The Max Level Hero Has Returned!-Chapter 1104

The Max Level Hero Has Returned!-Chapter 1104

Chapter 1104
Davey learned from Rinne that the negotiations had already begun. He looked at the shattered remains of the overbrain from the hive, reduced to lumps of flesh, and casually shook off Lavatein.
Right after he took down the first overbrain, he’d discovered seven more hives nearly simultaneously. He had since reached the seventh one.
The actual process of taking care of them had been quick and efficient, though Isildi had taken quite some time tracking them down.
“Hey, are you a turtle or something? Hurry up already, slowpoke.”
“
Ugh,
shut up! I can’t focus because it’s been a while, okay?!”
“It’s not because it’s been a while. I know that it’s because Thanatos is gone.”
“Like I care about that crap.” She was probably the only one who could talk about her creator like that.
“We’ve already swept through all seven initial sites we detected, but the fact that there are still more makes me think we need to instead focus on dealing with the root of this.”
Originally, dealing with the hives should’ve caused the totrias to fall apart like a disorganized mob. Yet every time they managed to take one down, a new hidden one would reveal itself like layers of camouflage were being peeled away. All of those hives had been newly formed and clustered around the border between Vatan and Alberta.
“Keep quiet, I’m searching.”
She gritted her teeth and shut her eyes, straining hard. She had always been noticeably weak when it came to casting the kind of magic their situation required.
He teased, “If I’d known it’d be like this, I would’ve kept Verdandi behind instead.”
“Why her?!”
“Look at yourself right now and see if you have the face to ask that again.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, I can do it better!”
Shouting like her pride had been prodded, she refocused before eventually pausing in her steps.
“Got it. Follow me!”
Without a second thought, her blue eyes flashed as she swung her sword, slicing through the underground ceiling like it was tofu and sending it crashing down.
When she leapt up from the falling debris with ease, Davey followed her with a strange look on his face.
It felt like the purpose of the hives was just to stall for time, as if clearing one site was the signal to make another.
The hives were supposed to be the core base of the totrias, yet the ones they kept finding felt more like decoys designed to protect some massive singular will.
“Isildi,” Davey said as he looked up at the cavern’s collapsing ceiling.
“Hurry up! What are you doing back there?!” she complained.
“Don’t you get the feeling we’re being toyed with?”
She frowned at his words.
Thud!!
Just then, a large rock came loose from above and slammed onto her head while she was bracing herself against the wall.
“
Oww,
damn it!”
She glared at Davey with teary eyes.
* * *
“So then what conclusion did you come to? Are the hives a lie?”
“No, the hives are still functioning as hives. Still...”
“They’re multiplying too fast, right?”
It hadn’t even taken a full hour to obliterate six hives. Then, as if on cue, they continued to discover several more.
“So you’re saying there’s a command core somewhere. That would be a first...”
“Totrias are a species that evolves. After all that time, it’s not exactly farfetched to think their system could’ve changed.”
“No matter how incredible or superior their evolvability is, there must still be limits to what they can and can’t do.
Ugh.
So then, what now? Four more hives have already been detected while we’ve been talking, and your theory is that more will just keep popping up even if we destroy them?”
“Exactly,” Davey answered with a nod as he looked down at the collapsed underground cavern.
“Then where’s the real core? If we go by your words, there’s something out there manipulating both the totrias and the hives while disguising itself. So where is it?”
“We’ll have to find it.”
“Where?”
Goddess Freyja wasn’t responding, no matter how many times he called her. Neither were the heroes of the Hall. Davey figured that could only mean that he’d have to decide for himself.
What he needed was information. He’d originally intended to rely on Isildi’s knowledge, but given how things were unfolding, there was only one option left.
“Isildi, can you read ancient script?”
“Huh?
Oh.
I mean, I guess I can kinda read it.”
“Let’s go.”
“H-Hey! Where are you going?!”
“This thing really just keeps making us run in circles.”
Naturally, Davey was heading to the site where he had destroyed the first hive.
* * *
The chances of finding any useful information at the completely destroyed site were slim. He had destroyed it with the intention to keep anyone else from ever entering again, so even just locating the original area had been a hassle.
“Hey, are you out of your mind? How are we supposed to find anything in a place that’s totally blown away? I mean, is there even anything still intact?”
“Isildi.”
“
Huh?
”
“Be quiet.”
