The Max Level Hero Has Returned!
chapter-749

The northern part of the Tionis continent was once the site of an ancient kingdom. Now, no civilians lived there; it had become the secret base of a knight order. But strange changes had begun to occur in this region, where Alpha Reinforcements, a branch of the Last Wisp's Knight Order, was currently stationed.

“Let’s start our regularly scheduled meeting,” a young female knight announced, drawing the attention of everyone in the room.

“This is a report regarding the Alpha, Beta, and Gamma areas currently under surveillance.”

“I hope there aren’t any problems as usual...” sighed Sylia, an elementalist and teacher of apprentice knights. Unfortunately, the reality was worse than she had hoped for.

“The severity of the situation has already been reported once. The evil beasts in the area where the Alpha Team is located have begun moving in large numbers—in fact, the same goes for Beta Team and Gamma Team.”

Animals were the first to sense upcoming natural disasters and run away. The evil beasts here were no exception; they developed survival instincts after living here for such a long time.

The reason for the report was simple: the monsters in the Pandora Region suddenly begun heading north all at once.

“What about Delta Team, the ones monitoring the Evil Beast King?”

“Report incoming. This is Delta Team. All three Evil Beast King-level beings detected are...”

Noticing the momentary pause, Sylia gulped. Although there was the natural disaster-level person named Davey, if the Evil Beast King moved or started running rampant then a huge disaster was inevitable—the Evil Beast King equaled destruction for them, and such a disaster was currently on the move. Oddly enough, it seemed like it was running away rather than trying to make a move...

“This is serious... A report must be submitted immediately to the headquarters of the Knight Order...”

Then the door burst open.

“Urgent dispatch!!” a man and woman covered in blood shouted while rushing in.

“Who’s making such a fuss during the meeting?”

The senior knights, who were shouting with stern expressions, glared at the two before noticing the wounds covering their bloody bodies.

“What happened to you two?!”

“Ah... No! Fildyr! Wake up!”

The two who entered were Paladin Fildyr along with his partner Lucia Shleman—a fanatic of the first saint Daphne.

“Cough... Permission to report... The Evil Beast King... Gigantes... is moving straight toward the Knight Order... Judging from its movements, it appears that it is fleeing from something...” Fildry said.

Thud!

He then collapsed to the floor, the atmosphere instantly turning cold.

“W-What? The Evil Beast King is coming this way?”

“Maybe it's because of the rift that opened in the Evil Beast King's habitat.”

Bizarre, unidentifiable rifts had suddenly appeared in various places across Tionis. They seemed to lead somewhere, but no matter how much they investigated them, they weren’t able to determine what they were, as no one could go through them in the first place.

But one thing was certain: the power of those who should never be approached—as described by Davey—was flowing from the rifts. Even monsters who encountered the rifts would immediately flee for their lives.

Regardless of whether north or this side of the continent, the movement of these Evil Beast Kings foreshadowed only devastation. Even though it wouldn’t be a big problem for other Evil Beast Kings to run away to the northern tip of the continent, if they came to this side of the continent right now...

“Prepare all our forces. It’ll be difficult to subdue the Evil Beast King without support.”

“Guardian... What should we do...”

Guardian Basara, originally from the Last Wisp headquarters, was now a talented man dispatched to Alpha Reinforcements who regularly assisted the Knight Order.

“Let’s put aside the rules for a moment. We’ll only have more problems if we let it move the way it wants to.”

“Are you suggesting we... redirect its path?”

Basara quietly nodded at the words of the elderly knight.

“The Evil Beast King is a monster that can instantly rend even master-level knights into pieces of meat. If we can save even one more person from such a death... I believe we should take that route.”

A lot had changed, all brought about by just one new member of the Knight Order. The guardians, who were once willing to sacrifice for the organization's foundation, were not so willing anymore.

Similar reports began coming in simultaneously from Last Wisps dispatched to remote areas of the world. The entire continent of Tionis was in turmoil.

