The Max Level Hero Has Returned!

They all felt the madness and obsession hidden within Davey, along with something else.

Davey, crouching low so that he could swing his massive hammer again, let out an eerie laugh.

“I just need to kill you.”

There was something more intense than his madness—something twisted.

“Because of you…”

As soon as Davey took a step forward, eyes glowing fiercely, a massive gust of wind erupted, sending the surroundings into chaos.

“Because of you, I went through a lot of trouble.”

He then grinned and slammed the ground with immense force.

[Hmph!?]

He struck the ground one more time.

Eclipse instinctively summoned a tangible barrier. At the same time, the space behind her twisted and a massive dragon’s claw shot out.

It was a truly instantaneous counterattack.

The dragon’s front paw tore through space, aiming to rip Davey apart. But just before it reached him, an invisible barrier consumed it entirely—it vanished as if something immense had bitten it away. They weren’t the claws of a fully manifested ancient dragon, instead artificial.

“Heh… Hehe…” Davey chuckled grimly, swinging his hammer once more.

Thud!!

Davey had already landed an attack three times. Eclipse—or rather, Thanatos—realized something was going terribly wrong. In a panic, she clasped her hands together to manifest her divinity.

[Absolute Dragontongue]

[Step ba—]

But she couldn’t finish her dragontongue.

Davey, moving faster than she could handle, grabbed her head and slammed it into the ground. It was a harsh move for a small girl—enough to make anyone flinch—but no one intervened. It was partly because they couldn’t, but also partly because everyone knew the horrors the little girl, or rather, Thanatos, had committed.

[Davey… Ouch. That hurts…]

“Stop playing games, Thanatos.”

The shield around Eclipse shattered completely from the impact. Davey pressed her head down with one hand while raising his devil mana.

Whoosh!!

At that moment, dark red wings unfurled from his back. The blade-like wings gleamed with a sinister light, complementing his glowing black eyes.

“Blood Demonic Attack.”

Thanatos, instinctively sensing danger, tried to retreat with a kick at Davey. She couldn’t figure out what Davey had gone through in such a short amount of time. Even as a god, Thanatos couldn’t comprehend what the delegate of Goddess Freyja was doing. Even so, she knew she had to get away.

‘Something’s not right. Goddess Freyja must’ve done something!’ she thought.

Thanatos remembered Davey not being able to truly harm her, no matter how powerful he was before. Hercules's power had been an annoyance, but the total amount of power he possessed wasn’t enough to be a real threat to her.

But now… things were different. Davey had discovered a way to strike Thanatos directly without having to use the power of taboo.

Terror.

For the first time since having a will, Thanatos felt the terror of extinction.

[Get away!!!]

Thud!!

An intangible force surged against Davey. But he consumed the Dragontongue and closed in. Even while getting injured, he pressed forward, grabbed Eclipse's head, and smashed it into the ground several times. The enormous divine power coursing through him pierced through Thanatos' divinity and directly damaged her.

[Heavenly Destroyer Divine Art]

[True Heavenly Sword Dance]

[Scattering Blossom Flash]

He used a martial art passed down through generations, taught to him by the leader of the Heavenrend Sect, the mentor and father of Ja-Seong and Ji-Hee at Heavenly Central Plains.

The true essence of this martial art, Heavenly Destroyer Divine Art’s Scattering Blossom Flash, surged forth as it let out divine power from Davey that awakened divinity.

He formed an energy sword in his hand before sending Eclipse’s body flying. Thanatos tried to strike down the pursuing energy swords, but they tore through her relentlessly—no, not through Thanatos, but through Eclipse whose body she had encroached.

Davey had already shattered Thanatos' defenses with the gigantic hammer, Corona Destroyer, and he had twisted the very essence of her being with the divine power that had awakened divinity.

To Thanatos, Davey was just a newborn who had only just awakened their divinity. And yet, he was accomplishing feats that took others thousands upon thousands of years.

Her soul wavered violently as each attack, completely different from his previous attacks, instilled the fear of extinction. And no matter how hard she tried to think positively, Davey didn’t seem like he was going to go down in just a few blows. Thanatos realized that she would truly be destroyed if things continued like this.

As she saw him smiling eerily, Thanatos quickly brought up her levels of god. She had accepted this disadvantage because she had no intention of dying regardless, but if she were to perish this way, she wouldn't be able to get anything out of it.

She figured if that was the case, then even if her divinity shook and her levels fell further…

She had to destroy him here.

[I command.]

[Your destiny…]

Just as she was about to perform Dragontongue…

[I command you in the name of the Goddess.]

[Follow the rules.]

