The Max Level Hero Has Returned!

Chapter 823

The encroachment of complete madness.

The liberation of madness.

The hunger.

The cause of the catastrophe that had wiped out numerous heroes in the Hall of Heroes.

Davey, having completely lost his consciousness, stumbled forward and glared at Thanatos. She could tell he had changed, and that it boded ill for her to a terrifying extent.

“Haha... Hahahahaha! The reverse scale! Let’s see your reverse scale!” Davey howled, his laughter twisted and violent.

Crack!! Crack!!

The madness, pure violence, and murderousness he unleashed was incomparable to anything from before. Davey, a monster who had obtained divinity, had transformed from a mere crazed individual into a full-fledged mad god.

Thanatos, who possessed Eclipse’s body, had practically no capability to resist as Davey tore through her dragon scales, mercilessly ripping them apart.

[Ah... Ahhh... AHHH!!!]

Davey unleashed madness on Thanatos with his soul-twisting attacks and the authority of the Abyss. Despite Thanatos trying to use the authority of the Abyss to understand and tackle his madness, it only weakened her mental defenses, making his insanity spread.

The source of his horrifying madness was simply hunger. Yet, it was because of that simplicity that the hunger created a scene of unspeakable cruelty and destruction. Thanatos couldn’t believe Davey had been hiding this power all along.

[Get lost!!]

Thanatos manifested her Dragontongue and wrapped herself in divine power to heal her wounds. Even though she sent Davey flying, he just stumbled and staggered only to get up again. He then swayed to get moving again.

Tear.... Tear!!

The flesh that Davey had pinned with Red Ribbon and Blue Ribbon tore away. The two swords already had the authority of invulnerability that even God Thanatos couldn’t break easily.

Thanatos couldn’t understand how Davey was so powerful despite being a mere creation of Freyja’s. To her, the members of the race known as Hornes were an enigma.

Goddess Freyja was the god that created multiple worlds, rules, concepts, and life forms. But to Thanatos, Hornes were strange creatures. In a way, they were the only race capable of defying the gods themselves.

It seemed like nonsense, but the proof stood right before her eyes.

“I’m hungry...” Davey muttered as he swayed and flickered his unique red eyes. “I need something to eat... Eat... I need more...”

Even though he had gone crazy, his madness only compounded the danger he posed without conscious restrictions. But that insanity couldn’t be the only component contributing to Thanatos’s predicament.

Although he was difficult to take on, she figured he had to have some kind of weakness.

After looking inside his mind, Thanatos figured out that there were two contributing reasons behind his insanity. There were two forces at war within him: the power of Hercules—a Horne hero—and Davey’s own characteristics. They were clashing violently, fueling the insatiable hunger that led to his madness.

She figured his madness would only grow with time before eventually consuming him entirely. She knew she had to stall things until that moment came if she wanted to stand a chance.

Davey, once a small and insignificant being who could’ve been killed at any moment, had now grown so powerful that even Thanatos felt threatened despite her divinity.

The fact that the God of the Abyss was feeling the fear of extinction from a mere creature was surely a horrifying and unprecedented change in power dynamics.

Thanatos slowly moved her uninjured body parts and gathered the power of the Abyss within. Once it finished, dark energy sprouted from all directions like tentacles, coiling around Davey and restraining him.

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[?!]

But Thanatos was shocked nearly senseless by what Davey did next—even forgetting her godly status.

Munch!! Munch!!

Davey began biting into the tentacles—devouring the very power of the Abyss that had bound him.

“This isn’t enough... I think I’m going to go insane from this hunger,” Davey muttered.

Though he had already lost his mind, he was claiming he might go even more insane. Despite his apparent naivety, he was too eerie and insane.

Davey kept on mindlessly consuming, paying no attention to the ways his body was changing. Eating recklessly would normally make one sick, but Davey kept eating without a second thought while frowning.

“I’m still hungry...”

He then pulled Red Ribbon and Blue Ribbon into his hands and muttered.

“Are these two good?”

