The Max Level Hero Has Returned!

Davey knew that they must have had a hidden card to play.

But there was a decisive difference in intel between him and them. They had chosen to target Josiah—a being whose resilience was among the highest tiers. By attacking her, they had aimed to destabilize Davey, but in doing so, they inadvertently handed him an abundance of clues about their strategy.

As the enemy [King] began to move, Davey closed his eyes quietly. A surge of immense holy power radiated outward. The large-scale interference magic designed by Daphne, utilizing both divine power and holy power, began to manifest and activate.

* * *

Pant, pant…

“Give it up, Sword Princess. You can no longer defeat us.”

Her strength waned as theirs grew stronger in turn. The once-tilted scales had now leveled, throwing the balance of power into chaos.

Her mana faltered and her body struggled to move, the air seeming heavy and pressing down on her. She was mentally exhausted. What made things worse was that their attacks had not only grown far more lethal, but seemed enhanced by some external power.

Clang! Crash!

Her extraordinary swordsmanship held them at bay, though her deteriorating physical condition slowly turned things worse for her.

Illyna leaned on Caldeiras, catching her breath after enduring relentless waves of attacks. She raised her head, watching the white flames of her enemies’ axes burning even brighter.

“If we kill you, we’ll thereby hasten the destruction of Davey O’Rowane.”

“We’ll never face him directly—we’ll avoid him at all costs and destroy everything he’s protected.”

“He should feel the pain of losing those he holds dear.”

Their words made Illyna smirk.

“You’ve messed with the wrong person, you pieces of shit.”

Her golden eyes flashed fiercely.

“You’ll never get what you want.”

Whooosh!!

An explosive surge of mana erupted from within her.

“Let’s see if you’ll still be saying that with a smirk after we behead you,” one of them replied coldly, raising his axe with an expressionless face.

“Judgment will be executed.”

Unfortunately, Illyna no longer had the strength to defend herself. Yet, the axe stopped mid-air.

“Hmph?!”

“I told you, didn’t I? You’ll never beat us. I bet you thought you could do whatever you wanted as long as Davey wasn’t here, huh?”

“What… what is this?!”

Until just moments ago, Illyna had been completely weakened by multiple debuffs—mental, physical, and even her mana—making it impossible for her to fight at full strength. But just as they prepared to strike the final blow, an overwhelming power suddenly surged from her body, forcing the attackers to hesitate and retreat. ŘàŊO͍𝐁Еṣ

The scales had been designed to weaken her and empower the enemies proportionally. Naturally, the enemies were confused about where she was possibly managing to draw power from.

They knew it couldn’t have been a power she had hidden away within. No matter how well she concealed it, the power of scales Milia unleashed would’ve forcibly drawn out and suppressed any strength she tried to keep hidden. Moreover, there was no one present who could have assisted her—the scales would have dealt with anyone else before they could even approach.

They couldn’t figure out what was happening—the situation was unprecedented.

The possibility of external reinforcement was plausible, sure. However, to cast such an enhancement spell, the caster would need to be within the massive area of the forest. Furthermore, any buff cast in the area would also affect the caster, making it impossible for Illyna to gain so much power alone.

Knowing all of that, they couldn’t figure out who was providing her with power. And the suspicious timing was too perfect—it was as if they had been waiting for this situation to unfold.

The judges, understanding just how absurd the whole situation was, couldn’t help but feel bewildered. But their confusion quickly turned to despair as Illyna made her next move.

“No… no!!”

“Oh, it’s time.”

[Transcendental Longsword]

[Splitting the Mountains]

Slash!

A massive slash tore through the air, slicing through the judges nearby and claiming their lives in an instant.

In the blink of an eye, the tide of the battle turned dramatically. Rising slowly, Illyna flexed her hand, opening and closing her fingers as she made a faint smile.

“This strength isn’t entirely my own, unfortunately, so I can’t say I’m thrilled about it…”

Golden battle energy flickered in her eyes as she turned her gaze toward the enemies.

“But in the end, it isn’t Davey who’s been dancing in the palm of his opponent’s hands—it’s you.”

The divine silver greatsword in her hand emitted an aura blade mixed with immense holy power.

She began slicing away time and space.

