The Max Level Hero Has Returned!-Chapter 1170

The Max Level Hero Has Returned!-Chapter 1170

Chapter 1170
The Saint Sanctuary.
Davey silently approached a tall man swinging his spear and held out a flask.
“
Oh!
That’s the good stuff, real good.” The man, dripping with sweat, took the flask with a satisfied smile. “So, there must be a reason you came to see me after so long, right?”
“Yes. Well, I was just curious.”
When Davey pulled out a cup and offered it, the man poured him a drink. “Alright, shoot. What are you curious about?”
“The Butterfly Empress Chandra, the one you killed.”
The man flinched at his words.
“Damn it,” he muttered in annoyance. “Davey, most people would call that sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong. I killed her, as well as that damn crow mask or whatever it was.
“Honestly, that would’ve been the easiest route this time as well. However, I didn’t want to be left with the same bitter aftertaste.”
At that, he looked at Davey for a moment. “Davey, a leader can’t afford to live with regrets over their actions. The moment their own resolve wavers, so does that of the people.”
“But you seem pretty regretful about it yourself.”
“Yeah.” He didn’t bother trying to hide it. “What happened to her will always leave a bitter taste for the rest of my life.”
“Why?”
It was a pretty rudimentary question. Davey didn’t think Astrea felt that way about her just out of pity.
“Back then, I ignored their help. Realistically, that was the right decision. Still, it’s true that I’d known her personally, so I can’t help but feel some regret.” He took several gulps of the Nirvana Blew straight from the flask.
“Let’s talk about the old days, man. Honestly, you’ve never really told me this story before.”
“That’s true. I never wanted to bring it up,” he said with a bitter smile. “Don’t expect too much, though. I don’t know all the details of what was going on back then—I just know a bit about the kingdom she destroyed and about her.”
“Then why the regret? You weren’t even that closely involved to begin with.”
“Sometimes, even a brief encounter leaves a lifelong impression. The look in her eyes as she was dying... That stuck with me.” He smiled bitterly again.
The story he told next was more tragic than Davey had expected.
* * *
Chandra stood blankly, her gaze dark and clouded. The old man in the crow mask closed his eyes for a moment, then spoke up, “I’ll come back once you organize your thoughts.”
“Wait.” It was Chandra who stopped him. “You... What exactly do you know?”
“You’ll understand, when the time comes.”
“That’s not an answer!”
Zing.
Before she even finished speaking, light particles flared around the crow mask. It was a silent warning that if she so much as moved a muscle, he’d strike her down.
“Tell me right now—what is it that I don’t know?” she pressured him, as if she could be threatening.
He silently stared at her from behind the mask before responding, “Are you sure you’ll be okay after hearing it?”
“That’s for me to worry about, not you.”
Hearing the firmness in her answer, the crow mask let out a sigh and reached up to his face. “Then, allow me to reveal the truth of what’s happening.”
Chandra frowned at his sudden shift in manner, choosing to remove his disguise. When the man slowly removed his mask and hood, revealing his face, she couldn’t help but widen her eyes.
She looked at him with a shocked and confused face.
- Empress! The fruit’s really fresh today!
She remembered hearing that from a small elf boy who used to visit her with baskets of fruit, while she guarded the World Tree’s sapling. She wondered how she could’ve possibly forgotten that boy’s bright smile.
“Finn? Finn, is that really you?”
Before the hellish disaster struck, Chandra had been the guardian of a vast forest in Paladia. She had loved countless living beings and welcomed followers to live under her protection.
Naturally, there were more elves who loved the forest that followed her than there were any others.
Even if his face had changed a lot, there was no way she wouldn’t recognize him.
“So you
do
remember me, at least once you see my face.”
Though elves barely aged by nature, he had nonetheless grown old and worn.
The man with pale, pointed ears lowered his head and dropped to one knee before Chandra.
He then croaked out in his old raspy voice, “Yes. I remember that day, when the traitor human, Leon, and countless others ravaged our forest... I’m Finn, the one who died by your side. I was a young elf back then. Unlike you, I unfortunately wasn’t able to revive completely, so my form ended up looking like this.”
Hearing those words, Chandra collapsed on the spot. “
Ah. Aaah!
”
The followers who died under her leadership were lumps of guilt she could never let go of. They had met their grim fate only because of her foolishly trusting and loving the human named Leon.
“Finn... Finn!!” Chandra burst into tears as she rushed over and threw her arms around him. All the suspicion she’d felt just moments before had completely vanished.
“
Phew.
Your Majesty.”
“Finn... I’m sorry. I trusted a human, and just because I believed in them, you all...”
“I’m the one who should be sorry, Your Majesty. I acted as someone else on purpose, thinking you might feel guilt if you saw me like this. But... Why are you trusting humans again?”
That question made Chandra flinch.
“Why are you leaving room for humans when your enemy walks freely in this world?”
His cold reproach drove a spike through her heart. The screams and cries of those who had died protecting her still rang in her ears.
Long-repressed memories surfaced, and her body trembled from the anguish of recollection. Even after death, they couldn't enter reincarnation and remained as spirits by her side, only to eventually fade away.
“Many of the followers died by your side. Even after becoming souls, they wore down and disappeared. I’m the same as them. I stayed to protect you, as a soul with nowhere left to go.”
She had no words to respond with.
“So why are you betraying us again, Your Majesty? Did you love humans more than us all along?”
Chandra shook her head, sobbing. “No! No, I really...”
“Your Majesty... it’s too bitter a pill to swallow. I hate humans so much I could die.” He held Chandra tightly as he spoke, “That’s why... I have to say this. Please forgive me for my selfishness.”
With a face full of tears, he said, “The source of everything, Leon Val Archid. There is a human in this world carrying his soul. Many of the soldiers who tore through the forest that day... their souls have also reincarnated.”
