The Max Level Hero Has Returned!

The description “truly pitiful” seemed perfectly apt for the situation.

Despite the ocean being its natural domain, not even Behemoth could withstand the brutal group beatdown. The others beat the living daylights out of it.

[Oh no! My hand slipped! My apologies!]

[Oops! My teeth felt itchy, so I just couldn’t help myself!]

[Die, Contractor!]

‘Hey, I’m your Contractor, you fools.’

Even when Behemoth tried to resist by leveraging its massive size, the two Mythical Beast Kings didn’t let it off so easily. The three had comparable powers, but with the addition of divine beasts and Spirit Kings, Behemoth had no chance.

From Behemoth's perspective, the situation was sufficient to drive it up the wall. As a creature that had spent its life at the top of the food chain, reigning as an absolute monarch, what it was experiencing was a humiliating and unmanageable crisis.

Even as a creature driven by animalistic instincts, it understood the severity of the situation—or perhaps it was precisely those instincts that gave it such an acute grasp on the implications.

"Don’t let it get away. Grind it down to nothing,” Davey commanded.

He extended his hand toward the mutated sea creatures that had evolved under its influence.

Across the islands Earth Spirit King Gnoass had raised, massive tentacles sprouted, stretching easily tens of meters long. The squid legs tried to help their king, Behemoth.

Of course, no matter how much they had evolved, they were mere beasts and couldn’t get in the way of the Mythical Beast Kings. Still, there were a lot of them obstructing Davey’s helpers.

Accompanied by terrifying storm sounds, he cut down the artificially evolved sea creatures in an instant, dyeing the blue ocean red. Although the blood was quickly swept away by the waves Behemoth created in its struggle, the tide of beasts kept coming.

"It seems it’s been hiding here for quite a while," Davey observed.

"How can you tell?" asked Kouna, puzzled.

"Behemoth’s evolution isn’t forced; it’s more like offering a new path for growth. It provides stimulus and power to lifeforms that couldn’t otherwise evolve on their own," Davey explained.

"Then…"

"Naturally, this means it takes a lot of time.”

The monsters that had been evolving in real time within the rift couldn’t have been Behemoth’s doing. Its primitive mind wouldn’t have been able to do something so sophisticated.

Strangely, there weren’t any monsters present at all—Davey assumed Behemoth had hunted and devoured every other monster within its domain.

[Grrr! Stop! Stop it! It hurts!]

[Slash! Die, Contractor!]

[This is your retribution for treating us like mounts! Stay still!]

The two Mythical Beast Kings were taking out their frustrations on Behemoth, almost as if they had lost their minds. Kouna looked on, exhausted and exasperated.

"How much abuse have you dished out for them to act like this?" she asked.

"Abuse? You’re making things up.”

He then stepped forward, casually punching a giant shark that lunged at him, crushing its snout and ripping out one of its teeth.

"I’ll be borrowing this. It’ll grow back, anyway."

‘Well, I suppose dead sharks can’t grow back teeth.’

Shoosh! Thud!!

Without hesitation, Davey threw the tooth at Megalodria. Despite being just a small enamel tooth, it struck its head with pinpoint accuracy. It stumbled, and Behemoth managed to slap it with one of its tentacles.

Megalodria glared at Davey, its eyes filled with fury.

[I’m watching you.]

As Davey conveyed his thoughts to Megalodria, it flinched. It then angrily kicked off Shandra Minea, who was furiously gnawing at Behemoth’s slippery skin.

[Ahem! Stay still, Behemoth!]

[Y-Yeah!]

[Stop! Stop it!!]

"Finally, some teamwork."

"You’re lucky they haven’t turned their grudges on you directly,” Kouna said.

"It’s ‘cause I’m more humane than their last master was."

[Stop! Enough!]

The battered, colossal blue whale that was Behemoth roared, its powerful voice echoing across the sea and prompting everyone to pause. It stared at Davey as it panted heavily. It was now covered in scars thanks to the two Mythical Beast Kings, but it still had an intensely combative glint in its eyes—true to its primal instincts.

With most of its body submerged, it left only its eyes above the surface and posed a question to Davey.

[You… Who are you?]

"This is our first time meeting each other, isn’t it? I’m Davey O’Rowane, the successor to Shane’s role as a Mythical Beast Summoner.”

Behemoth instantly began to tremble.

