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Chapter 234 - Clash (3)

‘Is this the Highlander region?’

Henry calculated the coordinates of the Highlander region and Teleported there. However, upon arrival, he noticed that the region was far different from what he remembered.

‘This is probably all because of Arthus.’

Of course, the Highlander region had already been pretty well developed as Arthus tended to invest a lot in the things he owned. This region had always been important to him, but when he founded the Aenia Empire and made the Highlander region the capital, its development skyrocketed.

‘Alright, let’s get going.’

Henry was confident that he could sneak into the capital in the middle of the war because Arthus’ entire army was focused on conquering the rest of the continent; there was nobody left in the capital to stop Henry from carrying out his assassination plot.

Henry felt like Arthus’ staying behind in the capital wasn’t right. Conquering the continent was meaningless if the emperor himself wasn’t there to claim victory.

Furthermore, sending the entire army to conquer the continent obviously carried risks, such as leaving the emperor vulnerable to assassination, which was what Henry would attempt to do. It made no sense for Arthus to overlook that risk, especially since he had learned about Henry, a 7th-Circle Archmage, from the right minister.

Nevertheless, the fact that Arthus concentrated all of his forces on the conquest of the continent suggested that he still had a trump card no one else knew about.

‘I’m sure it\'s the Chimeras.’

Henry assumed that Arthus’ secret weapon was the Chimeras.

‘This would all make sense if his trump card is the Chimeras, since even Von struggled against one in the past.’

Von himself had almost died because of a Chimera. However, after the incident with Mordred, Chimeras had rarely been seen.

‘Just what in the world are you up to, Arthus?’

Henry couldn\'t understand Arthus’ intentions, which is why he had come all the way to the capital to find out for himself.

“Sword on. Armor on.”

Henry summoned his sword and armor.

He had no intention of wasting time, as the allied forces were in the middle of a battle against the imperial army, which was two times their size.

Henry’s soldiers could be dying at that very moment, which was why he couldn’t afford to waste any time; every second was precious.

Whoosh!

Green flames enveloped Henry’s body as he summoned the Colt Sword and Colt Armor. He then summoned many more white-colored weapons.

Henry then stomped his foot.

Boom! Tzzzz!

Henry cast the strongest magic armor at his disposal. He was overflowing with power. His physical strength was through the roof, every fiber of his body brimming with power. On top of that, all of his senses were extremely heightened.

‘Here I come.’

Boom!

Henry bolted toward Arthus’ palace, his speed amplified tremendously by the spells he had cast.

Imperial soldiers were guarding the entrance to the palace. As soon as they saw Henry approaching, they were shocked and quickly raised their Aura-infused spears.

However, it was futile, as Henry had no intention of persuading them. He swung his sword forward.

Swosh!

An emerald-colored Aura blade shot forward, and like a razor-sharp gust of wind, it sliced the soldiers in half from the waist.

However, Henry’s sword strike didn’t just cut the soldiers in half; it also left a mark on the palace wall behind them. It looked as if a giant beast had scratched the wall with its claw.

Boom!

“W-what was that?!”

There was a big commotion.

With an attack as powerful as that, the people within the palace grounds had to have heard the commotion at the gates. At the sudden loud noise, everyone stopped what they were doing and turned their heads.

Boom!

Just then, the gates of the imperial palace, which could only be opened by a specific mechanism, were smashed open as if they were the flimsy doors of a shack.

A large cloud of dust formed, and as it settled down, those within the palace could see a silhouette surrounded by green flames.

It was Henry.

Crack, crack.

Henry cracked his joints and stretched out his neck.

Thanks to his magic armor, Henry’s current strength was extraordinary, which was why he had torn apart those gates as if they were made of paper.

“W-what the...!”

Besides the emerald-colored Aura, Henry also gave off an indescribable, strong murderous aura, which made him seem like a demon.

“Hah, that crazy bastard. He sure did build a massive palace,” muttered Henry as he took his first step onto the palace grounds.

Henry saw hundreds of horrified eyes on him, which was understandable. After all, who in their right mind would dare to trespass so casually into the imperial palace alone in broad daylight?

“What are you looking at?” Henry spoke to the horrified crowd of people.

A single statement was enough. The court ladies screamed, and the palace guards swarmed Henry like wasps.

Smirk.

To Henry, these pitiful guards were no more of a threat than rabbits. He didn’t move; he merely stood still and watched as more and more guards gathered.

Hundreds of guards surrounded Henry, and all of them could use Aura.

Finally, when it seemed like there were more than three hundred guards, a man with distinctive armor pointed his spear at Henry and demanded, “Who are you?!”

Henry scoffed at this; it was ridiculous.

