The Max Level Hero Has Returned!-Novel

The bright flash of light, a light akin to God’s blessings, that burst out had caught everyone’s attention. However, that was just a trick. Davey would be out of his mind if he tried to put a buff on each and every single one of the tens of thousands of soldiers who stood in front of him. As long as he did not get caught, this trick would work on the soldiers.

The soldiers looked at the flecks of light that fluttered down around them. They thought that God had truly bestowed his protection upon them. This was the placebo effect, which was a psychological effect that could make someone who only had sugar believe that they had truly eaten a medicine that could cure their disease.

“The human body is truly amazing.”

“The hell. How many people have you deceived in such a short time?”

Davey looked solemnly at the girl who asked him this question as he imparted a saying, “As long as you don’t get caught, it’s a skill.”

“Goddess Freyja might have gotten something in her eye when she gave you that stigmata.”

“There are no rules saying that only one person can receive a stigmata.”

After hearing Davey’s words, Illyna flicked her braided hair and immediately followed right after him. She asked, “Ah, are you really going to charge forward like that without setting up any sort of countermeasure? I know that you’re strong, but you're in charge of the lives of many. You have to think about it more carefully…”

“Illyna.”

Illyna’s eyes widened when she saw Davey turn away from her.

“This will be the last time.”

Davey’s short answer forced Illyna to go silent. She did not ask Davey about why this should be the last time and why he was running out of time. She simply tugged at his sleeves, which she had never done before, and said softly, “Then…please do me one favor. We still…haven’t recovered my brother’s body.”

Davey definitely knew which brother Illyna was talking about. Illyna was talking about the Pallan Empire’s crown prince who had led the first subjugation in hopes of destroying the Lich, Grell Orfan.

“We have to find my brother’s body. Find him and…deliver the news to the Crown Princess and arrange a state funeral for him.”

Davey just covered Illyna’s face, which expressed a rare look of weakness, and pushed her away. “Stop worrying about useless things. Also, you have to stay.”

“What?! No way!!!” Illyna screamed.

Davey grabbed Illyna by the wrist and rolled her sleeves up. He saw that her arm was riddled with bruises, which were a result of necrosis in the muscles and the veins. This was a side effect commonly seen among people who have already exhausted their mana and forcibly summoned some more.

Thankfully, the situation was not that bad yet. Davey could tell that there would be no scars left behind as long as Illyna got treated. However, if Illyna still stubbornly continued to fight, then her arm would be littered with ugly scars, the tell-tale signs of necrosis.

“You think you can fake it by walking around and showing that you’re well in front of someone who has learned medicine, huh?” Davey said, turning Illyna’s face blue with his words. Then, he added, “Go to the treatment center before I kick you out.”

“Kyaack!” Illyna stepped back after shrieking in Davey’s ears.

Davey sighed.

—Is it really necessary to drive her out so forcefully?

“You have to scold foolish pushovers sometimes to make them aware of the situation.”

[I’m all ears, Contractor.]

“Get ready. I’m giving you permission to go wild and use all of the spirit energy stored in my body the moment I give the signal.”

Davey’s spirit energy could be recovered by using the other forces within him and converting them into spirit energy. Due to that reason, Davey could be said to have a lot more spirit energy than the other forces in his body. However, it also has the slowest recovery rate.

The enemy was the Undead, and Davey had the Spirit King. Davey wanted to see whose side had the bigger advantage in terms of force.

The soldiers were shocked when a huge earthquake shook the ground.

A gigantic figure made from earth stepped forward, opening a path for the soldiers.

“Prince Sullivan.”

“…Ah, yes! Men! Forward!”

Prince Sullivan drew his sword and shouted, “The Undead dared to cross our lands and make our families suffer! We may have been beaten by them so far but today will be different! Today, we will be the ones…to gain victory!!!”

“Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!”

Perhaps Davey and the giant made out of soil reminded the soldiers that they had a strong ally backing them up. The soldiers who previously looked defeated were suddenly energized, their morale reaching an all-time-high.

