The Max Level Hero Has Returned!

‘What am I missing?’

While Davey stood there ruminating in a complicated silence, Hyun-Ah nudged him in the ribs. “Hey. Are we good?”

“...For now, yes.”

“Phew! That was a close call, seriously...”

Sacred Group was just starting to gain traction with the technology, so if word got out that the virtual reality was causing people to lose control of their minds, everything would be over. Hyun-Ah would lose considerable standing in the company and then have to bear the lion’s share of the responsibility.

Although Willow had been the one to set the whole endeavor in motion, it was thanks to Hyun-Ah and her skills that the system she created had massively expanded.

“It's not like a computer where someone can just hack the system by putting on sunglasses and furiously typing with four hands before declaring ‘I’m in.’ No one should be able to even begin interfering with its operation.”

Park Woo-Sung nervously interjected from the side, “A-am I okay?”

Davey turned back to him. “I have a question for you.”

The man quickly stood up straight and responded, “Yes, Mr. Saint of Tionis. Please ask away.”

“Do you still feel impulses and things like that?”

Woo-Sung’s mouth closed tight as he pondered, eventually nodding. “Yes. Very rarely... I get extremely angry, like I've become someone else. When it happens, it’s not like a usual crashout where I can overcome the impulse with a little extra effort. Instead, I can't stand it unless I smash and destroy everything in sight. Since they know my situation here, they bring me things I can immediately break if I feel signs of a fit coming on, but...”

Unless he was faking it, he was definitely under the influence of something sinister.

Illyna, Davey, and Hyun-Ah left the room before facing each other to discuss their findings.

“It’s too strange, considering we didn't feel anything.”

“My thoughts exactly.”

“Those people have no connection to each other, but the symptoms are all so similar. It's like... an epidemic.”

The only thing that linked them was the fact that they'd all used the virtual reality system.

“Wait a minute. Theoretically, couldn't some kind of disease cross over through the virtual reality?”

The world knew it as virtual reality, but Hyun-Ah and the rest knew that it wasn't just simple virtual reality. It was an entire network of worlds that Willow had created.

Users weren't just enjoying the place through their consciousness, instead resonating directly with their souls.

It was a system Willow had created to protect the humans of many worlds, including Earth. Davey couldn't allow such a thing to be destroyed.

“So we might be able to find the cause in the virtual reality?”

“Unfortunately, we can’t even be certain of that. If we’re gonna make such broad strokes, you could blame anyone just for breathing too. It’s not specific enough to allow the gathering of any actual actionable intelligence.”

In other words, picking on the virtual reality was just the jealousy of those who were envious of the Sacred Group benefiting from it. It was no different from an ‘if I can’t have it, you can’t have it either’ mentality.

“And even if the virtual reality is the problem, I can't just let them destroy it.”

Although it was a stretch, it was nonetheless plausible.

Davey himself had let the guy presumed to be Darian escape from the bubble world inside the virtual space.

“It's a good thing no one died, at least. As for that one guy who actually got some kills off, well... regardless of the reason, he was fundamentally a killer with a body count already.”

The lack of tangible deaths had definitely been a nice silver lining of the ordeal.

Nonetheless, something bothered Davey about how things had unfolded.

‘What am I missing? What could it be?’

“I need to see the fit of angry madness happen firsthand,” he declared.

“You want to see it yourself?”

“There should at least be some kind of change whenever they start to go into that crazed mental state.”

That was pretty much the only available option Davey could think of at that moment.

He eventually got his chance, yet, even when Park Woo-Sung flew into a rage and completely lost control of himself, he still couldn't find anything conclusive.

“Oh my goodness...” Hyun-Ah covered her mouth, watching the man scream and wildly kick and destroy everything nearby. Illyna, on the other hand, just stared blankly at the scene.

“Umm. Illyna?”

It was the moment Davey looked at her with confusion.

Smack!!!

Illyna suddenly slapped his hand away violently.

“I-Illyna?”

“Oh...” Her eyes abruptly widened, realizing what she'd done.

“D-Davey! I didn't do it on purpose, I swear!”

“It's okay,” he responded, shaking his head.

“N-no. I think I'm just tired right now. Can I go back first? I'll see you at home.”

She turned away with a pale face, but Davey wrapped his arm around hers to prevent her leaving. He said, “You... you're hiding something from me, aren’t you? Is it something from what happened when you caught that killer?”

As he spoke, her eyes quickly began to burn with rage. The strange look in her gaze was the same as the one Park Woo-Sung had shown while screaming and rampaging.

However, her mental fortitude was truly off the charts. Gritting her teeth, she slammed her head hard into the wall. “Ugh!”

Rumble.

Fwoosh.

The powerful headbutt managed to shake the entire building to its foundation. Hyun-Ah simply stared blankly at Illyna, while Davey immediately rushed forward to help support her.

He worriedly asked, “What happened?”

“I'm... I'm sorry, Davey. Something's wrong with me. I'm so angry in my head... I can't stand it,” she said with an agitated face.

Davey hurriedly drew a line in the air while holding her. A rift tore open, and he flew into it with her still held in his arms.

