The Max Level Hero Has Returned!
chapter-765

Bang!! Boom!!

The dense forest was destroyed in an instant. The black magic bullets continued to shower down and burst into enormous explosions, burning and distorting everything they touched.

Her attacks were so merciless that it was hard to believe she had shown any sympathy or emotions earlier. The attacks kept coming with such persistence that it made one wonder where she was drawing her power from. Floating in midair, black tentacles protruded from her back to draw power from the mana in the ground. She currently seemed like a massive plant, absorbing everything around her.

Bang!! Bang!!

She wasn’t like a carnivorous plant that waited for their prey; instead, she attacked with endless force, clearly intending to kill Davey. Despite appearing sane on the outside, she was nothing but the absolute embodiment of destruction, with no memories or reasoning left behind.

Bang!! Bang!!

Her attacks rose in threat intensity. It didn’t help that Davey couldn’t move much because of his injury from her stab. Even so, he still didn’t attack her—he just used up his strength to continue to defend. But of course, every time he exerted his power, the surroundings became more desolate.

Davey figured she wouldn’t stop until she eventually calmed down. He couldn't stand to see her like this—he knew the more rampant she became, the greater she overburdened herself. She was forcing herself to bring out more power.

Swish!!

Davey knew he had to stop her rampage and find a way to save her as quickly as possible. Fortunately, the Abyss, including Eclipse, had disappeared without a trace.

Then an Asgardian crew member elf who was monitoring the situation cried out.

[Wise Teacher! The mana wave is becoming increasingly unstable! It's different than before—if this continues, a huge mana explosion will occur!]

She wasn’t thinking straight, just going wild. Normally, she would have easily absorbed the energy of the earth and turned it into her own power, but after stabbing Davey and creating a hole in his body, she became extremely unstable in some parts.

There was no need to ponder what made her like this. In fact, the current situation proved that there was a possibility of still saving her.

She clearly wasn't entirely Thanatos. She was reacting the way she was because of all the heartfelt memories she had with Davey.

Now that he knew what he had to know, the next step was to calm her down without causing more harm. Although her power was strong, it didn't mean there wasn’t a way to handle it.

Clap!

Davey clapped his hands together and scattered his qi everywhere. Then, he gently swiped the blood from his abdomen where Perserque had lovingly punctured him. With his other hand, he took out two empty pure white enchantment scrolls from his pocket.

[Ring of Divine Annihilation]

[Divine Beast Strike]

Unique words and completely different patterns were engraved on the two sheets. At the same time, a large amount of qi was absorbed into the amulets to activate them. Without hesitation, Davey threw the amulets at Perserque charging toward him.

[Transcendence 1st Grade Binding Arts]

[Golden Silence]

He unleashed the highest level binding arts, now possible after his soul and body synchronized. Streaks of bright red light poured out from all directions, binding her limbs and pinning her to the ground.

“Aaaah!!!”

With her movements restricted, she began to writhe and scream, letting out black haze in an attempt to cut the bright red rays of light.

Thud!!

Davey felt terrible pain, his body recoiling from the resistance, but in the end she couldn't break free.

"Ah!! Aaaaa!!"

Davey gritted his teeth as he saw her lose her temper and try to attack him again. He felt awful that he couldn't save her immediately—without caring about his physical condition, he rushed toward her and forcibly hugged her.

Crack!!

With her haze almost bound, she scratched his arms with her fingernails and bit his shoulder with her small mouth. Despite the pain, he didn't let her go.

“It’s alright. It’s alright,” he murmured, trying to calm her down like one would a child.

“Ah… ah…”

She kept resisting, but Davey held firm.

“If I can’t save you,” he said bitterly, “then I’ll die with you.”

She flinched at his words. For a brief moment, her unfocused gaze locked onto him.

“Da…” she whispered with difficulty. She was instinctively calling out to him, just as a patient with severe dementia might suddenly remember a single thing.

