The Max Level Hero Has Returned!
chapter-411

Red Alert.

Silently, Rinne sat hunched at the top of the castle, overlooking the domain. It felt deserted, even though not a single person was missing. Already two days had passed since he disappeared. The order to sound a red alert throughout the domain if he disappeared and left no trace was deeply etched into her mind.

Red Alert.

Davey O’Rowane, her owner and master, seemed to have entrusted most of the domain's management to Amy on the surface. However, he was taking care of the majority of the work that Amy could not handle. He looked after law enforcement, legal matters, and even civil safety. Among these, the alert system was a system that he prepared silently—green, yellow, and red.

The red alert was a last resort, using the power to activate a large-scale barrier with the ancient relic, the magic stone, encompassing the entire domain. This barrier, which completely excluded the invasion of a specific entity, might seem quite loose in some sense, but in other aspects, it was almost perfect.

Was that all?

As soon as the Heins domain entered the red alert system, Rinne pulled out a manual that only she knew about and handed it over to Amy.

Realizing the severity of the situation, Amy used all the authority she had to enter a state of high tension.

"Reporting that Davey's signal is completely cut off now. But it is analyzed that he is not dead."

Those gathered in the giant hall fell silent.

"Davey has disappeared...." Archbishop Alice, who was at the front, muttered with a serious expression.

She had seen it firsthand. A young boy, not even in his twenties, named Davey O’Rowane, held an incredibly powerful force. He sensed something serious, headed outside the domain alone, and not long after, issued an unexpected order and disappeared.

"Isn't this a really serious issue? If he was in a state where he couldn't even put up a fight, this is almost a continental-scale issue..."

At Alice's words, some of the professors seemed not to understand, but a few others nodded as if they understood what she was saying.

In the midst of this, Alice was able to spot a man crouching and chuckling in a corner. It was the man known as Olman, who was once a Senior Knight of the Pallan Empire. He had been a leading candidate as a professor teaching swordsmanship at the academy. She had heard of his reputation to some extent.

The Pallan Empire, unlike the talent-rich Lyndis Empire, held tremendous prestige due to the complex interplay of new technologies and various factors. There exist talents in the Pallan Empire that even the Lyndis Empire would envy. One of them was Olman.

From a young age, he had demonstrated tremendous talent and became a Swordmaster, and his popularity within the empire was quite extraordinary. He was well-known as the top candidate for a groom in the empire. Skills, appearance, wealth, age—there was nothing he lacked. But now...

"Hey, Olman. How long will you keep doing that?"

"Hehe... Hahaha."

What on earth happened? Olman looked as if he hadn't slept in days, with dark circles under his eyes. Even though Alice had seen him eating heartily, he looked emaciated. Clutching a potato and giggling, he kept repeating the same words. "This potato is mine... It's mine, I won't give it to anyone, it's mine..."

Sometimes he was fine. But when he got like this… It was pitiful.

Alice, who snatched away the potato in a flash, kicked him out. "Get a hold of yourself, man! Are potatoes the important thing right now?!"

In the end, Alice could not hold back her temper. When had she ever expressed her emotions so openly, revealing her temper like this? It was too comfortable. She had not known how good it felt to live as she pleased, dropping all pretense.

"Oh, no! My potato!" As he leapt to his feet screaming, Olman’s eyes flared as he glared at Alice. "Professor Alice! What are you doing! Give it back right now!"

"Hah! If you don't come to your senses, I'll eat all of this, you know?" As she spoke, Alice bit into the potato he had been nibbling on.

A fire sprang up in Olman’s eyes. "Oh no! My precious potato! You... You're ruthless!"

Simultaneously, he raised his unarmed hand. His attack was sharp and swift, something unthinkable of the man he had been before.

Despite the assault resembling one unleashed on a mortal enemy, Alice reflexively used a holy spell to deflect it. This was a practical skill that strengthened only what was necessary. Such a technique would have been impossible for the Alice of the past. The consequences of everything they were experiencing here had been shaped by that mad prince alone.

"If you keep on behaving like this without assessing the situation, you might just end up revealing all your secrets and insanity to the Pallan Empire!" she warned.

"Uh?!" Olman flinched.

Alice sighed, pulling out a handkerchief from her pocket and wiping off the remnants of the potato on his lips. "What are you doing at this age, really?"

"Uh?!" Olman protested, his face turning beet red.

But like him, Alice was also a strong person, one who had once received the love of a god. Olman's tantrum was swiftly suppressed.

"So, what are we going to do now?" an elderly wizard eventually asked Rinne.

The faculty had made one promise when they arrived here. If there were any unjust intrusions into the Heins territory, including their students, they would lend their strength to preserve the Heins territory and the academy. While the details were many, as long as it was not an issue like a civil war, it was not a bad deal.

"We need to maintain the current state of alert," Rinne stated, and everyone else remained silent in response.

"Okay. For now, the priests and I will check the condition of those who came from the Lyndis Empire. I wonder what has happened…"

"Rinne highly appreciates your wise judgment," Rinne said.

Were they aware? That a continental calamity, Urd, had appeared and that Davey had grabbed her by the hair and thrown her into another dimension?

Simply put, they were wasting their efforts at the moment. However, their hard work was not entirely in vain. It was because a significant ripple had occurred in the Heins territory, under the influence of its state of alert.

