The Max Level Hero Has Returned!-Chapter 1222

The Max Level Hero Has Returned!-Chapter 1222

Chapter 1222
The location where they’d ended up really rubbed Davey the wrong way.
“You don’t look so good.”
While Reina only seemed to feel a slight sense of unease, Davey felt something far worse. “You’re fine with all this? It’s been bothering the hell out of me from the start.”
It was as if a deep, inexplicable discomfort had wrapped around his entire body. It felt like something had triggered a sudden burst of anger, making everything around him seem irritating for no reason.
“What the hell did that damn goddess build in here?!”
The voice that had echoed out when he first touched the barrier never spoke again. Thinking back on it, this whole world felt completely inconsistent. From the fact that the heart of the continent was fully exposed, to the strange currents destabilizing his divinity, and the various forces escaping his control, there were just too many things that didn’t add up.
This place didn’t feel like just another dimension.
“It feels more like some kind of dream world.”
Everything, from the smallest detail to the system that made up the world, felt like it was part of a test server created by Goddess Freyja.
The problem was that a world so broken shouldn’t have been able to sustain life. Yet there it was, full of living beings.
If someone were to ask whether the humans of this world, including Princess Myurin, were just gears making up the system, Davey could confidently say no.
“But... What about the emperor’s soul that was inside him? What happened to it?”
“It was probably a lie,” Davey answered calmly as he walked toward the pulsing, massive heart.
The throne, which had acted as the demon’s medium, was shattered when the demon died, and the corruption had quickly vanished. For a final curse, it’d ended far too quietly.
“A lie?”
“Usually, the authority to take charge of souls lies with Woochi. Yet for a Death Lord like me, seeing a soul isn’t exactly difficult.” Davey had only seen one soul inside that demon.
“That’s... good, right?”
“His body was already taken. Judging by the absence of any remaining soul, he probably entered reincarnation long ago.”
“But still, doesn't it feel like it ended way too easily? I know they didn’t expect the absorption of your power to have such ridiculous drawbacks, but—”
Sensing something, Davey instinctively pulled Reina into his arms and stepped back.
Thump!
At the same time, an invisible pulse spread through the area where they had just been.
“
Ugh. Uhh.
”
As Reina grew flustered and turned red with embarrassment, Davey gently set her down and lifted his gaze. “You need to be more careful with what you say.”
‘Who did she learn that from, always stirring things up by running her mouth?’
“
Eek!
” When Davey dropped her to the ground, she let out a scream and fell on her butt. She looked at him, then her expression shifted to shock. “T-The heart! It looks like it’s splitting!”
“I know. Go back up, I think it’s calling to me specifically.”
Her face filled with discontent, though she ultimately nodded. She understood that it wasn’t the time to be stubborn. Looking from a distance, she shouted at Behemoth, who was still devouring the remaining abominations that hadn’t yet melted away, “Behemoth! Back off right now!”
“
Huh?
But I haven’t finished eating these things yet...” it murmured.
“I said move! And give me the blessing!”
Without asking for permission, she drew on Davey’s divine power. She spread her wings, turning into a flash of light and snatching up Behemoth. The two quickly soared out of the sinkhole.
‘Really? You keep planning to take advantage of prayer like that?’
While she’d borrowed a considerable amount of divine power, it wasn’t a major issue. Still, it left Davey with a strange, sour feeling akin to a parent dealing with a rebellious child.
Turning back to the heart’s surface, which was starting to crack, Davey reached out a hand, anchoring it in midair, and suppressed the crumbling heart.
‘The heart of the continent collapsing just because the demon’s heart was sacrificed?’
Ridiculous. The demon’s heart had some influence, but this was really the original purpose of the heart manifesting itself.
The heart soon began to violently spew out formless currents. Before it could affect the continent any further, Davey reached out with his free hand and started pressing down on the spreading waves, pulling them toward his hand. Although the immense energy that tried to spread was slowly being suppressed, the rebound force was nonetheless at an insane level.
