The Max Level Hero Has Returned!-Chapter 1006

Chris Marten: S-Class Awakened individual, and one of the most famous heroes in the United States.

Dusk: Awakened individual who specialized in physical enhancement.

Selina Boton: Awakened individual proficient in long-range firepower.

Albert Patch: Awakened wielder of wide-area lightning magic.

Lastly, Amazovachi Bornecio: Elite close-combat Awakened from another nation.

The five weren’t the only ones to separate amidst the chaos—the thirty or so A-Class Awakened individuals had also parted ways.

When they first entered the rift, they’d instinctively tensed up at the formless energy boring down on them.

They had already heard how dangerous the gate was beforehand.

They had also seen rifts that emitted abnormally high energy waves in the past.

But at the end of the day, a rift was just a rift for them. There had never been a rift strong enough to seriously threaten an entire squad of S-Class Awakened individuals.

They had assumed this time would be no different.

Initially, their expectations seemed accurate. Unlike how they were tensed up, the first creatures they encountered were dokkaebis—small, troublesome, but ultimately manageable.

Their confidence grew with each success.

They began to advance more aggressively, unable to understand how the previous reconnaissance teams had let themselves be completely wiped out.

Dusk, in particular, scoffed at the difficulty. He complained that they had been scared for no reason, and the monsters weren’t as bad as they’d thought.

But it didn’t take long for reality to prove just how wrong they were.

The moment the specters—dressed in strange, eerie clothing—appeared, it became clear.

As the physical-type specters let out sharp, piercing shrieks and charged in, the Awakened individuals gradually began to falter.

It wasn’t long before seven A-Class individuals were killed.

Even a single one of those things was dangerous on its own—but more than ten had appeared at once.

Realizing the severity of the situation, they finally understood that the rift they were in was a special-type dungeon with no single boss, instead being filled with numerous powerful monsters.

In other words, they had stumbled into a battlefield full of mid-boss-level threats.

A one-sided assault began. They barely managed to form a defensive formation while trying to fend off the attacks.

Being flustered by the sudden threat of death, a few A-class individuals had broken formation and scattered. The rest were then driven deeper into the rift, forced to flee the specters.

That was when they saw the unexpected.

“What are these weaklings?”

They realized the rift didn’t stop with a swarm of mid-boss-level monsters.

The specters that they had already deemed very strong were only the beginning.

A towering, monstrous entity appeared before them. It introduced itself as Shiverwock and began to trample the Awakened mercilessly without giving them a chance to fight back.

More than half of the A-Class Awakened were wiped out in an instant.

Even among the S-Class fighters, there were heavy casualties.

Frankly speaking, they were lucky to have only suffered that much.

Shiverwock, being mischievous by nature, hadn’t killed them outright—it toyed with them instead.

Chris Marten—one of America’s strongest Awakened individuals—had thrown himself in front of the group, shielding as many as he could at the cost of his own safety.

But their standoff didn’t last long.

Dusk had made the mistake of insulting Shiverwock.

Shuuderwock became furious and annihilated the remaining A-class Awakened individuals. It was as if it was telling the ones in the rift that everything it had done beforehand was simply to play along with them.

Selina Boton’s armor was shattered beyond repair, and she was knocked out on the floor.

Albert Patch was impaled by a massive metal spear, pinned to the ground.

Amazovachi Bornecio, who had tried to protect the two, had his head crushed.

Dusk, one of the few left who could still move, trembled uncontrollably.

Even in his arrogance, he wasn’t stupid.

He knew he had made a terrifying mistake.

“I can feel your fear.”

Shiverwock chuckled, its voice slithering into Dusk’s mind like a whisper laced with poison.

Seated on the ground, Shiverwock grabbed Selina by the hair and let out a chilling laugh as it turned toward Dusk.

“Good. It is only right that you fear me. Humans are weak, after all.”

It tilted its head as if looking at a toy.

“Ah, guilt? I taste it. Yes. You were the one who led them here, weren’t you?”

“A-Ah. Aaaah.”

He couldn’t help but think how he should’ve waited. He hadn’t expected there to be a monster so incredibly dangerous in the rift.

He knew that if Prince Davey was there, it would've been difficult, but not so hopelessly one-sided.

“Regardless, I should thank you. Thanks to you all, I have managed to fully regain my strength. As a reward, I shall spare you on account of having guided everyone to me.”

To a monster like Shiverwock—who could peer into the human mind and extract surface-level information—Dusk’s fear-ridden mind was all too easy to penetrate.

"Ah. Ahhhhh!!"

Shiverwock laughed before throwing Selina aside.

Then, standing tall, it rested its massive iron club against its shoulder and stepped forward.

“Of course, I cannot promise my minions will be so merciful."

“Kiii!!!”

“Kaaa!!”

“Ah. Aaaah... Aaaah!!!!”

Over thirty specters shrieked as they began surrounding Dusk.

Pure terror overtook him as he screamed, gripping his head.

