The Max Level Hero Strikes Back!

[3-5 per day will be added for a few days…]

Episode 26

The area of light had now completely disappeared and created an afterimage of fluttering pure white feathers.
Simultaneously, I had a tremendous feeling of exhaustion throbbing through my whole body.
There was no mercy on the rebound.

“Phew…”

As I slowly blinked, the Blood Polis, the red mist created by the vampire, seemed to have disappeared.
Great.
It shouldn’t leave a trace after a ninth rank spell.
This was transcendental magic that brought God’s will to the earth.
At this, I burst into laughter.

After I checked the people who were slowly opening their eyes and raising their heads, I turned my body and looked at Calderas, which was currently stuck upside down.
I thought I had to go back, but all I could manage was to lean on the sword and collapse.
Calderas went quiet after most of his divine power had been taken away.
It may have been deeply shocked by the sudden sense of loss since it was a sword with an ego.

There was a huge difference when you knew that you had been exploited or not.
I felt sorry for no reason whatsoever.
I knew I needed to be nice to Calderas the next time I saw him.
I was slowly closing my eyes as I was thinking like that.
I was also thinking of the unidentified bizarre status window that popped up in front of my eyes, but now I just wanted to forget everything and fall asleep.

While checking the energy that began to recover at an unparalleled speed, I fell asleep comfortably, hardly noticing the blonde girl approaching me.

* * *

How long had it been since I had slept without any worries or stress? Even though the sleep was much shorter than when I was training, it would have been nice to describe it as a very satisfying sleep for me, who hadn’t slept well for nearly half a year.

“…For Bernie…”

“I am sorry…”

While sleeping, I heard someone talking.
When I opened my eyes half-awake, I could see the ceiling of the cleaning room.
The small mansion that I stayed in the first time when we arrived at the Duchy of Felicity.

“Ah…”

I breathed a sigh of relief, feeling refreshed.

“Oh! Davey!”

As Winley, who looked upset about something, found me awake, she ran to me quickly.

“Davey! Are you alright?”

“Winley.”

“How is your body?! Is there any problem with it?”

She looked extremely worried, as if she was going to burst into tears.

“How long was I asleep?”

What happened to make you so upset? As I asked her, Winley burst into tears and hugged me.

“You haven’t woken up for two days.
I was…I was scared that you wouldn’t be able to get up again…ugh.”

Ah.
Since I had done that, it was a natural reaction that she was worried.
As I patted Winley on her back, I heard a soft sobbing from her.
I tried to comfort her without saying anything as her body trembled in my arms.

“I…I had a dream.”

“Dream?”

“Yes, when the red mist crept on us, you protected me against it in my dream.”

She didn’t seem to remember much of what happened then.
I thought it was better for her that she didn’t see that cruel scene.

“Where is Barris?”

“That…”

She frowned with a familiar, anxious look on her face.

“Oh Davey, my brother, please tell me the truth.
Did…did you get rid of the red mist?”

“Well…”

“I saw something while checking your body.
I saw a mark.
Is it a stigmata? God’s mark.”

She slurred her words as she spoke, overwhelmed by emotion.
The problem was the presence of the large stigmata on my back.
In terms of size, it was about three spans.
Considering that the size of common stigmata was wrist-sized, it could be considered unusually large.
A sign engraved with the power of God.
It was a peculiar wound that couldn’t be created by any means that existed in this world.
It was a trace of God, and it was also a testament to a noble being loved by God.

“Hmm…”

“Are…you okay?”

“Is it obvious?”

“I didn’t know at first glance because it just looked like a plain wound on your back.
But when I looked closer, I knew it was a stigmata.”

I had a feeling that nothing other than divine power had been detected.

“I heard from the priest who visited this place.
It seems that all those red mists had been purified.
I couldn’t quite figure out who had done that, so I was wondering if you were involved.”

“I see.”

“Yes, but if you don’t remember anything, maybe not.”

Princess Ileana, who may be the only one who had seen everything, seemed to keep everything to herself.
Honestly, I thought she’d come and nag me right away, but I guess she just wasn’t that kind of person.

“A senior priest who was healing your body found the stigmata.
They are making a big deal out of this.
They think that you, who fainted in the place where the divine energy was circling, received the stigmata….”

Rumors were bound to spread; the situation certainly deserved it.
Unlike most devout priests, having the stigmata meant God showed its love first.

“Oh, my brother, are you feeling sick?”

“I don’t feel anything bad.”

“Phew…”

Feeling bad?

‘Rather, the situation has gotten better.’