Crrrk!!
He then began to draw in a massive amount of vitality. He was the Red Void King; the master of vitality; a divinity with authority. His form instantly shifted into a genderless divine form, the one most suitable for handling divinity.
His hair grew long and flowed behind him. He felt slightly shorter, but it didn’t matter. If he looked into a mirror, he knew he’d probably appear delicate—beautiful, even. Alas, there was no more stable form for channeling divine power. All his strength resonated with his will.
As Davey forcibly suppressed the rampaging heart, his vision turned a faint shade of blue.
Then, right after the heart’s violent energy clashed once with his power, something strange appeared in his field of vision. It was unfamiliar text, broken in places, yet strangely readable.
[Verifying quali... beginning synchronization with Prim... Commanded by the divine. Let there be trial.]
Rigid text floated in midair before him. At the same time, a unique energy seeped from the waves into his body. An invisible link was formed between Davey and the massive heart. Almost as if it had been waiting for that exact moment, his divine power responded to the connection and began to dull his consciousness.
His divine power, now resonating with the heart, began to act on its own, creating an imbalance he had been forcefully holding back. The powers that had been preventing his transformation began to shift, turning black and corrupting.
Even though his will stayed intact, the power began changing on its own, creating a deeply unpleasant sensation for him. Still, he forcefully suppressed the rampaging power. Maybe if he had prepared for such a scenario from the beginning, it wouldn’t have been such a problem. Regret came in waves, but in the end, it was a trial he would’ve had to face sooner or later.
Davey instinctively drew on even more power.
‘Let’s see who wins.’
[You're challenging divinity without preparation?]
At that moment, the voice that had spoken when Davey first arrived echoed again, but Davey didn’t respond. More precisely, he didn’t have the mental capacity to do so. Just stopping the collapse of the massive world was taking everything he had.
[Do not resist. The moment you, a qualified one, arrived here, the trial already began. Refuse, and not only you, but this entire space will fall apart.]
“Like hell! Who gave you that permission?”
[Your unrefined karma... The heart that would’ve erased the Black Disease is collapsing. Is there anyone who can protect your now-vulnerable body?]
Davey turned his head. Outside the barrier, Reina was staring at him with worry, and Behemoth looked straight at him in silence.
He didn’t need unwavering faith. There was no way to explain the situation to Reina. In his heart, he wished Illyna, his most reliable ally, was by his side, but she wasn’t there. So, Reina was his next best bet.
“Alright. Let’s do this.”
His consciousness abruptly detached from his body. It wasn’t quite like soul detachment, and something felt different.
* * *
Davey dropped to his knees.
Standing outside the barrier, Reina’s eyes widened as she saw Davey go completely still in front of the heart, like a puppet with its strings cut. “What the hell?!”
After giving Reina a brief glance, Davey relaxed and slowly sank down into place. At the same time, all the strength drained from his body. It appeared as if his consciousness vanished.
“What’s going on in there?”
The cracked heart continued to throb rhythmically. If something had gone wrong, it would’ve shown on Davey’s face. Yet when he’d looked at her for that brief moment, his expression had worn a faint smile of trust and dependence.
Boom!
Reina, sensing something, instinctively slammed her hand against the barrier. Alas, the solid wall didn’t even budge. The barrier she faced, which had formed in resonance with the heart, was weaker than the one that sealed the heart of the great forest. Even so, it was absurdly strong.
“Another barrier?!”
Bang! Bang!
She struck it repeatedly with her energy sword, but it wouldn’t break so easily. The barrier had been created to house a being with divinity, so of course it was strong.
“And I can’t even borrow more power right now...”
Things only escalated further from there. A massive column of dark violet light shot up from where Davey silently sat, piercing into the sky. A giant circular cloud spread out from the center of that beam, as if the sky itself had been pierced. The aftermath of the colossal force swept across the surrounding area, flipping the entire great forest upside down and triggering a massive upheaval of the earth.
