The Max Level Hero Has Returned!-Novel

“Don’t come near me,” Illyna said as she stared at Davey vigilantly. She looked like she would wield Caldeiras right away.

“You’re doing this again?”

“Vicious bastard! Do you think you can get away by humiliating a lady?!”

“What? It’s not like this is your first time,” said Davey calmly.

Illyna gritted her teeth. “It doesn’t matter if it’s a good method to get stronger! I refuse to be subjected to this disgraceful and humiliating treatment!”

She was so obsessed with improving her swordsmanship that her eyes used to sparkle at the thought of getting stronger alone. She had even declared that she would do anything just to get stronger. However, the strong shock from the after effects of this particular treatment had been difficult for her to shake off.

Listening to Illyna’s determined cry, Davey asked, “Why are you saying that? Are you looking down on the service that I have been giving you even if it’s for your own good?”

“Let’s get it right, Davey. Do you think I don’t know you? It’s not like I have known you just for a day or two.”

“To be honest, I did it because I like the feel of your muscles under my hands.”

“Eeee… Eeeeeeek!” Illyna glared at Davey.

Ignoring her, Davey turned around and said, “Don’t forget this. Big things will happen soon. Never step forward on your own.”

“…In the end, you’re not going to tell me what’s going on?” Illyna asked with a complicated expression on her face.

Davey shook his head. “Trust what others say for a bit. This is for you and the person who values you the most in the world.”

He glanced at Reina, who turned away from him with a strange expression on her face. He said, “Reina, let’s go.”

“Yes.”

Illyna looked at Reina, who was following Davey calmly. She tilted her head curiously after feeling a subtle strangeness from the woman. However, she eventually shook it off and called out, “Davey!”

When Davey turned to look at her, she said, “You, You know! I don’t know what you’re trying to do here, but will you spare me some time after you settle everything?”

“Time?”

“That’s right. There’s someone that I really want you to meet,” Illyna said, her cheeks turning a bright shade of red.

Davey turned back around after seeing the girl’s silly appearance. Then, he activated his magic and nudged Perserque awake.

Waking up from her nap on Davey’s shoulder, Perserque rubbed her eyes cutely and spoke to him.

—That child. She’s conflicted. When you met her in person, her heart turned restless again. Tell me honestly. Are you really that good at catching people’s hearts?

The space in front of Davey twisted as a familiar forest unfolded in front of him. Then, he saw Vermillion Bird Fire Chicken and Azure Dragon Rumble quietly flanking the Monstrous Rock Giant, who was recovering under a blue light.

“How much have you recovered?”

[Human. It’s been a while since we last saw each other. You sound very urgent.]

“I have to take these two rascals.”

[These Divine Beasts are truly amazing spiritual beings. It’s fine, I can endure for the time being.]

“Alright, that’s good. Fire Chicken, Rumble, let’s go.”

Davey was going to give the Divine Beasts the job of finding all of the mosquitoes’ hidden bases and destroying them all. This would be completely different from the previous vampire extermination. This time, Davey intended to nerf them and destroy a majority of their race.

The two Divine Beasts disappeared in a flash of light and turned into cores that laid in Davey’s palms. Then, he handed them over to Reina and said, “Take these two guys with you. I have something for you to do.”

“As long as you order it, even if it’s to take the head of a god, I will fulfill it.”

“Woah. You shouldn’t say such harsh things in front of a Saint. Anyway, I want you to take on the role of Warrior Reina once again,” Davey said, pulling out a huge spear from his Pocket Plane and handing it over to her.

The weapon was none other than the Divine Spear Longinus in the form of a woldo[1].

Reina unhesitantly accepted Longinus. However, her eyes grew wide as her form collapsed from the weight of the spear. She turned pale and quickly raised the mana in her body to have a firm grip on the spear.

Looking up at Davey in disbelief, she asked, “This… What the hell is this weapon…?”

“It usually weighs around 80 kilograms. However, if you lift it as a non-owner, it will be around 300 kilograms in weight. You managed to hold on to it without any difficulties. Amazing.”

“Are you crazy? This is a weapon?”

“Well, as compensation for its weight, there’s nothing in the world that can destroy this ridiculous weapon. It would not receive any scratches at all. Also, that’s the perfect weapon for you.”

Heavy weapons were the perfect fit for the Longsword swordsmanship. Being so talented at it, Reina could use a woldo and not a holy sword to still execute it perfectly.

