Chapter 305 - The Great Expedition (7)
‘Red light?’
Henry was surprised to see that the energy emanating from Dracan was red instead of the typical blue color of mana.
Seeing Henry’s surprised look, Dracan smiled and immediately clapped.
Clap!
As soon as he clapped, the air around him twisted into a vortex, and thorns that looked like spearheads shot out from it.
“Jealousy of Yagerlamp.”
Pshhh!
Dracan summoned sharp thorns that resembled the lances of cavalrymen, relentlessly firing them at Henry. It was as though an army of elite archers shot deadly arrows at him.
However, Henry didn’t move. Instead, he cast a Magic Shield to defend himself. As the thorns hit the shield, it sounded as if raindrops were hitting a window.
The light tapping sounds were evidence that the thorns had no chance of penetrating Henry’s Magic Shield.
‘It’s no use.’
Henry shook his head. He had been caught off guard for a moment, seeing someone with mana that wasn’t blue for the first time. However, that was it.
It didn’t seem like Dracan had trained in swordsmanship like he had. It also seemed that just the color of his mana was special, for its potency and power were inferior to Henry’s mana.
Henry felt disappointed in himself for having high expectations, even if it had been for just a moment.
In any case, he set his mind straight. Even when hunting rabbits, a bird of prey gave its all.
His opponent was a Circle below him, but even so, the 7th-Circle was nevertheless powerful, not something to be underestimated. Moreover, Dracan was a ruthless traitor that had chosen Arthus over the Magical Spire, so Henry had plenty of reasons to keep his guard up.
‘Reveal your intentions, Dracan!’
The thorns still slammed against the Magic Shield and dropped to the ground. Nonetheless, Henry didn’t let up one bit. Rather, he planned to kill Dracan as quickly as possible before he could do anything else.
Henry stretched his hands upward. Then, as if ripping off an invisible ceiling, he grabbed the air and yanked it down at Dracan.
A second later, lightning struck.
Ptzzz!
This was the same kind of lightning magic he had used on Arthus back in Monsieur.
Given that Henry’s mana was constantly in synergy with Nature and significantly more powerful and abundant than before, he could use this kind of lightning magic without chanting the spell out loud.
...Ptzzz!
The lightning lasted for about three seconds before it disappeared. Updated from n0velbIn.(c)o/m
Henry gazed at where the lightning had struck. There was a small crater and a large, charred, coal-like silhouette.
It was Dracan, or at least that was what Henry thought.
‘Is he dead?’
The thorns that had been hitting his Magic Shield suddenly disappeared. This showed just how terrifying Henry’s lightning was.
Henry glanced at the current still flowing around the crater and then took a closer look at the charred silhouette.
The smell of burnt flesh filled the air. Even the soil at the bottom of the crater was completely black. No living thing could have withstood that lightning bolt.
However, Henry wasn’t convinced he had won just yet. Instead, he waved his hand in the air once more and summoned a huge boulder, dropping it on the charred figure which he presumed to be Dracan.
Whoosh!
The boulder was meant to completely crush everything, and the sound it made as it was traveling through the air was terrifying.
It plummeted onto the charred silhouette, embedding itself in the crater, ashes and dust flying everywhere.
It had been a clean finish, but Henry still couldn’t shake off the feeling that something was off.
‘Did I overestimate him?’
For a man who had made it to the 7th-Circle on his own, Dracan’s combat skills had seemed subpar, which was why Henry thought he had severely overestimated him.
But just as his thoughts reached this point, a huge crack formed on the surface of the boulder he had just dropped, and eventually, the boulder split apart into two even pieces.
“...Of course.”
***
As he was still controlling and shooting the arrows, Henry crossed his arms and looked at where Dracan was with a blank expression. However, he could only see the thick cloud of dust caused by the arrows.
The wind was blowing in Henry’s direction, but his Magic Shield was still active, so he didn’t get dirty.
Henry’s gaze was still fixed on where the arrows were landing, but it wasn’t the dirt that he was looking at.
‘This is definitely strange.’
What Henry was looking at was Dracan’s life force, disappearing and reappearing within the cloud of dust. It was cold, or rather, repulsive.
But Henry could clearly feel from his magic that Dracan was dead.
The Magic Arrows were still falling down like a waterfall, but Dracan’s life force kept disappearing and reappearing.
Finally, unable to contain his curiosity, Henry summoned a giant gust of wind.
Whoosh!
He directed the gust of wind toward the scene of destruction, dispersing the dust and revealing the full extent of the destruction.
Henry couldn’t help chuckling in disbelief. What he saw was so ridiculous that he spoke out loud.
“Ha? What the hell...?”
Henry saw Dracan being impaled by the Magic Arrows from head to toe. However, the shocking part was that he was literally shedding his entire skin like a snake.
Henry couldn’t believe his eyes. He raised one hand and clenched it into a fist, stopping the Magic Arrows from raining down on Dracan.
Dracan finished shedding his skin, emerging forward in his sleek new body. He locked eyes with Henry, who was staring at him blankly.
“Haha.”
Dracan raised one eyebrow in a proud, or rather, smug expression. He then swept his hair back with one hand and asked, “Did you see?”
“What... did you just do...?”
“It’s exactly what you just saw. I came back to life thanks to my special spell, Reborn.”
“Reborn...?”
“Yes, Reborn! This is the unique great magic that I’ve created and that has allowed me to rise to the 7th-Circle! This spell will undoubtedly be hailed as the greatest form of anthropology magic of all time!” Dracan shouted confidently.
Reborn—a spell that literally allowed its caster to be reborn.
Along with the development of Reborn, Dracan had awakened the 7th-Circle, the dream of every wizard, and undergone significant physical changes.
Seeing Henry still staring at him with a dumbfounded expression, Dracan proceeded to explain Reborn in a confident voice.
“I don’t even remember how many prisoners I had to sacrifice in order to create this spell. Yes, it took a lot of time, but I eventually realized the secret of Reborn when I observed reptiles prolonging their lives by shedding their skin!
“It occurred to me that humans could perhaps also shed their skin, just like reptiles! I thought that if we managed to do that and become reborn, we would discover the secret to eternal youth!”
“...”
Shedding, rebirth, eternal youth... Even though Dracan was a criminal, his discovery as a wizard was objectively outstanding.
Thus, Henry was genuinely amazed, having goosebumps all over his body.
‘They do say that opposite extremes often meet, but I didn’t think that this saying would be applied to this kind of situation...’
A twisted genius had made a great discovery.
Henry had no choice but to acknowledge Dracan’s discovery. Regardless of his character and his inclinations, he had managed to discover the secret of immortality, which had been speculated and fantasized since the dawn of man.
Excited, Dracan said, “I’ve absorbed five hundred humans into my body, which means I can come back to life up to five hundred times, no matter how I die!”
“...What?”
“I did in fact take inspiration from snakes, but we’re not reptiles, so we can’t shed our skin if we don’t have a new body. Thus, I came up with the idea of planting different bodies in me! That’s the secret of Reborn!”
“You sick bastard...!”
Henry unclenched his fist.
Just when Dracan finished his absurd monologue, Henry reactivated the Magic Arrows, which instantly rained down on Dracan unrelentingly.
Henry’s expression contorted in disgust and contempt and shouted, “You sick fuck! To think that I admired you for a second there!”
Henry was so enraged after briefly admiring Dracan because Reborn was a type of black magic that the Magical Spire had prohibited without any exception.