The Max Level Hero Has Returned!

The shift in atmosphere was inevitable as the tension in the room grew icy cold with Davey’s sudden move.

“Ugh… Do you even know who I am?!”

Davey stared at the man glaring at him with hostility for a long moment before tossing him aside.

“Cough… Cough, cough... You damn bastard! Take him down!!”

“What gave you the impression any of you could possibly take me down?”

Boom!!

Davey let a significant amount of mana surge out from his body. He understood why the man had ordered such a thing—there were always people like him—but that didn’t justify why Davey had to stand by and do nothing in a situation like this.

“Hrmph?! M-My mana…!”

“Our mana’s not moving!”

“My magic’s not working?”

This world was now driven by devil mana. It was a type of mana with a strict hierarchy. At this moment, Davey held enough authority and control to completely block their magic.

“Obviously. Who gave you permission to use magic against me?”

“Damn it! Manifest already!”

As the mages screamed in frustration, Davey looked at the man who was still glaring at him and calmly asked, “Do you want to use magic?”

“S-Shut up!”

“I’ll let you do it, just as you wanted.”

Snap!

With a flick of his fingers, his mana that had been suppressing their devil mana dissipated.

But instead—

“Wha—?! M-My mana! Aaaargh!!!”

Being set free, the mages tried to unleash dark magic. Shockingly, they wailed in pain as their bodies suddenly twisted.

“I let you use it. What’s your problem now?”

What Davey did was simple. He released the mana that was suppressing theirs—only to make it violently run out of control.

The mages, oblivious to this, tried using magic, but they weren’t skilled enough to handle the sudden surge of mana flow. As a result, their heart circles twisted, causing them intense pain.

“Gah!”

“Cough! M-Monster…”

They instantly collapsed, coughing up blood. It was only then that the mages seemed to finally understand the situation they were in. The realization of something they as mages believed impossible happening before their eyes overwhelmed them; they crumbled in pain.

“Ugh... I won’t let this one go. If you want war with the Ruby Tower…”

“W-War?! That’s not what we want!” The Tower Master of the Sapphire Tower shouted.

“Didn’t you see how this man attacked me first?! If this isn’t a declaration of war, then what is it?!”

Not knowing how to react, the Tower Master of the Sapphire Tower stood frozen. Davey slowly raised his hand to stop him and said, “Go ahead.”

“W-What?!”

“Do it. Declare war. Since the Sapphire Tower had nothing to do with me from the beginning, declare war on me alone. I’ll accept it,” Davey said calmly.

At his response, the man gritted his teeth.

“You’re so arrogantly confident in your personal strength!”

“Personal strength?”

Davey scoffed and waved his hand in the man’s direction.

Boom!

With the sound of an explosion, the man’s body violently shuddered before falling silent. Davey had ruptured his organs, killing him instantly.

“M-Mage Davey, what in the world…?”

“Let’s drop the formalities. I’m uncomfortable with them too.”

“What… What were you thinking, killing him…?”

“What do you mean? I’m not exactly known for being nice.”

“Do you have any idea how few humans are left on this land? Even if the Ruby Tower is oppressive and dominant, they’re still some of the few remaining survivors.”

“At first, you said only the Sapphire Tower existed.”

“That was…”

As the Tower Master avoided answering, Davey sighed.

“How many people are left alive in this safe zone?”

“A few thousand, at most.”

“And besides them?”

“The Ruby Tower has a considerable number of survivors, but besides them, there’s nothing else. At least, according to the information we’ve confirmed…”

“So, the only other survivors left are them.”

“There may be a few scattered survivors, but…”

“T-Tower Master!!”

Just then, someone rushed in.

“T-The Ruby Tower is mobilizing a large army!”

“What?!”

“They were planning to fight from the start, weren’t they?”

There was no point in wondering whether the target of their plan was Davey or the Sapphire Tower.

* * *

The Ruby Tower, another surviving faction in addition to the Sapphire Tower.

As of now, their Tower Master position was vacant. However, one individual known as the upcoming Tower Master was leading most of their operations. Unlike the Sapphire Tower, where decisions were made by vote, the Ruby Tower operated with a vibe similar to a cult.

