The Max Level Hero Strikes Back!

ck of talent could be made up by the stigmata anyways; the quality and amount of holy power didn’t matter to a Saintess candidate in the first place.

“Oh! Prince Daveyyy!” Lena, the young Saintess candidate, spotted Davey and ran toward him.
She dragged the ends of her words.

Davey smiled.
“Were there any problems?”

“Did you see that just now?! Huge pillars of light just fell from the sky!”

“Oh, that.”

“Yes! The holy power was so concentrated that it gave me goosebumps! Do you think God descended down here?!”

As Davey avoided her glance, Lena persistently tried to meet his gaze.
“Did…you do it, Prince Davey?”

“I thought the army would be taken over if I did nothing,” Davey answered with a bitter smile.

Lena clapped her hands like she was delighted.
“Oh my… Are you Goddess Freyjaaa?”

Davey put his hand on Lena’s head as she had asked a weird question.
He asked, “Do I look like a woman to you, Saintess candidate Lena?”

“Hm… Without your sharp eyes…’

Davey chuckled at Lena’s weird response.

* * *

The alliance had successfully defended the headquarters.
Although the Undead had charged in fearlessly, Grell Orphan, the Elder Lich, had retreated upon realizing that there was no benefit to continue fighting.
They had been bombarded with attacks, after all.

Now that the alliance could take a breather, another topic was brought to their attention: it was the discussion of competence.

Saintess candidate Alice had sacrificed many men trying to fight the war efficiently.
Of course, sacrifices were bound to happen as their opponent was the Undead.
However, Davey had shown everyone the most unrealistic and miraculous outcome, and his help had been rejected by Alice from the beginning.
This caused people to wonder that maybe the war could have come to an end with far less casualties and damages if Davey had fought in the first place.

The origin of the rumor?

“Good work, Aina.”

“Please call me Jack,” Jack–no, Aina Helishana, mumbled calmly.
She sounded slightly dissatisfied.

Thanks to the secret plan, Alice’s position was weakening by the minute, and people even began shouting to resign her from her position.
They felt that she viewed human lives as nothing more than a fly’s.

“I will not fight like this anymore.
I tolerated this because I had no reason to intervene in the battle of pride between the two, but I have no intention of sacrificing my soldiers because of the Saintess candidate’s stubbornness.” One of the older male knights of a middle-sized kingdom showed his dissatisfaction.

However, that was not it.

“Well, good.
Same thing for the Lyndis Empire as well.”

Grand Duchess Kathryn, who had defended one side with a near-perfect tactic, also said the same thing.
Her suggestion was a straightforward one, considering that she had stayed silent until now.

It truly only took moments for Alice to lose her power as she had created conflict with a lot of people.

Alice, who was sitting silently while staring into space, could not say anything.
She remained quiet even while facing the alliance commanders’ strong backlash.
The only ally she might have had was Prince Sullivan from the Pallan Empire, but even he did not help her this time.
Perhaps he was angry at how Alice’s orders to attack had gone too far.

“Saintess candidate Alice, this is an absurd battle that started because of your pride.
Take responsibility and solve it.
Because of your pride, the soldiers of my sister and the alliance and countless innocent people have died.
I will no longer defend you.”

As Prince Sullivan nailed the last nail on her coffin, Alice just mumbled monotonously, “Eighth level… Light…”

Upon realizing the holy magic spell that Davey had used, Alice turned toward him with a blank gaze.
She looked in his direction, but her eyes were as empty as a void.

“…has abandoned me.”

With that, Alice slowly got up and approached Davey.
She said quietly, “Pri…”

“Take your apology somewhere else.”

“…”

“I did not come here to fish for praise.”

Alice remained quiet.

“I think an entertaining story has spread to the Holy Empire.
Don’t you have to go back?”

Normally, Alice would have been quite surprised by Davey’s response.
However, she simply nodded calmly.

—She doesn’t look so good.

We are bit.ly/3iBfjkV, find us on google.

‘That is none of my concern.’

Just as Davey said, Alice was the one who had chosen to play politics before getting dragged down to rock bottom.
She was the one who had messed with him first, so Davey had no reason to sympathize with her.

The Holy Empire had lost their own people as well, so there probably would be a lot of people who were going to tear Saintess candidate Alice apart and drag her down from her current position.

“I have conditions.”

Davey no longer paid attention to Alice.
He proposed two conditions.

“I will accept.
Tell me.”

“First…”

Davey gave two proposals, both of which got easy agreements.

As this was happening, Alice got ready to return to the Holy Empire per their summoning.
She stared down at the holy knights who were escorting her with eyes showing nothing but a sense of hopelessness.
Then, her gaze turned toward a black-robed giant, the one who had killed the holy knights inside the tent.

“A soul that has started to become corrupt; its corruption is so pure that its power far exceeds mine.
It is suitable to be the master of the core that my lord has left behind.”

“You are…?”

Alice should be surprised at the fact that the enemy that she should kill was inside the command center, but she simply replied monotonously.

“Follow me.
You will not receive the love of God, but I can make you similar to God.
You can kill that despicable human being, and you can reach the level of a demigod that you so yearned for.”

Alice lowered her head.
She had reached out so desperately, but God did not answer any of her prayers; God had let that demon boy take everything from her.

‘Why is this happening to me?’ 

She smirked as a realization dawned upon her.
She muttered, “I believed in the light.
I lived my life according to it.”

“…”

“But now, the light…”

Grell’s robe slipped down as he lifted his hand above Alice’s head.
His frail, bony hands were exposed.

“Has betrayed me.”

Whoosh!!

With a burst of black energy, Alice’s eyes turned black.

“You will soon become my desires.
I cannot win that demon, but my lord will come back to life from your presence.
Remember this: his name is King of the Dead Deian.
He has lived a life incomparably longer than mine, and he is the one who drove First Saintess Daphne to death.”

The Lich, who could never give up on his lord, and the Saintess candidate, who had failed to overcome the test and fell apart… It took just a moment for them to disappear from the command center.