* * *

“The signal has been given! All units, eradicate the heretics who distort the will of god!” shouted Hildesnova, the Executor of the Third Legion of the Inquisition Tribunal.

“Haaahhh!!”

Empowered by an immense surge of energy, the heresy inquisitors hefted their massive axes and charged fiercely toward the judges who scrambled to react.

“Retreat! Something’s wrong!” the judges shouted in panic and fear.

Until then, they had already relied on Milia’s power to crush even the most formidable opponents. But the inquisitors' assault was unlike anything they’d encountered before.

On one side of the battlefield, a colossal pillar of fire roared into the sky—on the other, enormous blade energy created rifts in the air, tearing through everything in its path.

Although the formal members of the Inquisition Tribunal were largely unaffected by the scales’ influence, the sheer skill and strength of the judges had almost wiped them out.

Yet the overwhelming holy power: the dense, extraordinary buffs transformed them.

No longer mere Experts, they became forces that the judges couldn’t simply overpower. Moreover, they had undergone extensive training, developing a level of coordination that the judges who had hastily assembled for the battle couldn’t keep up with.

“Temporary retreat! Fall back!”

The heresy inquisitors moved to pursue the running judges, but Hildesnova raised her arm to stop them.

“Executioner, why are you stopping us? We must capture those heretics!”

“Don’t ruin what’s already finished, Third-Class Executioner.”

“What?”

“He’ll be creating a net.”

A chill ran down their spines.

They knew Davey bore stigmata, but the sheer, overwhelming presence he exhibited was beyond anything even Saintness Lena could exert. His mastery of buffs, paired with impeccable strategic execution, made his force near inhuman in scale.

The judges believed they were executing their own disruption tactics to push back their enemies, but they couldn’t have been more wrong.

Unbeknownst to them, they were the ones caught in a trap—every move they’d made was within Davey’s control.

Whummm…

A radiant glow enveloped Hildesnova.

“We’re moving! Abandon them and head to Point B immediately! Paladin Division, take the northern route to Point D!”

An uncontrollable shiver ran through her body as she felt the power of the Saint of the Continent. She finally understood why Saintness Lena trusted Davey implicitly, and why even the notoriously harsh and unyielding Archbishop Alice remained steadfast by his side.

“Truly… he’s someone I’d never want as an enemy.”

With Davey taking part, the outcome of the battle had already been decided.

* * *

The connections began to sever, one by one.

Their comrades were dying.

It was a trap after all.

They had believed they could prevail with the power of the scales, but they couldn't have been more wrong. The entire battlefield had turned into a nightmare. Allies were collapsing one after another, and their strength was rapidly returning to their enemies.

She found it impossible to understand where such overwhelming holy buff magic was coming from, but the assumption that victory was assured because Davey O’Rowane wasn’t present had been a gross miscalculation.

[We must retreat! At this rate, we’ll all be annihilated!]

“It’s already too late to retreat,” Milia muttered.

Surveying the battlefield, she could clearly see that the enemy wasn’t simply overpowering them; they were slowly herding them into a trap, surrounding them with precision.

‘How can they know our movements so perfectly? How are they able to provide such precise and massive holy buffs across such a wide area?’@@novelbin@@

None of it made sense to her.

Fwoosh! Boom! Bang!!

Another massive explosion rang from afar, shaking the battlefield.

“We have to retreat! There’s… There’s no chance for victory at this rate!”

“If we retreat now, we’ll collapse. There’s nowhere left to fall back to,” Milia replied.

They were desperately trapped, a true deadlock.

They had researched the one-man army Davey O’Rowane, and thought they were thoroughly prepared. But their plans had been utterly naive, overlooking those around him.

Chiiing!!

Milia looked upward. Beyond the trees, a blinding angelic figure ascended the sky, a geometric halo spinning rapidly above the angel’s head with resonance. At the ends of its wings, beams of pure white light gathered, burning the ground below like divine judgment descending upon the earth.

‘We can’t retreat, but fighting here means we’ll lose all the same.’

Milia closed her eyes briefly, but she couldn’t afford to dwell on her mistakes. She then snapped open her eyes, glinting dangerously.

“We’re advancing. They’ve constructed their trap with the assumption that we’d retreat.”

