Chapter 284 - Nephram (3)

Whoosh!

A dense poisonous mist burst forth from Hoosler akin to a fierce gust of wind, completely engulfing Henry.

Tzzzz!

The power of the poisonous mist was incredible. Not only was the poison itself potent, but the mist as a whole was extremely acidic, corroding and dissolving everything it touched.

However...

“Wind.”

Swoosh!

Henry used his wind magic to summon a gust of wind, which swirled around the poisonous mist, gathering it into a sphere before dispersing it.

Henry had emerged from the fog with a furious expression.

“Demon God?”

The poisonous fog had managed to melt off Henry’s Colt Armor and his other weapons, but he himself was fine. He was completely immune to any kind of poison out there.

Nevertheless, Hoosler’s surprise attack understandably angered Henry.

‘I’m sure he said Demon God.’

The Demon God was more powerful than the Demon King. It was the god that ruled the Demon Realm. However, not even Henry, the embodiment of wisdom, had seen the Demon God before. In fact, people weren’t even sure that the Demon God actually existed.

Henry’s expression grew dark as he looked down at Hoosler, who had almost completely melted away.

It was a brutal sight, but amazingly, Hoosler was still breathing.

“Gha...! Aaaghh...!”

Most of his skin had melted away, revealing his bloody muscles and bones, but even so, Hoosler was still drawing breath, his mouth quivering.

He looked like a dead man who desperately wanted to say something but couldn’t because of a silencing spell. However, the reason he couldn’t speak was that the acid had burnt through his throat, melting his vocal cords. Thus, he could only grunt and squeal, which only added to his unimaginable pain.

But melted or not, Henry wasn’t about to give up after fighting his way here.

“Elagon.”

- Khu khu.

“Heal him.”

- Khu khu khu!

Elagon hummed, undisturbed by Hoosler’s grotesque appearance, and started healing him.

A large amount of mana was rapidly drained from Henry’s Circle.

The more powerful Elagon’s healing was, the more mana he absorbed from Henry. However, Henry was unfazed by this and continued staring at Hoosler, who looked terrified as was being brought back from the brink of death.

There was a flash of light that persisted for a few good seconds. Hoosler’s skin and flesh had regenerated, and his damaged organs had been healed back to normal.

Just like that, Elagon had performed another miracle.

Seeing that Hoosler was back to his normal state, Henry said bluntly, “Wake up, Hoosler.”

“...?”

Hoosler slowly opened his eyes at Henry’s command.

Swoosh!

Just then, a sharp sound cut through the air, and Henry instinctively shielded the side of his face with his hand as he felt something flying at his head.

Gush!

An arrow went through his palm. Despite having his magic shield active, the arrow had pierced him clean.

Drip.

The arrow had gone all the way through Henry’s palm and managed to make a small gash in his temple, causing blood to trickle down his cheek.

However, Henry maintained his composure and calmly turned to look in the direction from where the arrow had been shot.

“Hold.”

Henry raised the hand with which he had blocked the arrow and bound Hoosler, who still hadn’t fully come to his senses. This time, Henry completely paralyzed Hoosler lest he bit his tongue again.

He then nonchalantly pulled out the arrow in his palm.

“Elagon.”

- Khu khu.

At Henry’s call, Elagon quickly healed his palm, leaving no trace of the wound. Henry then stomped on the ground and cast his thick Magic Shield once again, along with his Magic Armor, and then looked again to where the arrow had come from and shouted, “Reveal yourself!”

Kheeeee...

At Henry’s question, a strange sound came from within the dark temple. Soon, three dark figures emerged from the temple. They were knights, all of them roughly two meters tall, and they were covered in ink-black armor. They were carrying a sword, a spear, and a bow respectively, all the weapons being almost as big as them.

“They’re...?”

A cold smile appeared on Henry’s expression as he saw the black knights. They were releasing a tremendous amount of demonic energy and a scent evocative of death, one that only such beings could give off.

Henry had felt this before in the Demonic Beast Forest.

“Death Knights, huh...”

Those three looming figures were Death Knights.

The one holding the bow slowly pulled the bowstring again. He had to be the one who had shot the arrow that had pierced through Henry’s hand, drawing blood from his temple.

Whoosh!

Black energy was condensing at the tip of the knight’s arrow. This was the highest level of demonic energy, and it could only be used by high-ranking demonic creatures.

This was essentially the equivalent of the Aura that humans used.

Seeing how concentrated the demonic energy on the arrowhead was, Henry knew that the previous arrow hadn’t been a warning shot.

“Sword on.”

Now that Death Knights stood before him, Henry had no reason to hide his power any longer, so he drew his sword.

Znggg.

This was a more powerful Colt Sword, one that had a divine feeling to it thanks to its pure white hue. This was the first time Henry took out this particular Colt Sword.

No sooner had Henry drawn his blade than the archer Death Knight shot his arrow.

