The Max Level Hero Has Returned!

Chapter 888

“Grrr!!”

Crash!! Splatter!!

A beast needed instincts to function.

The instinct to hunt for the sustenance needed for survival.

There were other instincts, such as sensing danger and fleeing, but the strongest instinct for Behemoth was the drive to devour.

Crunch!! Crack!!

[Behemoth!! Stop! You’ve gone too far!]

This was something Megalodria had often said in the past. Behemoth only ever let go of its victims when Megalodria—a being not quite of the same kin, but close enough to be regarded as such—restrained it.

Brutal, savage, and with an unparalleled ferocity, Behemoth was a living tyrant, an embodiment of the God of Calamity.

And yet, it had bowed its head to humans—what it believed to be lesser beings, with the exception of Shane.

Grrrrr...

And so, it was only natural for him to have built up a fury that defied imagination. He seethed with rage, wanting to tear the human in front of him apart and then annihilate all of humankind next.

For Behemoth, rage was what fuelled its strength.

The fiery anger boiling inside it began to erode its rationality.

As it had always done, it planned to kill. It was going to get rid of the human in its way and rip apart the one dressed in white.

Just when its chilling, oppressive presence was about to erupt from within, something fleeting crossed its shallow memory.

[Hummm]

A beautiful, melodic voice.

The memory of awakening to a song, so clear and vivid, even through water.

“Grrk!”

Behemoth faltered for a moment.

“Ahhh!!!”

The lone surviving researcher screamed, writhing desperately. In response, Behemoth charged at Davey, ramming him aside with its massive body.

Thud!!

It then grabbed the researcher by the throat and slammed him against the wall.

“Gaaa!!”

“I warned you.”

“...”

“I said I’d tear you apart.”

“Heh... If you kill me, she dies too,” the researcher said with a grin.

“Where is she? Tell me where So-Ya is.”

“Why would I tell you that?”

“I can leave you here in a state where you’ll never live or die.”

Even as his life ebbed away, the researcher chuckled darkly. He then looked at Behemoth with a gaze full of mockery.

“You want to know? Fine, I’ll tell you.”

His smile grew twisted as he spoke hatefully.

“She’s already dead.” n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“What?”

“Kehee... Kehehehe!! Why are you surprised? You monster. I’ll say it again—she’s dead. Brutally, too. Do you know why? Because no one in this world has time to show mercy to a filthy monster like you.”

Behemoth’s vertical pupils began to burn with a terrifying crimson light, flickering like flames.

“Speak one more word, and it will be your last, insignificant creature.”

Its voice began to lose its human form, twisting and distorting grotesquely. Extreme rage and something invisible started to warp and contort it.

“Cough!! Haha... What’s the matter? Why are you angry?”

[What?]

“A brainless beast trying to mimic humans, is that really all you’ve got? How pathetic,” the researcher taunted.

In response, Behemoth reached out.

Squelch!

It tore the man’s arm off.

“Aaaahhhh!!”

The man collapsed, screaming in agony, but he didn’t stop laughing between screams.

“Look over there.”

Behemoth shifted its gaze. It saw hard drives and documents scattered across the floor, presumably containing various data.

“I received them a few days ago. Go ahead, check out the little gift I left you.”

[Don’t mock me!! Just moments ago I was...!]

“Ah, you foolish fish. It was obviously fabricated footage.”

Behemoth narrowed its vertically-slit pupils further, blazing with fury.

“Haha. So a beast bastard can feel shaken too. How amusing.”

[Silence!!]

Splat!! Crack!!

[RAAARGH!!]

Behemoth roared ferociously and began ripping the man’s body apart.

“Hahaha! Yes! Do it! Kill me! Tear me apart!”

Despite its body being that of a young boy, Behemoth effortlessly shredded the researcher’s fragile human body like the snapping of twigs. Even as he was grotesquely taken apart, the man maintained his twisted grin.

The boy’s ragged breaths were clearly audible, as if tearing the researcher apart was nowhere near enough to satisfy its boiling rage.

“You done?” Davey interrupted the moment, and Behemoth turned to him with a chilling gaze.