Isildi pouted slightly. Looking over the utterly ruined terrain, Davey let out a sigh and summoned spirit mana into his hand.
“Gnoass.”
Immediately, large chunks of stone began to gather rapidly in his palm. They then reshaped into a small earth doll about the size of his hand.
[This reeks of a hassle.]
“Yeah, it’s going to be a pain. Can you check this place out for me?”
[Contractor, isn’t this the place you wrecked?]
“The ancient humans were conducting some kind of experiment here, and I need to know more about what exactly it was they were doing.”
Gnoass frowned, visibly annoyed.
[Precisely what information do you want me to save?]
“Everything.”
Hearing his blunt reply, Gnoass sighed and quietly dispersed.
[I won’t bother bringing back anything that’s too far gone.]
That was fine by Davey. He didn’t know how much was still left behind, but even a single hint would be enough.
“Do you really think you’ll find anything? Honestly, I don’t see it happening,” Isildi said with a scowl.
Frankly, Davey partially agreed with her. “There were parts of this facility made from the same materials as the lab Rinne was in, which means incredible durability. We might be able to salvage some of it, if we’re lucky.”
Isildi frowned but waited nonetheless. “Hives are still popping up, one by one. It’s like they’re intentionally trying to keep drawing our attention.”
“Just wait a bit.”
Roughly ten minutes passed after Gnoass vanished to complete the work Davey assigned. Then, the shattered floor of the ruins distorted as a massive earthen giant emerged and laid down fragments of various objects in front of Davey.
Most of the equipment had been destroyed, but what caught his eye was a stack of documents. The writing on the documents was in some ancient language he didn’t know how to read. Fortunately, he had someone who could translate it.
“Isildi, come translate this.”
“Hand it over.” She silently read through the documents, her expression twisting as she did. “The horne really were a deranged species.”
“What does it say?”
Waving the pages in irritation, she replied, “It talks about a project to weaponize genetically engineered living beings.”
He hadn’t expected that.
“Humans personally injected genes into their fellow humans. There were a total of twenty three thousand specimens.”
Twenty-three thousand was an absurd amount. With that many buried underground, it was no wonder things had spiraled into a catastrophe.
“So?”
“The weaponization plan was simple. The hives exist to control the totriases, but since each hive is a powerful psychic entity, trying to control every single one directly would introduce too many variables.”
She flipped through the pages, the paper making a soft fluttering sound. “So they decided to weaken the power of the overbrains and instead introduced a hive mind system, believing they could manage a collective consciousness.”
The creatures inherently consumed genes. Good or bad, they ate any available genetic material. The ancient humans had used that trait to find a way to control and weaponize them.
“That’s how they created the hive mind core. Since using the psychic entity of overbrains made weaponization impossible, they used other humans as the psychic entity for the hive mind’s core.”
She continued turning the pages, explaining as she went.
The hive overbrains were only half as strong as the ones Isildi originally knew of. Thanks to that, mass production had become easier, and once the seeds were planted, they could always use the hives to control the totrias.
That meant the hives they faced were basically transmission towers.
“Then what’s with all this absurdly accumulated power? Where’s the real hive mind?”
“Hold on a sec!” she muttered annoyingly as her eyes darted across the text. “There’s nothing here about energy accumulation. There were a bunch of experiments to reduce the totrias’ survivability or eliminate unknown variables, but they said there’s no realistic way to create a creature with that much power.”
“So someone must’ve added that part later.”
“Totrias accumulate power from vitality.”
Considering that he had been managing most life force sources himself, there was no way he wouldn’t have noticed a power shift that big. That meant that either the being had the power from the start, or the energy came from vitality outside his control.
“Hmm.
”
“But in the end, the hive mind experiment was a failure. What’s left here is just the equipment they were using to try and make it.”
“Then... shouldn’t there be no hive mind at all?”
“Seems like someone messed around with the remains after the fact and accidentally succeeded. It’s like that monster you killed the first time; the octopus-looking thing.”
“
Huh.
”
“Could it be him again?” she wondered.
“No, he didn’t have that kind of vitality... Wait, Isildi.”
“
Oh. Huh?
”
“You said the hive mind experiment failed, right?
“
Uh.
Y-Yeah, I did.”
“That octopus-looking thing I killed was a failure too, saying it was impossible for a human body to handle it.”
“But if it wasn’t a human, and rather a being that possessed that much vitality...”
“Mind explaining what you mean?”
