The Max Level Hero Has Returned!-Chapter 1201

The Max Level Hero Has Returned!-Chapter 1201

Chapter 1201
Davey was astonishingly arrogant and eerily familiar with what he was doing to the emperor.
It wasn’t like he had looked down on others often—his gaze carried the coldness of a higher being looking down at something beneath him, as if it were instinctual.
“Who are you? How did you get in here?” the Emperor fiercely questioned.
“I was waiting for you,” the figure said calmly.
The figure in front was spewing nonsense about having been in the room from the start, effectively evading the gazes of both him and his guards.
Emperor Abzorba Delemanco Prasias Nacha couldn’t help but feel a sense of pressure weighing down on him.
He wanted to dismiss it as nonsense, but the man had actually slipped past the Commander of the imperial guards.
“
Hmph.
So you’re just a lowly assassin,
huh?
Are you here to take my life?”
“In a way, yeah. But not right now.”
‘Not right now?’
In other words, that meant he could try it at any time. For someone who was supposedly just an assassin, he had far too little fear of failure.
“
Hmph.
All I hear is delusion.”
“Emperor, what’s your name?”
“You dare question me? Kneel and bow your head! Do that, and I may grant you the privilege of learning my name—”
Clang!!!
Before he could even finish, the wine glass in his hand shattered into pieces.
He hadn’t sensed the attack at all. Frankly, he wasn’t sure if he would’ve been able to react in time if the man had targeted his neck instead of his drink.
“Hey now, Emperor. You really think I came here to play nice and be polite?”
The man didn’t know what to say.
“Doesn't seem like you believe what’s happening yet. I’ll go ahead and bring you up to speed, then.”
With that, the young man snapped his fingers.
Boom!!!
A rumble echoed from outside the chambers. Startled, the Emperor rushed to the window, where he saw a blinding white ring rapidly spinning in the air before exploding and tearing the atmosphere apart, warping the very space around it.
“That was a warning. There won’t be a second. Next time, I'll drop it on the barracks.”
There was no hesitation in the threat.
“I typically give the emperors of entire continents the treatment they deserve, but you're the exception.”
“And why is that?”
“Why? Isn't it obvious? Not only did you steal and use the things made by others, but you even invaded the dimension I was in, using them. You really think you deserve respect?”
The Emperor understood immediately. The person standing before him came from one of the dimensions his empire had invaded.
‘Which one of them is he talking about? Francia? Or maybe Jorde?’
Both dimensions were ordinary, magic-based worlds that had fallen to the Nacha Empire relatively quickly. While resistance forces still existed in both, they were nothing more than minor independent factions.
Yet if the man before him came from one of those dimensions, it wouldn’t have been surprising if an assassination attempt had happened long before then.
“Don't tell me... You’re from that newly discovered dimension, where the divine beast’s signal was detected?”
Davey quietly closed his eyes in exasperation. “I asked for your name.”
Boom!!!!
A crushing pressure forcefully changed the Emperor’s posture.
“
Urgh?!
” The sheer force, certainly too much for a regular human body to withstand, made him grimace in pain.
“Your name,” Davey asked again, but the Emperor stayed silent.
The consequences he thus faced were far from light.
Boom!!!
Another massive explosion shook the air.
“I told you there wouldn’t be a second time. My patience has limits—every time you refuse to answer, everything you’ve built will be systematically destroyed.”
“You monster!”
“Let's not cast stones when we're both monsters.” His smile was ice-cold.
“Abzorba Delemanco, Prasias Nacha.”
“Right. Emperor Abzorba it is.”
Only then did the man seem satisfied. “Stop pretending like you didn’t know what was going on. Let’s save our breath and get to the point.”
The Emperor didn’t know what to say.
“This time, I’m letting it slide as a warning. There are two things I want to go over with you. First, if you use the dimensional passage even one more time, I will take that as a declaration of war. Second—” His smile was chilling. “You can do whatever you want on your own continent, that’s your business. However, don’t drag other dimensions into it.”
He was basically telling him to stop with the invasions.
“Even if I die, the Empire won’t stop,” the Emperor replied.
