The Max Level Hero Has Returned!

Chapter 1406

Solomonia, giving off a gentlemanly air, politely held out a card made of light to Davey. “It's a horne race custom to hand out business cards like this, right? I learned it from the goddess.”

He didn’t know what to say.

“And, the Deliverer should take one too.”

Josiah frowned when Solomonia also offered one to Kouna. “Hey, why don't I get one?”

“Ah. I didn’t realize you were there! My apologies, but you don't inherently have the qualifications to be here.”

Josiah’s expression hardened. “Do you wanna die?”

“Calm down. It was a light joke. Even so, it's strange,” he remarked.

He made an odd sound and wriggled his tentacle. No matter how friendly he seemed, his tentacle wasn’t something Davey could get used to. Kouna and Josiah flinched as well.

“As you must've seen coming here, this labyrinth isn't simply a maze. Those without qualifications can't breach it. The Great Soul and the Deliverer possess the qualification, but... you...” he said, trailing off.

Josiah was indignant. “Hey, for your information, I’m a Vampire Lord!”

“More importantly, the Deliverer is from the River of Sanctuary... Ah, umm. I misspoke. Please just ignore what I said. Anyways, may I ask how you all were able to get in?”

Just as Josiah was about to mention Goddess Freyja’s map, Davey cut her off, saying, “Do you think I wouldn’t be able to find a path this simple on my own?”

“Oh... I see. Please forgive my rudeness.”

“Forget it. Just answer my questions. Why'd you link this ruin to Tionis? You even went so far as to cause the keraunos phenomenon.”

Josiah was puzzled that he was hiding the truth about the map, but she kept her mouth shut. No matter how amiable Solomonia was, Davey didn't know enough about him to easily trust him.

“It was to find the Deliverer. Tionis is one of the oldest dimensions we know of, and the one holding the most powerful energy. It's the only dimension that could possibly withstand such a reckless move. That's why we connected a temporary passage for our space to reside in Tionis.”

“That’s a pretty complicated and convoluted explanation, wouldn’t you say?”

“I will explain in more detail shortly.”

However, there was something from earlier that Davey still wanted to understand. “Hold on. Kouna's the Deliverer?”

“Yes, the potential the Deliverer holds can lead us to success.”

“But I'm just a normal Awakened,” Kouna insisted.

“Normal? No, absolutely not. Do you not hold the power of the time dragon you served as minister in the past?”

His words brought a being to mind. The archive of truth, the ancient dragon of time. Arbit, who’d existed for countless ages in the Red Void, and Kouna, who spent that time with him as his minister.

Davey thought she might not be completely free of that influence. “Is the Red Void related to you guys?”

“We don't exactly know what it is, honestly. We just believe that the potential the Deliverer holds is the key to solving our current situation.”

He then said he'd explain the details later and snapped his fingers. The space around them warped, and he vanished.

“Teacher. That guy... Can we trust him?”

“Josiah, doubting someone just based on their appearance is a bad habit.”

Her eyes narrowed. “But you don't trust him either, Teacher. I can tell.”

“Quiet, you little rascal.”

“Do... Do you think they truly want the potential within me?”

Arbit had given Kouna more than just the role of a minister. To him, who had suffered alone for so long, she was likely the only other person he had by his side.

It was highly likely that he had entrusted her with some of the things he'd acquired over time.

“I don't wanna do it,” she muttered.

“Hmm?”

“Helping them means I'll have to leave you.” Kouna carefully pulled on Davey’s sleeve. “I absolutely don’t want that.”

“But that...”

If those who were capable of linking entire worlds still needed outside help, it probably meant it was a big problem.

Josiah wanted to object, worried that a big problem might arise later, but she kept that to herself. She instead said, “Do what you want.”

She knew that she didn't have the right to tell Kouna what to do with her future. She understood her feelings, as she herself hadn't become the Vampire Lord by choice.

“Teacher.”

“What?”

“If I hadn't wanted to become Vampire Lord, would you still have helped me?”

“I would've found a way, no doubt,” he began. “But...”

“I know. Even if I, a vampire, refused it, nothing would've changed.”

Conversely, Kouna could be considered a similar case.

Davey shook his head at her question. “No, that’s probably not it. Those guys only want the potential energy inside Kouna, not Kouna herself.”

If Davey could just take it out of her, she wouldn't have to be involved in the situation anymore.

