The Max Level Hero Has Returned!-Novel

With a colossal burst of light, the creature's HP began to change. The huge remainder of the twelve million HP it once had started to drop at a rapid pace, just as the creature staggered, unable to regain its senses after getting struck directly by the spear.

"Gro... Groggy?"

"How massive must the damage be for a crazy boss to get groggy?"

"Ah! I remember now!" A surprised shout from a player rang out.

"There’s this other world! Tionis! Saint of Tionis!!"

"The heck! That NPC from back then?!"

Davey had already once rampaged within the world of Alf Online. Thus, even on the Earth that was strangely lacking in information about Tionis, both Davey and Perserque's appearances were well-known. This place was Earth, yet also not Earth. While Earth itself remained a sanctum neither Davey nor the Abyss could violate, in this gaming world of Alf Online, both could interfere to sextent.

The reason neither interfered remained unspecified. For Davey, there was no reason to do so, and as for the Abyss, he too was clueless as to why. Unless Neltarid conspired with the Abyss, not attacking each other would be impossible. Given the situation, it was rational for Davey to suspect that Neltarid and the Abyss had secretly joined forces to spite him. Nevertheless, Davey did not act on such suspicions. After all, Goddess Freyja would not stand by and watch if things really turned out that way.

In the midst of the silence from the crowd, the damage Davey had inflicted finally materialized into a number.

[9999999]

"Nine... Nine million? Did it hit the damage cap?!"

"Is the damage for real?"

"The heck... Was it a quest NPC?"

"It's insane! The boss blew up with one hit."

"Didn't it just have over ten million HP left?"

"Taking the boss's actual damage reductions into account, did he not deal a damage of at least thirty million?"

The players appeared shocked, but Davey felt something different. He sensed the power of Neltarid in these monsters. But as far as he was concerned, the players from Earth were basically equivalent to Neltarid's soldiers. And so the purpose of this monster was still unclear.

What mattered was what Neltarid would grant Davey for defeating it. He might not understand damage calculations, but judging the enemy's power as subpar, it seemed possible to dispatch it with a single proper blow.

Wasn’t it said that the creature possessed the ability to destroy attacking weapons? And yet, despite such a formidable ability, it seemed incapable of breaking the brutishly powerful Divine Spear Longinus.

Davey, who was ignoring the dumbfounded faces of the players who were watching him, decided to leave and attempt a return to Tionis.

"But... Why is there a Tionis NPC here?"

"I don't know, but that area is known as a special field, so there must be sconnection."

"Wow! I'd heard about this, but actually seeing it is astonishing."

"Has there ever been an NPC that hits the damage cap?"

"The king's knights could not even do that, right? Didn't they issue an assembly order quest because they could not handle it amongst themselves?"

The players were muttering among themselves when a man slowly approached.

"Hey."

Turning toward the voice calling him, Davey saw a man dressed in a gleaming armor, offering him something.

"Would you accept this?" the man asked, extending a small scroll at Davey.

Gasps of astonishment then erupted all around when Davey took it.

"No way! An NPC that can accept an employment contract?!"

"Look at what the Black Wind guild master did!"

"Wait! So he’s really getting hired if he accepts that?"

"Darn! I should have done that first!"

Light flowed from the scroll in his hand not long after Davey accepted it. However, there was no significant change.

"Davey." Illyna, who had been surveilling from above, called out as she descended gently to his side.

Particles of light, created by the death of the boss monster, fluttered about, conjuring the illusion of unfolding wings.

"Are you hurt?"

"No."

The man who seemed to be the Black Wind guild master presented another scroll, but this time, it was extended to Illyna.

"Would you accept this?"

It was the squestion he asked Davey, and it caused Illyna to tilt her head just as a puzzled expression settled on her beautiful face. This brought slight embarrassment to appear on the man's face.

"What is this?"

"It's an employment contract."

At the simple answer given to her, Illyna glanced around with the scroll in hand.

Light flowed out once more, and Illyna's expression subtly shifted.

