The Max Level Hero Has Returned!-Chapter 1100

The Max Level Hero Has Returned!-Chapter 1100

Chapter 1100
“Your Majesty. A decision must be made.”
A crowd of envoys who blamed Alberta for the two kingdoms’ mess had gathered, pressing the King of Vatan to make the final call. They had a good reason—the monsters they kept screaming about had begun launching simultaneous attacks on various fortresses and territories.
The monsters’ assaults had been far too strategic, far too clean-cut. To think it was solely the work of ordinary monsters would be ridiculous. A being with intent was clearly controlling the monsters to attack Vatan.
That was their conclusion.
Some remained silent throughout their spiel, and it was none other than the king. He had long awaited the chance to finally use the situation as a pretext to wage war against Alberta, and they all knew it. However, due to an agreement with Hero Reina, he couldn’t act so freely for the following few days.
He knew that if anything in his plan went wrong, the blame could fall entirely on Vatan.
“I understand how you all feel. With the war preparations already complete, it makes no sense not to strike that loathsome Alberta. I agree. However—”
“Why do you care so much about some Hero?! Your Majesty, you are the king of this nation! This is your Vatan! There is nothing that Your Majesty cannot do here!”
The envoys kept telling him that they were the Vatan Kingdom, and there was no real reason to hold back.
King frowned and clutched his head. “No! Even if we’re prepared for war, if we disregard the procedures of the treaty with the Continental Alliance, we don’t know what kind of backlash we'll face later!”
The youngest prince of Vatan jumped up and shouted, “Your Majesty, we only have to wait a matter of days! Besides, if we were to march on Alberta today while ignoring the fortresses and territories currently under attack from monsters, it would be tantamount to abandoning our people!”
The prince was correct in that, even if retaliation against Alberta was inevitable, the right course of action was to stop the large-scale indiscriminate attacks first before making any moves. Unfortunately, he had little political influence.
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“
Hah!
That’s not something you need to worry about, Your Highness. If we attack Alberta, their relatively weak military forces will be forced to recall their monsters. We’ll naturally gain the upper hand!”
“But...”
The crown prince of Vatan yelled at the youngest prince, “Your ‘but’ nothing! Shut your mouth!”
“Your Majesty, please make your decision!”
“Please make your decision!!”
Watching the royals and nobles shout in unison, the king let out a dry laugh. “Yes, I suppose I’ve tolerated this long enough. Isn’t that right?”
His eyes gleamed as he looked at them, and they all nodded in unison.
“Generals, hear my command.”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
“Effective immediately, you are to mobilize all forces to march on Alberta.”
“Your Majesty!! If we do that, what about the Hero Reina?!”
“The Hero Reina has conspired in secret with Alberta and caused this whole incident! Therefore, I hereby declare her to be a wanted criminal and put a warrant out for her arrest!”
It was absurd nonsense, but Vatan admittedly had taken damage after she had delayed things for them. That was enough of a pretext for them to lump her in with her enemies and eliminate them altogether.
“Marquis Alka of the Lyndis Empire will take care of the complicated matters.”
The youngest prince ultimately failed to stop his father’s decision. He sighed as he watched how the situation was unfolding. If things kept going the same way, a true war would break out. Even worse, he knew that Marquis Alka of the Lyndis Empire wasn’t the type to be satisfied with just a small war between two nations.
“He’s definitely going to use this opportunity to provoke a continental war. This can’t go on, I need to meet Hero Reina myself.”
If Chancellor Tsuna, who had been Alberta’s primary restraining force, were still alive, things might’ve been different, but she was already dead.
With Alberta’s intentions still unknown, his worries only deepened.
* * *
Despite the expectation for the enemy monsters to pour out endlessly, the number of creatures didn’t seem all that high, experiencing zero growth. Of course, considering that every creature that appeared was incinerated by Lavatein, it made sense that their numbers felt low.
“
Phew?
That smell is something else.”
The acrid stench of burnt bugs stung their noses, and Illyna shivered as she clung tightly to Davey. “Hey, t-they’re not gonna come back to life or anything, right?”
“There’s nothing better than fire for wiping out bugs.”
After all, slicing them open could easily lead to even more of them falling and hatching from any eggs they were carrying.
