The Max Level Hero Has Returned!-Chapter 1060

It wasn’t an illusion.

Davey stepped into the area where Goddess Freyja lay asleep, located at the very center of the Saint Sanctuary.

It was a place he hadn’t visited even once since She had fallen into slumber. It was also a place he had no intention of ever bothering with until the day She awoke on her own.

“Ugh.”

The moment he entered the sanctuary, a massive wave of divine power enveloped him. As if trying to judge whether he was a threat to the world or not, the divine power coiled around him briefly before quickly receding after sensing the divine power within him.

He walked forward slowly.

It was a space that had formed when Goddess Freyja entered Her slumber. Even the mighty gods like Neltarid and Thanatos couldn’t wield their powers there. Incredibly, Davey could sense that not even the powers of taboo could reach that place.

Pushing open the door beyond the gatekeeper statue shaped like a Celestial, he stepped inside and saw a massive pillar of light. At the center of it was a giant stone tablet, strange strands of light emerging from it before twisting and turning in a slow rotation.

Strictly speaking, Goddess Freyja had no physical form. Though She had once descended during the Ancient Era using Rinne’s body, resulting in Her incarnated form usually resembling Rinne, Her true essence had no shape.

“This still feels weird.” He knew there was no way the slumbering goddess could hear his voice, but Davey spoke anyway, “I don’t know why you’re calling me into the past, but as you know, time warping isn’t the same as a parallel world’s shifting.”

He wasn’t expecting a reply from the stone tablet, and indeed none came.

From the start, parallel worlds should have been completely off-limits to anyone but Goddess Freyja. Accordingly, Davey had no clue how She intended to summon him into the past. Terms like ‘butterfly effect’ and ‘time paradox’ existed for a reason. Time was something that could be observed, not interfered with, and only Goddess Freyja could be truly free from the constraints of time.

Davey quietly looked around, then reached out to the stone tablet at the center. It wouldn’t have been surprising if it rejected him, yet surprisingly, it welcomed him almost as if it were actively pulling him in.

“Honestly, I’m sorry for only coming when I need something from you. But please... give me a hand here.” He figured there had to be an answer to be found within such a sacred place.

‘Make decisions carefully, then act decisively.’

After careful thought, he reached out and stirred a fragment of the sleeping Goddess.

Fwooosh!

At the same time, he felt like his soul was being pulled from his body once again, his consciousness being sucked into the tablet. A force with an incomprehensible structure surged over him. Even though he had inherited Her authority, it was something no one besides Her could handle.

Davey didn’t resist it. He knew there was a time to push back, and a time to stay quiet. There was no point in getting hurt for nothing. Now that it was clear this was Her doing, he needed to meet Her and find out for himself.

Then, once again, a voice echoed.

[Aria.]

“Aria?”

[Aria.]

His consciousness abruptly faded away.

* * *

He woke up to see demons being mercilessly slaughtered by soldiers, nearby villages engulfed in flames.

“Move! Hurry up!”

“Faster, move faster!”

Clutching his throbbing head, Davey stood dazed for a moment, looking around blankly. The soldiers were too busy rounding up demons to even acknowledge his presence.

“Kyaa! Please, have mercy! Please!”

“Mercy, my ass! Get over here!”

“This bitch’ll sell for a pretty high price.”

“Doesn’t matter, because I’m taking her as a personal slave. Outta the way!”

They bickered among themselves. Though they looked like regular soldiers, their behavior was far from fitting for an organized military. It was more like watching a bunch of lowlife thugs in uniform.

While Davey stood in shock, a demon girl who was being dragged away caught sight of him before her eyes widened in desperation.

“Kyaa! Help me! Please, help me! I’m begging you!”

He wondered if she was asking for help from him because his clothes looked far more aristocratic than any of the soldiers did.

With her shout, the people who had acted like they couldn’t see him until then all turned their attention toward him.

“Please! Please help me,” the demon girl begged, clinging to his pant legs. Davey silently looked down at her.

Bothered by his silence, one of the knights stepped in, grabbing the girl by her hair and yanking her back.

“Get over here, bitch. Where do you think you’re running off to? Hey, kid. I don’t know who you think you are, but you do realize this is a restricted area, don’t you?”

“Restricted area?”

“Haaah. What’s this? Did you just stumble in here clueless? What do we do, Captain?”

“What do you think? It’s not like we’re out here trying to tell the world what we do in the shadows. He looks like some noble brat, but it sucks to suck. Drag his unlucky ass over.”

One of the soldiers stepped forward, pointing his spear at Davey. “Alright, now. Don’t resist and—”

“I am Davey O'Rowane, the First Prince and Saint of the Rowane Kingdom. State your affiliation,” he said in a calm voice as the soldier approached him. He already knew they wouldn’t recognize him, but he asked anyway, just in case.

The soldiers looked at each other, confused, then began to whisper among themselves, “Rowane Kingdom? Is that even a real place?”

“My ass. Never heard of a nation like that anywhere around here.”

“You hear that, asshole? You’re out here trying to run a con on us, impersonating royalty? That’s a serious offense. Get on the ground, hands behind your head!”

“So you really don’t know,” Davey nodded slightly.

“Unfortunately for you, we can’t let anyone who saw this walk away. Just consider yourself unlucky.”

Davey still had no idea why Goddess Freyja had placed him there, but one thing was clear. He was on Tionis, yet it wasn't the Tionis he knew.

“As long as you don’t resist—”

Taking down a single soldier was nothing difficult, but Davey also understood how dangerous it could be to act recklessly when he had no idea what situation he was in. One single misstep could erase an entire kingdom, or sever ties that hadn’t even formed yet. Just based on what he saw, he was clearly in the middle of a conflict between humans and demons. If the current battle was the spark that would start a full-blown war between the two, he couldn’t imagine the impact he’d bring if he did something wrong.

