The Max Level Hero Has Returned!-Chapter 976

"Hmm... It should have been somewhere around here..."

Great Orc Chief Tsu frowned as he examined the marks on the ground, clearly made by something having been dragged away.

"It seems we’re a step too late, brother."

The constellation Taurus nodded silently.

They had followed an unusual energy to this location, yet all they found were remnants of destruction—nothing more.

"Brother, are these truly traces of beings like you?"

Their conversation carried an almost cryptic tone, but surprisingly, Tsu understood the rabbit’s silent communication perfectly.

"Hmm. Is that so? I see... There’s nothing more to gain here, then."

Muttering to himself, he gave a slow nod before extending his hand forward.

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"In that case, to Heins Territory we go!"

Taurus, seeming satisfied with the decision, moved without hesitation.

"But um. Brother! Haven't we been going around in circles for a while now?"

“...”

* * *

Her cheeks were flushed, her appearance slightly disheveled.

"Per..."

"What? Do I look strange?"

She was wearing her usual black dress that accentuated her curves, but there was something uncharacteristically messy about her appearance.

She enjoyed drinking, but he couldn’t remember if she had ever gotten so drunk before. Judging by the way she had stumbled in, it seemed like she had drunk a substantial amount before making her way there.

"Don’t tell me you aren’t wearing...?”

When Davey asked, his eyes narrowing, she wriggled her brows mischievously and snuggled closer.

"I missed youuu..."

She drawled with a slur, her voice laced with playful affection. Watching her behave so silly, Davey figured it’d be quite amusing to see her reaction once she sobered up and remembered how she’d acted.

So he waved his hand and activated an empty video stone nearby. As the device turned on, Davey gave her an awkward smile. Perched on top of him, she glanced around herself and murmured, "I’m not wearing anything here either...?”

With a sigh, Davey straightened himself, causing her to lose balance and fall back slightly. He swiftly caught her by the nape of her neck, carefully laying her down on the bed.

"Per, what happened? And what's this about Aeria?"

She shifted, settling into his lap and resting her head against his chest and mumbled.

"I... I need to tell you something, but I’m not sure how to go about it..."

She looked deeply troubled.

Seeing her in this state, Davey channeled a bit of mana into her, dispelling some of the alcohol from her system before gently holding her in his arms.

For a long while, they remained like that, resting in silence. Eventually, as the effects of the alcohol began to wear off, Perserque lifted her head and looked up at him. Her crimson eyes, a telltale characteristic of her demon heritage, trembled slightly.

"Feeling a little better now?"

She hadn't told anyone else on the way over—she had come back alone. Davey had handed the key to the group as a whole, but if she had arrived by herself, that meant the rest of them had likely struggled to return to Tionis. Illyna could cut through dimensions, which might help allow them to slip through, but such a maneuver was delicate and prone to complications.

"Ugh..."

As she looked at him, her face flushed red. It seemed she remembered how she had acted moments before.

"A... Ah..."

"What? Still not wearing anything?"

"S-Stop!!"

Shoving him away, she quickly scrambled back.

"I can't believe I acted like such a fool..." she muttered, biting her lip in frustration.

Davey simply laughed, though he knew the situation wasn’t something he could simply joke about and brush off.

"More importantly, what's going on? You’re not the type to get this drunk over nothing."

Perserque fell silent at his words. After a moment of hesitation, she finally spoke.

"A while ago..."

She slowly began explaining the situation.

It started with Aeria, who had been playing an online game with Illyna. Aeria had made a new friend during one of her matches, and the two had hit it off rather quickly, becoming close. And since they lived nearby, they had even arranged to meet in person.

But something happened after Aeria left to meet that friend.

"She was ambushed and beaten by a group of students from the same academy."

A group beating.

The academy she referred to was essentially a school, meaning this was one of those all-too-common cases of classroom bullying.

‘Did she accidentally kill someone while trying to protect her new friend?’

Davey himself had taken countless lives, so he had neither right nor reason to condemn Aeria if she had done the same. Still, the thought of Aeria having her hands stained with blood left a sour taste in his mouth.

"Davey, I’m not oblivious—something's happening here too, isn't it?"

"It's nothing major. Just four lizards and a constellation hanging around."

‘These damn illegal trespassers...’

Hearing his flippant response, she sighed.

"I see. You're busy with your own matters..."

