The Max Level Hero Has Returned! - Chapter 780: Punishing the Wrongdoers

The giant locust and the snake that wrapped around the world.

The two’s arrogance was so great that it had earned them numerous nicknames, but now they knew they had fallen into a trap and were desperately trying to run away from Davey.

The power that made the world shake was moving away from Davey, and huge muscle rabbits were emerging from the ground, chasing after them while making strange sounds. Their numbers seemed to double by the second.

Soon, the number of muscle rabbits increased from hundreds to thousands. They popped up at random, like a necromancer summoning an army, and rushed toward the fleeing beasts. They were like berserkers charging at enemies.

Thud, thud, thud!!

As the ground trembled and the white, chaotic phenomenon continued, Davey made a bewildered expression.

“Why are you still alive when your friend has gone to be with the Lord?”

Davey was astonished to see him still alive even after having his inner elixir removed, as it was equivalent to a human having their heart ripped out.

[Oh, don’t be so surprised. I’m simply a bit of a unique case—I just so happen to have two livers, which are basically my lives.]

Normally, even those with immortal powers died without a trace when they were slashed with the authority of Super Ribbon. Davey wondered if he was a special case like the First Lich, Nyx, that Davey couldn’t kill and had to seal.

He then spoke in a fairly relaxed voice.

[Thanks to you, I can’t manifest, only able to talk like this.]

“And so you’re going to follow me, someone who tried to kill you?”

[I mean, I’ve never experienced something quite like that! Your feistiness and unhesitating cruelty was really… ha…]

Davey felt as if hives were breaking out all over his body as he heard the creature gasp for air like a pervert. The sensation he felt was something truly awful, far beyond the Black Tortoise’s masochism. As he began to question the meaning of life, he quickly shook off the thoughts and put his hands on the ground to chase the two ancient beasts running away from him.

As soon as Davey touched the ground that had been contaminated by the power of the ancient demonic beasts, it was instantly purified. After a moment, he then stood up and drove the tip of Super Ribbon into the earth.

[I command you in the name of the Imperfect Death Lord.]

[I bestow you with a new objective.]

A blue-red sword energy emerged from Super Ribbon and soon seeped deep into the ground.

Crack! Crack!!

As the ground split, Davey crouched and jumped up into the air. He didn’t use flying magic to keep his body in place, which meant it was only natural for him to drop again due to gravity. However, there was a reason he hadn’t relied on magic.

Swoosh!

A giant black dragon made of massive bones appeared and carried Davey. Despite its enormous size, the dragon tore through the darkened sky at incredible speed, and just like any loyal servant, quickly caught up to the fleeing gigantic snake.

Davey figured that Yom couldn’t have gone far, given his massive size. Moreover, the white rabbits, running at incredible speeds, blocked his path, pouncing on him in bizarre postures as if they were trying to show off their muscles. And even if they were eaten or sent flying by his tail, even more rabbits would rush in to take him down.

Yom had summoned the small snakes, which had first attacked the demon city, to fight back, but they were no match for the overwhelming number of bizarre muscle rabbits.

[Kaaa!! Get away, you traitor!!]

Despite Yom’s wailing, the rabbits continued to attack him.

Sling…

As the rabbits distracted Yom, Davey saw his opportunity to attack. He aimed the tip of Super Ribbon right between the snake’s eyes and jumped down, kicking off the back of the dragon.

[You dare come for me? I’ll bite and swallow you whole!]

Sensing the huge energy pouring from the sky, Yom turned his gaze toward Davey and rushed at him with his mouth wide open. As Davey fell from the sky, light followed him like a comet’s tail. As he collided with Yom, a huge shock wave formed.

Davey assumed that Yom had a trick up his sleeve to think that he could swallow him in one bite. Without hesitation, Davey aimed his sword downward and cast a large amount of buff magic on himself. He unleashed the demonic sword’s pinnacle skill aimed precisely toward Yom’s mouth.

[Demonic [Spirit] Sword 80th Form]

[Dying to Live, Living to Die]

Crack!!

Sword energy poured out like a whirlwind, digging into Yom’s head that was trying to devour Davey. When Davey landed on the floor, Yom’s huge body tore into pieces as if a huge bomb had exploded inside it. In an instant, half of his body evaporated.

“Ah!!!” Davey screamed in regret. “Damn it! My precious snake wine ingredient!!”