The will of the primordial god, faster than her thoughts, blocked her. Thanatos, with part of her divinity suddenly restricted, widened her eyes in shock.

‘This can’t be happening. As long as the Abyss exists, Goddess Freyja shouldn’t be able to interfere like this, right?’ she thought.

She felt like something was rapidly destabilizing the Abyss itself. She widened her eyes even more as violent distortions took place in the space in the Abyss connected to her will.

‘Something’s not right.’

As Eclipse’s body twisted, the little girl clenched her teeth.

"Ah... Aaaa!!!"

With a fierce cry, her eyes flashed and her entire body was engulfed in black light, forcing Davey back. Davey, caught off guard by the sudden surge of immense power, was violently thrown back but landed softly.

“Haa. You’re resisting?”

Thanatos couldn’t tell how this could be the same person who had risked everything when fighting her just a while back. His madness was different from before; it was like a blade honed with lethal precision to kill a sworn enemy. As a pair of eyes flashed through the massive black whirlwind surrounding Eclipse, an intangible Fear surged out.

“Gaaa?”

The surviving humans collapsed while spraying blood. Many lost consciousness on the spot while others writhed in agony, coughing up blood from internal injuries.

“Wha... What...?”

Normally, the Fear would’ve killed ordinary humans instantly. But whether intentional or not, Davey’s battle energy overwhelmed and suppressed Eclipse’s Fear.

Boom!!

Suddenly, a colossal dragon hundreds of meters long tore through the black whirlwind. She roared with tremendous power as she began to gather energy in her mouth.

Davey couldn’t help but smile at the attempt.

Crack!!

Surprisingly, Davey stopped her breath attack before she could unleash it. The strange devil mana had disrupted the mana she was using to make her breath. This wasn’t something just anyone could pull off—only those who were hit by Eclipse’s breath multiple times would know how to do it.

Yet this was the first time she had used it—Thanatos couldn’t figure out how Davey knew. He didn’t fully deflect the breath; instead, he distorted just enough of the mana flow so that Eclipse would suffer the backlash herself. Eclipse might’ve been able to withstand the power on her own, but Thanatos, who had taken over her body, still couldn’t fully control the ancient dragon body which was nearly at the level of a god.

“Come here,” Davey saId softly, approaching step by step.

Thanatos couldn’t comprehend how Eclipse’s breath had been destroyed and reflected back before she unleashed it.

In the past, she had encountered a monstrous wizard capable of forcibly stopping a Polymorph before it was fully cast, but that wizard had long since disappeared. Moreover, she knew the delegate of Freyja standing before her certainly didn’t possess such power.

‘But then… How??!!!’

Even though she had taken over Eclipse’s body, she couldn't yet summon her full power, which was why she had gone with her breath. Surprisingly, her breath failed and she even seriously injured her body.

Thanatos knew she couldn’t let things continue like this. If she kept trying to counter the power of the Goddess Freyja and the monstrous delegate, she knew she might disappear before she could finally achieve her goals.

‘Let’s get out of here.’

The fear of fleeing and extinction, which had never occurred to her as a god, began to creep into her mind.

As Davey closed in to finish her, a black energy swirled in his hands.

It was none other than devil mana imbued with divinity.

Thanatos instinctively knew she was in danger. She tried to dodge, but as expected from her nonphysical body, she couldn’t move as fast as she wanted. Alas, if it weren't for her unique position as a created god, she would be using her own body to fight seamlessly.

She desperately used her massive tail to create a storm in an attempt to slow Davey’s advance and successfully flee. She knew that her enormous body would be harder to control if he managed to hit it—if Eclipse's consciousness reawakened even a little, it would create a fatal opening. Even though Thanatos had completely taken over her body, she was well aware of how astonishingly strong an ancient dragon’s mental fortitude was.

“Hah... Ha... Ha… Thanatos, don’t run away. If you run away...”

‘I’ll have to go through that hellish training again,’ he thought.

Thanatos panicked as she saw Davey approach with an eerie smile. In desperation, she slammed the ground with her massive front paw, causing the surrounding area to become a quagmire. Swamp-like waves rolled toward him, blocking his path.

Of course, this was just a stalling tactic—initially choosing to stay and fight was a painful mistake on her end. By underestimating him, delegate Davey, she had pretty much handed her life to him on a platter. She knew things wouldn’t have been like this if she had prepared, if she had known and feared the possibility of her own death despite being a god.

The being called Davey had managed to transcend divinity in his attacks, being able to directly attack her while ignoring defenses. She only remembered having felt such fear for one other disruptor from the past—one of those so-called heroes.

[There are no second chances.]