"Nothing is more important to me than Aeria. The situation here isn't urgent, just personal business. Tell me everything in detail."

Perserque hesitated briefly before opening up.

"It’d be better if you saw it for yourself."

* * *

Evangeline, sound asleep, was currently the top priority for protection.

To ensure her safety, Davey assigned Rinne and the mythical beast kings to guard her before stepping across dimensions with Perserque.

"Did you use the key?"

"No. Aeria has the key right now."

Davey tilted his head at her response, since Illyna wouldn't have recklessly torn through space to get her across.

"Then how?"

He knew her magic alone wasn’t enough to traverse dimensions. And the gap Davey had previously opened had already been sealed by Odin.

"There’s someone cooperating with us."

Davey narrowed his eyes in response.

‘Cooperating? It can’t be the Valkyries, and Neltarid isn’t in a position to freely offer such support either.’

"You’ll understand once we get there."

With that, they jumped through space. Thanks to Hyun-Ah’s assistance, they arrived at the place they usually stayed in when on Earth. A strange silence hung in the air.

"Illyna."

"Davey!!"

As soon as they entered the room, Illyna, who had been slumped in a rocking chair with an exhausted expression, immediately jumped up and ran toward him.

"Are you alright? What about your work?"

Her worried expression, as if she already knew exactly what he had been up to in Tionis, made Davey glance over at Perserque.

"A moment ago, you asked how I crossed dimensions, didn’t you?"

He nodded, and in response, she gestured toward someone.

"This is the one assisting us."

The space distorted, and a man with strikingly handsome features stepped forward.

Davey widened his eyes in shock.

"I understand your surprise, human. It’s nice to see you again, one who silenced the stars."

His hands trembled as his vision blurred.

"You. You!"

Davey couldn't suppress the turmoil surging within him. Seeing his reaction, the man gave a bitter smile.

"Our relationship isn’t exactly friendly, that’s tru—"

"Why...?”

Davey cut him off mid-sentence and strode toward him, eyes burning with fury. Like an avenger facing his greatest enemy, Davey grabbed the man by the collar and snarled.

"Why the hell are you here?"

“...”

"No answer?"

"Hey."

Davey glared at the man with even more intensity.

"How dare a guy just casually barge into a house where women live by themselves? You've got some nerve, bastard."

‘Who cares about it being a constellation? Fuck it.’

The problem was that this man had intruded into the home where Perserque, Illyna, and Aeria were staying.

* * *

The figure slumped on the ground, its face swollen and bruised, looked to be in its early twenties. It was a handsome human, at least on the surface.

But it wasn’t human.

A being derived from the Central Star Zodiac.

The constellation Sagittarius.

That was its true identity.

"Let’s go through this step by step. And let me warn you—if you ever jump dimensions and barge in here like this again, I’ll make sure there won’t be any part of you left.”

It wasn’t on an official visit, having come purely on its own whim. That meant Davey needed to reinforce security around this place to prevent it from ever happening again.

"Ugh..."

Ignoring the groaning Sagittarius, Davey turned his attention back to the others.

"You two need to be more careful. Do you ever stop to think about the people who worry about you? If something happened to either of you, I swear, you’ll see me completely lose it."

"Sorry, Davey..."

Illyna averted her gaze, her face flushing red.

He didn’t know why her face changed color, but at least she looked like she was in a good mood.

"Anyway. What about Aeria?"

"We still don’t have any solid leads on her location. Sorry..."

"Davey, we haven’t told you everything yet. Let me fill you in on the details."

Perserque then prepared to tell him the entire story.

"Davey, you remember how I told you that Aeria might’ve killed someone?"

"Yeah. But it sounded like you weren’t sure.”

"That’s right. Right now, the Korean police are unofficially searching for her for questioning, but they haven’t found any concrete evidence yet."

He figured that was why she wasn’t around.

"What exactly happened? And why is a constellation here?”

Illyna shrugged in response.

"Apparently it decided to run away and chose to come here. It’s asking for your help and wants to form an official alliance."

Davey turned his gaze toward Sagittarius. The man tried to shout something, but its swollen cheeks made its words come out garbled.

"From what I heard, it was nearly captured in Atrellia but managed to escape—its current physical form is a result of that. Anyway, it insisted that it had to meet you because of something critically important."

"Is this like that constellation Leo’s situation?’

"You’ve met Leo? Then this will be easier to explain!"

