The Max Level Hero Has Returned!-Chapter 987

Davey wondered what the most efficient method was to prevent conflict.

The fastest, most effective way to stop it was to make them realize, make them understand that now was not the time to be fighting among themselves.

“Davey, why don’t you just admit it to me? You’re seriously regretting this right now, aren’t you?”

‘Shut up. It’s not like there’s another way.’

A heavy silence settled over the crowd.

The black weapons paid no mind to friend or foe, making everyone in the area stop.

For now, the fighting had only ceased in that location. But if the goal was to stop the war, then the conflict itself had to be forcibly shut down.

The rage wouldn’t dissipate easily, of course. However, in the end, it would be the leaders of each faction who burned with fury, while the soldiers themselves wouldn’t have the time to build up deep-seated hatred.

“War should be fought by those who started it.”

When Davey waged wars, he fought desperately to keep innocent soldiers from being swept up in it.

Of course, his inexperience and a lack of solid relationships and connections had cost a lot of blood. But even then, he had done everything he could to prevent the needless sacrifice of innocent lives.

“Y-You are—!”

The first to react was their commander, realization dawning on his face.

“It’s him!! He’s the one who attacked the Enforcer! Capture him!!”

At his command, the soldiers started moving.

But, they never got the chance to finish.

“How dare someone move during an inspection slash? Hm?”

“Heek!!”

The man who had been screaming at Davey froze in place.

A few of the swords buried in the ground trembled as they let out dark sword energy. They then shot up into the air with their tips pointing toward his throat, the back of his head, his heart, solar plexus, groin—all his vital points.

As soon as he was put in a situation where he was mere inches away from being stabbed, his face turned deathly pale.

The man had realized that Davey wasn’t just doing a display of force.

“This is impossible. No one can control this many weapons with mere telekinesis!”

Even as they reeled in shock, eyes wary, Davey remained unfazed.

“Who told you guys to fight? Not on my watch.”

“You... Who are you?”

As countless eyes locked onto him in fear and unease, Davey simply declared,

“From this moment on, for the next five hundred years, war is forbidden on this land without my permission,” he said while wings that let out ominous energy unfurled. “If you don’t like it, or don’t believe me, feel free to come at me right now.”

Swish!

A dagger whistled through the air toward him.

Clang!

Then one of the black weapons that he hadn’t yet recalled shot up, effortlessly swatting it aside.

“I finally found you.”

The man who had thrown the dagger murmured darkly.

It was none other than the masked man Davey had knocked unconscious earlier—the so-called Peacekeeper Enforcer.

“How dare you attack me, the commander of the Extermination Unit, acting under the orders of His Majesty himself?”

His normal pristine white mask had already been stolen by Davey before. As such, he was wearing an ordinary mask instead, devoid of any magical presence. His eyes burned with pure hostility.

“Who the hell are you?” Davey asked in a serious tone.

“Silence! You dare pretend not to know me?!”

Enraged, his heavy mana spread out. The soldiers around him winced, staggering under its oppressive weight.

“Peacekeepers!! Apprehend that bastard immediately!!”

Normally, they would’ve immediately moved under his command.

Yet no one did.

Instinct had already taken hold.

The sheer terror from earlier—the sight of what Davey had done—was burned into their minds.

They could sense that stepping forward would mean death.

Faced with their hesitation, the commander only grew more furious.

With gritted teeth, he drew his dagger and strode forward.

“Fine. If none of you will act, I’ll execute him myself.”

Davey let out a long sigh.

Then the Enforcer pointed his finger.

“I’ll make sure you remember that attacking a Peacekeeper Enforcer on this land is a death sentence.”

His body flickered.

To the untrained eye, it would seem as though he had vanished into thin air. It was apparent that he was pretty skillful in illusion magic and strengthening spells.

Davey figured the man wouldn’t have gotten to such a high position in the Peacekeepers if he didn’t have a certain level of skill.

“I’ll rip you apart myself.”

A chilling voice whispered from right behind Davey as a blade streaked toward the back of his neck.

But it never reached him.

“You’re finished, you piece of shit.”

Clang!!

As the enchanted dagger infused with elemental magic hurtled toward him, Davey caught it mid-air with his bare hands and snapped it in two.

At the same moment, he drove his fist straight into the man’s solar plexus.

[Devil Ylgr’s Crowd Suppression]

[Fierce Abdominal Strike]

Pow!!

Soon, every enhancement magic that had been reinforcing his body broke apart.

“Cough...!”

He went flying while spurting blood and tumbling backward, but he didn’t get far.

Before he could fully escape, Davey grabbed his leg and yanked him back, pulling him forward with brutal force before choking him.