It made him realize how precious she was to him—Davey felt like crying.

"Ah... ah…”

Perserque soon let out transparent tears. Davey remained silent while hugging her, taking in her resistance as she continued to bite him. Eventually, she slowly calmed down.

She used the black haze tentacles to absorb the power of the earth beneath her feet, but because the two spells Davey had used were blocking her haze, she gradually lost the power to run wild. Davey knew better than to provoke her again after she calmed down—she had the ability to recover on her own without further attacks.

“...”

She slowly fell silent and closed her eyes. Davey walked unsteadily while holding her in his arms, not saying a word. It was difficult for him to keep his sanity, considering he had bled throughout the battle which already lasted over thirty minutes, but he did not stop.

Unfortunately, he knew his injured body couldn’t take her very far from here. He moved slowly and softly laid her down by an undamaged tree, gently stroking her cheek without saying a word. In contrast to her soft skin, her tired expression made him feel devastated.

"Hang in there."

Davey coughed up blood as he slowly stood up.

Vroom, thud!

Rinne, who had been watching the situation, approached Davey.

“Master Davey."

Even though Rinne hadn’t fully healed, she had forced herself to fly to him.

"Every time Lady Perserque moves, a large amount of life force is released and lost. Rinne reports that it will be fatal if continued for a long period."

Her report made Davey quietly close his eyes. Saving her was one thing, but he still had to deal with the real culprit behind this.

There was currently no method he knew of to save her—there was only one being who could show a way. Davey lifted the communication crystal ball without saying a word, sighed briefly, and coldly spoke.

"I'm warning you. If you show even the slightest hint of suspicious behavior, I will make sure your sister dies in my hands.”

[...]

Davey didn't get a response to his warning chock-full of suppressed anger. Of course, he didn't care.

"Rinne.”

"Master Davey, please give me a moment. Rinne analyzes that rapid healing is necessary!"

"No. I’m self-healing. Don't worry about it."

"Master Davey! Rinne reports that being hasty is not correct!”

Rinne tried to stop him. It was only natural for her to react this way—Davey had been fatally injured once more after taking Perserque's attack head-on, only having just gotten out of the hospital bed. Since then, he had kept moving without resting, so it wasn't surprising that others around him feared he might vomit blood and die at any moment.

"Don't worry. I’ll never die," he reassured himself. It had been a while since he had done so. Then, he began walking.

***

The person who had awakened Perserque was neither Eclipse nor Perserque herself, but instead Thanatos.

Thanatos was the center of the Abyss. In fact, there was only one person Davey knew who best understood the changes brought about by the God of the Abyss.

"To tell you the truth, she’s been encroached by the remnants of the power of god.”

"Explain in an easy-to-understand way," Davey demanded.

The little girl holding a magic book in her arms fell silent—she was none other than the traitor Verdandi, who was also Urd’s younger sister and Skuld's older sister.

She spoke as she looked at the sleeping Perserque in the center of the three-dimensional printed terrain.

"It means that the power of Thanatos is encroaching her soul. To save her, you have to remove the power of Thanatos or pull her out of the encroaching Abyss."

"What are the chances of success for each?"

"The former has the higher chance of success. Even if it’s the power of god, it’s only a remnant. With your divine power, it would still be possible."

Davey stroked his chin as she spoke. She was saying that only he, who had the power of god, could save Perserque.

"Go on.”

"The problem is that even though her body can be saved, her soul may be beyond saving. There is a possibility that it will remain encroached and disappear with the remnants of the god.”

Davey closed his eyes as Verdandi explained.

Saving her body but not her soul? A soulless husk was the last thing he wanted for Perserque—Davey didn’t consider this as an option.

“And the latter?”

"I use my power to send you into her deep world. From there, you have to go into the world of Abyss power in her mind and bring her back. If you can separate her from the remnants of the god, you can use the former method to save Perserque without risking her soul.”