Hyun-Ah hurried after him, flustered by the sudden change.

“Mom?!”

The eyes of Willow, who was working on the virtual reality connection device, widened when she saw Illyna being carried into the room.

Illyna leaned against Davey as she breathed heavily, her face full of exhaustion. Davey couldn't remember ever seeing Illyna—one of the pillars that trained Heins’ elite knights—in such a weakened state before.

“Dad... what happened?” Willow, who was speaking in a hurry, experienced a sudden shift in expression. “What is this?!”

Her eyes glowed, and as soon as he laid Illyna down, she snatched something from above her head.

Fwoosh.

It was black mist.

She just stared at it for a moment.

“Willow?”

At the same time, Illyna, who had been suppressing her emotions, took a deep breath and then slumped over. “Haaah. Haaah.”

Willow, on the other hand, glared at the thing she had snatched. It slowly began to lose its transparency, the outline hardening.

“That's...”

“Darian...”

Perserque, who had come late but seemed to grasp the situation, said the same thing.

Hyun-Ah, who had followed Davey all the way to Heins, didn't seem to be able to see what was going on. “Ummm. What are you talking about? What's Willow holding?”

“Willow, you were able to see that just now?” Davey solemnly asked.

“I can see it with my divine eye. It looks like a parasite, it must have been feeding on Mom's emotions and causing extreme rage.”

Davey couldn't see or feel it at first, yet after a while, he and Perserque were able to see it as well. It was similar to when he first discovered that figure in the bubble world and no one but Perserque and Davey could see him.

“I clearly couldn't see anything before,” Davey marveled.

“Of course you couldn’t see it right away. The higher your divinity, the sooner you’re able to make out what it is.”

Perserque and Davey were only at the level of a demigod and a complete divinity. Willow, on the other hand, was a complete goddess. There seemed to be a difference in what they could see and feel.

Of course, that wasn't the main point. More importantly, Davey had finally figured out who the culprit was, beyond a doubt.

He confirmed it was Darian, whom he saw in the bubble world. It meant that something very similar to—but still different from—that guy had begun to influence Earth beyond the bubble world.

Perserque doubtfully began, “But Darian is currently...”

“A power that escaped Darian could be moving on its own,” Davey finished.

Davey prayed that wasn't the case, but the evidence seemed to clearly indicate that Darian was responsible for the whole incident.

Illyna wasn’t even sure what to say. “Then, Davey, how will you...”

“...I have to seal him,” he muttered.

As much as he hated the idea, Davey was talking about sealing his son away.

“No!” Illyna reached out and blocked him. “Seal him?! Are you kidding me right now?!”

Davey shot back, “Then should I let Darian cause an even bigger mess?”

“Where's the proof that it's Darian?!”

“I know what I saw, Illyna.”

It would be great if it was just a mistake. Unfortunately, it wasn't.

* * *

Willow had a complicated expression as she stared at the bed where Darian was soundly asleep, then muttered, “Did you really do this?”

From a sister's point of view, he was a special and precious younger brother. Although it was normal for siblings to grow up fighting and getting into tiffs, in Willow’s eyes, Darian was just a cute little bro she always had to protect.

Sure, they might fight like crazy someday in the future, but she’d handle that bridge when she came to it.

Davey wouldn’t have been wrong in his analysis. They had to quickly find a solution before Darian went past the point of no return. In the current situation where his power couldn't be confirmed, they couldn't just leave Darian alone. Like Davey, Willow also figured that sealing was probably the best way to buy time.

Still, she couldn’t just stay still while everything happened around her.

She slowly took the sleeping Darian's hand and entered his inner self.

Normally, there would be nothing there. Previous checks had confirmed as much. Yet, for some reason, she suddenly felt like she would be able to see what was hidden inside Darian.

If he truly possessed a dangerous power, or even worse set a trap with it, she could end up in danger with her action. The power he possessed was that alien and high-level, even for a goddess like her.

It made no sense for someone to be born with a potential that rivaled a complete divinity, unless they were a complete god.

Willow, resonating with Darian's inner self, slowly proceeded to the depths of his consciousness. Once she reached the abyssal layer of consciousness, she felt something spine-chilling and flinched.

“Just now... what did I...??”

What she felt in the abyss made even her feel fear despite her lofty power and status.

The entity in front of her slowly opened its eyes and looked at Willow, making her tremble in extreme terror. She also felt something warm and bright, but it seemed too faint in comparison.

‘’What the heck is this?’

Only then was she able to see Darian's inner self.

Around the colossal core that appeared to be his soul, countless tens of thousands of strands of light were stretched out.

“Is this... truly the deep consciousness of a living being?”

It was vastly different from the soul of a typical living being.

“Darian... what the heck are you, really?” Confused, she didn't even notice the abyssal tentacles slowly reaching out for her.

It was then.

“The end is reacting! Pull!!! Quick!!”

Along with someone's urgent shout, her consciousness was yanked upward.

“Huh?!”

She was suddenly met by a multitude of figures. She warily asked, “Who are you guys?”

“Pleased to meet you, Sister.”

That was their first greeting.

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