The Red Void was under his control for the time being, so if the potential within her was somehow connected to the Red Void, he thought he could maybe do something about it.

Davey held out his hand to Kouna, and her head tilted in response.

“I’m gonna check your body, so give me your hand.”

She flushed scarlet, as if she was thinking of something else, and bowed her head low. Nonetheless, she cautiously offered her hand.

Whummm.

He poured divine power through their hands, intending to examine her from the inside out all the way down to the depths of her consciousness.

If she'd been carrying such a power all that time without either of them noticing, then it had to be buried pretty deep.

Realizing that he couldn't find it with conventional methods, he began to interfere with her deep consciousness. “I’m going into your deep consciousness. Don't resist.”

The deep consciousness was divided into various areas. If what Arbit left Kouna wasn’t on the surface, it had to be there somewhere.

‘That damned ancient sand dragon. What a pain in my ass.’

Davey was able to glimpse many things in her deep consciousness. Her childhood; her memories of becoming an Awakened; and even old memories she couldn't recall.

Even once he reached the last section, he still wasn’t able to find the potential.

“It's not anywhere else, and there's only one spot left.” Davey pushed into it without hesitation.

The first thing he saw was—

“Uh...”

Himself lying down. And...

At the same time, Kouna pushed him away and shrieked, “Kyaaahh!!”

“Kouna?”

“N-no... No!! You're trying to look into my desires right now! Everything, even what I don't recognize myself!”

Her voice was uncharacteristically agitated.

Davey’s expression hardened as she trembled and yelled. If he couldn’t enter her deep consciousness, there was no way to confirm whatever potential Arbit arranged for her.

“What's the big deal? I need to see it,” he insisted. “Are you gonna keep being stubborn?”

She wrapped her arms around herself and backed away from Davey. “N-no! Don't! Please don't!”

“Why’s she suddenly acting up...” he muttered, confused.

“Teacher.” Just then, Josiah wrapped Davey in a rope made of red blood and pulled him back. “Stop it. There's a limit to being oblivious.”

“What are you talking about, you idiot? Do you think I’m messing around right now?”

“Just stop and find another way later. You’re the last person she would want to go that deep, Teacher.”

Davey didn't think he was oblivious. He knew Kouna had feelings for him. While her feelings for him might be in that deep consciousness, that wasn’t a secret for him.

After Kouna ran off, Davey explained the situation to Josiah, and her expression immediately turned to one of profound contempt.

“Wow. You're seriously annoying, Teacher. Don't you know how cruel that so-called consideration of yours is?”

He still didn’t get it. “What are you talking about?”

“Wow, just forget it, Teacher. I'm being dead serious—don't ever look into it. If you mess up, forget about the potential, you might see her getting intimate with a noose and flying without wings.”

“What?” Davey asked with a serious expression.

She replied, “Teacher, everyone has something they absolutely don't want particular people to know.”

“You think there's something I don’t know about Kouna?”

“Well, you don't know everything, do you? Things that she likes, things she hates. It’s not just you, she likely has her own secrets and fantasies that she'd never want anyone else to know.”

If that were actually the case, he shouldn't have been able to enter her deep consciousness before.

“I delved into her deep consciousness more than once or twice in the past.”

Josiah was surprised. “And you had no problems until now?”

“Yeah.”

Hearing his confident reply, she offered a surprisingly chilling insight. “How would you feel if you watched Sister Perserque look into your deepest secrets right in front of you?”

He immediately responded, “Are you crazy? I’d never intentionally show her.”

“It's similar to that. Just calm down for now. That potential is not urgent, and not taking it out won't cause any problems, right?”

In the end, they concluded that delving into Kouna's deep consciousness was off the table for the time being.

* * *

Solomonia wiggled his grotesque tentacle and reappeared with a smiling face. He probably thought it was a gesture to make him seem more friendly, though the trio just found it unsettling.

He showed Davey a dark-colored, bubble-like object. “Thank you for waiting. Would you please look at this?”

Davey looked closer and remarked, “This is... a bubble world?”

“Oh. You already know what this is?”

“They're things from the virtual space my daughter Willow created.”

“Yes, that's right. We usually use a different method, but this is a world created by Goddess Freyja establishing a new world in the space created by the Goddess of Harmony. This isn't fake, either—it’s real.”

