The Max Level Hero Has Returned!

Chapter 1377

“Honey, step back!” Davey yelled, his face serious.Aeria, who had been looking around the cave, started and moved away from the glowing mass.

He saw a female spirit flinch and pull back in surprise at her sudden action, yet to Aeria, it just looked like the glowing mass had moved back slightly.

“H-Honey?”

- What? Honey? Aeria, have you already had a wedding? Just how much time has passed since I... died?’

The spirit circled Davey, stroking her chin as if trying to figure out what had happened.

She seemed to assume that he couldn't see or hear her.

“I think it's dangerous. Step back.”

When he spoke with a serious expression, Aeria seemed to wholeheartedly believe him and kept trying to push back the spirit who was attempting to approach her.

- N-no! Please, Aeria! Can't you hear me?! Please, I beg you. I'm not trying to hurt you! Please don't push me away!

The spirit yelled, unable to hide her distress, but of course, Aeria couldn’t hear her.

- Can you not see me? Can you not hear my voice? Hey there! Can you not hear my voice either?!

‘Yes, I sure can hear you. Loud and clear.’

However, since Davey didn’t answer, she seemed to conclude that he also couldn't see or hear her. Discovering that a long-lost family member couldn't recognize her, she slumped down with a depressed expression.

‘Yeah... how can a lost soul who defied the natural order interfere with this world? But still... I think I can see faint traces. What should I do?’

The spirit, dejected, began to ponder.

‘Well... Since I can see traces, I should try to act like I'm guiding them and send them outside. But why is that man being wary of me? Did he feel her power on me?’

It looked like she’d keep misunderstanding things forever, so Davey decided to stop playing around. “Alright, alright. I was lying.”

“Huh?”

When Davey told them the truth, both Aeria and Empress Redimia, who was in her spirit form, looked at him.

Empress Redimia looked to be somewhere between twenty and thirty years old. Considering the age of Prince Vashas, she should be quite an old woman, yet she looked astonishingly young.

In other words, she must’ve been a case where aging stopped or slowed down for some reason, beyond the level of ordinary youthfulness.

‘H-huh?!’

When Davey suddenly brushed it off, the empress, clearly confused, looked at him with suspicion.

‘That's weird. It doesn't seem like he can hear my voice or see me. What’s this young man seeing that makes him so sure? Whatever it is, I hope he realizes my intent...’

“We came because we have something to ask. They do say all roads lead to the capital, and oh boy, we certainly did find the best of the best to help out.”

Aeria’s head tilted in confusion, as did the spirit’s.

‘What’s he saying?’

“It's a pleasure to meet you, Empress Redimia. I’m Davey O'Rowane, Aeria's husband as well as the Grand Duke of the Rowane Kingdom.”

When he looked directly at her soul and bowed slightly, following proper etiquette, her eyes widened dramatically.

‘W-what?! H-he can see me?!’

“Of course, I can see you. I saw you from the start, but I felt like messing with you two.”

Empress Redimia looked stunned, and Aeria just perked up her ears, not understanding the current situation. “H-Honey? What in the world is going on?”

“Hm. Honestly, the current talking situation is pretty annoying. There should be a way to... Oh, right.” He snapped his fingers. “Jeo-Seung.”

To deal with spirits, asking Woochi or Jeo-Seung, who had authority over the River of Souls, would be the least wasteful option.

He stood there confidently, waiting for the inbound Jeo-Seung, as the two women tilted their heads in unison.

Then... nothing.

‘Why isn't this brat showing up?’

Davey had shaken the connection he had with him, so he should’ve appeared. Instead, it turned into one-way communication, like trying to make a call with no signal.

“Don’t tell me...”

Only then did Davey begin to grasp the identity of the fog that covered the entire canyon. The structure was so different that he had found it strange.

“Blood Polis...”

The domain of the vampires, which he hadn't seen in ages. However, unlike the typical Blood Polis he knew, this fog didn’t drain the power of its targets.

In fact, there were too many fundamental differences from the Blood Polis that he had encountered.

“Ahem! It seems the connection is down.”

When nothing happened, both women, who had been staring blankly at him, seemed to understand.

“That fog earlier...”

- I see. That woman's trace is indeed blocking outside contact.

“Do you know about this fog?”

- Yes. I don't know the name, but I know what kind of being she is.

She spoke calmly, but her hands were trembling. She had probably hoped all along for the moment that she could talk to Aeria. They weren’t related by blood, but it was clear she felt sad that they couldn’t talk. Her eyes were already filled with tears.

If that was an act, it’d be a stellar performance, but there were no signs of her being fake.

“Haah. Alright, then let's try this.” Davey immediately reached out and grabbed her arm.

As a spirit, she recoiled in shock at having her arm grabbed, then shook his arm off and backed away a step or two.

- H-How dare you?! How dare you grab the arm of a woman who is already taken?!!

She cried out in a flustered voice.

“Then do you just want to leave things like this? Didn't you want to talk?”

- T-That’s...

