The Max Level Hero Has Returned!
Chapter 1068

Chapter 1068

The chancellor of the Arbute Kingdom had moved up the execution date for the rebel leader, the Red Scorpion. Originally, there had been plans to delay it a bit longer, but the chancellor suddenly decided to bring the date forward.

He was standing face-to-face with the Red Scorpion, who was bound inside a prison cell.

“Kehehehe. The more impatient you get, the more reckless your decisions become.”

“You piece of shit!”

“Heh. For the so-called leader of a rebellion rotting this country from within, you sure don’t make much sense. Are you really the one who should be talking to me like that, when you're the one who is shaking the peace of this nation?”

“What part of this rotten nation, hiding its disgusting truth, is peaceful?!” Even after the horrific tortures, the man's eyes were still fierce and alive.

He was radiating a heavy killing intent, as if the moment he could move, he would instantly tear through the bars and rip out the chancellor’s throat.

One of the large men standing by the chancellor began to step forward, but the chancellor held him back. “No need to interfere. Let it go. He’s already too weak to be of any threat. Any more and he’ll die before the execution even begins,” the chancellor muttered as he stroked his beard leisurely.

The dreaded Red Scorpion. From the chancellor’s perspective, his power wasn’t all that impressive. To truly rattle him, it’d take someone at least on the level of a Grandmaster of the continent.

Still, the reason he wanted Red Scorpion dead so badly was because the man had become a symbol—exactly what the chancellor feared the most.

“Even when things have reached this point, if you just give up everything and bow your head to me, wealth and luxury await you,” the chancellor persuaded.

“I don’t want to hear that from someone who’s turned their back on humanity.”

“Hmph. Suit yourself, then. Once the execution is moved up, your leftover forces will come rushing in to save you.”

The man had no answer.

“Then, what if the execution unit is lying in ambush? Hmm?”

Boom!!

The Red Scorpion flared up, thrashing wildly as a chilling glare shot from his eyes.

“Kehehehehe. Don’t worry, I’ll slaughter every last one of them right in front of you. They’ll curse your name and despair over their fate, dying in the most miserable way possible.”

“Chancellor!!!”

“Kehehehehe. Oh right, you have a younger sister, don't you?”

“Don’t you dare lay a finger on her!!”

“Fine, I won’t kill her. It's rare to see someone with such a pretty face, after all.”

Further provoked, the Red Scorpion screamed in rage and thrashed again, trying to throw himself at the chancellor.

“I’ll make sure to take care of every inch of her body,” the official said with a cruel and vile smile. “Personally.”

“Chancellor, everything’s ready.”

“Good. Let us begin. Ah, they say these rebels have some impressive camaraderie, don’t they?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Get the planks ready so we can hang the remaining captured rebels on them. Let’s see if these fools can still attack when their comrades are being used as shields. Kehehehehe.”

The devil had begun preparing for his feast.

* * *

Clang!! Kang!!

Swords thunderously crashed.

The massive silver longsword Caldeiras and a plain-looking mithril sword covered in an eerie aura continuously struck each other again and again.

Clang!! Kang!!

Boom!!

Despite Calderias being the superior blade, Ares still couldn't gain the upper hand. “Haah. This is driving me crazy.”

In fact, saying he ‘couldn’t gain the upper hand’ wasn’t quite right. ‘Holding on’ sounded more accurate. There was just that much of a clear gap in skill.

“You’re not even using any formal swordsmanship! You’re just swinging wildly, matching me moment by moment with horizontal and vertical strikes.”

“Quite perceptive, aren’t you?” Davey teased.

“It’s not even a mix of fake and real techniques, or some complex swordplay. You’re not channeling any kind of special energy into the blade, either.”

Demonic swords channeled internal energy into the blade. Longswords instead focused sheer weight into each swing. Yet, Davey was doing none of that. He was simply reinforcing the blade with an Aura Blade and crashing into him head-on.

Caldeiras’s voice rang out.

[Damn it! What the hell is that thing?! Why is it so tough?!]

“Why else? It’s the difference in the wielder’s ability,” Davey smirked.

[You... You can hear me?!]

Caldeiras shouted, clearly shocked that Davey could hear him. Ares also looked genuinely surprised. “You can hear her voice?”

“Well uh. Oops.”

The voice of Caldeiras, in sword form, could only be heard by two kinds of people. Those whom Caldeiras recognized as her master, and those who had once manifested her into physical form.

“Just who the hell are you?”

As Davey mentally winced at the unintended slip, far in the distance, Goddess Freyja shook her head quietly, swinging her pom-poms lifelessly in both hands.

He couldn’t reveal anything. He was the irregularity that made Ares head toward the Arbute Kingdom. Without him, it never would have happened.

“If you win, I’ll tell you,” Davey replied calmly, lowering his sword slightly.

At that moment, Goddess Freyja scribbled something into her notebook.

[Continuum-Attacking Blade. Original Form.]

Though she stood hundreds of meters away—far enough that even Ares couldn’t properly sense her location—the words she wrote down were strangely clear to Davey.