Clank!

As soon as the arrow was shot, Henry closed the distance between them with lightning speed and swung his sword at the Death Knight’s neck with all of his might. However, his blade failed to draw blood as a greatsword with a violet glow blocked it.

The swordsman Death Knight had interfered.

“Hmph.” Henry snorted, not fazed by this at all. He immediately released Aura from the tip of his sword to prevent the two Death Knights from counterattacking.

Boom!

As he detonated the Aura from his sword, Henry crouched down and put his hands on the ground.

“Frozen Field.”

Crack!

As soon as he heard the cracking sound of ice, Henry immediately drew back his sword, twisting his waist, and fiercely swung it at the Death Knights that were being immobilized by the ice rising from the ground.

Slice!

Henry felt that he hit something else with his blade beside the ice pillar. It was the long spear of the third Death Knight.

Henry smirked as he saw the spear fall on the ground in two pieces. He had cut clean through it, and with that amount of force and precision, Henry was confident that he would have a much easier time against these Death Knights than he had in the past.

This was the beginning of Henry's one-sided sword dance.

***

“Mmph...!”

Hoosler was horrified. He was completely paralyzed by Henry’s Hold spell, so he could only move his eyes and mumble. However, after that strange creature saved him, his expression lit up as he saw the Death Knights emerge from the temple.

They were called the Three Divine Knights of Nephram, and they were among Nephram’s greatest warriors, each as powerful as the weapons they wielded. Their physical strength was also fearsome.

However, Hoosler’s elation was short-lived. He had thought that the knights would cut that wizard into pieces and spread his remains on the ground, but the wizard was actually overpowering them with a strange sword infused with Aura he had never seen before.

In less than a minute, the Death Knights fell.

Henry sheathed his sword and looked at the temple. He murmured, “Earth Wave.”

Rumble...!

Just like the Death Knight with the bow from earlier, Henry didn’t give them a warning. His patience had run out, and mercy was out of the question. Besides, now that he had Hoosler, Henry didn’t think he needed any worshipers of Nephram.

Rumble...!

Once he cast the spell, the ground underneath the temple started quivering, losing its hard structure and becoming softer and more fluid, like the waves of a sea. Rocks turned to sand, sand turned to mud, which ultimately started swallowing the temple like quicksand.

“Mmph!”

Hoosler let out stifled cries as he watched the temple slowly sink into the ground. His eyes were so bulged that they looked like they would pop out at any moment.

Henry snapped his fingers and loosened the binding magic from Hoosler’s neck and upward.

“Speak.”

“Inside the temple! There’s someone inside the temple! Please save him!”

“Someone?”

“I beg you! Please! If you save the Messiah, I promise to be loyal to you!”

“Messiah?”

“He’s asleep inside the temple!”

This was an unexpected request.

Henry had thought that Hoosler was trying to curse at him, given how loud he was even through the binding magic, but it turned out to be something completely unexpected.

Henry thought about it for a moment and then clapped, causing the sandy ground beneath the temple to harden back to normal.

Henry walked inside the temple and looked around, and sure enough, there was a boy hanging like a cocoon in a spider’s web, just like Hoosler had said.

“They must be out of their minds.”

Henry clicked his tongue at the unnerving scene, then took the boy and led him out of the temple. He flung the boy in front of Hoosler and asked, “Explain this and don’t leave out a single detail.”

“I-I will explain all of it! So please spare me!”

The poisonous mist had melted off his clothes, so old man Hoosler was naked and terrified. In a panic, he started to explain everything as soon as Henry freed him from his Hold.

***

“Ha...”

By the time Hoosler finished explaining, Henry was sitting on a tall rock, in complete disbelief.

“Warlocks? That can't be...”

Henry was hung on the word ‘Warlock.’

Warlocks were worshippers of the Demon God. So unlike necromancers, who gained power by practicing black magic, warlocks gained power by serving the Demon God.

Also, Hoosler was in fact the leader of the Church of Nephram just like Henry had suspected. Although he and the Messiah were the only believers, Henry didn’t take their presence lightly now that he knew they were Warlocks.

‘Warlocks all of a sudden? I’m pretty sure I already killed them all. But more importantly, how did the Pope know about them?’

There were many things that didn’t add up.

If they were indeed Warlocks, the Pope’s motive for revealing their location to Henry didn’t make any sense.

The Church of Peace had a strict policy that everything associated with black magic and demonic energy had to be eliminated. And yet, Henry found himself in front of two Warlocks who possessed great divine powers—Hoosler, the leader of the Church of Nephram, and the Messiah.

After much consideration, Henry called out, “Hoosler...”

“Y-yes?!”

“What relationship does the Church of Nephram have with the imperial Church of Peace?”

“We...”

Henry finally asked the question that had been on his mind for the past few minutes.

Hoosler swallowed nervously before reluctantly replying, “We... have a pact of coexistence with the Church of Peace.”