The Max Level Hero Has Returned!

The radical vampire had allied with the abyss, but whether Davey had severed their connection with a single war was still unknown. The abyss was vast, and new enemies lurked, unnoticed by the berserker. Although the Princess of the Abyss was a formidable being formed from countless souls, seeing other Abyssal Princesses who were not interested in her made it seem like she was not the only powerful entity in the abyss.

Out of the blue, a god Davey had never seen before from Earth began to extend its influence here, causing headaches. The enormous beings showing hostility surrounded Davey, ready to attack at any moment. Fear tactics were meaningless against these creatures that blindly followed orders.

"Davey, they have explosives inside them."

"We should deal with that first."

Of course, those in charge would not just lend these creatures to Duran without precautions. To destroy evidence, they had left explosives inside their bodies.

"The amount of explosive is significant. If they detonate, not just this warehouse but the surrounding area is likely to be blown away."

The petite figure climbed onto Davey's shoulder and reached out her hand, placing her palm on his cheek and closing her eyes.

Although Perserque’s power was not naturally shareable, there was a slight residue of the Abyss' power in Davey. That was why he could see his status window. Light converged in his vision, highlighting red spots on their bodies.

‘Okay, up to there.’

Having pinpointed their locations, Davey promptly wielded a metal pipe.

Thwack!

They charged at him simultaneously. Unnecessary threats should not be left unchecked. As a monster lunged at him with a massive fist, a gleam appeared in Davey's eyes. Internal defenses shielded them through their vitality, so using shockwaves was the most efficient way to destroy them.

[Tai Chi]

[Blood Demonic Attack]

[Combined Martial Arts]

[Black and White Dual Lightning Strike]

Boom...

When the intertwined black and white waves touched the monster's sturdy arm, it trembled as if hit by a ripple.

Zap!

Davey deflected the monster's attack with just one hand, not holding the pipe. The coordinated attacks from the creatures were sharp, but they made things easier for him.

Crack...

After the last monster was pushed back, Davey dusted off his hands, switched grips on the pipe, and spat out saliva. It was bomb disposal skills at their finest.

"Now that the annoyances are dealt with..."

Swish!

Suddenly, there was a loud noise from Tiara's direction. She seemed unaware due to a perception-blocking spell. The terrified-looking Tiara was desperately reaching out her hand. Where she pointed, a monster was sneaking up from behind Davey.

"Picked up some new tricks, have you?"

Thwack!

Seeing the charging monster, Davey tapped the ground with his hefty pipe, then took a stance like a batter aiming for a home run.

Whoosh...

Suddenly, his figure disappeared and reappeared right in front of the charging monster. The creature, startled by Davey's sudden appearance, tried to change its course, but Davey was faster.

"Going for the home run!"

[Batting Technique Modified]

[Grand Slam]

Vroom! Whack!

The simple metal pipe seemed to transcend its physical form. Even though the pipe did not physically touch the monster, it did not matter.

As a small amount of the forbidden black power manifested, it created a massive rift in space. The repercussions from the disturbance in space were immense. The crack, suffused with a light blue glow, expanded instantly, sending debris flying everywhere. Though it was a strike that would not flinch from an ordinary force, after all, it was merely a creation of vampire blood. With a loud crash, a creature was sent flying, colliding with another that was attempting a combined move, destroying a part of the warehouse and soaring into the sky.

Davey thought to himself, ‘Wow, it really flew well. Alright, next up.’

He swung his club at them without concern, even if they could not understand his words.

With another loud crash, among them, there was one who did not dodge and bravely confronted the charge. Of course, with another sound, that one was also sent flying like a home run.

Davey counted, "Let's see, one, two, three, four. Okay! They flew far and well."

The physical bodies of the four monsters were meticulously shattered from the inside using the forbidden power. Most likely, once their core was destroyed, they would not be rising again. What remained was one monster, which hid its presence during the fight, and Prince Duran, who had concealed himself using some kind of power.

Davey acted as if he had not noticed Prince Duran's presence at all. Just the act of allying with the vampires was enough to warrant punishment on a continental scale. It would be more strategic to deal with him in broad daylight after the competition had ended, blocking all his escape routes.

As always, Davey had no intention of sparing any radical vampires opposing him. Although the process was cumbersome, he would have them dealt with through Reina. Another loud noise echoed as Davey took down the four monsters and waited leisurely. When the last surviving monster destroyed the pile of parts Davey had placed, he casually smacked its head with an iron pipe.

With a clang, as the creature collapsed, Davey stepped on it, placing the iron pipe on his shoulder with a scowl. "Did this bastard just destroy the essential component?!"