Spread among the piles of ash, some of the bug creatures had managed to retain part of their form. Casting a fearful look, Illyna cautiously approached one of the relatively intact corpses.
Just then, one of the charred monster corpses twitched with a soft, crumbling sound.
Ssss.
“
Eek!!
” she screamed, diving into Davey’s arms. Her trembling made it obvious how repulsed she was.
“It’s not going to come back to life, so why are you so scared?”
Tears welled up in her eyes as she looked up at Davey and shouted, “I-It moved! You saw that, didn’t you?! It totally moved!”
She was right. It truly had moved, but it hadn’t come back to life.
“It just contracted and curled up as it burned. You really do scare easily.” Davey couldn't help but laugh as he teased her, oddly enjoying the moment. Even though she glared up at him with tearful eyes, her hand never let go of him.
“Looks like we’re clear now, so let go.”
“N-No!”
Her unusually clingy behavior made Davey sigh.
She continued, “My legs feel kind of weak...”
“Who would’ve thought the continent’s best Swordmaster would be this scared of a cockroach.”
“You’re awful,” she said as she looked away.
She probably had her reasons, so Davey didn’t press her on it. “Come here.”
“Wha...
huh?
”
Without another word, he crouched down and lifted her onto his back. She stiffened in surprise for a moment, then gently smiled and buried her face into his shoulder. “You’re warm.”
“It might be a little bumpy, so hang on.”
“Those monsters just now... They must’ve been attacking the fortress, right?”
“That was probably the case, yeah.”
“There’s no way that’s all of them. Do you think we’re gonna have to fight more of those things?”
Davey felt her tremble slightly on his shoulders.
“They consume any enemy’s genes and use them to mutate. They might take on other forms when we see them later.”
She didn’t respond to his answer, instead simply staying silent.
As Davey walked slowly through the forest with her on his back, her gentle, ticklish breath brushed against his neck. Her silence made Davey chuckle quietly, assuming she must have fallen asleep.
“How can someone be this relaxed after such a battle?”
That was part of what made her so endearing.
A voice came from his communication crystal, transmitted by the one he’d given to Reina.
-
Bzzzt! Hello?
- What the hell are you doing right now?
She was clearly talking to someone else who was near her, her group having been interrupted in the middle of dinner.
- Hero Reina, we are acting on His Majesty’s orders! We’d rather not draw our swords, so please come quietly.
- Hey! What is this?! What did we even do? What is the charge, eating a meal?! A succulent Vatanese meal?!
-That’s something we’ll investigate ourselves.
- Hah! I see how it is. You don’t like that we’re snooping around here, eh? First you block the International Federation investigation team from entering, and now that Reina has stepped in, you’d rather suppress her and outright start a war?
The argument continued.
- After your provocation, numerous fortresses and territories in Vatan have been attacked by monsters. You will have to undergo a thorough investigation.
- And if we refuse?
- How could we ever force you people to do anything? Oh, but the world will definitely hear about this if you don't.
- We’ll be the judge of that.
- Fine. I guess I’ll have to handle this, since you keep dancing around the root of the problem.
- What do you mean?
- Oh, nothing, just talking to myself. Let’s go. I’ve got business with Vatan’s royal family, anyway.
He heard Reina’s cold, venomous voice through the crystal.
Illyna stirred, slowly opening her eyes and swallowing her slobber as she lifted her head off his shoulder. “
Mmm.
Sorry, your back was too warm,
hehe. Huh?
What’s going on?”
“
Shhh.
”
As she slid off his back, she muttered to herself, piecing together the last bits of the communication she’d been able to hear. “They must’ve been desperate, but I can’t believe they’ve actually detained them! If this keeps up, we may really be looking at a war on the horizon.”
“No. Don't worry about that, let’s just leave the war issue to Reina. After all, she’s the one who asked to take it on herself, so it kind of makes me want to see what she can do.”
If she struggled to resolve it, then Davey would step in. Still, since she said she could handle it, then he’d let her take her shot.
What he needed to focus on was not the war he’d already prepared for, but the ancient species that had suddenly appeared.
The space around Davey soon distorted before two girls abruptly appeared.
Bzzzt. Bzzzt!!!
“There you are.”