“Then I’ll have no choice but to crush the entire dimension myself.” His tone was casual, but the weight behind it was undeniable.
“Arrogant fool! A mere human like you couldn’t possibly do such a thing.”
“A mere human?” The young man smiled at the idea before a slightly foreign presence began to pour out from his entire body. Even the Emperor, who wasn’t a mage, could clearly sense it.
Unfortunately, the moment he was exposed to that power, he found himself unable to even lift a finger.
It wasn’t due to fear, however. There was something deeper within it, something that made him instinctively bow his head.
“Do I look like a human to you?”
“You... No, who are you?!”
The young man’s smile widened as his aura surged even stronger.
“
Urghh!!
”
The Emperor’s body collapsed under the pressure, as if compelled to obey. In the end, the Emperor learned nothing. All he knew was that the intimidating being had come from the newly discovered dimension.
Even though the room had specialized equipment meant to suppress an intruder’s mana, the young man showed no signs of being restrained at all.
At that moment—
Bang!!
“Your Majesty! Are you alright?!”
The door burst open, revealing a hulking man in armor and several others.
“An intruder!!”
“An assassin is targeting His Majesty’s life! Royal guards!!”
The moment they saw Davey, they drew their weapons.
“I was going to leave after giving a warning, but if you want to do it like this...” A grim smile formed on his lips, clearly moments away from breaking loose.
The first one to move charged forward, drawing a massive Aura Blade.
Swoosh!!! Clang!!
He attacked without even the slightest hesitation. The attack was on a completely different level from anything the expert-level soldier Davey had faced earlier could have pulled off.
However, their strikes never reached him.
As soon as the man swung his blade, Davey drew a blue sword from midair and smoothly blocked the attack with a simple flourish.
“
Hmph!!
”
Despite the massive difference in size, the attacker had failed to overpower him in strength. A flicker of wariness crossed the man’s face afterward. “A mere assassin that doesn’t know his place... Do you really think you’ll walk out of here alive?”
Davey simply smiled in response.
“Kill him!! Kill that bastard!!” Emperor Abzorba shouted, having been waiting for them to come.
However, Davey’s response was rather simple. “Guess you thought my warning was just a joke.”
Fwoosh!!
While holding onto his sword in one hand, he casually extended the fingers of the other. A transparent magic bullet burst forth and pierced straight through the Emperor’s heart.
For a lauded ruler of the Nacha Empire, his death was absurdly anticlimactic.
“Y-Your Majesty!!!”
“You bastard!!!”
The moment the Emperor collapsed, Davey's expression turned even colder. “I came here to give a warning—you need to learn the cost of launching invasions without a second thought.”
“Shut up!!”
“But really... I don’t even know why I’ve been holding back,” he muttered.
In response, the large man’s eyes widened. “You murdered His Majesty...! I’ll kill you, no matter what it takes!!! Then, I will pay the price for failing to protect him!!”
There was a weight to the declaration, demonstrating a sense of unwavering loyalty that erased the last trace of amusement from Davey’s face.
“Then there’s no helping it.”
Sling. Klang!!
His blade twisted slightly in their clash.
The sudden shift in power broke the man’s stance momentarily, yet knights above the master-level were built differently. He quickly regained his footing and prepared a counterattack.
However, the massive commander suddenly felt as if time had slowed down. He saw a blade with a deep blue glow fly toward him.
He knew he couldn’t block it. Even while fighting in an area designed to disrupt mana flow, the man before him was capable of displaying overwhelming speed and strength. The commander didn’t understand how, but he was certain of one thing...
If that hit landed, he’d be gravely wounded if not outright killed.
Even so, he didn’t back down.
- I want you to be my knight. This nation will rise to the top of the continent someday. We'll make everyone envy what we’ve built.
He still hadn’t forgotten that promise from long ago.
‘Ah. Ahh... Your Majesty...! This unworthy servant will stake his life here and now.’
Accepting his own inevitable death, he lunged forward with everything he had, trying to land a fatal blow in one last suicidal charge.
However, it all came to nothing. Davey abruptly withdrew his sword and kicked him aside.
Bang!!
“
Gaaah. Gak!!