According to the Tower Master of the Sapphire Tower, the Ruby Tower specialized in combat. Their magic weaponry and offensive spells were far superior to those of the Sapphire Tower.

The problem was—

“The Ruby Tower wasn’t always like this.”

“It wasn’t?” Davey asked as he focused on the approaching waves of mage troops, magic weapons, and siege golems beyond the barrier.

“Yes. They were somewhat aggressive, but… they weren’t this violent and brutal. Everything changed after the previous Tower Master died while investigating the rifts…”

‘He died investigating the rifts, eh?’

Davey looked briefly at the riders approaching on horseback.

“Everything changed after the upcoming Tower Master appeared. I’ve never met the man myself, but I’ve heard the Ruby Tower mages treat him like a god.”

“A god, huh…”

Oooommm…

A man on horseback emerged from the line of mages beyond the barrier. At the same time, he cast a voice-enhancing spell.

[If you hand over the one who killed our Ruby Tower mages, no bloodshed will occur!]

Davey figured they must’ve already assumed that he was the one that killed them, hence the reason they were making such demands. He glanced over to the sound of the voice.

He saw Louis, sitting slumped on the ground and muttering to himself like a broken man. His appearance was pitiful to say the least, mutilating himself like a madman overwhelmed by stress.

In the end, he couldn’t restore the channel within the thirty minutes Davey had given him. It wasn’t surprising. Simply managing to restore a small part would’ve already been impressive—to fully restore them was impossible from the start. After watching all of his followers die horrible deaths, he finally broke down, screaming and raving until he lost his mind.

But Louis’s well-being wasn’t the issue at hand.

“So, the so-called upcoming Tower Master didn't even bother to show up despite all the problems here.”

“It… would seem so.”

Boom! Boom!

Just then, the enemy's catapults launched massive blasts of light from their magic weapons toward the barrier.

“Rinne.”

The moment Davey called her name, a massive photon cannon appeared on the back of her hand and she leaped into the air.

Zzzing… Boom!

A photon beam split into dozens of rays, intercepting and obliterating the incoming blasts of light with a single shot.

As everyone stared in shock, Davey calmly observed the scene.

“Rinne awaits further orders.”

“No, it’s fine.”

Davey spoke calmly as he unsheathed Red Ribbon and beheaded Louis without hesitation.

Slash!!

His muttering head flew through the air.

“Tower Master.”

“What in the world is happening…?”

“Did the Ruby Tower declare war on your Sapphire Tower, or on me?”

The Tower Master remained silent.

“So please, don’t interfere with what's about to happen.”

With that, Davey calmly jumped down from the barrier with only Red Ribbon in hand and then began walking toward the enemy forces.

Boom! Boom!

Mana bullets rained down on him, but he didn’t bother dodging. As he continued walking, he summoned Blue Ribbon into his other hand.

[Transcendental Longsword]

[Splitting the Mountains]

Swoosh!

He slashed a devastating, pressured upward strike from below.

Boom!

Blue Ribbon’s authority manifested with the slash, slicing through every spell in the surrounding area.

Boom! Boom!

They didn’t stop attacking, but before they could even reach Davey, they all vanished into thin air.

The power that even Thanatos couldn’t overcome—Davey knew there was no way these guys would be able to do anything against it.

As Davey got closer, the enemy forces panicked. Their cavalry positioned behind the infantry charged toward him in a wedge formation. He could tell they were a well-trained unit, but also that they were likely just being used as pawns.

But Davey didn’t care either way.

Stomp, stomp, stomp!!

As the cavalry charged fiercely, Davey lightly flocked Red Ribbon.

[Demonic Sword]

[Wind Slash]

He sent a simple, single strike—though the blade energy he unleashed was far from simple.

“Sorry, but I don’t have any ethical concerns for the already dead.”

At the same time, the earth around him twisted and a countless number of skeletons began crawling out from the ground.

“In the name of the Death Lord, I command you to sever the existence of all the living dead. Mercy is a luxury for those who break taboo.”

Breaking a taboo didn’t just affect the person who broke it—it disrupted everything around them, entire realms or even dimensions.

Mercy to those kinds of people was asking for too much.