"Hey! Who said you could monopolize everything!"

"The monster's item looting rights belong to those who defeated it and subsequently hired by us," declared the man calmly, revealing his intent while Illyna nonchalantly looked at Davey, who didn’t respond.

"Ah! I remember now! The Princess holding a sword! The famous NPC from Tionis!" Another player exclaimed, clearly having recognized Illyna’s face. "Crazy! Two rare NPCs appeared."

"It must be a major event."

Davey didn’t pay any attention to the murmuring crowd as he waited for Neltarid's calling. But he then noticed the boss monster's corpse twitching.

"Uh... What?!"

Suddenly, the resurrected monster swung its weapon, instantly turning many players into dust that fell to the ground. The massacre happened so swiftly they could not even scream.

[Insane... Wasn’t it dead?]

As chats appeared in place of spoken words by the dead players, panicked looks were exchanged among the onlookers.

[How dare... HOW DARE! HOW DARE YOU OPPOSE ME!!]

The colossal monster, having been resurrected, roared furiously, and Illyna couldn’t help the frown that tugged at the corners of her lips.

The grotesque form that the monster had taken after its resurrection was slightly different from when Davey had killed it earlier. So upon seeing this, he turned to the man who had given him the scroll.

"Hey, what's that?"

The Black Wind guild master, staring at the monster as if petrified, muttered with uncertainty, "What is that... It’s scary."

As he uttered the bizarre and unhelpful answer to Davey’s question amid the ongoing pandemonium, the beast slowly rose and opened its jaw wide toward Davey.

"Caldeiras!!"

At that moment, the divine sword Caldeiras was summoned in Illyna’s hand, erupting with a radiant light and shielding Davey with an aura.

The monster, now massive beyond comparison to its previous form, released a breath laced with devil mana, aiming it at Davey. But Illyna blocked it with a barrier created by Caldeiras as she shouted, "Davey! I can't hold on for long!"

Davey simply nodded in response to her yell.

The creature was formidable. If the players could strategize and possibly overcthe previous monster...

[360,000,000/360,000,000]

The monster's HP had jumped nearly thirtyfold to over 360 million. Not only did the monster possess an HP far beyond what the players could penetrate, but its defenses were also certainly beyond the reach of their damage-inflicting capabilities.

Davey activated the remaining power of the jewel for a split moment and turned to the man known as the Black Wind guild master just to warn him, saying, "Move aside if you don't want to fly away."

"Yellow Dragon,” Davey called out calmly as he pulled out a talisman from his pocket and tossed it.

At the stime, massive thunderclouds began to gather over the entire area, and a superior divine beast with overwhelming combat abilities revealed itself. And everyone was rendered speechless by the sight of the gigantic Yellow Dragon rising in the sky. They all watched closely as the mighty being widened its eyes as if it had deemed the monster to be a repulsing impurity.

"Good. Purify to your heart's content."

Nothing could stop the Yellow Dragon now that permission had been granted.

- KRAAAAAAA!!!

One of the two heads let out a tremendous roar as if it was screaming at the top of its lungs.

"Ugh!!"

The remaining players stumbled and fell to the ground at the booming sound.

"Insane... A ninety percent stat reduction... Have you lost your mind? Really...”

The Yellow Dragon's other head began to condense a tremendous amount of power, and at that moment, the monster's sinister eyes shifted from Davey to the Yellow Dragon. Dozens of purifying beams of light then began to pour down from the sky toward the monster.

While the Yellow Dragon could be considered the central divine beast in charge of tranquility, its current appearance still gave off the impression of a destroyer.

The beams that were aimed at the massive monster started to explode so erratically that it was dizzying to see.

The power that the Yellow Dragon possessed was somewhat similar to Davey's output without using the jewel, or perhaps slightly less by the standards of the Central Plains. But while it was true that the Yellow Dragon possessed other attributes, it had one particular trait, which was its main destructive and damaging power—dealing extrelemental damage to impurities.

[Grrrk… Grrrrk!!!]

