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Chapter 303 - The Great Expedition (5)

They burned her to ashes.

Just as Hoosler had said, Ayla had been resurrected by black magic, so she couldn’t have stood a chance against Logger and Ananada.

“That makes four.”

Henry counted as he looked down at the ashes that were left of Ayla. With her, they had killed four apostles.

“Since there were nine apostles, that means there’s five left, right?”

“Yes, as long as nothing unusual happens.”

“What an annoying bunch of bastards... Why don’t they just come at us all at once instead of showing up one by one like little rats?”

“That’s exactly what I\'m saying. Unless they’re still looking down on us, it’s about time they came at us all at once, since half of them are already dead.”

Everyone’s fighting spirit was sky-high. Some of the expedition members found it incredibly annoying having to eliminate Arthus’ apostles one by one, but it was understandable.

“Then why don’t we attack the apostles first instead of waiting for them?” proposed Henry.

“Pardon?”

“What?”

The others were clearly irritated, but they hadn’t expected Henry to come up with a solution so easily. Thus, everyone that had expressed their frustrations, including McDowell, were taken aback.

Seeing their expressions, Henry explained, “You guys are right. Before her fight with Allen, Ayla declared to be among the three strongest apostles. So given that we were just as strong as her, I think it’s actually possible to eliminate all the apostles at once, don’t you think?”

As expected of a competent and determined leader, Henry had taken his allies’ complaints as valuable opinions, and he quickly came up with a possible solution based on them.

They quickly reached a conclusion, everyone agreeing with Henry.

“I agree with you on that. If we have to kill them anyway, we might as well ambush them first,” added Balak. He was especially on board with Henry’s idea because he couldn’t wait to crush Arthus’ skull with his morning star of justice.

“Then, assuming that everyone’s on board, let’s begin searching for the apostles.”

“U-um, wait!”

“Huh?”

Just as Henry was about to start searching for the apostles, someone interrupted him with an awkward voice.

All eyes turned to him.

It was Kington.

“What is it, Kington?” Henry asked with an exasperated sigh.

Kington was one of the few members of the team that Henry didn’t address formally. After all, he was the lowest-ranking and least trusted member of the expedition.

Seeing that Henry was visibly bothered, everyone else also frowned at Kington.

“T-that’s... Um... Actually, the only reason we were able to deal with Ayla earlier was because everyone gave Sir Allen their rings, wasn’t it?”

“So?”

“I know that we’re all excited since we’ve killed half of the apostles, but wouldn’t it be safer to take them down one by one, no matter how fast we want to get this over with, Archmage?”

Even though everyone glared fiercely at him, Kington continued to say what he wanted to say until the end.

Given his character, his opinion wasn’t surprising.

“You’re right. You do have a point,” said Henry.

“Th-that’s right! Also, we’re not fighting this war to overthrow a kingdom, but to kill Arthus, so all the more reason to be cautious in our hunt!”

After Henry agreed with him, Kington gained courage and argued his case with more confidence.

However, as he finished his words, everyone else burst into laughter.

‘Why is everyone laughing?’

In the grand scheme of things, Kington’s argument was reasonable, but the fact that everyone was laughing at him meant that there was something else he didn’t know about.

“Kington, you were able to stay at Monsieur thanks to Ronan, right?” asked Henry.

“That’s right.”

“But regardless of that, you were chosen to be a part of this expedition team because of your swordsmanship, right?”

“That’s right.”

“On that note, there are some things you don’t know about. You joined our expedition in our final meeting before the departure, and since you’d lost everyone’s trust, we didn’t give you all the information back then.”

“Okay? Then...”

“So what you’re currently worried about has already been discussed in the preliminary meetings. However, we’ve become confident in our abilities through the few battles we’ve had so far, and we’re just trying to use our skills through a new tactic.”

Kington’s face quickly flushed red at Henry’s explanation, and he barely managed to reply as his voice crawled back in.

“...I see.”

Henry smirked and continued, “So I hope that dispels your concerns. Can I assume that you don\'t have any more questions and start searching for the apostles then?”

“O-of course, Commander.”

“Great. Then could you take a few steps back as I start searching for them?”

Kington’s face was bright red; he had to feel terribly embarrassed after being ridiculed like that. Worst of all, no one comforted him.

‘He’s brought this upon himself.’

Henry didn\'t think much of it either. He immediately summoned Skall after urging Kington to step back.

He would use Skall to search for the apostles that were still in hiding.

- You called me to look for the apostles, right?”

“As expected, you’re up to date.”