Davey blew the black swamp away with devil mana. He advanced to finish Thanatos. She gathered all the divinity she could and desperately fired a black spear to halt his progress.

She assumed he would back off if he realized the dangers of her attack. However, the fact that even this judgment was wrong made Thanatos shake.

Davey struck down the black spear without hesitation. Though the spear split like a snake and pierced his abdomen, Davey didn’t stop.

[Ah... Ahhh!!]

Eclipse, possessed by Thanatos, let out a cry.

It was at that moment that Thanatos felt like she might actually die and disappear forever. Even worse, it was going to be at the hands of an insignificant mortal.

Without realizing it, she made a decision she had never made before as a god.

She fled.

Davey’s expression inevitably twisted in frustration when he realized Thanatos had made a run for it.

“Is that bastard running away?”

As if merely driving away the creature that had obliterated several city-states in a matter of hours wasn’t enough, Davey let out explosive energy from his body. Divine power, devil mana, elemental mana—all kinds of forces blended and poured out, making those seeing him tremble in fear.

But his surge didn’t last long.

In an instant, a young silver-haired woman appeared from torn space and flew toward Davey. She wrapped her arms around him and jumped together into the space that had begun to open once more, disappearing in a blink. She was none other than Perserque.

All that remained were those who had witnessed the devastating battle between Davey and Thanatos.

“Your Majesty... That man...”

“I feel like I’ve seen him somewhere...” The king murmured, unable to recall who Davey was. He seemed familiar, but he couldn’t pinpoint him.

He continued to contemplate. Suddenly, it dawned on him, and he made a face on why he hadn’t been able to recall the man from the beginning.

“Davey... O’Rowane… The saint of the continent.”

“The saint of the continent? Do you mean Prince Davey, Your Majesty?”

“Yes... I’m sure I saw him at the Continental Council. But...”

But he couldn’t figure out why he wasn’t able to remember him from the start. He knew he didn’t have any symptoms of dementia yet, so that couldn't be it.

The king remained in his chair for a long time, staring blankly at the ruined castle as his lost memories slowly resurfaced.

* * *

Davey crashed to the floor as he was sucked back into the space. Immediately, Perserque and Illyna grabbed his arms as if prepared before Daphne came running over.

“This little bastard really knows how to cause trouble!”

Smack!

She slapped Davey across the face without hesitation, then placed her hands over his heart.

“You stupid idiot! Getting controlled by your own power like that! What if you’d died unexpectedly? You think anyone was going to put a tombstone up for you or something? Do you miss being buried underground or something!?”

Ching!!!

“Ugh!! Cough! Cough!”

With a painful cough, the snake-like object in Davey’s abdomen wriggled out. The black snake condensed and morphed once more, reformed into the black spear Thanatos had thrown at him earlier before fleeing. But soon after, it disintegrated into powder and vanished.

At the time, Davey hadn’t had the luxury to figure out what it was—his sole focus had been on killing Thanatos right in front of him.

“Hey, you crazy fucking idiot. You were fighting with something like that stuck inside you the whole time? Were you planning to die?” Daphne scolded him.

“How could I focus on something like this when I was busy fighting for my life?”

“You know, I bet that mouth of yours won’t stop even if you die. Always blah blah blah. Did you want us to carry your own coffin on our shoulders and celebrate or something?!”

“Hah... I didn’t realize,” Davey chuckled weakly.

It seemed Thanatos wasn’t the only one who had underestimated their opponent.

“Sigh… At least it ended well. Even Thanatos didn’t expect you to tap into divinity,” Daphne continued.

Though Thanatos now knew Davey had unlocked divinity, the situation had balanced out with all the gains he was able to get.

“But is it really possible to kill Thanatos like this?” Illyna asked.

“If it wasn’t, we wouldn’t have even tried. But that’s not what you’re curious about, is it?” Daphne snapped.

“We’ve done so much to bring down Thanato’s levels… Right? But...” Illyna trailed off.

“Just get to the point,” Daphne said sharply.

“I thought... maybe things were getting resolved too easily...”

“Easily?” Daphne smirked. She then glared at Illyna.

“DId you say your name is Illyna?”

“Ah... Yes, Illyna de Pallan, Princess of the Pallan Empire...

“In this world, nothing is free,” Daphne said, her voice cold.

Nothing is free. The weight of her words were heavy.

“Does that mean… something’s wrong with Davey?” Aeria asked, her voice panicked.

Daphne sighed softly and looked at her.

“What do you think he had to lose?” Daphne replied calmly.

“Lose? What do you mean?”

“Karma.”

“Karma?”

“Karma is what this guy’s accumulated so far, right?”

