The Max Level Hero Has Returned!-Novel

79. Where the World Tree Is.

Janice, confident with herself and her power, channeled all of her strength into pulling the string of her bow before letting it go and letting her arrow fly.

A loud and heavy sound rang out once the arrow struck the barrier.

Janice was certain that this one attack would crack the barrier. After all, hundreds of elves working together to send such a powerful attack should easily break the barrier that had been set up around the Divine Tree.

This was the reason why the bow was a very precious weapon. So, the question was, how long could a barrier created by a lone human hold up against such a strong attack? The elves silently crouched down and prepared to charge forward, watching the barrier shake from the attack. But…

The arrow that struck the barrier was trying to pierce through it… However, it only lost its momentum and fell to the ground.

In fact, the barrier had seemingly absorbed the impact of the attack.

Janice and the Ancient Guards were left speechless by the arrow’s unexpected fall to the ground. Was the earlier attack going to be wasted just like that? Well, that single shot should have had enough power to smash this barrier. Unfortunately, the arrow had been deflected.

“What the hell happ…” Janice was left in a daze by the absurdity of the situation.

Before Janice could finish speaking, someone suddenly cried out, “Janice!!! Dodge!!!”

However, Janice only registered her own loss of balance from the force of someone pushing her down.

Only after falling down did Janice regain her senses.

The Ancient Guard, Samara, had fallen down. Shockingly, the upper half of her body had disappeared.

In a single glance, Janice could tell that the impact of her arrow attack had been reflected.

“Sa… Samara…”

But no matter how many times Janice called her name, Samara would not be able to answer. After all, her entire upper body had already disappeared. What could one say in such a situation? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Janice stiffened up. While in a daze, she crawled toward whatever remained of Samara’s body. Upon reaching the bisected body, she could feel Samara’s body heat. It was as if Samara were still alive! But an elf, whose upper body had completely disappeared, could not be alive.

Janice fell back down with a blank expression on her face. She closed her eyes, then opened them in a flash. She yelled, “What… What the hell is going on here?!!!”

“Damn it! It’s a trap! Janice, we have to retreat!!!”

But Janice fell back into her daze after the short outburst, the other Ancient Guards’ shouting not registering in her ears at all. Her current situation became even more shocking when the attack that she had fired had been reflected by the barrier to kill her friend.

Janice wasn’t the only confused one. All of the elves that gathered here were confused.

Unfortunately, the catastrophe was not yet over. The layout of the forest began to change, as if it had been waiting for this moment.

It all felt so real, the ground rumbling beneath the elves’ feet and the bite of the harsh wind on their skin. The forest appeared to be truly alive. In just an instant, the forest was no longer an ordinary forest; it became an endless maze.

After the forest had become a maze, the dazed Janice finally realized that she had been separated from her comrades. All she could do was stare at her surroundings helplessly while mumbling, “He’s a monster. This…”

How could a single person be able to make such a ridiculous barrier? Could any part of common sense even try explaining this away? Thinking about that, Janice shook her head to give a firm no. This was absolutely impossible, but it was now her reality.

Janice slowly stood up with a blank face. She touched the walls of the maze and felt the rough texture with her fingertips. She murmured, “It’s not an illusion. The barrier is covering the entire forest… I’ve never heard about such a barrier before. This should be…completely impossible to maintain…”

Janice had to wonder how her enemies were maintaining such a barrier. She had so many questions that made her go round in circles, so she ended up shutting herself up. She just could not say anything anymore.

The maze was so dark that Janice could see nothing. There was also the hair-raising killing intent that hovered around her and stiffened her up. Janice turned to look behind her, but all she could see was endless darkness.

But from that empty void, Janice felt something pierce through her heart. She looked down, finally noticing a sword that was commonly used by assassins piercing right through her chest. Her gaze shook. She slowly looked back up at the elf with dark skin, who was brutally retrieving the sword with a cold glint in her eyes.

Janice looked at the dark elf and felt a vague sense of familiarity. She had obviously not seen a dark elf in her life before, but for some reason, she felt like she had seen that face from somewhere before.

