The Max Level Hero Has Returned!

Chapter 911

Davey had devoured the armored man using Predatory Assimilation, while Ilyna had taken care of the other figures. And finally, the massive armored giant that emerged from the rift went down as well.

The armored giant, which had endured and endured, had used its massive frame to push forward in a vain attempt to fend off the overwhelming strike of the Grand General of Heaven—all whilst adjusting its strength.

Yet, as if the Grand General of Heaven was done with the tug-of-war, its energy instantly surged as everything shifted.

A strike that overturned heaven and earth.

Even though it had suppressed the force to prevent the shockwaves from spreading too far, the immense impact created a gale powerful enough to blow the knights away. The sheer intensity of the blast shattered three of the five protective barriers Perserque had cast to shield Aeria, who lacked exceptional combat strength. Even Sephiroth Rinne, who had released her power to create a counter-current, was barely able to neutralize the shockwave.

As the enemy collapsed and disintegrated in the blink of an eye, the battlefield was sprinkled with shimmering, multicolored stardust. Unlike before, there was no sense of lingering power.

The torn rift reverted to its original state, but the sky and black clouds above remained apparently pierced with a colossal sinkhole, as if a massive column had gone right through them.

“Gah! W-What the hell?!”

Sir Deb let out a cry of shock while sprawled on the ground. Davey ignored him, lifting his gaze to the Grand General of Heaven.

“Why didn’t you control your strength?”

The Grand General of Heaven gleamed its eyes to meet Davey’s. It should’ve moderated its power in order to assess the situation more clearly, but it had obliterated everything in front of it out of rage.

It slowly raised its fist, its imposing figure exuding a commanding presence so severe that even the onlookers couldn’t help but feel reassured by its sheer might. It raised its middle finger toward Davey before promptly dispersing into nothingness—a perfect display of unyielding audacity.

“T-That crazy bastard...” Davey muttered, as he looked at where it used to be. “Fine. I’ll deal with you next time you show up.”

As the others slowly rose to their feet, Davey turned his attention to the crater and touched the radiant dust scattered across the ground.

The ancient demonic beast Killer Rabbit had momentarily been scattered. Of course, as most of its true form resided in the Demon World, its avatar next to Davey hadn't possessed its full power. Even so, the enemies Davey had just dealt with shouldn’t have been capable of affecting Killer Rabbit to the extent that they had.

He knew that could only mean one thing.

With a swift motion, Davey extended his hand toward the spot where the space had been torn.

“Altair.”

Crack!

Within an instant, the power of Time Spirit Altair isolated the surrounding space. Immersed in the frozen world, Davey scattered his divine power over the area where the rift had been.

‘Let’s see if this bait draws anything out.’

Even if it proved ineffective, there was no harm in trying. As Davey quietly released his power, something suddenly tugged at him with great force.

“Well, well, well. What have we here?”

Crunch!

As the space tore open, something intangible beyond the rift connected with Davey. He then saw a vast, pitch-black expanse filled with an unfathomable number of stars. Among them was a singular presence radiating an exceptionally potent energy.

He saw a massive eye.

He couldn’t help but grin, instantly recognizing that it was no ordinary being.

It was a star. Or no. It was a cluster of countless stars that formed an enormous concentration of power. Though it resembled the energy signature of Goddess Freyja, there was something different about the massive cluster of force.

It stared at Davey, its gaze unyielding.

Considering the power it possessed, severing Killer Rabbit’s connection in a single blow wasn’t out of the question. Davey returned its gaze, locking eyes with the entity.

“So, it’s you.”

- ...

The entity seemed to come to the same realization as Davey. He figured it was the constellation Cancer that the armored figure had mentioned.

“Well, I’m done with things here, so I’ll see you later.”

Having said his piece, Davey forcibly severed the connection.

Blink!!

The rift slammed shut instantly. After releasing the power of Time Spirit Altair, Davey turned toward Perserque.

“Perserque.”

“Your expression looks grim. I even sensed the power of the Time Spirit earlier,” she said worriedly.

“Yeah. I’m heading to the Hall of Heroes for a bit. You should return to Heins Territory with Megalodria.”

“You always manage to invite trouble wherever you go.”

“Tell me about it. I’ll let the ones at the hall deal with the troublesome stuff, so you can just wait for me back home.”

“You’re just going to leave without giving me a goodbye kiss?”

