The Max Level Hero Has Returned!-Chapter 1292

Evangeline had contemplated participating when the news of war reached her. After all, she had a dark history of running away from home as a child, claiming she wanted to become a hero.

Though it was true that she'd gained Swordmaster-level enlightenment through that experience, thinking about it now, she’d really done all kinds of ridiculous things. Still, her innate nature hadn’t changed. With such a catastrophe erupting in Tionis, and with her mother and others moving across the continent to suppress the war, she felt she had to lend her strength as well.

However, surprisingly enough, Illyna, Perserque, and even Aeria all strongly opposed her joining the war.

Their reason was rather simple, thinking she still didn’t understand how brutal war truly was. They said it was too soon for her to witness such carnage.

Yet, that was all nonsense to her. She couldn’t agree with them this time. She might be young, but she had gone through a different kind of growth compared to humans. She’d already seen plenty of blood, and the number of monsters she had killed with her sword alone was staggering.

She couldn’t understand why her mother or father wouldn’t believe in her. That’s why, despite the objections, she followed Abel there to lend a hand however she could.

She wanted to see for herself why they kept telling her to not participate.

‘Mom told me to stay out of large-scale wars like this one, especially.’

Yet, for her, war was war. No different from one another. Just like with every other conflict she had experienced, if she had the strength and there were people suffering, she was willing to step in.

Abel called out, “Sis.”

“What?”

“You’ll regret it,”Abel warned her with a grim face as they moved to where the enemy was expected to appear.

Her little brother was way too full of himself.

Evangeline stood tall and replied confidently, “Hmph. Worry about yourself! I was fighting monsters before you were even born.”

“Hmm. Don’t tell me later that I didn’t warn you.” With those words, he drew his sword.

“Hey. Is that the one Dad made for you?”

“Yeah. It’s made from the same material as your sword, Twilight. I’m not sure how he was able to get his hands on it, but it’s something you’ll never find again. He made it for me when I became a 6th Circle mage.”

“Hmm. But that's got some kind of special ability, doesn’t it?”

“Well, yeah, but your sword’s on another level altogether.”

“What? I didn’t know that!” she shouted, shocked.

“Ah. You didn’t know yet? Then let’s just pretend I never said anything.” Grinning slyly, he gave his horse a light kick. “Hyah!”

“Hey, hey! Stop right there!” Flustered, Evangeline hurried after Abel to get answers, but she didn’t have much time to question him. Instead, a loud noise rang out.

“Sis! The situation looks bad! Let’s link up with the defenders quickly!”

The two were headed to a location that lacked adequate support.

In truth, the forces of Heins Territory had achieved great success in their interventions across the continent, but there were still places that hadn’t received enough reinforcements.

Originally, the Lyndis Empire was supposed to send troops there, but a surprise attack at a midpoint had delayed their arrival. That was why Abel had come. He knew the place would be exposed to danger as a prime target.

As Evangeline was about to interrogate Abel further, a harsh stench of blood hit her nose. Her expression stiffened, and she made her horse run even faster.

Unlike the city center, the outskirts near the border were filled with black smoke rising endlessly into the sky.

“Damn it, I knew this’d happen! The situation is already really bad! Sis, go in and stir them up! I’m going big this time!”

When Abel jumped over the wall and began absorbing a massive amount of mana, Evangeline nodded and drew Twilight. She lightly leapt over the wall. As always, she got the job done. She saved people.

However, she came to a halt the moment she landed near the frontlines and cut down the nearby monsters.

“What is this?”

She understood on a logical level what war was, but the sight before her now was more brutal and harrowing than any conflict she had faced before. It wasn’t just about hunting or being hunted. It was a desperate struggle for survival.

A massive monster reached out and ripped a person apart right before her eyes. The soldiers, likely his comrades, screamed and charged at the monster, slamming their worn weapons into its body with everything they had even as their own bodies were crushed. A man, standing atop the corpse of a dead monster, swung his axe madly, only to be pierced by a stray arrow and die instantly.

