Chapter 141 - The Second Button (5)

Henry lowered his hand.

He approached the debris, which was scattered all over like pieces of rags and looked for traces of the Lich Knight.

‘This should do.’

Henry had purposely picked Mad Cyclone out of the many spells he could have used. Mad Cyclone had torn his opponent apart, although there were still some traces of the Lich Knight distinct from the Death Knight.

Henry picked up the Lich Kight’s broken helmet and the hilt of its sword.

He placed the items next to Iselan and froze them.

“Freeze.”

Crackle!

Henry was being considerate of Iselan. Iselan had wanted to catch the Lich Knight and Henry had safely and successfully subdued Iselan without being caught. Henry stored Iselan in the Subspace and began hunting for the lizard monster that had been his target in the beginning. He would take Iselan back to the fortress after he was done.

* * *

“Argh!”

Iselan came to his senses and sat up with a short groan.When he got up and looked around, he realized that he was naked in his bed, as usual.

“What is this? Keugh!”

Iselan frowned at his overwhelming headache and tried to remember what had happened. If his memories were correct, he had been threatening the Dullahan in order to obtain information about the Lich Knight in the Demonic Beast Forest.

“Why can’t I remember…?”

He remembered holding Dullahan's neck and shaking it, but he’d gotten distracted by an intense force and couldn’t remember anything else. He couldn’t believe it.

Iselan had never suffered memory loss before, so he found it even more difficult to understand what had happened.

Rattle.

Just then, Islean turned his head toward the sound. There was an unfamiliar helmet that had been cut in half on the floor, along with the hilt of a sword, armor, and other unfamiliar things that he had never seen before.

Iselan quickly turned on the light to check out the items.

He couldn’t believe his eyes.

“This is…!”

When Iselan saw the remnants of the Lich Knight on the floor, his eyes widened in surprise.

‘What the hell…’

He started looking around after he confirmed that they were real.

It was quiet.

His bed was clean. There were no bloodstains, and his sword and armor were hanging on the wall. There wasn’t a single scratch on his body. It was frustrating that he couldn't remember dealing with the Lich Knight.

His imagination ran wild. However, whatever happened, the Lich Knight was dead.

“No…”

Thud.

Iselan sat back down on the bed with his mouth half open.

The Lich Knight couldn't die; he was a very important clue to uncover the truth about that guy.

Iselan’s face turned pale at the thought that everything was messed up.

* * *

“Much better.”

Henry stared in satisfaction at the first dose of Black Tear he had just made.

After Henry got rid of the Lich Knight, he captured a Cyclone Hydra to replace the Palegon. In the 3rd district, there were a large number of Death Knights and Dullahans. They were natural predators of the district, but they wouldn’t touch the Cyclone Hydra. Thus, the creature was wandering about without any sense of danger.

Henry had been lucky because it was in good condition. It had ten tails and was massive, so its tails were much thicker than the Palegon’s.

In addition, since it was a higher-level monster than the Palegon, the Cyclone Hydra possessed an incomparable regenerative ability.

Henry kept the Cyclone Hydra firmly fixed to the wall of the lab since it was going to be a great source of material in the future.

‘Is everything almost set?’

Henry sat on the lab chair and started to slowly review his plans. He was about 15 days into the month-long vacation that Eisen had given him. Henry had already expanded trade routes and laid the foundation for Shahatra’s future. He had also built the second Magic Spire, the Snow Spire, and established teleport gates connected to it.

However, the most fulfilling achievements for Henry were his awakening as an Archmage, Aubert’s death, and successfully giving Pink Swamp to the counts.

Henry nodded in satisfaction as he reflected on the progress he had made over the past 15 days. However, he still had an endless number of tasks left to do, like figuring out how to use the Egg of Evolution or awakening Klever, who was still evolving.

‘It will take some time to entice Alfred with the Egg of Evolution, so I should probably do something about Klever first.’

There was no time to waste. Henry decided to hatch Klever. Henry took Klever’s egg from the Subspace and placed it on his desk.

‘It sure is big.’

If a tiger could lay eggs, it would be around this size.

Henry knocked on the large egg.

It was hard.

The sturdiness of the monster egg gave Henry some reassurance, making him feel less pressure about hatching Klever.

‘This is my first time dealing with a monster egg, but he’s still my subordinate, so it shouldn’t be too hard.’

He had purified the monster through a platinum ring and even completed a contract. That meant Klever’s growth was affected by Henry’s power level. Those who signed a contract with Henry were especially affected by his mana, so now that Henry had awakened as an Archmage, it was the right time for Klever to complete his evolution.