Hearing her playful remark, Davey glanced around. The surrounding people, still processing the massive conflict that had just happened, had confused faces.

“I’ll give you one after I get back.”

“Fine. I’ll let it slide this time.”

“Okay.”

As Davey reached out to pat her head, she swatted his arm away.

“I’m not fond of being treated like a child.”

Instead, she gestured for Davey to lower his head and placed her hand on his head, patting him with a smirk.

“Good. Now, off you go.”

“We’ll see about this later...”

Unlike Illyna or Aeria, who rarely tried to show dominance, Perserque was always quick to remind him who was boss in their relationship. It was nothing new.

“Um... Prince Davey.”

“The ones who appeared here are all taken care of. But it could still be dangerous, so don’t let anyone near the area for now.”

“What exactly happened here?”

“Well, if that gate opens again, we’re gonna be looking at some chaos.”

Realizing Davey wasn’t exaggerating, Sir Ded’s face turned pale. After summoning Megalodria, Davey reached into the air where no one could see, twisting the space.

Gleam!!

In a flash of light, his body dissolved and scattered into particles.

* * *

The Saint Sanctuary.

Once the place where Goddess Freyja existed, it had since become a space of firmament or foundation for the heroes of the hall. The borders stretched endlessly, with no ground in sight despite being surrounded by massive floating rocks that Odin liked.

These stones ranged in size from tens to hundreds of meters in diameter. Waterfalls poured down from them, into the infinite sky below, while bridges linked the islands.

Ssss...

“You’ve finally arrived,” said Ares, brushing his short hair.

Though different from Illyna in demeanor, his sharp eyes still bore a striking resemblance to hers. Davey couldn’t help but imagine the two side by side for comparison.

“Like ancestor, like descendant,” he muttered.

“Hm?”

“What were you here waiting for?”

“I was watching for you. I had a feeling you’d show up.”

Davey typically refrained from stepping into the Saint Sanctuary, and they, in turn, rarely reached out to him unless it was something truly significant. It was their way of respecting each other’s domains.

After hearing his response, Davey followed him across a cloud bridge, heading toward an enormous structure designed in a grand, traditional oriental style.

“This way.”

Ares led Davey to a beautiful garden. With a harmonious blend of East and West, the garden was the embodiment of the tastes of Dokgo Jun and Odin.

There, sitting on a large rock with a fishing rod in hand, was a small girl.

“Odin. Davey’s here.”

Odin turned her cold gaze toward Davey. After fixing her fishing rod in midair, she walked toward him.

“It’s been a while.”

“...”

She just simply observed Davey as she circled him a few times. She then gave him a big bright smile. But he knew that when she smiled like that—

Whack!!

She kicked Davey straight into the garden’s pond without hesitation.

‘That smile is only for times like this.’

“Argh!”

Davey was dunked in the lake before he knew it. He barely managed to lift his head above the surface before Odin pressed it back down with her small hand, wearing an icy grin.

“It really has been too long, Davey. I’ve been dying to burn you alive.”

“You crazy old hag!”

Fwoosh!

“Care to repeat that?”

“Yes, ma’am. What’s the matter, ma’am?”

“...”

After staring intently at Davey for a moment, Odin finally removed her hand from his head and turned away.

“You’ve already seen it.”

“The constellation Cancer.”

“Yes, that name sounds right.”

“What is it exactly?”

“Follow me. You’ll find the answers you seek in Goddess Freyja’s records she left behind.”

With a snap of her fingers, the surroundings shifted, revealing a massive underground temple.

“This is a place of inheritance where the esoteric knowledge and memories left by Goddess Freyja are stored. Much of it is lost, but some remnants remain.”

She then pointed to inscriptions carved into a gigantic stone wall. Davey was unfamiliar with the language.

“It’s incomprehensible.”

“It’s Divine Script. If you tried to decipher it like you would a phonetic language, you wouldn’t find even the slightest clue to solving it even after a thousand years.”

The structure of the words and sentences, the arrangement, and especially the penmanship—all of it formed a highly inefficient yet somehow perfect language.

“It says that before Primordial Goddess Freyja created the world, there were twelve fragments that split off when she first gained her will.”

“Twelve fragments?”

“Yes. These fragments of a god naturally possessed consciousness. But since they were incomplete, they couldn’t fully attain divinity.”

Odin translated the inscription slowly.

