Rebirth of the 8th-Circle Mage

Chapter 139 - The Second Button (3)

“It’s good.”

Iselan nodded with a satisfied expression as he checked the contents of the Subspace Pouch that Henry had given him.

“It sure is,”said Henry, nodding as well.

After finishing their business, the two enjoyed some tea.

Henry took a sip of the tea and said, “Deputy commander.”

“Yes?”

“This is already our third time doing business together, are you really not going to tell me what you need these items for?”

“Yes. So stop asking and don’t say anything to anyone.”

Henry was curious because Iselan had been requesting the same items ever since he’d made the Million Merchant his official merchant company.

‘Holy water, healing potion, antidote, and a large quantity of silver wire… Why is he always asking for such things and what is he using them for?’

Henry didn’t care at first, but as Iselan continued to request the same items, his curiosity started to grow.

However, Islean was adamant that he wouldn't tell Henry anything.

Every time Henry asked, Iselan scolded him and dismissed his questions, refusing to provide the answer he wanted. Today was no different.

‘Well, it doesn’t really matter.’

However, this wasn't something that would stimulate a wizard’s unique curiosity. He simply asked about the purpose of the items as a form of greeting.

“Alright. Anyway, would you like to have a drink with me tonight?”

“Today? I can’t today.”

“What?”

“I have a personal matter to deal with. I would like to drink with you but you’ll have to drink with someone else today.”

Henry’s eyes widened in response to Iselan’s refusal.

Henry was taken back by Iselan’s refusal to drink, as he had never seen that happen before. Besides, it was Henry’s first time to ask Iselan to drink.

‘There’s no way.’

Henry was bewildered.

He didn’t enjoy drinking with Iselan, and he had only offered to drink because he had to secure a new Palegon. He had been planni g to spend the night at Iselan’s place to secure a good alibi. However, his plans went south when Iselan turned him down.

‘Something feels off.’

Henry found Iselan’s behavior suspicious. Iselan didn’t seem particularly disappointed about not being able to drink. Henry couldn’t help thinking how unnaturally he was behaving. However, Henry couldn’t ask Iselan why he couldn’t drink. However, this didn’t ruin Henry’s plans entirely, so he decided to take care of his priorities first.

‘Something is definitely off.’

Henry decided to stay at Ronan’s residence for the night, still feeling unsatisfied and suspicious of Iselan.

* * *

It was late into the night.

Fortunately, although Ronan showed remarkable talent in swordsmanship, he was surprisingly weak when it came to drinking.

After bringing the drunk Ronan back to his room, Henry left the residence and headed towards the Demonic Beast Forest. However, when he arrived in the 4th district…

‘Damn…’

Was it because he had burned down the entire 4th district the other day? It was unexpectedly still in a state of ruin.

He sighed, crushing a pile of ashes under his foot.

‘Tsk, this won’t do.’

The Palegon only appeared in the 4th district. However, no creatures lived there any longer, thanks to Henry’s own actions. Despite this, Henry still needed to find a Palegon for the Black Tear. He had to absorb more mana and rise to the 7th Circle.

‘Do I really have to use plan B?’

This didn’t mean there wasn’t another option. Henry needed a lizard monster’s tail, not specifically a Palegon’s tail. Unfortunately, except for Palegons, all the other lizard monsters were in the 3rd district and beyond. Henry had to move to another district.

Henry looked around once more after making a decision. Ulam’s maze had become a mess.

There was nothing left in the forest that used to be dense with bushes and monsters.

‘I guess this is good.’

Over time, the ecosystem would naturally regenerate through a process inherent to the Demonic Beast Forest. Henry decided to build another gate connected to the Snow Spire before the new ecosystem formed.

Snap!

Rumble!

Henry snapped his fingers. The ground started to sink and stairs leading underground appeared where Henry was standing. The stairs descended deep into a pitch-black darkness.

Snap!

Henry snapped his fingers once more, this time creating orbs that illuminated the darkness.

He drew a magic circle for the teleport gate, just as he had done before.

However, Henry didn't use the mana-recovering jewelry as the heart of the gate. He had to ensure that no monsters with mana from the 4th district would be summoned to the Snow Spire through the gate. After a short while, he completed the teleport gate. Henry named it the Caliburn Gate and connected it to the White Gate of the Snow Spire.

Rumble rumble!

When he snapped his fingers again after making his way back to the ground, thick bushes sprouted and completely covered the hole that he had come out of.

There was no need for an entrance since Henry was the only one who was going to use the Caliburn Gate anyway.

In addition, Henry cast several spells so that the people of the fortress would not easily discover the existence of the gate.

‘This should do.’

