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Chapter 263 - Paying the Price (9)

Henry sought refuge in the city\'s best hospital. Renowned for its exceptional medical equipment and dedicated physicians, the hospital made sure that Henry would receive the best treatment there was. This, of course, was possible thanks to Vulcanus, who made sure that Henry could rest in the same premium ward where he had once been hospitalized.

Lying on the bed, Henry expressed his relief to Vulcanus.

“Still, I’m glad that nothing happened to Monsieur...”

“Don’t jinx it. You never know.”

“Haha, my apologies...”

Even though they exchanged light jokes, Henry couldn’t seem to relax. There were a few moments of silence, and just when Henry was about to nod off, he jerked awake again.

“How... How did it all turn out like this?”

Henry was frustrated with the situation but was also aware that there wasn’t much he could do to turn things around. And because of this, Henry had a rather negative, self-deprecating attitude.

Hearing Henry, Vulcanus held his hand as a comforting gesture and responded with a bitter smile, “Don’t be too harsh on yourself. The world has always been this way. It’s full of irrational and contradictory things, but we still have to carry on living despite all of that.”

Henry couldn’t help but sigh at Vulcanus’ generic answer. Even though he knew Vulcanus was trying to make him feel better, it didn’t work at all.

Henry closed his eyes.

The weight of the situation was taking its toll on Henry, and the exhaustion from using too much magic power made him feel like his brain was about to melt any second. In fact, he felt like his head would explode because of all the other things he had to worry about as well.

At this point, Henry could no longer rely on temporary solutions like healing potions or energizing elixirs.

Knowing this, Vulcanus lit incense known for its calming properties. Henry could tell that the incense was working their magic; he just wanted to sleep. Now, Henry dispelled his negative thoughts and reassured himself that he had done the best he could.

‘How good would it feel if I could just sleep two...? No, three days... Three days would be amazing...’

The sheer exhaustion had put Henry in a vulnerable state of mind, causing him to make childish wishes. Vulcanus felt bad to see the young Henry in such a pitiful state.

‘I bet he’s been through a lot.’

Vulcanus had some understanding of the situation. He knew roughly what Henry was going through, so he decided to not burden him with anything else. Instead, he aimed to help Henry in any way possible and ease his burdens.

Henry gradually relaxed even more. As it became more difficult for him to keep his eyes open, he felt like his mind was becoming hazy and time was slowing down.

Henry felt like every problem was going to be solved by the time he woke up. With that, he tried to fall asleep with all of his trivial thoughts, worries, and anger all intertwined together.

In the midst of everything, Henry wished that this was just a dream, a nightmare. He felt that maybe the nightmare would be dispelled after he woke up, and then he could just spend his time in the lab and research how to awaken the 9th-Circle in peace.

But just as sleep was about to sink Henry into oblivion...

Vzzz...!

Something in his pocket vibrated slightly.

‘Vibrating... light...?’

Henry saw a fairly bright flash of light appear in front of his eyes.

‘This is...’

In his hazy, half-conscious state, Henry slowly mulled over what the vibration and light could be. However, he couldn’t think of an answer right away because he had used too much magic power. He knew he would’ve figured out what it was if he hadn’t pushed himself to the limit.

While Henry was contemplating, he heard Vulcanus, but it seemed like he was hearing his voice from underwater.

“Henry.”

His voice became clearer with each passing moment, and soon...

"Henry!”

“Ahh...!”

Once Henry heard Vulcanus’ voice clearly, he jolted up from his bed as though waking from a bad dream. He then looked at the numerous rings of light with a surprised expression.

“Isn’t... Isn’t this...?!”

As he looked at the rings, Henry quickly went for the things that vibrated in his pockets. They were a bunch of caller scrolls, which explained the light rings that were swirling in front of him.

This was the first time Henry had seen this many rings appear in front of him, and they were the reason Vulcanus had urgently woken him up.

“Henry, what’s all this?”

At his question, Henry rubbed his eyes and got up with a strained expression.

“Mayor, my apologies, but I’ll have to tell you the details later.”

“No, I understand!”

Even Vulcan, with his limited understanding of the situation, sensed that something wasn’t right. Henry, still frowning, proceeded to read the coordinates that the numerous rings displayed.

“Damn it...!”

It wasn\'t just one or two caller scrolls. If his assumptions were correct, most of the scrolls he had given away were now active. Henry swiftly read and memorized the coordinates and cast Teleportation promptly.

\'Shit! Shit! Shit!\'

Cursing was enough to describe the situation. Without further delay, Henry was engulfed by a ray of light and disappeared.

***

Henry arrived where Lore was. He had ordered Lore to wait for the present Arthus might send to attack the city. However, at his sudden appearance, Lore couldn\'t help but express his surprise.

“Archmage, what brings you here?”

“Lore, we don’t have time. Assemble all the Archmages you can right now.”

“Uh, alright? But why all of a sudden? Has something happened?”

“I got signals from my caller scrolls, many signals, in fact. I think something happened to the others.”

“...!”

“We don’t have much time, so get going! And as soon as you gather them, go to the places listed here. In the end, we’ll all meet in Monsieur!”

