Chapter 290 - Hatching (4)

‘Most things have been sorted... What’s left is...’

Henry had left Hector and Hoosler to Vulcanus and returned straight to Salgaera. He went to his office located on the top floor of the Snow Spire. He didn’t have anyone else in the office. Instead, he took something out of his pocket and placed it on the table.

‘What on earth are you?’

Henry had put the strange cracked egg, the one Hedajaon had given him back in Shahatra not too long ago, on the table. He still didn’t know what to do with it or what it was used for. The only thing he knew for certain was that the egg had cracked right after killing the Pope.

Henry didn’t hide the egg either. He was still unfamiliar with it, and even if he somehow ruined it, it wasn't like he could keep it a secret forever. Henry had explained the whole story to Herarion and the Saint and showed them the egg, but they didn’t know anything about it either.

Because of that, Henry had no choice but to bring the cracked egg to the Snow Spire. He intended to try various methods to uncover the secrets it held.

Henry held the egg in his hand and thought to himself,

‘Hedajaon must’ve had a reason for giving me this...’

Deep down, he wanted to visit the Tomb of Souls again and ask Hedajaon in person about this. However, Herarion had stopped him from doing so, explaining that the Khan's Eye was a sacred place that one could only access on special occasions.

Of course, Henry didn’t really get why Herarion was being so uptight about that, but he had no intention of insisting when Herarion said it was for religious reasons.

Henry moved the egg around in his palm.

‘If it was going to break, it should’ve broken completely...’

The egg had cracks all over its surface as if it would crack open at any moment. Henry held the egg and contemplated for a while.

This was not a divine object. Even Herarion had said he didn't know what it was and that it didn’t have an official rating. Moreover, Henry didn’t have to return it like Herabola’s rings. Hedajaon, the first king of Shahatra, had literally given Henry this egg as a gift through his grandson, essentially confirming that he wouldn’t have to return it.

‘Well then, there’s no reason to be extra cautious with this.’

Henry believed that Hedajaon hadn’t given him this egg without a reason. But since he hadn’t mentioned that it was a treasure or that it needed to be handled with care, Henry decided to be more adventurous with it.

‘Alright, they say a wizard is someone who explores. I can’t do anything if I’m cautious at every step.’

With that, Henry made up his mind to be more bold with the experiments on this egg, at least for the sake of satisfying just his intellectual curiosity if not for anything else.

Henry stopped rolling the egg in his hand and crushed it with great force.

Crack!

As the crack widened, Henry finally heard the sound he had been hoping for. The egg was completely crushed, and when he slowly opened his fist....

'A pearl?’

There was a round pearl that was slightly smaller than the egg itself.

‘A pearl? Out of all things?’

Henry, filled with uncertainty, gently picked up the pearl in his hand and scrutinized every part of it. Yet, no matter how hard he looked at it, it just seemed like a regular pearl to him.

‘Why was it inside the egg though?’

Henry was genuinely baffled as to why he was holding a pearl. He rolled it around in his palm for a while, hoping that something would happen, but nothing did.

‘Hmm, well I guess that’s it. What a waste of time.’

The pearl from the egg was all he had earned from his little exploration this time. Sighing out of disappointment, Henry had no other choice but to place the pearl in his pocket and set aside his curiosity for the time being.

After all, he still had a ton of work he had to deal with.

Henry then took out a piece of parchment from his pocket.

“Did he say two?”

The parchment, according to Logger and Ananda, contained detailed information about two religions that had vanished after the religious war—Orion and Dumbillon. Those two religions maintained their existence even after losing the religious war, but only under the strict surveillance of the Church of Peace, much like how the Pope had treated the Church of Nephram.

‘Let's begin with Dumbillon.’

Henry didn’t choose Dumbillon first for any specific reason other than it was closer to Salgaera.

And with that, twenty days passed.

***

“Unbelievable...”

Henry slumped onto a stone slab, his face filled with despair. Before him lay dozens of priests from the Church of Orion, all of them covered in blood.

The Church of Orion was the second church Henry had visited in his quest to find a deity to help him against Arthus, following his visit to the Church of Dumbillon.

But this time, Henry had to face the harsh truth that he had been greatly mistaken. He had been naive to think that he could find a deity to help him against Arthus just through dialogue and negotiation.

“Grr...!”

The leader of the Church of Orion groaned at his feet, all bloodied and wounded. Henry stared down at him with cold, piercing eyes.

Henry realized that these bastards were crazy, completely devoid of reason. They had lost the religious war decades ago, yet they lived like fanatics, their only dream being the resurgence of their church.

What these people had wasn’t faith, but madness infused with hatred. Their lives were completely dominated by the desire to see their religion become prominent once again, along with the jealousy they had toward the Church of Peace.