“Because of their overwhelming egos, Goddess Freyja sealed these twelve fragments instead of absorbing them. Those became the constellations—eventually referred to as the Zodiac Signs.”

“Why are they only acting up now?”

“What you encountered was one of them. Goddess Freyja being dormant is problematic enough, but the real trigger lies in Thanatos, the moon you created.”

The balance of the world, previously only kept in equilibrium by immense vitality, had shifted from the stirring of even more vitality. That disturbance awakened Polaris, the first of the stars, which in turn began to rouse the Twelve Zodiacs under its dominion.

“That cursed moon. It’s always causing me trouble,” Davey muttered with frustration.

Even the Spirit World was slowly being affected by it. Not to mention, it even disrupted Evangeline’s growth.

Too little power was dangerous, but too much could be just as bad.

“No one, not even us, can fully control this situation—except for Goddess Freyja herself, of course. It’s the same for you. Don’t bother feeling regret over something impossible for you to stop,” she explained calmly. But she suddenly whipped her staff to hit Davey on the back of the head.

“Pay attention! Do you want a new burn?”

“Please, continue.”

Unwilling to face the consequences of showing his indignation, Davey nodded begrudgingly. Odin gathered lights in the air, forming the shapes of the constellations.

“Only two of them have fully awakened so far,” she said while gesturing. Two constellations began to glow and move.

“Cancer, also known as the Sword Star or Sword Lord.”

“I’ve heard of that first one, sure... but Sword Lord?”

“That’s how it’s recorded in Goddess Freyja’s memories.”

Odin waved her staff, and the second constellation flared brightly.

“The second constellation, Taurus: the Strength Star, or Battle God.”

‘Battle God?’

“I don’t know all the specifics, but Davey, this is important—the power of the Zodiac constellations is comparable to demigods. The casual half-assed manner you’ve been using to deal with others before now isn't going to cut it this time.”

“Why didn’t Goddess Freyja deal with these problems herself, instead of leaving them dormant for so long that they’ve now become my problem?”

“How would I know? If I had to guess...” Odin turned her sharp gaze toward Davey.

“It’s probably because she thought you were the only one who could destroy them.”

As the possessor of Predatory Assimilation, his ability to devour and their being power-clustered entities made him uniquely suited to counter them in combat.

“But wait, there's more,” said someone who seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

“Woochi?”

“Take this. Oh, and don’t worry too much about those guys. Sure, their unique constitutions give them immense survival abilities, but their tangible power is actually less than that of a regular demigod, even though they technically surpass that level.”

In essence, they were like game characters that went all-in on defense while ignoring offensive skills.

He then gave Davey three talismans.

“One of these pertains to Polaris, and one is about the Zodiac constellations.”

“What’s the last one for?”

“It’s a reference guide for translating and deciphering the rest of the information. Figure it out yourself.”

“Why not just teach me?” he asked.

Odin smiled and stepped forward. Without warning, she kicked him in the shin and opened a space in the ground beneath him. Just as he was about to get sucked in, Davey grabbed onto the edge, gritting his teeth and glaring up at her.

“Mind explaining what this attitude is all about?” he asked sharply.

“Well, isn’t it obvious? I should be relaxing in peace, but thanks to a certain someone, I’m stuck managing this chaos. I’m genuinely starting to wonder why I’m even bothering doing this,” she said in a sharp tone.

Davey avoided her gaze and said, “You know... that’s, uh...”

“If you don’t want to die, go figure it out. I’ve already given you all the help you’re going to get. Oh, and one more thing,” she said, clapping her hands. “Rho Aias had a message for you.”

As he clung to the edge of the rift, she crouched in front of him, dramatically cracking her knuckles.

“Something about your daughter. Evangeline, was it? Her thread of fate has appeared. Congratulations. Though... it seems a little tangled.”

“Tangled?”

“All of us here agree it basically means that she’s destined to face trouble. Each of the Zodiac-tier demigods has their own useful domain of expertise, you know,” Woochi said casually.

“The servant of the constellation Cancer did wield a sword in our fight.”

“Don’t lose to those rootless brutes—you shouldn't be too flippant about this and end up losing,” Odin reminded him.

“Who said anything about losing?”

He was beyond the level of an ordinary hero, so he had no intention of losing either.

“Good. Now get out of here!”

As Odin cracked her final knuckle, she shoved him off and ejected him from the hall without providing any more answers. Deep down, he felt like he deserved at least a goodbye, but he just decided to go with the flow.