He then precisely targeted and smashed only its operational part, unlike the others he had indiscriminately destroyed. It was not human; whether it had metal added to its body or not, a resonant metallic sound rang out.

Trying to hide using an artifact did not mean one could truly be concealed, especially for someone who had never tried infiltration before. Still, Duran carefully made his exit from the warehouse, making sure to avoid Davey's line of sight.

However, Davey only needed one of the monsters, after all.

"Perserque," Davey called, and she, who had been silent, slowly floated up. "Take that to Milpieu."

"Now?"

"Yes. Ask her to check what's inside."

Davey had a gut feeling. Considering they were made by vampires ostracized by the Abyss, their durability and firepower were impressive. He had not expected them to have the capacity to create such things after even betraying the Vampire Lord.

At first glance, they seemed made of blood essence. But through the eyes of a Demon King, Davey noticed one difference: the energy within them was not of Demon King level but was imbued with magic of a higher-ranked demon. Why would they have interfered after the Demon King's orders?

Perserque, now grown to her original form, reached out, and the black magic began to undulate. The only creature whose power source had been deactivated began to be pulled underground along with Perserque.

She was quickly regaining her power. Already at the level of the 7th Circle, she would soon reclaim all her strength. She had been the greatest enemy of Black Ares in his lifetime. She might be weaker than Ares in terms of power, but she was undeniably his adopted daughter.

Which father would wish to cut down his own daughter?

Of course, when she became the Demon King, there was a synergy limit, and there was a vast difference between the power of Sword Lord Ares that Davey knew and the strength Ares had in his lifetime.

What did that mean? Strictly speaking, Davey's current state was still superior to Ares's peak in his lifetime. Considering the talented lunatic teachers he had, who developed themselves for thousands of years, the change was evident. Thus, it was safe to say that as long as Davey absorbed half the power of the Demon King, Perserque would never reach her former strength, at least not while Davey lived.

Come to think of it, the Demon King's power remaining in Davey was not in its final form.

Davey pondered where the powers that he had taken from Belial when usurping the Demon King's throne had disappeared to. Conversely, having stolen the Demon King's position, it seemed he could not expect to possess that much power. When the traces of Perserque completely vanished, Davey threw away the bent iron pipe he held and picked up a hammer from the end of the warehouse.

"This should do," he remarked.

"Can... Can I speak now?" Tiara asked with a trembling face, looking at Davey.

He nodded slowly. "Yes, it's all over."

"What on earth…?"

"Prince Duran must have constantly interfered so your grandfather could not complete his work. The information guild was not as cooperative as he'd hoped, so he must have taken desperate measures, unknowingly walking into a trap."

Judging by her expression, Tiara seemed to have known. "I never thought he'd do it again..."

"Someone who tricks once might do so twice."

"So, shouldn't we capture him? If we miss him at the scene, the evidence..."

"We let him go on purpose. You, return to the workshop."

"And you?"

"I have some troublemakers to discipline," Davey said menacingly.

* * *

In a dark forest path, the only sound was the rhythmic beating of a heart. Suddenly, a group dressed in black robes appeared, their atmosphere one of pursuit and unease.

"We found it."

At the head of the group, a man turned over a robe of a large monster, revealing a creature with jet-black skin and a hard texture. It was similar to a human, but its skin was as hard as stone.

"To think a first-class Canos would be brought down like this..."

"How do we deal with this damned monster..."

As one man mumbled in exhaustion, a woman beside him grabbed his shoulder. "We don’t have much time, Count Cadis."

"I know. We lost one to him, but we can't afford to lose more. We've already recovered some from elsewhere, so we can extract the void energy from the bodies."

"Void energy? That’s what drove these things?"

In an annoyed tone, the man replied, "Yes, power bestowed by the so-called Demon King of Destruction. Wait..."

His words trailed off as his eyes, piercing red, widened in alert. He had felt something. "Who... Who's there?"

"Ha... Who indeed? The monster you speak of."

With a smirk, a young man emerged, and in a flash, the farthest robed figure slammed into the ground, never uttering a scream. Simultaneously, black flames engulfed and reduced the robed figure to ashes.

"You monster! Where did you come from?"

The boy replied with a sly grin, "I came straight here."

"Bea! Were you slacking in your surveillance?!"

"To think he would brazenly come head-on..."

At the confused woman's words, the boy smiled chillingly. "Alright, then. Deluxe... No, that's not it."

Red energy began to surge from the iron pipe in the boy's hand. The immortals felt a dangerous premonition.

"These bodies, made with that void energy or whatever? I'm quite interested in the purity of that energy. Taking care of you all is just a bonus."

"You, you don’t have the blue sword! Even if you wound us, we won't die! So, don't be afraid and retreat!"

