The Max Level Hero Has Returned!-Novel

It was strange to call a handheld fan a weapon. If anything, it was more of an everyday tool that people used to cool themselves down in hot weather. It wouldn’t be used to harm another person, not usually anyway.

This particular handheld fan was more durable than one would expect, because it had monster leather attached to a hard Orc wood skeleton.

“A fan? Are you saying that you are going to fight with a fan?” Yulis asked curiously.

Davey nodded.

“Huh… This is yet another fascinating scene.”

“Wow… How is he intending to fight with that?” Winley stared at Davey in confusion. She couldn’t understand what was going on.

The handheld fan was not heavy nor was it sharp. It wasn’t shaped like a longsword or spear either, and its durability was limited by its structure. By using it, Davey looked like he was going to be crushed by a single blow from Kathryn.

Kathryn smiled even wider. She would normally be angry during such a situation, because it could be assumed that Davey was belittling her. However, she wasn’t angry at all. This only fired up her desire to win even more.

Davey swung the fan open and shut it closed. He put one hand behind his back and tapped the fan on his chest. He said, “A handheld fan is a difficult weapon to learn in the first place.”

A lot of techniques with the handheld fan that he used were created by Davey himself. He didn’t really follow his teachers’ methods. Since he already knew how to handle mana, a method he created was the current fan-held magic he possessed.

“Well, then. I will take the first attack.”

As her smile disappeared, Kathryn Carabella put her bare hands on the ground. She stared straight at Davey from a similar position to a [Crouching Start]. At the same time, her tail started wagging like she was trying to distract Davey. In complete silence, her tail wagged like it was measuring a signal before it stopped completely. This was her attack signal, which only appeared for a split second.

Kathryn Carabella was a fighter with destructive power and lightning-fast reflexes. She was a monstrously strong beastfolk warrior with power comparable to an entire army. Although she didn’t have knuckles, her main weapon of choice was her hands. An exceptional Fist Master’s blow wasn’t something that would be weakened just because of the absence of knuckles.

The situation that soon unfolded utterly shocked the entire crowd.

* * *

“I… I should stop her…” Aeria El Lyndis mumbled anxiously. She looked pale, as if she had seen a ghost.

Kathryn Carabella, the foxy Grand Duchess, had taken on a rather famous stance. This was actually the position that gave her the nickname of ‘the Fox’. It looked strange and ridiculous at first glance, but it was an attack where she instantly charged into her opponent using powerful momentum; it was not something to be underestimated. In fact, it was so strong that many Master-level knights had been defeated before they could even react. Furthermore, it was also true that Grand Duchess Kathryn was strong enough to stand alone against an army.

“Um… Sorry, but shouldn’t we stop them?” Aeria asked Amy as she glanced at her. She couldn’t hide her anxiety about the duel at all.

Rinne, who was standing nearby, shook her head.

Yulis smiled and asked, “Shouldn’t we be worrying about Grand Duchess Kathryn rather than Sir Davey?”

“Pardon?” Aeria, who was surprised by that comment, mumbled in disbelief. “I… I know that His Highness has outstanding magic abilities. However, doesn’t magic require a long time to prepare? And they are also in close proximity, and mages must have mage-specific supporting equipment…”

Suddenly, Aeria widened her eyes when Kathryn’s tail stopped wagging.

When Aeria, who couldn’t shake off her concerns as she had seen part of Kathryn’s overpowering routine, was about to shout…

Aeria heard an explosion alongside a loud crashing sound.

“Ouch… What is…”

The crowd gasped loudly.

“Oh my…”

“What just happened…”

Kathryn was crushed to the ground, even though she had the first attack and had been in the position to charge forward at any moment. On the other hand, Davey simply fanned himself calmly.

How could Kathryn be the one on the ground? No one managed to catch what had happened. All everyone could see was the fact that Kathryn, who twitched and moved slightly, was flat on the ground.

“Oh my… What just happened…?” Yulis mumbled in surprise. He appeared to be much more shocked than usual.

Winley also could not hide her fascination and shock as she stared at the stadium. She muttered, “I couldn’t see anything. It definitely seemed like Big Brother did something, but…”

Kathryn had been mercilessly crushed into the ground, lying on the stadium floor. She slowly got up with a groan before staring at Davey with her head tilted. “I’m going in again.”

