The Max Level Hero Strikes Back!

The Ancient Guards could not hide their bewilderment in the pitch-black darkness, which rendered them blind to their surroundings for the first time.

Unless they received special training, those with normal vision were bound to panic upon losing their sight. The sense of sight provided organisms with the most amount of information. As such, the result of obscuring vision was simple.

“Hehehehehe!!”

That was when the elves heard a crazy woman’s eerie laughter right beside their ears.

Swish…

“Huh?!”

Splatter!!

Startled by the sudden killing aura and rustling sound, an Ancient Guard pulled out their rapier and swung it around. Although they weren’t Swordmasters, they were still able to strengthen the impact of their attack.

A cut could be heard before something fell to the floor.

“Hehehehehehe!!”

However, the terrifying laughter did not stop and kept ringing in their ears.

“I… It is human wi… witchcraft! Do not be tricked by it! Give up your sight and find the mana! He is definitely near us!”

“Protect the Mother of the Divine Tree! Do not let him lay a finger on her!”

A male elf was the first to react, shouting firmly. He decided that tracing the human’s mana would be much better than flustering around and trying to regain sight.

The others concentrated and tensed up as if they had been knocked to their senses. However…

Swish.

“Wha?!”

Thud! Something silently flew across the dark surroundings and struck someone, who fell to the ground.

“Humans, dwarves, and elves are all intelligent beings. Does your sense of fear feel different because you eat grass or something?” The human mocked the elves, asking, “Is the person you are protecting really your ally?”

At the same time, something eerie brushed past the Ancient Guards, who immediately became even more alert. Their vigilance at the moment was unimaginable.

The Ancient Guards’ eyes widened as they realized that something was off. They could not see anything, but they could tell that something was strange.

“Even the World Tree, who is supposed to protect you, is staying quiet. Don’t you think that’s weird? It is actually possible that you are all alone right now.”

As the voice trailed off, an eerie and unknown presence brushed past the elves again. They turned blue in fear as chills ran down their spine. The Ancient Guards’ unwavering spirit slowly began to break from the human’s teasing remarks.

* * *

“You seem to have something to say. Can you wait for me to finish up on this side first?” Davey asked calmly.

The woman with a benevolent smile only smiled even deeper. [You are much more fascinating than I had imagined, my child; even I am surprised, too. Well, alright. It’s not a good feeling for me to see my daughter die as well.]

“You’re slick.” After that comment, Davey quietly inspected the brown-skinned woman who was lying on the floor. She had been fatally injured with a hole in her chest. The injury was so bad that it should have killed her, but…

—She’s alive, Davey.

It was almost miraculous; Aina, who had returned to her original appearance, looked so terrible that it was almost a miracle that she was still alive.

“I wonder what made her turn her back on her people at such a young age.”

An elf’s age could be determined by the thinness of the ends of their hair or by looking at their ears. From what Davey could see, Aina Helishana was around one hundred and twenty years old. Considering that elves lived far longer than humans, she was on the younger side.

Davey wondered if it was Aina’s tenacity or the darkness spirit that stopped her from bleeding out. It might be both factors; currents of black energy were covering her injuries, stopping the bleeding, and making the injury less severe by forcing her ripped skin to stick together. It was quite new for Davey to see a darkness spirit be this desperate to save the one they were contracted to. After all, they usually enjoyed destruction.

[The magic you put on the children is not magic normally used by humans. This feeling… It’s wicked dark magic.]

Without answering Yggdrasil, Davey glanced over at the five elves who laid on the ground and moaned in pain. They had lost their sense of balance and were mumbling gibberish.

[8th Circle Dark Magic]

[Fear]

This spell’s effects were simple: it was a curse-type illusion magic that messed with the senses of people with low magic resistance to make them panic. This was the dangerous thing about fighting a dark mage; unlike elemental magic, which controlled and studied the flow of nature, dark magic was a more practical field of study that studied organisms. As such, there were more spells that actually directly interfered with one’s body or mind rather than the spells themselves being destructive.

Of course, the Ancient Guards were Masters who wouldn’t be affected by ordinary magic. However, they had blind faith, which made them slightly vulnerable in certain aspects. In fact, the elves who were on the floor screamed intermittently and shook, unable to come back to their senses.

Davey had only shown them one illusion to confuse them. All he showed them was a reality where they wandered around an endless maze in darkness. Of course, he created an imaginary ghost that could not be attacked or understood, since a simple maze wouldn’t be effective. It was actually quite easy to make a normal being feel enough fear to drive them mad.

Davey released his holy power after barely containing the dark devil mana that ran wild in his hands. It was much harder to control his violently roaring devil mana, which seemingly complained about not being used in a long time.

Devil mana was usually unstable, but its current erratic behavior was inevitable. After all, Davey hadn’t used it since his metamorphosis.

Davey placed his hand on Aina’s chest, and stared at the black energy engulfing his hand like it was guarding her.

—Don’t touch her!

Then, Aina’s energy took on the form of a porcupine and shouted desperately.

—Get away!

“You get away.”

Swat!

‘You’re so stubborn when all you can do right now is maintain her current condition…’

Whoosh!!

The horrendous wound on Aina’s chest gradually began to heal as Davey cast healing magic after immediately pushing away the black energy. He did so with his spirit mana that had the sign of his contract with the Spirit King.