The current itself felt cursed. Staring at the middle of it all, Reina clearly saw multiple figures appearing beside the unmoving Davey. They looked similar to him, but were clearly not the same. Each one radiated a power like immense elemental mana, holy power, devil mana, and even demonic force. However, the energies seemed far too dark and corrupted to be called his own.
Reina instinctively realized that they were meant to harm him.
Thump!
The heart of the continent pulsed, sending out invisible whips that lashed out toward the figures. It was as if the heart was declaring that it wouldn’t tolerate any harm to Davey. However, another fracture ran through the surface of the heart, and the whips shattered. They’d broken apart helplessly, the heart no longer having the power left to stop the intruders.
‘If it can’t even stop them properly, then at least get rid of this damned barrier!’
Despite Reina shouting in her mind, nothing changed. The heart desperately tried to protect Davey by creating more whips, only for them to shatter again and again.
[Get out of the way, you fool.]
Just then, Behemoth—who had remained silent until then—slowly opened its eyes. A massive wave of light erupted from its entire body, and it began to transform into its colossal true form. A gigantic, four-legged and white-bearded whale with countless tendrils rising off its body let out an earsplitting roar and charged straight into the barrier.
Bang!!!
Even with that earth-shaking, absurdly heavy impact, the barrier didn’t move an inch.
[
Aaargh!
Damn it, my head!]
Behemoth rolled on the ground in pain. Its massive form was too large to be fully seen in a single glance as it writhed around. However, it wasn’t done. As if declaring such a paltry performance wasn’t its limit, it released an even greater burst of power and began to grow larger, nearly doubling in size before ramming the barrier again.
Boom!!
“
Oh!
It moved!”
[For real?!]
“
Uuuhh.
No, I think I imagined it.”
[Shut your mouth before I eat you too!]
Bang!!
With so much mass, slamming into the barrier had to come with a ridiculous amount of recoil for Behemoth. The barrier was clearly focused heavily on deflection and rebound force. Even as damage built up across his enormous body, Behemoth didn’t hesitate—he continued ramming it recklessly.
Bam! Bam!!
The relentless bombardment continued. As she watched parts of its body begin to visibly distort from the accumulated damage, Reina shouted in desperation, “Stop! You’ll get yourself ki—!”
[You dare insult my pride?!]
Grrrk!!!
Unleashing every bit of power, he enlarged himself even more.
Of the three Mythical Beast Kings, Behemoth was by far the largest. Usually, he preferred to shrink its body due to its excessive size, yet at that moment, having a full contract with Davey and no limitations on its power, it didn’t matter.
“
Guoooo!!!
” With a roar that shook the skies, Behemoth raised one massive front limb. Just one foot was enough to completely cover the enormous sinkhole. It then opened its massive jaws and bit down on the barrier, applying overwhelming force.
Even facing a creature of a size that exceeded mere mass, the barrier refused to shatter. Reina grit her teeth hard.
Behemoth had become so huge that its body covered most of the great forest. Reina, being beneath it, felt like night had fallen.
“
Grrrhhh!!
”
While it was said that brute strength always comes at a cost, it showed no signs of stopping with its wild physical assault. Perhaps that was exactly why, for the first time, visible ripples appeared across the barrier.
Without hesitation, Reina stood up and gripped Longinus, the spear forged with divine material.
[Longinus, Second Form]
[The Spear Form]
Longinus transformed into a long spear, which Reina reversed in her grip. She then quickly gathered her focus.
If Illyna were there instead of her, she would’ve just sliced through the barrier with the Continuum-Attacking Blade. Alas that was a technique only Illyna could fully wield. Even Reina, her counterpart from the parallel world, couldn’t use it properly. Davey could imitate its power after devouring it with the authority of Predatory Assimilation, but he couldn’t wield it with the same finesse and power Illyna could.
