The Max Level Hero Has Returned!-Chapter 1063

In the midst of the heavy silence, the assassins exchanged glances.

Then, one of them said quietly, “This is Owl. Commence elimination of the rebels.”

With that, the assassins dispersed all at once. Their movements felt like they were testing the waters, trying to bait a reaction out of Davey by exposing small openings.

The surroundings were quiet—no one was around to witness what was about to unfold. Once the decision was made, there was no room for hesitation.

“Be careful. It’s likely an artifact.”

“There’s no mana coming off him, so his physical body probably doesn’t have any special power.”

After quickly analyzing Davey, they came at him from multiple angles, aiming directly at his vital points.

Boom!!!

Heart from the back. Collarbone. Spleen.

Their precise strikes gave away the fact that it wasn’t their first time killing someone. They weren’t leaving room for even the smallest variable.

Their eyes held complete certainty as their blades landed on his body.

Boom!!!

However, what burst out from his body wasn’t flesh or blood—it was black smoke.

“What the?!”

Caught off guard, the assassins tried to pull back in a hurry.

But one of the three failed to escape.

As the black smoke cleared and blocked their vision, Davey emerged from the rear and grabbed one of them by the back of the head, freezing him in place.

“I’ve always wanted to try this, you bastards,” he spat coldly as he stared at them. “Where do you think you're aiming? That’s just my afterimages.”

But of course, they weren’t real afterimages.

“Guh!?”

The man in his grasp twisted sharply, trying to counterattack and strike his vital points.

But before the assassin could attack, his body froze on the spot.

A demonic figure billowed behind Davey, radiating immense pressure across the entire area.

The assassin felt like he was being crushed under a massive weight—he couldn’t move. Terror filled his eyes.

“Y-You... What the hell are you...?”

Crack!!!

Unable to finish his sentence, Davey snapped his neck and killed him. He then slowly lifted his head and looked toward the remaining assassins.

Caught by a Fear spell, they couldn’t move. The situation clearly made no sense to them.

They knew and wanted to run, but it was like their feet were rooted to the ground.

They panicked and squirmed in confusion.

Meanwhile, the demonic figure behind Davey slowly grew larger, reaching its hand toward them.

“You told me earlier—”

Wham!!

Grabbing the neck of the closest assassin and lifting him effortlessly, Davey spoke.

“That this was a job ordered by someone beyond my imagination, so I shouldn’t dare hold my head high.”

It felt like the assassin’s eyes were screaming that he had never said such a thing—but Davey couldn’t care less.

“Let me flip that on you. The person you kidnapped...”

‘She’s my boss.’

And not just any boss—the creator of all life in this world. The creator of the entire world itself.

Not that these guys would even begin to understand what that meant.

“P-Please... spare...”

“Thanks to you, I lost a lot. So I’ll make sure you pay for it properly.”

Crunch!!

As Davey crushed their skulls, his gaze shifted to the massive, extravagant mansion in the distance.

Then, he began walking toward it, step by step.

* * *

Arbute Kingdom was technically a city state, but the size of the city was nothing to scoff at.

The mansion where the chancellor resided was bigger than any building Davey had ever seen.

On the surface, the man seemed like an ordinary high-ranking noble, even more generous and kind-hearted than expected.

But Davey sensed something twisted hiding behind his smile.

‘Guys like him are rarely as clean as they appear.’

The mansion, peaceful and quiet, had not much going on aside from the guards posted at the entrance, a few private soldiers patrolling the grounds, and a handful of maids moving silently past the windows. It was as unsuspicious as it could get.

As Davey walked through the interior, he couldn’t shake the feeling of familiarity.

Still, he kept moving.

As expected, there was no sign of Goddess Freyja here.

There was the possibility of her escaping on her own, but Davey had no way of knowing whether she was even capable of such proactiveness.

‘Do I really just have a misunderstanding? No, it can’t be.’

Davey crouched in a rarely used hallway, placing one hand on the floor.

Then, he released a gentle wave of energy.

Thoom... Thoom!!

A colorless, scentless, shapeless pulse spread once, then again—five or six times in total.

With his eyes closed, Davey slowly rose to his feet.

“There you are.”

His instincts had never been wrong.

