Chapter 176 - Waled (4)

Henry's Aura burned so intensely that it could’ve set a forest ablaze

After releasing a powerful green-colored Aura, Henry uttered, “Wizard’s Domain.”

Oong…!

He had only uttered two words, but countless magic circles appeared on the ground everywhere from where Henry was standing.

Even though it was the middle of the day with bright sunlight, Henry's emerald-colored magic circles radiated an immense amount of light, making it challenging to keep one's eyes open.

Henry lightly stomped on the ground.

Thud.

- Kheke?

Thud.

Waled had a grotesque smile, and he tilted his head as he didn’t understand what Henry was doing. However, Henry continued to stomp on the ground, completely disregarding Waled.

Thud.

Oong!

Henry kept stomping on the ground.

Only after some time did Waled realize what Henry was doing.

Every time Henry stomped his feet, a magic circle appeared in a different area. He was increasing the amount of magic circles.

It was a great spectacle.

Henry continued to increase the number of his magic circles to the point where it looked like a god was painting on the ground from the sky.

For the first time since evolving, Waled experienced a sense of unease. It was as if his instincts were cautioning him that if he didn't stop Henry immediately, the consequences would be terrible. Even as a human, Waled had always trusted his instincts.

- Khekeke!

Waled stopped laughing, and with a terrifying roar, he finally moved.

However, as soon as he took one step forward, a sharp, massive rock wall rose in front of him.

“Let’s get started,” said Henry.

Waled had almost been pierced by the rock wall.

Henry had cast the spell called ‘Killing Stone.’ This spell was used to erect sharp walls from the ground and pierce the opponent with them.

However, this wasn’t enough to prevent Waled from moving.

Waled punched the wall that rose right in front of him, shattering it and opening up a path.

However, the moment he tried to take another step over the smashed wall…

Rumble!

This time, sharp ice arrows flew toward Waled, as if shot from a crossbow.

-…!

“Why are you surprised? This is just the beginning.”

Waled was very startled by the attack, but just like last time, he effortlessly shattered the ice arrows.

As Waled tried to take another step forward, a lightning bolt struck him, and he endured it with his whole body.

When he once again tried to walk, lava rose from the ground, accompanied by a fiery wall.

An explosion occurred.

A sharp ice pole sprang out from the ground.

A hammer swung around.

Boiling oil flew over him.

A fierce gale swept through.

A blizzard formed.

Sleeping powder was sprinkled.

Every time Waled tried to move even an inch from where he was standing, the magic circles around him activated new spells.

All kinds of spells were being cast.

Each spell had different magic circles, different ways of being cast, and different properties. The only thing all spells had in common was that each of them radiated an emerald light, signifying that Henry was the caster.

The emerald light made Henry’s magic unique.

The circles ceaselessly activated spells.

Boom! Boom! Booommmm!

The consecutive explosions sounded like a waterfall.

A Wizard’s Domain was a form of attack in which numerous spells were cast on their own until the one who activated it ran out of mana. Henry called it the ‘Wizard’s Domain,’ and it was both a type of strategy and a type of magic.

However, Henry was the only person who could use the Wizard’s Domain because the wizard was required to constantly cast the spells in their head. Not even the smartest wizards dared to attempt this.

It didn’t look like the barrage of spells was about to cease, and as a result, dust and black smoke billowed out. Waled couldn’t move a single step as he was trapped inside the smoke.

At first, Waled thought that the barrage of spells was rather amusing. He believed that he could endure this kind of magic with his strong body and the magic resistance he had earned from Cillion.

However, as time passed, Waled felt that something was wrong. Every time he thought the magic was going to end, it just kept going.

The magic itself wasn’t insanely powerful, but he was still getting hurt. Waled had magic resistance, but that didn’t mean he could withstand all the magic in the world.

As time passed, the magic grew stronger, and the frequency of the explosions increased significantly compared to the initial stages.

Boom! Boom!

- Kheeee!

Three minutes into the magic explosions, Waled's ferocious roar turned into a piercing scream of agony.

It had only been three minutes, but within that time, dozens of spells had been cast, and Waled had no choice but to endure all of it. He struggled, frantically moving his limbs and wings.

The screaming stopped after two more minutes.

Henry raised one hand and stopped the barrage of magic explosions.

The loud booms finally stopped in the highland.

“Wind.”

Henry used the wind to blow away the thick cloud of dust and smoke, and all that was left in that area was a huge hole, which looked as if a meteorite had fallen there.

The hole had been repeatedly melted and frozen because of the magic, but most of it was just charred due to the massive explosions.

When Henry stopped the wind, his surroundings became quiet again, which was a good sign. Since he could no longer hear Waled’s mocking and disturbing laugh, there was a possibility that he was dead.

Henry looked into the hole, and inside was Waled, his body full of wounds of different sizes. He was squirming like a bug.

- Khe, kheke, khek…

Looking at Waled in his current state, Henry thought that the sight was suggestive of a bug that had been crushed by someone’s foot, but Waled literally had the appearance of a bug.

Waled was in a disastrous state.

The wings with which he had previously ruined Henry’s Colt Sword now looked as if they had been bitten off by a beast, and his entire body was covered in wounds that didn’t look like they were going to heal.

