The Max Level Hero Strikes Back!

43. Exploring the Ancient Ruins

Relying on his talent, Davey continually kept the opponents in check by effectively placing long-range bombs and using alchemy tools. He also kept his location hidden with constant interruptions and scattered decoys everywhere.

The children who happened to be tricked fell into a trap and became incapacitated, and Davey made the ones who happened to find him after a desperate search either collide with others or he lost them like he had been prepared for that scenario. Even while doing that, he was giving orders to his partner without forgetting her situation. If those traps and those distinct purple bombs had been made with fatal substances, this would have undoubtedly resulted in a one-sided massacre.

Davey had ensured that the teams had no contact with one another so that they could not join forces, and he widened his territory in the meantime. After taking their territories, he also reminded them of the fact and made them lose even more of their cool. By then, it was inevitable for problems to arise since they could no longer think logically.

Not knowing what to do in the unfamiliar situation they found themselves in, the trainees began overplaying their hand. They then lost even more after being overpowered once again. Gripped by a sense of urgency, they overplayed their hand again and were overpowered once more… Their course of action could only be described as a vicious cycle.

“What is…”

Sylia and Boris could not pick their jaws up from the ground as they monitored the training that took place in the forest. It looked like someone was toying with them; fourteen people were all wrapped around the finger of one single person. That one person directly aimed at only about six of the trainees, but they could clearly see that the person was using those six trainees to affect the others in hard-to-reach regions.

“This is a surprising situation,” Sylia said exasperatedly.

Boris hummed. He thought that Davey lacked real battle experience, though the latter's ability to create and control golems was exceptional. What he was seeing simply told a totally different story.

“Did you see the route Trainee Illyna is moving on?” Sylia asked Boris.

“Hm? Oh… I am watching…”

“Just by looking at the children’s movements, she can pretty much predict their next moves. It means that her partner is keeping in check those that he can’t take care of with his golem or traps by moving Trainee Illyna along the shortest route. So, this…” Struggling to find her words, Sylia trailed off, then sighed. “That boy… In terms of large-scale battles, that boy is completely…”

“Much more advanced than an expert warrior… No, even they couldn’t overwhelm the children like this. The children had been caught up in this and don’t know why they are being overpowered to such a degree…”

Boris and Sylia were left speechless at Davey's bold strategy while keeping the opponent’s skill levels in mind. They knew that Davey was being realistic. The firepower wasn’t strong, nor did it weigh them down for long. It wouldn’t even be considered a distraction if Boris and Sylia set out­ on the battlefield; however, Davey's quick thinking, method of keeping his opponents in check, and his high efficiency when working with his team… It was unbelievable.

Boris and Sylia felt that it was wrong of them to judge a book only by its cover. Davey’s sloppy skills in swordsmanship were abysmal, but his skills in everything else were completely different. The most surprising aspect was that Davey, who was doing all this, was a young boy who had just become an adult.

“This is unbelievable if it’s not a coincidence…”

“I knew that Trainee Illyna had complete faith, but… Ha!”

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The boy was almost catastrophically talented.

“Their territory expanded to three times its original size in just fifteen minutes. Trainee Illyna, who is the one physically expanding the territory, is very fast as well, but…”

The duration of the training was almost over; the teams all started with the same territory size, but now, there were three teams who had most of their territory taken by Davey after being helplessly trapped.

For this training, Boris and Sylia had planned for the children to seize each other’s territories and gain experience while doing so since large-scale territorial battles with dozens of team members would be common once they were put in for real battle in the Pandora Region. In terms of that kind of battle…Davey had something that was even far superior to Boris and Sylia, in a way.

“Teacher Sylia.”

“Yes?”

“I’m only saying this after seeing this now, but… Do you really think a boy that quick and wise would have left his golem to freeze up in his battle with Trainee Sio because he didn’t know?”

“Maybe that golem didn’t even freeze in the first place. Perhaps… he played Sio…”

-Stop! Training is over! Everyone is to return! The injured: stay in your place and wait for a Teacher!

The explosions completely subsided once Boris’ shouts spread throughout the entire forest by magic.

“Seriously… What did he do before coming here…?”

In this day and age, Sylia knew that it wouldn’t have been easy for Davey to gain enough experience to act without hesitation. She squinted at Davey, the black-haired boy calmly examining his deactivated golem, through a crystal.

* * *

To the existing members, Davey was probably a thorn in their side. His presence felt closer to a stab in the gut, but he had to endure this so that he could participate as Illyna’s test partner, as well as to collect a bunch of data that would be helpful to developing Megatron’s strategic movements. Nothing other than Davey’s promise to Illyna mattered much, even if it had brought about the jealousy of the other trainees.