Her playfulness was nowhere to be found. She slightly crouched into a low position before moving again with a tense face. Right now, she was serious and determined not to be taken down by the same attack twice.

Then, another huge explosion took place. The crowd gaped as they saw Kathryn fly in the air and land on the ground once again. “What in the hell…”

When everyone became silent at the unbelievable sparring that took place in front of them, Kathryn suddenly rose from the rubble.

However, she was lying back on the ground before she could do anything.

68. They Were Just Unlucky, That’s All.

“Ow ow…” Kathryn quietly moaned in pain. Getting up with a frown on her face, she no longer had the initial desire to win. She muttered in bewilderment, “What… What happened…”

The outcome of the sparring session surprised everyone. Grand Duchess Kathryn Carabella was the attacker, but she was the one who ended up injured.

The Lyndis Empire was the eastern continent’s most powerful empire. They were known to have the most Swordmasters and archmages.

Kathryn Carabella was respected and acknowledged as a powerful individual among the empire’s famously powerful people. Even though she commanded no knights, soldiers, or mages, she was powerful enough to be the strongest individual in the entire empire. She usually used martial arts to fight, and it was said that she could destroy thick palace walls with a single punch. The funny thing was that her strength actually relied on her speed rather than her destructive force. Her charging speed was so strong and fast that most Masters could not respond when it came to one-on-one battles.

This was who Kathryn Carabella was, so her bewilderment at failing to strike Davey was understandable. After all, Davey had just stood there and not attacked her.

However, the people who had been with Davey for a long time were not all that confused. They had seen what he had done before. They actually looked like…

[Of course, I thought so.]

They all expected this.

Kathryn, still extremely shocked, simply said, “That thing you did just now… You didn’t use any mana.”

Kathryn had noticed it the moment that she had been hit, so she wanted to understand what had happened.

“You have a good eye,” Davey replied.

“It wasn’t a physical ability either. No matter how fast you are, your speed shouldn’t go completely untraceable by me.”

That would have been possible if one was considering doping, but there was no need to correct Kathryn on that.

Kathryn smiled eerily with a tense face.

Kathryn suddenly charged forward without warning, but she simply crashed into the ground again. The impact was so strong that a part of the stone floor cracked.

“Ouch…” Kathryn got up with a frown, then backed away from Davey. She stared at her hand silently.

As she was an exceptionally skilled individual, Kathryn had a vague idea of what Davey’s strange and unknown attack was. She mumbled, “It’s definitely not mana… Very fascinating.”

“It’s fascinating? Are you curious?”

“I would be lying if I said I wasn’t.”

“You can keep being curious,” Davey said calmly.

Kathryn looked dumbfounded.

Davey closed the fan with a flap before pointing the end of it at Kathryn. He said, “Since it’s meaningless to just be on the receiving end, it is my turn to attack now.”

“Haah?!”

Kathryn widened her eyes. She heard something bouncing in the air, so she threw herself to the side. At the same time, the place she initially stood at rumbled and was soon crushed.

Davey used abilities that were almost next level, so he wanted to try it out and find out the extent to which it could be used.

“I can’t defend against it because I can’t feel it…”

That was no surprise. Whether it was devil mana, holy power, or just regular mana, all the forces that existed in the world could be sensed upon their release. Even when it was weak, even the most secretive dark magic left a trace at the moment it was cast. However, what if the power was not from this part of the world? That was the kind of power within the handheld fan.

The power accumulated within Davey’s soul. This type of power was only given to humans who had a deep gray soul color. It was daoist magic.

Kathryn stared at Davey with a solemn face before taking a breath. She said, “This is far more than I expected… It seems like I was being rude, Your Highness.”

“Please come at me with all that you have, and don’t mind the people here.”

At the same time, red mana flowed out from Kathryn like a waterfall. She had been hiding her true power during the sparring session, but she was no longer doing that. She now knew that Davey was far more powerful than she had expected.

“W—Wait! Kathryn!!”

The person who was the first to notice the change was none other than Aeria El Lyndis, the Lyndis Empire’s youngest princess.

“Stop it! Kathryn! That is too much to be used in sparring!”

Ignoring Aeria’s urgent shouts, Kathryn just stared at Davey with shining red eyes. Her tail was high up.

“I… I have to stop…!”

Abandoning her usual timid and careful personality, Aeria stood up urgently and tried running into the stadium.

However, Davey pointed toward Aeria with his folded fan and stopped her even before she could move.