‘Could it be...’

Davey silently nodded as he read what she wrote.

“A sword style that just brute-forces everything with power, and yet it’s so damn sharp,” Ares complained.

“Well, swordsmanship at its core is about slashing and blocking, nothing more.”

“I’ve got nothing to say to that.”

“I’d appreciate it if you’d go back now.”

“Sorry, but if you want that, you’ll have to defeat me. But that won’t happen if you keep up what you’re doing right now.”

Davey nodded at those words. “Just this once.”

“What?”

“I’ll show you, so pay close attention.”

With that, Davey forcefully manifested the Continuum-Attacking Blade, a technique he had once consumed with Predatory Assimilation. Even though the technique didn’t suit him, Predatory Assimilation allowed him to wield it.

When the flow of mana at the tip of his sword began to shift unnaturally, Ares swallowed hard and asked cautiously, “What is that?”

“You name it.”

“What?”

Davey didn’t say another word, smothering explosive energy around his sword.

Then, while Ares tensed and gripped Caldeiras tightly with white knuckles, Davey took a step toward him.

Boom!!

The overwhelming mass Ares had gathered distorted the ground with every step. Debris flying everywhere, he charged straight at Davey.

A head-on clash like that had enough force to reshape the entire area. For someone to wield that much power even before entering the Hall of Heroes was a fresh reminder of how frightening Ares truly was.

“To think that damned vampire was showing off.” Davey let out a long sigh and moved lightly.

Then, with a blinding flash of light, the two forces flew toward each other—Ares’s peak-level strike as a longsword user against the incomplete, barely-formed version of Ares’s own ultimate technique, the Continuum-Attacking Blade.

Boom!!!

The sword imbued with overwhelming weight and the opposing Continuum-Attacking Blade, which could tear through dimensions once perfected, began gnawing away at each other even before making proper contact.

Seeing this, Ares let out a roar and pushed harder with all his might. As expected of the divine sword Caldeiras—even when facing the Continuum-Attacking Blade, the blade held firm.

“Guh?!”

Slice!

Clang!!

The balance suddenly faltered under the strain of his own power, and in that moment, Davey slipped through and swung his blade at an angle.

Ares froze. At the same time, the space behind him visibly warped and twisted, splitting open and unleashing a violent wind that poured through the gap.

Why did he have to show Ares the Continuum-Attacking Blade, something Ares was only meant to master one day in the distant future? He still didn’t fully understand. Nonetheless, Goddess Freyja had asked for it.

Wanting to avoid drastically twisting the future Davey knew, while still forging a better one, he had the responsibility to fully follow her words.

Crack. Thud!!

The unstable prototype of the Continuum-Attacking Blade generated a backlash so strong that it shattered the mithril sword Davey had been wielding.

Watching the glittering mithril fragments scatter into the air, Davey quickly used his expansion pouch to retrieve the shards midair. There was no way he was just going to throw away something so expensive.

Ares hadn’t suffered any physical injuries, but he had lost a massive amount of stamina and could no longer continue fighting.

Thud.

When he collapsed onto the broken plain, Davey turned away without a word.

Ares suddenly called out to him, “One last question. Who are you really?”

“An outsider. One who’ll soon disappear from this world.”

“Haaah. That sword technique doesn’t seem complete to me.”

“You finish it.”

Ares didn’t respond. He simply closed his eyes, as if he no longer had the strength to speak.

Leaving him sprawled out on the ruined plains might’ve been dangerous, but Davey couldn’t care less.

When he reached up to adjust the cat-shaped mask slipping off his face, he winced. “Seriously. What a monster of a man.”

One side of the cat mask abruptly snapped off.

Davey let out a hollow laugh. ‘Maybe I went too easy on him.’

* * *

Davey figured there had to be a reason why Goddess Freyja had told him to show Ares the prototype of the Continuum-Attacking Blade.

When he asked her while carrying her back, she gave him a simple explanation.

Originally, in the past where Davey never met him, Ares was supposed to head in the complete opposite direction from the Arbute Kingdom. There, he was meant to encounter a miraculous opportunity—one that would give him the hint he needed to eventually create the unparalleled sword technique known as the Continuum-Attacking Blade.

The problem was, that opportunity no longer existed once he chose to pursue Davey instead. In other words, Ares had forever lost the chance to obtain that hint all because of Davey.

So, after showing it to him during that fight, even if things were to change slightly, Davey had created a future that was ultimately better.

“What about the Arbute Kingdom, then?”

She looked at him silently.

“The Arbute Kingdom was the place where your avatar died and divine punishment fell, wasn’t it? The nation was reduced to ashes overnight. Which means... even if I take out the chancellor, nothing really changes here, does it?”

Originally, it had been his role to obliterate the kingdom on her behalf.

Naturally, that meant he had to slaughter not only the innocent citizens, but also the resistance fighters. Thinking to that point, he couldn’t figure out why he had to help the resistance at all.

As if responding to his further implied question, Goddess Freyja stayed silent for a moment before writing something in her notebook.

[Carry me.]

‘What the hell is going on with this woman?’