Without hesitation, Davey unleashed his energy sword, tearing the floor open and leaping lightly into the underground passage revealed below.

To any outsider, the mansion above was nothing more than a typical noble’s estate.

But the stench coming from the hidden basement was beyond imagination.

“Hm?”

After landing in the basement, Davey realized immediately that he was inside some sort of prison.

And on one of the blood-stained walls, a man was bound in chains.

He could immediately tell that the man had been brutally tortured.

Davey slowly approached and cast a healing spell—just enough to bring the man back to consciousness.

The man hanging on the wall slowly opened his eyes. When he saw Davey, his eyes widened and he cried out.

“Please!! Please bring back my wife and daughter! Please, my lord!” he desperately cried.

His face was etched with hopelessness, sheer terror, and crushing despair.

“Tell me exactly what happened,”

The man, rambling incoherently at first, finally looked at Davey.

“My lord?”

They did look somewhat alike.

“Are you by any chance the father of the girl who got hit by a stone kicked by the chancellor’s horse earlier today?”

He had taken a guess, based on the resemblance to the child.

“Y-Yes! That... that’s my daughter!”

Then the surrounding area began to stir. Davey quickly activated non-visualization magic to conceal himself.

It was a disgusting scene, but until he found Goddess Freyja, he intended to avoid drawing unnecessary attention.

“Hey! Shut the hell up!”

“Eek!?”

A large, imposing man approached, banging on the bars.

His strength was way too high for just a prison guard. Davey knew there was no way someone with the power of a Master-level was just some low-ranking jail guard.

“W-Wait... just a second ago...”

Davey figured the hole in the ceiling, covered just enough to bend the light and keep him hidden, had worked.

The guard stared silently at the prisoner for a moment before giving a small nod.

“Just think of yourself as unlucky. Who told you to have such a pretty wife, huh?”

“W-What? What are you talking about?!”

“Not that it matters now, since you’ll be dead soon anyway. I’ll just go ahead and tell you. Since your wife and daughter caught the chancellor’s eye, they’ll be serving in his bedroom from now on.”

The man widened his eyes in fury.

There would be no man who could sit still after being told that his wife would be attending another man in his bed.

“What are you saying?! The Chancellor promised he’d compensate me!” he screamed in outrage.

“Tsk tsk, how naive. You actually believed that?”

“W-What...”

“Well, consider yourself lucky. At least you’re not ending up like that for catching his attention the wrong way,” he said while gesturing toward a cell on the opposite side.

Inside, a woman hung limply—her arms and legs severed.

“Of course, if your wife upsets him while serving in bed, she’ll probably end up like that too...”

He clicked his tongue.

“My daughter is only twelve years old! Please, my lord!!”

Realizing it wasn’t just his wife but his daughter as well, the man broke down, sobbing uncontrollably.

“And?”

“W-What?”

“So what do you want me to do? If the chancellor says it, then it happens. In this country, his word is law,” the guard said while pulling a branding iron from the nearby brazier.

It was red-hot, glowing ominously.

“Let me make this clear. Stay quiet. If you make a fuss, I’m the one who gets in trouble.”

“...”

“And this is advice from someone who’s been around here a while... If you want to die with all your limbs intact, without too much pain, then don’t resist. Because the more you struggle, the worse it’ll be. No one’s coming to save you here. That’s just the kind of country this is.”

After waving the iron threateningly, the guard tossed it back into the brazier and walked off.

The man slumped, muttering in despair.

Watching it all unfold through non-visualization magic, Davey let out a cold, mocking breath.

Tsk.

He then used a warping spell to silently appear outside the cell, turning to look at the cell across from him.

Inside was a woman, slumped in complete defeat, looking like she hadn’t eaten in days. Her appearance was pitiful.

And it wasn’t just her.

All around the prison were people in equally horrific conditions.

A man with purple blotches all over his body, a clear sign of Tuscani Rabies, a disease that humans weren’t even supposed to contract.

A woman missing limbs, hanging from a hook like butchered meat.

There were nightmarish sights all over.

And sitting calmly amidst this horror, the guard rested on a chair with his eyes closed.

Behind him, there was a room.

A moment later, the door to that room slowly opened, revealing its interior.

