“Urk?!” Reina groaned as her body twisted and turned from the creepiness of Davey’s smile.

The boy’s expression was filled with pure madness and excitement, it was not an expression that should be seen on God’s Saint.

“Hey! Stand up, you punk. Life is an actual battle, you know?”

Crack, crack, crack!!!

One of Nyx’s shoulders got crushed as he failed to put up any resistance. Nyx tried to raise his hand to create a huge blue chain, but before the magic could manifest, it scattered into dust with just a flash from the boy’s eyes.

“Kghhk?! This, this is absolutely impossible…”

“Bite your tongue and clench those teeth. Ah, right. You don’t have a tongue. How should I say it then? Fufufufu.”

“C-Crazy bastard!”

Witnessing the Dispel which had been casted silently at high speed, Reina, who had fought a war for almost a decade, was shocked. She had never seen such a monster do such a ridiculous magic spell.

Reina felt very scared when she looked at the boy. She felt like she had been thrown in front of a huge beast with no protection.

“Hey! Hey! Come, fight with me a bit harder!”

Stab! Crack!!!

For some reason, Reina felt anxious when she saw the boy’s strange behavior of attacking like a mad dog. She could tell he did not even care about holding back.

“Keuhahahahahahaha! Die, bastard! Die!”

“Keheok! Kghk! Wa… Wait!”

“I don’t know that word!!!”

That was when Reina saw Nyx preparing a move despite his entire body being crushed and broken to pieces.

In the first place, Davey’s opponent was Nyx, the one hailed as the First Lich and the No Life King. As a Lich with no life vessel, Nyx would not simply die from a broken body.

‘N-No…’

The inexplicable sense of helplessness, hopelessness, and self-loathing that Reina felt when seeing the boy completely disappear… It was as if they had all been washed away. She wanted to make a move.

[Don’t move. Are you not aware of the condition that you are in, human?]

The Spirit King Ellaim, whose body had halved after releasing the light green rain earlier, gave a warning. However, Reina just clenched her teeth and moved her overworked muscles.

“I have…to stop him,” Reina said as she bit her lips to the point of bleeding.

She forced herself to stand up. At the same time, she started to burn the remnants of her soul remaining in her body.

[Human!!!]

“You have to let me go, Spirit King. Please. I… I have to go… Someone has to make a sacrifice…” Reina said, looking up at Ellaim with a determined expression. “If Nyx dies like that…he will just be resurrected… That’s why…I have to do something so he would not get revived again.”

Reina knew that Prince Davey was strong. However, no matter how hard he pressed on Nyx, the result would still be the same. As long as Nyx’s source and origin was not dealt with, he would just continue to get revived.

[Do you even know your body’s current situation?]

“I am…fully aware. In the first place, I don’t have much time left to live. I only have a few days at most… That’s why…”

Reina had to do it herself.

She did not have any reason to feel resentment, helplessness, or self-loathing toward the boy named Davey, who was just a child. Besides, everything was because of the darkness that lingered in her own mind. She already felt extremely tired from the darkness that kept on whispering in her ears that everything was caused by the hateful Nyx.

Reina believed that she had to do it herself to pay for her inadequacy and the loss she had caused. She also wanted to pay for the sacrifices of the soldiers of the rebellion who had died trying to protect her.

In this world, Reina was aware that her own self was still focused on training her swordsmanship. The version of her in this continent was still unaware of everything that would happen to her. So, Reina would do it herself. She would do it so she could protect the seventeen-year-old Illyna de Pallan.

Reina would exchange her life here to make sure that Nyx would be completely destroyed. After all, she had come here intending to burn her soul completely to put an end to everything.

As Reina slowly stood up, a pair of wings made from black light once again unfurled behind her. She gently stroked the blade of Caldeiras, the divine sword that was already on the verge of complete destruction, and said, “Thank you, Caldeiras. This is the last…time. At the very least, we’ll stay together until the very end.”

Reina also felt immense guilt towards Caldeiras, whose ego had collapsed due to her actions. The sword had sacrificed its own ego to awaken her consciousness and rationality after her spirit had broken down completely from being kept prisoner by the demon race for years.

After saying her short farewell, Reina burned the remaining embers of her life.

Just when Nyx’s hand, the hand that had prepared the unknown magic, was about to touch the boy, Reina squeezed out the last of her strength and thrusted Caldeiras straight at the First Lich’s skull.

At the same time, Nyx reached for Reina’s chest.

Reina was sure that her death would be inevitable once that hand made contact with her. There was not a single being from the rebel army that had survived that touch. Even the mediator had failed to maintain the balance because of Nyx’s overwhelming power.