Letting out a sigh, Davey gently set her down and turned his back to her with a crouch. Then, without a word, she daintily approached and climbed onto his back.

“I mean, I’m trusting you because you said to trust you, but...” He then suddenly noticed something strange—the resistance stronghold was unusually quiet.

“Where is everyone?”

That single observation set off a cascade of thoughts in his mind.

Most of the people left in the base were those too injured to fight and the caretakers looking after them.

He stared at them silently for a while. Suddenly, the door burst open and the brown-haired girl from the resistance, Eldna, came rushing out with bandages wrapped all around her body, only to collapse in front of him.

Davey quickly caught her before she hit the ground, supporting her gently—at which point Freyja held up her notebook.

[920 points.]

‘Seriously man, this woman is crazy.’

Ignoring her sulking expression, Davey turned to Eldna and asked, “What happened?”

Tears streamed down her face as she screamed, “Help us! Please help us!” she repeated in a panic. “Please, please help! It was a trap... It was all a damn trap! That bastard chancellor set us up!”

Apparently, after Davey left, the chancellor had suddenly moved the execution schedule up. The resistance, unable to afford losing their leader Red Scorpion, launched a desperate rescue operation.

It was a reckless assault against a powerful opponent, rushed and unprepared. Obviously, there was really only one way that kind of mission could end.

“Please help!! If this keeps up, they’re all going to die!!” she desperately cried.

Davey looked at Goddess Freyja.

Yes, it had been foolish of them to fall for a trap just because the execution had been moved up. He could easily scoff at their poor judgment. However, he couldn't quite bring himself to mock those who were trying to save someone they cared about.

“You said there weren't many guards at the site to begin with.” Of course, even as he said it, Davey shook his head.

There was no way the chancellor would go into something like that without hiding his real forces somewhere nearby. To him, it was obvious that the chancellor would be luring them in.

“Idiots.”

Clearly, Goddess Freyja had set the three-day limit with accuracy down to the exact second. Her eerie precision, foreseeing everything down to the moment, left Davey staring at her in silence.

[Keep your promise. Both the one to yourself, and the one you made for them.]

There were two promises, but the purpose behind them was the same. It all led him to execute that bastard chancellor who dared to lay his hands on Goddess Freyja.

Davey knew full well who that promise was truly for. He’d accepted it partly because of her, and partly because he shared the same goal, but that didn’t mean he was happy about seeing people who’d shown him nothing but goodwill die in front of him.

[Location.]

She wrote again, and soon, numbers that resembled coordinates began appearing in her notebook.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Davey traveled through to the given coordinates, the scenery around him instantly shifting.

Zoom!!

Once arrived, he saw a massive red barrier—one so dense and imposing that it felt like nothing could penetrate it, and no one trapped inside could ever escape.

It blanketed the entire area, leaving no gaps in any direction where Davey could slip through.

Nonetheless, as he watched the barrier, Davey slowly tapped his feet, circling around the surrounding area and gradually picking up speed. After tracing the barrier’s edge for a certain distance, he suddenly crouched down and launched himself forward with explosive momentum.

With vision sharpened to the extreme, he caught sight of a man shielding a young girl—his body riddled with piercing swords, yet still standing. It was the Vice Commander of the resistance, Malton.

His arm had been severed and his body skewered with blades. Even so, he remained hunched protectively over the girl, shielding her with his life.

“No! No!!!”

Tied to the execution platform, Red Scorpion screamed in anguish. Even so, Malton, eyes closed, silently endured every piercing blade with nothing but his bare flesh. He was demonstrating an extraordinary vitality, no doubt, but even he had his limits.

The hulking man who had been assaulting him with cruel, deliberate thrusts sneered. He enveloped his blade with a blazing Aura Blade and swung it down toward Malton’s neck.

Fwoosh!!

[Devil Ylgr’s Crowd Suppression]

[Fierce Abdominal Strike]

Crack!!

The eyes of the hulking man, reaching close-range with his sword mid-swing, widened in shock.

Before anyone could even react, Davey shattered the barrier and burst into the scene, his right fist glowing with red fist energy and driving straight into the man’s solar plexus.

There was no shockwave. No thunderous blast.

The punch looked almost boring, underwhelming even. The man who took the hit wore a dumbfounded expression, as if he’d just been bitten by a mosquito. It didn’t take long for him to realize just how wrong he was.

About three seconds passed. The execution plaza remained eerily silent until a deafening roar shattered the stillness, and everything began to collapse in on itself. The delayed shockwave tore through the earth, shattering buildings and warping space.

Yet, the most terrifying part wasn’t the destroyed earth or the crumbling structures. It was instead the way that crackling rifts spread through the very fabric of space itself. They split open the air as if a Pocket Plane had been torn through.

The onlookers who had been standing leisurely by the chancellor’s side all suddenly sprang to their feet. They were the ones who had been calmly watching everything from the predator’s position until then.

Seeing Davey’s devastating strike, Goddess Freyja raised her notebook with a small flick.

[930 points]

‘Nice! That makes for a 10-point gain.’