Chapter 303 - The Great Expedition (5)

Chapter 303 - The Great Expedition (5)

“Justice shall prevail.”

Just like they promised, the two holy warriors taught Ayla a divine lesson after she was resurrected.

They burned her to ashes.

Just as Hoosler had said, Ayla had been resurrected by black magic, so she couldn’t have stood a chance against Logger and Ananada.

“That makes four.”

Henry counted as he looked down at the ashes that were left of Ayla. With her, they had killed four apostles.

“Since there were nine apostles, that means there’s five left, right?”

“Yes, as long as nothing unusual happens.”

“What an annoying bunch of bastards... Why don’t they just come at us all at once instead of showing up one by one like little rats?”

“That’s exactly what I'm saying. Unless they’re still looking down on us, it’s about time they came at us all at once, since half of them are already dead.”

Everyone’s fighting spirit was sky-high. Some of the expedition members found it incredibly annoying having to eliminate Arthus’ apostles one by one, but it was understandable.

“Then why don’t we attack the apostles first instead of waiting for them?” proposed Henry.

“Pardon?”

“What?”

The others were clearly irritated, but they hadn’t expected Henry to come up with a solution so easily. Thus, everyone that had expressed their frustrations, including McDowell, were taken aback.

Seeing their expressions, Henry explained, “You guys are right. Before her fight with Allen, Ayla declared to be among the three strongest apostles. So given that we were just as strong as her, I think it’s actually possible to eliminate all the apostles at once, don’t you think?”

As expected of a competent and determined leader, Henry had taken his allies’ complaints as valuable opinions, and he quickly came up with a possible solution based on them.

They quickly reached a conclusion, everyone agreeing with Henry.

“I agree with you on that. If we have to kill them anyway, we might as well ambush them first,” added Balak. He was especially on board with Henry’s idea because he couldn’t wait to crush Arthus’ skull with his morning star of justice.

“Then, assuming that everyone’s on board, let’s begin searching for the apostles.”

“U-um, wait!”

“Huh?”

Just as Henry was about to start searching for the apostles, someone interrupted him with an awkward voice.

All eyes turned to him.

It was Kington.

“What is it, Kington?” Henry asked with an exasperated sigh.

Kington was one of the few members of the team that Henry didn’t address formally. After all, he was the lowest-ranking and least trusted member of the expedition.

Seeing that Henry was visibly bothered, everyone else also frowned at Kington.

“T-that’s... Um... Actually, the only reason we were able to deal with Ayla earlier was because everyone gave Sir Allen their rings, wasn’t it?”

“So?”

“I know that we’re all excited since we’ve killed half of the apostles, but wouldn’t it be safer to take them down one by one, no matter how fast we want to get this over with, Archmage?”

Even though everyone glared fiercely at him, Kington continued to say what he wanted to say until the end.

Given his character, his opinion wasn’t surprising.

“You’re right. You do have a point,” said Henry.

“Th-that’s right! Also, we’re not fighting this war to overthrow a kingdom, but to kill Arthus, so all the more reason to be cautious in our hunt!”

After Henry agreed with him, Kington gained courage and argued his case with more confidence.

“Everyone, wait!”

Henry suddenly urged his allies to wait so that he could explain his idea. After he was finished, some of the team members cocked their heads and gave him rather skeptical replies.

“I’m not sure... Do you think that’ll work, Commander?”

“We won’t lose anything if we try, and if it doesn't work, we can just go back to our original plan, right?”

“...Alright. And obviously you’ll be the one to attempt it, right?”

“Of course.”

Soon, everyone agreed to Henry's plan, and since he was the one who had come up with it, Henry decided to do it himself.

Skall was also intrigued by Henry’s plan, so he delayed his return to the secondary world for a moment.

Mounted on Jade, Henry looked up at the sky and said, “Arthus, I’ve just explained everything to everyone, so I don’t suppose I have to repeat myself, right? What do you think? At this rate, all of your precious apostles will fall by our hands.”

Henry wasn’t looking at anything in particular. He was literally just looking into the sky as he spoke.

If he couldn’t directly call the apostles to them, he figured he could try making a direct proposal to Arthus, the one who controlled them.

“...”

Silence followed.

To everyone else, this plan sounded a bit absurd because they weren’t even sure if Arthus was watching them in the first place. Moreover, the mere idea of plainly making such a proposal to their enemy was ridiculous.

However, Henry was convinced.

Arthus had deliberately invited him to a faraway place like Lizark Hill for his own entertainment, and he had clearly placed his apostles along the way to further enhance his amusement.

In addition, given that Ayla had just been resurrected through black magic, it was clear that Arthus was watching the expedition team from somewhere and wanted to interfere in their movements.

The silence persisted.

There wasn’t a particular reason why Henry looked up to the sky. He didn’t know which way Arthus might be watching them from, but he figured that he might be looking down on them because of his god complex.

But as the silence grew more stifling, McDowell could no longer handle the awkwardness and told Henry, “Ahem, Commander... That was quite the idea, but I think it would be ridiculous for Arthus to pay heed to any requests from us...”

McDowell was being reasonable, but Henry decided to wait a little longer for Arthus’ reaction.

Seeing this, even the Seven Sages and the Saint couldn’t help feeling embarrassed.

But just then...

- Huh?

No matter how credible of a client Henry was, not even Skall could put up with the terrible awkwardness, so he was about to give up and return to the secondary world.

But just as he was about to leave, the dots that marked the locations of the apostles on the floating map suddenly vanished.

Shocked by this change, Skall called out to Henry.

- Henry!

Swoosh!

The moment Skall called out Henry’s name, a powerful gust of wind swept by, its sharp sound piercing everyone’s ears like an arrow.

Boom!

Something that shook the ground appeared before them, creating a thick cloud of dust.

“Wind.”

Whoosh!

Henry blew the dust away with his wind magic, revealing a set of faces that everyone instinctively recognized.

Henry smiled, for they were none other than the apostles that he and his allies so desperately wanted to face.