The damage, which had exceeded 300 million, started to rapidly decrease the staggeringly high HP of the monster, which started to emit pitiful sounds of pain as it began to crumble.

All the while, numbers that signified the damage appeared swiftly and endlessly one after another, covering each other. A strange mark with a unique pattern also began to appear above the monster's head.

"Insane! It's a defense reduction! Hit it! Hit! Now!"

Even under pressure, the players’ nature did not change. They did not miss the chance to leap in and join the fray as the giant raid monster staggered.

"Did you cto deal with that monster?" Illyna, who was looking weary as she supported herself with Caldeiras, asked.

"It seems likely."

The players could have managed the original monster through guerilla tactics. But this one was different.

"Illyna," Davey called her, before quickly proceeding to hold her arm, casting an Eighth Circle Barrier spell.

Right then and there, a massive shock wave erupted, and the monster's HP, which was plummeting, increased once again. The players, who mindlessly rushed at the monsters like moths drawn to a flame, were swept away.

At the stime, the scrolls given by the Black Wind guild master to Illyna and Davey burned away, which probably signified his death.

[I swear to crush this world.]

The creature terrifyingly murmured as it stood up, having grown even larger.

And with all the players wiped out, only the Yellow Dragon, Davey, and Illyna remained. Which was not a surprising turn of events. This was a common sight in raid games after all.

[Crazy. Full HP?]

[Annihilated with a single strike? I knew that this monster was powerful, but was it this extreme?]

[That one is a mid to upper-tier monster, called the Malicious Spirit. It's different from the lower-tier ones we've defeated.]

[I mean, I get that it's early in the game, but still! Isn't the difference in monster levels too much?]

[That NPC is still alive in the meantime.]

Amid the chaos, the dead players incessantly talked through their chat. But when Davey moved forward, it effectively halted their chatter.

"What's wrong with all of you? Is it your first or second traiding? If you fail, you should be figuring out quickly how to retry."

Sseemed surprised at his remark.

"Don't be surprised,” he said calmly before proceeding to mention the shield-bearing dead players, saying, “Look there, tanker.”

"And there, damage dealers.” he said, calling out the damage dealers.

Lastly, he mentioned those responsible for healing, saying, "And there, healers."

The problem was that their strategy was pathetic.

"Without a standard strategy, your death is certain. You’ll end up facing death anyway... It’s such a crappy pattern," Davey spoke calmly before dismissing the summoning of the Yellow Dragon.

While the great beast was undeniably mighty, it wasn’t able to completely purify the monster, which was called the Malicious Spirit. All because before it could actually do so, the vast energy of the monster increased.

Once the Yellow Dragon was dismissed, Davey then extended his finger. "Let's run a test."

After all, a creature of an unfamiliar type was worth investigating. And so tiny spheres of mana with a hint of blue started to converge at his fingertips. But even if each of the spheres appeared insignificant, every single one of them was substantially effective in terms of firepower.

[Napalm Strike]

Suddenly, hundreds and thousands of light spheres that were floating around him swarmed toward the monster.

The HP bar of the creature began to rapidly decrease once more. Initially, it was around 360 million, but as it ran amok, it doubled to 720 million. For the level of the players here, it was a number so outrageous that even if they fought nonstop all day, they would never be able to defeat it.

But the numbers were dropping swiftly because Davey was different. He kept dodging the monster’s attacks, carrying Illyna and using short-distance blink magic to mockingly disrupt its patterns. And when its HP was reduced to a certain level, light burst forth from the creature again.

A shockwave much stronger than before erupted. The blast was so powerful that it even cracked the Eighth Circle barrier that Davey had cast.

"Is the limit about one billion?"

Since the creature abruptly stopped surging up after doubling, its limit becquite apparent. As far as Davey knew, only one being in this world could grow endlessly like this—a crazy survival expert, who could laugh off even planet-destroying spells with bare skin.

HP[1,000,000,000/1,000,000,000]

It was a health point of one billion. With it, interest waned.

"So the point is just to ignore its defense, right?"