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Chapter 326: The God of Magic (1)

Rumble, rumble…!

The ground shook as if there were an earthquake, the ash scattering like snow, making for an eerie scene. However, it wasn’t an earthquake, but another horde of blind believers that kicked up the ash in the air, rushing at the magic barrier.

“No way…”

Lore had confidently reassured everyone that they would be able to deal with the army of blind believers, but now he couldn’t help letting out a disheartened sigh. They had maintained the magic barrier for several hours now, holding back the endless stream of blind believers, but it seemed like there truly was no end to them.

If anything, their numbers were actually increasing with each subsequent horde.

Initially, there had only been a few thousands of them, but after the wizards successfully stopped them in their tracks, their numbers increased to tens of thousands. And now, millions of them were swarming toward Monsieur.

Of course, the magic barrier was still active, the electric current still flowing through it to kill everything it touched. But even so, the sheer number of blind believers was overwhelming. There were so many of them that they had completely surrounded Monsieur.

From above, the siege of Monsieur was probably quite the view for the outsiders who weren’t afraid of the blind believers. The people of the city had also been relieved to see the magic barrier at first, but the incessant death cries of the blind believers were taking a toll on everyone.

Of course, those who were more fearful by nature were already on the brink of madness. With the never-ending swarm of blind believers, Monsieur had become an infernal prison for its people.

The wizards were relentlessly chanting spells, whereas the priests were continuously praying.

The priests couldn’t do much to help in this situation; they were simply praying for the best, as the occasional sight of children among the blind believers reminded them that these creatures had once been human…

The commanders saw them too, which was why they kept silent.

‘We might… actually have to take this matter into our own hands.’

Everyone had the same thoughts as Valhald. Even though the sight beyond the barrier seemed straight out of hell, it could get way worse than that.

But then, one of the vice school heads started swaying until she eventually collapsed.

“Platina!”

The wizard that fell due to exhaustion was Platina, the vice head of the biology school at the Snow Spire. She had recently achieved the remarkable feat of advancing from a mage to an Archmage, but she hadn\'t had a chance to use her powers up until this point.

Platina had been suddenly thrown into war, and she had quickly become overwhelmed. Her nose started bleeding as she lay on the ground, and the priests rushed to her aid, providing immediate treatment. Seeing this, Stan turned to Lore.

“Sir Lore, should we replace the vice school heads and take action ourselves?”

“I suppose that’s the only way now…”

Lore, understanding the gravity of the situation, nodded in agreement. The Seven Sages had been able to rest up for a little bit after returning from Lizark Hill thanks to the vice school heads and the other wizards. And now, Lore knew that it was their time to step up and protect Monsieur.

But then, someone spoke up.

“Hell Rising.”

Following the familiar voice, a scorching wind swept across Monsieur, ruffling some people’s hair while knocking others down. The gale wasn’t strong enough to cause any harm, but everyone had been caught off guard by it.

A soldier that had regained his composure faster than the others quickly pointed in the distance and shouted urgently, “O-over there!”

Everyone turned and stared to where the soldier was pointing, and they saw an enormous wave of flames erupting from the magic barrier, surging far into the horizon.

“...!”

“...!”

Everyone was speechless at this astonishing sight, their jaws dropped to the floor as they stared at the magnificent flames.

“What in the world…?”

None of the Sages had used their magic, and neither had the vice school heads or the lower-ranking wizards. Lore was certain of that because he was in control of all the wizards in Monsieur.

The infernal blaze burst forth from Monsieur, consuming and reducing everything to ash as it traveled toward the horizon.

The rumbling also ceased as the fiery wave engulfed the blind believers. After their shrill screams faded away, the only sound left was that of the wind created by the devastating blaze.

Whoosh!

The wind persisted, and the people of Monsieur stared blankly at the blind believers as they were reduced to ash, squinting their eyes every now and again when the wind hit them in the face.

Tap, tap!

The sound of someone’s footsteps on the castle walls broke the silence, and those who turned around were stunned, gasping and covering their mouths as they laid eyes on him. They had the same dumbfounded expressions as when they first saw the devastating flames erupt from around Monsieur.

The approaching man seemed to enjoyed the attention. As he walked swiftly, the crowd instinctively made way for him, everybody keeping quiet as though they were bound by an unspoken promise.

The news of the man’s arrival quickly spread among the officials within the castle. All of them widened their eyes in astonishment and hurried to meet him as soon as possible.

The first person to greet this man was none other than McDowell.

“Henry!”

A couple of knights followed suit and hugged Henry, the atmosphere becoming raucous once again.

“S-s-so h-he…! He’s …!”

“If Henry’s here, does this mean…?”

