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Chapter 318 - Apocalypse (2)

At this, Henry turned to everyone else.

“Sages, listen up!”

“Yes, Archmage!”

“Stay calm and follow the plan we laid out earlier. And everyone...!"

At his command, the knights that made eye contact with Henry quickly took out their rings from their pockets and gave them to him. As he accepted the rings, he continued in a low voice, “Please, I’m counting on you...”

As the knights knew that Henry was relying on them, they replied with a slight nod, their faces full of determination.

“We have your back, Commander!"

Warp!

With that, the knights and the Sages vanished. Henry had already briefed them on the designated areas they had to protect in case it came down to this.

‘I’m glad I’ve put everyone in charge of an area ahead of time.’

Henry had originally devised this contingency plan in case of a second apostle invasion, but he hadn’t expected Arthus to attack those areas like this.

With a flash of light, the last people who were in charge of safeguarding a specific area vanished. There were only four people left with Henry—Herarion, Saint Irenae, Hoosler, and Hector.

The four of them stayed behind with Henry because they all possessed divine power without having to rely on rings or some other means equivalent to that.

Seeing who stayed behind, Arthus said, “Only five left... Even together, you have less than me.”

Arthus was referring to their amount of divine power. Even though he was objectively right, Henry knew that assessing their power like this had become meaningless. He had reached a point of no return, facing a do-or-die situation.

Hector, sensing the urgency of the situation, was the first to act as soon as Arthus finished talking. He released his Aura and lunged at him at an incredible speed, swinging his sword fiercely.

Swoosh!

The swing of his giant sword made a terrifying sound as it cut through the air. It was hard to believe that Hector could wield such a giant sword so effortlessly.

- Die!

His sword was now inches away from Arthus, and just as the massive blade was about to cut him in half...

Clank!

A slender sword blocked his attack out of nowhere.

- You...!

“It’s been a while, you undead bastard.”

The man who had protected Arthus and withstood Hector’s formidable strength was none other than Kington.

“Kington?” Henry murmured, frowning at his unexpected appearance.

In response, Kington released his Aura fiercely and pushed Hector back.

Hector held his ground and swung his sword to disperse the dust after he got pushed back.

“Good to see you again, Henry.”

“How dare you go on the other side...! Again...!”

“Quiet!”

Henry was speaking in a feeble voice, still in shock at Kington’s arrogance and audacity. However, Kington couldn’t care less. His arrogance had increased tenfold while he had been away from the expedition team, to the point that interrupting Henry didn’t feel like such a big deal.

“I am Arthus’ loyal follower. I won’t allow you people to lay a finger on him!”

Everyone else next to Henry was also shocked by Kington’s attitude. They couldn’t believe that after everything they had been through, his despicable character hadn’t changed one bit.

However, they also figured that he was most likely acting like this because he had been taken away along with Ronan, given that his Log Stone had also pointed to Lizark Hill. They assumed that he had switched sides in order to survive.

But even though they had a good guess as to why Kington had betrayed them, they had no intention to sympathize with or understand him. After all, one would make such a choice only if they wanted to put themselves first.

Nobody in the expedition team was stupid. They would rather die than go under Arthus like Kington had.

After a long silence, Henry asked Kington, “Then... Did you do this to Ronan?”

“Yeah, I did!”

“Alright.”

That was all Henry needed to hear. Kington’s malice made it easier for him to make a decision.

Henry summoned the Wisdom in his hand and lifted it over his head. Then, dark, ominous clouds covered the sky, and a thunderbolt, as massive as an ancient tree, crashed down.

Boom!

The thunderbolt struck Kington and Arthus in an instant, engulfing them both, and Henry was already preparing his next move while this was happening. As he chanted, steel thorns erupted from the ground, piercing both of them. The thorns twisted and turned while spewing flames.

Hissing!

Lava gushed out from the ground and the air crackled with explosive energy. Every time Henry waved the Wisdom, all sorts of high-level magic assailed Arthus and Kington, and this continued for a while.

After a series of attacks, Henry decided to stop.

“Tsk.”

He clicked his tongue in frustration as he stopped. His magic had caused tremendous destruction over the field, but amidst the turmoil, Henry could still feel one life force, which was obviously Arthus’.

Arthus cleared himself from the chaos and said casually, “It\'s been quite some time since I had a handy knight assistant. I didn’t think he’d waste away like this...”

Just as Arthus had said, Kington was dead. Despite him mastering his ultimate skill and being a Peak Sword Master, he stood no chance against high-level 8th-Circle spells. His death was as futile as it could’ve been, leaving nothing behind. Even his ashes had vanished in the chaos

Henry, ignoring Arthus, gently picked up Ronan\'s head.