However, the wound wasn’t fully healed even after quite some time had passed. Still, Aina’s current condition was better than before.

Laying down the unconscious Aina in a safe location, Davey glanced at the woman who was looking at him calmly with a benevolent smile. He commented, “Honestly, I thought the great tree would have some logic. This is unexpected.”

[Do not try to understand my actions and thoughts, child who defies destiny.]

“Child…” Davey couldn’t help but laugh. “Wasn’t the will of the World Tree changed recently?”

[My mind has been alive for more than three hundred years; a human that cannot even live for more than a hundred years cannot understand the will of the Divine Tree, which lives for thousands of years.]

Davey stayed silent.

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[But this is surprising. You have far exceeded the expected potential of humans. All right, do not be too nervous. I have just come to have a talk with you.]

“A talk, you say…” Davey mumbled quietly, thinking that it was ridiculous. He then added, “How dare you invade this place this carelessly to talk?”

Boom!! As soon as Davey spoke, multiple stone pillars shot up from near Yggdrasil and flew toward him. The ground behind him began to shake and change.

“Gnoass, shot-blocking.”

Kaboom!!! It only took moments for the giant hand that came up from the ground to crush the stone pillars. Then, it quickly came down on Yggdrasil like it was going to crush her.

Thump!!!! However, another type of power gathered into a huge wall of soil, which blocked Gnoass’ attack and deflected it.

Rumble!!!!

It was a fitting level of power for a World Tree, who was one of the origins of nature.

Once his attack failed, Gnoass created a huge body, ignoring Davey’s former request, and criticized Yggdrasil. [World Tree, the long-standing arbiter of the forest. Have you gone mad?]

Spirit King Gnoass was fuming. From his perspective as a Spirit King, who was nature itself, it was unbelievable that the World Tree, which was the core of elves and the kind that protected nature, was actually trying to destroy nature instead of protecting it.

[Hm, it is you, Gnoass. I did not think that a great being like you would come down to this world. According to the primordial covenant and will of the World Tree, a being like a Spirit King should only appear before someone who rightfully completed the test. By chance, were you tricked by that small human child?]

Gnoass became more hostile as the World Tree provoked him.

[You are the exalted World Tree, but am I worthless enough for a young World Tree like you to judge me?] Gnoass said sternly, letting out his fury with an overwhelming level of power.

It seemed like one of them would be crushed just from this conversation alone. Noticing that, Davey said calmly, “Gnoass, get back.”

[Contractor.]

Davey just smiled at Gnoass, who was being stubborn.

‘Don’t make me say it twice.’

Davey turned his glance from Gnoass, who became quiet from his cold stare, to the woman in front of him.

[My name is Yggdrasil, the great tree and the pillar upholding the world.]

“The name is Davey O’Rowane.”

The woman smiled beautifully, but her eyes shone with an indiscernible gaze. She asked, [Do you know why I have defied the trivial rules and have come to see you?]

Davey quietly released Perserque’s power. However, all he could see was a green light.

—The World Tree is a being that has received its name from divine will. I cannot discern her with my level of borrowed power.

Perserque was saying that a higher level of power had blocked hers.

The World Tree’s physical abilities were much weaker than any ordinary knight; Yggdrasil was almost just a regular person. However, the power she had was strange. This was the first time the power of the Abyss had been blocked.

“How would I know if you don’t tell me?”

[Chuckle, why don’t you take a guess?]

“What is the point of that? I’ll just look stupid if you refuse to admit it,” Davey replied calmly.

Yggdrasil chuckled in amusement. [All right. I also do not have enough time to play this game, so let’s cut to the chase. Return Yuria to me.]

‘It seems like I kidnapped her or something when you put it this way.’

“Is that the reason you came all the way from the west? To tell me that?”

[Hm… I guess you also know that I have put down my roots in the western continent.]

“I’ve heard and seen a lot more than you know. I deny your request. Yuria has become a resident of the Heins Territory. No one can touch her without my permission, whether it be the empire or the World Tree.”

[Hm, that is troublesome.]

“You are the one in trouble. I have nothing to lose.”

[You are beaming with confidence, my child. You will definitely be able to stop some of my abilities with Gnoass’ power. It is still a mystery as to how a human can summon the great being of the Earth.] Yggdrasil calmly acknowledged the truth. Then, as if unable to do anything else, she said, [My child, this is not because of my personal greed, and I cannot let this go.]

“Personal greed…”

[My child, do you know of the Demon Lord?]

“Demon Lord?”

[Yes, there was a Demon Lord who existed three thousand years ago that made every being on this continent tremble in fear.] Yggdrasil mumbled quietly as if she was telling an old tale. [That Demon Lord’s name is Perserque. The true evil of all time that flooded the continent in blood is about to awaken, and no one will be able to stop the fury of the Demon Lord, who has been waiting for their awakening.]

Yggdrasil spoke in a comforting manner, but what she was saying didn’t matter; all Davey did was calmly stare at the girl who was floating next to him. He thought, ‘She’s talking about Demon Lord Perserque.’

—She’s talking about me.

The silver-haired girl turned to Davey at the exact time he did and stared at him in puzzlement.