The Max Level Hero Has Returned! - Chapter 645

The wall’s defensive capabilities were notoriously formidable. To put it more clearly, its defense was not just about its durability. There was even a widely accepted theory within academic circles that the wall absurdly reduced damage by percentages, making it nearly impossible to damage the wall significantly during a siege.

But then an anomaly occurred.

The Corona Destroyer. The hammer quivered in Davey’s grip, and it was noticeable enough that he felt its trembling against the palm of his hand. The weapon, undeniably mighty in its appearance, might seem a bit too heavy for someone of his stature. But Davey could swing it once, and it could already generate a tremendous gust of wind.

And that exactly happened. With a single swing of the Corona Destroyer, a giant gust struck the wall, leaving a strange pattern before it vanished. Such a power could easily annihilate any ordinary player, yet the wall stood strong.

Of course, Davey did not stop there. He swung the weapon again, but this time, the gust was even stronger.

Boom!

Another pattern appeared on the wall, which still remained unbroken.

But the last attempt was different. The third strike would completely obliterate all defenses, applying a “Defense-Incapable State.” This meant all damage would ignore any defense and leave real damage on the targets. Given the game mechanics in which any level of defense could greatly minimize damage, achieving zero defense was a terrifying thought.

By the third strike of the hammer, a giant symbol of a broken sword appeared on and above the wall. This caused a cacophony of screams of horror.

“Do you want to do it?” Davey asked.

Illyna, who had appeared on Perserque’s other side, slowly and silently drew her sword, and the enhanced Caldeiras began to emanate golden brilliance, greatly amplifying her power. With the wall’s defense completely nullified, she intended to break it instantly. So she gracefully lifted her sword. Then, with a solemn expression, she held it vertically against her chest, letting the blade conceal half of her face.

Whoom!

Then, with a quick deep breath, she raised the sword as if she was going to flick it, while the brilliance in her eyes shone ever more brightly.

“Here it comes! Block it!”

Despite the screams and the hurried defensive spells being cast by other players, Illyna, holding Caldeiras with both hands, remained unperturbed, showing no ounce of hesitation. She took one powerful step forward, and a golden flash carrying immense weight then slashed down.

[Longsword]

[Mountain Split]

Crack!

In an instant, a portion of the wall, along with the screaming players, were sliced away. With just one simple swing of her refined sword, not only did the massive wall end up getting cleaved through, but enormous collateral damage that rivaled even a Seventh Circle Great Area Destruction Magic was also left in the wake of such a powerful attack.

“What?”

“Useful?” Davey asked a little too smugly.

“Ah… No, forget if it’s useful or not… What is this?!” Illyna exclaimed, seemingly bewildered by the magnitude of the destruction she managed to cause.

Since a single strike of her sword was able to raze a chunk of the wall, her confusion was understandably inevitable.

“What’s the problem?”

“No… It’s just… Did you see that?! Ah! I did that?!” Illyna gasped in unadulterated excitement.

She was unable to contain her joy when she realized how much her own power had grown unbelievably stronger. And the beings here were mere avatars anyway. They were just created by a special force, not creatures with real flesh and blood.

“That’s the true power of Caldeiras.”

Such mighty power, which was capable of slicing through both physical and non-physical objects, was why it was acknowledged as a divine weapon, even if it was considered inferior to certain legendary weapons like Blue Ribbon and Red Ribbon. Caldeiras was truly an astonishing creation of Surtr.

“This is… the true power of Caldeiras…” Illyna mumbled in awe while caressing the blade with an undeniable flush, adoring her cheeks.

Then, Davey, who was looking at the utterly destroyed wall, moved forward.

“You might have thought this was some grand provocation. Well, it’s not actually going to be as easy as you think,” Davey said calmly as he took out a Shamanic Rattle and a handheld fan, which he then shook to produce a jingling sound.