” Coughing blood, he crashed into the wall. His fellow men rushed over.
“Commander!!”
“Are you alright?!”
Despite their frantic cries, his gaze never left Davey.
Slap!!
The sharp sound snapped everyone’s attention to the side.
Standing there was Goddess Freyja. She had struck Davey across the face.
[So in the end... the future can’t be changed?]
She looked pained for some reason.
[You chose not to be king. You chose a different path, and grasped a new divinity in hopes of a miracle... Yet your ultimate fate remains unchanged.]
“Goddess...” Davey began.
[People can’t recognize when they themselves have changed.]
The words carried deep disappointment.
Letters twisted and rearranged on the tablet in her hands as if they were alive.
[Because you have an ego, you should understand now. My heart aches, Davey. You still don’t know why the black slime ran away from you.]
* * *
A dark throne.
It sat in a silence so solemn, it felt noble.
“Your Majesty.”
“A part of me has died.”
From within the throne room, where not even a hint of presence could be sensed, a man abruptly emerged.
It was the same man, before he had taken on an aged appearance.
“A part, Your Majesty...?”
“It means the body I sent to inspect the magic mineral mine has been killed.”
“Who would dare?!”
Hearing the shocked outburst, the Emperor's eyes gleamed with a dark, ominous light. “Send soldiers to that place. Find him! Find everyone connected to him, as well. And—”
He paused for a moment, then spoke with a chilling tone, “Someone from that dimension dared to kill me. Prepare to burn it down. There mustn’t be a single trace left behind.”
“B-But, Your Majesty! So much blood has already been spilled—”
“Are you defying my command?”
“My apologies! Preparations will begin immediately.”
Another knight, one whose mere presence radiated immense power, quietly bowed and stepped back to enact the orders.
* * *
“
Aaah.
Arghhh!!!” Reina, who had been subduing the bandit gang using her pure white swords, suddenly clutched her head and screamed in agony.
A shattered wagon lay nearby, an injured young man and woman bleeding on the ground while a massive number of bandits surrounded them in a tight circle.
Reina had stumbled upon the scene by chance, and was simply helping those caught in the ambush.
However, just as she was using her brilliant white energy sword to incapacitate instead of kill her enemies, she staggered in pain, clutching her head. Everyone froze, caught off guard.
“B-Boss! What the hell is wrong with that bitch?!”
“How the hell should I know, you dumbass?! Whatever it is, now’s our chance! Everyone, get ‘er!! She’s alone! Just dogpile on her!! She won’t be able to move!!”
“Yes sir!!”
“Don’t kill her! She’s got a pretty face for a bitch, so she’s gonna have to pay for the men she dared take down. We’ll sell her as a slave on the black market!”
Following the shout from what appeared to be their leader, the bandits wearing hard leather armor charged her all at once.
However, Reina, glowing with white light, couldn’t even register them.
“
Aaah. Agh!!
No... No!! Please!! Please, don’t change! I beg you!!”
The bandits rapidly closed the gap.
Earlier, she hadn’t allowed anyone to approach within such a close range. The ten floating white swords had intercepted anyone who had tried to do so. Yet they simply trembled in the air, as if resonating with their master’s turmoil. It wasn’t long before they shattered into pieces.
“Got you bitch!!” One of the bandits closest to her grabbed her arm. However, at that moment—
“
Aaaarrrgh!!!
” Her eyes turned crimson red, and a storm of gray energy erupted from her body. “No!!!”
At the same time, the broken swords around her reappeared.
However, they were no longer the same symbols of purity. The white swords had turned pitch-black, glowing blood-red like fresh wounds.
“
Huh?
”
Up to that point in the conflict, she had done everything she could to avoid killing.
However, things were different.
Squelch!!!
Dozens, no, hundreds of swords surged forward all at once, impaling and ripping through every one of the bandits surrounding her.
“
Ah...?
”
Those who remained could only let out stunned gasps, unable to comprehend what they had just witnessed.
Above her head, a blood-red tiara had materialized. She staggered before glaring at them with hollow, empty eyes.
Her transformation was shockingly, terrifyingly dark.

Chapter 1201