Then, in front of all the spectators—for the sake of ensuring this moment would spread far and wide—he abandoned any notion of holding back. He let his mana surge freely.

[8th Circle]

[Tempest Cut]

A massive storm condensed into a razor-sharp, rotating vortex.

In an instant, countless deep wounds tore across the man’s entire body.

The compressed wind blades spun at insane speeds and sliced at him before exploding outward.

Boom!! Boom!!

Crash!!

Windows in the vicinity were shattered into pieces, the unoccupied buildings sliced apart effortlessly, as if they were made of tofu.

As Davey smirked coldly at the Enforcer who had been so confident before, the onlookers looked at him with fear on their faces.

Although he didn’t know exactly how high the Enforcer ranked, he was certain that what he had done was effective enough to deliver his message.

“You want to live?”

He threw the barely conscious man onto the ground before turning his gaze toward the Peacekeepers. They were the invaders here. The resistance wasn’t the problem—there was no reason to drive the resistance out.

“...”

“If you do, then go.”

‘Huh, this reminds me of the time when I killed all those assassins when I told them they could go.’

Except this time, Davey was really planning on letting them go. After all, he’d be in a tough spot if they actually died.

“But make sure this message is delivered clearly. From now on, I won’t allow war on this land.”

He then released the suffocating pressure. One by one, they began backing away, their faces pale with fear.

No incantations. No flashy spells. Just raw, overwhelming force.

Their proud Enforcer had tried to retaliate—only to be crushed instantly.

Their fighting spirit had long since crumbled.

“If you don’t want to leave, I’ll make you end up just like him.”

At that, one of the Peacekeepers finally spoke, his voice shaky.

“Are you with the resistance?”

Davey simply smiled.

“No. To me, the resistance and the royal forces are the same.”

He gave a slight pause to add gravity to his words.

“Go tell them. Tell them everything you saw and felt here.”

* * *

The Peacekeepers abandoned their struggle, at least for now.

Even the resistance, who had been suffering under their assault, took a long time to snap out of their daze.

Davey moved leisurely, unfazed by the countless wary, fearful gazes fixed upon him.

Now that things had started here, he expected a major upheaval to spread across the continent soon.

- Those who fail to grasp the situation will either try to suppress you, persuade you... or, if nothing else, simply ignore you and push ahead with their war.

‘Then I’ll just show them when the time comes.’

Davey didn’t care if he became the subject of fear among these people.

At least, the fear he instilled wasn’t the kind that led to despair.

He figured they instinctively understood that as long as they didn’t challenge him, they wouldn’t suffer any harm.

But then, someone cautiously approached.

A small hand timidly tugged at his sleeve.

“Hm?”

Davey turned his head to find a little girl looking up at him, her face filled with fear.

“A-Ahh! Lady Lucy!”

A bald man cried out, his face drained of all color.

It was the same man Davey had clashed with when he first arrived.

He hesitated, unable to step forward, while the girl showed no such restraint.

“Big brother, I heard you saved my dad.”

At her words, Davey suddenly realized her eyes seemed familiar. They resembled those of the injured man he had treated earlier—the one who everyone referred to as leader and had been struck down by the demonic sword.

He figured she was part of the resistance.

“Thank you.”

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Despite her trembling, she bowed politely.

The people around them were looking at each other with worry, as if afraid of what Davey might do to her.

“Aren’t you afraid of me?” he asked, genuinely curious.

After all, he had deliberately unleashed a fear-inducing display of power.

But the girl only gazed up at him with clear, unwavering eyes.

“But you’re not a bad person. You’re a doctor who saved my dad.”

It was a simple, pure response—completely devoid of logic.

Davey couldn’t help but chuckle. He then slowly reached out and ruffled her hair.

Afterward, he pulled a coin from his pocket and handed it to her.

It was one he had looted from the fallen Enforcer.

‘Looting the dead is basic etiquette.’

“Here. Buy yourself something tasty with this.”

The girl accepted the coin, staring at it blankly before breaking into a bright, innocent smile.

In this war-ravaged land, such a smile was a rare and precious sight.

* * *

Obtaining the necessary information wasn’t difficult.

After the Peacekeepers retreated from the city, Davey managed to get a full rundown of the continent’s current situation from the bald man who had been nervously hovering around.

“That’s everything I can tell you for now.”

At first, the man had been terrified of him, but his gaze had gradually changed.

They first engaged through a petty dispute, yet things had shifted dramatically since then.

Apparently, he had mistaken Davey as a noble of the royalist faction because of his attire. But since this city was a semi-neutral zone, he hadn’t been able to stir up trouble outright, so he had chosen to provoke Davey into retaliating instead.

Regardless, he turned out to be a fairly competent informant.