Even at first glance, it was obvious that Henry was ten times stronger than everyone here combined. Thus, what kind of loyalty could this guard possibly have for Arthus that would cause him to dare point a spear at Henry?

Several thoughts crossed Henry’s mind. He sighed as he looked with pity at the guards. He then slowly rose in the air

“...Huh?!”

As Henry rose in the air, the guards stepped back, all of them perplexed by what they were seeing.

Some archers joined late and drew their bows back, pointing them at Henry.

“Tsk.”

Henry flew even higher, and when he was high enough that everyone at the palace could see him, he firmly declared, “My name is Henry Morris, and I’m the one and only disciple of the late Archmage.”

Henry’s voice, amplified by magic, echoed throughout the palace. His declaration caused everyone at the scene to stare in disbelief, their jaws hitting the floor. They were truly horrified.

“H-Henry Morris?”

“The late Archmage’s disciple?”

“A wizard?”

Only a few people in the Aenia Empire knew about Henry’s existence. Given the current situation of the continent, Henry’s introduction was utterly shocking.

Of course, some people didn’t believe that he was the disciple of the late Archmage, but the fact that he was flying and his voice was amplified by magic made it clear that he was a wizard, not a knight.

Given that Arthus had ordered for all wizards to be executed or taken prisoners, the fact that a wizard had barged into the palace by himself was enough to send shivers down everyone’s spines.

It wasn’t just the court ladies who were shocked, but also the imperial guards who had surrounded Henry.

“N-no way...!”

“That can’t be...”

Everyone was whispering among themselves.

Henry raised his Colt Sword above his head and summoned a giant ice boulder.

“In one minute from now, I’m going to turn this palace into rubble, so if you don’t want to die, leave now!”

Giving these people a chance to escape was the least Henry could do. After all, they were all people of the lower class who didn’t know anything.

Henry’s warning caused everyone to whisper among themselves again, this time with more apprehension.

One of the court ladies, unable to contain her fear, bolted toward where the gates had been.

“H-how dare you?!”

As she fled, the high-ranking guard, who had asked for Henry’s identity, became furious. He then snatched the bow from the archer next to him and pointed it at the fleeing court lady.

Whoosh!

There was a sharp sound, and just when his arrow was about to hit the court lady...

Clank!

The arrow was blocked.

“What an idiot.”

Henry had cast a magic shield on the court lady’s back, saving her life. Thanks to him the court lady managed to safely escape the palace.

Henry snapped his fingers again, and...

“Argh!”

Sharp thorns shot up from under the guard who had shot the arrow, piercing him in many places.

Henry shouted again, “I’ll say this one last time! Leave the palace at once! If you don’t, I’ll consider you my enemy, and you’ll end up like this sorry bastard!”

“Nooo!”

Sometimes, a single scary warning was more effective than a speech.

The moment Henry finished his second warning, the guards and the court ladies hurriedly ran away.

“Ha.”

It had been well over a minute, but Henry patiently waited until everyone got out.

After most of the people at the palace escaped, Henry pulled back the huge ice boulder he had summoned like a catapult. He then threw it with all his might, as if skipping rocks.

Swoosh!

A heavy sound cut through the air.

Henry purposefully put a spin on the ice boulder to enhance its destructive power. He had aimed for the throne.

Boom!

The spinning ice boulder shattered everything it landed on, resulting in dust everywhere.

Henry finally lowered himself to the ground and slowly walked toward the shattered throne.

“Ahhhh!”

The terrified court ladies who hadn’t yet escaped from their hiding places screamed and ran past Henry. However, he didn’t pay any attention to them. Instead, he focused all his attention on the ice boulder he had thrown.

Crack! Crack!

Just then, the ice boulder, which was deeply lodged in the ground, began moving and suddenly bounced back.

Whoosh!

The ice boulder flew back at Henry, clearly aimed at him.

Seeing this, Henry smirked. Just as the boulder was about to hit his head, it stopped in midair.

“So there really is something here.”

Henry had stopped the ice boulder solely with his mana. He tossed it aside and then fixed his gaze back where the throne was.

-Kurk kurk.

It was an unpleasant, but familiar chuckle. Thinking back, Henry said to himself, “Was it Waled? There must be someone else like Alfred’s son.”

He couldn’t remember whether it was Waled or Syred who had turned into a Chimera; both of them had been worthless people, not worth remembering.

However, Henry found Chimeras interesting. He glanced in the direction of where the sound had come from, his lips curving into a smile.

As the dust settled down, Henry could see two monsters and a man beside them, who had long silver hair and wore a colorful silk robe.

That man had always worn a smile, but not once had it been a genuine, pleasant smile.

He was none other than the emperor of the Aenia Empire, Arthus Highlander, the man at the very top of Henry’s list of people to kill.