After he cast his last spell, Henry headed to the 3rd district with a satisfied expression.

* * *

‘As expected of the 3rd district. The air here is so filthy, far worse than the 4th district.’

Upon entering the 3rd district, Henry frowned at the musty smell unique to the area. If the air in the 4th district was toxic to animals and plants, the air in the 3rd district was so bad that a single inhale could cause loss of consciousness.

However, Henry had no trouble breathing this time as well because of the Venom’s Heart and White Breath.

The 3rd district was quite silent as it was inhabited primarily by evolved species, high-ranking monsters, and low-level demons rather than ordinary monsters.

‘There’s no need to make a scene.’

The scarcity of the Palegons and the challenging nature of Ulam’s Maze made capturing Palegons a difficult task. Therefore, it was more efficient to burn the entire area. Since there were numerous types of lizard monsters in the 3rd district and beyond, he decided to catch any that he came across. He needed to produce the Black Tear as frequently as possible from now on.

Henry started to walk slowly, but soon he abruptly changed direction, sensing a powerful and threatening presence approaching him.

Thud thud thud!

As soon as Henry turned aside, 7 sharp thorns flew past and stuck to the ground. Henry looked at the spot where the thorns had come from and saw a Needle Gehenna hiding behind a demonic tree.

“A Needle Gehenna, huh…”

Gehennas made up the largest population in the Demonic Beast Forest. Needle Gehennas were one of the monsters that had evolved into the highest form among the Gehennas.

“This should be a good warmup. Sword on.”

Zing!

The ring emitted pure white light and summoned the Colt Sword. He held the hilt of the sword and swung the sword around, slowly releasing his Aura and wrapping it around himself with a satisfied smile, but…

“Huh?”

He had put the Aura on his sword as well, and the Aura on the Colt Sword was much thicker and wider than usual.

‘Can it be?’

Henry had made an unexpected discovery. He had chosen iron colt as the material for the weapons to enhance the efficiency of mana so that he wouldn’t have to rely on Aura. However, since Henry’s Aura was affected by his mana, his Aura also had an influence on the iron colt.

‘Vulcanus might have created an unprecedented masterpiece.’

Unexpected discoveries always brought joy.

Thanks to this, Henry decided to test the performance of his new weapons sooner than he’d expected.

“Armor on.”

Zing!

Henry summoned not only the Colt Sword but also the Colt Armor, transforming into a pure white knight with a red cape. He stood out in the monster forest.

Shring!

The Colt Armor finished with a helmet that covered his entire face.

Tzzzz!

Henry released green Aura all over his body. Henry felt as if his entire body was filled with energy from the iron colt around him.

Thud!

With Aura around his foot, Henry kicked off the ground explosively, and in an instant, neared the Needle Gehenna on the demonic tree. He moved as fast as lightning and cut the Needle Gehenna with a single swing of his Colt Sword.

Slice!

The cut was clean, and despite its sharp, hard exoskeleton, the Needle Gehenna died without a single cry escaping its mouth.

Thud!

After beheading the Needle Gehenna, Henry landed on the ground.

He pulled the sword closer to his body and started releasing as much Aura as he could.

‘I was only going to collect the lizards, but…’

Tzzzz!

‘When the opportunity comes, I have to test everything properly!’

The Aura condensed in the Colt Sword was like an emerald-colored sun.

Tzz! Tzzz! Tzzzzz!

The condensed Aura pounded as if it would explode at any moment. Henry felt this as well.

Ever since he had awakened his Aura, he had never felt that it had ever been as powerful as it was now.

‘Here I come!’

Woong!

With a sound, he swung his sword.

The green Aura in the Colt Sword shot out in a fan shape, creating a huge crescent moon.

Sword Masters referred to the act of shooting an Aura like this as slashing or sword strike.

Whoosh!

It sounded like a huge gust of wind sweeping through the forest.

Henry’s sword strike was quiet and heavy like an assassin, and he engulfed the whole 3rd district.

When Henry’s strike finally dissipated in the distance, he could see countless demonic trees falling.

Thud thud!

“Keee!”

“Kurrrr!”

“Kreeee!”

It wasn’t just the demonic trees and rock that were affected. Monsters in the 3rd district that had been resting had also been caught up in Henry’s sword strike. They died or were seriously injured.

Tzzzz!

‘Huh?’

After Henry’s strike split everything apart like the Red Sea, he saw a man with a familiar silhouette at the edge of the forest staring at him. He was covered in blue Aura.

‘A person?’

However because the person was so far away, Henry could only distinguish that the person was human but not what they looked like.

Henry used magic to magnify his vision and saw Iselan looking at him with a surprised expression.