The Max Level Hero Has Returned!

Chapter 970

A soft glow bathed the vast cavern.

At the very center of the massive chamber, a dragon growled in a low voice. Its body was adorned with dark blue, armor-like scales, six great wings stretching from its back.

[Why has the Great One come all the way here?]

A girl stood before the dragon, dressed in a deep dark mage robe. She wore a wide-brimmed mage’s hat to complete the fit. Her golden hair and single eye stuck out like a sore thumb—it was none other than Odin.

She reached out, gently brushing the dragon’s head.

The King of the Fallen Ones. The new lord.

This dragon was their monarch.

With an expression devoid of emotion, she reached down and touched the dragon's cheek.

Her touch was stiff and awkward, movement almost like a doll’s. Yet, the massive dragon kept its head lowered like a well-trained pet, not daring to lift it.

Boom! Boom!

A deafening explosion suddenly echoed in the distance.

[It appears an intruder has arrived, O’ Great One.]

At the monarch’s words, Odin quietly lifted her head.

Even without an explanation, the sheer magnitude of the explosions outside made it obvious that something significant was happening.

[I wish to eliminate the one who dares to interrupt your presence immediately. Please grant me your permission.]

Hearing this, Odin began to move slowly.

And then—

Boom!!

A massive explosion erupted, and someone forcefully barged in.

* * *

There was no room for negotiation.

Once the assault began, there was no reason to show mercy.

The undead dragons Davey had raised far surpassed the typical strength of other dragons, quickly turning the battlefield into a literal hellscape. They forced their own broken bodies to regenerate and unleashed breath attacks beyond even their original strength in life.

Any reformist faction dragons who died resisting were immediately resurrected as soldiers under his control, bolstering his ever-growing army.

The monarch was here.

The so-called King of the Fallen Ones, the one influenced by Odin—meeting that bastard would surely provide clarity regarding the entire situation.

Davey had no intention of sparing anyone that stood in his way.

Boom!!

As he advanced through the massive underground cavern, the Monarch's peculiar aura grew thicker.

The surviving dragons desperately tried to block him, but the undead dragons—having absorbed another wave of devil mana—lunged at them without hesitation, ripping their former kin to shreds.

Eventually, Davey entered the vast corridor leading deeper inside.

Most of the reformist faction dragons had already been massacred, with only a handful remaining. There were likely more hiding elsewhere, but that wasn’t his concern—what mattered to him was the monarch and the force behind them.

Anyone who stood in his way would be obliterated.

Boom!!

At that moment, the bodies of two undead dragons that had gone ahead of him suddenly flew back to him—or rather, the rain of bones told him they used to be his subordinates.

Something had overpowered them before they could even regenerate.

He looked at the corpses coldly. He soon saw a red-scaled dragon emerging from the dimly lit corridor ahead. Its claws held an elder-level dragon’s desiccated skull by the hollow eye sockets, having been freshly removed from its spine and dragging tendons along the ground.

‘This one is different.’

[You’ve got guts coming here, human.]

Davey glanced up at him, his expression cold and unmoving.

“You’re not the monarch.”

[The monarch is preoccupied. Someone of their supreme status is not someone a lowly creature like you can request an audience with at will.]

Before the dragon could even finish speaking, two more undead dragons shot through the corridor like streaks of black lightning from behind Davey, lunging at the red dragon with overwhelming speed.

Thud!! Boom!!

Dragons were the progenitors of magic—they obviously wielded spells. However, it seemed the red dragon was more of the physical type. Rather than casting spells, the red dragon charged in with brute force, brawling with the undead dragons head-on.

And soon enough.

Crack!! Rip!!

Both full-fledged undead dragons were torn apart. He drew their massive bodies to the side.

[If that’s all you’ve got, you’re about to regret coming here.]

“I'll ask again. Where is the monarch?”

[‘The monarch, the monarch, the monarch.’ You're like a broken record. If you really want to meet the Monarch...]

The red dragon native of the Yosh Continent suddenly began radiating an overwhelming surge of power.

The sheer pressure he emanated far exceeded the elder-level and full-fledged dragons Davey had encountered so far.

[You'll have to go through me, the lord of the Yosh Continent!]

The dragon slammed his claw into the ground.

Crack!!

An invisible shockwave erupted like a blade, slicing through the air toward Davey. His coat billowed violently, hair whipping around in the storm-like force.

He knew it wasn’t just wind, as the next two undead dragons who tried to intercept the attack were instantly diced into pieces.

This one dragon alone had already slain multiple undead dragons effortlessly.