[Shane! Is Shane alive?!]

"No, he’s dead,” Davey said bluntly.

Behemoth fell silent at his answer.

The Behemoth that Davey knew was reckless and fiercely combative—a crazy Mythical Beast King. However, he didn’t feel any aggression from it at that moment; instead, he felt a deep sense of longing and sorrow.

"You attacked first, so let’s not bother splitting hairs over who’s to blame. But I do have a question."

[Splitting hairs? Hmph! Humans are so foolish. The word ‘blame’ isn’t supposed to be used like that! It’s for making apologies!]

"Pfft…" Kouna covered her mouth to stifle a laugh.

"That thing’s as stupid as one can be,” he muttered.

She nodded silently in agreement.

"Fine. But I want to ask you: weren’t you, like those two, encroached by Urd?”

[Urd…]

Behemoth wondered to itself, seemingly deep in thought.

[Who is that?]

"…”

[Contractor, the only humans this fool remembers are its enemies and Shane.]

"Yeah, I figured that’d be the case, but I wasn’t expecting this kind of response. Then I guess there’s no use in asking about encroachment.”

Davey couldn’t feel the power of Urd’s encroachment from Behemoth. But even if there was still some remaining, it didn’t matter much now. Urd could no longer open her eyes so removing the remnants of her encroachment had become a manageable task.

“Alright, let me ask a different question. At the very least, you won’t say you’re clueless about what has happened here, right?”n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

No matter how mindless and simple Behemoth seemed, it was impossible for it to remain unaware of how its power was being used—especially when its power led to a breaking of taboo.

“You. What exactly are you doing in this place?”

Behemoth remained silent at his question.

“Do you realize that your power has broken a taboo?”

[I… I don’t know what you’re talking about!]

“You do know. Stop lying. Whether or not you’re directly responsible, the whole situation is a mess. If you refuse to cooperate, I’ll have to teach you a lesson.”

[Do not try to lecture me!]

“Not a lecture—it’s a lesson, you bastard! How about you just get a beating?!”

Boom!!

[Calm down, Contractor! If you hit them again, they’ll die!]

[You madman! You should’ve known when to hold back!]

[GAAA!!!]

Davey managed to regain composure and look at Behemoth, thanks to Megalodria desperately stopping his assault. Perhaps sensing the threat of death from the insignificant-looking human fist, it sank deeper into the water.

“Alright. I don’t like repeating myself, Behemoth.”

[…]

“Tell me why you’re here. Why are you cooperating with humans to do these things? You better tell me everything.”

Behemoth hesitated. After a moment, it finally responded.

[Wait here. I’ll return, and then I’ll explain.]

Without another word, Behemoth submerged into the depths and disappeared.

Though Davey was puzzled by its departure, he stayed put and waited.

However, first ten minutes, then twenty minutes passed. Even so, there were no signs of Behemoth.

“Think he might’ve run off?” Kouna asked skeptically.

“Be patient. Give it a bit more time.”

The Spirit Kings also chimed in.

[Did it run away?]

[No way. Behemoth may be the dumbest one, but it’s also the most courageous, which makes it honest as well. Presuming that it remembers what it said, it won’t break its word. It wouldn’t make sense for it to run away right now.]

Davey and the two Mythical Beast Kings knew that Behemoth would return. Still, as thirty minutes stretched into an hour, patience began to wear thin.

“Megalodria,” Davey called out.

[What is it, Contractor?]

“Whale meat’s pretty rare, huh?”

[Indeed.]

“Let’s catch one today.”

Gripping his divine spear, Davey prepared to leap into the water. However, Kouna stopped him before he could dive.

“How dare that bastard run away?”

Against all odds, the notoriously aggressive Behemoth—the Mythical Beast King who never fled under any circumstances—had done the unthinkable: it had run away.

[Calm yourself. Surely you have some means to track it down, right?]

“It’s fleeing fast, heading that way…”

Everyone turned to Davey as he muttered.

[Behemoth fleeing… This is unprecedented.]

“It doesn’t make sense,” Davey admitted. “Still, let’s go after it—slowly.”

Even with time, one’s nature didn’t change.

Yet against all odds, Behemoth had defied its nature.

* * *

Far beneath the waves, a predator confidently swam through the currents, feasting on smaller fish that crossed its path.

