The Max Level Hero Strikes Back!

ng it with their own eyes.

“Then…the spirit was…”

“Let’s leave it there.
I saw on the way here that more than half the soldiers were blown apart…” Davey’s voice trailed off.

Sullivan dodged Davey’s glance and said softly, “I am ashamed to say so, but yes.
The enemy was much stronger than we expected.”

“So you’re not complacent?

“That is!” Sullivan flinched at Davey’s question.

“I told you from the beginning, didn’t I? I told you that it was going to be chaos if you underestimated your enemy.
But you chose to ignore everything that I said and did whatever you wanted.”

“B–But there was nothing we could do about that; the people who have gathered here aren’t just any ordinary people, right? Please try to understand with a generous heart.” The alliance tried very hard to appease Davey with a kind smile.

However, Davey had to get one thing straight.
He said calmly, “Just have some faith if you can’t get a grasp of the situation.”

“Prince Davey!”

“I will give you some information that you should know about.”

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“…”

Some of the men were about to shout in protest, but Davey ignored them.
He went on, “Then, I will start with a short briefing because we do not have much time.”

“Briefing?”

“To explain the situation.” Davey then jerked his chin toward the map on the wall.
He said, “The guy is a necromancer who is at least at the 8th Circle.
Did you know that?”

Everyone began to murmur again.

“Probably not.
And it’s not like the 8th Circle is common, either.”

“Of course.
The best mage in the continent is at the 7th Circle.
Who could have thought they were at the 8th?”

“The enemy is not considerate of our situation, Sir Yulis,” Davey said.

Yulis smiled bitterly.

“But why are you mentioning that now…? The reason you are saying that is…”

“I am just saying that you should keep it in mind.
Let’s move on.
This is related to what we have to do now.” Davey then pointed to the eight fortresses that had already been taken over.
He asked, “Necromancer Lich overdid himself to take these eight fortresses.
Do you know why?”

“He is playing a game of war…”

“You’re wrong.
If he wanted to keep playing this game of war, he would not have pushed through this foolishly.
He would have carefully tested the waters and given us false hope.”

The man who cautiously opened his mouth lowered his head.

“For some unknown reason, he has lost his composure.
As a result, he went out of his way to capture all eight fortresses.”

“Why…do you think he did that?”

“The life vessels.
It is the source of life and power to Liches.
You know something about them, don’t you, Prince Sullivan?”

Davey smiled at Prince Sullivan, who avoided his gaze but nodded.
Sullivan said with a sigh, “Sigh… Yes.
There are great magic stones at each fortress that serve as protection.
I never imagined that they would be their life vessels…”

“People often imagine the life vessels to be a heart made up of muscles, so your misunderstanding is not surprising.”

“Then why are you telling us this?” Illyna asked Davey in a formal manner, since this was a public meeting.

“What this means is that we are going to have to kill him seven more times if we want to end this endless slaughter.”

“Kill him…seven times?”

Davey nodded at those who stared at him in confusion.
He said firmly, “Yes, exactly seven times.
We do not have much time.”

“Why seven times? If what you previously said is true, it should have eight life vessels.”

“Yes, seven times,” Davey said calmly and flicked one of the fortress models.
“Because one just died in my hands.”

“Hup?!” Everyone stared at Davey in shock.

“How is the preparation for going into battle coming along?”

“We have enough supplies, but…the soldiers’ morale is unbelievably low.
It’s gotten a little better now that you are here, but…”

“Please gather all of them.
We will go into battle as soon as their morale is boosted.”

‘Telling people white lies is one of my specialties.’

Was logic necessary in raising an army’s morale in a war? No, the only thing needed was empathy and mob mentality.

Walking out of the tent, Davey mumbled into the air, “Jack, go gather some reliable people whom I can use as wingmen.”

Laying out the groundwork was essential.

* * *

Why did captains give speeches to their soldiers before going off to war? Morale was the one thing that affected soldiers the most and affected them the quickest.

Davey had been using the aspect of morale to his advantage.
The effects of the buff magic cast by holy magic were amplified by the strength of the recipients’ determination and faith.
This was also why Davey had gathered his soldiers to give them speeches.

For this war, countless soldiers were involved and the combined force was incomparably larger than what Davey had seen before.
For the buff magic to continuously be running for at least everyone in the frontlines, Davey had no choice but to increase the efficiency as much as he could.

Standing on the headquarters’ wall, Davey took a step forward as he looked down at the fifty thousand soldiers who were lined up outside.
He said calmly, “At first, the army had a hundred thousand.
We kept losing people, and now, only forty to fifty thousand of you can still fight.
I understand you have gone through a lot.
Are you afraid?”

His voice definitely reached everyone.

“I am going to be honest.
That guy is a catastrophic monster at the 8th Circle.
There is a high chance that he has a few more of the flying dragons that attacked the fortress a little while ago.”

“…”

If it was going to lower their morale whether Davey liked it or not, he was going to try and use it to his advantage.
Instead of anger and futility, he was going to instill morale and unity.

Hearing their silence, Davey added, “A little while ago, the Lich, the enemy we have to slaughter, has infiltrated this city by using the Wyrm Wyvern as bait.”

Surprised voices started to ring out.
All fifty thousand men began to murmur, their voices becoming as loud as a market.

“Everyone shut up.”

The crowd went completely silent when Davey harshly criticized them.
He said, “I am not the leader or Chief of Staff of the alliance, so I am in no position to lecture you or anything.”

“…”

“However, I will make one thing clear.
Saintess candidate Alice who was leading you and fighting against the enemy had noticed and attacked the person who infiltrated the fortress, but she lost.” Davey continued as the soldiers remained quiet, “And she has been kidnapped by him.”

The Saintess candidate had fought with her life to protect the army but lost, and was now kidnapped by the enemy.
It was quite a familiar scenario.
It was true that public opinion about Alice was negative, but it was something that Davey could use in a way.

Was public opinion about Alice going to become better if she returned alive? No way.
Once the war came to an end, the Saintess candidate named Alice would already be dead.
It wasn’t going to be difficult to promote a dead person to the highest rank and give them a crown.

“Are you going to just take it lying down? When we have a way to win?”

‘I will use you to boost morale.’

“Pack your bags if you are afraid; I won’t stop you.
But stay here if you want to win.
Who is the person standing in front of you?”

“You are the Saint!”

“The Saint!”

Some people shouted.

‘Mm, yeah.’

Right away, Davey thought that it was a good idea that he had planted a few wingmen in the crowd.

Once the first person started to scream, everyone else quickly joined in.
Davey then stopped the crowd from shouting any more and said, “Yes, you will experience a different war than what you have seen before.
You are welcome to stay if you want to come back alive.”

It was going to be impossible for everyone to come back alive, but it was better for them to die while fighting.

Then, Davey pulled out Longinus, the divine sword that was in the shape of a cross.
He held it up high like he was waiting for something.
Then, a bright light flowed out of the weapon and began embracing the soldiers who stood at the frontlines.