He explained the current factions to him.

The resistance, led by a woman named Illenia, sought to change the corrupt electoral system to her liking and maintain the current world. There were the Twelve Enforcers under the king, who had been placed on the throne through Loki’s schemes. And lastly, the royal forces.

Their conflict had been ongoing for quite some time—two years, to be exact.

Loki had begun laying the groundwork for this chaos long before Odin had ever fallen into his grasp.

It was quite laughable, really.

Both factions had clashed repeatedly, each advocating their own ideals.

Of course, their struggle had been more of a cold war with no actual bloodshed.

But then Loki had intervened, pushing the conflict over the edge into full-scale war.

The only silver lining was that the war had only just begun.

That meant it could still be stopped.

“So,” Davey asked, “where exactly is this Illenia woman? And where’s the king?”

The bald man hesitated before cautiously asking, “Forgive my rudeness, but... may I ask one thing?”

“What is it?”

“What exactly do you intend to do?”

“Stop the war,” Davey immediately responded.

“What...?”

“That’s all.”

Hearing his blunt response, the man fell silent for a moment.

“That won’t be easy.”

Davey smiled in response.

“What makes you think that?”

“The war has already begun. Even if they have to die, neither side will willingly give up their stake in it. There are those who deal in magical weapons, profiting from the conflict... I don’t know how you plan to stop it, but—”

“I’m actually pretty good at negotiations.”

The man sighed heavily.

“Our resistance leader, Lady Illenia, is opposed to the war. But if diplomacy could’ve prevented it, things wouldn’t have escalated this far.”

Davey tilted his head.

“That just means your leader sucks at negotiating.”

“Wha—?! That’s ridiculous! Lady Illenia is an incredible strategist! She’s dismantled dozens of corrupt officials through sheer verbal wit alone!”

It seemed she truly sought to cleanse the corrupt system.

But that didn’t change the fact that she was a fool of a negotiator.

“Listen.”

“Yes...?”

“A truly skilled negotiator...”

The man swallowed hard, instinctively tensing.

“...doesn’t negotiate.”

“Pardon?”

On this continent, there were two primary sources of despair: war and corrupt leadership. The most pressing issue was to stop the war.

Afterward, Davey waited until both sides had received his message. Once he figured the time had come, he resurrected the fallen Enforcer as an undead. Finally, with the bald man’s help, he established simultaneous communication with both sides.

Everyone had access to communication magic, so he figured there wouldn’t be a wait.

And just as planned, the ones who had seen what he’d done delivered his message—word for word—to both factions.

Of course, there was a possibility of the resistance and the royalists just ignoring his message.

But Davey was certain that wouldn’t happen.

After all, he had already crushed the Peacekeepers and sent them back in pieces—a precedent they couldn’t dismiss.

Like it or not, they had no choice but to start listening.

“The first step in negotiation is making your intentions clear.”

[If you stop the war peacefully, no more blood will be spilled.]

Short, precise, and impossible to misinterpret.

Now, all that remained was to wait for their response.

But realistically, neither faction was just going to give in and do whatever Davey told them.

Instead, they would analyze him—wondering whether he was an enemy or someone who could be manipulated into annihilating their opponents.

They may even dismiss the message as nonsense.

That was why Davey had already prepared the second phase of his plan—one that would force them to pay attention.

First, he interrogated the soul of the undead Enforcer, extracting the exact location of the royalist stronghold.

"Now for the second step—if they won’t listen, make them listen through force."

“The castle should have warping interference magic in place.”

“Then I’ll break it.”

Odin’s warping interference had already vanished. Now, there was nothing left that could stop him.

Normally, if someone attempted to teleport into an area protected by warping interference magic, their coordinates would scramble upon attempting to intrude, potentially sending them anywhere.

But Davey had analyzed the interference field before it could fully distort his magic. Then, using dragontongue—where the words themselves were the power—he created a gap and shattered the interference barrier completely.

[Open Sesame]

Unlike outright destroying something, simply creating a small, controlled gap took him little to no time.

He didn’t need to guess—he knew the royalist capital was in chaos right now, as they were probably watching in real-time as the magic barrier meant to protect them shattered piece by piece.

Davey then teleported, and in the blink of an eye, the fortress walls of the royal capital loomed before him.

Above, wyvern-riding mages took to the sky, desperately scanning for the intruder.

Their frantic searching made it clear that they never imagined someone could break through a grand-scale teleportation barrier from hundreds of kilometers away.

‘Well then, let’s give them something extra.’

“Incoming gift.”

[Meteor Strike]

The sky ignited, turning crimson as burning meteorites rained down, slamming into the surroundings.

He knew this would be more effective than merely warning them.

‘Still not going to listen to me?’