It was contemplating what to hunt for the day. As the strong, it had the luxury of choice. The weak did not.

In accordance with the law of nature, the large predator chased down smaller fish in a boastful manner.

Everything it pursued seemed to flee even more frantically than usual. Tiny schools of anchovies, mid-sized fish—everything in the water darted away with unusual urgency.

The predator swelled with pride, thinking that it must’ve grown stronger. Emboldened by this instinctual confidence, it went after a large fleeing whale. However, no matter how hard it pressed, the whale was solely focused on escaping. As it swam fiercely toward the whale in an attempt to block its path and bite it to death—

A low, ominous hum suddenly filled the water. The shark turned its body and froze on the spot.

It saw something of unimaginable size. An overwhelming presence.

The ocean behind the shark trembled as something massive, previously hidden in the depths, began to approach.

The sheer magnitude of the approaching entity sent waves rippling through the water. The shark, caught in the colossal current, was flung to the side. Even as its body was practically shattered and it slowly died, it locked its gaze on the enormous being.

The absolute being seemed incapable of feeling fear, but the shark couldn’t help wondering why it appeared as though it was fleeing.

The massive figure made its way across the ocean, eventually arriving at a deep-sea facility hidden in the undersea. Of course, no matter how vast the structure, it was clearly insufficient to house Behemoth’s immense size. Yet, seemingly unconcerned, it circled the facility before becoming enveloped in a radiant light.

As the light subsided, Behemoth's enormous body began to shrink, gradually reducing in size until it was no larger than a baby whale.

Boom!!

Entering the facility through a lower hatch, Behemoth was greeted by opening doors. As it resurfaced, figures clad in pristine white lab coats—individuals of various nationalities—gathered around.

“Where have you been, Behemoth?” one of them asked.

[None of your business.]

Its cold retort made several researchers frown slightly.

“Aren’t you aware that seven experiments have already been delayed?” another pressed.

[Shut it, pathetic human.]

The frigid aura Behemoth released was a clear indication of how bad it was feeling. The energy would normally make any ordinary creature quake with fear.

However—

Clack… Thwack!!

[…]

Without hesitation, one of the researchers grabbed a rifle from nearby and shot it in the head.

Boom!!

[Grrr!!!]

Behemoth let out a furious growl as though it was going to pounce on them at any moment. Yet, despite being startled by the surprise growl and falling down, the researcher refused to back down.

“Hah... Haha... Are you going to rip me apart?”

[Tch.]

“Go ahead, then. But if you do, everything you’ve worked for will crumble to dust.”

[The moment that happens, I will destroy humanity. Not a single living being will be left on this planet!]

Behemoth’s threat only made the researchers laugh.

“As long as we have her, you’ll never be able to defy us,” one sneered, stepping closer with a cold glare. “Know your place, you animal.”

[…]

“Now, if you understand, transform and follow me. We have experiments to complete.”

Behemoth fell silent, light enveloping it once more. When the glow faded, its body turned to that of a young boy in his mid-teens with sky-blue hair. Slender tendrils wriggled from his back. They sharply pointed at the researchers for a bit, but he eventually retracted them completely.

“Good. Just behave like you should have from the start.”

“I want to check on her, to make sure everything is fine.”

The researchers shrugged and pulled out a tablet, holding it up to it.

“Here. How’s this?”

On the screen, it saw a massive water tank containing a girl with a melancholic expression. Her beauty was striking, but it was clear that she wasn’t human. From her waist down, she had the shimmering tail of a mermaid.

“You…”

[Protector? Protector, is that you?!]

“...”

[You’re safe! Oh, Protector!]

As the girl shouted desperately, Behemoth coldly glared at the researchers.

“You better keep your promise—once you get what you want, you’ll set her free.”

“Fine. But don’t even think about acting out. If you show any signs of rebellion, we’ll release a deadly toxin into that tank. Her skin will blister and melt, and she’ll die screaming in agony. Or maybe we’ll toss her into a pit of ravenous predators instead.”

“Watch your mouth… you insignificant creature.”

It ground its teeth together, fists trembling in rage.

“Alright then, follow me,” a researcher ordered.

Lower-ranking researchers approached, securing heavy restraints around its wrists. The restraints were made of its original form’s flesh.

Glancing back in the direction they had come from, Behemoth clenched its teeth hard enough to draw blood.

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