Henry started drawing a magic circle on the desk to help condense his mana.

The magic circle was completed in no time.

Henry placed Klever’s egg in the middle of the magic circle and started to cast a spell.

“...I bless you, so you must live to my expectations.”

Woong!

As the spell started, the magic circle responded to Henry's mana and pulled numerous runes toward Klever.

Just when Henry said his last command…

“...Rapid growth.”

Ping!

The sound of leaking air filled the room and soon, Klever began to absorb a large amount of Henry's mana. The spell was true to its name—Rapid Growth literally used Henry's power to induce growth.

However, Henry remained unaffected as the mana drained from his body. He crossed his arms and flexed his muscles, pushing out an even greater amount of mana.

How much time passed?

Henry had released a huge amount of mana, but Klever still didn’t seem to move. Henry cursed softly.

‘He sure does use a fuckton of mana.’

His mana wasn’t being wasted on Klever. Since Henry had taken Klever in as his servant, he intended to use Klever as his own hands and feet.

However, it was taking longer than expected, and Henry was starting to get bored. After a long time, fine cracks started to appear on the surface of the egg.

Crack!

‘Finally!’

As the shell started to crack, Henry’s excitement grew and he increased the amount of mana he was releasing, as well as its speed.

Crack! Crack!

The effects were amazing.

The faster his mana released, the faster the egg cracked.

Soon, cracks filled the entire surface of the egg and…

Crack!

With a soft sound, the eggshell crumbled into powder and fell to the floor, revealing Klever’s new form.

However, Klever appeared a little strange.

‘Slime?’

It looked like translucent slime with a yellowish-green glow.

Henry called out Klever’s name.

“Klever.”

“...”

Was it possible that he wasn’t used to his new self yet?

Klever showed no response.

Henry thought about possible issues and he took a cucumber from the Subspace and inserted it into Klever’s slimy body.

Bloop!

Thankfully, Klever was soft, and because he was just a mass of slime, the cucumber went inside without any trouble. Not long after, something surprising happened.

Rumble rumble…!

The green slime vibrated lightly and slowly turned pink.

Squirm squirm.

The pink slime gradually pulled the cucumber stuck in its body further inside and when it managed to suck the entire thing in, Henry couldn’t help but smile.

‘As expected.’

Although Klever’s appearance had changed, his unique taste had not.

Henry patiently waited until Klever digested the cucumber.

Klever managed to gain consciousness from the cucumber. He revealed his eyes and mouth and spoke in a raspy voice.

“Master…”

“Are you awake?”

“I apologize… I haven’t… digested… all of Master’s… mana yet..”

“Alright. I will give you time so let me know when you’re done.”

“Thank…you…”

He summoned Klever back into the contracted ring.

“Ha…”

Henry let out a sigh of relief and sat in his chair.

‘So now I’m done with Klever.’

Henry had successfully completed Klever’s evolution, but he wasn’t done yet.

Henry immediately summoned the Call Dagger that was built into his Call Sword and approached the Cyclone Hydra fixed on the wall.

* * *

“Ha… Ha…”

There was blood on the ground, and living flesh wriggled like worms everywhere.

Von had lost count of how many times he had cut the monster. However, Von couldn't let go of his sword.

“Disgusting bastard…”

It was difficult for Von to talk because of the blood in his throat, but he still couldn’t resist cursing.

The fight was over.

Mordred seemed dead, but tentacles had burst through his armor and turned him into a monster Von had never seen before. Von had to fight a bloody battle with him for three days.

It was a terrible and gruesome battle; a fight that Von never wanted to experience again.

Von suffered nine stab wounds, vomited three times, and had to drink eight bottles of healing potion.

Von eventually won, but despite his incredible strength, he had lost too much blood.

Thud!

His vision blurred and his muscles relaxed. Von fell to his knees.

Supporting himself with his sword, he tried his best not to lose consciousness.

“Ha…”

He only had a single bottle of potion left and it was the lowest-grade healing potion.

With all his might, Von opened the lid and forced it into his mouth.

Gulp!

Von’s injuries were too serious for a single bottle to heal, but at least it stopped him from feeling the effects of extreme blood loss.

“I must let him know…”

Von felt that he had to tell Henry about Mordred’s monstrous appearance no matter what.

“Argh…!”

Von gritted his teeth and stood up.

After gaining a bit of energy, Von forced himself to take a step, leaning on his sword as he headed for Vivaldi, leaving a long trail of blood behind him.