***

As the promised time came to an end, half of Davey’s body became transparent. He wanted to stay like this a bit longer—once he started talking and laughing with her, he couldn’t help but wonder if he had set the time too short.

"Tell me,” he urged in an anxious tone.

"Hmm?" she giggled. Seeing her smile, Davey felt anxious and relieved at the same time.

‘My goodness, why won’t she just tell me?’ he thought.

At her giggle, a feeling of dread rushed through his entire body. According to Maga, Hyun-Ah usually kept a distance from men, yet Davey for some reason was the first man she had treated so comfortably.

‘Calmly analyze the situation, Davey O’Rowane. You’re the older brother of that ugly toad.’

He eventually made up his mind and blurted out, "You can’t.”

"What?"

“You absolutely cannot.”

"Why?"

It was a simple question, but it left him speechless. But of course, he didn’t contemplate for long. Having lived for over a thousand years, it was a piece of cake for him to come up with an excuse.

"Uh, the f-foreigner... Wait no. You said he’s from another dimension. He’s supposed to leave at some point, and what else is he? A married man? Are you out of your mind?”

“Did I mention that he’s married?”

"You did, you little rascal.”

Davey was slightly stumped for a second, but he knew he’d be fine if he just kept on arguing.

“Hmm... I mean, he’s a bit... Well, he’s an attractive human, and he has a prospective second wife.”

"What? He has two wives? Then absolutely, positively not.”

She leered at Davey, seeing his firm attitude.

"Hey, you silly son of a toad. You can’t tell me what to do!”

“Ha! I don’t know who’s calling who a toad. I'm warning you: don’t get yourself lost in pointless contemplation just because you’re tempted for a moment, you got it?”

“Excuse you, mister, I’ll take care of my own thoughts.”

"Hey. I’m saying this as a brother and someone who has a good eye for people.”

“Good eyes for people my butt! All the people you met were through the internet!”

She was right—he had never left the hospital room.

"Anyway, I warned you. if you don’t want to see me shedding tears of blood in the underworld, don’t even think about it.”

"Hmph. I can do whatever I want!”

"Hey!"

In the end, she kicked him.

“Arghh!!! I don’t know! I’m going to do whatever I want! Why are you telling me how to live my life!?”

Davey couldn’t help but realize how they were such a bad match for each other as they ended up fighting, despite having a good time in the beginning.

“Now you’re just saying whatever you want because you can, aren’t you.”

“And you still have that vicious, annoying personality of yours.”

The two glared at each other while gritting their teeth and lunged at each other at the same time. Davey pulled her cheek mercilessly while she screamed and hit him all over.

"Hey! You better let go! I said let go! Let go of me!!!”

“You little arrogant idiot, how dare you punch your one and only brother!?”

“Huh? Woah, okay, Mr. Special. I still remember how weak you used to be. Guess someone’s excited after becoming a soul? Am I right?”

As the two screamed at each other, Davey’s hand began to crumble away as his time was up. Her eyes widened in shock.

"Ah...?”

“I guess it’s about time.”

"Ah... No! Wait a sec! How can you leave me like this!?”

“I can. Watch me.”

He then took a step back and smiled at her.

“Just forget about your brother and live your life. Meet a good man who loves only you. Live happily ever after and give me cute and beautiful nieces.”

"Hmph... Living happily in this world isn’t possible...”

“It won't be this bad for much longer.”

“And how do you know?”

“I have my ways.”

She chuckled at his answer then asked, “You sure you don’t need to see Yeon-Hee?”

“One shouldn’t get too greedy, you know?” Davey replied. But the truth was, Yeon-Hee had already met Davey and recognized him right away—though she probably didn't remember.

The two then looked at each other in silence. When she eventually burst into tears, instead of trying to say something comforting, Davey just hugged her. Of course, they didn’t physically embrace, as he was semi-spiritual.

“Go find a stallion-like guy and have a happy life,” Davey said. “But honestly, I can only see you as the lion trying to bring the stallion down.”