Unlike how he was when he first bit off the reverse scale, his red eyes were burning with a different kind of madness. It was one born of extreme hunger. Terrifyingly enough, that wasn’t the end of his madness—it was only getting worse, and the aftermath was unimaginable.

* * *

The one-sided battle continued.

Thanatos, grievously wounded, drew upon both her divine power and the strength of Eclipse to endure. But his combat style and threatening levels had changed completely, bursting with previously suppressed explosive power.

He demonstrated a level of flawless precision in his attacks that nearly rivaled the legendary Sword GodLord. His speed and sharpness had transcended all known limits, making Eclipse’s massive body a giant target and disadvantage for Thanatos. Due to the power of taboo, any direct magic was useless and all emitted spells were severed instantly.

As long as Thanatos had a physical body, eventual exhaustion was inevitable in the dragging battle.

Bang!!

With a thunderous impact, the enormous dragon’s body faltered and collapsed. Davey had already torn her scales from her flesh, ripped one of her wings straight off, and severed one of her front paws.

Davey’s fighting style was savage, yet precise. In a way, it was animalistic and instinctual—he wielded magic, twisted divine power, and attacked her psyche to force openings. Whenever he saw the chance, he would strike without mercy like a predator hunting its prey.

Thanatos knew her body wouldn’t be able to withstand it if things continued like this. The damage from his divine power was far too great to rely solely on her godly immortality. What made things worse was that her power was already weakened to protect her goal. Despite understanding the danger Davey posed to her, she had made her choice to isolate their battlefield from the cave—for the sake of something she couldn't abandon.

[Ah... Goddess Freyja, you are cruel to the very end.]

She manifested her will, making pitch-black fog fill the air around them.

[You made me to manage your sleep and dreams. Now that I’ve fulfilled my purpose, you’ve discarded me!]

Her voice was full of twisted rage, grief, and fury. There was no turning back now.

[It was only because of your choices that I was used to create the Abyss. This too is your doing.]

Ssss!!!

The air grew thick with oppressive energy—uncontrollable and wild, engulfing the atmosphere in an instant.

Ssss!!!

The black fog swirled and enveloped the massive dragon body.

“Only idiots wait for others to transform.”

Davey then twirled his sword and instinctively launched Blue Ribbon at her. But, as if she had been anticipating his attack, a portion of the black fog reacted by sacrificing itself to deflect the strike.

Though she had used up a great deal of energy, she didn’t care. When the fog disappeared entirely, even Davey, who wasn’t thinking straight, made a surprised face.

"What? Where did your big body go? I'm hungry, you bastard!” he shouted.

Yet, she remained silent. She then slowly opened her vertically-slit yellow eyes. Her new form resembled Eclipse’s humanoid appearance, wearing a beautiful purple gothic lace dress. Her hands, covered in black scales all the way up to her elbows, bore sharp nails at the fingertips. Her once pearly white canine teeth were now as sharp as a dragon’s.

Instead of her usual parasol, she was now holding a long black sword—a weapon much like the one she had used in her first fight with Davey. It was around one and a half meters long and five centimeters wide. It was a slender, double-edged blade longer than she was in her new form.

But unlike her previous sword, this one was wrapped in an aura of evil spirits.

Whoosh, Bang!!

Covered in black scales and coming out from beneath her dress, she whipped her tail on the floor to display her power. Two horns protruding from her head completed the threatening look.

Davey slowly approached the figure that was Eclipse but wasn’t quite Eclipse. Suddenly, he tore through space itself and launched himself straight at her.

In terms of swordsmanship, he was superior. Even though she was a divine being that had the mastery, he knew he had the experience to differentiate their overall ability.

But...

You still don’t understand how far this ancient dragon has grown.

Swoosh!

Suddenly, she swung her sword with such natural ease that it even caught the crazed Davey off guard. It was as if she was able to accurately predict his every move.

“Argh!!”

Slash!!

Davey instinctively dodged, but she still managed to scar his abdomen. Black smoke then began to encroach on his wound.

Tap... Tap...

She took steps as if she were on an elegant runway. A pitch-black mist spread beneath her feet, radiating outward in a circle, turning the ground beneath her dark.