“It seems like you’re quite used to increasing people’s morale, huh?” Prince Sullivan, who was following Davey on horseback, commented.

However, Davey wore a bitter smile on his face. His answer was a murmur. “Don’t let your guard down. I simply showed you that there’s a possibility of winning, I did not strengthen you or give you more power. Even if your number reaches a hundred million or you believe yourself to be strong enough, it’s not strange for anyone to die on a battlefield.”

Their enemy was not a 7th Circle necromancer but an 8th Circle necromancer. What their enemy had shown them so far was a simple command of the Undead. If Grell Orfan chose to get serious about this matter, then the allied troops could suffer tremendous losses and casualties even with the numerical advantage. Davey could probably wield similar magic as the 8th Circle necromancer. But if Grell decided to do so, he could condense his power and annihilate them on the spot with an attack.

That was why Davey decided to give it his all and kill the bastard. Davey nodded quietly to himself, murmuring his plans to himself.

***

Lich Grell Orfan’s red eyes glowed sharply as he looked at the allied troops entering the grand canyon. He muttered, “So, you came to dig your own grave.”

What Grell saw was a bunch of flesh bags willingly and courageously stepping into the lion’s den.

“But, I don’t see the bastard among them.”

Grell was referring to that monster, the monstrous bastard who had left him feeling numb. Although the monstrous boy had told him that he was a mortal, someone like him, who was hiding the great unknown in his body, could not have obtained that much power during his time as a mortal. If that boy was around, there was no assurance that Grell and his Undead would win. But Grell could not sense the boy’s mana at all.

Grell thought that the boy was headed somewhere else. Although anxious about whatever catastrophe the boy was going to cause, he ended up shaking his head to clear his mind. After all, Saintess candidate Alice, who was integral to his plans, had already entered the center of the sanctum where his great liege would be reborn. As long as his liege was reborn, Grell did not care what was taken away from him.

Grell did not know where Davey had gone, but he was sure that this foolish decision had cost Davey the lives of tens of thousands of people. These men would be killed without knowing what happened to them.

“Death is the only ending for those who have forgotten and left behind their fears,” Grell said calmly as he raised his hand.

Darkness flowed out from Grell’s fingertips to create a huge black hole that twisted the air in the surroundings. Even though Grell had been beaten by that monstrous boy, he was still an 8th Circle necromancer, a powerful being who has never been seen on this continent.

The darkness swirled above Grell’s hands until it created a gigantic sphere. Without saying anything, Grell grabbed the sphere and crushed it into nothingness.

Once a flash of black light burst out, something unexpected happened to the allied troops that were marching in a straight line toward the canyon. Tens of thousands of Undead appeared out of nowhere, as if they had been waiting for the troops. The Undead began breaking down the walls of the canyon to get to the allied troops.

“Everyone dies upon getting bitten. No matter who you are, you will not be able to escape death.”

The allied troops should have chosen to avoid a frontal confrontation with Grell and his forces. After all, Grell’s forces may be weak by themselves, but their bites could lead the allied troops to their deaths.

“M… Men!!! Prepare for battle!!!”

“Don’t panic!!! Nock your arrows!!!”

The allied troops’ response to the unexpected ambush was a calm one, proving that they had come here with their own countermeasure in hand. However, petty tactics would not work against Grell’s trap here.

Grell Orfan once again created a flash of power. He poured the remnants of that power into the staff in his hand. Then, he tapped his staff on the ground with a shout, “This is the land that my liege once ruled. How dare you enter this place, measly humans! It seems like you're quite courageous!”

As a pale light spread alongside an earthquake, the allied troops and the Undead clashed.

Pandemonium unfolded as the shocking number of Undead and humans fought against each other.

Grell Orfan looked at the battlefield silently. He already knew that this would happen. He could see how his own troops were overwhelming the allied troops, whose physical strength was only at the basic level. Grell even took advantage of the fact that they only needed to graze the enemies to win. He would win as long as his enemies could turn into allies the moment they were bitten.