The boy should not die here. He should not receive any fatal wounds at this point. If the boy could not avoid it, then Reina would just kill herself to protect him. That was what she thought. However, Reina realized too late that the boy’s reaction was faster than expected.

Before Nyx could touch Reina, the boy had already held Reina by the waist and snatched Nyx’s hand. As he pinched and broke the skeletal hand into pieces, Davey said firmly, “Do not interfere with me.”

Unlike the madness that the boy had shown earlier, the voice that spoke to Reina was cold and nonchalant. He sounded just like how he had been when first arriving here.

“Whether the bastard runs away or dies, I will be the one taking care of him. So, just watch over there,” the boy said coldly.

As she was sent flying back, Reina groaned. “Keuk?!”

Just as she left Caldeiras behind and rolled on the floor, Reina saw the boy standing still.

Reina wanted to be the one to stop the First Lich Nyx, but it was the boy who had stopped him. In the end, the one who was in the right was Davey and not Reina. This situation would end with Davey’s death or the loss of the First Lich… Despair flashed in Reina’s eyes. Up until the very end, the one who accomplished nothing was her.

Crackle…

Just as expected, a burst of purple flame engulfed the boy’s arm the moment Nyx touched him. That flame would burn endlessly as it was an undying flame. However, the boy just looked at his arm with a calm smile on his face. Then, he shook the flames off of his arm.

Crackle!!!

That was when Reina saw something very unexpected. The spark of death, the flames that no one could remove and extinguish, easily scattered and disappeared into nothingness. At the same time, the intangible and invisible barrier that covered the boy’s arm broke apart.

“Do you have any idea how many times you have used that method when fighting against me?” The boy said with annoyance and not urgency or bitterness.

***

Everything was futile. The magic that was cast toward Davey disappeared without even being able to show its might. Reina, who could not hide the disappointment in her lifeless eyes, and even Nyx, who had staged his final counterattack, were both rendered speechless.

“What… What is this…?”

“What? This?” Davey asked.

With a smile gracing his lips, he stepped on the remaining flames on the ground.

The scene made Nyx’s gaze tremble even more.

Fwooosh…

As if on cue, the remaining bones in Nyx’s body slowly began to disintegrate and disappear with the wind. That was only natural. After all, he was in a situation where his entire body had been overloaded after using an excessive amount of power.

—Da… Davey, are you alright?

‘Hmm? Why? Did something happen?’

Perserque, who was holding onto Davey’s shoulder with a pale face, suddenly looked at him with an ugly expression on her face. Her usual gentle expression could not be found as she squinted at Davey.

—Do you have no recollection…of what happened just now?

Davey ignored Perserque as he whispered quietly to Nyx, “This might be your first time seeing me.”

“What… What the hell…are you going on about?!!”

“But I’m already very familiar with you.”

Davey had experienced almost 10,000 tries. If the First Lich in front of him had to resent someone, then he should resent the lazy Sword God who was very much alive and well in spirit form.

Crunch!!!

Davey stomped on Nyx’s skull. At the same time, the power that was raging and running rampant in the area slowly began to fade away.

Davey still had some time left with his completely synchronized body and soul, but he did not have any reason to brag about his own power. After all, there was no grand prize in sight.

The dark sky and the red star, the symbol of First Lich Nyx, disappeared. All that was left was the sky and the setting sun.

“Apocalypse Flare. That’s Nyx’s inherent magic. It’s pretty strong.”

Davey could not even remember how many times he had been exposed to that power. He had suffered considerably trying to dig in countless times through that magic until he got a good grasp on its principles. By the end of it all, he was able to create his own method of dealing with that power.

The most important part here was the changes in Davey’s mind upon complete and perfect synchronization.

[Davey. Put more than 70% of your holy mana in here. I will seal it to your soul.]

[What the hell? Are you nuts? Why are you trying to seal it? Do you know how hard it was for me to gather this much holy mana…]

[This m*therf*cking bastard, b*tch? Did you not hear what this noo-nim of yours said? How about putting it in here while I’m still saying it nicely? Huh?]

[Noo-nim? Hell would freeze over. You're old enough to be called…]

After that incident, Davey had to live with no sense of taste or smell for almost fifteen years.

At first, Davey had asked the reason why Daphne had done what she did. However, after a hundred years, he realized why she had to do something like that.

If one accumulated excessive amounts of power, they would experience side effects. Were the side effects that serious? Actually, it was not. However…

The problem was that whatever happened during the possession of his entire power would be a part of Davey’s long and dark history. In fact, his crazy and dark history would continue if Reina did not step in the middle.

“Did you think Nyx would die if you did something like that?”

“…” Reina remained silent at Davey’s question.

“True, if it was the Nyx that you knew, then he would die. From what I can tell, you came all the way here after seeing that one, right?”