In a rush, the vampires, remnants of the radical faction, dispersed.

"Ah... Iron pipes are for close combat, not ranged..." Davey muttered, seeming perplexed for a moment.

"Doesn’t matter."

A horrifying sound echoed. What was happening? A man, who was pinned to the ground, watched in terror as his comrades collapsed one by one, and then, black flames consumed them all.

"What on earth had he done to be able to kill those of at least Count-level, in other words, those possessing immortal power, with just a mere rusty pipe?"

The boy smirked at him. "The sword is only as good as the one who wields it. More importantly, I'm more interested in that void energy or whatever you call it. Why don't you let me use it too?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" The man could not easily understand the words of the human monster before him. "Do you think I'll tell you?"

He would never reveal it. The man reaffirmed this multiple times internally, glaring at the boy. He was looking at a human monster who brought down the radical vampires overnight and had his power already famous among the vampires.

‘Where did such a creature come from?’ he thought, almost in tears.

"We should share what we need. Let's work together amicably."

One sample would do, but more bait was always better. He sent off four baits and breached the most vulnerable point. Killing a vampire was not easy, but he was more interested in the power held by this monster named Canos.

Davey, sensing the man’s intense gaze, flashed his red eyes and smirked. "You've never experienced this, have you? I'm quite skilled at making people talk, you know."

[Samadhi Fire]

[Dark Magic Curse’s Stigma]

[Combining Qi]

[Fire of Interrogation]

"Tell me everything you know."

"What?!"

The intense heat contorted his face. If he had only revealed half of it, activated the seal on his body, and detonated the explosive hidden inside Canos’ body, the man could have incinerated everything, including the corpse...

But just as he had that thought, the boy's next words made his eyes widen in shock.

"I've already removed the bomb and the seal. Why are you thinking so hard? Both you, who've been abandoned by the Abyss, and I, aren't what we once were.”

Soon after, a man's agonized scream echoed in the dark forest.

* * *

"Davey?"

At the sound of Perserque's voice, Davey, who was gazing at the charred remains in front of him, waved his hand. The surrounding earth twisted, forming a pit that swallowed the man who had been reduced to charcoal, before sealing itself.

"What happened? You look..." she began, her face filled with concern.

Davey quietly held her hand as she reached out to touch his face and replied, "It's nothing."

Observing her puzzled expression, he added, "Was my laughter that obvious?"

Davey recollected his purpose for coming to this place: to find an engineer for his ambitious project. Edison, the said engineer, was already onboard to some extent. Three things were required for the project: an engineer with the expertise to decipher the blueprints, a substantial power source to aid the project's completion, and the necessary raw materials.

The materials they sought couldn't be created using Tionis' alloy or equipment, but there appeared to be a solution for the power source.

"Easier said than done, Davey."

"Really?" He smirked playfully, yet his intrigue was genuine.

There were limits to what a magic stone could achieve, but this void energy felt surprisingly familiar and efficient.

"Void energy?"

"Yes. A power created by the so-called Demon King of Destruction. It's like a living power plant, doesn't it sound perfect?"

Despite his efforts to remain silent, Davey couldn't endure the agonizing pain inflicted by the fire's torture. He had resisted to some extent, but after the ordeal, the extraction of his soul and memories had made him understand the essence of this void energy or whatever it was called.

It was linked to his time as the Demon King. The remnants of the Demon King's power that had once resided in him, then departed. Some demons had mutated from its influence, gaining strength. One such being was...

The entity that referred to itself as the "Destruction Demon King" had fashioned this power. The issue was that this self-proclaimed Demon King had the ability to convert surrounding magical energy into void energy. Given that, Davey's high spirits were well-justified. He had now secured both a power source and a skilled technician.

"It's fascinating to observe the current state of the demon realm," he commented, contemplating that it might soon be time for him to intervene and rectify matters in that chaotic realm.

After all, in his view, he was the only legitimate Demon King.

"What exactly are you planning..."

"Let's formulate a plan to capture this 'Destruction Demon King' or whatever she calls herself," Davey interjected.

As for the fate of the foolish Prince Duran of Pogos, who had betrayed humanity and crossed a line? Well, presenting just one piece of evidence would swiftly condemn him in the eyes of the public. Considering the chaos Davey had orchestrated with the fake blueprints, there was little left to be concerned about in the competition.

"Nevertheless..."

"Perserque," Davey interrupted once more, "Do you know the most effective strategy in a one-on-one competition?"

"..."

"If I can't match the benchmark quality, then I simply have to lower the quality of my opponent. If I can't win fairly, I'll defeat my opponent using any means necessary."

While Edison may have preferred a fair fight, Davey had no interest in such matters.