The dark elf, whose navy hair was parted down the middle and brushing against her shoulders, looked at Janice. She said calmly, “The maze that you are seeing is a mere illusion. This is a Great Illusion, one that can partially deceive your five senses. Unfortunately for you, the seigneur of this territory is not someone who can be measured by common sense…”

Janice was finally able to recognize who the dark elf was just before she died. She recognized the dark elf’s cold and nonchalant way of speaking. She asked weakly, “Aina… Why are you here…?”

“Is it wrong for a younger sister to protect her older sister?” Aina turned away.

Janice smiled bitterly. When she was younger, she had teased a girl. The same girl had accompanied her while learning archery and spirit magic. She had teased the girl a lot because the girl had been so sloppy with her immense talent.

However, when the girl had disappeared from the forest, Janice had been told that her friend had defied the Divine Tree and had been branded by the fetters of a corrupt sinner. But that friend was here right now.

“So you were…here… I’ve been looking for…”

“You will feel no pain. We wouldn’t have fought and killed each other like this if it weren’t for the Divine Tree’s Saint and the World Tree. But it is what it is. Goodbye, Janice.”

Janice’s expression was bitter as she looked at Aina through her blurry vision. In the end, everything turned black.

***

“I don’t feel well,” Aina uttered immediately after opening the crystal ball to report back to Davey.

“Do assassins cry?”

“Stop making fun of me. I don't have the capacity to take any jokes right now,” Aina said calmly with a cold and cruel expression. “Just because they’re all elves of the Divine Tree does not mean that they are all stuck up and cruel. There are some good ones among them.”

Aina continued to give her report in a calm manner. “That’s all I have to report. All of the Ancient Guards who have stealthily approached the territory to recapture Yuria are already dead. I killed them easily because they had been caught by the illusion cast by the barrier that you’ve set up, Sir Davey.”

Davey nodded. “Good job.”

“Can you…do me a favor, please?”

Davey nodded when he heard Aina speaking with an uncharacteristically weak voice.

“The World Tree… Please make sure to kill the Divine Tree’s goddamn will and that Saint. I don’t know what that tree is and why it has to make it painful for each and every one of us, so please…” Aina brushed her face with one of her hands.

The call ended abruptly, with Aina cutting herself off.

Davey knew that it was the right decision to have left Aina behind. After all, things had gone just as he expected; the World Tree did send troops after Yuria.

“Fire Chicken.”

Davey looked at Fire Chicken and its glossy feathers, knowing that it had the greatest appetite to eat whatever it wanted to eat once he let it fly around the forest.

All Divine Beasts were born in their adult form, which was why their size remained the same even while growing up. However, their fur or feathers would be glossier when their conditions were better.

“Let’s go. It’s your time to shine. Go, you can vent your anger however you want and as much as you want. I won’t stop you.”

—Kiyeeeeeeeeeeek!

The Vermillion Bird released a burst of flames. It looked just like a happy cat who had been given milk. Although the flames looked intense, Davey and Rinne, who were both standing next to it, did not feel any heat.

“Let’s go.”

“Rinne will catch up.”

The elves had received a huge amount of damage. Before they got the chance to reorganize themselves, Davey had to finish the World Tree off.

The moment Davey landed on Fire Chicken’s back, Rinne flapped the wings on her back and landed in front of him. Once she was close enough, Davey pulled her back to stop her from falling.

Davey stroked Fire Chicken and said, “Go.”

Fire Chicken was still very happy from getting Davey’s permission to do whatever it pleased. Upon receiving Davey’s command, it spread its wings and flew high up into the air to reveal its majestic presence.

***

Divine Beasts could fly at unbelievable speeds. In the first place, the existence of Divine Beasts already defied the laws of nature. After all, Divine Beasts were beings born from a human’s desire. Simply put, the speed at which it could fly would depend on its current condition and the power it currently possessed.

Davey had to ignore the changing surroundings as they flew for days.

