The Max Level Hero Has Returned!-Chapter 1205

The Max Level Hero Has Returned!-Chapter 1205

Chapter 1205
If one were to speak of Earth's premier alliance, the UN would typically come to mind. Yet ever since the emergence of Awakened individuals and Malicious Spirits, the dynamics of Earth’s international community had shifted in multiple ways.
After attending an international summit—the first to be held in quite some time—the President of South Korea returned with a dark expression on his face.
“Mr. President, is something wrong?” the newly appointed Chief Secretary, greeting the President upon his return, asked cautiously.
The President let out a deep sigh in one response, sat at his desk, and buried his face in his hands. “Chief Secretary.”
“Yes, Mr. President.”
“Not long ago, we were at war. Isn’t that right?”
“Yes.”
“War... War is truly horrific.”
At one point, most of South Korea had been obliterated. They had been pushed to the brink of destruction before barely clawing their way back.
It wasn’t just Korea that had gone through such a tragedy, either. Other nations had been steadily pushed back by the monstrous beings known as Malicious Spirits.
Only once those threats were finally resolved had the world finally begun its attempt to return to normal.
“Mr. President... Did you receive some sort of declaration of war from another country at the meeting?” the Chief Secretary asked.
The President slowly lifted his head. “I’m not entirely sure, but... were they not soldiers?”
“Pardon...?”
“Individuals from another world have begun military provocations with clear intent to disrupt and destabilize our society. The problem is, while they possess the power to cross into our world, we have absolutely no way to track them in return.”
They were facing a one-sided invasion.
If it came down to raw firepower, Earth would hold the advantage with its advanced firearms. Unfortunately, those kinds of guerrilla-style attacks would only lead to brutal battles of prolonged attrition.
“Is this coming from... Tionis?”
“Some rumors claiming that have already been circulating, I've noticed. What do you think?”
“Well... From what I’ve heard of the Saint of Tionid, if he truly intended to start a war, he wouldn’t be using lives as bargaining chips.”
There was no need for him to even bother, frankly.
“He’d just cross over to Earth and start smashing everything himself. He has that kind of power.”
No one could really explain why someone with such overwhelming strength chose to live such a humble life. However, if that was how things were, all they could do was hope he’d continue being benevolent.
* * *
Conflict zones, by their very nature, were places where entry was nearly impossible due to frequent hostilities.
“This is a restricted area! Who are you?”
“I’ve come from the Imperial Capital. I'm Inspector Shuneria Recken, and this is my colleague.”
“Shuneria Recken?
Ah...
”
Realizing she was one of those nobles who had defected from another nation, the soldier frowned. His expression was far from welcoming.
“No official orders have come through, but go on in. You're
still
an inspector, I suppose.
Tsk
.”
The gate opened with less resistance than she’d expected to receive.
“For someone like you, getting inside wouldn’t be too hard, anyway.”
“There won’t be anything difficult beyond that, either,” Davey responded.
“I can help. I might be mocked, but... they can’t outright ignore my official duties and capacity.”
Individuals like her were treated even worse than the average noble of the Nacha Empire.
In particular, her ducal house of Recken had a history of supporting the resistance, and was bound to receive even harsher treatment than most.
“I’ll request information about her, under my authority as an inspector from the officer managing this unit. Could you... wait nearby?”
At her words, Davey glanced down at his own hands. The subtle imbalance he felt in his body was merely an excuse. The truth was, until he understood Reina’s situation, he was holding back so he could maintain his optimal combat condition.
If he was willing to, he could do whatever he wanted with little to no effort.
“Please just wait here, there’s no need to make this more complicated than it is. All I need to do is go straight there and get the information.”
In a way, her proposal to get in without facing resistance wasn’t all that bad.
“Let’s go with that.”
He also supported her because, frankly, he liked her style.
Davey wondered how far Reina planned on running. Normally, he would’ve been able to pinpoint her exact location with ease, yet that wasn’t possible for the moment.
It seemed word of the young lady from the ducal house Recken had spread.
Her father had been executed for resisting the Empire, yet she had survived by disowning her parents and paying bribes to save both herself and her younger siblings.
Passing through a barracks where the tension from repeated combat hung in the air, they made their way to the officer’s quarters.
