The Max Level Hero Has Returned!

Chapter 704

There was a reason why forbidden sorcery was prohibited, both in terms of appearance and what they were capable of doing. The sorcery [Annihilation] Davey used was an example. It was capable of twisting and disintegrating even the soul of its target. In a world where magic was typically governed by harmony, this type of magic was the Evil Path itself.

Yet, Davey used it and thought to himself, ‘Sorcery is the most efficient thing to do on Earth. I bet I could wield a great deal of power without strain.’

The efficiency of power varied significantly across different worlds. For example, Earth didn’t naturally have a lot of mana. As a matter of fact, mana didn’t originally exist on Earth. But as the Malicious Spirits emerged and Alf Online users awakened, mana began to seep through the dimensional gaps, gradually becoming more prevalent.

Davey knew that everyone present had heard the gunshot aimed at him. But he had made everyone focus their attention on him while he disintegrated Meses.

But despite his body crumbling, Meses still desperately reached out toward Davey in an attempt to take his shadow.

Davey then charged at him, kicking and stomping all over him.

Davey knew that he shouldn’t let his shadow touch Meses because he could take it away. After all, Meses was a Malicious Spirit that gained power from shadows. So for those Awakened who were familiar with Meses’s ability, what Davey was doing was shocking since it was no different from playing with fire. Even though they were aware of how much stronger Davey was, it was a human instinct for them be anxious.

Meanwhile, Meses was delighted by Davey’s bold move.

[Hahaha! You made a mistake. Your shadow is touching... Ah... No?!]

But his triumph was short-lived, and his eyes widened in shock.

“You said you take power through shadows, right? Then take what I give you,” Davey said calmly. He then channeled the Curse of Versha toward the part of his body that Meses was messing around with. The Curse of Versha was a power core that allowed the owner to cast a powerful curse, but it also inflicted a severe curse on the owner as well.

It was the only power that Davey was able to take from the Princesses of the Abyss. If it weren’t for the curse of Flow Rejection, the power would’ve been able to overwhelm his body, which was an outcome that wouldn’t be surprising. As Davey thought about its powers once again, he realized how dangerous the Curse of Versha was.

[Ke?! W-wait a moment?! What is this! Gaaa!!!]

The effect was instantaneous.

Although absorbing any power and growing stronger because of it was great, Davey figured that Meses didn’t have the ability to handle and neutralize inherently toxic powers. If Meses was capable of such a process, it would be ridiculous for him to be such a low-ranked Malicious Spirit in the first place. So all in all, his strength might seem great, but it actually wasn’t.

Meses eventually disintegrated completely, and something unexpected appeared right where he had vanished.

"Goodness, he dropped an item!"

Meses left behind an item, just like when a monster died in a game. In the real world, a monster would usually just vanish without leaving any sort of item behind. But Meses dropped a red marble, a piece of black rag, and a box with a question mark engraved on it. Davey couldn’t figure out if the items were dropped because it was him who killed Meses, or if it was simply a trait of a Malicious Spirit.

But Davey could not give a damn about the reason at the moment. He simply picked up the fallen red marble from the ground.

Beep!

[Would you like to absorb Meses's core?]

[The blessing of Neltarid is applied, and the Shadow Predation of Malicious Spirit Meses will be transferred to Freyja’s mad dog, Davey O’Rowane.]

"Shadow Predation?" Davey murmured.

Realizing that Meses’s power was now at his disposal, Davey couldn’t help but smile. After all, new powers were always a nice addition. But he decided not to absorb it just yet.

Davey then proceeded to touch the rags.

Beep!

[The cloak that covered Shadow Specter’s gives off an eerie feeling. It was originally used to cover something, but now only a part of it remains.]

Davey figured that this piece of rag could potentially be crafted into various items, just like the materials of the Malicious Spirits Goumda and Leora. Of course, he would need to get some of his slaves involved in the crafting process, like Grape-Flavored Cat Tower and Maga, instead of doing it himself.

Finally, he picked up the box with the question mark.

Beep!