Since Longinus was a weapon made with God’s ore, Helixium, it was dozens of times more powerful than a sword that was made with orichalcum or adamantium. It could be considered to be the strongest weapon in the world once it awakened. After all, it could draw hundreds of times more power when being used.

“It has only been awakened halfway through. It’s still dormant. You have made use of the power of the Saint slumbering in the holy sword and got mistaken as the Warrior. This weapon is the most perfect weapon for you to use as a warrior.”

“The objective?”

“Become the main protagonist in the extermination of the resurrected Demon Lord.”

Davey was making thorough preparations to avoid variables in his plans, just like what that person had told him.

***

Veffel was a small territory in the Sorvlan Kingdom located in the southernmost part of the Western Continent. It was a very small rural region with only 200 permanent residents, so they could only hire a small vigilante corps to maintain public security.

“Father!!!”

Yurich, one of the members of the vigilante corps that was guarding the old wooden fence, rubbed his sleepy eyes when he saw his son rushing back to the territory. His son had been learning how to hunt and work in the forest himself.

“Goodness, you punk! You’ll run out of breath if you do that!”

“Ha… Ha… Father!!!”

Yurich could not help but frown when he saw his son charging back to the territory while shouting loudly. His son had always been well-behaved. In fact, he had even boasted to everyone around him about how mature, wonderful, and good his son was.

He might be shouting harshly and coldly at his son, but he was widely known as being a loving and doting father to his son.

Right now, he could tell that his son was acting strangely.

“Father!!! Run!!!”

Yurich tilted his head in confusion when he saw his son shouting so urgently at him. He immediately turned to the other members of the vigilante corps and nodded. “Open the gates. I don’t know what’s wrong with that rascal.”

“That’s true. Why is your son so panicked?”

“Well, maybe a wild beast has come down from a mountain somewhere?”

Yurich laughed and walked out of the now open wooden gates.

Yurich’s son looked at his father and turned even paler. He screamed, “No! Father!!! Close the gates!!!”

“What? You rascal, what nonsense are you saying? Why are you in such a rush this early in the morning?”

At that moment, Yurich’s son screamed as if he had seen something scary. “N… No!!!”

Just then, a huge shadow appeared in the sky above them. When Yurich raised his head to look, he froze in shock. He did not know what he was looking at, but he could see so many of them.

In fact, every member of the vigilante corps that guarded the wooden gate were looking at the sky with the same look on their faces. Almost all of them felt similar emotions too.

—Kihyeeeeeeeeck!

Then, the ground shook fiercely as the leader of the flying creatures roared powerfully.

As the roar echoed, Yurich saw something walk out of the forest where his son had come from. His eyes grew wide in shock. What he saw was none other than a huge army that had come from hell itself.

The leader of the flying creatures in the sky opened its mouth wide as blazing red fireballs began to gather in front of it. There was no time to escape. In the end, the entire territory was devoured by its hellish flames.

***

In just a few days, Sorvlan Kingdom, a small kingdom located in the southernmost region of the Western Continent, was completely destroyed. This unprecedented news shook the entire continent.

Ever since a peace treaty had been agreed upon and the Continental Alliance had been formed and signed under the name of the Three Emperors, there hadn’t been a single kingdom destroyed from war in the past decades. Peace had remained for a long time.

And those who had escaped the clutches of war had grown dull on their edges, forgetting how dangerous a war could actually be.

In the meantime, the news about the Sorvlan Kingdom’s collapse spread like wildfire in the continent. The incident at the marine city state at the southernmost region of the Eastern Continent and the war with the Undead in the Pallan Empire hadn’t caused much panic because no nation had disappeared. Everyone was also generally unaware of the dangers that the enemies posed. However, the most recent incident was completely different.

The damage had been done by the Black Dragon and its hundreds of thousands of troops. The existence of a dragon, a being that could decimate and turn countless beings to ashes with a single Breath, was very terrifying. It boasted an overwhelming power that no Frost Wyrm could ever compare to.

The destination of the dragon and its troops? The Eastern Continent. They continued to destroy everything in their path with their attacks, charging forward.

They posed an entirely different kind of danger compared to the Undead, which had gone to war with the Pallan Empire.

Soon, another small nation east of the previously destroyed Sorvlan Kingdom was decimated and turned into ashes. This shook the entire continent once more.

Fortunately, this unknown and mysterious army settled down in the capital of a ruined kingdom after destroying two consecutive kingdoms. It seemed like they were settling down to supplement their forces and take some rest. However, just because they quietened down for a moment did not mean that their might and prestige had disappeared.

