The Max Level Hero Has Returned!

A seemingly ordinary soldier was now hurling an enemy weighing hundreds of kilograms. The enemies’ flesh, impenetrable mere moments ago, had become easy to tear apart. The soldiers’ newly amplified strength was enough to crush them.

"Whoa! My body feels as light as a feather!"

The soldiers, who had been retreating in fear moments before, now roared with an invigorated spirit, but it was unclear whether their cries were out of joy or out of agony.

Right after Davey’s command, the tide of battle began to turn from overwhelmingly unfavorable to even.However, that was not the end of the problem.

"I will join the battle immediately!"

Davey grabbed the two generals, who were ready to lead the soldiers and leap into the heart of the battlefield. "I mean no offense, but I hope that none of you act impulsively with excessive greed."

"We will send a messenger to His Majesty at once."

Squeeeeeak!!!

Davey summoned the Vermillion Bird, which he instructed to bring the two generals into the midst of the battlefield. Meanwhile, Perserque sighed deeply, as if she found it all too bothersome, and undid the fluttering parts of her winged robe.

"I really don't like sticking out with such a conspicuous disguise."

"Please talk to the Celestial Maidens when they wake up."

"What should I tell them? I don’t think anything I say would convince them."

"Just mix a little threat and deception, and they will understand things on their own," Davey spoke calmly as he slowly activated the basic meditation spell that facilitated mana circulation.

But compared to Tionis, it was clear that the movement of mana was sluggish, and its amount was sparse.

"Hmm... There’s not much mana in here.”

Tionis had absurdly abundant mana, unlike the Heavenly Central Plains, which harbored an ample amount of qi instead. In areas abundant with mana, the circulation was efficient, which brought a significant difference in the speed and effectiveness of magic manifestation. But here, it was impossible. In other words, Davey could not claim to be in perfect condition.

"Agh!!"

The atmosphere on the battlefield suddenly began to shift.

"We... our attacks are not effective!!"

Instead of using mana to coat their swords, the humans here used qi instead, and the resulting blade energy could cut through things that normal swords could not. But what if a special monster that looked like a Banshee, a being that was said to be born from necromancy and demonic energy, appeared in this sacred-powerless land?

"That makes no sense!!"

Perserque was the most surprised by their sudden appearance. Was it because she was a demon and a former demon lord? No. There was another reason for her horror.

"Banshees are a kind of demon too!"

Abyssal monsters were beings that did not belong to this world. They were creatures forged from an indescribable number of negative thoughts. So as beings of the Abyss, Banshees should not have existed in this world. At least, that was what Perserque believed. Davey, on the other hand, had a different opinion.

"No, the Abyss is really just another face of Tionis. It’s not strange to have something like Banshees."

"But..."

"It may look quite like a Banshee at first sight, but isn’t it a bit different if you look carefully?”

These creatures were somewhat alien.

“The point is, it’s still tough to deal with them even with your buff magic, Davey.”

"What are you trying to say, Perserque?"

"Let me go. I’ll deal with those Banshees directly..."

"There’s no need," Davey said, watching soldiers flee from the Banshees’ attacks.

"There’s no need, you say... But you can’t use holy power right now, so..."

"You’re the most important thing to protect right now. Who would put someone in most need of protection in battle?"

"But still..."

"All that matters is that the attacks hit, right?"

An impact was all they needed in a situation where hits would not land. And there were two ways to resolve this problem. One was to use the Holy Weapon magic, and the other way was to sprinkle holy water on weapons. But considering that Davey’s holy power was depleted to dangerous levels, and holy water was also in critically short supply, using holy magic was not an option.

The nature of the Banshees was not entirely clear, but the fundamental rule of physical interactions should be similar in this world and in the Abyss. It was still the other side of the same coin, after all.

"Could it be... you’re trying to invoke Goddess Freyja?"

What Perserque was referring to was the second-tier ability of the Saint title—invoking the main goddess, Freyja. However, having been burned once, Davey wasn’t too keen on taking that path.