After hearing Davey's words, the faculty who had stopped their training joined in staying alert and making progress.

And, another thing they had forgotten. The silver-haired girl who had realized earlier than anyone else who Davey had collided with had left the territory before the red alert was sounded.

* * *

"You fool!!" Perserque openly displayed her anger as she looked down at the ruined forest.

Though her power was still meager, it was not difficult for her to hover in the air with the unique power she possessed.

Nothing remained in the ruins. There were remnants, though. One was the unique power of Davey, and the other was a power familiar to her. It was eerily similar to what the creepy voice that kept her awake every night had shown her. But it was much more comprehensive and vast than that.

The thought of confronting that mind-corrupting voice again was horrifying and something she did not wish for. After all, she was currently in a very dangerous state.

If she had ascended to the throne of the Dark Lord, the abyss might not have touched her out for fear of divine power. But with Davey usurping the throne and reducing her to an ordinary demon girl, things had gotten complicated.

"Stupid thing! I told you I was in danger…" Perserque stooped to inspect the signs on the ground.

Then, she slowly closed her eyes, manifesting a power unique to her that she had not granted Davey.

Regardless of what the abyss turned into, Davey was important to her. At present, their relationship had evolved to one that she could not live without. She knew better than anyone that she was gradually getting accustomed to Davey's behavior, threatening her every time with a ring on her ring finger. She blushed slightly as she thought of Davey's silent, playful smile.

"In my name, reveal your entire being to me."

As she began to look at the memory of the land with the power of the Abyss, her eyes widened. At the same time, something that had been locked away for a very long time, something that she had forcibly closed when she was the Dark Lord, opened up within her.

* * *

The forest was thick with palpable tension. This forest was dense enough to deter not only humans and forest-familiar elves, but also beast-kin who made the forest their home. In some ways, it was the safest place for scoundrels to hide. This was because the demonic beings, who manipulated magic, had a somewhat adverse effect on the unique energy of this forest that exuded a serene atmosphere.

“Hmph!”

Regardless of her talent as a spirit mage, Aeria had no combat experience. Naturally, she was startled by an arrow flying toward her. Even though she was trembling, she forced herself to act calm and clench her teeth, and Davey, standing behind her, easily broke the arrow he grabbed from the air and blinked quietly.

From their highly cautious perspective, it was expected, but did they have to shoot an arrow right away?

Boom!!!

Davey exerted his will, and a massive amount of mana brutally spread out, starting to suppress the surrounding area. It looked very similar to the gravity magic, Gravity, but in reality, it was an inefficient act of suppressing the surroundings with mana alone, not magic.

"Ugh!"

"Urgh."

"Agh!"

When screams burst out simultaneously from all around, Aeria looked toward the forest in surprise. Then, seeing a few men and women falling from the trees, she turned her gaze toward Davey.

"It's, it's a person!" she exclaimed and immediately covered her face.

However, she soon remembered that her face was no longer grotesque and slowly removed her hands.

They seemed to have mistaken Davey and Aeria for demonic beings. Indeed, there was not much difference between a demon and a human when one wore a robe.

"Darn… Melissa! Run! Inform them that they've found us and leave this place!" a man anxiously shouted, brandishing his sword courageously. Then, he charged at Davey, screaming.

‘This human was the last of the resistance?’ Davey, feeling incredulous, caught his sword barehanded.

Cling!!!

The sword broke like a straw. He would have to create a new weapon. It was too weak.

Davey then slowly clenched his fist toward the man, who stared with wide eyes. "Brace yourself."

Thud!!!

The man was thrown back like an electrocuted frog.

[Now it's your turn. Reassure them! And get the key to open the vault!]

“But you said no one knew where the vault was.”

[Ugh! Why are we being so nitpicky when we're working toward the same good cause!]

Davey sighed deeply and slowly held Aeria in his arms.

"Eek!"

"The forest is dangerous, we can't just walk in. Please behave."

Aeria went silent. Her face was flushed, but her expression was complex. The fallen man? Davey simply ignored him. He was able to spot a group forming a small village not far away, holding weapons.

The state of the resistance, which was now very few in a world where most human groups had been annihilated, was shockingly miserable. Even refugees wielding farming tools would have a better situation. Those few who first confronted him were the only ones with combat skills.

He heard the voice of the Observer looking at the dreadful situation.

[There are still a few resistances left in the wide world. I called you here because my purpose and yours match. It won't take long.]

"We have two days left. Damn it, you idiot."

[It seems possible.]

Davey sighed at the Observer's vaguely hopeful voice. Once Davey decided to help, he had to help, that was true. But just using power would not work, which Davey knew well.

Helping? It was not hard. Just blowing off the heads of the aggressive demons. It was simple. But it was complicated because that was not possible in reality.

[For example, you could make a symbolic and outstanding weapon with your skills.]

A bitter laugh slipped out of Davey's lips. "Why? Don't you see that they are weaklings who don't know how to fight, let alone have weapons? Should I make a railgun for them?"

Davey stopped as he was saying that. Railgun? It seemed plausible, and he had a feeling that a fun idea was slowly coming up. But that thought stopped when he saw a woman slowly walking out from the group.

The woman in her early 20s was heavily pregnant. And she was familiar. She had grown unrecognizably over 10 years.