Henry had initially thought of using their madness to his advantage and convince them to let him become the chosen one of their deity. After all, he was only after the divine power of a deity, not the spiritual and mental comfort attained through faith and prayer.

Unfortunately, their god and their divine power were the only things they had left after losing in the religious war. And because of this, Henry knew that regardless of how much he would persuade them and promise that he would help resurrect their church, they would never willingly let him, an outsider, to be their god’s chosen one.

Henry knew this was because they feared him. They were scared that he would take away everything they still had left. And also...

“You folks have completely lost touch with reality,” Henry scolded the fallen religious leader, sighing in disappointment at the end. He then raised his sword and swung it at the leader, who squirmed like an insect before his demise.

Slash!

Henry felt his blade cutting clean through flesh. Some blood splattered, and the leader no longer moved, his body already growing cold. With this, the Church of Orion had really come to an end.

Henry didn’t feel guilty in the slightest. He knew that their faith had devolved into madness, and that they were no longer seeking spiritual solace but revenge for how they had been treated in the past.

‘Dealing with people with such ideologies would be a problem.’

Henry almost understood why Pope Ross had chosen to eliminate them.

“

Sigh

.”

He then got up from the stone slab he had been standing on and directed his attention to the Statue of God within the temple.

“Orion... Huh...”

Orion was the god of justice and balance. However, it seemed like his worshippers had a rather dark and twisted interpretation of what justice and balance meant.

“My apologies,” Henry muttered to the statue before leaving the temple. Once outside, he raised his right hand and lowered it slowly.

Crumble! Crash!

The temple collapsed to the ground as Henry's magic silently destroyed it. Dust and debris flew everywhere, and Henry carefully checked for any possible survivors.

‘Hmm, I guess there aren’t any.’

For some reason, Henry had an uneasy feeling that he could’ve gotten more out of this place. However, he didn’t go after any of its divine objects because he knew that their value would pale in comparison to the rings Herabola had given him, even if there were hundreds and thousands of them.

With that, Henry had completely wiped away the two other churches that had been part of that religious war.

“So what, about ten days left...?”

There were ten days left until Arthus’ next move, and Henry had yet to devise a suitable plan to counter him, which frustrated him greatly.

After taking down Dumbillon, he had been hoping that the Church of Orion would be able to help him achieve what he wanted. He had been hoping that even as he stepped inside their temple. But now, it all lay in ruins, his hopes nothing more than a fanciful dream.

‘Well then, the only option left is...’

He had tried his best to come up with new ways to counter Arthus all this time, but he had always come short. And now, the only option to prepare against Arthus within the remaining ten days was to do what he did best.

‘Alright, let’s give it a shot.’

With that, Henry cast Teleportation, the bright light enveloping him and sending him to Salgaera.

***

The Snow Spire in Salgaera was full of murmur. Despite their usual preference for silence, all the wizards within the spire were now buzzing. This was because Henry had summoned all of them to the lobby of the first floor.

Henry came down from the upper floors of the tower on a floating stone, and the crowd went quiet at his appearance. He stood at the highest point of the first-floor lobby, with the heads of various magic schools, including Lore and Stan, to his side.

“Is everyone here?” Henry asked toward the crowd.

“Yes!”

Much like everyone else, the school leaders at Henry’s side were in the dark as to why he had gathered everyone all of a sudden. They had come together just because they had been told so. Thus, for the first time in a long while, all the wizards of the Snow Spire had gathered together on the first floor.

Henry took a look at all the wizards filling the lobby. He noticed that their eyes were gleaming with anticipation, eager to hear what he had to say. Among them was Howl, who had the privilege of studying magic at the Snow Spire thanks to him.

As he looked around, Henry finally spoke up.

“It's good to see all of you so full of vigor. I’ve gathered all of you here today because I have an important announcement to make.”

The words ‘important announcement’

hadn’t been uttered ever since the wizards had relocated here from the Magical Spire after Henry had become the new leader. Thus, everyone gulped. Some wizards were excited by the sudden news, but most were anxious, given the current circumstances.

Noticing this, Henry reassured everyone.

“I see that some of you are quite apprehensive, but I assure there’s nothing to be anxious about. What I'm about to share is simpler than you might expect.”

The crowd stayed silent, and Henry continued, “Ten days from now, the Snow Spire will take part in the final battle that will determine the fate of our continent.”

“...!”

“...!”

The final battle meant a full-on war against Arthus, including his Chimeras and apostles. However, Henry wasn't finished just yet.

“So in the next ten days, my plan is to help you evolve by at least one or two Circles."

“...!”

“...!”

Evolving their Circles in ten days was indeed a unique method that Henry could try in order to fight Arthus. In other words, he would prepare everyone here as wizards.