However, not everyone was as hostile toward him as Davey had thought. With just one training session, it seemed as though they had judged him to be a golem controller with outstanding abilities for evaluating the battlefield and controlling his golem even if his physical abilities were sloppy. He did correct them and tell them that he was actually an alchemist, but it seemed that Megatron had made quite a huge impression on them.

“Illyna! Over here!”

The people who were greeting Illyna and waving their hands toward her as soon as Illyna entered the cafeteria didn’t seem to feel any discomfort or difficulty because of her rank; perhaps it was because she was just their colleague here, even if she was the princess of a huge empire in public.

“Lincy!”

“It’s been so long! When was the last time we saw each other? Is the outside world exciting?”

As the brown-haired girl chattered nonstop, Davey could see a girl with light pink hair who looked to be her twin and a large boy with short red hair who couldn’t be missed.

Lincy hugged Illyna tightly, as if she was so happy to reunite with the latter and tugged Illyna into the empty seat next to her. They were on one side of the long table. “Over here. Sit! And…”

“Davey O’Rowane.”

“Ah right! Sir Davey! My name is Lincy Peila! And these two twins are Shayir and Fendyr Renda. And that red-haired dummy is Heg! Oh… Um… Is it okay if I speak informally to you since we are the same age?”

“I’m fine with anything.”

“Okay! Sit here!” Lincy, who seemed to be very outgoing, also offered Davey a seat at the table. It was like she didn’t care that he had shot Megatron’s bombs at her. She then addressed Illyna. “Anyway, you were almost late again!”

“I have some things to do on the outside, too.”

“True. You’re part of the Roaming Knights, right?” Lincy giggled adorably and turned her glance over to Davey. “Then, Davey, are you also going to be a Roaming Knight since Illyna brought you?”

“Roaming Knight?”

When Davey asked with intrigue at the unfamiliar term, Heg chuckled. “They are knight members that have ties with the outside world. The ones that travel between this place and the outside world are the Roaming Knights, and the ones that live here with no ties to the outside world are called Anchor Knights.”

Of course, the Alpha Reinforcements was already on top of things, and money was essential to get supplies and other things. It seemed like there were two types of knights in the Alpha Reinforcements according to Heg’s follow-up explanation; the first were the Roaming Knights, who usually delivered funds, got supplies, and collected information, and the second were the Anchor Knights, who protected this place and the monitored regions with no connections to the outside world. Most stayed based on their own preferences, since everyone here had their own situations.

“Then I must be part of the Roaming Knights,” Davey said.

“Davey, what do you do outside? Are you nobility since you have your own palace? Or… Royalty?” Lincy asked.

“Actually, he’s a prince even though he doesn’t seem that way. He’s the First Prince of a kingdom, and also a seigneur.”

“Wow… To see a prince in person…”

Illyna pointed at Davey with her fork like she was sick of him. He wondered how the nobility and royalty of the Pallan Empire would react if they saw her act so freely and without the manners of royalty.

“Anyways, it was amazing! I heard you made that golem yourself.”

“Yeah, I was so surprised at the sudden bombarding of magic bombs during training. I got flustered for one second, and the next thing I knew, my territory was all taken.”

The twins chattered and asked Davey questions. It wouldn’t be strange if they had tried to choke him right now, since Davey knew how much he had screwed them over. However, they thought that Davey's actions had been normal because it was training, and that it was natural for strong people to keep them in check.

‘These kids are all in la-la land.’

[Do you have to think of them in such a twisted way?]

Illyna replied when Davey spoke to her through the will-delivering magic spell he had cast on her during training.

[I am also worried, to be honest.]

But it seemed like Illyna was also worried about them as well. It was difficult to tell if her worry was because of the unbelievable things Davey had shown or because they were furious at him.

To Davey, he could see that some of the trainees were definitely looking at him with wariness. He could also see Sio Howl, who was blatantly expressing his hostility, and Treve, who was so emotionless that it seemed like nothing would be able to phase him.

Sio Howl and Treve had been based right opposite where Davey and Illyna had been during training, so they hadn’t really been affected by his attacks. However, it seemed like Sio Howl was annoyed that Davey had performed the best during training.

[Sio Howl is an Anchor Knight through and through, so he doesn’t like the Roaming Knights. What should I say… There’s some friction between the Roaming and Anchor Knights, too.]

‘Dumbass.’ Davey couldn’t help but think Sio Howl was stupid. The Alpha Reinforcements, a pillar of the Last Wisp, would have been split a long time ago if the two types of knights didn’t cooperate and join forces. He wondered if Sio knew this.

-Well, it’s not like racists have some sort of great knowledge and logic for being that way.

Davey nodded at Perserque’s strange yet fitting analogy.

“But I never knew that golems could be that strong. And I was continually taken down by the traps Illyna put…”

“Since it was definitely the first time we’ve seen someone fight with a tool…”