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Chapter 325: The New God (4)

But this time was different. The situation was still tense, but Henry was composed. If anything, he actually looked into the red eyes of the black figure, showing off the same kind of energy.

Janus.

The dark, void-like silhouette with glowing red eyes was Janus himself.

‘I guess a god is still a god.’

Henry had come a long way, considering that he hadn’t dared to look up back then.

The red glowing eyes moved back and forth. After scanning his surroundings for a few moments, Janus infiltrated Henry’s mind and communicated telepathically with him.

- I’m surprised.

That was the first thing Janus said. His voice was incredibly croaky and dry, evocative of the desert.

Henry was a bit nervous. Even though they were now on equal footing, some of the fear that had been imprinted on Henry in the past was creeping up from his subconsciousness.

However, he didn’t show it, or rather, he tried not to by keeping a straight face.

“Yeah, I’ll admit, I was a little surprised too. I didn’t think you’d manifest into this world.”

- …

Janus didn’t answer. Instead, he merely fixed his eerie gaze on Henry like a sharp spear.

Not to be deterred, Henry decided to take control of the conversation.

“Your stare is so cold. Let’s stop wasting time and get to the point. Janus, what is it that you want? For what reason have you gone this far?”

Henry had originally wanted to ask Arthus that question, but since he was gone, he asked the god who had helped him all this time instead.

- I was merely fulfilling the wishes of my worshiper.

Janus gave a straightforward answer, but Henry could clearly tell that the deity was being insincere.

Anger hit Henry like a wave, but he suppressed it and replied wrily, “What a joke.”

- Joke?

“I already know everything there is to know, and yet you’re trying to feign ignorance? How despicable… Why not just be honest? You wanted to show off your power, or you wanted to take out your anger on the Khan dynasty for hiding your temple for generations.”

He had merely granted the wish of his believer? Considering everything that had happened thus far, Henry thought Janus’ answer was pathetic, a bad joke.

His newfound divine power brought him on equal footing with the deity, so Henry wasn’t holding back in the slightest.

At Henry’s sharp rebuke, Janus went quiet again, but his sharp gaze was still fixed on him.

Because of this, Henry had no idea what Janus was thinking, and he was getting frustrated at the prolonged silence. Soon, he decided to tackle this in a different way. He smirked and said, “Well, I guess I don’t really need to know anymore.”

During his clash with Arthus, his divine power had grown just enough to ensure his victory, but now it was well above Arthus’, which naturally made Henry more confident.

Thanks to this confidence, his mind was now clear, which allowed him to think rationally and make wise decisions, true to his reputation.

Henry judged that the reason or the cause of this war wasn’t important anymore. Arthus was already dead, and after he dealt with the dark figure floating in front of him, there would no longer be any need to debate what had gone wrong to cause all of this.

All the problems and all the misery and suffering would end after he struck Janus down.

Henry concentrated his mana. He no longer needed to control his divine power as it was infinite as the air, and it would always protect him whether he was aware of it or not.

Therefore, Henry, the god of magic, only had to use magic to eliminate this damned deity.

After he concentrated enough mana, his hair swayed in the air like seaweed in the ocean. Just like his divine power, his mana was pure and flowing endlessly through him.

“Wizard’s Domain.”

Ptzz!

Wizard’s Domain was a spell that enhanced the caster’s incantation speed and magic recovery rate depending on the amount of power the caster possessed.

In theory, this spell also allowed the caster to unleash a never-ending magic bombardment if their body could withstand the accelerated incantation.

Henry was the only wizard on the continent who could actually accomplish this theoretical endless magic bombardment.

After Henry cast Wizard’s Domain, Lizark Hill was completely bathed in his emerald-colored magic, engulfing everything in its path.

This was the power of the god of magic, the being that had surpassed the 8th-Circle!

“Let’s see how this ends!”

Snap!

Henry snapped his fingers and cast Press Down, a spell that crushed the opponent with tremendous pressure.

Whoosh!

