The Max Level Hero Has Returned!

Chapter 1405

Davey asked, “Is this it?”

“Y-yes... Yes it is, sir!” The man, who looked like the very definition of being beaten to a pulp, frantically rubbed his hands together. “I... I’ll turn myself in! W-will you spare us like you promised?”

All those who’d killed the others and tried to collect the loot were dead.

All but one.

The man who appeared to be the leader had rolled around on the ground screaming pathetically, his severed arm lying nearby.

Seeing him, the assassins had all rushed to Kouna. It seemed they had a plan of their own, but Kouna was a top-tier Awakened individual. Some of the assassins had decent skill, but none could stand against Kouna, who had a contract with a divine beast.

She sliced them down, unleashing more rage than necessary. Josiah and Davey didn’t even try to stop her.

When only one was left, Davey stopped her and kept him alive to be their guide. He then gave the others emergency first-aid, summoned Killer Rabbit, and had them transported out first.

Afterward, he made the guide take them to the ruins.

“This ruin feels way too natural.” Josiah marveled at the shape of the stone structures scattered everywhere. “Just by the scale, it looks like the remains of a pretty big territory.”

“A territory, huh? Despite the size, there’s barely any trace of people.”

The bizarre geography, like a deserted territory, had a strange, subtle feeling about it.

“What should we do with this guy, Teacher?” Josiah pointed to the killer who’d guided them. Her intent was obvious.

“P-please spare me! I’ll never harm anyone again! I’ll repent for my sins and turn myself in for everything...”

Squelsh!!

Davey called out, “Josiah.”

She ripped out his heart and coldly said, “Guys like this’ll go right back to killing the second they have the chance.”

She was much more decisive than Davey expected.

“Josiah,” he repeated.

“Teacher! If you checked the female victims, you’d know why.” She clenched her teeth. “Those bastards. They’re garbage, scums of humanity!”

They didn’t just stab people in the back to steal loot; they deplorably brutalized their targets. That fact had clearly overwhelmed Josiah’s mind.

“If no one else was going to do it, I would've killed him myself anyways.”

“Don’t take killing people so lightly, Josiah .”

“...Okay.” She looked somewhat discontent. “But is it really okay to send Killer Rabbit away like that?”

“I got it covered, so don’t worry,” Davey assured them.

Since the keraunos had fallen toward Kouna, it was dangerous to leave her alone. However, if Davey sent her back to Earth, there was no guarantee the keraunos wouldn’t follow her there.

“Should we go in first?” he suggested.

If the map the Goddess had given him was connected to the ruins, then he figured he'd find clues about the keraunos phenomenon there as well. As Kouna’s guardian, it was only right for him to handle any situation that could put her in danger himself.

“Looks like this is the way into the ruins.” Josiah just walked right into the ruins with light steps.

“Hey! Don’t rush in.” Davey followed her, held Kouna by the arm, and saw her face turn bright red. “Kouna?”

“Uh. I’m going. I’m sorry.” Hesitating, she followed Davey. She definitely seemed a little different from usual.

The inside of the ruins was like a maze. Yet, the maze surprisingly wasn’t exceptionally complicated or meandering, so it didn’t seem like escaping or finding anything would be too difficult.

Davey drew a map of the maze in his head, based on his perfect memory.

Josiah curiously asked, “Teacher, what about that map we got?”

“That map doesn’t match up with this place.”

The map the Goddess had given him was complex and vast, beyond comparison to the current one. Despite its complexity, the maze was only moderately annoying.

There were many rooms with treasures or artifacts scattered throughout.

However, the important thing was that there were no clues to be found at all.

“Maybe this isn’t the ruin?” Kouna proposed, looking someone dejected over the lack of clues. “If that red lightning falls one more time, a new ruin might pop up.”

Josiah stomped her feet in annoyance. “Ugh, this is so frustrating. Seriously, that Goddess Freyja. Would it kill her to just tell us the way?”

That was when it happened.

Whummm.

The ground beneath Josiah’s feet rippled like a disturbed pond, then suddenly swallowed her whole.

“Kyaaah!”

Soon after, the ripple spread beneath Davey and Kouna as well.

Davey quickly pulled Kouna into his arms and manifested his divine power to suppress the aberration. Yet, the moment he tried to suppress it, an unknown, eerie feeling pervaded his entire body.

‘Sure, I’m not an absolute god, but it's reaching all the way to my core as a complete divinity?’

The unknown was sometimes the most terrifying of all.

It was only a fleeting moment that it struck, but the surrounding space was completely warped. Once Davey regained his senses, he realized he was surrounded by water and couldn’t see anything around him.

A crushing pressure fell over him that made it hard to breathe. A terrible sense of restraint—one he had never felt even when plunged to the bottom of the deep sea—took over his body.