“If I can’t do it perfectly, I’ll just fake it.”
An immense surge of power flowed from her body.
She couldn’t let Davey get hurt. To her, he was an irreplaceable savior, someone too precious to lose. Even if she had once let go of her sword; even if she’d been broken and become someone else; even if there was a difference in talent; none of that mattered now.
Crack.
She tightened her grip on Longinus. The look and smile Davey had given her moments before were unmistakable. He had let his guard down completely, placing his full trust in her. She knew there wouldn’t be a second chance.
Reina poured an intense concentration of mana into the spear and raised her head high. Her eyes burned with a radiant blue light as pure white wings burst forth from her back. Unlike before, there were no hints of black.
The Continuum-Attacking Blade left behind by the Sword God Ares was an absolute realm of skill only accessible to those with extreme talent. No ordinary person could even dare reach for it. Even if it was just an imitation, it didn’t matter for Reina. If Illyna could do it, so could she.
Reina forcibly pushed herself into that exalted realm, even if she could only do so for a fleeting moment.
Crack!!
She pierced beyond space and tore open a dimensional rift. As a result, a massive hole opened in the barrier.
“
Gaaahhh!!
”
Behemoth let out a pained roar, and instead of backing down, it clamped down harder on the barrier with increased force. If not for Behemoth, creating such an opening wouldn’t have been possible. The barrier, pressed from both sides, had been forced to its limit and sustained a thin crack down the middle.
Though created by a being with divinity, the barrier was unstable. That was what made it possible for them to break through it.
Without hesitation, Reina shot through the opening like a flash of light. Seeing the black entities close in on Davey, she unleashed her energy swords, knocking them back. They didn’t even acknowledge her interference. They slowly advanced, as if Davey were all that mattered.
His body, at the center of the giant pillar of light, remained completely still, his eyes peacefully closed.
“Who said you could sleep here?!” Reina shouted in frustration before reaching for him.
Crackle!!
“
Aaaahhh!
” Agonizing pain tore through her arm as she touched Davey inside the massive pillar. Her flesh had begun to burn away.
Reina clenched her teeth harder and pulled him out of the light. Her sleeves had already burned away, while her skin tore open in several places. Still, none of that mattered. Even if she would end up with scars, she didn’t care.
The moment Reina wrapped her wings around Davey, a massive veil of white light enveloped them both, shielding them.
Boom!!
Behemoth finally collapsed in the distance, unable to endure the damage any longer.
The barrier closed again, but that no longer mattered. She had already reached Davey.
Holding his ice-cold body tightly from behind, Reina buried her face into the nape of his neck. Shame then crept in. While chronic fear of men was weaker around Davey, so much physical contact was still a huge strain on her.
It was like someone with claustrophobia being trapped in a confined space. Cold sweat trickled down her back, and her hands trembled violently. However, Reina didn’t let go. She could tell that if she released him, the veil protecting them would vanish, and those black entities would tear his body apart.
She didn’t fully understand it, but her instincts screamed it. If his body was destroyed, he’d become something beyond saving, like Thanatos or Neltarid.
Her voice trembled with emotion as she clung tighter to Davey from behind, begging, “Please... don’t leave me behind. I’m still afraid to live in this world without you.”
It was as if she were bracing herself against the trauma that haunted her.
* * *
A massive surge of power overturned the entire dimension of Nacha.
In the isolated sector of the dimension, Evangeline, inside her lair, trembled as she held the black slime tightly against her chest.
“
Brrr.
What is going on? Why am I getting chills?” She lazily opened her eyes, clutching the silent, doll-like black slime that stared up at her without a word. “Kipsen Mk-6! Go turn up the heat, will you?”
As Evangeline watched the scarecrow guardian of the lair waddle off, she muttered, “I only get chills like this when something’s happening to Dad...”
Her intuition—a daughter’s intuition—was frighteningly accurate.

.
!
Chapter 1222