Boom-!

With a thunderous boom, a crater was formed where Janus was floating, as though a meteor had fallen from the sky.

The pressure of Press Down had been so great that the earth itself hadn’t been able to withstand it. However, Janus was still floating in the air, his inky silhouette unchanged.

Seeing this, a smirk tugged at Henry’s lips.

“Good. I would’ve been really disappointed if this had been enough to finish you.”

Press Down was an invisible force, but its extreme pressure seemingly caused the air to distort just like during an extreme drought.

Henry snapped his fingers again. Still maintaining the maximum amount of pressure on Janus, Henry summoned multiple mana spears, each with their own unique attribute.

Of course, they also contained the divine power that had bested Arthus.

As soon as Henry activated the spell, a prodigious amount of murderous spears filled the sky, clouding the sun.

Besides having unique attributes, the spears also contained a massive amount of energy, its destructive power equivalent to 7th-Circle magic.

Having prepared his attack, Henry fixed his gaze on Janus, raising his chin at the god.

With a flick of his wrist, the spears shot toward Janus with tremendous force.

Whoosh!

The spears traveled at a frightening speed, producing an eerie sound.

The hundreds of spears found their mark, each of them exploding on impact according to their own attributes, unleashing destruction.

…

Surprisingly, the explosions themselves made no sounds. Henry hated loud noises, so he had transformed the Wizard’s Domain into a silent realm.

Soon, the chain of colorful explosions that cluttered his view came to an end, or more specifically, Henry stopped them.

He had unleashed enough spears to completely destroy at least one fief, so he decided to check the results of his magic bombardment.

Henry nodded once more, causing the aftermath of the explosions to vanish.

“Hmmm.”

Henry first looked at the ground around the crater created by Press Down, and he noticed that it was relatively intact.

Despite the fact that the magic bombardment had been powerful enough to destroy an entire fief, Henry had controlled the explosion so as to not destroy the landscape of this hill.

He was satisfied with his power.

Henry then looked again at the center of the crater where Janus had been floating. However, there was nothing there.

Henry cocked his head.

‘Hmm.’

He didn’t think the magic bombardment had managed to kill the god. Of course, Henry believed in the power of his magic more than anything else, but Janus had far more followers than him.

Therefore, Henry didn’t think that Janus would fall that easily.

‘Where did he go?’

Henry’s only guess was that the god had run away. He heightened his senses to track Janus’ divine power, but he couldn’t sense his oppressive aura at all.

But just then, a chill ran down Henry’s spine.

Crackle!

“...Below!”

A sharp tentacle shot out from beneath his feet and stopped near his neck, or rather, Henry blocked it with his mana at the last second.

Henry nervously swallowed as he looked at the tentacle that had been centimeters away from killing him.

He took two steps back and examined the thing protruding from the ground. It wasn’t exactly a tentacle; it looked more like the sharp tail of a scorpion.

The tip of the strange appendage glistened black in the sun, its hue eerie.

Henry was certain that if he had been a millisecond late in defending himself, this thing would’ve pierced through his head.

Crackle, crackle-!

The outstretched tentacle writhed against Henry’s mana, and the ground around it kept cracking until it collapsed, raising a cloud of dust.

Henry noticed a gaping hole around the tentacle, and beyond it was a dark basement that not even the sunlight could reach.

As soon as the basement was revealed, the tentacle stopped pushing against Henry’s mana and retreated into the hole.

Henry took a few steps back.

At that moment, dozens of hooks poked through the hole and grabbed along the edges of the hole.

It looked like an octopus trying to crawl out of a bottle, but the tentacles seemed abnormally stiff. They were pulling something out of the hole similarly to a pulley—a monster in human form.

“...Chimera?”

The creature emerged from the dark basement in an elegant manner with the aid of the tentacles and stood with its arms crossed, much like a deified pharaoh.

It was an absurd sight.