When Davey opened his eyes, he found himself somewhere unexpected—not on the Tionis Continent, or the site where the multicolored meteorite had fallen. Instead, he stood on a vast island with a massive, four-legged blue whale resting lazily on the shore.

And nearby was the mermaid with the mouth of destruction.

“Protector! Do you know why six is afraid of seven? Because seven, eight, nine!” the mermaid So-Ya said with a grin.

[Pfft!!]

“...”

Davey’s expression darkened as his sensitive ears caught the bad joke. He marched toward the massive blue whale and delivered a solid kick to its side.

“Think that’s funny? Do you, you bastard?”

[Ack! W-Wait, Contractor! What are you doing here?!]

“How should I know? I must’ve overused my divine power or something.”

But he knew he hadn’t used much, simply wanting to cross dimensions.

“Welcome!” So-Ya greeted him warmly, flashing a bright smile.

Davey sighed in response. “Tionis had that endlessly talkative Morziana, and Earth has you—a mermaid whose every word makes dad jokes seem like comedy scripture. Honestly, you two might be scarier than the constellations.”

So-Ya tilted her head curiously, not sure what he was talking about.

“So, what exactly is going on here? And where even are we?” Davey asked.

“Oh, this is an uninhabited island in the South American region. It’s a great spot for a little vacation—I even set up a hammock nearby. Want to join us?” she offered cheerfully.

Davey squinted at her, then scanned the area. He knew Odin must’ve sent him there for a reason, though nothing seemed particularly unusual at first glance.

But it didn’t take long for him to spot something out of the ordinary.

“What’s that?”

In the sky, constellations blazed with a radiant light, connecting to form a familiar shape—the silhouette of a bull.

"Taurus..."

They had told Davey there were two awakened constellations.

The crab—the Sword Lord Cancer. The bull—the Battle God Taurus.

Both were demigods trapped within the vast cosmic space known as the Saint Sanctuary.

Now, the enormous constellation of Taurus began to condense its light into a single point. The brilliant glow intensified, forming a massive pillar of light with a diameter of several dozen meters that surged downward, piercing the island where Davey stood.

Boom!

“Aaah!” So-Ya shrieked.

[Get back, you fool!]

Behemoth roared, wrapping her in its tentacle-like whiskers to shield her from the impact. It turned toward Davey.

[Contractor, what in the world is that?]

“How would I know?” he replied bluntly, observing the scene.

From within the radiant pillar, something colossal began to emerge, its form semi-translucent. The figure was a Minotaur-like creature, about two meters and eighty centimeters tall—massive compared to a human, though relatively small for a monster.

The being that emerged from the light of Taurus didn’t speak. Instead, its entire body composed of dense, constellation-like light turned its gaze to Davey. It then slowly extended a hand.

Grk, grk, grk!

The ground in front of it rose and formed a pedestal around Davey’s waist height.

“What’s this supposed to mean?” Davey muttered, watching its movements.

The starlit figure didn’t give an answer. Instead, it demonstrated its physical prowess by twisting and tearing the surrounding space with sheer force.

“Showing off your strength?” Davey smirked.

‘I can do that too.’

Crack!

He casually waved his hand, twisting space as well. Seeing this, the Minotaur-like figure clapped its hands together in an exaggerated gesture of approval. Though silent, it seemed like it was roaring out laughter.

‘This one’s weird.’

But regardless of what Davey thought, the strange creature kept moving to its own beat. It placed its massive elbow on the pedestal, as if preparing for an arm-wrestling match. With a quick nod, it invited Davey to join.

“So you want to go at it, huh?”

For beings with a clear sense of consciousness, what it was doing wasn’t entirely surprising. He stepped forward without hesitation, gripping its enormous hand. As he did, he felt a similar power to when he had faced the constellation Cancer.

As he felt the surroundings shake, he could tell how powerful the being in front of him was. Though the creature towered over Davey, he couldn’t but smile at it.

Since it wanted a contest of strength, he was more than happy to give it one.

[Oh my Goddess Freyja, you who illuminate all creation. You who sleep, I now borrow your blessing.]

Davey believed in his strength and reverently gave a prayer to the Goddess in Her slumber.

[9th Level Ultimate Holy Magic]

[Focus Amplification]

[The Power of the Saint]

Though expressionless, he felt like the constellation was frowning.

‘What’s wrong? Not happy? Then go ahead and use your own buffs.’