Evidence of a saint: that was the stigmata.
Nine Hierarchy, the purpose of expressing the realm of the Holy Magic God, was to deal with the red mist.
However, there was also my calculated strategy hidden in it.
The precisely calculated strategy was essential to eat and live well.
Using a large amount of mana at once to reveal the foundation would spur the growth rate.
It was a small attempt, but the result was anything but.

‘The mana capacity has increased dramatically.’

The mana responded to the divine power, and my command mana had already risen in large amounts.
Compared to the amount I had previously, it was quite noticeable.
There was enough to make the Aura blade now.
I hadn’t gone through a round of metamorphosis, but I had already come to the level where I could pull out the master’s exclusive Aura blade.
In the past, I was barely maintaining my power due to my enlightenment and experience.

However, now I have recovered enough to pull out the Aura blade.
Laughter came out.
Among them, the biggest change in growth was the divine power with its lazy nature.
People were obsessed with the stigmata for a reason.
I felt that the amount of holy power living inside me had increased enormously because I could get the large stigmata that I couldn’t get by existing in the form of a spirit when I was in the Corridor.
Eventually, the divine power, which was the slowest in growth, had risen to the highest of the three energies.

‘It is a power that grows when there is a reason.
What a difficult divine power.’

As I leaned against the bed, I roughly patted Winley’s head.

“Go in and take some rest.
I want to think about something for a moment.
You must be tired after taking care of me…you should get some rest.”

“It was chaos after you passed out.”

She looked angry with her puffed cheeks.

“Besides, Princess Ileana suddenly insisted on taking you to her place.”

“Did she?”

“Yes, she said she had excellent medical staff.
She came back a while ago saying that you wouldn’t wake up here.
I had to send her away again.
Huh!”

The reason she showed such behavior was obvious.
Unless she was a fool, she must have seen everything and remembered them.
The things that happened then…

What was weird was that Winley acted a little sensitive to her.
I was curious, but it wasn’t like I needed to ask her.

“You don’t have to worry about me anymore.
I’m awake now.”

“The games stopped on that day.
Because of the incident, the entire country is chaotic right now.”

It was an understandable reaction since it wasn’t just an ordinary monster.

“I guess so.”

“Then I’ll go back to my room.
Then, take some rest, brother.”

Winley left the room with short steps after she smiled and hugged me tightly.
I quietly stretched my arm toward her as she opened the door and left.

‘Well…is it right? Information confirmation.’

Beep!

As if I wasn’t mistaken, a translucent black box revealed itself to me again.

-Name: Winley Al Rown.

-Age: 14

-Gender: female

-Tribe: Human

-Title: Nothing

-Symptom: Fatigue.

-Special comments: Three Circle Wizard.

-Current psychology:

Worrying about the viewer.

Surprised.

Fragile.

“Oh, oh…”

It didn’t show much.
However, this status window contained information that couldn’t generally be found.

“It’s similar to a game?”

However, the ability to gain insight into a person was of great merit when dealing with people.

‘Why did this happen all of a sudden?’

Was it because I prayed to the Lord? Or was there a problem since I used the same method as when I was a spiritual body?

‘Let’s not worry; it’s not bad anyway.’

I would use it if it helped my life in the future.
At least there would be no misunderstandings.
As I thought so, I looked out of the darkened window, and I could see the bright night view of the Duchy of Felicity.
I wasn’t able to easily decide whether or not I should hide my identity.
There were too many factors to consider.
If I were to make a big scene, the people around me might suffer.

‘Is there any reason that I should hide my identity?’

Looking at the current situation, it seemed that people already knew about my stigmata.
However, no one knew a single detail about it yet.
This was an arena filled with sacred energy and the stigmata engraved on me when they found me there.
The story of the stigmata was circulating, thanks to the sleazy senior priest who healed me.
In other words, no one had seen me running wild.
People might misunderstand that I did all that, given the situation.
I mean, I knew it wasn’t a misunderstanding.
I was silent with such complicated thoughts.

-It’s just one side, but I guess they liked your ability to see through the other person’s psychology.
By the way, what are you thinking?

It was then…a strange voice came into the quiet room.
He spoke like an elderly person, but the voice I heard was a boy my age.
The voice sounded to be passed from a will in someone’s head, not through sound.

“Who are you?”

I muttered and frowned at the voice that came from nowhere.
How did he sneak up on me? I was nervous because I knew that it was impossible to do so.
Therefore, it was probably not a normal creature.
As I was sitting blankly, I narrowed my eyes and slowly started to boost my power.