Too many dangerous thoughts flooded his mind. Still, if it was the past, and he could affect the future, then no matter what horrors unfolded in front of him, he knew he shouldn’t interfere. Just as he was about to back away, a massive explosion rocked the area after overwhelming blade energy crashed down from above.

“Gaaah!”

“Shit! What the hell is that?!”

Davey instantly recognized the nature of the blade energy that had just struck.

“A longsword...” he murmured to himself.

A man clad in light armor stepped into view.

“I’ve heard there were people catching demons to sell them as slaves, but I didn’t expect to see it happening right in front of me,” the man, holding a silvery-white giant blade, spoke with a cold expression.

The pupils of the soldiers’ captain constricted in horror as he began trembling in fear. “T-That’s impossible!”

“What is?” one of the soldiers asked in confusion.

“W-Why are you here?!”

“Ask your superior when you get dragged up to him.”

“Guh?!”

“Doesn’t really matter. Whether you’re captured or killed on the spot, the results are the same.”

Boom!!

The man—Sword God Ares—swung his massive sword. The soldiers, realizing resistance was futile, screamed in panic and scattered in every direction. Even so, Ares didn’t spare them even a moment’s hesitation. He charged in and began a one-sided slaughter.

Davey had always known him as someone who seemed annoyed by everything, a man constantly acting like everything was a nuisance. But the man before him enacting a slaughter felt completely different.

“D-Damn it, I’m not dying here!!”

Some did try to fight back in desperation, but his blade showed no mercy. He didn’t stop until he took the last one down. There had been about thirty soldiers looting the village, and it didn’t take long for all thirty to be wiped out.

It was definitely him, yet something about him felt completely different. Davey stood watching in silence. Then, without a word, he nudged a fallen soldier’s corpse with his foot and used his sword telekinesis to flick the iron sword the corpse was grasping into the air.

Sling!! Clang!!

Ares’s longsword had come flying toward Davey at the same time.

“Oh?”

Catching the airborne sword with one hand, Davey could clearly tell that the Ares in front of him was different from the one he knew from the Hall of Heroes. The version of Ares before him was weaker than the one nicknamed the God of Laziness. Of course, by normal standards, the man was still strong enough to be called a hero. But when compared to Davey, he definitely fell short.

It seemed Ares had been aiming to stop his sword just short of his neck. But Davey, letting his pride get the better of him, had chosen to meet the threat head-on and parry it, completely nullifying the intended intimidation.

Clearly infuriated, it looked like Ares had genuinely tried to kill him, though Davey didn’t really care. After everything he’d been put through by the man, it didn’t bother him in the slightest.

‘Oh. This might be a good chance! Should I go all-out and get some payback?’

The thought of getting sweet revenge crossed his mind for a moment, but he quickly let it go.

“I only meant to scare you a bit, but to think you’d take it head-on! Guess you’re not like those weak bastards.” Ares knocked Davey’s blade away, then took a step back and spoke, “No one else knows about this place. If you came here with those guys, does that mean you’re their leader?”

Davey shook his head, “No. Just a traveler passing through.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“I happened to wander into the area. I’ve got nothing to do with them.” He shrugged, wondering if the man would actually believe him.

Frankly, he knew full well how unlikely a concept it was. In fact, he’d already been thinking about and planning slipping away with some stealth magic just in case. Then Davey suddenly found himself wondering how Ares would react if he told him that he was his disciple from three thousand years in the future.

“You really expect me to believe that?”

“It’s your choice whether or not you believe me.”

“W-Wait a minute!” Just then, the demon girl who had been lying on the ground suddenly stepped in between Davey and Ares. “Umm, I don’t think this person is with those Hornes.”

“Huh? What do you mean by that?”

“It’s just... when they saw him, they tried to take him down, saying he’d seen something he wasn’t supposed to.”

Her explanation made Davey feel bitter inside. If it hadn’t been for Sword God Ares, he probably wouldn’t have done anything even if she’d been dragged off and sold into slavery. Hiding behind one excuse after another while doing nothing he could be proud of didn’t sit well with him.

Ares stared at Davey in silence for a moment, then lowered his sword. “I apologize for swinging at you.”

“If it had been anyone else just now, they’d be dead.”

“Well, you caught me off guard. What exactly are you doing here?”

“I’m just a traveler passing by. But still, since you tried to kill me, I think you owe me.”

Ares frowned slightly, but after a moment, he gave a small nod. “Make your wish. If it’s within my power, I’ll help however I can. Once again, I apologize for drawing my sword on you.”

“It’s nothing major. I’m just here looking for someone.”

“Someone?” he answered while tilting his head.

“Yes. Though I’m not even sure if they’re a person. All I have is a name: Aria.”

Ares scowled, “Last name?”

“No idea.”

“Damn it, do you realize how many people on this continent are named Aria?”

Davey nodded at his frustrated question. The man wasn’t wrong. For all they knew, that Aria might not even be human. Trying to find someone with just a first name was practically hopeless. Davey couldn’t help but make a troubled expression as well.

“Any other details?”

“I heard Aria is supposed to be a mage.”

“A mage, eh? How old are they?” Ares curiously probed.

“I’m not sure.”

“You don’t know much, do you?”

‘This guy, dude. Never mind the whole master-in-his-past-life thing, should I just beat his ass right here and now?’

Just as that temptation flared, Ares said something that made his eyes widen. “My wife has a friend with a similar name. I wonder if it’s her.”

‘Bingo.’

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