It was a living hell.

Every conflict she’d experienced up to that point had been fights she led herself. It was for that reason she’d never had to witness such horror. Yet here she found dozens—hundreds—of people tangled in bloody combat with monsters, fighting with sheer desperation.

That nightmarish scene completely changed her understanding of what war meant, and planted a seed of fear in her. Even the chaos she had seen in the Holy Empire couldn’t compare. Back then, she only saw people collapse in confusion and have some white thing taken away from them.

No one had been torn apart into chunks of meat. No one had screamed and cried while fighting monsters in a desperate, savage battle.

She had arrived boldly, claiming she would swing her sword and save people. Yet now, she just stood still, frozen in shock, unable to even lift her weapon.

At that moment, Abel’s voice rang through her head as if amplified, “Sis! Snap out of it!”

“Hah!” Startled, Evangeline quickly raised her sword and slashed at a monster that looked like a mass of black hair charging at her. The creature couldn’t withstand her strength and was shredded instantly.

Grinding her teeth, Evangeline leapt into the battlefield like an evil spirit.

As if possessed, she frenziedly cut down the monsters attacking the people. She didn’t stop there—she even maintained a partial manifestation, pulling out a massive dragon’s forelimb from the air and using it to tear through everything in sight.

When Evangeline suddenly appeared, the desperate fighters looked at her with shocked eyes. Then, seemingly infused with new strength, they shouted and launched a counterattack against the monsters.

‘Stop! Don’t fight anymore.’

Desperation clouded her face.

To her, the battle wasn’t a war—it was closer to a last stand. A desperate resistance where humans, unable to bear the one-sided slaughter any longer, were throwing themselves into the fight with their lives on the line.

The fact that they gained courage and charged back thanks to her presence only meant more of them would die.

“Stop... Please stop,” Evangeline mumbled blankly, unable to bear watching people die in such horrific ways.

Then it happened.

Boom! Boom! Boom!!

Massive fireballs rained down from the direction of the fortress wall. They struck the monsters directly, colliding and exploding in bursts of flame.

Just like how sunrises slowly brightened and cleansed the world of darkness each morning, the monsters were swept away, and the few that survived resisted with desperate fury.

Evangeline coldly glared at a monster clutching her leg, then brought her sword down on it without hesitation.

Boom!! Boom boom!!

Her strikes were unusually violent, but she didn’t stop. She simply continued swinging her sword.

Boom!! Boom!!

“Aaaargh!!!”

Bang!!

Unable to contain her rage, she finally smashed the monster into a pulp. Only then did she start breathing heavily, biting her lip.

“Sis...”

The survivors didn’t cheer. Instead, silence hung heavy in the air, aside from some who clung to the bodies of the fallen, sobbing uncontrollably.

That was the result of a small kingdom with no war experience being forced to face a sudden disaster.

As Evagenline had lost control, had Abel not cleared the battlefield with wide-area magic, the casualties would’ve been far worse.

She turned her gaze to Abel, who stood beside her silently patting her back. She hadn’t even realized when he arrived next to her.

“I told you you’d regret this. War is far more horrific than you imagined,” he solemnly told her.

“This is... I mean...” Unable to find the right words, she fell silent.

Abel spoke again, laying out the harsh reality, “Everything you’ve experienced so far? Those were fights centered around you. That’s not how it is for ordinary people.”

War for ordinary humans wasn’t anything like what she had known. It was a place of raw, relentless horror.

For someone as young as Evangeline, it was the most shocking thing she had ever witnessed.

* * *

The scars of war weren’t limited to the battlefield.

“Ah! It hurts, it hurts!”

The medic beds were filled with wounded soldiers moaning in pain, their bodies scarred with horrific injuries. Many of them writhed in agony, only to meet their end with little solace.

“What... Abel, what’s happening here?”

“This is normal, Evangeline. Life’s not as clean as you think it is,” he insisted.