* * *

It was the first time the Tower Master saw Davey fight in person.

What he felt was simple.

Utter disbelief.

Even viewed by someone who had seen countless high-level mages, Davey was so overwhelmingly powerful that it was hard to believe he was human. He had initially thought Rinne was just some healer assigned as his bodyguard. After all, his youthful appearance made the assumption even more convincing.

But now, he seriously doubted whether he was human at all.

“Hey… Rinne,” the Tower Master called out, his face pale as he watched Davey approach the enemy’s main force. “Can’t you stop him? He may have only attacked them twice, but he’s done enough damage…”

“Master Davey’s orders are absolute. Rinne analyzes that there’s no reason to disobey.”

“People are dying! They may look like that, but they’re still people! There are so few of us left on this land…”

The Tower Master stopped his urgent plea when he saw Rinne standing still with a blank expression.

“Questionable. Rinne requests an explanation for why you consider them as people.”

“What…?”

“Corpses. Empty husks without souls. The living undead. Rinne analyzes that Master Davey doesn’t recognize them as human.”

“What are you saying…?”

“They’re all corpses.”

In other words, they were all just dead.

‘Is that why Davey is ruthlessly cutting them down?’

“So… he knew from the start?!”

The Tower Master shouted in disbelief, but Rinne simply nodded.

“Rinne evaluates Master Davey’s insight highly.”

The Tower Master gulped nervously.

He remembered what Davey said when he clutched the throat of the mage who had come to negotiate.

- Congratulations. Thanks to you, I’ve completely lost the desire to save this land.

The Tower Master realized that Davey hadn’t said those words toward the living humans of this land. It was aimed at the undead—those who continued to suffer even after death.

Soon, the area around him began to shift.

“What the…?!”

“Oh my god!”

Shocked gasps echoed around them.

As dark mages, they couldn’t possibly fail to notice. The staggering number of skeletons crawled out from every direction. They were all under Davey’s control—to command that many, they knew the level of mastery one had to achieve was beyond imagination.

“What in the world… What is he…?”

Even the Tower Master, bewildered, couldn’t help but mutter as his eyes were glued on the scene. Meanwhile, those who had witnessed what Davey had done broke out in cold sweat, thankful that their heads were still attached.

Boom!!!

Suddenly, an explosion erupted among the skeleton army advancing under Davey’s command.

Someone who was radiating suffocating intensity slowly approached Davey. Though their figure was small, their eyes were chilling.

“I found you. My perfect body.”

A cold voice echoed as they approached. Skeletons gathered around them, but were thrown back by an invisible force before vanishing on the spot. Each of those skeletons held great power, yet none of them could so much as touch this individual.

“That… That’s the upcoming Tower Master…”

The source of all this—the next Tower Master of the Ruby Tower—had arrived.

He walked toward Davey, exuding a terrifying aura, and commanded.

“Give me… your body.”

“My body? My ass, man; get lost. If you’re going to squat in it, pay rent first, you bastard.”

Davey coldly snapped back, spinning Red Ribbon in his hand.

“There’s only one way to save a life. Purification. But don’t expect purification now that you’ve crossed the line.”

As Davey finished speaking, black currents of energy began to swirl around him.

“Heh… Heh heh… Hahaha!!”

The upcoming Tower Master, covered in a robe, began to laugh maniacally.

“Wow… Amazing… What a perfect body.”

Even as fear swept through the surrounding forces, the upcoming Tower Master didn’t seem to care, continuing to approach Davey.

“You know, I’ve got something interesting too.”

He then threw off his robe, revealing the form of a young girl with long black hair. With a sinister smile and a hint of madness in her eyes, she waved her hand.

Immediately, a power Davey was familiar with began flowing from her fingertips.

“Oh… Right. I almost forgot. This place used to be the base of the Illuminati. But I thought I wiped them all out…

“No way… You…” Davey muttered as if he was trying to put pieces together. His eyes then widened in shock as he looked at the girl.

“I thought you looked familiar…”

ChubbyCheeks & FriedNook's Thoughts

Editorb’s Thought

Rinne telling the Tower Master that Davey is about to kill scores of enemies without even blinking