The creature confidently displayed its dignity and majesty, but even so, Henry’s first instinct was to call this creature a Chimera. It seemed to be bipedal, given that it had two arms and two legs, but its overall appearance didn’t look human at all.

The creature was wearing armor that looked like it was made from the shells of crustaceans.

If Henry’s assumption was right, those shells didn’t serve as armor, but as the skin of the creature.

As for the head, the lower jaw certainly seemed like that of a human, especially the chin, but the rest was covered by what looked like a mask made of the same shell-like structure that covered the rest of its body.

Observing the creature, Henry muttered in disbelief, “What the hell…? It even has antennas?”

Henry labeled this creature a Chimera because its appearance reminded him of all sorts of other creatures.

The tentacles that had pulled it out of the hole soon came together and merged into one giant tail.

“I was wondering why you disappeared all of a sudden… I guess you needed time to transform?” Henry wondered.

- Something like that.

The answer of the Chimera-like creature confirmed to Henry that it was Janus in his new body.

“Ah… Just when did you prepare something like this…?” complained Henry. He was fed up with all of this. He had gone through all that trouble to find and defeat Arthus, and now he had to deal with a god that used a Chimera as his body…

Henry was sickened by this, which naturally amplified his disdain for Janus.

But unlike Henry, Janus was very pleased.

‘In all my life as a god, I’ve never seen a body more advanced than this one. Moreover, my divine power has contributed a great deal in creating this body, so the amount of divine power it can absorb is infinitely greater than Arthus’.’

Indeed, this wasn’t some trump card that Janus had pulled at the last minute. This monstrosity was the only Chimera that had survived that bloodbath in Charlotte Heights.

This sole survivor had devoured every living being it could find to prolong its life and increase its strength until Arthus had eventually captured it and spurred on its evolution.

Of course, Arthus had captured and nurtured it at Janus’ order.

Arthus’ abilities had been at the level of a demigod, but Janus had been blessing this creature from the moment it drew breath as a Chimera.

In other words, this creature had been born more capable than Arthus; it was the perfect vessel for Janus’ divine power.

The god of death had planned for this Chimera, which had been born out of his own divine power, to consume as many demonic beasts as possible from the mountain ranges near Charlotte Heights until it became strong enough to serve as his vessel when he descended into this world.

That was the reason Janus had been manipulating Arthus all this time to keep this creature growing.

Janus had resorted to deception for one simple reason—if Arthus had found out what this Chimera was for, he would’ve been blinded by jealousy and anger and tried to kill it.

- Khaaaaa!

Satisfied that he hadn’t made the wrong choice, Janus let out a roar of joy in his Chimera form.

Looking at the ferocious beast, Henry muttered to himself, “I can’t believe a being like him is a god…”

Janus, the god that ruled over death and night in the desert.

When Henry had met Janus in the temple, he had at least felt the dignity of a deity. But now, Janus was nothing more than a greedy demon who wanted to leave the desert and take over the entire continent.

“Sword on.”

Znggg.

With the roaring creature in front of him, Henry slowly summoned his Colt Sword, mana swirling in the air as it gave shape to the sword.

Henry gripped his Colt Sword tightly, the blade emitting an aura far more powerful and elegant than ever before.

‘I must do what needs to be done.’

It didn’t matter to Henry that Janus had taken on the form of a monster. His goal remained clear, and he was confident that he had gained enough power to fulfill it.

Even as Janus was flaunting his tentacles and roaring, Henry was still gaining more power from the faith of those fighting in Monsieur. They all believed in him.

Henry took a proper stance, the one that McDowell used for his incredibly fast footwork, his specialty. He then drew in a short breath.

Seeing this, Janus unleashed an overwhelming amount of divine power and charged at Henry.

- Khaaaa!

The earth-shattering roar caused Henry’s ears to hurt. However, he kept his composure, and after exhaling, Henry swung his sword from the back of his waist with all his might.

Whoosh!

Henry’s Colt Sword cut through the air with frightening speed, and…

- Flash!

A golden light erupted from his sword akin to a storm.