[I already know you’re no ordinary human, so come at me with everything you’ve got. Otherwise, you’ll regret it.]

He spoke while exuding an immense presence, and then his entire body began to shrink. This transformation wasn’t a polymorph—it was closer to compression.

Unlike ordinary polymorph, which was typically a self-imposed limitation for dragons to take on a humanoid form, it was on another level in terms of power. Normally, polymorph suppressed a dragon’s true body, acting as a restriction.

However, the hulking half-dragon warrior before Davey—with protruding horns and red scales—had undergone a transformation where his body had shrunk, yet his power had grown stronger.

He raised a massive dragonfang sword and pointed it directly at Davey.

“I have no personal grudge against you, but I cannot allow you entry any further.”

“If you want to live, step aside.”

Davey didn't even glance at him. Instead, his gaze remained fixed on the stone doors behind the warrior.

Silently, Davey drew Red Ribbon and fused her with Blue Ribbon.

- Father! Please, calm down!

Super Ribbon’s will appeared and tried to stop his imminent rampage, but Davey was focused on the door.

[You are no ordinary human. No, you are something beyond human. A Transcendent. Yes... Not one of those typical so-called transcendents, but a true one.]

The half-dragon warrior had a good understanding of what Davey was.

He wrapped his dragonfang sword with flames. He then raised the massive blade, about the size of Davey, toward the sky and slowly brought it down in a slash.

His body was soon similarly wrapped with blazing-red flames.

Then, with a single explosive motion, he lunged forward.

“Super Ribbon.”

- Father...

“Listen to your father.”

At his quiet yet commanding voice, Super Ribbon lowered her head in submission.

As her form faded, his blade erupted with a violent surge of blue-red energy.

[Demonic [Spirit] Sword 80th Form]

[Dying to Live, Living to Die]

[My sword is the sky itself. Let me paint upon the heavens with my blade.]

The blade energy twisted violently as if it was alive. It soon erupted and shot for the half-dragon warrior.

For a brief moment, his eyes widened in shock—but then, an expression of pure exhilaration took over.

It was as if... he was embracing his own death.

The blazing flames surrounding his dragonfang sword clashed against the blade energy, creating a massive shockwave.

But the two forces did not simply cancel each other out.

Instead, the twisted blade energy of the demonic sword decimated the flames—tearing through them, cutting everything apart.

The half-dragon warrior had overwhelming power, but he had never accounted for Super Ribbon—the one factor that tipped the scales entirely.

Boom!!

When the violent aftershock finally settled, Davey looked past the now-shattered stone doors.

And beyond them...

There was absolutely nothing.

* * *

Pat... pat...

There were marks that there had been something there moments before.

Yet, despite the overwhelming power the Dragon Lord of Yosh Continent had displayed—despite him sacrificing his life to guard this place—there was nothing left behind.

“...”

There was nothing.

No magic.

No spirits.

Nothing.

Now that no one remained to obstruct him, Davey strode forward at a slow, deliberate pace. He reached the center of the chamber—the place where he assumed the monarch had been.

Kneeling, he pressed his palm against the cold ground.

Still, nothing.

“So I came all this way, just to find nothing?”

With the rest of the fallen ones wiped out, tracking their monarch would be next to impossible.

Considering the monarch hadn’t committed a taboo or disrupted the fundamental balance of the world, hunting it down would be like chasing a ghost.

Davey clicked his tongue in irritation.

That was when Super Ribbon reappeared. Her long, blue and red hair flowed around her as she materialized beside him.

- Something's off.

“Off?”

- Why would the monarch erase its own presence?

Davey flinched at her words.

‘That is indeed strange.’

It would make sense for the monarch to erase all traces of its escape, but he couldn’t understand why it would remove all evidence that it was ever there.

His instincts told him that he was missing something. Trusting himself, the only conclusion to be drawn was that something had indeed been deliberately hidden.

[Devour]

Davey extended his hand into the air and murmured softly. Something formless then spread from his fingertips, consuming the surrounding space itself.

During the process, he noticed something strange. Davey instantly swung Super Ribbon, severing a string.

Fwoosh!!

In an instant, new traces appeared in the previously empty chamber.

It would seem some individuals had fled in a rush, leaving traces behind that someone could find—as long as that someone looked close enough, trusted their instincts, and had a divine power to devour space and all other energies.

Three traces appeared after Davey had severed the string.

One belonged to the fallen dragon monarch. The other...

“Damn it. I had hoped it wouldn't come to this.”

Belonged to the pinnacle mage of the Atrellia Continent.

Odin.

There were energy remnants from another unknown entity that had been present with the two, as well.