Inside, they saw a man drinking with two women clinging onto him.
“
Huh?
The hell? I said no one gets in.” Clearly drunk, the man shoved the women off his lap and scowled.
“I’m Imperial Inspector Shuneria Lekken. I’m here on official business.”
At that, he mumbled her name a couple of times, then gave a slow nod. “
Ah.
That jogs my memory.”
While her rank was higher than his, he didn’t seem to care. He shamelessly swept his eyes over her body.
Perhaps it was her striking looks, or her figure that caught the eyes of men. Either way, lust flickered across his face.
Shuneria, as if used to such behavior, simply stood in silence.
“Well, well, well. What brings such a high-and-mighty lady to a shabby place like this? He set his bottle down and stood, slowly placing a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t tell me you’re here to have a little fun with me?”
“I’ve heard someone came through here.”
“Hey, c’mon, forget that boring stuff. Come over here, yeah?” He pulled her in and sat down, then patted his thigh, signaling for her to sit on him. It was outright disrespect.
Her fists clenched. “Please... stop.”
Even as his hand brushed down her back and reached toward her legs, she swallowed her outrage and stood still. “If this continues, I’ll you to the Imperial authorities.”
“
Heh.
Big talk from a whore who bowed her head to the Empire just to survive...”
Contempt and scorn. It was the treatment all fallen nobles received.
She glanced at Davey, signaling him to stay put no matter what.
“Just answer the question. A young woman should’ve passed through here.” She then continued by describing Reina’s appearance in detail.
He froze momentarily before a brief flash of recognition crossed his face.
‘So he knows.’
“
Hmm.
Doesn’t ring a bell.” However, he chuckled and pretended otherwise.
“You know who she is, I can tell. Just tell me. We need to find her quickly. It’s an order.”
“Orders, orders...” Scowling, he suddenly grabbed her arm and yanked hard.
“
Kyah!
”
Her slender figure was dragged into his arms.
“Like I said, I don’t know.”
“Stop lying!”
His behavior had shown he clearly knew something.
Licking his lips, he sneered. “Alright. How about this, lady? I’m sure you’ve flirted your way through every noble you could just to stay alive, haven’t you? Then, just do it again. Spend one night with me, and I’ll tell you where that woman is.”
“What?!”
“You do know where you are standing, right? Everyone, and I mean
everyone
in this unit answers to me. No one cares if a filthy thing like you threatens anyone. From what I can tell, if you can’t get the info you came for, things get pretty dangerous for you too... Don’t they?”
It was an enormous humiliation for a noble daughter to be treated like a whore. However, Shuneria gritted her teeth and endured it.
“So... just be a good girl for today and come to—”
The moment he reached toward her again, his gaze shifted to Davey. “Why not send your bodyguard out? You brought some young guy with you? What, you two got something going on?”
He sneered as he shot the mocking question at Davey.
Shuneria instinctively sensed something wrong and gave him a desperate look, silently signaling him not to cause a scene no matter what.
However, the more she endured, the more vile the commander became.
He reached toward her again, right in front of Davey.
That was when it hit. He had witnessed it all—the foolishness of a girl willing to endure humiliation for the sake of her mission.
Not every Saintess candidate was as selfless as Lena had been, surely, but the one before him was just a little stupid and far too naive.
When Davey took a single step forward, she reflexively shook her head. He could tell that she was telling him she had it under control. Yet since it was all the result of trusting her, he couldn’t help but feel anger.
Snap!
His fingers flicked in the air.
Boom!!
The officer was instantly slammed into an invisible wall of air as if he'd been launched, then hit the ground and rolled in agony.
“
Guh! Ugh...
”
“Shuneria,” Davey said in a low tone.
Shuneria, frozen in place, dropped to her knees. Her legs gave out because of the cold contempt and rough treatment she endured, while knowing full well the fear that came with it.
Once she collapsed, Davey looked down at her, disgusted. “Was this your plan? You walked in here without even predicting how scum like him might behave?”
She said nothing facing his harsh rebuke. She simply lowered her head in shame.
They had made it that far without any resistance. However, there was no reason to bow to someone who refused to cooperate.
‘Should I kill him? Yeah, I should. He’s nothing, just another insignificant living being from some outer dimension. There wouldn’t even be any consequences.’