“The one who became the hive mind’s core. It must have been someone who had the potential to hold vast amounts of vitality.”
Only one person came to mind. The problem was, he was supposed to be dead. Even if he had that kind of vitality, there was no way he should’ve had
that
much. He’d been devoured by the monster, and that had triggered the two to fuse into one.
“That spiritual entity, Belga.”
Hearing his conclusion, Isildi stared at him doubtfully. “That’s a bit far-fetched. Is that even possible?”
“A human body couldn’t be the hive mind’s core, which is why Belga—after he was weakened and was devoured by the monster—might’ve had just enough influence left. The monster’s mind was destroyed, but Belga’s power must have remained and then resurfaced. That’d explain it.”
Isildi frowned, gritting her teeth as she tried to wrap her head around it. She slowly nodded. “Fine. So let’s say you’re right and the hive is a fake. What now? How are you going to catch him?”
“We don’t have to waste any time looking for him. We’re going to draw him out.”
Once Davey knew Belga was the hive mind, the next step was simple. He just had to figure out why it was attacking Vatan.
“Draw him out? Do you really think he’ll just walk into a trap?”
“He will. If I’m right, he definitely will,” Davey said with an ominous smile, making Isildi grimace in response. He summoned Vermillion Bird Fire Chicken and headed straight for the border region where the war negotiations were taking place.
* * *
With a thunderous crash, Reina and Illyna launched themselves like flashes of light at the massive monster before them. Rushing in parallel, one struck at its lower half while the other went for its upper body, both cleanly slicing through its enormous frame.
The creature’s mere presence was overwhelming, but Reina and Illyna fought with such perfect coordination that it was as if they were one. They quickly overpowered the beast.
Even when the creature tried to regenerate after being cut, Illyna’s Continuum-Attacking Blade disrupted the process, giving Reina the opening she needed to land heavy finishing blows. No matter how powerful its regeneration was, the monster couldn’t hold out.
As the tide of battle turned, the morale of the surrounding soldiers soared. Their faces lit up with renewed hope that they might just survive.
“This one’s way stronger than the others,” Reina muttered as the monster staggered with a bloodcurdling cry.
“But it’s almost over, right?” Illyna reassured.
“We can’t drop our guard till the end.”
They both agreed on that point.
“I see the core,” Illyna said suddenly, eyes sharpening as she spotted a massive orb embedded in the creature’s body.
“Let’s finish this!”
Their mission was to eliminate any problems that arose during the ongoing war negotiations. The monster was more than enough of a problem.
The staggering creature let out a twisted howl before collapsing to one knee. It then suddenly drove its massive arm deep into the ground and began absorbing something.
“What the hell?! What is it doing?”
Instinctively sensing the danger, both women charged forward to stop it. Unfortunately, it appeared that brief contact and absorption were all it needed.
Thud!!!
A shockwave of invisible force exploded outward, sending Illyna and Reina flying.
“
Ugh!
” Grimacing as she got up, Illyna noticed something strange.
The monster was changing. Its massive, misshapen body started to shrink as the power it emitted grew denser and more concentrated. Once it had finally condensed to the size of an average human, the two saw a woman standing before them.
The woman had gray skin, swaying slightly as she opened her eyes and smiled coldly at them.
“
Haah.
This disgusting air is something else. I love it,” the woman muttered, locking eyes with Reina and Illyna.
“You two... are quite impressive. Really impressive,” she said calmly as she walked forward and snapped her fingers.
Illyna reacted instantly, slashing her Continuum-Attacking Blade in front of Reina.
Boom!!
Space ruptured with a shockwave, and in that single instant, dozens of soldiers watching from afar were torn apart.
Overwhelming power. A chilling force.
Her sudden gain in strength made Illyna stunned.
“That’s dimensional power! What is she?” she said as she clutched at her injured arm.
The power the woman wielded was unmistakably dimensional power.
Only Davey and Illyna were supposed to be able to interfere with dimensions. Yet, the woman in front of her had torn through dimensions like it was second nature, some kind of innate power she’d grown up having.
“
Huh?
Wait, why am I even here?” Tilting her head, the woman grinned. “Ah well, whatever. I don’t care.”
“Who... What are you?” Reina asked, stepping in front of Illyna.
“Me?
Oh,
right. I’m called the Princess of the Abyss.”
Both of the girls’ eyes flew wide open. All of the Princesses of the Abyss were supposed to be dead after their creator Thanatos had vanished.
