The Max Level Hero Has Returned!
chapter-586

Isildi.

This was the name of the Princess of the Abyss that Kain had mentioned.

In this world, where there was great ethnic diversity but scarcely any descendants of the Westerners left, the possibility of someone bearing the name Isildi was extremely slim.

As Davey silently gazed at her, she returned his stare with a sullen look.

“What are you looking at? You’re a criminal worth less than dirt,” Isildi said contemptuously.

Was this really happening? Pushing aside his shock, he shifted his gaze to the members of the Black Tortoise Unit who had abruptly made their entrance.

If things continued this way, it seemed that Gum Gi-yu, who possessed forbidden knowledge, would be captured by the members of the martial alliance. However, Davey didn't particularly feel the need to save him.

What he desired was simply traces of the Absolute Gem, and he had extracted all the necessary information from Gum Gi-Yu.

"Argh! Let go of me!!!" Gum Gi-Yu exclaimed.

Even though Gum Gi-Yu and his associates had drawn their swords in an attempt to resist, it seemed the Black Tortoise Unit had already anticipated their strength and efficiently subdued them, showing their exceptional skills.

Once they overpowered and captured the desperately resisting Gum Gi-Yu, they turned toward Davey as well.

"Tie them up as well!" ordered Isildi, or rather, Yun Hee-Ryeong, prompting the members of the Black Tortoise Unit to point their swords at Perserque and Davey.

Was it a trap, or simply bad luck? Realizing the opponent was the Princess of the Abyss made the judgment even more complicated.

The smarter a person was, the more variables they considered. Having a good memory meant recalling an unimaginable number of variables, which only made things more confusing.

"Davey," Perserque quietly called out.

What would be the wisest course of action? To massacre everyone except Gum Gi-Yu, then extract more detailed information from him and move independently? In this case, things might go smoothly, but it would inevitably lead to a hostile relationship with the alliance.

Of course, there was no need to take a roundabout approach when there was a shortcut. Considering his strength, Davey could just stomp everyone here like the dimensional invader he was.

On the other hand, he could also decide to cooperate. In that case, however, they ran the risk of falling into a trap laid by the Abyss and suffering significant losses.

‘Davey. If you cause a commotion, that child Ja-Seong could also get involved. Choose wisely,’ Perserque advised telepathically, prompting Davey to look silently at Yun Hee-Ryeong.

"What are you looking at, you criminal scum?" Her manner of speaking was indeed slightly different from the way ordinary people here talked.

"Guess I'll have to give it a go, then"

But the time was short. Therefore, Davey decided to skip the extra steps and focus just on the outcome. Having made up his mind, he immediately swung his fist into the air.

Crack!!!

A rift opened, releasing two swords: Red Ribbon, the Red Blade that reaped the living, and Blue Ribbon, the Blue Blade that reaped the dead.

If his opponent was the Princess of the Abyss, then complacency in battle wasn’t an option.

Objectively, Davey’s martial prowess was on a similar level to her and, as long as the opponent wasn’t overwhelmingly powerful—weaker than the second Metamorph, in other words—he would be on par with them.

And should his opponent be at the second Metamorph or stronger, then conserving strength against an opponent who wasn’t a special case like Versha was not an option.

Islidi’s expression hardened when she saw what he did.

"Everyone, stand back."

Her instinct was warning her of a danger.

"Captain!"

"Stand back!!!" Isildi commanded once more, this time with more authority in her voice.

Red Ribbon and Blue Ribbon, more akin to demonic swords than divine ones, exuded an almost palpable, chilling power. Their formidable strength often made the user’s capabilities seem insignificant in comparison.

"You... What are you?" Isildi asked, her gaze fixed on Davey as he silently gripped both swords and took a fighting stance.

‘Perserque. Forget Gum Gi-Yu. Just take the Absolute Gem and get out of here,’

‘Davey?’

‘Leaving this woman alive would be problematic.’ Davey continued.

While he had acted on impulse and let Verdandi go, the Princess of the Abyss was fundamentally his greatest enemy at present.

"I don't know why you're hiding your identity, but let's see what you've got," Davey said coldly, slightly bending his knees and softly channeling his inner energy.