The rift was far more dangerous than he could have ever imagined. His instincts screamed that the rift was the bringer of humanity’s end.

‘We never should’ve come in here alone. We needed Prince Davey’s power even to just have a chance at fighting back.’

Paralyzed by fear, Dusk trembled in panic. This made him an easy target for the specters. Like predators savoring a helpless prey, the autas slowly closed in on him.

Yet they never got the chance to devour him.

“Graaahhh!!”

Boom!!

A blast of powerful energy surged through the forest, making the autas hesitate.

“Huff. Huff.”

Covered in blood, the man who’d stumbled forward was none other than Chris Marten.

He pushed through his injuries, barely holding himself together as he walked toward Dusk.

“Damn it. This is why we never should’ve come in.”

“C-Chris...”

“Hey. Can you still move?”

Even in such a state, Chris still believed they had to fight. But Dusk had completely lost the will to resist.

“If it’s come to this, we have no choice but to deal with the situation ourselves. You get that, right?”

“W-We can’t win... We can’t win this!!”

Consumed by fear, Dusk screamed at the top of his lungs.

“It’s over! Humanity’s finished! And that damned Saint of Tionis—he won’t be able to make a difference either!! We can’t win! You saw it too!! That thing’s been toying with us from the start!!”

Boom!!

Before Chris could respond, something dark and heavy slammed into him, sending him barreling deep into the forest.

“Ugh... The stench of fear is so thick it’s revolting.”

Shiverwock muttered with disgust as it slowly approached.

Clenching its jaw, it reached for Dusk.

“I may hate humans, but I hate those like you the most. Just die already.”

Shiverwock raised its massive fist to deliver a strike.

It was the kind of blow that would crush his skull instantly. Even someone like Chris, who wielded unfathomable powers, couldn’t have survived the earlier hit.

Dusk could feel that his death was imminent.

But then, a sharp, faint crackle rang in the air.

Then, the sky began to glow with golden light.

“What is this?!”

Startled, Shiverwock looked up.

At that moment, an immense beam of purifying breath shot down from the clouds.

It was none other than a yellow dragon’s breath attack.

Instinctively recognizing the fatal threat of the attack, Shiverwock swung its dokkaebi club.

Thud!!

In terms of raw firepower, the yellow dragon might’ve had the edge. But when it came to spells and curses, Shiverwock was a monster in its own right.

Unfortunately, Shiverwock was just a bad matchup for the yellow dragon to face.

Once the massive dragon realized it had missed, it emerged from the clouds and glared down at Shiverwock.

Shiverwock bared its teeth, no longer hiding its hostility.

“Of all places... We meet again!”

It was as if it’d come face to face with its archenemy. It radiated pure killing intent toward the yellow dragon—and the divine beast returned the intent as well.

It was a standoff on the verge of eruption, both sides seconds away from a deadly clash.

But then, a voice that interrupted the two echoed from the other side of the forest.

“Nuclear Spear.”

Zzzt!! Boom!!

The voice didn’t come from the yellow dragon. It was a small, quiet voice, but unmistakably clear.

Once Shiverwock felt the eerie pressure fill the air, it instinctively turned away from the yellow dragon to swing its club toward the direction of the voice.

But a golden flash—similar to the yellow dragon’s breath but of a completely different nature—shot forward, far too fast for Shiverwock to react.

It pierced clean through its solar plexus.

“Wh... What...?!”

Shiverwock staggered back in shock.

Dusk, who had squeezed his eyes shut, opened them at the sudden sound.

Seeing what was unfolding in front of him, his face twisted in disbelief.

The golden spear, which had seemingly pierced straight through Shiverwock’s chest, was now embedded in the massive boulder behind it, crackling with golden lightning.

The spear, now smothered in pitch-black blood, was definitely not something the Awakened fighters had brought with them.

“Human extinction, huh? My ass, man. You know what they call people like you in movies?”

A relaxed voice called out.

Dusk shakily turned toward it, his body still trembling.

There, a young man—who looked no older than his twenties and had black hair with red eyes—was using one of his hands to drag Chris’s unconscious body along by the collar.

It was none other than the Saint of Tionis.

The Prince from another world—Davey O'Rowane.

“I told you not to go in for three hours. Did that sound like a joke to you?”

Davey said in a cold tone. Dusk could only gape in stunned silence.

“You!!!”

Enraged, Shiverwock, still impaled, roared and swung its massive club.

There was no way any being could survive a strike like that if caught off guard.

Yet—

Crack!!

The spear forked in the rock released another burst of lightning, then flew straight back into Davey’s hand. Shiverwock had been grasping the spear with one of its arms in an attempt to pull it out, but whatever was left of the arm disintegrated into ashes as it returned.

“Can’t you see I’m in the middle of a conversation? I’ll deal with you in a minute—sit tight.”

His voice carried a chilling killing intent.

The pressure that followed was indescribable, instilling a fear that made the mind go blank.

Dusk had thought nothing in the world could be more terrifying than the fear he’d felt from Shiverwock only moments before.