"I'm not doing that, and I don't have enough holy power right now."

“But then how?” Perserque’s face was filled with confusion, unable to understand where Davey was going with his plan.

He simply motioned for her to silently watch. He then took out a Spirit Stone he had prepared extra in his Pocket Plane and shattered it.

"Slaimmy."

Upon his call, enormous currents of water began to appear out of thin air and coalesced together. "Since I've summoned you using a Spirit Stone, you'll have to do a big favor for me."

In response to his words, a female figure made of water emerged from the vortex and slowly descended to speak to Davey.

[What do you wish for? The spirit world is also in chaos...]

"Can you merge with the atmosphere and bring down rain?"

[Dark clouds are all around, so it shouldn’t be hard.]

Relying on the power of Black Tortoise would’ve worked too, but this would be more effective.

"Right now, humans are taking a lot of damage. And it seems like the Abyssal scum predicted the synergy from my buff magic."

‘Cute little jerks.’

The atmosphere itself was balanced, but as the Banshees ran wild, it would eventually turn disadvantageous for the humans’ side again.

‘So. Let’s put an end to their pathetic little pranks right here.’

[...Banshees, huh? But Summoner, you have used all your holy power...]

"Just make it rain," Davey insisted and slowly reached out his hand.

And then, he gave Slaimmy's watery form a crushing embrace.

[What... What are you doing?!]

As she panicked, the water streams flowing from her body shot out into the skies behind her.

Holy water was typically made by collecting clean water in a huge vat bearing the remnants of a god and letting it sit for a few days. And since Davey bore the divine stigma, he was practically the most sacred of relics.

Slaimmy's power triggered a significant shift in weather, and rain began to pour.

Drip…Thud…Thud thud thud!!

‘Take it. This is holy water made on the spot.’

Swoooooosh!!!

The downpour started in earnest. And then...

Chwoooooosh!!

"Uh-oh?!"

"The attack works!"

Once their weapons came in contact with the rain of holy water, the soldiers' swords were finally able to rend the flesh of the Banshees.

[This is simply amazing. I never imagined that you’d create holy water on such a scale...]

With this approach, there was no need to use any holy power. A king of spirits and a being with a sacred stigma—it was the result of these two elements coming together.

Eventually, as Slaimmy’s form completely diffused and merged with nature, Davey slowly turned his head. "Hmm..."

"Don’t misunderstand, Perserque."

“I didn’t misunderstand anything.”

"Seems to me like you did."

“Are you pleased, Davey?” Perserque asked with a disgruntled expression.

"Not at all."

Perserque chuckled softly at Davey’s answer.

If she was the type to get jealous over such things, she would not have been the one to tell Davey to accept Aeria in the first place. But dissatisfaction seemed to tinge her expression when she said it. So perhaps she did feel slightly jealous, albeit unwittingly.

"Let’s clean up this mess and pull an all-nighter for a few days."

Pink instantly bloomed on Perserque’s face.. "What... What are you saying?!"

Anabelle tilted her head, looking at Perserque with an intrigued expression on her face, and Dirro mirrored her gesture.

"What... what are you looking at!" Perserque's outcry resounded as the precarious balance of the battle began to settle again.

Davey then spoke to Ifrit, whom he had just summoned. "Ifrit. Lavatein."

The giant made of fire drew his sword of flame without needing further instructions. Because Davey’s will was Ifrit’s will.

[Burn, you worms.]

Lavatein, the special sword in Ifrit’s hand, produced a tremendous flame. Ifrit gripped the sword tightly before casting a tidal wave of fire toward the sky.

Whooooooom!!!

The firepower was so tremendous that it burned through everything it touched and vaporized the rest. Then, shockingly, at an empty space where the beings of the Abyss had been using all their power to perform a strange ritual, a massive piece of flesh began to materialize, morphing into a terrible creature.