“...Such a weak foe.”

With a small gesture of his hand, Henry made all of the magic circles around them instantly disappear. He did that because he thought he no longer needed to use the Wizard’s Domain.

“I can’t believe you acted all mighty and powerful with such a weak body.”

Henry hadn’t even used thirty percent of the Wizard’s Domain. Moreover, the magic explosions had only lasted five minutes. Of course, countless spells had been cast during those five minutes, but after becoming an Archmage, Henry’s mana flowed endlessly like a river.

- Khe, khek…

At Henry’s mockery, Waled placed his shaky hands on the ground, trying to stand up somehow by puffing up his muscles.

Henry felt that Waled’s efforts were futile as he watched him trying to get up.

“Sword on.”

Znggg.

Henry grabbed his sword again and slowly infused his Aura into the Colt Sword.

Slice!

He swung his sword vertically, and as a result, Waled’s head fell and tumbled on the ground.

“Ha.”

Although Waled’s appearance had been one of a kind, he was ultimately no match for Henry.

However, Henry still thought of this as a valuable experience. Through Waled’s metamorphosis, Henry had been able to figure out how far the Chimera transformation techniques had evolved.

“Frozen.”

Crack!

Henry froze Waled’s corpse instead of incinerating it. He then placed the frozen corpse in the subspace because he wanted to research the Chimera later when he had time.

After taking Waled’s body, Henry scanned his surroundings.

‘What a mess.’

Besides the massive hole in the ground, there were also small and large traces of magic. However, Henry had no intention of restoring the ground. Instead, he gathered the spiritualists' corpses and incinerated all of them.

Whoosh!

‘I wonder if Hector’s done…’

Henry looked at the length of his shadow in order to check the time. Although he had taken longer than expected, Henry was certain that the battle on the plain was still in progress. This meant that he still had some time left.

After burning all the bodies, Henry headed toward the other side of the highland where the rest of the soldiers were sleeping.

Nadasman and the other three hundred soldiers were sleeping, oblivious to what had transpired. Henry clicked his tongue as he looked at them.

Of course, Henry didn’t wake them up. He would wake them up later when the battle came to a halt.

Henry mounted Jade.

“Let’s go, jade.”

- Neigh!

Having some time left, Henry decided to check the gorge he had entrusted Hector with.

* * *

There was a mountain of corpses in the Thern gorge as if a deadly plague had swept through the area. The only distinguishing feature of these corpses, in contrast to those claimed by a plague, was the fact that all of them had sword wounds.

In the mountain of corpses, there was a single man who had barely managed to survive, holding a sword in his hand.

“You have a good mentality,” Hector complimented the man.

“Shut up!”

The man who shouted was none other than Kamsadia.

Kamsadia tightly gripped his weapon, the Bastard Sword, and stared at Hector with a killing intent. However, he had reached his limit. His vision was blurry and his jaw was shaking from all the blood he had lost.

‘How is this possible…!’

It had been more than one hour since Kamsadia had fought Hector with all of his might. However, the huge black knight never retaliated against his attacks. Instead, he just ignored them. Nevertheless, Kamsadia couldn’t even make a dent into the armor of the black knight. To be more precise, he couldn’t even get a single millimeter of his blade to connect with the Aura that covered the armor of the black knight.

Kamsadia was hopeless.

He had met many strong fighters during his time as a mercenary, but never in his entire life had he encountered a monster like that.

‘Henry, that fucking bastard…!’

Kamsadia clearly remembered whose name the black knight first called out when he had appeared.

Now that he thought about it, the purpose of the Stinky Swamp in the middle of the gorge hadn’t been to prevent the invasion of the Etherwether army, but rather to make it easier for the black knight to eliminate the Shonan army, and Kamsadia had been tricked into setting up his own trap.

‘I will make it out alive and kill that bastard with my own hands!’

Kamsadia’s eyes were filled with a strong fighting spirit.

He knew that it was impossible for him to win against the black knight using pure strength. However, he currently had a magic scroll with him that could help him move a short distance. This kind of trump card was what had stuck with him from the time he had been a mercenary.

‘I only have one shot at this!’

Kamsadia aimed for the right opportunity.

His only chance at survival relied on the success of this attack. Kamsadia shook his head in an attempt to clear his blurred vision.

Kamsadia took one last deep breath and counted.

Three, two…

One!

Boom!

Kamsadia squeezed out the last bit of strength he had left in him and detonated his Aura.

He was well aware that Hector wasn’t going to fight back because he enjoyed watching him struggle. Kamsadia decided to take advantage of that, which is why he made his Aura explode and created a thick dust cloud. He then quickly took out the magic scroll and tore it apart in a hurry.

Oong!

Before the dust cloud settled, a flash of light covered Kamsadia.

‘It worked!’

His surroundings had changed, and he was now near the back of the gorge, the escape route he had planned in advance.

Now, he only had to try his hardest to walk. If he could push forward, he would reach the tent of the Shonan army with all the supply soldiers.

“Kamsadia?”

Just then, he heard a familiar voice call his name.

Kamsadia had chills all over his body.

As soon as he turned his head with an ominous feeling, there was Henry, looking down at him with a frown, mounted on Jade.