Once he summoned his divine power, he could somewhat endure it, but Josiah and Kouna were different.

He wondered whether the two of them would be safe facing such blinding suffocation.

Josiah could hold out for a long time even if oxygen was cut off, but he wasn’t sure about Kouna.

‘There’s no way. If they suddenly ended up underwater too, dealing with the panic alone would be a nightmare.’

He needed to find them quickly before they were swallowed for good by the black depths.

The water that enveloped him, which even light couldn’t penetrate, strongly felt like it lacked substance. Fortunately, the power of Predatory Assimilation had the greatest influence over things without substance.

Seizing the opportunity, he forcibly released his power.

Boom!!

A fierce ripple spread out, swallowing and scattering everything around him. In that brief instant, he saw the two trapped. Kouna was still as if she’d fainted, and Josiah, frowning and pale, looking utterly lost.

Davey quickly swam toward them and managed to secure them both.

They had clearly entered some kind of alternate space.

‘What kind of space is this?’

He couldn’t even be sure if rapidly swimming up would take them out of the water, let alone the decompression sickness it’d give them.

Kouna’s condition looked serious, but emergency treatment was impossible in such a situation.

Boom!!!

Unable to tell which way was up, he maximized the output of his Predatory Assimilation power to create a crack in the space, then shot upward.

Eventually, it felt like the boundary had flipped, and Davey was ejected out of the water with the two women.

“Cough! Cough!!” As soon as Davey set the two down, Josiah hunched over and let out rough coughs. Tears streamed from her eyes, gasping out, “Haah. Haah. I thought I was going to die.”

“You okay?”

“What... What was that, seriously? It wasn’t just water... If it had just been water, it wouldn’t have been so agonizing.”

They’d been made to endure a mind shattering pressure, trapped within a body of water that made even a Vampire Lord struggle to breathe.

Anyone could tell it wasn’t normal.

Realizing that Josiah was relatively fine, Davey immediately rushed to Kouna, who was still silent and apparently unconscious.

They were now under a deep red sky, the sun that was blazing like a sunset. Apart from the two, the scarlet lake and red field grasses were enough to dizzy anyone who looked at them.

It looked like Kouna had swallowed a lot of water, and she wasn't waking up easily. Davey shouted, “Kouna! Snap out of it. Kouna!”

Unwilling to waste even one extra second, he immediately used his divine power to force the water she had swallowed back out.

However, some force was interfering with him.

“Huh? Oh! Well, well, well,” he muttered.

“Teacher! There’s no time! Hurry!”

“I know, so zip it.” Davey laid the unconscious Kouna flat before lifting her chin to assess her situation.

‘Fortunately, nothing seems to be obstructing her airway.’

With his holy power and divine power being blocked, the best way to provide emergency treatment was chest compressions and rescue breathing.

Davey quickly stretched out his hands and began pressing down on her chest. He counted quickly and compressed, but her body didn’t seem to be responding.

Her body reacted a little differently from Josiah or Davey. It felt like some force was forcibly preventing anything from penetrating her body. Her protection ability was useful, yet in such a situation, it was effectively poison.

There was no choice but to breathe into her directly. Davey gathered his divine power entirely in his mouth, then poured it into her airway through her lips.

Thump!!

A formless heartbeat sound rang out. At the same time, her body resisted, but he poured more in without hesitation. After breathing his divine power into her for what felt like a long time, her eyes snapped open.

She stared at him with surprise on her face. Then, as soon as he backed away to give her a second, she hunched over and let out a few rough coughs.

“Cough! Cough cough!”

As she did, a bloody red liquid shot out of her mouth. However, it wasn't blood. From what Davey could tell, it was the unidentified liquid they had been submerged in earlier.

She struggled to get a handle on herself. “Haah. Haah.”

Davey held up a hand and sternly said, “Kouna! Look straight. Can you see my fingers?”

She nodded with a dazed expression.

“How many?” he asked.

“Two...” she finally muttered.

“Looks like there’s no problem with your cognitive ability,” he said with relief. “Any other abnormalities?”

“Doesn’t... seem like it.”

Fortunately, it didn’t seem to have escalated into a major problem. Kouna seemed unable to grasp the situation at first. She looked around blankly for a moment before suddenly covering her mouth with one hand. “W-what happened?”

“The space warped, and we were forcibly summoned into that lake. You lost consciousness while we were down there. Don’t worry, though, you’re safe. After all, I promised to protect you.”

Only then did she seem to understand the situation. Her eyes widened, and she looked around again. After confirming the surrounding scenery and comparing it with her vision from before, she let out a sigh. She then bitterly muttered to herself, “What an idiot... What did I expect?”

Davey didn’t understand. “Kouna?”