She then looked at him seriously.

"However, this is practically impossible for someone to pull off.”

"Impossible?" Davey asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah. The Abyss is a place where even the leader of the ancient dragons, who boasted absolute power, couldn’t endure for long before going crazy. Even though it is only a part of it, the likelihood of you not going mad when you enter the depths of the Abyss, which is also a part of humans, is infinitely low."

"Are those two my only options??”

“...”

She couldn't say anything to answer him.

"In the end, it’s still all your fault."

"When this is over, I will make sure you kill me.”

"Don't regret saying that in the future,” Davey said calmly and stood up.

"What are you going to do?"

"What do you mean?”

Davey remembered that God once said long ago, "Let there be light." If he could save Perserque, he wasn’t going to limit himself and would do whatever it took without hesitation.

She sighed at his response.

"To be honest... I didn’t want you to go with this method.”

“...”

"It’s literally a suicide mission—the success rate isn't even 0.1 percent."

It was virtually impossible to find Perserque in the unknown darkness that gave endless fear.

Davey snorted at her words—he couldn’t believe how absurd she sounded, considering she was the one who had caused this mess. He also found it amusing that she thought he wouldn't choose the method she suggested.

He needed to prepare to enter the depths of Perserque's mind. First, Davey deactivated all of his body's basic defense magic to avoid putting an extreme burden on her. He then put on comfortable clothes, closed his eyes, and remained silent.

Snuggle!

It was then. After talking with Verdandi and finishing his personal preparations, he felt someone hug him from behind.

"Sob…Sob…”

Davey couldn't say anything over the sobbing voice.

“I’m sorry… Waaa…. I’m sorry I couldn't do anything... I really..."

Aeria was crying, distressed by the fact that she had to watch everything unfold without being able to provide any assistance. Davey slowly opened his mouth without moving away.

"Aeria."

"I want to say… don’t go… But who am I, a useless spectator… to ask so much of you…”

Davey made a bitter smile as she sobbed. Once he turned his head to look down at her, she looked up at him with tears all over her face.

"Don’t get injured. Don’t get hurt. You must come back."

"I promise—and I keep my promises."

"Prince Davey..."

He patted her back as she hugged him, but he knew there was a high probability that he and Perserque would both perish. Even so...

"Can… Can you not…”

"I have to.”

She trembled at his words.

"She must be waiting for me."

Aeria fell silent at his mumbling. Then she looked up at him again, smiling sadly with her hands trembling.

"Sorry... I was selfish, wasn’t I?”

Davey understood her perspective. From her point of view, it was natural to want to at least save him when Perserque was already in such a state. He knew he couldn’t call her selfish for thinking that way.

"If... I... I..."

She started to say something, but soon stopped. Still, Davey knew what she was trying to say.

"Even if it was you instead of Perserque."

“...”

"I would have gone to save you without hesitation."

"Ah..."

"That’s just who I am.”

If something he made as a hobby broke, he could rebuild it. But if the person he wanted to share his life with died, that was the end.

He then bent down slightly and kissed her. She didn't resist. After their deep kiss, with a dazed look on her face, she covered her mouth with her hand.

"Can you wait here and prepare Perserque’s favorite cream bread for when we come back?”

She nodded without saying anything.

"I believe you will definitely come back. No matter how long it takes, I will wait for you. You must come back."

Davey smiled quietly at her words. Now all that remained was to take care of the problems that could arise while he was in Perserque's deep world.

After leaving Asgard, he headed straight to Moscow, the capital of Russia.

Vladimir Kutin—he was an Awakened individual, the President of Russia, and its current Commander-in-Chief.

Although Davey was on friendly terms with him, he was aware that the Russian Awakeners and soldiers were the ones who had first laid hands on Perserque in this situation.

As soon as Kutin heard that Davey was visiting, he guided him directly to his location. What Davey did as soon as he met him was simple:

[Meteor Strike]