“Klever.”

- Yes, Master.

Henry placed Ronan’s head into Klever\'s chest, then said ruefully, “I’m sorry, Ronan.”

There was nothing more he could say to a fallen comrade. They were at war, and everyone in his team was in this together, fully aware of the risks they were exposed to. But even so, Henry couldn’t suppress his sorrow.

“Tsk!”

Ronan had been Henry’s only friend of the same age since his resurrection. Because of that, he had been special to Henry, closer to him than other people. However, his friend, his comrade, was dead, fallen at the hands of that wicked man who had adopted him, the man whom he had loathed all his life.

Ronan’s death felt like a cruel twist of fate. The heavens had been merciless to him.

As he held his head in his arms, Henry vowed that he would avenge Ronan no matter what. His determination to do so fueled him even more to put an end to Arthus.

Seeing how distraught Henry was, Arthus mockingly said, “Don’t tell me you’re upset over one pitiful swordsman?”

Henry didn\'t bother responding to his petty question. Instead, he turned to Hector.

“Hector.”

- Got it.

Henry used Hector to respond to Arthus.

The Death Knight instantly charged at Arthus as though he were Henry’s newborn blade. Hector closed the gap in an instant and swung his sword, but despite his tremendous speed, his blade halted abruptly right before it could touch Arthus, as though an invisible barrier was separating Arthus from everything else in the world.

Looking at Hector’s murderous red eyes, Arthus said, “A Death Knight... I guess you weren’t playing around, but...”

Before Arthus finished his sentence, he raised his hand, channeling energy to his fingertips and causing an explosion.

Arthus had detonated the explosion inches away from Hector, sending up a cloud of dust.

However...

“Hmm?”

Hector remained unshaken, enveloped in a purple energy as he kept his sword pointed at Arthus.

Hoolser was rapidly chanting a spell.

“Commander, now!”

Seizing the moment, Henry withdrew Wisdom and unsheathed his own sword. Herarion did the same, and soon the two were charging toward Arthus from either side of Hector while channeling their powers.

Bang! Boom!

“...!”

As their combined powers struck, a small crack formed in Arthus’s seemingly impenetrable barrier. Hearing the crack, Henry shouted, “Saint!”

“Yes!”

The Saint immediately dropped to her knees and activated her Protection Holy Code that had been very effective during the war.

Crackle!

The strategy was working; Irenae’s prayers infused the blessing of Goddess Irene into the three of them, amplifying their divine powers.

The trio seized this opportunity, launching an even more powerful assault. Their blades vibrated violently against the barrier as though it was on the verge of shattering.

“AAAHH!”

Crack- Crack-! Crackle!

“...!”

‘There we go...!’

The trio finally got through the barrier. Arthus, caught off guard, raised his eyebrows in surprise, but otherwise stayed calm.

“This is ridiculous.”

Bang-!

The moment the blades were about to slash Arthus, he chuckled and waved his hand, sending the three men flying as though he and they were opposite poles of a magnet.

Looking at the remains of his shattered barrier, Arthus said, “You’ve come a long way... I must admit, you’ve taken me by surprise. I didn’t even expect you to shatter the barrier, let alone get close to me. You’ve clearly prepared well over the past month, Henry. But if this is all you have to show, you still have no chance against me.”

After he was done speaking, Arthus raised his hand, summoning dark, fiery spears all around him.

“Entertain me some more, Henry!” yelled Arthus before waving his hand.

Swoosh!

The spears flew at Henry as though they were arrows, piercing his arms and legs. An excruciating wave of pain surged through him, yet he remained stoically silent. Arthus chuckled at his resilience, knowing that Henry was trying his best not to wail out in pain.

“Keeping your pride, hmm?”

Henry grunted at his taunt. Then, Arthus made a fist and rotated his arm about halfway to the right, the spears twisting along with his motion.

“GHAAA!!!”

“That’s more like it. Should’ve been like this from the beginning.”

Satisfied with Henry’s agonized scream, Arthus opened his fist, causing the Dark Spears to vanish, leaving large holes in Henry’s limbs that gushed blood.

“Grand Wizard!”

The Saint, shocked by what had just happened, rushed to heal Henry. Meanwhile, Hector, backed by Hoosler, charged at Arthus once more. Herarion also rose to his feet once and gathered all the divine power he could.

“Hahaha! Yes! Struggle! Keep struggling until your very last breath and entertain me!”

Arthus continued to laugh maniacally as his enemies charged at him again, eventually waving his hand again.

Crackle!

He summoned more Dark Spears to have some more fun.