“Yes, Archmage!”

Henry handed Lore the piece of paper and disappeared again. The paper contained the coordinates from the multiple rings of light from earlier.

***

“That was pretty entertaining,” remarked Grumpy from the Shahatra Palace, or what used to be the Shahatra Palace. His intense battle with Hector had destroyed more than half of the palace, making it unrecognizable.

Their fight had been overwhelming, but throughout the entirety of it, Grumpy had never felt threatened by Hector. On the other hand, Hector had gotten increasingly desperate as the fight went on.

\'Shit...!’

Hector was on the ground, his head crushed by Grumpy’s foot. Hector struggled desperately to free himself from the clutches of the monster. However, with him being in the body of a Korun, a low-level monster, he stood no chance against Grumpy\'s overwhelming power.

“You have an interesting body structure. Are you one of us?”

Grumpy, blessed by Arthus, possessed divine power that came from Janus. This power allowed him to recognize Hector, who had returned to the human world from the Underworld.

Gritting his teeth, Hector retorted, “Don’t compare me to cross-bred bastards like you...!”

“Cross-bred... What an interesting word for you to use. Is that all you have to say?”

“You piece of shit! Just kill me already!”

Stomp!

‘Cross-bred’ and ‘piece of shit.’ Hearing those words, Grumpy had no mercy toward Hector. He immediately pressed his foot on his head, crushing the Korun’s head like a watermelon.

“Ha!” Grumpy snorted in satisfaction as Hector went limp. He then muttered softly, “Quite the effort for you to waste my time. I only went along with your foolish acts out of courtesy.”

Grumpy had known from the very beginning that Hector was just trying to stall him so that Herarion could escape. Grumpy had played along with this for one simple reason—to show Hector before he died that he was nothing more than a mere pawn in Arthus’ grand plan.

In other words, Grumpy had wanted to display his superiority, but it wasn’t just that. Grumpy had been curious about Hector’s form, thinking that he was similar to them because he had Janus’ blessing, so he had wanted to see which of them was superior.

However, Grumpy now realized that he had wasted time on something trivial. As he shook off the blood from his foot, Grumpy moved along.

Half of the palace was already in ruins and countless people had been punished, killed, by the Spears of Judgment. Grumpy had used this method of executing people even before he had become an apostle.

Grumpy strode toward the Shahatra Gate, the gate Henry had made in the past. The surroundings were covered in the debris of the Shahatra Magic School, which had resulted from the previous battle.

“Strange.”

Grumpy didn’t come here for the teleportation gate, but because he sensed a faint divine power in the vicinity. But no matter how much he heightened his senses, he couldn’t detect any beings that emanated divine power. Puzzled, Grumpy moved over to another location.

As he moved away from the Shahatra Gate, Howl, who had been holding his breath, let out a short sigh of relief.

“Pha!”

It had been a close call. If Grumpy had taken a few more steps, he would’ve discovered everyone who was being concealed by Viram’s barrier. Herarion was also among them.

The moment Hector stepped up to act as bait, Herarion tore up his caller scroll and gathered all the survivors scattered around the palace. There were just too many people within the palace for him to run away by himself.

Thankfully, most of the important people, like the queen, his mother, and High Priest Viram, had managed to survive.

The moment Herarion met up with Viram, the priest cast a high-level illusion barrier and gathered the survivors with everything they could do at the moment. They tried bringing in every survivor, from guards to chambermaids. Herarion was the type of king who didn’t leave his people behind no matter how dire the situation was.

As Grumpy disappeared from his sight, Herarion calmed down the anxious people once again.

“Everyone, please hang in there just a bit longer. The Grand Archmage will come save us any minute now...!”

Hector had been the strongest one here, and he had lost. Thus, the only thing Herarion could do was wait for Henry in the illusion barrier with Viram.

‘If only Kale were still alive...!’

Herarion bit his lip. If Kale were alive, he could’ve activated the Shahatra Gate a long time ago. But suddenly...

Whir-!

They heard a familiar noise—the sharp, whirring sound they had heard before the massacre had begun. At this, everyone instinctively tensed up, knowing what was to follow. Everyone within the barrier turned pale as they braced for the end.

“That’s...!”

Grumpy had given up looking for Herarion, but he still felt divine power coming from somewhere. So instead, he decided to change his approach. He intended to shower the royal palace, or what was left of it, with Spears of Judgment so that they would hit every nook and cranny.

Soon, the sky was full of thorns, and everyone within the barrier looked up in despair.

“Herarion, you brought this upon yourself.”

With that, Grumpy lowered his arm, causing the spears to fall on everyone with tremendous speed.

“Gha!”

“Argh!”

“GAH!”

The spears pierced numerous people. At this, Herarion desperately took cover for his wife, Selene. Despite his efforts to take hits for the queen, his frail body would be useless against the Spears of Judgment.

One of the thorns hit Herarion in the back, reaching Selene’s heart as well.

“Gha! Se-Selene...!”

“Y-Your Majesty...”

Without even being able to let out a death cry, Selene died on the spot.