He swirled his tentacle, creating a sphere that looked like outer space. “In this vast space, there is a space called the void. In other words, an empty place. That's where we fix the worlds. However, since the dimensions can't be too close or too far from one another, we have to select the location carefully.”

The tentacle on his head squirmed, placing the spherical bubble world into the empty space. Then, light burst forth, and immense things began to be created.

“Oh wow... Then you're saying you created the sun?”

“No. We don't have that much power. All this was arranged by Goddess Freyja. We apply it and appeal to her, guiding the direction of her power.”

In other words, when these guys anchored a dimension in the Void, the Goddess's power manifested, making that dimension real and creating everything necessary for its existence.

“Some might see us as omniscient and omnipotent, but all we can do is observe and pray.”

“Then, conversely, can you also take a dimension out?”

“That's impossible. The goddess is the one who directly touches the dimensions,” he answered firmly. “Our reason for existence is to find the void to settle the dimensions created by the goddess. Nothing else is permitted.”

Davey wondered why she wouldn’t just do these things herself, yet considering that the Goddess was asleep, it was true that someone had to carry out her will on her behalf.

“Okay, keep going.”

“Let me give you a simple example. This bubble world here rapidly matured in the virtual space created by the Goddess of Harmony and grew enough to become a real dimension. So, we place this dimension in the void and offer a prayer.”

The power of the goddess accepted their prayer, created a solar system in the void, and settled the dimension.

“There are no problems up to this point. However, power must circulate between each dimension. That is, unless a dimension was created for a special purpose.”

“Linking... Like how you linked this space to Tionis?”

He clapped his hands in response. “You're truly amazing, sir, to figure out the fundamentals of all of this! A dimension needs some level of connection to other dimensions, even if they aren't fully linked. Something like the circulation of power or the circulation of souls. Like how you, the Great Soul, used the moon Thanatos to circulate vitality across all dimensions.”

“Huh. That makes sense.”

“By thinning the walls with keraunos, each dimension exerts an attractive force on the others, creating a link. They're not completely joined, but they're not completely independent either. Especially dimensions that haven't been around for long, they must borrow power from other mature dimensions. That bit is essential.”

It was the same principle as a mother nursing a newborn child.

However.

Solomonia took out one sphere that had faded in color. “But the goddess who is awake in place of the sleeping goddess has had her power greatly diminished. That has had a significant impact on the creation of dimensions.”

He handed the necrotic dimension to Kouna. “This is a bit crude to say, but the dimension the Goddess of Harmony created in a new way is just too...”

“Too what?”

“Snotty.” A moment or two passed, and he cleared his throat.

Although Davey couldn’t quite pinpoint where his mouth was.

“The apostle-level divinities—created by a young dimension that can't even be compared to the Goddess of Harmony, the God of Earth, or Goddess Freyja—have become far too arrogant.”

It was a dimension that had grown in a very short period of time. As a result, both the dimension itself and the apostles created to manage it had become overly arrogant.

“It'd be better if you, the Great Soul, could help. Go beat them up for us. And the necrotic parts of the dimension... if the Deliverer could purify them...” He let out an awkward sigh, as if he himself was bewildered by his own words.

Davey could hardly believe what was being asked of him. “Seriously?”

“Yes. Once the purification is somewhat complete, we'll anchor it in the void in its original form.”

* * *

A pure white temple.

A woman in revealing, flowing attire looked down from a throne with an arrogant expression. The sight of countless beings kneeling before her was truly spectacular.

“I trust you won't disappoint me today.” Her tone was young and arrogant. She spoke as a superior, as if she had always been above others from birth.

“P-please forgive us. Goddess... We searched desperately, but...”

“So, are you saying you won’t listen to me now?” she coldly asked.

“P-please, have mercy!”

Even facing the desperate cries of the bowing old man, the woman made an annoyed, bored face. “Fine. Then let's play a game.”

“A g-game? You mean...”

“You and my created minions will fight. If you win, I’ll forgive you this time.”

The old man looked up with despair all over his face.

Crack!!

The woman simply raised her foot and stomped down on the old man's head. “Are you going against the will of the Absolute God right now?”

The old man, suffering the humiliation of having his head driven into the ground, desperately cried out, “O-okay! We shall play! Please, have mercy! Please forgive us by taking the life of this dirty servant!”

The goddess nodded, apparently pleased by his desperate plea. “Good. I’ll forgive you just this once.”