“Where are the priests?!”

“Sis, the number of priests the Holy Empire can dispatch is already nowhere near enough. In rural border kingdoms like this, even if they’re present, there just aren’t enough of them to go around.”

Only a few hundred monsters had attacked. Yet, before them was the brutal aftermath.

“Ah... Abel, what if you heal them with your magic?”

“I’ve tried my best, but most of these patients have wounds so severe that not even high-ranking priests can save them. Only someone like Father could save them.”

“We have to amputate the leg! Bring the painkillers!” one of the medics shouted.

“Aagh!! Just kill me already!!!” a soldier screamed in agony.

“Aah. Ah. Doctor, I can’t see... I can’t see anything!”

Evangeline stumbled at the horrifying cries from all directions, covering her mouth with one trembling hand. “Uuugh.”

It wasn’t her first time seeing something brutal, but the scene before her was on a completely different level from anything she had ever seen.

“Aah! It hurts!” A wounded man reached out, grabbing her arm and begging, “Please save me... please.”

She was distraught. “Hey! Medic! This guy needs help!”

“Just leave him... It's too late. He’s beyond our ability to save,” the combat medic spoke in resignation, his face drawn and exhausted.

Evangeline frowned sharply. “How can you say that right now?!”

Abel came up behind her, putting his hand on her shoulder. “Sis, stop. They’re doing everything they can. That kind of wound is simply incurable.”

Even so, she couldn’t just stand there and watch someone die in front of her.

“If Dad... if we bring Dad here!” she shouted, but then faltered.

She knew where Davey was, and what he was doing.

“Sis... go outside and get some air. The general in charge of this area has already been waiting to meet you, anyway.”

Evangeline looked down at the dying man with a blank expression. Her hand trembled as she placed it over his chest.

The man had been poisoned severely. Neither her power nor Abel’s could save him now.

“Aaah. It hurts... please.”

“Just hang on! I’ll do something, I’ll save—” Just as she frantically searched for a solution, his hand fell limp. “Ah. Ah!”

Only now did Evangeline truly understand just how cruel and devastating human wars could be, especially the ones she’d never seen before.

Staring in a daze at the lifeless body, she turned and rushed out of the infirmary.

Abel sighed and handed a box to a nearby medic. “Here are some recovery potions. It’s not much, but it should help.”

“Ah! Thank you so much!”

Leaving the bowing medic behind him, Abel quickly followed Evangeline.

She was hunched over in a corner alley alone. One hand braced against the wall, her head lowered.

“Sis.” He knew this would happen. Evangeline might look mature, but she was young nonetheless. She was still full of innocence and naivety in so many ways.

“Sis, are you okay?”

That was why it hurt Abel to see her like that. Sure, she needed to know the truth someday, but he wasn’t sure it really had to be now.

Maybe that was exactly why their father had excluded her from this war. Perhaps it was Abel’s fault for not stopping her.

Even if she was his older sister, she was still too young. The annoying big sister who used to smile sweetly no matter what happened—that was the Evangeline he knew in the future.

“Abel,” she called out.

“Yes?”

“So this is what it’s like? War?”

“Yes, and this is just the beginning. It’s only going to get worse. This is why soldiers returning from war often suffer from trauma.”

Evangeline quietly wiped the tears that had run down her face. “Let’s stop them.”

“What?”

“Let’s stop all of this. The war, and the bastards who started this filthy slaughter.”

The zenoen, who had emerged from the demon race.

“Let’s be the ones to stop them. That’s what we came here to do in the first place.”

Her eyes were burning with determination. Yet, reality didn’t align with her resolve.

“Sis, can you even find them?”

She was startled at the question. “What?”

“When we do meet them, can you honestly say they won’t have set a trap for us?”

“That... that’s...”

“And one more thing. If you and I leave this place to chase them, and they come back here and attack again... What then?”

War didn’t always go the way one wanted.