Davey’s brows furrowed.

“I guess I’ll have to go see and ask her myself.”

His original goal had only been to hunt down the fallen ones monarch. But with Odin’s presence confirmed, that was now irrelevant.

Without delay, Davey began tearing apart the dimensional fabric, forcing open a path toward her location—

[Ah... Unfortunately, you are not yet worthy to meet me.]

A calm, detached voice echoed around him. A burst of magic, seemingly Odin’s, repelled him.

“...”

[No need to be so impatient. When the time is right, we will naturally meet.]

The tone was commanding. Davey made a chilling smirk in response.

“You know, there’s one thing I’ve learned for certain in life.”

Anyone who talked about qualifications or the right time in front of him never had a happy ending.

Divinity surged into his hands.

Odin had only left her will behind. And that was enough for Davey to go off.

Because now, he had found a clue that led to someone connected to Odin.

Without hesitation, Davey left the cavern, stepping back out into the open. The lair was nothing but rubble now, completely collapsed. Without a second thought, he dug his bare hands into the debris.

The half-dragon guard was buried inside.

Davey grabbed his protruding horns and pulled him out with one hand.

“Quit playing dead and get up, already.”

The Dragon Lord of the Yosh Continent.

If anyone knew, he would. Who the monarch was; where the monarch came from; why Odin had been there.

And more than that—

Unlike the fallen ones, this guy seemed to know a lot, yet was deliberately uncooperative.

“Gaaa?! What the—?!”

As Davey casted his healing magic, the warrior coughed up a mouthful of blood. His wounds were severe, but Davey only did enough to keep him from dying.

“What’s your name?”

Exhausted and barely able to keep his eyes open, he looked up at Davey and gave a hollow laugh.

“Hah... Now I don’t even have control over my own life? You monster. I have nothing to say to you—just kill me.”

“Who said you had a choice?”

Davey grabbed him by the collar and lifted him off the ground with a smile on his face.

“You’re not dying until you’ve spilled everything you know.”

He let out a dry chuckle.

“Damn it... I really got caught by the wrong person.”

“You didn’t seem too friendly with those bastards, anyway.”

The dragon lord fell silent, his crimson eyes locking onto Davey’s with an intense stare.

“I’m sorry, but that monstrous mage put a restriction on me—”

Crack!

“Guh?! What the—?!”

An invisible force surged into his body. Like a dark shadow, it spread through him, devouring all traces of the black mana imprinted across his body.

If even a single fragment was left behind after the process, he’d die.

But if the one who cast the restriction was Odin, then there was only one other person in the world who knew how to break it.

Davey.

- I don’t know when you’ll need it, but listen—every restriction I place has one common trait. I’ve never told anyone else, so you should remember it.

A memory from centuries ago.

Davey remembered Odin telling him this, back when she taught magic to him in the hall.

Of course, even knowing this, breaking such a powerful restriction wasn’t easy.

But with the authority of Predatory Assimilation and the knowledge he had been given, Davey could break her restriction far more easily than a typical mage’s.

“Huh?”

The Dragon Lord of the Yosh Continent looked down at Davey in stunned disbelief—the restriction placed upon him had vanished!

“Is that good enough? If you’re going to cooperate, start talking. If not, I’ll bury you right back in there. Your choice.”

The dragon lord let out a bitter laugh.

“I’ve never seen a human speak so arrogantly to a dragon lord before.”

“Why do lizard lords insist on yapping so much these days? Get to the point. Yes or no?”

For a brief moment, the ancient dragon Eclipse’s dragontongue mana flickered in his eyes, taking on a reptilian glint before vanishing.

The dragon widened his eyes in shock.

“You... What in the world...?”

“Answer first.”

His annoyed tone made the dragon hesitate.

“Let me confirm something first. If the restriction is truly gone... I’ll tell you everything I know.”

As expected.

The moment before their previous clash, Davey had seen his expression and deliberately altered the strike, ensuring he survived. Now was the time his decision would pay off.

There was only one reason a dragon would wish for death.

When they were forced to act against their own will, or when their pride had been crushed to the absolute lowest point, leaving them in unbearable shame.

“Urgh... Damn it, my whole body aches... I’ve never felt blade energy as vicious as that, human!” he groaned in pain.

Davey walked ahead, recalling something Odin had muttered after explaining restrictions to him.

His perfect memory often burdened him, but right now, it was more useful than ever.

- And one more thing—never make promises carelessly. You don't want something you’ll regret forever.

[What did you say?]

[Shut up! Don’t ask! If you try to find out, I’ll burn you to ashes!]