One had black hair and clutched a leather-bound book to her chest. The other had blue hair, with a sword at her waist.
“Hey, Isildi. Verdandi.”
“We found some totrias,” Verdandi said as she stepped forward and sliced the air. A limp and translucent purplish worm was dropped to the ground.
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Judging from the dozens of sword slashes scattered across its body, Davey figured Isildi must’ve been the one to cut it down. Like Illyna, she was also a monster when it came to swordsmanship, albeit in a different way.
“We had some show up in the forest, too, so we burned them all.”
“Burning them was the right choice. Fire is the totrias’ only weakness.”
Her comment wasn’t quite fitting for someone who’d killed an easily flammable monster with a blade, without making sure it couldn’t multiply.
“I told you all to forcefully put a stop to it if you think a war is about to break out. If you two are here, who’s preventing the war?”
“Skuld took over.”
‘That damned brat.’
Skuld was the youngest of the three sisters, as well as the living embodiment of trouble. She and Davey had never gotten along.
“Her abilities are extremely effective in mass combat.”
Her ability was a similar concept to forced hacking.
Originally, Davey had planned to let the two sisters crush the war before it could start. Instead, they’d appeared in front of him.
Verdandi cut in, “That’s not even the real problem right now.”
“The situation here has gotten pretty damned annoying. Now’s not the time to care whether humans go to war or not,” Isildi fired back with a bored tone.
“By the looks of it, they came out of one of the ancient research facilities Vatan was experimenting in. There’s no telling how many of them got out.”
“I’m not sure how familiar you are with them, so I’ll brief you on the key points. Those things consume a being’s genes and use them to morph their own bodies, similar to your Predatory Assimilation characteristic.”
“I heard that from Rinne.”
Since Rinne had awakened some of her ancient memories, she had filled Davey in on totrias.
Meanwhile, Isildi shuddered just from thinking about them, clearly repulsed. “Those disgusting little bug bastards. Sleesia might like them, but I can’t stand them.”
Davey thought her comment was funny, considering how the true forms of the Princesses of the Abyss were even more grotesque than the totrias.
Isildi was an exception, though. Unlike Sleesia or the Princess of Curses Versha, Isildi’s form was more human than monster.
“I’ll cut to the point, then. They’ve already built a hive.”
“A hive?”
“Yeah. Totrias are colony-based living beings, and the hive is led by an overbrain that controls the entire colony. Individually, they’re just dumb beasts running on instinct.”
Davey finally understood why the monsters seemed to be moving in coordinated strategies. It all made sense if they were a hive and an overbrain was looking over them.
“Honestly, it didn’t take long to take out the totrias. Since we knew they were dangerous. We teamed up with that Sephiroth and the ancient dragon to obliterate every hive.”
Even the population of one hive, if left alone, could quickly multiply to apocalyptic levels. That was what totrias were capable of.
“So basically, the war isn’t the real issue? We just need to wipe out the hive, and do it quickly? Okay, then. How are you gonna find it?”
“Finding the hive isn’t hard,” Isildi shrugged, sounding confident.
“Okay, then go find it.”
“What?”
“Find it and destroy it. You can do that, can’t you?”
“Wait, if I have to do it myself, then what are you gonna be doing?!”
“What, you think I’m some pest control service that comes running every time something goes wrong? Reina’s handling the war with Vatan, and this bug issue? That’s your area of expertise, so go handle it.”
She stared at Davey, dumbfounded. Sure, with her power, wiping out the hive wouldn’t be a problem, but she clearly didn’t want to.
“Hey, do you realize what you’re saying?! If we screw this up, the entire continent’s gonna be swarming with those disgusting bug freaks!”
Verdandi calmed her down, “Enough. There’s no point yelling like that.”
Isildi grumbled under her breath but didn't make any more trouble.
After settling Isildi, Verdandi looked straight at Davey. “Sorry, Davey, but we need your help with this.”
Isildi confirmed, “This can’t be stopped without your power.”
“Not even with the two of you working together?”
“Killing them individually is easy, yeah, but think about it—have you ever seen a pest problem fixed just because you squash the ones you can see?”
If five bugs showed up, it meant thousands more were already nesting nearby.
“To get rid of them for good and pull them from the roots, we’ll need the power of Dragontongue. It’ll need to come from someone powerful, on the level of my mother.”