“I’m sorry. I’ve seen this place before... through foresight, in a vision.” Downcast, she continued, “I’m sorry I didn’t say anything beforehand.”

Of course, even if she had spoken up, it wouldn’t have changed what happened.

“No. You did good,” Davey said.

“Huh?”

“Thanks to you, I think we've found the place this map shows.”

The forest surrounding the lake was part of a crimson plain, but within it laid an entrance that looked like a maze.

Apparently, Goddess Freyja had given them a map of a vast maze that couldn't possibly be compared to mere ruins.

He figured the clues to the current crisis must be at the end of the maze.

Josiah started to mess around, flashing a little devil smile and saying, “Teacher. I feel chilly, too.”

It was obvious she was doing that purely because she wanted to see him in a difficult spot.

He raised his fist and lightly bonked her on the head. “Be quiet.”

She recoiled, defeated. “Ugh!”

* * *

They quickly found the maze to be truly horrendous. Not only did its form change in real-time, but it was also impossible to fly up and scout it from above.

“Teacher, doesn’t divine power solve most things? Just use it on this and we’ll be good.”

Davey gave a shake of the head. “It’s not working well, like this place is an independent space. I don’t know if it’s because I’m not strong enough, or if the structure of this place is just strange.”

The fortunate thing was that the map the goddess gave him also glowed and changed shape alongside the maze. Thus, he was able to reach the destination without too much of a problem.

However, Kouna looked so visibly dejected that Davey couldn't help but worry. Her expression was far worse than what one would expect from someone who was merely feeling down in the dumps.

Davey hesitantly asked, “Kouna... are you okay?”

“Haah. Haah. I’m sorry, I can keep going.”

Josiah chimed in, saying, “Teacher, I’ve been feeling my energy steadily draining for a while now.”

“I’m aware. It’s fundamentally a space full of deficiencies,” Davey informed her.

“Like the void?”

“Yeah, exactly.”

Like a black hole that constantly sucked in things, the red sun in the sky continuously devoured something formless.

The one most affected was Kouna. Davey didn’t know what there was left to take from her, though she knew her body likely wouldn’t be able to handle much more on its own.

“Just get on my back,” he told her.

Her face turned red as a beet, and she stammered, “B-but...”

“Just hurry up and get on. I’m gonna save us some time.”

“...Yes.” She glanced around, then cautiously placed herself on his back. She then buried her head in his shirt.

Some could see it as excessive contact, but he didn’t think much of it. He asked, “Kouna, did you see anything else in your foresight?”

“No... It was just for a very brief moment. I saw a red lake, a red sky, and...” Her voice trailed off, and she sighed.

“And?” Davey prompted.

“After that, a high-pitched noise stirred up my head. It was the same annoying feeling from before the red lightning fell. Honestly, now that I think about it, it doesn’t seem like Haitai’s power that showed me the vision.”

Davey was surprised. “You don’t think it was Haitai’s foresight?”

“Even if a divine beast can see the future... it’s too unrealistic for it to be so far ahead and so specific.”

That made sense. If Haitai could foresee it all down to their positions, it’d be a being beyond the power of a divine beast.

That meant some other factor had shown her the future. Perhaps the place had used it as a way to summon her.

After an extended period of arduous trekking, Josiah noticed something and shouted, “Ah, Teacher! I think that’s the destination over there.”

Kouna, who had been silently riding on his back, slowly raised her head. Seeing what lay at their destination, she muttered in confusion, “What... is that?”

It was a living being, yet it was also unlike any lifeform she knew of. It wore a clean, pitch-black suit. Outwardly, it was human-shaped, but one single part declared that it wasn’t human.

“Ugh...” Josiah instinctively recoiled, taking a step back.

Kouna also trembled slightly.

“Welcome, Great Soul and Deliverer.’

Above the being's neck, a single long tentacle extended like a giant octopus leg. In the middle of that tentacle, a gigantic eye resided.

Outwardly, he looked like a being from the outer cosmos that could drive one mad just by seeing it, some eldritch horror.

“Please withdraw your killing intent,” he insisted. “I have not been waiting here all this time just to oppose you.”

“What are you?” Davey asked.

He moved the single tentacle that existed in place of his head back and forth. Then, with a hand clad in a white glove, he bowed politely and spoke. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. I am Solomonia, the one who stitches new dimensions together.”

“The one who stitches new dimensions together?”

“Yes, we are the beings who make sure a newly created world in an empty space grows safely and connects with its original dimension. That is our purpose.”

“Did you cause the keraunos phenomenon?”

The being tilted his tentacle. “Keraunos, you say?”

“The red lightning.”

“Ah. You’re referring to that.” Even without a mouth, Davey could tell he was smiling. “It was a necessary step. Connecting the worlds entirely through our own power is difficult. We needed assistance.”