Unlike the rest of the grimy, foul prison, this room was clean, refined, and almost elegant.

In the center was a bed. And someone was lying on it.

And beside them—another knight, not the one from earlier—was preparing to inject something using a large hose and a series of strange, grotesque-looking drug containers.

* * *

Goddess Freyja, who had descended into the avatar named Aria, was currently bound hand and foot on the bed in the elegant, antique-style room.

She was conscious, but she didn’t resist either. She simply stayed silent, unmoving.

“All preparations are complete. What should we do next?”

“The chancellor will be visiting in four days. Keep her drugged until then.”

“Talk about bad luck... getting noticed by the chancellor in all that mess,” the subordinate knight said with a rather strange face.

“Watch your mouth. And you’re sure no one followed us?”

“Of course. The extermination unit already wiped the evidence. By tomorrow, no one will even remember she existed.”

With that, the subordinate knight picked up a hose.

“I’ll begin the process now. I’ll report once it’s done. Oh, and... if she’s not a virgin, mind if I take a turn first?”

“As long as you clean up after yourself, I don’t care. Looks like she’s more than just mute—might as well be brain-dead. Do what you want.”

With that, the knight walked out, leaving his subordinate alone in the room. The younger man grinned lewdly as he began pouring liquid from a drug-filled bottle into the hose.

Then, grabbing the opposite end of the hose, he reached for her skirt.

“Let’s hope you’re not a virgin. Better to be touched by a young, handsome guy like me than that pig, right?” he muttered with a sick sneer.

Just then, his hand suddenly stopped. It was only then that he realized something was off.

His hand felt shorter than usual.

“Move.”

In an instant, the man dropped to the floor—still holding the hose. He then realized that his upper and lower body were no longer connected.

“Huh?”

“What are you doing here? Trying to make me jealous or something?” Davey said toward the silent Goddess Freyja.

At his words, she slowly lifted her head. Without a word, she held up a small notebook, seemingly pulled from nowhere, and showed it to Davey.

[Do you want to save me?]

He had received this question before as well.

His face twisted into a complicated expression.

“Interfering with the past is dangerous. But I couldn’t just leave you here so I came to get you. Hopefully, this much doesn’t change the future too badly.”

Freyja quietly shook the notebook.

The text shifted again.

[You’re not going to leave?]

“Not right now.”

[Originally, I was meant to die here.]

“...”

[But if you want to carve out a different future—]

The message changed once more.

She was likely referring not to her true death, but the death of her avatar.

“I’m not letting that happen.”

Just then, people who had noticed the commotion began rushing into the room.

“Who the hell are you?!”

“T-There was no one here just a second ago!”

Ignoring the shouting men, Davey kept his focus on the notebook Goddess Freyja was holding.

He slowly turned his head toward the intruders.

“Shut the hell up. Can’t you see we’re in the middle of a conversation?”

His cold tone clearly didn’t sit well with them.

The head jailer, radiating the strength of a Master-level individual, pulled a massive battle axe from his waist and glared fiercely.

“I don’t know who you are, but since you’ve trespassed here, don’t expect to make it alive.”

Without hesitation, he charged in, swinging the axe down at Davey’s head with full force.

And yet, Davey didn’t budge. His attention remained fixed on the notebook.

Right then, the words on the notebook shifted again—seemingly on their own.

The axe was moments from cleaving into his skull.

The head jailer was certain he got him.

Boom!!

But the axe never touched him. It was flung back, and the massive jailer collapsed to his knees, unable to withstand the sudden, overwhelming pressure pressing down on him.

“Guh?! What the hell?!”

He looked at the glowing red eyes staring back at him in horror.

“W-Who... what the hell are you...?”

Davey slowly turned to him with a faint smile.

“The Goddess just told me something interesting,” he said with a wicked smile. “Even if I wiped this country off the map in a single day... It won’t affect the future in the slightest.”

It wouldn’t just be erased from the timeline—it would vanish without a trace.

“Consider yourself unlucky.”

Davey quoted the jailer’s own words back at him as he stretched out a hand.

[Prometheus]

In an instant, blue flames erupted and burned the head jailer and every knight that had stormed in with him.

Boom!! Boom!!

At the same time, every prison door exploded, blowing apart into pieces.

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