[An unidentified box dropped by Meses. A low-rank Malicious Spirit cannot handle the power contained in the box. While it is unclear what’s inside, it seems like items can be obtained as long as conditions are met.]

Using the little left power of Perserque's authority of the Abyss that he still had, Davey was only able to gather this much information about the box. Normally, he wouldn’t have been able to see even this much, but the two gods had given him information, both physically and spiritually. With his remaining power, he wouldn’t have been even able to read other people’s minds, but he was able to figure out the purposes of the items using them.

Some became greedy, some became curious, and some felt touched by the events that had unfolded. It was only after Davey had collected everything that the crowd reacted.

"My shadow... My shadow’s back!! We won!!!”

It seemed like the Awakened had previously lost their shadows to Meses. But Meses actually took away both power and existence from his victims. Yet, Meses only stole their existence. So it was safe to assume that Yoon Tae-Gang had been enjoying the turn of events.

‘Damn fools,’ Davey thought.

Just then, someone came flying rapidly and landed dramatically in front of Davey. It was Rinne, confidently holding a man much larger than herself in one hand and striking a heroic pose.

"Rinne highly values the superhero landing she learned from Hydro!”

“Hydro? The younger sibling, Hydro Citrus Soda?”

‘Where on earth did she pick this up from?’ Davey thought.

His eyes then fluttered close once he realized who the unconscious man was in Rinne’s hold.

The man was none other than Army Commander Seo Ho-Jin.

"Isn’t he...” said someone from the crowd.

As confusion crossed their faces, Davey casually summoned a water ball and splashed it onto Seo Ho-Jin.

Everybody, sans Rinne and Seo Ho-Jin, was surprised by what Davey did, their eyes growing wide. Meanwhile, Davey was unbothered by the reactions and just waited patiently for the man to regain consciousness.

"Ga... Cough, cough!”

After coughing on the water Davey poured on him a couple of times, Seo Ho-Jin finally came to his senses. And as soon as he saw Rinne, his eyes widened in horror.

“Heek!!”

"What have you done?" Davey asked.

In response, Rinne puffed out her chest proudly. Though her face remained expressionless, there was a hint of smugness in her demeanor. Then suddenly, beams of light shot from her eyes, projecting a video like a beam projector.

The video wasn’t very long. It only showed Seo Ho-Jin driving off to escape while Rinne stopped him. She appeared in front of his vehicle, smashed the hood with her bare hands, and split the car in half.

"Rinne has evolved a new shooting technique. It’s a win for Rinne," she declared confidently.

The God of Machines, also known as the Deux Ex Machina, was her core heart, and it had to wait for a certain period of time before it could undergo another evolution. Yet, this silly girl had used her latest upgrade to enhance her filming technique. Though it seemed like a frivolous choice to use her eyes as beam projectors, what she was doing at the moment looked completely pointless.

"Sigh... Alright, let’s see that later,” Davey said in a rather annoyed voice.

“Master Davey, do you rate Rinne’s contribution highly?"

"Rates low,” Davey replied, causing her to stiffen up momentarily.

Despite the banter between them being short, some onlookers still chuckled at Rinne’s quirkiness, while others were charmed by her adorable demeanor.

"Wow! Red Ribbon! Red Ribbon wants this!"

Just then, Red Ribbon, who had been fastened to Davey's waist as a sword, appeared in a flash of light and snatched the rag that Meses had dropped. But since Meses was big, the rag was way too large for Red Ribbon, even though it was only a piece. It was so big on her that it was able to cover her entire petite body.

"Ugh... Ah... I can't see anything!" Red Ribbon exclaimed with a muffled voice.

And at the sight of her floundering about in the oversized rag, a couple of female Awakened couldn’t help but blush and coo, “Cute! Very cute!”

As she struggled with her new cloak, she toddled over to Davey. Then she hugged his leg and whined adorably, “Ugh, Daddy! Red Ribbon can’t see anything!”

Her cuteness made Davey feel a lot better, and it even managed to draw out a bout of laughter from him. “Hahaha!”

Davey then lifted the rag slightly and patted her on the head, saying, "Daddy’s a little busy, so could you go play with Rinne for a little bit?”