“Then what…?”

“We’ll break through, kill those performing the rituals, and execute judgment. If we offer them as sacrifices, we can still win.”

Though they had been deceived because Davey O’Rowane wasn’t present, his absence still left a narrow path to victory.

Lowering her axe, Milia headed deeper into the forest, where she felt the faint aura of the Moon Goddess Cryas.

* * *

When Milia arrived at her destination, she saw an enormous ritual circle, heretics performing a sacrificial ceremony, and a couple of paladins and mercenaries standing guard for them.

“Enemy… Enemy attack! Raise your weapons!”

Startled, the guards shouted as they grabbed their arms.

‘As expected, the defenses here are weak.’

From the start, she noticed how their movements had been designed to herd her and others away and redirect their attention elsewhere. Seeing the nervousness in front of her, it was clear they were well aware of how vulnerable this location was.

If she could kill these heretics and tear apart their souls, it would count as executing judgment and punishment dealt to heretics. By doing so, she would gain more than enough power to mount a counterattack—she figured it might even be possible to reactivate the scales.

She still had no clue who used the holy magic, but what she did know was that no force could withstand the force of the scales twice.

“Stop her!”

The mercenaries charged, weapons in hand, but her overwhelming abilities rendered their resistance futile.

Slash! Crash!

In mere moments, she had already struck fatal blows on the mercenaries.

“Ahhh!

Those performing the ceremony stumbled back in terror at the sight. They had conducted their periodic rituals, under assurance by promises of protection. Yet there she was, having pierced through their defenses.

Realizing they were moments from death, they trembled, paralyzed with fear.

“Repentance is a luxury you don’t deserve. Heretics will be annihilated,” Milia declared coldly, raising her axe high.

She prepared to tear apart the heretic souls and absorb their strength.

Crack…

But there was something she was unaware of.

The fact that when the white [King] reached the black [King] on the battlefield’s map, two [Rooks] and a [Bishop] had already cut off all escape routes.

‘The people here can’t beat me. I have the authority of the scales.’

All she had to do was kill the heretics before it was too late, then break through those encircling her one by one. It was unfortunate that she had lost comrades, but she knew they could always be replaced.

She then aimed to cleave the head of the noble presiding over the heretical worship of Moon Goddess Cryas.

It was at that precise moment that a massive spark ignited at the center of the ritual circle.

Crackle… Snap…

As sparks crackled and leaped from the ritual circle, she widened her eyes in shock.

She knew Cryas was a goddess with no authority. Yet even so, an unfathomable force was descending from the ritual circle representing that very god.

‘What’s happening?’

Unable to comprehend the situation, a sense of unease began to well up inside her. She quickly swung her axe to kill a nearby target.

[Stop.]

Her movements were forcibly halted.

Crackle… Boom!

Another spark erupted, and from the center of the ritual circle, a dark rift formed. Slowly, someone emerged from within.

It was the figure who was supposed to have traveled to the western continent—a figure who Milia had meticulously ensured never came too close to her.

Davey O’Rowane.

His cold, crimson eyes glinted ominously as he stepped forward.

“Checkmate,” Davey declared.

In chess, a checkmate was not simply a warning. It was an irreversible conclusion.

The announcement of an absolute, inevitable end to the game.

“Hmph?!”

Milia desperately raised her axe.

Slash!

An invisible blade severed her arm. Her hand, still gripping the axe, flew through the air before falling to the ground.

“I don’t blame you for resenting me. Every life I’ve taken had a story behind it, and I’m sure you’re no different.”

“H-How are you here?!”

It wasn’t warp magic. He had done something she could not understand.

The crimson-tinted coat he wore swayed as he spoke, “But after putting Perserque and Illyna in danger with your actions, you’ve lost any right to blame me for anything that happens next.”

His sharp, piercing gaze locked onto her. He then struck the air with his foot.

Boom!

Milia hurtled backward, as if she had been struck by a baseball bat. She slammed into a boulder and then the wall behind it.

Even though there wasn’t any physical contact, the crushing shockwave shook her entire body.

“In the end, it wasn’t me playing in the palm of your hand. It was you, all along.”

Milia had truly underestimated him.