He could see the pure hatred in its eyes—a hatred aimed toward humans.

[Humans...]

It had its gaze fixed on Davey and growled with a distorted voice. Davey simply clicked his tongue.

“Leave it be.”

[...]

Davey shrugged as he explained there was no need to get tangled in the schemes of a dying man.

“How the hell did this all happen so quickly?”

Beep!

Then—

A mechanical sound abruptly echoed out as a display powered on and began playing a video. The footage revealed the corpse of a young girl.

[Hmph?!]

Behemoth staggered, its eyes widening as it stared at the screen.

The video showed the girl’s lifeless body, ravaged with horrific injuries, being dissected by figures in green surgical gowns.

The macabre scene was nothing short of gruesome.

Her tail, once covered with scales, was torn and bloodied with patches of dried clots. Her skin bore deep gashes as if harvested and ripped apart, exposing her open wounds.

One of her closed eyes had already been removed; there was an empty socket stitched shut. Despite her youthful appearance, her body was cold and lifeless.

“Why did that turn on?”

Davey muttered under his breath as Behemoth stumbled toward the display and reached out toward it with a trembling hand.

[...]

Its eyes shook violently, a storm of emotions stirring within.

Behemoth was a creature notorious for its poor memory. Yet, for some reason, fragments of memories began to surface with unusual clarity. He couldn’t understand what was happening to him.

[Why are you here alone?]

[Would you like to talk? I’m alone in this world, too.]

[My species are all gone. All we ever did was bless the waters of this world, but...]

[Protector, I’m back! Do you know what this is? It’s a pearl—and it’s 100 years old! Isn’t it pretty?]

It remembered the conversations it had with her.

[The human world is so fascinating.]

[There’s nothing fascinating about it.]

[Oh? You finally responded! Hello, Guardian!]

[Ah... Ahhh...]

Behemoth knelt as it looked down at its trembling hands. Its crimson eyes darkened further, and a storm of murderousness began to form around its entire body.

[Humans... are as foolish as ever, So-Ya.]

Behemoth whispered the girl’s name over and over, grinding its teeth in rage.

It had been a being that lived purely by instinct, one indifferent to bonds or emotions. Yet, the Behemoth now was consumed by an intense mix of fury and sorrow.

“I wonder what she is to him,” Davey murmured, but Behemoth didn’t give a response.

Instead, it amplified its power. Once it gathered enough power, the world around it fell eerily silent and its body swayed.

[I heard you protected my home. Even though you pretended not to care, you helped me.]

[Can I call you Protector? My name is So-Ya. After all my kin were killed, I’m the last of my kind. Hehe, we’re alike, you and I. I’ll be sure to visit often. Since you’ll be here recovering, let’s keep each other company in the meantime.]

At first, she had been nothing more than an annoying pest. Her fate had meant nothing to Behemoth. But now, as it regained its senses, it found itself consumed by rage and despair over the mermaid So-Ya’s death.

It wondered how a tiny, insignificant creature like her could make it feel this way.

It knew it wasn’t just loyalty to a companion whom it had talked to a couple of times. It was fury that stemmed from a deeper impulse.

It couldn’t figure out why it was so enraged, why it had such visceral hatred for the humans who had killed her.

Even the promise it’d made to Shane—to never recklessly harm humans—seemed trivial in comparison to its overwhelming wrath.

Memories flashed by rapidly, overlapping.

But despite its effort to recall more of the mermaid So-Ya, her face remained elusive, blurred like a faceless ghost in his mind.

Each fragment of memory brought a wave of anger. The undirected rage, grief, and sorrow—all of it was poured toward humans.

Its eyes began to glow with a piercing, icy blue light.

[I swear, I will eradicate humanity with my own hands!]

Behemoth roared, its entire body engulfed in light. It was starting the process of returning to its true form.

Davey reached out the moment he realized it. He let out a massive force, sealing and suppressing its manifestation.

The struggle between their immense powers took place in an instant. Behemoth gazed furiously at Davey for his interruption.

It remembered the being before him was also human. There would be no exception made for him.