It was essential to understand the opponent's capabilities and powers first.

The previous Princess of the Abyss each possessed their unique strength. Therefore, Isildi would be no different. Thus, his first step was to discern what her unique strength was.

[Heavenly Destroyer Divine Art] [Twin Blade Fangs] [Lightning Dragon's Cry]

Crackle!!!

As golden lightning adorned the blades of Red Ribbon and Blue Ribbon, Davey unleashed his power with reckless abandon, charging at Isildi like a flash of lightning.

"Huh?!?" Her eyes widened in shock at his swift attack. And before she could react, Davey’s twin swords not only pierced her shoulder and abdomen but also propelled her into the wall and through it, utterly demolishing the warehouse.

There was no immediate reaction to the sudden collision, not even from Isildi, the Princess of the Abyss who possessed the power to bring about the world's destruction on her own.

"Cough!!! Gag!" She coughed up blood, showing a pained expression.

"This... What is..." Her expression was one of incomprehension.

The Princess of the Abyss did not understand the attack just now. Seeing her like that, Davey also frowned. It made no sense to him.

He put one foot on her abdomen and pushed himself off, putting some distance between them. As he landed on the floor, he frowned at the sensation in his hands.

It wasn't that she had deliberately taken the hit. She hadn’t even perceived his attack, let alone defended against it.

What on earth had happened?

*

It was an odd feeling.

Rinne liked to sit on a rock bouncing her feet, looking up at the sky and engaging in a staring contest with the sun during her free moments.

While ordinary people would find the intensity of the light too much to even keep their eyes open, Rinne was not an ordinary being—she was a golem.

Though her origins lay in a creature known as the Lion of God, most of her flesh and organs had already been replaced with mechanical devices, including what could be considered the essence of life, the heart itself.

Since Davey left for his honeymoon, Rinne had been in the middle of a mission. The task was none other than to quietly escort Illyna. Though Rinne had disguised Anabelle and Dirro as maids to stay by Illyna's side, she herself never let Illyna out of her sight.

Illyna was currently talking with the half-elf Myuu.

"Are you then the one brother loves?"

"Huh? No... No! What are you talking about, haha!" Illyna replied, flustered.

Beside her, Myuu sprawled out, laughing joyfully while munching on her lunch. The two of them made for quite the picture.

Myuu had become a formal student at Heins Academy, immersing herself in the studies she had longed for. Although the other war orphans screamed over the unimaginably difficult education, she delighted in every new thing she learned and she displayed a surprising amount of talent.

Previously she had been a pitiable child in an elf village who had lived on the outskirts of the village because she was a pariah. However, after meeting Davey, the elves atoned for their treatment of her, and she now lived a life she had never known before, moving between Heins Territory and the Moon Forest.

She also made quite a few close friends, though hardly any were boys.

Myuu stood out even among war orphans, naturally attracting the attention and interest of many boys. However, oddly, no boys approached her, as if something scared them off. While Myuu wished to be friendly with the boys, they would awkwardly laugh and keep their distance.

"What are you doing here?"

Rinne, who had been silently watching Illyna and Myuu's conversation from afar, turned her head at the sudden voice.

It was Kain, a mystic race Valkyrie that Davey often grumbled about.

Yet, from the way he spoke, it didn’t seem to be Kain's personality but something else inside him that was speaking.

"Rinne, taking a break," she replied lightly, bouncing her feet and letting the cool breeze flutter through her hair.

"Do you not remember anything?"

"Request clarification, Rinne does not understand," she responded.

"It's nothing," he said, seemingly knowing more than he let on. Rinne turned to look at him, intrigued.

"Rinne, an exceptional bio-golem. Nothing more, nothing less."

"I see. Have you never wondered about your origins?"

"Rinne, not interested," she answered calmly.

At her response, Kain just smiled quietly before walking away.

"No matter how much you struggle, the mission and fate assigned from birth do not change."

Mission assigned from birth? Rinne's eyes narrowed slightly at those words. Thinking that he knew more than he let out, she stared at him, only to find the usual carefree and childish Kain, not the one who had just spoken.

"What are you looking at, you ugly ass punk?"

Whack!

