81漫画

Chapter 209 - Chasing Tails (10)

‘Here he comes!’

If anything, it would’ve been weird if Balak hadn’t woken up due the tremendous vibrations of the Iron Curtain.

Henry felt a strange sense of joy at the intense destructive force that hit the curtain.

Whoosh!

A blue meteor-like object had flown through the darkness.

The Black Punisher remained stuck in the wall for a few seconds, then returned to the hands of its owner. It had left an enormous crater in the curtain, as if an actual meteor had struck it.

“Who’s there?” asked Balak, breaking the silence. His voice was calm, but at the same time sharper than any blade.

However, Henry didn’t answer. Instead, he brought his right hand down and jerked it upward, as if pulling something up by its roots.

Rumble!

The Iron Curtain started rising even faster from the ground, with a thicker structure as well.

“Tsk.”

Balak frowned, as this was not the answer he wanted. His murderous aura became even stronger. Seeing the iron structure being created out of nothing, he naturally assumed that his opponent was a wizard.

‘You sure are reckless.’

With the entire continent under orders to eliminate all wizards, how could a wizard dare to reveal himself to Balak?

He thought that the wizard had to have gone insane. Balak quickly re-equipped his armor, murderous aura pouring from his three-horned helmet like a waterfall.

Earlier, he had thrown the Black Punisher as a warning, but now that he was fully armed and had fairly issued a warning, there was no longer any need to go easy on his opponent.

“Hmph!”

Balak inhaled, causing his muscles to bulge and his chest to expand.

‘World Shredder!’

Boom!

He used his decisive skill, the World Shredder.

He concentrated his Aura in the Black Punisher and shattered the earth.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The World Shredder didn’t stop as Balak continued to hit the ground like a drum. Soon, cracks appeared in the ground as it gradually became more unstable.

‘So this is how you want to go about this, huh?’

Balak planned to make the curtain collapse by shaking the ground from which it rose. However, Henry wasn’t just going to stand there and watch this happen.

Snap!

“Grace of the Sea!”

Before the curtain fell, Henry quickly cast his spell and summoned the sea. At the same time, the Iron Curtain continued to rise.

Rumble!

A massive amount of seawater flowed right into the ground where the Iron Curtain was rising from.

Balak looked perplexed.

“Damn it!”

Swish!

The curtain continued to rise together with the water. Balak’s attack was now significantly weaker due to the pressure of the water.

“Light.”

Flash!

The seawater was quite clear, so Henry cast Light to keep his eyes on Balak, who was deep under the water.

Both the curtain and the water continued to rise. Henry had prepared this kind of special combo in order to tame truly violent beasts.

‘Even though knights are skilled fighters, they become helpless if they can’t close the gap between them and their opponent.’

The way that knights dealt with wizards was simple.

As long as the Aura they surrounded themselves with was stronger than the magic cast by the wizard, knights could withstand any magic attacks from the wizard. However, Balak was helpless against Henry since the Archmage kept his distance after casting a combination of spells.

Boom...!

The sound of the World Shredder grew fainter and fainter, and when it died out completely, Henry stopped creating the underwater prison.

It was a massive underwater prison, around twenty-five meters tall, so the volume of water was quite high.

“Frozen Night.”

Shhh...

“Ugh!”

Henry formed small ice crystals in his palm and threw them at the water tower.

Plop!

The tiny crystals hit the water with a soft plop, and then...

Crack!

The water that filled the tower froze in an instant.

“Cancel.”

Henry removed the Iron Curtain.

The entire curtain, which had been rising just moments ago, turned into mana and returned to Henry.

Thud.

Henry landed on the ground and stood in front of Balak, who was trapped inside a massive twenty-five meter tall pillar of ice.

“He’s still the same as back then,” commented Henry as he stared at the ferocious beast trapped in ice.

He took a closer look at Balak, who was frozen still in the position of swinging the Black Punisher. Balak was still alive, but just barely, as Henry had frozen him in place without the intent to kill him.

“Hmm.”

For now, Henry had succeeded in capturing him alive.

At first, he thought about having a conversation with Balak, but seeing how vicious he looked even in his frozen state, Henry changed his mind.

He summoned Klever.

“Klever.”

“Yes, Master.”

“Keep this for me.”

“Alright.”

Clever opened the Chest at Henry’s command, and then devoured Balak in one bite.

Gulp!

Klever had swallowed Balak, or rather, the entire chunk of ice in which he was trapped. Henry then melted what remained of the ice pillar and dismissed Klever.

“Alright, I’ve sorted the urgent matters, so now all that’s left is to find Hector...”