“Damn, you’re pretty good at adapting your form to the circumstances aren’t you?” Davey marveled. "But I don’t have much of an appetite for eating things that look like me. Can you turn back into that lizard again?”

Thanatos flicked her sword toward Davey. She had to admit that she had been looking down on Davey—Goddess Freyja’s delegate—thinking that he was just a mere inferior imitation despite obtaining divinity.

The insignificant creature in front of her had perfectly achieved divinity. She knew that, given more time to develop, he might even become something like Thanatos or Neltarid.

“This ancient dragon’s will is so strong that it has dulled my divine insight.”

She was still able to retain a good portion of her levels, but she wasn’t as sharp anymore.

It was a harsh reality that she was forced to confront if she wanted to achieve her goal, so she was going to take action.

Her current form—half-human, half-dragon—was quite awkward; it was neither fully dragon nor entirely human. However, it was her strongest state for fighting against Davey. It was her form that she had kept as a secret. A trick up her sleeve.

Davey had never encountered this form before. It didn’t exist in Hercules’ memories, either.

"I admit you’re strong,” Thanatos said, raising her sword and pointing it at Davey, who was staggering from the wound and still muttering about his hunger.

The black fog and vengeful spirits coiled around the sword.

“A being worthy of divinity. I’ll treat you with the respect and power you deserve.”

‘From now on, I will unleash the full fury of a god who has carried the burden of hatred, anger, and betrayal for over ten thousand years.’

“There will be no more sunrises on Tionis.”

Shing... Clank!! Slash!!

Davey and Thanatos flew at each other without hesitation, clashing at a speed far beyond human perception. What began as simple strikes had turned into something more—a torrent of strikes, with each swing tracing hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of trajectories.

Their senses seemed infinitely adaptable as time seemed to slow down or accelerate at different points along with the intensity of the fight.

“Haha... I’m hungry.”

One of his arms fell to the ground as he laughed maniacally. Glancing down at the severed limb, he licked his lips. “It’s hard to eat with only one arm.”

Davey was insanity incarnate. His craziness was only going to get worse, and he would destroy everything that got in his way. But in this empty space, there were no ramifications to such a rampage.

He calmly picked up his fallen arm. A pure white light forced the limb back into place as he reattached it. He then charged forward once again without hesitation, brandishing his sword.

"It’s only a matter of time before Tionis is consumed by the part of me that I left behind there," Thanatos said. "I will block the light of Goddess Freyja from the world, and darkness will descend. The world shall suffer catastrophe, and all living things will perish."

Thanatos's goal was not merely to defeat Goddess Freyja—it was to annihilate the world she had so diligently sought to protect.

"Regardless of what you wanted to accomplish by coming here, this fight was decided the moment you followed me to this space."

“Haha!! Hahahahaha!!!”

However, Davey couldn’t comprehend a single word she said.

Their swords collided once more. Davey, covered in injuries including his arm, locked eyes with Thanatos who held her blade defensively with similar strain. But with a flicker of madness in Davey’s red eyes, he kicked her abdomen and sent her flying.

Slash!!

He then swished Red Ribbon and slashed Thanatos with her blade energy that ignored the very flow of time.

However, he didn’t manage to cut her. Instead, a scar appeared across his body. Something strange followed.

The black fog burst apart as if an explosion happened, with a massive dust cloud sending the particles scattering away and revealing the world outside.

A vast, overwhelming space came into view—part of a colossal nebula. The surrounding space split, and beams of light from new stars surged through the void. New laws that defied every known principle of celestial physics that humans were aware of emerged before their eyes, but neither Davey nor Thanatos paid any attention.

Slash!!

Instead, they moved with only one goal in mind: the death of their opponent.

The sword in Davey’s hand flashed with light. Beyond the cloud of dust—or rather, the nebula’s fog—several intense lights vanished.

The meaning behind this phenomena was simple: the extinction of stars.

Though they were insignificant in size compared to the stars, the sheer power Davey and Thanatos released after unshackling their divinity was far beyond what even stars could withstand.