Only then did she seem to realize what he was trying to do, and she bowed her head with a gloomy expression. She closed her eyes and murmured a prayer, then took a deep breath.

- Oh... Your Majesty, I apologize. Please forgive this unworthy one. Even if this body is defiled, my heart will always be yours.

‘What’s this woman saying... seriously.'

Davey, instantly infuriated, stood up. “Ugh. Just cut it out! It's like you're trying to frame someone as a predator.”

“Huh? Davey, what are you talking about?”

- N-no! T-that's not what I meant with my prayer!

“Enough. I also have a wife, so I can't just let that slide.”

- I-I'm sorry! I-I was short-sighted! Please, help me.

In the end, she waved the white flag and surrendered. It seemed she was simply angry at him for teasing her before.

She reached out to him, so he grabbed her arm again and slowly mobilized his demonic mana.

She was a soul wandering the lower heavens. He didn't know how she hadn't gone to the River of Souls, remaining despite not having any resentment, but he knew he could interfere with a soul’s properties to some extent.

“It might be a little uncomfortable.”

Thud!!

He instantly unleashed all the mana, as it seemed to scream for him to do so. It quickly encroached on Empress Redimia.

- Ugh! W-what is this?!

As the deep, shocking power of the Death Lord spread, she looked at him as if he were a monster. The mana within her instinctively tried to resist, but it was quickly suppressed.

‘This amount of mana must mean...’

“Were you a mage? Amazing, a 6th Circle at that.” Davey was quite surprised that she was an archmage.

Magic was a domain where breaking through to a higher level wasn't easy, so the fact that a member of the imperial family—the empress no less—had reached that level was impressive.

Of course, regardless of whatever was running through his head, he didn’t stop what he was doing.

[I command you in the name of the Death Lord. Wandering soul, reveal yourself in this world again under my command.]

[Living Spirit Manifestation.]

Davey changed her, who was little more than a spectral essence, into a living spirit.

Then, he injected the power of the Death Lord into her very existence, providing her with a pseudo-body as if she were resurrected. Her body was rendered no different from a ghost's, but at least Aeria could finally see and talk to her.

[Ah. Aaah.]

Though she didn't fully understand what had happened to her, she quickly realized she had changed and looked down at her hands, turning them this way and that.

“There shouldn't be a big difference. I only healed your fading soul and gave it some color. Fundamentally, nothing else changed. Unfortunately, I couldn't truly resurrect you as an undead.”

Since she wasn't a special case like Tsuna de Murgent had been, it was all he could do for her at the moment. To be precise, the Empress Redimia that he saw was a soul that needed to prepare to ascend to the River of Souls as soon as possible.

[W-who... are you?]

As a mage, she was aware that his demonstration of skill went beyond the ordinary.

However, her question was cut short.

“M-mother...” Finally realizing who was in front of her, Aeria’s eyes widened.

[Sweetheart...]

“Is... is it really you, Mother?”

[Yes, my child. Come here.]

Empress Redimia, who seemed to have been deep in thought, finally broke down in tears and embraced Aeria.

While Aeria had lost her memory of the accident, her memories from before that hadn't vanished, so she nonetheless recognized her right away.

“Why... why are you in a place like this?!”

Empress Redimia hugged the weeping Aeria, comforting her with a gentle expression. Yet her face held a clear sadness.

At the same time, she didn't hide how proud she was of Aeria, who had grown up so beautifully.

[Oh, my little baby. You've grown up so beautifully! To be able to talk like this with you is a miracle.]

“Don't say that!”

Aeria and Empress Redimia were not related by blood, to be exact. However, she truly saw her as her own daughter. If it were all an act, it would be EGOT-worthy.

Ironically, her biological son, Prince Vashas, hated Aeria to the point that he wanted her dead.

Given that it was a reunion of a mother and daughter after more than a decade, Davey casually looked around and prepared to step aside. “She’ll be able to maintain this appearance for a while. Say everything you want to say.”

Even that was only possible because her soul was perfectly intact, much like a mummy preserved in a tomb.

“D-Davey...” Aeria was grateful beyond words.

“I’ll leave you two alone for a bit.”

“...Thank you.”

They likely had a lot to say, but neither of them asked any more questions.

Leaving the two alone, he stepped back out into the shaking, chaotic canyon. He realized that they had come quite deep inside. Now that he thought about it, he had never heard of such a place existing in Tionis.

Given that it was within a zone of evil in Lyndis, there were barely any signs of human presence.

“This is definitely a vampire’s Blood Polis.”

Unless someone forced their way through the fog to contact the outside, it was basically completely cut off from the rest of the world. Of course, if he really wanted to leave, he could break through the Blood Polis easily, but he didn’t bother.

Upon further thought, he realized that the dense vampire mist was likely the reason Empress Redimia’s soul was bound there in the first place.

The radical vampires had all been wiped out, while the remaining moderates had crossed the continent and migrated to the peninsula beyond the Eastern Continent, Arrasis.

In other words, aside from Josiah, there were basically no vampires left on Tionis, or at most only a handful.

That left the burning question—how was something like that still there?