If their power couldn’t be sensed, it could only mean one thing: they were doing something sneaky. That was why Davey had intended for Ifrit to burn everything with Lavatein.

The massive lump of flesh, which was over two hundred meters in size and now aflame, stood tall against the heavens. The soldiers on the battlefield looked up in confusion at the sudden presence in the sky, but Davey's shout jolted them back to focus.

"Did I say you’re allowed to die?!"

Thanks to his shout, a gleam returned to the soldiers' eyes, and the battle reignited. "Muahahaha! Die!! Die, you fiends!"

"It's time for vengeance!!"

As he watched the mayhem of the ongoing battle, Davey didn’t feel worried, thinking that they could handle the enemies for some time.

Swoooooosh!!!

The life form emerged unscathed from the torrential rain of holy water and the engulfing flame of Lavatein. At first glance, it was nothing more than a lump of flesh, but upon closer inspection, it actually looked a little like a hideous, deformed carp with a terrible color. The creature slowly opened its mouth wider and wider, finally letting out a massive roar.

"What in the world is that..."

"Something's going on inside of it. That fish thing probably created the fog."

Lavatein and Ifrit vanished after Davey’s retrieval command, and with Red Ribbon in one hand, Davey stepped forward, raised his other hand, and snapped his fingers.

"Move."

Above him, the shadow of a huge dragon with black scales and feathers whizzed by, and along with it was a sudden storm surging past Davey. Megalodria, the Azure Sky’s Storm Dragon King, began concentrating a tremendous force inside his mouth. And without needing to be told anything, he blasted out a beam of highly concentrated storm breath at the monstrous carp floating in the sky.

Zzzzang!!!

The vast light blasted open a circular hole in the clouds, cleanly erasing some of the monster's flesh from existence.

Swooooosh...

At that moment, Davey felt a hint of Oedon’s familiar power, and he did not hesitate to leap into the fray.

Meanwhile, the monster began to stir after receiving a fatal blow from Lavatein and Megalodria's breath..

"I'd like to kill you and end the war quickly, but..."

The chances of doing that seemed to have slimmed. But Davey would at least prevent further reinforcements from coming. He immediately jumped into the air, and as he did that, the carp's scales flipped open, revealing hundreds and thousands of eyes that all stared at him. The carp’s eyes had a presence powerful enough to turn someone to stone just by looking at them, but Davey was unfazed.

"You think a bunch of eyes are enough to petrify me? I’ve seen worse things and monsters than you."

Davey could feel something akin to Oedon's power coming from within the carp. He was also clearly aware of the ghastly sensations brought about by the ongoing ritual. It would be foolish of them to think he would idly sit and watch as they finished their ritual.

[Transcendental Longsword]

[Major Catastrophe]

[Mountain Slice]

It was the longsword that Davey first used in a real fight. He amplified the power of the Mountain Slice, a variation of Mountain Splitter, by pouring an immense amount of mana into it. It would be great if simply cutting down the carp ended things, but that did not seem likely.

For now, he would focus on destroying the enemy's fortifications. And so, the unleashed crimson blade energy soon split the huge carp that was floating in the sky. He had been wanting to try this.

"Nice shot, Boss."

Riiiip…

With a chilling sound of cutting flesh, the huge head of the carp was sliced off diagonally and started to fall.

Boom!!!

The massive backlash caused by the disrupted ritual began to spread in all directions.

[9th Circle Lightning Elemental Magic]

[Fury of the Heaven]

The lightning coming down from the sky was tens of meters across. While it may not be as huge as the enemy that boasted two hundred meters in size, lightning of such breadth was still calamitous.

"Have a taste of Odin’s specialty."

He had to strike at his enemy before anything else happened, and this lightning was precisely the preemptive strike that would assure his victory. It rained down, engulfing everything that had been thrown into disarray by the failed ritual. It even destroyed all the high-ranking Abyssal entities that had begun to mobilize to stop Davey.

He reminded himself of the first-strike principle: the one who strikes first wins. And he had struck first.