But he stared at Davey with his jaw dropped to the ground, speechless.

“Graaahhh!! Who the hell are you?! How dare you attack me without fear?!”

Shiverwock howled in fury. Its body instantly began to regenerate.

Veins bulged along its right arm as it clenched its fist tightly, then hurled it toward Davey with a roar.

“Watc—”

Dusk didn’t even have time to shout to Davey—it all happened in the blink of an eye.

But Davey didn’t flinch. He dropped what he was holding without hesitation and surged forward.

He then casually stopped the massive fist—far larger than his own body—with an open palm.

“High five.”

Boom!!!

With that, Shiverwock’s upper body was completely blown away, as if snapped out of existence.

* * *

Davey noticed a lot of corpses lying around. It would seem he had arrived too late.

But from the start, such an outcome was likely to happen given the circumstances.

Their opponent was an ancient being—sealed away by Sorcerer Woochi, a hero from the hall.

Though no one truly knew its exact origin, the creature that Eastern myths referred to as dokkaebi was, in truth, this very being.

It wasn’t needlessly cruel, though, according to Woochi.

- You know the Four Fiends, right? Taotie, Qiong Qi, Taowu, and Chaos. It’s something like these. But, technically speaking, it’s a conscious entity born from ancient human folk beliefs. Its power is immense. It’s made from fear, despair, and hopelessness that humans feel. Of course, I sealed it, but...

- Is it... problematic?

- One of the worst. It also has a terrible history with the yellow dragon.

- Like you?

- Say whatever you want.

Shiverwock, the dokkaebi.

In fact, among the countless beings that Woochi had sealed or subdued, Shiverwock was particularly unique.

“Look at the state you’re in.”

Davey muttered as he looked down at Shiverwock’s body—now reduced to nothing but its lower half.

- Shiverwock’s actually a pretty pitiful creature if you think about it.

That was what Woochi had once said, though Davey didn’t know the full story.

Originally, Shiverwock was a dokkaebi born from human despair—but it had wanted to befriend humans, to get closer to them.

Among one of Earth’s old folktales, there was one that said dokkaebis helped good people and punished the wicked. It wasn’t just some baseless legend.

But despite its efforts, humans betrayed it. They stole its club, poured ox and chicken blood on the place it once called home.

Betrayed and enraged, it slaughtered the people who had betrayed it. From then on, it was branded an evil creature.

Consumed by fury, it eventually encountered Woochi—who deemed it beyond saving and sealed it away, choosing not to kill it.

- I made it a promise. That humans aren’t weak. That someday, if it ever woke again, there might be someone strong enough for it to consider as a friend.

Perhaps that was why, after breaking free, it didn’t immediately massacre everyone, instead leaving some alive.

“Is it... dead?”

Dusk muttered in a daze.

Davey shot him a cold glare.

“If I’d been a little later, you and everyone else would’ve all died. You know that, right?”

“Um...”

“If you do, then move. You’re in the way.”

Davey walked past him and approached Shiverwock’s remains.

Bubbles began to form on what was left of the dokkaebi’s body—slowly but surely, its upper half began to regenerate.

As long as negative emotions like human sorrow, envy, anger, or despair existed, it could never truly die.

In some ways, it had an even more tenacious curse than Odin, considering she could use a loophole to avoid her curse.

“Grrr...”

Now fully regenerated, Shiverwock glared at Davey.

All traces of smugness had disappeared; it just looked at him with cold hostility.

Davey met its gaze.

“How’s the air, now that you’re back? Shiverwock.”

“Human... You know me?”

“Very well, yes.”

He knew the creature hated being treated like a toy.

So for Davey to speak as if he knew everything about it hit its pride like a shot to the heart.

“Don’t you dare act like you know me! Weak human! Woochi broke his promise. That’s why I’ll destroy every weak human who fears, rejects, and cowers before power!”

Its eyes gleamed with rage.

“First, I’ll find the root of your arrogance. I’ll figure out who you are—and what you are! Your mental defenses mean nothing before me!”

“Mhm.”

“Be afraid! Fear that I can look inside your mind and read everything!”

Unlike its violent nature, its methods weren’t purely destructive.

It was born of the human heart. That meant it could dig deep into the human psyche with terrifying precision.

By reading Davey’s mind, it likely wanted to assert dominance, showing that Davey wasn’t above it.

But, unbeknownst to it, that was the trap Davey had laid.

‘Go ahead. Look. See who I am; what I am; and how much I know about you.’

Its formless energy reached out and synced with Davey—connecting briefly.

Only to quickly snap.

It wasn’t because Davey stopped it. Neither was it because of any outside resistance.

Shiverwock had cut the connection of its own volition.

“Hey, bud?”

Thud.

It hesitated, then fell straight on its bottom.

“W-What are you?”

Just moments ago, Shiverwock had utterly massacred the Awakened individuals.

Yet it had been reduced to making a face of shock, confusion, and fear.