The Max Level Hero Has Returned!
chapter-742

In fact, half of her reasons were self-serving.

A long time ago, a witch adopted a child whose life was in danger. The child's name was Grid, and he would one day become the king of a country. The combination of a human king, who must maintain peace, and a witch, who destroys worlds, was quite ridiculous. She was an Avatar of Destruction, and had the power to back up the name.

But for some reason, she adopted the child. When she came to her senses, she realized she was looking after the child like a real human mother, sacrificing herself for the child.

She knew why she had done the things she did. Long ago, when she first arrived in Tionis, she had captured a human male to use as a tool. Over time, due to various coincidences and circumstances, her mixed feelings of affection and hate turned into love before she knew it. She ended up loving the human like family.

She was similar to Isildi, in a way. However, unlike Isildi who constantly battled using her instincts, Verdandi easily shrugged off her instinctual temptations.

"Hmph. I just don't like people taking advantage of me. Plus... I can’t die in a place like this,” Verdandi said, frowning as she watched the two women fighting in the sky.

For Davey, this wasn't a very pleasant situation. He knew that since Urd, who he had left behind, was going through all this, things could’ve gone south for his side as well.

Bang! Bang!!

Urd used a black whip to tie up the second-ranking Malicious Spirit, striking Kirsina several times before disappearing high into the sky as if she was being dragged by a horse. She was whipping Kirsina constantly with powerful attacks without the slightest mercy.

Urd, the Princess of the Abyss Verdandi took over, was cornering her enemy with her superior hardware.

“Go ahead, I have to go help Urd.”

“The Princess of the Abyss, who was once our enemy, is now acting as a shield for us. How ridiculous,” Davey said.

“It’d normally be difficult for Urd to face an enemy like that. However, it’ll be a different story if I’m there with her. So Davey, get lost already.”

She spoke harshly, just like when they first met, but let Davey go without hesitation. Afterward, she looked at Urd, who was holding onto the Malicious Spirit’s neck in the sky. Urd then began descending toward the deck of Asgard.

Urd was stronger than her normal self. She had better hardware than other princesses of the abyss. She was so strong and had such remarkable resilience that even Sleesia couldn't help but wonder about her physical specifications.

Right now, she was fighting while unleashing her suppressed nature. Kirsina was for some reason at most half her usual strength and had become so weak that she could hardly be considered a high-ranking Malicious Spirit—overwhelming Urd wouldn't be easy.

“Ugh?!”

Verdandi let out a short sigh as she looked at the Malicious Spirit screaming in pain. With Davey gone, she just had to wrap things up here. As she levitated a magic book in the air, a brush appeared in her hand.

She distorted reality as she wished to lead things in her side’s favor, interfering with Kirsina and giving Urd an upgrade, making the fight lean even more in Urd’s favor. Although her powers weren’t as strong as Katshi’s, they were still quite effective so long as he wasn't the target.

She went through her mind, reflecting on the memory of feeling affection for a person.

[Your mom and dad are dead. They're not coming back now.]

She remembered the coldness in those words. But that was nothing surprising.

[So, you should come with me. I will become your parent.]

[What is your name? Verdandi? I see. I am...]

Verdandi flashed her eyes as she painted in midair.

“Do you even know how I found the traces to track down? Do you think I’m going to let myself die now, after all I’ve gone through?”

Although Goddess Freyja erased her traces in Tionis to the point of annihilation, her traces remained in the territory of Neltharid.

She had wondered why this world felt so familiar. The reason was simple: it was a world she had visited before—albeit briefly. The memories she had made of this place in that short time had led her back here and helped her discover something about herself.

She eventually ended up in front of Urd, who seemed to have wandered around looking for her as if possessed.

[My name? Hm... I see. My name is Hercules. Follow me. The war will end soon—I will make it end.]

“...”

Kirsina gritted her teeth and spat out harsh words as she glared at Verdandi who was staying silent.

"Grr... You disgusting Abyss bastards, how dare you betray me!?"

“How about you stop being so ridiculous? I was never on your side in the first place, we were enemies from the beginning.”

"Don’t be ridiculous! I will never forget your betrayal!!"

"Okay. Fight as you please, then. In fact, that’d be better."

Malicious Spirit Kirsina chewed her lips in anger at Verdandi's provocation, but then chose to run away.