Davey couldn’t help but think about who would sacrifice himself for her. As he waved his hand with a bitter smile, she shed tears.

“You... Till the end...”

“Ah, I heard the news about the charnel house. It’s not that important, but put my favorite Jjajangmyeon or Japchae in front of my portrait about once a year.” [1]

“Hyun-Soo...”

“I love you, Hyun-Ah. My little sister. I’m sorry... Thank you.”

Davey meant every word he said.

Hyun-Ah just looked at him blankly. Eventually, he completely transformed into a spiritual form through devil magic and disappeared. But because she had Ghost Eyes, she could see his spirit form. Even with Ghost Eyes, though, she could only see a whitish fog instead of his clear form.

Davey thought that if he left like this... It would be perfect. In fact, he was glad things worked out like this. At least, that was what he thought until Hyun-Ah spoke again.

“I knew it. I can’t stop thinking about that person.”

Her words stopped Davey. He turned around to listen to what Hyun-Ah had to say.

“Hmm... Hyun-Soo, I don’t want to listen to you... Honestly, he seems nice... He seems a bit of a rake, but...”

‘A rake? Who's a rake? You're really talking behind my back since no one's watching, aren't you?’ Davey thought.

At the time of their reunion, she was a cold, expressionless girl with a very heavy heart. Looking at her now, Davey realized that she hadn't changed much from her past self.

“What the heck... Should I just get drunk and go for him?” Hyun-Ah blurted.

“Hey! You!!!”

Davey couldn’t help but cry out loud.

“Hyun-Soo?”

He ended up appearing in front of Hyun-Ah once again.

“...”

- Sir! The Malicious Spirits who noticed the ritual have started to mobilize the monsters... But this isn't the biggest issue—it’s the Abyss! A massive rift is forming in the Abyss!

‘What? In the Abyss? In this situation where even Eclipse is stuck because she can't come over to Earth?’

- The ‘why’ isn't important right now! Just get to the ritual room! If they attack us and the ritual fails, we will never be able to perform the ritual in the same place again!

Davey turned silent at Kain’s urgency.

"Hyun-Soo? I thought you left?”

“You... I’ll deal with you later.”

He then quickly turned around.

“Ha... What the heck is wrong with him... ”

But Davey wasn’t able to hear her bewildered voice.

***

Katshi, the number one ranked Malicious Spirit, groaned briefly as he restored his bloodied body.

“Ah... My creator... The eternal foundation of my existence.”

He slowly knelt.

“Forgive me for being so foolish as your own creation to not recognize your grand plan. Please save this poor creature who cannot easily believe in your plan.”

Cough!!

He stumbled, coughing up blood. He realized his creator was a real monster.

Katshi noticed that Eclipse was stronger than before. He knew that without any restrictions, Eclipse would have wiped him out with ease—but she couldn’t move right now.

Neltarid's side of destruction had prepared for the scenario where their existence would be in jeopardy. Eclipse's unexpected behavior and Katshi's angry uprising were all part of his God's plan—Katshi only realized this after fighting Eclipse to the brink of death.

“Cough... I need to recover quickly so I can get going again...”

The ritual had begun, which meant that it was time to start the queen’s awakening—something they had been preparing a long time for.

“Thanatos, your existence is truly bizarre,” Katshi said while holding a ball. It had an image of an incredibly beautiful girl with a pair of white horns sprouting from her head.

“We will win the war in the end, Freyja’s dog,” the girl said while smiling softly.

The numerous rifts that opened on Earth and the continent of Tionis began to emit massive amounts of energy as some beings started to crawl out from within.

They were beings that were going to bring destruction upon the world. Because of Goddess Freyja, they had been trapped and left to wallow in despair for a long time, but now they began to emerge to the front side of the coin.

1. Jjanjangmyeon is black bean sauce noodles that is commonly referred to as a national dish of Korea. Japchae is glass noodles, which is also considered a national dish of Korea. ☜