No sooner had the words left his mouth than Rinne summoned a crowbar and hurled it at him, hitting him square.

*

Cough!

Silently maintaining his stance, Davey observed Isildi struggling to rise, spitting blood.

The Princess of the Abyss's body seemed too frail for someone of her supposed caliber.

Even though the Red Ribbon could slice through anything physically, someone like the Princess of the Abyss should have formidable resistance. Yet, Isildi's physique was no better than that of a slightly trained human, nothing more.

"Cough... What just happened..." Isildi grimaced, pushing herself up with her sword as a support.

Cough!

She even had internal injuries. Seeing Isildi lose over seventy percent of her combat capabilities in an instant filled Davey with complex thoughts.

Without exception, the Princess of the Abyss symbolized power itself, and while their strength somewhat varied, it was always of cataclysmic magnitude.

However, the power she now displayed was, at best, between that of an Absolute and Transcendent. In the Tionis ranking, it was between the peak of the Expert level and the early Master level.

Was she acting? If so, her body seemed too frail.

"Are you a natural at acting? Or are you actually a mutant?" Davey pondered out loud, to which she frowned in response.

"Does being handsome make you think you're smart? What kind of bastard are you! Hey! Stay right there, you goddamn bastard!" Isildi shouted as she staggered to her feet.

Then, drawing her sword, she pointed it at him and yelled, "I am Yun Hee-Ryeong, the first disciple of the Heavenrend Sect! I will kill you right here!" As she made her declaration, something like the blue flames that Cheon Ji-Hee had shown began to flicker in her eyes.

Her body seemed to coil momentarily before she lunged at Davey.

The martial art she used was the Heavenrend Divine Art, similar to the one used by Cheon Ji-Hee. More precisely, it was akin to the essence-lacking Heavenrend Divine Art that Ja-Seong had utilized.

It wasn't a particularly flawed martial art, but against him, who had mastered the Heavenly Destroyer Divine Art, it was too crude.

The Princess of the Abyss's physical abilities were lacking, her mental defenses weak, and her martial prowess inferior.

Then...

‘Let's kill her here and eliminate any future troubles.’

Davey had always been ruthless and pragmatic when he dealt with the Abyss. He clearly remembered Perserque’s warning, but thinking of her safety and their leisure activities possibly being interrupted, he decided that he could not leave a remnant of the Abyss unchecked.

Everyone tensely watched as Davey faced “Isildi.” The fools from the alliance didn’t even dare to intervene in the duel; they just stood on the side, blabbering something about standing for justice.

Was this supposed to stop him? Did they think this was merely a sparring match? What he was engaged in was a genuine fight to the death!

He drove Red Ribbon into the ground and gripped Blue Ribbon with both hands. Summoning a vibrant blue energy around the blade, he dashed toward her with incredible speed.

The Blue Sword, capable of reaping souls, would surely touch the very essence of her being. And then, the hidden power that had enabled him to stand shoulder to shoulder with beings of the Abyss would be unleashed.

As he approached her, he manifested the taboo’s karma throughout his body.

Whooshhh!!

He brought down his sword upon her shoulder, aiming to cut diagonally across her body and unleash all the power of the karma contained within his blade.

Just as Davey’s strike was about to reach her, a sudden shout made Isildi flinch.

"Senior sister! This cannot be!!!"

Davey’s blade barely missed her, cutting off a few strands of her hair as it whistled through the air.

With shock written all over her face, Isildi raised her head and shouted, "Ja... Ja-Seong?! And Hee-Ah too? How did you guys get here...?"

Not saying a word, Davey recalled how she had dodged the Blue Ribbon.

The Princess of the Abyss was unexpectedly weak. It wasn't that Davey had deliberately spared her. Actually, he had every intention to separate her head from her body. Yet, she had instinctively stumbled over and dodged his strike. It was as if her body faintly remembered combat.

“......”

Looking down at Blue Ribbon, he could come to a conclusion about her. There was no way she was putting on a performance intentionally, and if she was, then he could only praise her acting abilities.

No…there could only be one explanation for this. The woman before him was a Princess of the Abyss who had lost not only all her powers but also her memories of her origins.