There were now only two Malicious Spirits remaining. Most of Neltharid's forces had been cleared, but these two were proving too powerful. Of course, it was Davey’s problem and not hers, so she decided to focus on her own tasks.

There's a saying that when a man looks into the abyss, the abyss also looks into the man. So, when humans pursued and caught monsters, they needed to be prepared to become monsters themselves. She realized that these words might apply to her.

Immediately after Kirsina ran away, she looked bitterly at the wounds on Urd's body as she stood still, and then lightly pushed her back. Urd fell down helplessly as if she fell unconscious. Verdandie took her in her arms and said,

"Hang in there. I will certainly save you two."

She quietly closed her eyes for a moment before opening them once more.

***

They were able to stop the Malicious Spirits from invading Asgard. Well, to be exact, the attack came to nothing.

“Their plan was more elaborate than we expected. Don’t blame yourself,” Perserque said, comforting Davey.

“Those damn bastards...”

“I’m sorry... If only I had been stronger...” Aerie muttered, blaming herself.

“It’s not your fault. I was just stupid for not preparing well enough.”

“Don’t blame yourself either...” Aerie said with a tearful face. Davey sighed bitterly, hugging her and patting her back as she cried.

Perserque looked at the two with a smile. They had assumed the worst possible situation and even put up the World Tree's barrier, but in the end, the worst situation still happened.

While Davey was using the mutant that escaped from the Red Void to find the base of the Malicious Spirits and destroy them, Katshi’s plans got him from the back. He knew he couldn’t relax against Katshi, and now he could clearly feel that Katshi wasn't an opponent he could defeat just by using his brain like before.

“...”

“Master Davey, Rinne evaluates Rinne’s mistake as low. Rinne demands to be punished,” she said as she approached Davey with an expressionless face, arms wrapped in bandages. Although her face was emotionless, he could feel the resentment in her words.

Although they were able to prevent Asgard from sinking thanks to the barrier that Al the World Tree put up, Perserque and Rinne were injured in the process of stopping her.

The situation improved with the return of Megalodria, who had been hunting down and slaughtering mutants before things could escalate further. But in fact, if Eclipse hadn’t trolled, Katshi wouldn’t have withdrawn the power he had given Kirsina and they would have been in big trouble.

“Didn’t you do everything you could in the first place? You’ll never be able to win if you keep guarding these guys.” Davey asked while looking at Perserque sleeping with a gaunt face.

Davey knew that just being defensive led to nothing, of course. But the fact that the enemies easily took down the defense they had prepared, to the point that their efforts seemed meaningless, was alarming.

“What happened to Urd?”

“She fell unconscious. Her foundation’s been shaken, so she won’t be waking up for a while,” Verdandi responded.

Everyone became silent. Even though Katshi had withdrawn his powers and made Kirsina weaker, she was still a high-level Malicious Spirit. Urd had stopped her, but no one could figure out why things had turned out this way.

“Davey, don't worry about me. I’m still fine so far,” Perserque said.

“Next time, I’ll make sure things are more prepared, so don’t worry,” Davey replied.

“I can’t make you protect me forever.”

After saying that, she looked at Verdandi and said, “It looks like you have something you want to say.”

"That's right.” After giving a short answer, she walked over with her black hair flowing.

“I can tell that you have something you want to know.”

“What exactly are you?” Davey asked. He thought something was strange from the beginning—for a Princess of the Abyss, she seemed very out of touch with her instincts. There were too many questionable circumstances to believe she was acting the way she was just because of the promises of and affection for a mere human.

“Even though Isildi separated her instinct and reason, she’s still unstable. But you... you’re a little different.” he said. Davey didn’t bother to beat around the bush. “It seems like you don’t have any instincts to begin with.”

“You’re partially right. To be precise, I still have the same instincts as a Princess of the Abyss. I just separated them through this magic book,” she responded as she showed him a leather magic book. “But in order to make this possible, there’s one condition I have to meet.”

After saying that, she immediately cut her finger with a knife she had pulled out from somewhere. Red blood flowed out.

"See this?”

"You..."

Davey’s expression froze at the strange energy that flowed within her wound.

“The condition is that the essence has to be of an imperfect Princess of the Abyss, not a complete Princess of the Abyss. That’s it.”