“This force feels even more primeval than Josiah’s.”

In other words, it was a purer power. Unless it was something stronger than Josiah, it couldn’t give off such a strong presence. Yet that was only even more confusing, since something purer than a Vampire Lord didn’t make sense.

Though unexpected, he had heard something about it before.

“Neltarid, you fucking bastard.”

‘That guy really wanted to keep me in the palm of his hand until the very end.’

Even though it sounded impossible, he had once heard that something above a Vampire Lord existed.

The Primordial True Ancestor, progenitor of the vampire race. They had ultimately defied the gods, the entire race being cursed as a result and becoming a species that defied divinity.

The one who caused it all was said to have been destroyed.

‘Then is this place a remnant of that being?’

Vampires had that nature even ten thousand years in the past, so the Primordial True Ancestor would be even older than that.

In the end, Davey could conclude the place was basically a ruin. Yet, what was strange was that the drastic change in the canyon had only happened a little over a decade before. Until then, it had been a busy shortcut used by many.

After thinking it over, he raised his finger toward the sky again.

Boom!!!

At the same time, a massive shockwave exploded outward and briefly tore the fog apart.

[Summon]

He then immediately activated the power of the contract with Josiah. He had never used it before, but finally found a reason.

‘A grad student should always be ready to show up when called.’

Of course, she was closer to an associate professor, but to him, she would always be a grad student. That meant she was basically his personal slave.

“Ahhh!!”

Josiah popped out of thin air. Judging by her cute bunny pajamas, she had been sleeping when she was summoned. Davey had bought them for her on Earth, and it looked like she used them well.

“Huh? Where is—Ahhh!! T-Teacher!!” Flustered, she realized her state and hurriedly tried to change. “I mean, they looked soft and warm, so...”

“It’s not cold.”

“I-I was just curious!”

“Relax. You said you wanted them as display, but it’s fine to wear them when no one’s watching. Teacher truly understands.”

Blushing bright red, she glared at him, trying to suppress her embarrassment. “J-just die!!”

Boom!!

Dozens of blood spears flew at him, but none reached him.

It took a while to calm her down.

The white Blood Polis didn’t drain power, but it somehow greatly amplified a vampire’s abilities.

Josiah hadn’t noticed at first, but once she felt something off, she started complaining even more.

“Shouldn’t you stop when something feels off?” Davey said, exasperated.

“Even between teacher and student, shouldn’t you respect privacy?” she argued.

“It’s a contract summon. We can just adjust it next time.”

“...Fine.” Still embarrassed about the pajamas, she finally looked around. “This... is a Blood Polis, right?”

“So you’re thinking it too?”

“Yes. But... it’s different. It doesn’t feel like the vampire power I know.”

“Exactly,” Davey agreed.

“Umm. Okay, Teacher, what did you do this time?” she complained.

He shook his head. “It wasn’t me. It was already here before I arrived. Do you feel anything from this mist?”

“No. Not until I see what created it... wait.” She frowned, noticing something only vampires could sense. “I think it sees us as intruders.”

“What are they hiding here, that would warrant setting up something like this?”

“Teacher, please, wipe that drool of yours. You always become greedy when there’s treasure involved.”

Clicking her tongue, she waved her hand. Even though she was a bit rough around the edges, she was still a Vampire Lord. Even without full maturity, her power had massive influence.

Clank. Clank.

Something began walking through the fog.

Josiah was surprised. “What’s that?”

“You’re the Vampire Lord. Why are you asking me about vampires?”

When Davey looked at her like she was ridiculous, her face twisted. “You’re seriously annoying...”

“That’s what you sound like when you teach Mit Chyde.”

“Why bring that up now?!” she shouted in annoyance. “...That thing’s coming to attack us, right?”

“Sure looks like it.”

“These bastards!!”

Boom!!

Still in her cute pajamas, she stomped her foot down with anger. Since no one was watching, she unleashed her power freely. Cracks spread from where her foot hit, and from the broken ground, dozens to hundreds of blood whips burst out.

Crunch!! Snap!!

“How dare you...” Her unique vampire pupils sharpened as she cracked her neck. Then, she charged straight at the armored figures. Each swing of her arm created red, gleaming blood lines that tore the armor apart.

She looked seriously stressed, taking it out on the armor.

‘Is Archbishop Alice really pushing her that hard?’

Davey just watched Josiah rampage like a madwoman. If he had to describe her, he felt the word ‘unpredictable’ would fit best.

As expected of a Lord, she crushed the enemies instantly, then stepped on the shattered armor and cracked her neck again.

“Pathetic. They don’t know who they're messing with.”

Davey still just wanted the information. “So, what do you feel?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never seen anything like it. But... it feels strangely familiar.”

‘So, something from the Primordial True Ancestor really is buried here.

If that ancestor’s remains were down there...

“Does that make us grave robbers?” he remarked.

It was funny how a shift in perspective could turn a situation into something completely different. He realized the mist must be intended to drive intruders away from a royal tomb.

Davey let out a faint, cold laugh. “Well, that’s kind of my specialty.”