Suddenly, the air tore apart, revealing four enormous beings. The southern fire Divine Beast, Vermilion Bird. The northern water Divine Beast, Black Tortoise. The eastern thunder Divine Beast, Azure Dragon. Lastly, the western earth Divine Beast, White Tiger.

“Level up and come back.” After releasing the summoned mighty beings, Davey then hoisted his giant hammer onto his shoulder and slowly began to advance.

But the Black Wind guild members were not yet devoid of their fighting spirit, and so they refused to cower, shouting loudly, “No… He’s alone!! No matter how powerful he is, there’s a way to deal with him in a guild war! Block him!”

‘I guess I need to show them complete hopelessness.’

Boom!

As Davey walked toward the completely demolished wall, his footsteps scorched the ground to black, reducing the path he had taken into ashes.

But he didn’t stop there. The ground also split open as he walked through it, and something began to arise from the chasm—a massive squad of white-boned skeletons.

“What is this?! Weren’t you a swordsman?!”

“I’ve seen magic swordmasters, but what are these that are being summoned?!”

As the Black Wind guild members erupted in shrieks of horror and panic, the Four Divine Beasts, along with the thousands of legions made of bones that Davey had summoned, began their merciless onslaught.

* * *

The confidence of the Black Wind Guild unraveled into hopelessness.

Even though the strength of the bone legion was only at a level where any player with a decent skill could handle them, the sheer number of them was overwhelming. The skeletons carrying bone shields and those dressed as knights formed ranks and marched forward. Then, not far behind them were the skeletons with bows and those who were wielding magic to ceaselessly attack from behind.

While it might not be easy to inflict significant damage against numerous foes, tying them down was easy.

“Die!”

Considering that the Black Wind Guild was aware of Davey’s existence, they probably realized that merely enduring and rushing in was not the only solution.

Which was most likely why, as soon as Davey entered a certain area of the battlefield, numerous magic circles activated, impeding his movement and mana activity. Elite-looking individuals then chose this exact moment to swiftly attack, targeting his life.

They aimed for the critical strikes inherent within the Alf Online system, wherein even a single hit could cause tremendous damage regardless of the power discrepancy. And simply, that was their initial goal.

But it turned out to be a grave mistake on their part. So when a member of the Black Wind Guild charged at him while brandishing a massive shield, Davey merely swung the Corona Destroyer without hesitation.

“This will chill you to the bone.”

Crash!!!

It was very easy to deal with the person wielding the shield. Because even if a user had defense, it would not be enough to block everything. What’s more, the option of the weapon that could pulverize the enemy’s mental state was not limited to just breaking through defenses.

[Additional Elemental Damage]

With the hammer’s boosted elemental damage that would neutralize their defenses, their HP would also then be evaporated in a blink of an eye.

Crash!!!

[9999999!!]

Once again, a maximum damage of over nine million exploded, and the user instantly turned into a corpse without even a chance to scream. It was such a sight to behold.

[How the hell are we supposed to win this?]

As the chat came up, Davey walked toward the remaining elite-looking members of the Black Wind Guild that had ambushed him.

[Hey, don’t step on me. I said don’t step, you xxxx!!]

Even as the censored chat came up, Davey still stepped over him without hesitation and kept moving toward the next guild members.

By then, it was already undeniable that the war was no longer a war but a one-sided massacre. The Vermillion Bird, which was afflicted with a rage disorder, transformed into fiery flames despite the injuries it acquired from the fierce attacks of the Black Wind guild members and the surroundings was then reduced into a sea fire. The other divine beasts followed its example and wreaked their own havoc.

‘Hundreds against three? Such absurdity. If they decided to press on with numbers…’

An ominous smile naturally formed on Davey’s lips. “We’ll just counter numbers with even greater numbers.”

‘Try blocking additional attacks as well.’

[Strength]

[Hyper Body]

[Stone Skin]

[Renovatio]

[Saint Gloria]

Woosh!