At those words, Chandra froze in place.
“I won’t ask you to kill humans unrelated to the tragedy, but at the very least... Those reincarnated bastards who destroyed the forest and slaughtered us all... Please...!”
As Finn, the old man in the crow mask, desperately pleaded, Chandra nodded wildly, as if losing her mind. “Yes! Yes! I’ll do it, as much as you want! So please...”
“Even now, when I can’t rest, my whole body feels like it’s about to shatter from the rage. I still hear the screams of the ones who died ringing in my ears.”
At his words, a vicious glare spread across her face. After all, no one had been more furious then than she had.
Before, she had only wanted death for herself. While she’d hated humans and saw them as a race to be destroyed, her own death was the main thing, and her hatred and mistrust of humans was just secondary.
However, it all reversed with Finn’s return.
Revenge became the main goal, and death became the means to achieve it.
“Your Majesty, there must be a reason we opened our eyes in this world again.”
“When were they reincarnated?” she solemnly asked.
“The human who carries Leon’s soul... He’s lived in this world for at least thirty years. I saw him dressed in fine clothes, eating fine food, and living in luxury.”
She clenched her fists to the point they made a sharp cracking sound.
After those bastards had cast them into the pit of hell, and left them unable to even die properly, they were living peaceful lives, well-fed and reincarnated.
It was truly unforgivable.
Dark energy began to swirl around her. Once a guardian of brilliant white light, her aura instead turned pitch black.
“So, the explosion at that cafe... That was your doing, too?”
“I only meant to make Your Majesty more wary of humans. Plus, one of the humans there was that damned reincarnated soul we’ve been searching for.”
His response sent a chill down her spine.
Elf boy Finn had always possessed a special power. Like her, he had a unique ability—he was able to perceive the true color of a human’s soul. Knowing this, Chandra believed she could trust his words.
No soul had the exact same color as another, unless it was the same being.
“Alas, I failed in killing him. But what I couldn’t stand even more was seeing Your Majesty’s anger and thirst for vengeance fade away. That’s why I made you go berserk.”
He claimed it was his role as her guardian spirit to provoke and remind her of the vengeful will she’d lost.
“It tore me apart as well to see you like that. Please... don’t force me to make you lose control again.”
“I’m sorry... I’m so sorry, Finn.”
The murderous glare returned to her eyes. Though she had made a contract with a strange human, the vengeance that once consumed her surged up once again and began to devour her rationality.
“Your Majesty, I am the only one on your side. So please, put an end to our pain.”
The tragedy had begun with a single spark of curiosity, when she had saved a human named Leon Val Archid, who was dying after wandering into the forest. She befriended him before then falling in love with him.
She gave him everything, even signing a soul contract with him. Yet in the end, Leon Val Archid had attacked the forest to strengthen his position in his kingdom.
Afterward, he had come to her acting like nothing had happened. He’d used the contract to strip her of power and used his soldiers and knights to slaughter the followers who tried to protect her.
Driven mad, she eventually killed Leon and destroyed his kingdom in a single sweep.
While the followers couldn’t even reincarnate and continued to suffer in torment, the soul of the human who had done all of that lived happily and shamelessly in this world.
It made her feel like she’d go mad with rage.
“Who is it?” she asked with a chilling look. “Leon’s reincarnation. Who is it?”
Finn answered in a heavy voice, “They say he’s the ruling authority of this country. Leon, once royalty, has once again taken up a position of supreme power. I can’t stand it.”
He gave a twisted smile. “We don’t need to kill all humans. But still... he must never be forgiven.”
“Finn, I believe you. You’re not lying to me, right?”
“I’m sorry for what has happened, Your Majesty.”
“I’ll finish this myself. That human named Davey is looking for you, so you have to be careful. Even if it was for revenge, you did something reckless.”
“I understand.” His hands began to tremble as he hurriedly put his crow mask back on.
“Then I’ll end it. You get going to safety. This time, I’ll trap his soul in an eternal illusion of suffering.”
“Your Majesty...” he responded, choking back emotion.
“When it’s all over, we’ll pay our price too. Only then can we finally rest.”
“As you command, Your Majesty.”
* * *
- When it’s all over, we’ll pay our price too. Only then can we finally rest.
- As you command, Your Majesty.
When the voices came through the surveillance device shrouded in divine power, Reina drew her spear, and Rinne raised her guard, throwing quick shadowboxing jabs through the air.
It was an almost laughable performance they’d just listened to.
Listening in on the wiretap, Davey let out a faint chuckle. “This bastard sure knows how to talk.”
“So... the President of Korea is actually the reincarnation of that Leon guy or whatever?” Illyna asked through the device, even though she knew full well no answer was needed.
Those two’s past was so heavy with emotion and sorrow, it was almost painful to listen to. The fact that Finn hadn’t even been able to find peace in death, and still wandered without reincarnating, made it even more tragic.
“But it’s still just a past life. Leon’s soul is now someone else entirely, with no memories. She knows that, and yet she’s decided to make him her target anyway?”
“Do you think Leon was a bastard?”
“How could he be anything but? He blindsided the woman who loved him and stole everything from her. While I acknowledge that stepping in to avenge her might be sticking my nose where it doesn’t belong, there’s no defending what that guy did.
Just as she’d said, Leon Val Archid was a complete lunatic.
“Alright then. Let’s go capture Leon Val Archid ourselves,” he suggested in a casual tone.
Illyna shouted in shock, “What?! Are you thinking about assassinating the President or something?!”
Davey grinned, completely ignoring her look of disbelief.“You coming or not?”

Chapter 1170