Everyone held their breath at her words. There was only a single person who didn't know what she meant. Technical Advisor Edison and Tiara, who had just caught up with parts of what had happened, tilted their heads, while Perserque, Davey, and Kain made surprised expressions. Aeria trembled as if she remembered the fearful memories she had of Urd.

After a moment of silence, Kain spoke up. “You mean you’re not a real Princess of the Abyss? That’s ridiculous. In my eyes, you are also a Princess of the Abyss, and I don’t think this truth changes.”

“The Valkyrie kid is right. I am a Princess of the Abyss. What I meant was that I wasn’t born a Princess of the Abyss.”

She then continued to explain.

“Davey. When you killed a Princess of the Abyss, didn’t you notice something we had in common?”

“A unity of countless thoughts, worries, and that you are one,” he answered.

Countless things poured out from the fragments of the Princess of the Abyss as she was created by the gathering of countless negative thoughts and desires from Thanatos—just like how Sleesia, Versha, and the Princesses of the Abyss from the Central Plains were.

“That’s how everyone is. But I am different. Even if I die, that’s the end. I won’t return to Thanatos’ negative thoughts and desires.”

Davey figured this was because she was an individual, not an integrated entity. He then interjected, “Can you cut to the chase?”

“I’m human. A special case where I was dragged into the abyss and encroached upon for a long time, eventually changing.”

"That's ridiculous, impossible! It’s common sense there's no way for a person who fell into the Abyss to become the Princess of the Abyss!” Perserque cried out, echoing what Davey was thinking.

Davey figured if she really was related to Hercules ten thousand years ago, there would be no way Arbit wouldn't recognize her.

‘Arbit, is she telling the truth?’ Davey thought.

[My lord, my apologies. I cannot determine the truth of her words.]

‘You can’t tell?’

[Yes, as I’ve never been very interested in humans to begin with. Moreover, since I had almost no interaction with other races even at the end of the race war, the only beings who I know are those who betrayed Neltarid and remained by the first lord’s side, like Rinne and those from Sephiroth.]

Everything seemed to be a reenactment of a war that happened a long time ago.

Arbit, who was a young dragon at the time, had shown no interest in humans and did not recognize Verdandi as he had never seen her during the war.

But of course, the situation was a bit more complicated than that. By this point, Davey started thinking about the possibility of Hercules making him like this simply to make him worthy as a hero for the Hall of Heroes.

“Goddess Freyja is an extremely meticulous goddess. Everything related to me was destroyed on the continent of Tionis, so I couldn’t know about my existence there. But this Earth, the realm of God Neltharid, is different—I’ve found clues about myself here.”

Davey realized this was the real reason she had followed him—the war that took place a long time ago between Neltharid, the Goddess Freyja, and Thanatos. Her hypothesis seemed probable, considering that there was no guarantee their influence was limited only to Tionis. She continued to explain, and it went along the following lines:

A long time ago, during the race war led by the Three Gods, three of Hercules' adopted daughters were dragged into the abyss. Whether they were taken or went in voluntarily was unknown; however, the result was the same.

The remnants of Thanatos there harbored extreme anger toward the humans who ended the war. They consumed Hercules’ three daughters and turned them into Princesses of the Abyss.

“That’s all I know, I have sparse memories. I don't even remember the face of the human who might be my father, and as you said, I don't remember anything about the ancient dragon Eclipse, who was originally on the side of humans, or anything about the Malicious Spirits. That’s why I was even more suspicious,” she said before looking at Davey in silence.

“Traces of Hercules...” Davey trailed off.

“You said Goddess Freyja told you that she told Urd and Skuld about the traces of Hercules,” she muttered bitterly. “So, I will do my best to help you. The only clue to regaining my memories and finding my roots is now in your hands.”

She was willing to help Davey to help herself and her own interests. Davey thought this was a more than good enough reason.

“Hah, I’ve been hearing a lot about Hercules recently,” Davey chuckled, finding the situation rather interesting as he pondered what other baffling changes may take place.

Of course, the past was the past and had nothing to do with the present. However, Davey had complicated feelings after learning that she was Hercules’s wife and that the three Princesses of the Abyss, who had only shown vague traces of Hercules, turned out to be his adopted daughters.

“Then Urd and the very small Princess of the Abyss named Skuld...”