Flames erupted as divine power joined the fray, and it then began to reinforce the skeleton legion. And it didn’t take longer than a couple of heartbeats for screams of death to start echoing from all directions.

“Argh!!! This damage is insane!”

“The stun is gone, so get out fast!”

The siege was unlike any regular siege, for it had entirely turned into a hell-like situation. The overwhelming power gradually crumbled the hundreds of Black Wind guild members, and Davey left the chaos behind as he headed to the core located at the center of the fortress. Victory would then be theirs if the core was destroyed.

However, would a nation—no, a large guild renowned across the globe—have anticipated such a situation? Well, they must have known that Davey would break through, regardless of their own inability to breach the walls. Yet not a single member of their elite group has appeared so far. So with no more members of the Black Wind Guild to stop him, Davey cut through the noisy battlefield to head to the inner sanctum, bothered only by minor physical traps and magic traps. But these were not an issue at all. The physical traps were easily avoided, and the magic traps were dispelled before they could be activated.

Davey, having reached the entrance that led to the inner sanctum, silently stood on his spot as he stared at the firmly closed door.

Ping!

As if to taunt him, a sharp and small bolt flew from somewhere, and Davey caught it in an instant and threw it on the ground. But he felt a sticky sensation on his hand, presenting the possibility that it might have been poisoned.

“Hmm…”

It was clearly a bait, making it evident that the Black Wind Guild was waiting for Davey to quickly enter the inner sanctum.

Objectively, playing defensively by waiting it out could be an effective strategy when the aim was clear. But it should have been done more cautiously.

“They say, if you set fire to your house, you’ll smoke out the rats.”

Massive power began to gather in Davey’s hands. At the same time, spheres of fire quickly gathered around him, swirling and gaining speed as they circled around the tips of his fingers.

“What right do you guys have to tell me what to do? If you want me out, you have to force me.”

[Reversed Eighth Circle]

[Blazing Fireball]

[White Nova]

The true inferno began to rain down on those who were just waiting for Davey to enter after having set traps and fortified themselves.

Besides, there was no reason for Davey to play by their tune in the first place. So he let the white flames touch everything and slowly consume the fortress.

“Keep hiding. Let’s see who wins.”

* * *

While Davey was creating an ellipse of white flames outside, the guild master of the Black Wind Guild, bolstered by the Malicious Spirit Leora’s assistance, showed a chilly smile as he waited for Davey’s arrival.

They were aware they could not defeat him through traditional combat. However, the moment Davey stepped through the door of the inner sanctum, the tides would shift and the siege would turn in their favor. This was more of a match than a battle. No matter how realistic the game felt, game-like elements were bound to exist.

Via Leora… The guild master planned to thoroughly exploit a twisted part of the game that seemed almost like a bug. After all, if they lost, their ID would be deleted anyway. So why did he even take on such a risky gamble with so many variables at play? His reason was actually very simple. His greed was piqued by the promise of Leora’s rewards, Goumda’s item drops, and a plethora of other benefits.

“I am now powerful too.”

His stats, temporarily boosted by a contract with Leora, had reached overwhelmingly high levels not attainable by other users of the same level.

Though it was a time-limited doping, he truly believed in his power.

But then there was another reason why he accepted this fight, and it laid in the conditions of the guild war—the winner takes all. So by winning this fight, he intended to seize everything owned by this mysterious NPC, Davey. From abilities, to items, and everything else, he was going to take it all. Because as others would say, the bigger the dream, the better.

“He’s about to come.”

With an arrogant smirk plastered on his face, he tapped the armrest of his chair, as if inviting Davey in.

He had already received news that the guild members who were used as meat shields had fallen. But what did that matter? They were just numbers.

Just then, Davey came into view, making his way to enter.

“The fool doesn’t know he’s walking into his own grave,” the guild master mumbled before chuckling to himself.

“Huh?”

But just before Davey could actually go inside, he halted and began to contemplate. Then a white light began to gather in Davey’s hands, and somehow, the air felt hotter to the guild master.