“There’s no way a Princess of the Abyss can wield this kind of absurd power...” Illyna muttered in confusion. It wasn’t long before her eyes opened wide.
Actually, there was one. A Princess of the Abyss who controlled dimensions, the monster Davey had ripped apart during the early days in the parallel world.
“This is bad...” Overwhelmed by the pressure of the immense force radiating from her surroundings, Illyna’s expression hardened. “It’s that one Princess of the Abyss... Sleesia.”
“Oh my, you know my name? As a reward, I’ll kill you last,” ‘Sleesia’ replied calmly, gathering power in her hand. As if conjuring a disaster, the energy converging around her palm formed a glowing sphere of light.
“Damn it! Davey’s not even here...”
Illyna’s strength came from her mastery of the Continuum-Attacking Blade. Unfortunately, ‘Sleesia’ wielded a similar type of power, nullifying her advantage. To make matters worse, the energy she radiated was far beyond merely dangerous.
As she braced for ‘Sleesia’s’ attack, Illyna made the decision that she’d force her out even if it meant tearing apart the space itself. She knew doing so might seriously injure her in return, but she knew that a catastrophe was inevitable if she so much as hesitated.
“I don’t know how the totrias got their hands on a Princess of the Abyss’s power, but...”
“Davey will figure it out,” Reina said, gripping her sword tightly, just as tense.
They had to stop ‘Sleesia.’ Even if they asked Davey to come immediately, there was no way he could arrive before the power spread.
Sling.
“
Huh?
”
Crack!!
The sky split open before a blue-haired girl plummeted down from it at an insane speed. Before anyone could even process what was happening, she instantly cleaved ‘Sleesia’ clean in half.
“Isildi? Why are you—?”
“Shut it, you fake. Trying to act like the real thing?”
“
Hahaha.
What are you even talking about? I
am
the real thing.”
‘Sleesia’ cackled as her body reformed, the two halves fusing back together.
“You sided with the horne? I guess in the end, it doesn’t even matter.”
The ‘Sleesia’ in front of them had even absorbed parts of the original’s memories. Unlike the other Princesses of the Abyss they’d faced before, that ’Sleesia’ was terrifyingly complete.
It was almost as if Sleesia had deliberately fed the totriases a massive amount of her genes to enhance them.
“Good. I never liked you anyway.”
“Right back atcha.”
Standing in front of Reina and Illyna, Isildi glared at Sleesia before Verndandi also stepped forward, having been drawn over by the pressure of the clash.
“What the hell are you all doing just standing there?”
“Sleesia...” Verndandi’s expression darkened as well.
“Oh my, Verndandi too? I really need to tear up all you traitors—”
“Hey! You done yapping?” Isildi raised her middle finger. “Come at me, bitch. I might be at half power, but so are you. Right?”
“
Haha. Hahaha!! Hahahaha!!
” Laughing maniacally, ‘Sleesia’ bent backward, nearly folding in half. Her smile then instantly vanished as she snapped her fingers.
Crack! Boom!!
The space tore, and she was sent flying straight at Isildi. Taking advantage of her unfamiliarity with the power, Isildi managed to bat it away. She then immediately lunged in, grabbed ‘Sleesia’ by the throat, and launched them both far across the plains.
Verndandi and Illyna hesitated, staring blankly at the sight, unsure if they should join the clash.
They’d heard that Isildi’s power was comparable to Sleesia’s, but with Isildi having lost nearly half of her power as a former Princess of the Abyss, it was hard to predict how it’d go.
However, they didn’t have the time to waste contemplating.
“Hey!! The negotiations are almost done! What the hell are you people doing?!”
Davey emerged from inside a tent, carrying Tsuna over his shoulder.
“Belga only cares about you. That’s why...” Davey looked at Tsuna and grinned coldly. “We’re gonna use you as bait, Chancellor Tsuna.”
That was his plan to lure Belga, who was attacking Vatan simply because he perceived them as Tsuna’s enemy.
With a smirk, Davey tied Tsuna up with ropes made of light and suspended her in mid-air.
“Come on! I know you’re watching. If you don’t show up soon, I can’t guarantee what’ll happen to your sweet Tsuna here, Belga.”
Davey shouted toward the shattered remains that had transformed to Sleesia.
Thud, thud, thud!!!
The effect was tremendous.

.
!
Chapter 1104