Verdandi could only mean one person when she said mother; she was referring to Eclipse. That woman had been the ancient dragon who vanished alongside Hercules, the true mother of Evangeline.
Only her Dragontongue could bind the hive’s overmind so it couldn’t escape.
Illyna teased him, “Well, Davey, it seems like you’ve been cornered. You don’t really have a choice here, do you?”
“I’m not doing it,” he refused.
“If you don’t, the whole world’s gonna be crawling with cockroaches!”
“How long are you all gonna keep relying on me? What happens if I disappear one day? Will you just let the world burn?”
Illyna teared up. “So you won't help get rid of the nasty bugs and save these kingdoms?”
“Damn it!”
She clearly didn’t know how dangerous her uncharacteristic cuteness was for him. Illyna just smiled brightly as if nothing had happened.
Davey, refusing to lose out, pulled her tightly into his arms.
“
A-Ahh!
” Her face turned beet red.
“Thanatos, you son of a bitch. When this is over, I’m splitting that piece of shit moon bastard in half, I swear to god.”
“Don’t say things you don’t mean, Davey.”
“Why the hell did that bitch have to leave behind so much trouble for me.”
Despite all his grumbling, Davey knew that he just had to accept what had happened. He’d borrowed Goddess Freyja’s power multiple times to rewrite the future to his liking, and there was no escaping the responsibility that came with that.
As for what Thanatos had made? Verdandi gave the simplest, most accurate answer.
“A monster.”
* * *
Eliminating the ancient disaster created by Thanatos would require power equal to or greater than Eclipse’s Dragontongue.
Manifesting heroes down into the world again would be a massive strain on both the individuals and the world itself. Besides, Davey was no longer incompetent to the point that he needed their help.
“Alright, Mr. Exterminator is here. How freaking deep did you all hide? Guess you went full-on bug mode,
huh?
”
He wondered where the hive was located. No matter how much Davey racked his brain over the options, the conclusion was always the same. It had to be the place the creatures had emerged from at the very beginning.
It was time to return to the ancient ruin hidden deep within the great forest, not far from Alberta’s capital. He figured that was where the hive was.
It was the same place where the massive octopus-like monster had devoured Belga. Maybe that creature’s death had been the trigger for all of the mayhem.
Unfortunately, Davey had been too focused on the monster to investigate what lay underneath.
‘Perhaps I shouldn't have let Belga get eaten at all.’
Davey shook his head. In the end, Belga had been an enemy, so he’d had to die one way or another.
“The stench is horrendous,” Isildi muttered with a scowl, looking around at the vast underground filled with rotting flesh.
“Isn’t it kind of weird that there’s no one guarding this place? Even ants and bees protect their queen,” Davey murmured.
Isildi just gave a shrug. “Beats me, man. Anyway, is it okay to just send those two away?”
“Now that we know how bad the situation is, it’s clear that Alberta is going to need some reinforcements.”
Reina and Verdandi were sent to Vatan, while Illyna and Rinne were dispatched to Alberta. Since dealing with the place would require power on the level of Eclipse, there was no need to complicate things.
That left only Davey and Isildi together in the underground facility.
“Isildi.”
“Yeah?”
“Can totrias retain the DNA they’ve consumed?”
“Yeah. They remember the data until they’re completely wiped out.”
“Doesn’t that mean they can take on the form of ancient living beings, too?”
“If they’ve absorbed enough power, then theoretically, sure. However, that shouldn’t be possible under normal circumstances.”
“Then what’s that?” he said while pointing toward the end of a dark corridor.
“
Hehehe. Hehehe.
”
A woman was laughing eerily.
“Good thing Verdandi isn’t here.”
“I don’t like that she’s not here for comfort, but... agreed.”
Shhhing!
Davey drew Red Ribbon, taking a step toward the woman approaching from the hallway.
“Hey, what’s your name? I’m...” The woman staggered forward with a twisted smile on her face. “I’m... Urd.”
Something seemed to laugh maniacally in the distance.
Editorb’s Thoughts
I may have taken a few liberties, but you can't prove that in a court of law!!!! This is democracy manifest!! Just let me eat my succulent Chinese meal in peace!

Chapter 1100