Davey couldn’t have cared less about the locust, but he knew he should’ve left the snake’s body intact. Even though he was upset, he didn’t forget to retrieve the inner elixir from the shattered body. The Absolute Gem ravenously absorbed the power of Yom.

Thud, thud!

The energy of the Absolute Gem grew stronger. Davey knew he only needed a small amount of power to start the engine—he was still a bit short, but it didn’t seem impossible since he could still obtain the inner elixir of the locust.

***

The two ancient monsters had begun fleeing after Fenrir was killed in an instant. The news of his death was shocking to them, as they had arrogantly proclaimed themselves as ancient gods, leeching off the demons.

Killer Rabbit was the first to disappear, followed by Fenrir, who had furiously expressed his anger toward the human Demon King. Yom, who had been using Fenrir as a test shield to see how the situation would unfold, realized things had taken a turn for the worse and tried to escape. However, he was unable to get away after the betrayal of Killer Rabbit, who had two lives, and was ultimately killed.

Yom had considered himself an apex predator. Davey had no clue how such a monster came about. From the moment they formed their dogs and their lives began, ancient demonic beasts had always been the absolute predators at the top of the food chain. They had never known fear from a single human being, and especially never fled. In fact, they were sealed away because they couldn’t be killed.

[Power… I need power… The power to take that damned guy down!]

Khan, the locust that had survived by running away, moved with tens of billions of locusts—which were basically parts of him—toward a place with more vitality.

Their difference in power was clear. The monster that was merely a human, or rather a monster in human form, exuded power like a messenger of God that was difficult for them to handle. Moreover, for some reason, he wielded a special power that even removed their own powers of immortality. As such, Khan figured he had to absorb more power quickly so that Davey wouldn’t be able to kill him.

Khan, the locust of the sky, traveled in groups, regaining strength by gnawing on the source of life. Since he had once again lost the power of the World Tree, which helped break the seal, he had to replenish his power somehow. Fortunately enough, locust Khan was specialized in finding such life energy.

[Get going!! There is no time! Go eat everything!! Bring me power!!]

As Khan shouted, a swarm of locusts darkened the sky and descended fiercely upon the demon city. The demons, startled by the sudden attack, quickly scrambled to defend themselves. However, they could only do so much against the shower of hundreds of millions of locusts.

“Ah… No!! Stop them! Don’t let them enter the city!!” shouted Gonda, head of the demons’ security force. He had already witnessed the destruction the black swarms of locusts could cause—the vast rice paddies outside the city walls had become completely devastated after the locusts had swept through them. Losing the crops that were artificially grown in this land where the sun barely showed up, Gonda could already tell the dire consequences awaiting them.

But this time, their target was not the crops, instead aiming for the demons in the city. He knew this disaster was unavoidable—all the other demons knew it too, as rumors had been circulating about locusts that covered the sky which would eat them all. Most demons were aware of the sinister rumors about ancient demonic monsters sealed underground, and one of those monsters had finally appeared for real.

“Aaaah!! Let go of this!”

“Aaaah!!”

The giant locusts that arrived before the small swarm of locusts snatched demons one by one and flew away. They then opened their bizarre mouths, pulled out strange needles, and began to insert them into their bodies and sucked their vitality.

“This is a disaster… A total disaster… A complete and total disaster…”

The demons, unaware of the reason for the current situation, were in despair. No matter how much they attacked with demonic force, they couldn’t make even a small dent against the endless waves of enemies.

Bang! Bang!!

The merciless attacks were not enough to stop the swarm. The locusts gathered and attacked the castle wall without care for the recoil hitting them. Facing so many attacks, the huge castle wall eventually collapsed helplessly, and the entire city became filled with even more screams. Gonda trembled as he watched the locusts attack.

“Help us…”

He just wanted somebody to save them from the hell unfolding before his eyes.

Terrible screams came from all directions. Although the locusts didn’t eat the corpses, the demons they attacked were dried out like mummies. It was because they had sucked all the vitality and demonic force out of them.

The Demon Marquis, who was essentially a tyrant ruling the city, had been terrified by the approaching swarm of locusts and the enormous, terrifying creature, and had already fled. All that remained were the demons who had made this place their home—no one was coming to save them.

“Please… Please… Demon God,” Gonda prayed to a god who didn’t answer. Suddenly, a huge locust pounced on him. Predicting his imminent death, he bowed his head.

It was then.

“You’re not dead yet. Lift your chin up.”