“Oh please, please…!”

Henry had yet to speak up, but everyone in the crowd was already nervously making assumptions. However, McDowell spoke up as if he couldn’t care less about the people around them and jumped straight to the point.

“What about Arthus? What happened to that bastard?”

McDowell stared at Henry, his eyes full of curiosity and glinting with a sliver of hope. Yet, Henry hesitated.

“Well… The thing is…”

“Don’t give me that! Just say it!”

“He’s dead.”

“What?”

“I killed him myself,” Henry replied in a calm yet firm voice.

It was impossible to tell from his tone if he was excited or disappointed to share his victory. But unlike him, the crowd erupted as soon as they heard the verdict, instantly replacing the silence with a cacophony of cheers and shouts.

“HORAAAAY!!!”

“YEAAAAAAH!!!”

The crowd was so loud that it seemed like the entire castle was shaking. Unlike earlier, it was the living that shook the earth, not the dead.

Screams, shouts, roars…

Elation, relief, anger, cries of joy and sadness…

The crowd exuded a plethora of emotions, but deep down, everyone felt the same thing—joy.

Everyone rushed toward Henry to embrace and celebrate the hero of humanity from the bottom of their hearts.

***

Everyone that was currently in Monsieur had witnessed Arthus’ atrocities firsthand, so the wild celebration continued well past the sunset, until it had turned completely dark.

Only when the moon was gleaming high in the sky did Henry have the chance to gather the officials in the castle and share what had transpired at Lizark Hill.

With a somber expression, Henry solemnly informed everyone that Arthus had killed everyone except for him and the Saint.

“I see…”

Despite knowing well what war entailed, losing Herarion, Hector, and Ronan felt different to Henry, given how close they had been to him. Everyone present felt that way about them, which was why the atmosphere instantly turned gloomy.

Von was the one to eventually break the stifling silence.

“That bastard Kington… I’m not surprised by what he did, but still…”

Henry had told the officials about Kington’s death as well, but given that he had been a treacherous bastard to the very end, nobody had an ounce of sympathy for him.

‘That fucking imbecile…’

Henry frowned and clicked his tongue as he thought about Kington’s final moments. If he had fought against Arthus to the very end, he might’ve been able to regain everyone’s respect and redeem his family name, restoring its former glory. Better yet, Ronan might’ve lived… If only…

There was no use to dwell on it, so Henry quickly changed the topic and proceeded to answer the officials’ questions regarding how he had managed to kill Arthus and how he had suddenly resolved the issue of divine power.

After he was done explaining, everyone was speechless, almost unable to believe what they had just heard. In fact, they thought for a brief moment that Henry was lying to them.

As everyone was lost in thought, silence hung in the air, and after a while, Masila spoke up.

“So… Wait… If I heard you correctly, Archmage, are you saying that you’re no longer human, but a god, like Irene and La?”

“Precisely.”

“You’re not serious… Are you…?”

“Well, the thing is… I myself thought it was a dream or some kind of joke, but Irene and La explained all of this to me face to face.”

“Face… to face?”

“Yes, that’s right. By the way, did you know that La doesn’t have the head of a human, but of a hawk?”

“Wha… Is that true?!”

Henry tried to lighten the mood with a humorous touch about his encounter with La, but Viram, the high priest of Shahatra, looked dumbfounded, his eyes gleaming with curiosity.

Henry smiled at him and replied, “I knew you’d be surprised the most, high priest. But yes, it seems that I now hold a rather grand title, The God of Magic.”

His calm statement rendered everyone speechless once again. They didn’t know how to react or what to think. The idea of encountering a god was absurd already, and none of them had ever experienced something like that up until this point.

To make it all the more ridiculous, they knew this god personally!

As Henry finished his explanation, Masila slouched into her chair and muttered to herself as though she had lost her wits.

“Pff-! Hahaha! Hah… Just what is going on…?”

Masila was having trouble comprehending what Henry had just told everyone, likely because, as a librarian, she was strict and always focused on reason.

Seeing her at a loss, Henry nodded in understanding.

“I know it\'s hard to grasp everything I’ve said up to this point, Madam Masila.”

As everyone else kept on laughing in disbelief, Henry drank some water and took a moment to just lean back into his chair, thinking that it was best to give everyone some time to process the news.

After a while, Lore, who had regained some semblance of composure, hesitantly asked Henry a question.

“So… Archmage, or rather, God of Magic, what are your plans now?"

Lore’s question was as awkward as it could’ve been, but Henry smiled slightly and replied in his usual tone, “You know, I haven’t really thought about that yet.”

“Wh-what?”

“I have no plans yet. I\'m new to this god business myself.”

His candid response stunned everyone once again.