Unlike the other Zodiacs he had encountered so far, this one seemed more human.

Come to think of it, Rinne had mentioned that the ones she fought—constellations Scorpio, Pisces, and Aquarius—had also been in similar states.

"Leo and I barely escaped that monstrous woman’s grasp. I was slower, which is why I ended up trapped in this body. But, I can still use some of my power! If you help me—"

"No, no, that can wait. Aeria is the priority. I’ll listen to your story later. For now, shut up."

“...”

Sagittarius noticeably shrank at his firm words.

Turning back to Perserque, Davey nodded.

"Explain."

"Do you want the short version or the long, complicated version?”

"Give me the conclusion first."

"Something inside Aeria awakened after witnessing her friend’s brutal murder."

At those words, he remembered a personality of hers he had seen surface a long time ago. A personality, unlike the usually composed Aeria, that was far more ruthless.

"Ninetails...”

Davey fell silent for a moment before speaking again.

"Tell me everything. Don’t leave out even the smallest detail."

"Sister Per may have told you some already, but Aeria and I were playing an online game together. She made a new friend online, then they got close and even started meeting up in person. But one day, that friend was attacked and beaten by classmates. Aeria used spirits to drive them away..."

So she had saved her friend.

But that was only the beginning of the problem.

The bullies, pride wounded by the beatdown, retaliated by tormenting the girl even more viciously. Illyna, unable to stand by and watch, sought them out and broke their arms.

If they had revealed that they were connected to Davey, he figured it wouldn’t have ever escalated. But because they knew he was trying to avoid interfering with affairs on Earth, the two had kept their identities hidden.

Then, things took a turn for the worse.

One day, when Aeria went out for the usual hangout with her friend, the smell of blood led her to an alley.

There, she found her friend’s mutilated corpse.

"Since then," Perserque continued, "she's been avoiding both Illyna and I while moving about on her own."

"So in the process, she killed someone?”

"No. Remember when I mentioned the police were after Aeria?"

"Yeah."

"The police are chasing her because they believe she’s the killer. She was at the scene where her friend’s body was discovered, after all. On top of that, records show that the number Aeria used had texted her friend to meet up before the murder. We know that trying to leverage our identities would just draw more attention to you, so for now we’ve been tracking Aeria in secret to avoid blowing things out of proportion.”

Davey closed his eyes.

Aeria wasn’t running because she was guilty—she was running to find the real culprit.

The fact that she hadn’t contacted Perserque or Illyna could be due to the influence of her other strange personality. Or perhaps, she simply wanted to resolve the issue on her own.

"We need to meet her in order to understand the full story. We’ve been tracking her movements, but it's not easy."

Hearing this, Davey nudged the collapsed constellation Sagittarius with his foot.

"Hey. Come back later. I’ll listen to whatever you have to say about Odin and Leo then."

Sagittarius widened its eyes.

"Wait, you accept? Are you serious?! You'll really form an alliance—"

"I’ve already allied with Leo, so there's no reason to refuse you. But right now, Aeria takes priority."

The issues with Odin were personal and important, sure. But finding Aeria who was moving on her own was even more urgent.

The police were after her, convinced she was the killer.

The real culprit was obviously laying low, but Aeria was likely hunting them down, trying to expose everyone involved in the setup.

He was certain that her other personality wouldn’t show mercy.

Davey couldn’t help but feel infuriated as he realized Perserque and Illyna had already been busy searching for her while he had been occupied with other matters.

"Fucking reckless idiots."

He thought the police were ridiculous. He couldn’t believe they were really making Aeria a suspect just because of a single text message.

That said, he could understand why Aeria refused to cooperate and move on her own—the legal system in Korea had plenty of loopholes and inconsistencies. He assumed she thought that if she cooperated, the case might just get swept under the rug and her friend could never rest easy with justice having been served.

But by fleeing, Aeria had become a suspect in the police’s eyes.

"Even if there’s at least one competent officer, they should realize something is off about this case."

Illyna nodded.

"And so, Hyun-Ah looked into it and found some useful information. Since Aeria destroyed every tracking method available, we tried gathering police intel instead, and then we found this guy."

She handed Davey a document.

"Seoul Metropolitan Police, Violent Crimes Unit, Team 1 Leader—Oh Hyung-Man. He started digging around, saying Aeria might not be the killer... and then suddenly got suspended."

Davey scoffed.

‘Looks like we found ourselves a big one.’