Gonda widened his eyes at the calm voice.

Shing!

At the same time, a black ray of light shot through the sky, piercing the locust that was flying toward Gonda. A part of the locust disappeared as if a speck of pitch-black dust that was sprinkled with water.

There were still black locusts everywhere, but for some reason, none came close to Gonda and the young man standing next to him. It felt as if they were in different spaces. Gonda even felt like all sound besides the young man standing leisurely had disappeared.

“Don’t worry,” the young man said.

The young man didn’t seem to radiate any aura, yet Gonda found himself crying. There were no horns symbolizing demons on his head.

‘A human… He’s a human,’ Gonda thought.

He knew there was only one human who could come to the Demon World at the moment.

The Demon King. Davey O’Rowane!

He had come while all the other ruling class demons were busy running away. Even so, the head of the security force did not know that it was Davey who had actually unsealed the locust.

“It is said that the Demon King’s duty is to protect the demons. Then I shall protect you all.”

Davey then let out black demonic force from one hand and pure white divine power from his other hand. Gonda and the other demons that saw Davey made astonished faces. He then mumbled something and floated a sphere of pure white light in the air.

Gleam!!

A warm energy seeped out, creating a huge cross of light in the sky over the city. Pure white feathers began falling down, bringing the shriveled demons back to their feet.

“This… This is a miracle… It’s a miracle from the Demon God…” Gonda mumbled. His mumbling invigorated everyone. Those who had been watching the situation in a daze saw Davey take a step from the castle wall toward the swarm of locusts pouring down violently once again. Everyone knelt down with reverential expressions.

“I command you to take revenge on those who destroyed your home and your food.”

[Swap]

As the demonic energy began to permeate into the demons, divine energy seeped into the demons, giving them completely different powers.

“Don’t think they can kill you without my permission. Don’t be scared, just crush them to survive.”

Pow!!

Then a demon who swung their weapon at a giant locust looked dumbfounded. This was because the halberd they were holding made the hard body of a human-sized locust explode into pieces upon contact.

That wasn’t all.

Even though they were stabbed by the sharply hewn legs of locusts, they remained unharmed, showing incredible defense. After witnessing this, everyone glanced down at their hands, realizing that the demon had displayed powers beyond what any single demon should be capable of. They realized that the Demon King had given them great power.

Nevertheless, Demon King Davey saw some still hesitating. He frowned and shouted with an enormous voice that echoed throughout the city.

“Do you not like me, the Demon King?! Are you afraid of me?! Then don’t throw your life away in vain, and don’t even think about engraving your name on a tombstone without my permission!!”

“Aaaaaah!!!”

Thud!! Thud!! Thud!!

With his shout and the ironic realization that the Demon King was the one who had saved them from the locust attack, they all struck their halberds against the ground in unison.

“Take revenge!!”

“Kill those things!!”

“We can’t stay afraid forever!”

The demons who stood up had regained their fighting spirit. Davey knew that no matter how strong they became, it would be difficult to be truly effective against the black swarms of locusts. Even so, he figured it would be enough if they could just withstand the swarm’s attacks.

“What will you… the Demon King…”

Finally, in response to the security leader’s question, Demon King Davey stabbed Super Ribbon into the ground and spoke.

“While you hold out, I’ll deal with the culprit of this disaster. So, don’t die and hold on.”

With those words, his form turned into a flash of light as he flew up. At the same time, countless legions of unknown undead and mysterious white muscled rabbits that seemed to have come from nowhere came down from the sky and charged toward the approaching swarms of locusts.

Gonda, looking at this scene, immediately asked a subordinate demon soldier who approached him.

“Hey, Patrick.”

“Yes?”

“Didn’t you say you lost your son in the war with humans?”

“Yes.”

“Then you must hate the Demon King.”

“Yes, that’s right sir. Honestly, I don’t like him. Even now, if I were capable of it, I would kill him,” said the soldier wielding a weapon.

“But I’m a little confused, because in this situation where even the city lord has run away, the one who’s saving us is actually the Demon King. And also…”

Patrick raised his halberd and spoke while facing the swarm of locusts.

“As the Demon King said, we can’t let ourselves die before we take revenge.”

At his words, Gonda grabbed his own weapon as well and screamed.

“Stand your ground and block those damn monster locusts!!”

Enormous aerial flying undead monsters rushed toward the locusts as if they were missiles.