Of course, the three empires could not let this be. They immediately held the Continental Alliances’ Central Conference and called for all of the representatives of the nations that were part of their alliance.

With the help of the Lyndis Empire’s well-known Special Aerial Unit, the kings and representatives of each participating nation from all over the continent began to gather.

The Rowane Kingdom was no exception. Baris had been chosen as the kingdom’s representative while Davey had been invited to attend the Central Conference in the name of the Saint.

“Rowane Kingdom’s Representative, Prince Baris O’Rowane, and the Saint, Prince Davey O’Rowane, have arrived!”

“Let them in!”

Davey opened the door without any hesitation after hearing the impatient cry from within. Upon opening the door, he could see dozens of nobles and members of royal families looking at him with complicated expressions on their faces.

“Endless glory to Your Majesty, the Emperor.”

“Welcome, Prince Davey,” the old Emperor Deorte welcomed Davey.

Behind him stood Grand Duchess Kathryn Carabella with her usual relaxed smile, waving at Davey in greeting.

“Hoo… So that polite boy is the continent’s troublemaker?”

A dark-skinned young man, who was sitting to the Emperor Deorte’s side, made that comment with his arms folded. He appeared to be very confident after recognizing just who Davey was.

Among the crowd was also the newly appointed Crown Prince of the Pallan Empire, Prince Sullivan. As one of the youngest present, he sat silently and welcomed Davey with a subtle gesture.

“Greetings to Lyndis Empire’s Two-headed Dragon, the Central Pallan’s Little Lion, and the West’s Black Horned Scorpion.”

“Black Horned Scorpion… Someone who knows this Emperor’s stage name is quite rare even within my empire,” the young man said in interest as his hands twitched restlessly.

It was very understandable for the Emperor of the West’s Contas Empire to have an immense desire to conquer others. After all, their empire was well-known for valuing strength and power over everything else.

“It seems like I’m the latest to arrive,” Davey said, looking at the familiar figures who sat quietly on one side of the hall.

He could see the Holy Empire’s papal representative and one of the Saintess Candidates, Alice. She looked at Davey, curtsied silently, and then returned to her post.

“Since the situation is urgent, let’s start right away,” Davey said without any hesitation and headed straight to his seat.

He completely ignored the fact that the Three Emperors and the various royal representatives from the entire Continental Alliance were present in the scene.

“Before that, let us confirm something.” The young emperor, Great Emperor Contas, glared at Davey as he called out with interest, “Saint Davey.”

“Yes.”

“Did you predict the eventuality of this situation?”

“Who knows?”

Great Emperor Contas looked at Davey incredulously and sneered at his response. Sensing his displeasure toward Davey, the two men who stood behind him placed their hands on the hilts of their shamsirs. He raised his hand and stopped his men.

“Don’t underestimate this Emperor’s intelligence network. I am aware that you have signed an agreement with the Pallan Empire’s Crown Prince and have supplied them with funds so they could secretly produce a lot of weapons. You have also invested quite a lot of money in the mage towers so that they could mass produce Attack Magic scrolls.”

“That means that you have predicted this situation and are already preparing for it, am I right? Then, you’ve withheld this information and did not say any word to the other nations, right?”

“Great Emperor.”

“…”

“What’s your intention in asking me this question, Great Emperor?”

A man immediately jumped forward and yelled, “Impudent…!”

However, the yelling man quickly collapsed from Great Emperor Contas’ light punch.

The young emperor then said, “How dare you interrupt this emperor while I’m having a conversation? Right. Do continue.”

“The answer to that is obvious. I just made some good predictions, and that’s quite unsurprising. I trust that the Great Emperor is not lying, so you’re speaking up to stir up trouble despite the urgency of the situation. Am I right?”

“You’re very daring, Prince.”

The people at the conference grew nervous at the anger seeping into Great Emperor Contas’ voice.

“It seems like the Great Emperor is still yet to receive the full status report, huh?” Davey commented as his bright smile faded from his face.

Those who knew Davey turned pale.

Davey was aware of why the young emperor had said that to him, but…

“If you’re trying to feel me out, then I suggest you do that after this conference.”

It did not matter to Davey whether they were the emperor or the great emperor. He would not let this thing pass.

“Since you think that you still have the time to ask such useless questions, then why don’t I help you gain some sense of urgency? I’ll send some holy meteors to your empire right here and now, what do you think?”

1. A bladed pole. Looks like guandao but smaller in proportion. ☜