Hector didn’t have any legs because he was a spirit with no body. Therefore, it was impossible to determine his whereabouts with Step Image.

Henry brought his palm to his forehead, annoyed at the tricky situation.

“Hmm...”

Henry pondered on the situation. Hector was certainly a valuable asset. However, when Henry thought of the amount of things he could get done in the time that it took to track down a spirit...

“I’m sure he’ll be fine on his own.”

Henry decided to have faith in Hector. He was sure that Hector was smarter than he seemed.

“Teleport.”

Having finished his business, Henry cast Teleportation.

* * *

Strange rumors spread among the warlords. They heard that the Aenia Empire had sent hunters to mercilessly hunt them down, but the catch was that they would be spared if they agreed to join the Aenia army. If they refused, they would be executed.

At first, most didn\'t believe it. However, the rumors turned out to be true as more and more warlords who had tried to ambush refugees were found escorting them instead.

The warlords reacted in one of two ways

Some of them opted to join the imperial army, while others declared that they would rather become mercenaries. The reason for the latter was quite simple: they didn\'t want to lead a boring and stale life serving in the military again.

Many of those who enlisted in the imperial army did so simply to earn a living oran alternative to being sent to a prison facility as criminals.

Having made their decision, the warlords started moving. Some traveled to the Highlander region like Balak had instructed them to, while others followed those warlords and escorted the refugees so that they could enlist as well.

The warlords that wanted to become mercenaries stopped plundering, and most of them relocated to Vivaldi or to the mercenary city of Feysiling.

“It’s just as Sir Henry has said.”

Vant, the mayor of Vivaldi, was once again amazed at Henry\'s foresight as he checked the identities of the people who had just arrived.

“Soon, refugees, former soldiers of the Eurasian Empire, and mercenaries from all over the place will be entering the free cities. Then, you can start recruiting soldiers for the city army when the time is right.”

War was a fight between people after all. Of course, the presence of a hundred really powerful men, like Henry or Balak, would make a huge difference in the war. However, it was the ordinary soldiers that did the majority of the fighting.

What Henry wanted was simple.

Henry promised safety and rations to those who fled to the free cities to avoid conscription and out of overall fear of war. In addition he planned to use them as city soldiers.

Of course, he didn’t plan to force them into becoming soldiers like the empire was trying to do. He would just wait for them to feel cornered and vulnerable so that they would join the city army out of their own volition. The mindset of a soldier who had enlisted voluntarily differed greatly from that of a soldier who had been forced to enlist.

Now, given the swarm of scared and desperate people hoping to get inside Vivaldi, it was the perfect time to form a city army.

After checking the papers of the newly arrived people and the statistical graphs, Vant summoned his officials.

“You called, Mayor?”

“Yes. Thank you all for staying on top of your duties despite the chaos, I really appreciate it.”

“No worries.”

Vant was not an authoritative mayor. He was the kind of man who believed that the more chaotic the times were, the less authoritarian he had to be. Just because they were the officials of Vivaldi didn’t mean that they couldn\'t sense the turbulent state of the continent.

“The reason I\'ve called you all here today is because I\'ve been thinking of recruiting soldiers, starting today, for a city army controlled exclusively by Vivaldi. I was thinking of starting with those who have just entered the city,” Vant continued.

“When you say city army, are you talking about... forming a military?”

“Yes. Now that the empire has fallen, I\'m afraid that if we continue as we are, we’ll be taken over by the Aenia Empire and be forcibly conscripted.”

“But in order to organize a city army, we need the proper budget and a command structure to control the soldiers, as well as a large number of people with relevant experience.”

“I’m aware of that.”

“Huh?”

“Weren\'t you all paid a few days ago despite the fall of the empire?”

“Yes...”

“That paycheck, who do you think gave it to you?”

“...?”

Now that they thought about it, even the leaders of the largest merchants always worried about payday because there was a lot of money going out at once.

However, with the Eurasian Empire gone, what money were they getting paid with?

“In short, we’ll use our city army as a stepping stone to become an independent nation, free from the interference of any other nation.”

“What...?”

There was more they wanted to say, but the officials decided to keep their mouths shut because they were eager to hear what Vant had to say next.

“I know what you\'re all worried about, which is why I brought him here. Now, will you please come out?”

Vant called for someone.

All the officials looked expectantly toward where Vant gestured with his hand.

“...!”

“H-he’s...?”

The jaws of the officials dropped to the floor. The person they saw was none other than Lore Gillian, the head of the Magical Spire of the former empire.

“Nice to meet you all.”

Vant smiled in satisfaction at the officials\' reactions.