Rebirth of the 8th-Circle Mage

This wasn’t an illusion of Arthus or a mirage.

Arthus had used smoke to reveal his true form, and when he finally descended on the ground, the three men with burning pain in their backs collapsed to the ground, gasping for air.

“Good to see you.”

Arthus didn’t have any companions with him; he had come here alone. His confidence was rather admirable.

As soon as Arthus appeared, Henry immediately shouted, “Get him!”

“Yes, sir!”

Thud!

The Seven Sages quickly got together and placed their hands on the ground, casting binding magic.

“Bind!”

Ptzzzz!

Henry and the Seven Sages acted swiftly like disciplined soldiers.

After they cast the binding spells, chains of mana, each with their own unique characteristics, emerged from the ground beneath their hands and lunged at Arthus.

Arthus could see clearly what the wizards were trying to do. However, he didn’t try to evade them in the slightest; he merely watched their movements with a nonchalant expression.

Ptzzzz!

With an intense spark, each unique chain of mana stretched out fiercely and started wrapping around Arthus.

But just when Henry and the Sages thought the chains were about to immobilize him, they dropped to the ground like dead snakes.

The binding magic of the Seven Sages had just failed.

Seeing this, Arthus said lamely, “Tsk, tsk... you still think such magic would work on me?” He looked quite disappointed.

He brushed the dust off his shoulder and was about to turn to face Henry, but just then...

“I’m not done yet!”

Ptzzzzz!

As if tens of thousands of birds took flight at once, a sharp, piercing sound instantly filled the air, threatening to rupture everyone’s eardrums.

Everyone was about to cover their ears at the deafening sound, but before that, they had to close their eyes first.

The reason for that was simple—a bolt of lightning the size of a thousand-year-old tree trunk struck Arthus’ head as he was turning away in disappointment.

Ptzzz!

The lightning lasted for an incredibly long time. Five seconds, ten seconds...

The lightning lasted almost fifteen seconds, and everyone’s eyes were slowly adjusting to the blinding light.

It looked like a waterfall of lightning, but this wasn’t just lightning magic. This was a new 8th-Circle binding magic that Henry had created, which not only had the properties of lightning, but it also completely paralyzed the opponent.

However...

“At least you’re a bit different,” Arthus commented nonchalantly through the murderous lightning.

“...!”

Soon, the lightning stopped.

It wasn't Arthus who stopped the spell, but Henry. After that, Arthus was visible again. He was still alive and well, completely unharmed, but unlike before, he was now smirking, his hands clasped together.

“It seems that you’ve grown within that short period of time.”

Despite his immense divine power, Arthus knew little about magic, so this was all he could say about Henry.

In any case, this was impressive. Seven 7th-Circle Archmages had cast binding magic on him, but Arthus hadn’t felt anything or even blinked an eye. But Henry had been different.

Was it because of the tremendous burning power of his spell? Despite the fact that Arthus was almost a demigod, he had still felt a tingling sensation from Henry’s lightning, although for a split second.

‘Damn it...!’

However, Henry wasn’t aware of that. He merely gritted his teeth as he watched Arthus mock him with his nasty smile.

‘I guess even this amount of power really isn’t enough.’

Having confirmed that not even 8th-Circle-level spells worked on Arthus, there was no reason to continue using spells against him. Any further magic attacks would only serve to demoralize him and the other wizards.

That was why he had stopped the paralyzing lightning spell.

Nevertheless, that spell hadn’t been a complete waste. After reaching the 8th-Circle, Henry had wanted to test his new powers on Arthus more than anyone else.

Although the results had been rather tragic, at least Henry knew that his powers wouldn't work on Arthus. In a way, he had learned a valuable piece of information from his failure.

Nonetheless, he was still frustrated.

Seeing Henry grit his teeth and withdraw his hand, Arthus said wryly, “Good call. I was getting tired of dealing with your cute little tricks.”

Though Arthus was a little impressed with Henry’s progress, he still wasn’t too satisfied with the appetizer of the meal he had been anticipating for a month. After curiously picking up his cutlery, Arthus decided not to even bother with the appetizer.

Arthus looked around and said, “Everyone’s in good spirits, and I see some familiar faces as well. So, what have you guys been doing for the past month to prepare for me?”

Arthus had playfully asked a question, mocking everyone present, but no one answered.

Arthus then shrugged his shoulders and said, “Well, if no one wants to answer, that’s fine. But I do have to give you guys credit for the strong determination I can so clearly see in your eyes. See, Dracan? I told you that there’s no better motivation for them than me showing up in person.”

Arthus was clearly alone, but he nonetheless acted as if Dracan were by himself, nonchalantly making gestures as he was seemingly talking to the air. However, that wasn’t just an act; he was actually communicating with Dracan through his divine power.

Having finished his conversation, Arthus continued, “Well... That’s enough of cheering you guys on for now, but I’ll be looking forward to it. I’ve also been preparing quite a bit for you guys over the past month, so I hope you will all do your best to entertain me until the very end.”

After the promised month had passed, Arthus had changed his plan at the last minute and had come to Monsieur himself. He had seen everything he wanted to see and said everything he had to say. Now he planned to take a step back, relax, and patiently wait for the next part of his meal.

Arthus smiled at Henry and said, “Henry, come to Lizark Hill. I’ll be waiting for you there. Oh, and by the way! You better not use Teleportation. If you go against my word and come to Lizark Hill using Teleportation, I’m going to turn every last human on the continent into one of my followers. Anyhow, I’ll see you there, Henry.”