At first glance, it didn’t seem like a big deal. Everyone thought it might even be something trivial. But what Rho Aias said next left everyone speechless.

“Karma is the record of a person’s existence itself, whether good or bad. If it disappears, it means that person’s existence disappears—their records, memories, and everything they’ve impacted.”

“...”

Davey remained silent. He had already witnessed someone go through something similar before.

“So... does that mean we’ll all forget Davey now?”

“The small connections will disappear first. It is only when Davey’s divinity is fully realized that everything will be forgotten.”

The human and demigod Davey O’Rowane would cease to exist, and a deified Davey would awaken in his place.

“Doesn’t this sound similar to somebody else’s experience?”

Davey realized that Rho Aias, the Death Lord ,had disappeared because of this same concept. The reason Rho Aias had been able to die as a human was that she never became a complete god.

Davey thought again about what Daphne had said. He knew this was the most surefire way to defeat Thanatos—trying to bring her levels down using the Absolute Gem was a dangerous gamble. Still, losing all of his accumulated karma was not something to be taken lightly.

Daphne, sensing his confusion, cleared things up for him.

“Of course, I wouldn’t erase you from this world without your consent. Don’t worry—even if there are some confusions, no one will forget you right away.”

This meant another hero had been sacrificed.

“Who do I have to thank for that?” Davey asked.

“The Mythical Beast Summoner, Shane Scrift. He was the hero of Lux Continent and the one who taught you about mythical beasts.”

He was gone now.

“He decided he had nothing more to teach you and volunteered to disappear of his own accord.”

“What the hell are you saying right now? You dare just say whatever you want regardless of anyone’s feelings?!”

“Don’t cross the line, Davey. That was Shane’s choice. You have no right to speak against it.”

But then again, no one had the right to make such sacrifices in service of Davey’s life without his say. Worse, he couldn’t bring himself to say anything back because deep down, he knew who had caused them to disappear.

“Hercules told me to become a perfect god, saying that would be the best option. But when I hear textbook advice like that, I can’t help but want to do the opposite,” Davey muttered, frustrated.

“I feel the same way about this time, Davey,” Rho Aias added, slowly stroking Davey’s cheek. “So, you’re going to test the waters without fully awakening your divinity. If you do awaken, there won’t be any karma for you to use; you’ll surely be forgotten—the human named Davey will disappear.”

The plan was to push Davey to the brink of completing his divinity, destroy Thanatos, and then reseal his divinity so that Davey as a human would remain unforgotten. This would allow Davey to take care of Thanatos—one he could only kill with the power of a god.

It would be difficult and grueling to live and operate as an incomplete god, but the mere fact that it was possible gave the plan meaning and validity. This was the method and choice Daphne came up with.

But...

“Daphne. You know, don’t you?” Davey said, his voice serious.

There was one critical factor that made this plan flawed. The world only had three years left.

If Davey couldn’t become a god and reset the world’s cycle of vitality, the world would eventually collapse into nothing—concepts like space, time, matter, life, and gods would all cease to exist. In the end, Davey had no choice but to become a god. He wondered if it was truly necessary to make such sacrifices.

But Daphne gave him an unexpected response to his question.

“Why do you think it’s useless? No matter what you try, there should be a chance. We’re just buying time until then.”

“Why would you do this?!” Davey cried out.

Rho Aias hugged him from behind, her voice soft as she spoke.

“We’re already ghosts, Davey. We’ve lived long lives and then died.”

This meant that Shane Scrift had sacrificed himself willingly to give Davey the short extra time he could. And in the future, other heroes would continue to sacrifice their own karma to preserve his karma.

This thought made Davey feel bitter. But then, as if Daphne couldn't bear him making a sad face, she spoke up while trying her best to conceal her emotions.

“Rho Aias, I think he’s still holding up fine. Let’s continue.”

“What? Davey still needs to rest…”

“I’m fine. Let’s continue,” Davey said, interrupting her concern.

“Davey, don’t feel pressured to push yourself. If you move too hastily, you’ll just collapse.”

“I can handle it.”

Daphne sighed. “Davey.”

“I feel like I might be able to find another way.”

“Another way?” The others looked at him in confusion.

“But first, I need to increase my divine intervention,” Davey said in a resolute voice.

“Trials always have an eventual end. That’s what you always said.”

“…Do what you must,” Daphne said.

All they could do was trust him now. Daphne fell silent after those words.

ChubbyCheeks & FriedNook's Thoughts

Editorb’s Thought

I have failed you, reader. No clever response this time. Instead, here’s a totally 100% real pic of me, Orbalorbadingdong, having fun in the sun over this past summer.