The winner of this frontal and head-on battle was way too obvious. There were a few strong ones who could bring out an [Aura Blade] but one could not expect any great effect from them at all.

“Foolish ones…”

After hearing the terrible screams and shouts as the slaughter continued on, Grell Orfan finally thought of ending this fight all at once. Once his preparations were complete, he tapped his staff on the ground…

The cliffs surrounding the grand canyon began to shake. The surroundings were all of nature, but there were secrets hidden in this place that even humans did not know of. This was the place that had been used by the dragons as their tombs for hundreds of years. And over time, many bones had accumulated in the area.

With a loud crack, the ground shook terribly.

With another loud sound, cracks began to appear on some of the canyon’s tough and hard rocks.

When the crack finally spread far and wide, the cliffs collapsed to reveal the huge figures of the beings that had been dormant beneath the ground. The beings were the ultra-cold Frost Wyrm Wyverns. It was not just one or two, but dozens of Frost Wyrm Wyverns flying over the skies and casting great shadows on everyone on the ground. It was a very spectacular sight.

“It seems like they could block at least one of them.”

Grell’s red eyes followed the giant monsters, which were Frost Wyrm Wyverns, that had risen to the skies. He muttered, “It would be hard for them to survive without any cover the moment dozens of monsters fired their breaths at them.”

The most efficient way to get rid of the allied troops would be for the Frost Wyrm Wyverns to release their breaths on them. Also, Grell did not really care how the allied troops would stage a counterattack from this attack.

One of the giant wyverns that was tens of meters in size suddenly gathered a black current of energy in its mouth. The Frost Wyrm Wyvern’s breath shot straight toward the members of the allied troops who were not participating in the battle.

The attack’s low temperature caused mist and vapor to rise up from the ground, covering the view of the canyon. Obviously, the scene below could not be seen but Grell, whose eyes had turned green, could see what was happening inside the mist and the vapor very clearly.

“Aaaaaaaaack!”

“Save me!”

The allied troops’ soldiers screamed in terror as the Frost Wyrm Wyvern’s breaths broke their formation and froze them all.

The situation was obviously to Grell’s advantage. So, why was Grell Orfan feeling some strange sense of deja vu? It did not take too long for Grell to find out where the strange sense of dissonance was coming from.

The soldiers screamed as they got swept away by the Frost Wyrm Wyvern’s cold breath. Those who were unaffected kept fighting desperately to stay alive.

The breath attack was only for a moment, but the entire fight between the Undead and the allied troops had lasted for quite a while already.

If that was the case, then Grell should have already sacrificed a lot of his Undead. However, none of the Undead had been disposed of. To be exact, none of the Undead had perished under the hands of the allied troops. The short and intense feeling of deja vu was enough for Grell’s instincts to determine that there was something dangerous here.

“Did you enjoy the 3D surround sound and display?”

“Heuk?!”

Grell Orfan, who was about to turn around, was shocked by the figure who suddenly appeared in front of him. However, his reaction was too slow. The strange red and blue swords that had once killed him pierced through him once again. He fell to the depths of the canyon.

“Keuaaaaaaaaaaack!” Grell shrieked loudly from the pain that tore through his soul after being struck by the sword. He also saw the entire allied troops disappear from sight. It seemed like all of the opponents that he had seen so far were just mere illusions. And…

As the allied troops disappeared, the ground beneath their feet slowly started to shake. That was when a giant made of earth appeared together with hundreds of smaller clay giants. The being had a momentum that weighed down the surrounding air and made the dozens of Frost Wyrm Wyverns look shabby in comparison.

“All of those soldiers…were just an illusion? That’s impossible! The mana needed to maintain that kind of magic is something that you can’t handle…!”

“If we’re talking about the simplest method, then you are certainly correct.”

Grell screamed as if his judgment of the situation was correct. However, shortly after that, the earth giant slammed its fist toward the Frost Wyrm Wyvern. This time, it was not the fake trampling of the Undead from before. It was the true abuse and trampling from the allied troops.