"Yes," she responded eagerly before scampering off toward Rinne.

But Rinne retreated a couple of steps back, seemingly unprepared to entertain Red Ribbon.

"Rin... Rinne’s current stamina is very low! Needs to fully prepare in order to play with...”

"Rinne!" Red Ribbon called out while reaching her hands out for Rinne.

Rinne flinched and didn’t hug her right away. Red Ribbon felt rejected, and her shining eyes instantly welled up with tears.

“Sob... Sob...”

Red Ribbon began crying bitterly, drawing the attention of everyone around her.

Rinne was naturally taken aback. She then stuttered out, “Rin... Rinnie promises to play with Red Ribbon! Rinnie rates this highly!”

As she unsurely held Red Ribbon in her arms, everyone else’s expressions softened.

The sight of the two—a small, cute girl and a flustered Rinne—warmed Davey’s heart. But that warmth didn’t last long, because a second later, Davey gritted his teeth and smiled at Seo Ho-Jin.

“You... You did this. You finally revealed your dirty true colors,” Davey muttered angrily.

"Huh, don’t play any games with me. Let’s tie up loose ends neatly, shall we?” Seo Ho-Jin replied.

Davey was willing to let go of Seo Ho-Jin's first mistake since he could understand why such an extreme choice would be made after seeing Megalodria.

However, this time, Seo Ho-Jin had taken it too far.

"I can give in and overlook your attack on the Mythical Beast I brought in. I get it. If you say you did it for the people, I’ll fully understand," Davey said.

“...”

"Of course, from your perspective, you probably wanted to preserve this country so you could stay in power, not the people."

"What nonsense,” Seo Ho-Jin muttered.

"But you know you went a little too far this time, don’t you? What if something had actually happened with the bullet you shot? Did you even think of the aftermath if something had happened to me?”

The question reminded the crowd of the sudden gunshot from earlier, and a realization dawned on them. It became clear who had fired the gun earlier, and eventually, the people grew furious as the absurdity of the situation settled in.

"Wait. What? Did you fucking shoot him so that we could all die?”

Another person in the crowd then shouted, "And then you’re saying that we shouldn’t be deceived by him? You son of a bitch!”

Then a couple of people quickly stopped the man, who was ready to charge forward.

Seo Ho-Jin was cornered and had no way to escape. Right then and there, he screamed, "You stupid bastards! Wake up already! Have you forgotten why this country was colonized by a foreign power a long time ago?! This is because we, as a nation, couldn’t overcome crises like this on our own and received help!!"

A heavy silence fell over the crowd.

"Does it seem like there’s no problem since he’s helping us?! As soon as they see a chance, they will invade this country and take control, shaking things up as they please! Once that happens, we'll be left living as slaves!” Seo Ho-Jin shouted vehemently.

"You’re wrong,” a man from the crowd interjected as he walked forward.

“What?!” Seo Ho-Jin exclaimed in disbelief.

“The reason this country was colonized was not only due to foreign invasions, but also because of people like you, who couldn’t come to their senses and engaged only in power struggles and corruption.”

"Mr. President!” Seo Ho-Jin gasped.

“It's all over. Your military rule is over, and I will never allow this country to return to the days of the military regime, when it lost its former light and had a tumultuous atmosphere.”

Davey figured that the president was a smart man. His words seemed to resonate with the crowd, effectively swaying public opinion in his favor. Moments later, a couple of people stepped out of the crowd to handcuff Seo Ho-Jin and take him away.

“Fellow citizens, it's all over. Although this incident unfolded in an unfortunate way, I promise you this: even if I’m not the perfect president, I will not be playing with the lives of the people. Through this opportunity, I will do my utmost to correct the wrongs that have taken root in this country and to once again guarantee the freedom of our citizens.”

The impact of the president’s speech was profound.

Since Korea was not his country, Davey chose not to intervene in the president's political maneuvers, even though he could. In fact, the only thing Davey had on his mind at the moment was the box that Meses left behind. The more Davey looked at it, he couldn’t wash away the feeling that it seemed like a random loot box.

The kind that offers high-end items at a hefty price tag...