- Of course, since I’m watching everything happen from the other world.

“If you know, then get to work. I’ll pay you later.”

- Fine.

Given that Henry had reached the 8th-Circle just like he had in his previous life, Skall no longer pressed him for payment. After all, an 8th-Circle wizard was the most credible client he could have.

Skall activated his skills, and a large map appeared in front of the team. He then skillfully marked the route Henry had in mind on the map, and on that route, the locations of the apostles Arthus had spread out were revealed one by one.

After confirming the apostles’ locations, McDowell said, “Arthus has really planted them in every corner...”

Just as they had expected, Arthus had spread out his lackeys throughout every corner of their route to Lizark Hill, having them act as gatekeepers.

“Staying spread out like that means they’re looking down on us. They’re all a bunch of arrogant bastards, just like Arthus,” complained Von.

“Well, it’s good that we now know where they are, but it’s going to be difficult to attack them all at once given how far away they are from each other.”

“That’s right. Unless we personally invite all the apostles, they’ll be waiting for us at their assigned positions.”

“Tsk, what a hassle!”

“I guess it can’t be helped, but at least we know their locations, so we can be more at ease until we get to them.”

After confirming the location of the apostles, everyone in the team freely voiced their opinions. However, they were all irritated by the fact that they couldn’t fight all the apostles at once without drawing them out.

‘Is there really no better way to do this?’

As a wizard who valued efficiency, Henry felt disappointed that they couldn’t use the shortcut that was right in front of them, and no matter how hard he thought, he couldn’t come up with a good idea.

Therefore, everyone went back to their original plan, but just as they were about to leave, an idea suddenly flashed through Henry’s mind.

“Everyone, wait!”

Henry suddenly urged his allies to wait so that he could explain his idea. After he was finished, some of the team members cocked their heads and gave him rather skeptical replies.

“I’m not sure... Do you think that’ll work, Commander?”

“We won’t lose anything if we try, and if it doesn\'t work, we can just go back to our original plan, right?”

“...Alright. And obviously you’ll be the one to attempt it, right?”

“Of course.”

Soon, everyone agreed to Henry\'s plan, and since he was the one who had come up with it, Henry decided to do it himself.

Skall was also intrigued by Henry’s plan, so he delayed his return to the secondary world for a moment.

Mounted on Jade, Henry looked up at the sky and said, “Arthus, I’ve just explained everything to everyone, so I don’t suppose I have to repeat myself, right? What do you think? At this rate, all of your precious apostles will fall by our hands.”

Henry wasn’t looking at anything in particular. He was literally just looking into the sky as he spoke.

If he couldn’t directly call the apostles to them, he figured he could try making a direct proposal to Arthus, the one who controlled them.

“...”

Silence followed.

To everyone else, this plan sounded a bit absurd because they weren’t even sure if Arthus was watching them in the first place. Moreover, the mere idea of plainly making such a proposal to their enemy was ridiculous.

However, Henry was convinced.

Arthus had deliberately invited him to a faraway place like Lizark Hill for his own entertainment, and he had clearly placed his apostles along the way to further enhance his amusement.

In addition, given that Ayla had just been resurrected through black magic, it was clear that Arthus was watching the expedition team from somewhere and wanted to interfere in their movements.

The silence persisted.

There wasn’t a particular reason why Henry looked up to the sky. He didn’t know which way Arthus might be watching them from, but he figured that he might be looking down on them because of his god complex.

But as the silence grew more stifling, McDowell could no longer handle the awkwardness and told Henry, “Ahem, Commander... That was quite the idea, but I think it would be ridiculous for Arthus to pay heed to any requests from us...”

McDowell was being reasonable, but Henry decided to wait a little longer for Arthus’ reaction.

Seeing this, even the Seven Sages and the Saint couldn’t help feeling embarrassed.

But just then...

- Huh?

No matter how credible of a client Henry was, not even Skall could put up with the terrible awkwardness, so he was about to give up and return to the secondary world.

But just as he was about to leave, the dots that marked the locations of the apostles on the floating map suddenly vanished.

Shocked by this change, Skall called out to Henry.

- Henry!

Swoosh!

The moment Skall called out Henry’s name, a powerful gust of wind swept by, its sharp sound piercing everyone’s ears like an arrow.

Boom!

Something that shook the ground appeared before them, creating a thick cloud of dust.

“Wind.”

Whoosh!

Henry blew the dust away with his wind magic, revealing a set of faces that everyone instinctively recognized.

Henry smiled, for they were none other than the apostles that he and his allies so desperately wanted to face.