Behemoth growled low, unleashing an even greater torrent of power. Its form began to shift, growing larger and more monstrous with each passing second.

* * *

Given the depth of six hundred meters, the shattering of the facility’s walls would mean everything inside inevitably being swept away and destroyed by the rushing water.

As Behemoth shattered Altair’s barrier, an immense amount of water indeed began flooding the facility. But a brilliant light spread outward moments later, halting the incoming water. The brilliant light managed to repel and reverse the flow bit by bit, sending it back where it came from.

Time Spirit Altair had stubbornly intervened after realizing its barrier had been broken by the pressure.

The spectacle of the water freezing mid-surge before then retreating was breathtaking.

Crackle!!!

[I will tear everything apart!]

The roar was earth-shattering.

But for all its ferocity, Davey thought it sounded more like the wail of someone grieving.

Behemoth was infamous for only communicating with its contractor Shane. For a creature driven purely by instinct, forming any further bonds was inconceivable.

Yet, the impossible had evidently become a reality.

It had encountered an extremely rare species—a mermaid from legends. And now, it was driven to extreme rage and despair over that single being. It screamed and wailed sorrowfully, trying to destroy everything in its path.

Behemoth was a colossal being. If it were to fully manifest its true form, the entire undersea facility would be obliterated. In turn, Davey’s plan to leisurely collect information would be ruined.

Davey urgently began to channel qi.

“Behemoth! Stop now, before you regret it.”

[Silence!! What do you know? Who are you to command me?!]

He realized that he could no longer persuade Behemoth with words. Its overwhelming sorrow and fury had entirely consumed any semblance of its rationality.

Although Davey had stopped it from fully manifesting, portions of its original form had managed to complete the process. Its original beard of tentacles sprouted from its back, and its body began to grow larger.

“Think, you fool! You need information before you can get revenge! Who’s going to take responsibility if all the clues are destroyed?!”

[RAAARGHHH!!!]

Davey knew he was left with only one option: suppression by force. He couldn’t care less about things like controlling his strength or whatever; he was going to do whatever it took to stop Behemoth’s destructive rampage.

Davey held seven pristine talismans made of white paper between two fingers. With a sweeping motion, he released them in a flash. The talismans lit up one by one, transforming and merging into an enormous tai chi symbol in the air.

Boom!!!

[Advanced Sorcery]

[Descent of the Ghost God]

[Grand General of Heaven]

A massive figure began to rise behind Davey, its hunched form clad in ancient armor slowly straightening.

It was the Ghost God, Grand General of Heaven, emitting a deep indigo light.

This was a higher level of ability, beyond 1st grade sorcery, and its strength was said to shake the heavens and earth.

As Behemoth continued its rampage to destroy the entire facility, the towering figure raised its enormous axe, ready to strike.

Davey figured even a slight glance at the shimmering axe meant Behemoth would surely realize it couldn’t ignore the attack.

The Grand General of Heaven letting out a sheer majesty as it rose to its full height, making for a jaw-dropping scene.

The situation had reached a critical point.

Regardless of whichever side prevailed, the undersea facility wouldn’t be able to endure. It was a tragic irony that the dying researcher had triggered a domino effect creating such a catastrophe.

The Grand General of Heaven flared its crimson eyes as it followed Davey’s command and began its swing.

Woom... Woom... Woom!

Suddenly, a communication crystal in his robe began to vibrate wildly. He couldn’t think of a worse time to be getting a call.

“Who calls during a manifestation? How rude.”

Davey activated the crystal with irritation. A beam of light emerged, forming a familiar figure.

- Davey!! Guess what we found?

Illyna’s excited voice rang out, making Davey sigh deeply.

“I’m busy. Tell me later—”

- We found a mermaid! A real-life princess mermaid, like straight out of a fairy tale!

Her shout echoed through the room, loud and clear. In that instant, both Behemoth and the Grand General of Heaven froze in place right on the verge of clashing.

The massive, navy-colored Grand General of Heaven froze mid-swing. Behemoth, halfway through its manifestation with tentacles outstretched ready to coil around the general, also came to a halt.

“Hold up! Time out!” Davey shouted across the room.