The Max Level Hero Has Returned!

Slash!!

Its tentacles were severed, accompanied by a gruesome sound of tearing flesh.

The creature let out the cry of a pained infant as it scattered bodily fluids.

Despite the horrible, ear-splitting cries, he lightly pushed off the ground and darted toward the creature.

In response, the monster extended its eye-attached tentacles again, attempting to wrap around him.

Instead of just one or two, there were hundreds of tentacles. As opposed to cutting them off one by one, he figured it’d be better to slice through them all at once.

[Transcendental Longsword]

[Splitting the Mountains]

Ignoring the tentacles pressing in on him, he fixed his sight on its main body, raised his sword, and brought it down without hesitation.

Boom!!

He struck down like lightning.

A blinding light erupted momentarily.

The moment the longsword touched the creature, a scene appeared in front of his eyes. It felt so real that he thought he was experiencing it first-hand.

A vision of Willow appeared, wrapped in something black, sitting alone in a dark space, happily imagining things to herself.

- Dad will find me soon. When he does, I'll complain about everything I've been through and get all the comfort I need.

She’d murmured, as if comforting herself alone.

- He might not know now, but he'll figure it out eventually. He’s not an idiot; there's no way he won't notice something’s off.

She never lost faith that he’d eventually find her.

- Dad, it seriously hurt so much. So you have to make it up to me for all of this. I'm going to complain a lot and be lazy, and I want to eat the food you make, go out on trips, and play games together on the couch at night...

Believing that he’d find her someday, Willow made a painful smile.

However, that laughter was brief. As the dark power that was consuming her began to squeeze tighter, her expression instantly twisted in agony.

Gritting her teeth and struggling to keep the power from going berserk, she screamed desperately to herself.

- Huh? Why don't you know? Why don't you recognize me? Wait! This isn't right! Wait! Aaaaargh! It hurts! Stop! Stop!!

Davey, who was recklessly drawing out Super Ribbon’s power unawares, didn’t stop.

In her vision, he was fighting a giant entity with a peaceful and relaxed face.

It looked like a one-sided slaughter, but Willow couldn't smile. The terrible pain only got worse and worse.

- Dad!! Please listen to me! Please! I'm in so much pain... so much pain. Please... Please find me... I just want the pain to stop now.

- Aargh! It hurts! Please! Stop using it! I said it hurts!!

The more of Super Ribbon’s power he drew out, the more Willow suffered. Yet, Davey didn't stop using the power, much less hear her voice.

- Please...

Her ego repeatedly vanished and reappeared. Her will flickered hundreds of times, like fainting and waking up over and over without end.

Even in the midst of that agony, Willow continually kept her mind awake and controlled her power to prevent Super Ribbon and Davey from being swept up in a rampage.

The horrible memory, one he least wanted to hear, flooded his entire body.

It was true he had seen some of her memories while absorbing her remnants up to that point, but the hallucination the monster in the facility showed was different.

Along with a terrible sense of reality, those heartfelt emotions poured out from him, as if he had become her in that moment.

The power of Predatory Assimilation and the power of the Abyss clashed.

He could hear her desperate weeping as she embraced the collision alone, trying to keep the fallout of that power from affecting Blue Ribbon, Red Ribbon, and himself.

“Ugh!”

In the end, he couldn’t cut the creature down. Or, to be more precise, he stopped halfway.

The creature, not completely severed, retreated from him while wailing nonstop. It slammed into the wall and caused a massive tremor.

However, Davey couldn't say anything. He just covered his mouth with one hand and bowed his head. “Ah...”

He began to wonder if others had also been exposed to such dreadful emotion. He figured they were, and it was the creature’s unique power.

It overlaid its terrifying memories onto those who attacked it, making them experience them firsthand.

Willow wasn’t such a monster, but the creature had assimilated her memories by consuming her remnants.

The creature waking up and letting out a horrible wail must have been triggered by the painful and agonizing memories she carried. Her memory was more intense than expected, making Davey stumble back.

Perserque collapsed, covering her mouth with both hands.

Evanov, who wasn’t aware of the situation, trembled violently and sank to the ground as soon as he was exposed to the memory. “W-What... What the hell is this?”

Neither of them had an answer for him.

“I asked what the hell this is!!”

Since he had never fought the monster before, only observed it, he wouldn’t have assimilated the memory like this. He seemed to be in a panic from the intense sorrow and pain he was experiencing for the first time.

Evanov, still a young boy unable to keep his emotions steady, vomited on the spot and writhed in distress.

Seeing him in such a state, it was even worse for Perserque and Davey, the subjects and parents within that memory.

It was utterly terrible. At the same time, a sense of futility made Davey feel powerless.

That's when it happened.

The monster, which had been letting out infant cries nonstop, suddenly met his eyes.

Then, it spoke in a terrifying voice.

“D-Dad...”

‘How dare this son of a bitch dare mimic...’