“…”

“But, he’s still alive and running away, right?”

Davey’s words made Reina’s eyes grow wide as she desperately struggled to get up. However, all he did was press her down on the ground again.

“I let him go,” Davey said as he reached inside his Pocket Plane.

In the first place, Davey was not targeting Nyx’s shell. He was aiming for Nyx’s soul, the one that was fused with the power of the Abyss.

Creak, creak, creak…

Not long after, a transcendental-class item slowly took shape in Davey’s hand and released a spark of light as it appeared in the world. This was one of the conditions that Goddess Freyja had allowed Davey to have for him to take this deal, the unsealing of a transcendental-class item. It was the bow.

A delicate and subtle light shone, emphasizing the vintage design of the longbow. It was seemingly showing off the weapon’s greatness and majesty.

Then, Davey took out another item from his Pocket Plane. This item was none other than the item that he had taken from Surtr’s second legacy, the very item created to eliminate Nyx’s entire existence. It was a single arrow.

Davey held the arrow that was emitting a bright light and gathered the mana that was running rampant in the area.

Davey had let Nyx go because the result would not change whether he was here or not.

Amidst the silence, Davey’s eyes flashed as he aimed his bow at the dark and empty space in front of him. Then, he slid a foot forward and supported the bow with his entire body before nocking the arrow on the bow. This was a very simple and crude bow shooting stance. However, he was not using an ordinary arrow at all.

[Divine Bow Brionac]

[Disdain Upon the Dead]

[Inescapable Death]

Thwaaaang!!!

The arrow left the bow, leaving a devastating mess as it tore through the air and disappeared from sight.

Perserque looked confused when the arrow, which was created solely to kill Nyx, disappeared from sight. However, Davey did not care about it anymore and just threw Divine Bow Brionac back into his Pocket Plane.

Then, a spatial crack appeared in front of Davey, releasing demonic energy that was completely different from dark mana. It had seemingly appeared to protect Nyx.

The dark crack which contained something unknown gradually grew in size until it created a huge circular distortion. Davey watched the crack in silence until a voice rang from deep inside.

[Ah… Aaaah… My…King. Half…of my…dark soul…]

The voice sounded unintelligible, but it seemed to signal the spatial crack to grow bigger.

Then, suddenly, black tentacles began to appear from within the darkness. In just an instant, the tentacles wrapped around Perserque, who quickly grabbed onto Davey’s earlobes.

—Kyaack?! What… What is this?!

The slippery tentacles, which looked strangely similar to an octopus’ tentacles, wrapped tightly onto Perserque. They began to drag her back into the spatial crack.

Davey did not know what kind of power it was, but for the first time, Perserque, who could only be seen by Red Ribbon and Blue Ribbon, had materialized in the outside world.

Perserque cried in a panic, “I… I don’t want to!!! I don’t want this!!!”

She struggled fiercely, completely forgetting her dignity and face. However, it seemed like she had grown too weak. She could not even resist a bunch of tentacles.

[Wo… Our… Mother…]

The dark and gloomy voice resounded in the darkness once again. Perhaps it was because Perserque’s demonic energy was already weak to begin with, or perhaps it was simply impossible to use force to break out, the black tentacles continued to drag her entire body into the spatial crack without giving her a break.

Davey’s eyes grew wide when he saw Perserque easily get dragged by the power that had come from the other side of the coin. This was a power that rejected even the laws of the dead and did what it pleased.

‘Hey! That’s pretty useful!’

Perserque, who was now used to Davey’s relaxed and easygoing attitude after sticking so close to him for so long, seemed to have realized something. She freaked out even more.

—You freaking bastard!

‘Goodness.’

Perserque frowned as she looked at Davey’s expression, seemingly reading his mind.

That was when Davey, who was smiling eerily, grabbed the space-distorting crack with his bare hands. Looking at that smile of his, Perserque’s face turned even more pale and tears started to gather in her eyes.

Davey thought that the octopus tentacles were just the perfect thing to use to bully someone. On top of that, the fact that it could materialize the body of someone who had died was also very attractive to him.

“Hey, you, over there. You look good, huh?”

Davey ignored Perserque’s expression as he continued to grab the spatial crack with his bare hands. He did not care about what Goddess Freyja thought about the balance of this world. That was none of his business. He was prepared to rip everything away from this crack as long as it could help him in his grand and majestic goal in life!

“Let’s help our dear Demon Lord to nurture her body a bit. Don’t use this alone, share a bit with me.”

‘Give me a bit of that. A single tentacle won’t kill you, right?’

For a moment, Davey felt like the bunch of tentacles that were dragging Perserque suddenly flinched. But that did not matter to him.