These thoughts squirmed in the back of his mind like a sudden impulse. However, he wasn’t so weak as to let them sway him.
Even when the authority of the Predatory Assimilation had gone berserk, he’d still maintained some degree of control. There was no way he’d fold because of a mere impulse.
Davey slowly stepped forward and looked down at the man coughing on the ground.
“Y-You bastard! Do you even know who I—
urk?!
” He initially shouted in rage, unable to believe he’d been attacked, yet his words cut off the moment Davey gripped his face.
“
Ggh. Krrrk?!
”
“Let’s not make this complicated.”
The moment their eyes met, fear flashed across the man’s face.
Davey had set up a barrier to block all interference, and a fraction of the power he had aimed at him began to bleed out.
The crushing force was so overwhelming that the man looked like he would lose consciousness at any second.
“The woman. Where did she go?” His calm question made the man tremble uncontrollably.
[Answer me.]
His icy cold Dragontongue rang out. The source of the power was the ancient dragon, Eclipse. Her Dragontongue held terrifying power.
[If you lie to me, you’ll find yourself in a state where you can’t live or die. Do you understand what that means?]
The man shook violently.
The power that Shuneria couldn’t see or sense encroached the man. He nodded madly, like someone who’d just glimpsed a nightmare.
* * *
“
Uhhh.
Excuse me!” After leaving the officer’s quarters, Davey heard Shuneria calling out from behind.
“What?”
He knew she’d be in shock, having just been through a brutal humiliation as a young woman.
Yet she forced herself to follow him and speak up, “I-I just thought I should tell you... I’ve never... I’ve never slept with a man before.”
“So?”
“I-I’m just saying! So you don’t misunderstand or anything...”
“I don’t know what you expect to gain from saying that, and I’m not planning to make any misunderstandings. Plus, I have no reason to.”
Without a word, he reached out and gently patted her head. For some reason, she felt different from Evangeline in his heart.
She was like a cute daughter, but not quite. It was more like the feeling he got when he looked at Winley or Aeonitia, similar to a sister.
“Anyway... This, I definitely didn’t expect.”
Finding where Reina turned out to be easier than expected.
Though upon further thoughts, of course it had. There was no one left who could lay a hand on her!
In the middle of a vast plain littered with corpses—soldiers from both the resistance and the Empire alike—a woman dressed in black with dark hair stood alone, her head bowed.
“Reina...”
“Oh my god...”
Seeing her so drastically different from when Shuneria had first encountered her, she wiped tears from her eyes.
Davey had told her that she wasn’t in a good state. Still, she was far worse than she had expected.
The power flowing from her wasn’t the usual holy power of Goddess Freyja.
“That damned goddess...” Davey wondered when the change had happened.
Reina was no longer a Celestial of Goddess Freyja. She seemed to have become something else, bound to him instead.
The distant, disparate energy that had arisen from his change was now thick within her as well.
Reina, standing still in silence, slowly lifted her head.
Her hands were stained red with blood. It became clear that she was the one who had killed all the humans scattered across the field.
“Whichever side you’re part of, please... don’t come any closer...” she said in a voice filled with desperate sorrow.
Davey couldn’t help but lament that it was all his fault. He was late and had failed to control himself, ultimately turning her into who she had become.
That responsibility weighed on him like a crushing burden.
“Reina.”
At the sound of his voice, she flinched and looked up. Her blood-red, corrupted eyes fixed on him.
At the same time, hundreds of energy blades that had been buried in the earth rose into the air like stars filling up the sky. They were apparently at odds with her own intentions.
“Go back! I can’t control myself right now!” she desperately shouted.
Davey sighed in response.
“W-We need to run! Now!” Shuneria, seeing the overwhelming presence with her own eyes, turned pale and grabbed his arm. “We need to retreat! Something’s really wrong here!”
However, Davey ignored her. Instead, he threw his fist into the air with such force that it distorted space itself.
Crack!!
The air shattered like glass, and from within the crack, a single sword emerged.
Super Ribbon.
The crimson and blue longsword quickly slipped into his grip.
If Reina had only become like that because of him, then at the very least, he had to be the one to put things right.

Chapter 1205