The creature put on a grotesque smirk with its human-like mouth. It seemed to say, ‘So you’re the subject of this memory, huh? Okay. Do you think you can kill me?’

The monster's power was undoubtedly a psychic-type.

For Davey, who could never forget even a single such memory in his entire life, witnessing such a thing was practically a fatal blow.

The monster, speaking to him as if it were Willow, swayed its body. The part he had failed to cut completely was already rapidly regenerating.

As Davey merely staggered and didn’t collapse, the monster muttered in provocation, “Hmm, maybe this isn’t it.”

Then, through its mocking laughter, he spoke up and called out, “Evanov.”

There came no response. He was in a panic from the horrible memory and couldn't say anything.

“Sorry, but I don’t think I can help you find the data.”

After finishing those words, a translucent barrier formed around Evanov and Perserque. Davey then raised his hand, and his red eyes flashed with a flickering violet light.

The creature, sensing the danger instinctively, writhed and spoke to him.

It had a sense of intelligence. In fact, it was much smarter than anyone could’ve imagined.

“Are you going to kill me? I'm in so much pain, are you still going to kill me, Dad? If you use that, I'll die... Dad, are you going to abandon me like this?”

The creature appealed to his feelings to prevent him from attacking. Yet, it maintained its vicious smile.

Its taunt was actually effective. Davey almost stopped the magic for a moment.

However, he never forgot the important truth that Willow had already vanished because of his foolishness, and the monster was merely mimicking her by assimilating her remnants and using her memories against him.

Davey spat out a chilling retort toward the creature that was pulling such a despicable stunt, “You aren’t Willow, you son of a bitch.”

‘You shouldn't have crossed the line.’

[Transcendence Circle Dark Magic]

[Ultima]

A momentary flash of light erupted. Both sound and light then completely vanished, as if vaporized.

After a long time, a massive amount of light and sound began to rush back in, like the tides of the sea rolling back in. It was an ultra-high-level dark collapse magic that was capable of destroying a planet. Yet, he had compressed its power to the extreme and focused it entirely on the creature.

Once the spell finally receded, neither the underground facility nor the ruined city remained.

A massive crater, tens of kilometers wide, had been created in their place. Its depth was even greater than that of the underground facility. Not a single trace of the creature remained.

Having erased the entire area in a fit of extreme rage, Davey realized he’d completely forgotten to recover Willow’s remnants that had escaped when the creature vanished.

He sank to his knees and furiously pounded the ground with one hand.

“Davey! Stop it!!” Perserque, having emerged from the spell's aftermath, clung to him, forcing him to stop. However, her face was also etched with desperate sorrow. “Snap out of it. You're Willow’s father. If you want to atone for what you and I did wrong, you can't fall apart here!”

Although filled with a terrible sorrow similar to his, she ultimately held tightly onto her sanity.

Hearing her frantic cry, he slowly regained his reason from the hazy memories. Then, he slowly approached Evanov, who was on the ground, crying and suffering. “I'm sorry, Evanov, for showing you these memories.”

“Guuuh. Hrrrk.” As he wept bitterly, he looked up at Davey. “W-what the hell was that? Those memories that monster held... they were yours? What in the world...” 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

“I'll tell you once we get out of here...”

Evanov, who unintentionally learned about her memories, couldn't easily shake off the terrible, sad images for a long time.

Even after Perserque used a crystal to recover Willow’s remnants, the three of them remained silent for a long time.

Davey’s quiet murmur echoed softly. “Let's go back.”

Unfortunately, they still weren't done. One more remnant of Willow still remained on the continent of Yurgian.

Since it contained her overwhelmingly sad memories, it was one of the most agonizing trials he had ever experienced.

Perhaps the Goddess had originally intended to show it to him, only so she could watch what choice he would make. It let him directly witness the agony Willow suffered before she vanished.

It was a heavy meaning, suggesting that he shouldn’t simply grieve because Willow had vanished, but instead face it head-on and directly acknowledge her pain.

In a way, it felt truly cruel.

“There's still... one more remnant left here.”

“Are we going to look for that too?”

Aside from the tentacled monster, none of the remnant monsters had caused such intense memory synchronization. Even if the next one wouldn’t be as impactful, he couldn’t easily muster the courage to recover the remaining remnant.

“Please let me help. I'll help you...” Evanov said to Davey, forcibly suppressing his pained expression. “I don't know what's going on, but you're clearly suffering more than I am right now. Please, let me help you.”

Davey simply stayed silent.

Just then, Evanov’s face was overcome with surprise. “Ah! The twin golems!!”

Davey and Perserque turned toward him, startled by his sudden shout.

“No... Did they get caught in the explosion!?”

The twin golems were searching the ruined city for data under his command.

Since Davey had just obliterated that city with Ultima, the twin golems must have been effectively destroyed. They were the Decepticon Fleet golems he had entrusted to protect Evanov.

Although he had no particular emotional attachment to them, there was no reason to destroy them either.

“Man, seriously...” He irritably ruffled his hair.