Fire Chicken had chosen to fly non-stop during the day while eating as much delicious food as it wanted during the night to replenish its strength. This way, it could fly the next day with as much vigor as before.

Based on the reports that Davey had received, the elves no longer attacked recklessly after being hit hard once. They were busy preparing for something now. However, they did not know that Davey had left the battlefield and was now heading toward the Divine Tree’s forest.

The Divine Tree’s Sacred Land was located in the northern area of the western continent. Their neighboring country was the Conthas Empire.

Originally, it was considered rude for a prince of another nation to invade another empire’s airspace without any form of communication. However, there was no way that Davey would foster any kind of good feelings towards Conthas Empire especially since they were the ones who had opened the path for the enemies in the first place. It was none of Davey’s business if they were trying to curry favor with the elves because of political reasons, but he would not stop the animosity that he now felt towards them.

After three whole days of flying non-stop and avoiding detection, they finally reached the edge of an incomparably large forest that was filled with gigantic trees and dazzling greens.

“Let’s go down here. If we fly any further, the Divine Tree will catch us easily.”

Fire Chicken who had been flying excitedly then gently landed on the ground. It seemingly was showing Davey just how satisfied it was with flying freely and doing whatever it pleased. It also retracted its hot flames.

“U-Urk… Rinne discovered a huge error in her sense of direction. Rinne identifies this as motion sickness.”

“So, robots can get motion sickness too.”

“Rinne’s…emotional circuits are rapidly heating up. Rinne identifies this as fierce anger towards Davey,” Rinne said while gnashing her teeth.

Ignoring Rinne, Davey simply patted Fire Chicken. He pulled out a talisman and said, “Go back and rest. Conserve your strength. I’ll call you later. Then, you can run as wild as you can.”

—Kihyeeeeeeeeck!

Fire Chicken roared happily after hearing Davey’s words. Then, it tapped its beak on the talisman.

Fire Chicken turned into flames and vanished inside the talisman.

—You’re going to go inside just like that? What’s the point of hiding your presence and sneaking out if you’re just going to get caught here?

Davey had heard about the World Tree’s rough location from Yuria and Aina. However, he had no way of knowing the exact location without checking it out himself. Davey also did not know how long the search would take, which was why he was now in a situation that could expose him completely.

The Divine Tree’s Forest was the World Tree’s domain. She could sense everyone who entered and just where they were. In fact, there was no way for Davey to avoid Yggdrasil’s all-seeing eyes. After all, Yggdrasil had the upper hand when it came to holy magic, mana, dark magic, and spirit magic thanks to her special attributes. There was nothing that Davey could use to camouflage himself and hide from her, except for one method…

“I haven’t done this in a long time. Shall we try it?”

Davey did not really like this method, but it was his master’s fault for making sorcery in the first place.

Davey immediately pulled around five or six strands of hair on his head, placed them flat on his palm, and lifted them to the skies. Then, he sandwiched a scarlet talisman between the index and middle finger of his other hand. The strands of hair on his palm began to vibrate and resonate with his other arm, which moved as gently as the waves of the sea.

After moving a certain distance, Davey threw the talisman into the air and blew the strands of hair away.

With a pop, a few individuals appeared right in front of Davey.

“Rinne is witnessing a disaster. Rinne evaluates this lowly.” Rinne covered both eyes with her small hands as if she did not want to see anything anymore.

—What… What the hell is that?!

Perserque screamed and jumped behind Davey. Of course, she did not forget to close her eyes tightly.

The hair that Davey blew away had turned into clones that looked just like him.

The problem with using sorcery was that the clones that Davey had made exposed his true build to the world. The build that he had in his previous life was a lot bigger than his build right now, so he was very surprised to see that his clones had followed that size.

Davey looked at his clones with a complicated expression. Then, looking at the naughty little girl beside him, he immediately pressed down on the girl’s silver hair and said, “Rinne, close the gaps between your fingers.”

“Tch… Rinne evaluates Davey’s sharpness very lowly.”