“I’m not sure. That's why I suppressed her instincts for now. However, it won't be as easy as it was with Isildi. When she wakes up, she will probably break free of my control quickly and run wild.”

Davey realized they had a time bomb on board.

“We can prevent things from happening if you help me subdue her. After that, I will take care of suppressing her instincts.”

“Shouldn’t you start by questioning whether you are really her biological sister in the first place?”

“Hmph. Do you think I have small eyes like yours?”

“Hey, hey! Are you trying to make fun of my husband?”

“Hm, am I? I just don’t understand why he’s leaving you alone.”

Perserque and Verdandi glared at each other, clearly not getting along well.

“Did you say you were the incarnation of Thanatos? Honestly, I don't like you in that regard. In the end, you are at the core of Thanatos, who turned me into the Abyss’s weapon of destruction. Goddess Freyja disgusts me too, but since I know the truth now, Thanatos is also just a remnant of an equally disgusting god to me.”

“My name is Perserque, not Thanatos. If you talk gibberish one more time, I don't know what I'll do to you, so you'd better behave.”

“Hmph, if that’s the case, I think you owe me an explanation about the biggest lie you’re telling first, aren’t I right?”

“Shut your mouth.”

Perseque, now furious, gathered her demonic force. Although she rarely lost her temper, she for some reason became extremely angry at her provocation.

“You speak well for someone hated by the Goddess Freyja. What I said was advice. Do as you wish if you want to cause problems internally,” Verdandi said coldly. She then focused on Davey again.

“I assume you already know that Katshi is not dead. The same goes for Kirsina, the second-ranking Malicious Spirit. The third and fourth-ranking Malicious Spirits died due to Katshi’s power, but it’s unknown if the ninth-ranked Malicious is dead or not.

“Uh-huh.”

“This is their territory. With Eclipse, a Princess of the Abyss, causing immense disruption, the power struggle between the gods of Neltharid has shifted toward the side of harmony. If the two gods are left alone, the destructive side will end up losing anyway. So, give up on this place now.”

"Excuse me! Are you saying we should leave God Neltharid behind? Do you know what efforts God Neltharid made for you people? And what if the Malicious Spirits help the destructive side?” Kain shouted, all enraged.

Then Verdandi looked at him coldly.

“I’m saying you should consider what’s most efficient to do. In the case of the Malicious Spirits, we will have to entice them to give up this land and come to Tionis. At least then there will be stronger and more reliable forces there than here.”

Davey shared Kain’s thoughts on the matter. Neltharid wasn’t a god he liked very much, but on Earth, there was Hyun-Ah, Yeon-Hee, and his uncle. There was also Grape-flavored Cat Tower and Maga, whom he liked to order around to make things, and the Oxygen siblings, who were honorary citizens of the Heins Territory. There was also the prince who always referred to Davey as his friend.

“Give up? Do you know how many billions of people there are here? I don’t think you were originally the type to make irrational decisions like this.”

“I need to do whatever it takes to win the war—even if it means becoming a villain in the process,” she responded coldly.

At her answer, Davey couldn’t help but wonder if it was that important for her to regain her memories and connect with her roots. Her words were realistic, though he didn't really like her answer.

“My precious family lives in this world. I have no intention of letting their home be destroyed,” Davey said as if he was giving Verdandi a warning.

She then stared at him in silence for a moment. “Even if we lose by not doing so?”

“Who said I’m going to lose?”

“You never know when, where, and what will happen in war! You are looking at war too complacently...”

“That’s something I should be saying, Verdandi.”

Verdandi raised both hands and declared surrender in the lingering silence. “Ha... Things got heated up. Alright. Fine. I was too complacent. Actually, if we had the Absolute Gem or whatever it is, there’s really no reason to complicate things.”

Davey noticed how surprisingly impatient she had become.

But then...

“Kain! Look at this, the gem is shining! It’s gaining the power of God Neltharid!”

Frelia, now the second Valkyrie in the room, was very excited. She threw open the door and burst in, attracting everyone's attention.

"Uh... Hmm... I think I’ve got the wrong room,” Frelia said, embarrassed by the bizarre atmosphere. Just as she turned around to leave, Davey snapped his fingers, creating a breeze that closed and locked the door.

“You can come in as you please, but not the other way around. Bring that gem to me.”

Frelia pouted at his words.