With those words, Arthus vanished into thin air.

- Kheee!

Buzzz!

The ground was vibrating.

A huge black mass emerged in the horizon against the rising sun.

A massive Chimera army was approaching; there seemed to be tens of thousands of them.

***

Before he could even think what Arthus’ invitation meant, Henry frowned as he stared at the monstrosities rushing at them.

He felt repulsed.

For the past month, Henry hadn’t wasted a single day and only thought about killing Arthus. But even after awakening as an 8th-Circle Archmage, he still couldn’t inflict the slightest bit of damage onto Arthus.

He was outraged.

“Ha...” Henry let out a long sigh.

In fact, he had sort of known that Arthus, given his mentality, had given him a month to prepare purely out of amusement because he wanted to enjoy himself.

And after that one-month period had passed, it seemed that things were turning out the way Arthus intended them to, but even so, Henry wouldn’t waste his energy on being angry at something he couldn’t change.

“Damn it!”

The knights gritted their teeth and unsheathed their swords as soon as Arthus disappeared and the Chimera army appeared on the horizon.

But just as they were about to infuse their swords with Aura, Henry urged, “Everyone, take a step back.”

Henry didn’t want to waste his energy for nothing, but he still couldn't help feeling disgusted, so he needed to vent, and the timing was perfect.

The perfect creatures on which to vent his anger had appeared just in time.

At Henry’s command, the knights sheathed their swords.

Henry’s eyes gleamed with cold fury. He raised his hands and opened his palms, creating emerald-colored spheres that revolved around his hands like a bunch of fireflies.

He summoned his unique staff, the World’s Wisdom.

Wisdom was a special artifact that stored a massive amount of mana and amplified Henry’s mana as well, empowering his ability to cast magic.

Henry held Wisdom in his left hand and raised his right hand, pointing with his index finger. He moved his finger fast in the air, as though erasing the horizon.

Then something incredible happened.

Pop! Pop! Boom! Boom!

Crash! Crack!

“...!”

“...!”

Dark explosions, some larger than others, emerged from the inky wave in the distance. The Union members laughed in disbelief as they watched the explosions fill the horizon.

‘Huh...!’

‘This power is...!’

It only lasted a few seconds.

With a simple wave of his hand, Henry drew a line in the air, and then the black waves that filled the horizon vanished, and the massive vibrations in the ground ceased.

Henry’s complexion didn’t change in the slightest.

Despite the fact that he killed tens of thousands of Chimeras with a mere gesture of his hand, he didn’t show any signs of dizziness or overall weakness from having consumed too much mana.

The Seven Sages were the most surprised.

‘T-this is!’

‘Is this how powerful an 8th-Circle is...?!’

The Sages felt that this power was admirable, but they also envied it; they felt deprived of it. This was the kind of power Henry currently possessed.

Henry dismissed Wisdom and walked over to the three men who were unconscious.

“Saint.”

“Yes!”

At Henry’s call, Saint Irenae rushed over and proceeded to heal the three men. Given how nasty the scars, the cuts, the oozing pus, and the blisters looked on their backs, it was clear that this hadn’t been mere showmanship on Arthus’ part.

In any case, the Saint’s healing skills were the best on the continent, so she managed to heal their wounds in a matter of seconds.

The three men woke up and were no longer panting and sweating.

Henry then asked Valhald, “Are you alright?”

“Ha...”

Valhald just nodded.

One would’ve expected that a knight of Valhald’s caliber would be able to withstand that kind of burn. However, he hadn’t been burnt by an ordinary flame, but by a Divine Flame, its temperature being much higher than that of normal fire.

Even though Valhald’s wounds had been healed, Henry still felt a pang of sadness seeing Arthus’ scars on his back.

Valhald parted his dry lips and said to Henry in a weak voice, “Commander...”

“Yes?”

After Henry had become the commander of the Union, everyone started talking formally to him. This was so that everyone, regardless of their friendship with Henry, would practice proper manners from then onward.

Of course, this didn’t mean that Henry would suddenly stop being formal with his fellow Union members. Henry continued to behave respectfully and politely with everyone around him.

“On my back... Do I still have the scars he left?” asked Valhald.

“Yes.”

“I see... Commander, could you lend me a mirror so I can see?”

Henry summoned a large mirror at Valhald’s request.

Valhald stood in front of the mirror and picked up this sword from the ground. The Saint was alarmed at this and tried to stop him, but...

Gush!

Before she could stop him, he thrust the blade into his back.

Valhald plunged his sword into his own back, which had been marked by Arthus.

Everyone watching was shocked.

However, Valhald wasn’t affected by the stares and continued moving the blade through his flesh, carving himself.

As painful as it was, he thought that bearing Arthus’ mark on his back would be significantly worse than cutting himself. That was why he was hacking away at his flesh without hesitation.

Valhald could finally see Arthus’ ugly scar after carving it out from his back. He was covered in cold sweat, but he didn’t let out a single groan.

He turned to the Saint, who was covering her mouth with her hands in shock, and asked politely, “Please heal me, Saint.”

“Y-yes!”

Henry locked eyes with Valhald, who had stripped himself of Arthus’ vile mark by cutting off the piece of flesh that bore it. He had never seen the eyes of the greatest Knight King on the continent burn with such fierce rage and hatred.

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