Faced with his piercing questions, Evangeline hesitated. She had no answer to them.

“You saw in the infirmary, how awful it all is. I want to go with you too, believe me. Yet even if I can go, you can’t. I won’t let you walk into danger.”

Normally, she would’ve snapped at him and said something about looking down on her. Instead, she couldn’t find anything to say at all.

“Come on, the general in charge here wants to meet you.” After all, she had made a huge difference in the battle. He probably wanted to thank her. “To be blunt, this war is unlike anything we’ve faced before. It’s brutal, and it’s desperate. We’re not like Father.”

Evangeline clenched her jaw and swallowed her tears.

Davey O’Rowane. Only now did she realize just how large his absence was.

Just then, her pointed ears twitched.

“Sis?”

“It’s them,” she coldly told him.

“What?”

“Those bastards. They’re nearby!”

Evangeline was good at tracking the demon race, though ever since they shed their skins to become zenoen, her ability to track them had dulled.

Yet now, she was certain that she had found them.

* * *

In truth, humans weren’t the only ones being cornered.

Even the zenoen, who had been indiscriminately unleashing hordes of monsters never before seen on the continent of Tionis, weren’t pumping them out without paying a price. They, too, were sacrificing their own kind to pursue a single objective.

“Sis, I really don’t think this is a good idea.”

“So then what, we should just let those bastards go?”

The monsters had pulled back, and though the area had entered a moment of temporary peace, fear still hung heavy in the air. No one knew when the next wave would strike.

In the midst of that tension, Evangeline and Abel quietly tailed two hooded figures from a distance.

“Weren’t you the one who said those bastards were up to something?”

“At the very least, we should contact Mother—”

“I already tried! She’s not responding. Let’s not push it, and just find out where those bastards are heading.”

“Haaah. Alright.”

At the very least, Abel thought that if she didn’t wallow in grief after seeing the horrors of the battlefield, it’d be for the better.

Soon, the two figures turned into a narrow alleyway. Evangeline and Abel followed them in silence, listening closely as the two figures spoke.

“Did you find it?”

“It’s not here. Let’s scatter a few more decoys and keep moving.”

“Damn it! We’re running out of time.”

‘They’re looking for something?’

Evangeline met Abel’s eyes, both of them suppressing their presence. They already knew those bastards were after something, and it was a rare chance to finally learn what it was.

Though it was risky, the value of the information outweighed the danger.

Evangeline quickly read Abel’s hand signals.

- They’re not that strong. The two of us can handle them. What do you want to do?

At that moment, she recalled one of her father’s core principles.

Think carefully, and move fast.

- Take them down.

Boom!!

Evangeline and Abel charged in simultaneously, each targeting one of the figures. In a flash, they had already subdued both of them, slamming and pinning them on the ground with their weapons.

“Guh?! What the—?!”

“A-Ancient dragon?! How—?!”

Boom!!

“How, huh? We followed your asses!”

Crack!!!

Evangeline delivered a brutal kick to their head, knocking her target out cold. She then grabbed the cloth Abel handed her and quickly wrapped them like burial shrouds.

“Let’s bring them ba—wait, what?” Just as she spoke, Evangeline and Abel turned in shock to see Rinne and Reina landing nearby, wings fluttering as they touched down.

“Huh? What are you two doing here?”

“Rinne reports her arrival in order to retrieve Abel and Evangeline.” Her face remained unreadable as she asked, “And what’s that?”

“Loot,” Evangeline replied.

Rinne and Reina exchanged glances.

The silence didn’t last long. Rinne calmly looked down at the sack Evangeline held, then summoned a large crowbar made of condensed particles at her fingertips.

“Rinne evaluates interrogation skills highly.”

Reina, meanwhile, cracked her fingers with a cheerful pop, smiling like a child realizing she could finally be useful.

“That’s... perfect, actually. We’ve got a whole lot we’ve been wanting to ask these guys.”

Reina put on a faint smile that had a subtle hint of madness.