Rebirth of the 8th-Circle Mage
Chapter 254: Know Your Place (3)

Tremble-!

The cries of the thousands of Chimeras were so powerful and ferocious that even a Peak Sword Master would’ve felt their skin crawl. After the Chimeras finished howling, all of them turned their eyes toward Henry and his allies.

“Everyone, brace yourselves!”

The first person to shout in this critical situation was none other than McDowell. He quickly pulled out his sword from the scabbard on his waist as he sensed the bloody fight that was about to break out. The others followed suit.

‘Damn it!'

Things weren’t going as Henry had planned. In fact, it seemed like nothing was going according to his plan. Henry thought his preemptive attack was going to be successful because he obviously obtained information through Skall first, but things were unfolding in a strange way.

Henry couldn’t help but curse.

“What a fucking son of a bitch…!”

Just like everyone else, Henry drew his sword and prepared to fight. He had thought that this battle would mark the end of his long-lasting conflict with Arthus, but he now realized how naive he had been. In fact, this wasn’t even close to the final battle he had envisioned.

It was truly an embarrassing situation for Henry; despite being the only magic swordsman on the continent and having the most talented people as his allies, he still came short against Arthus.

-Kiaaa!

Thousands of Chimeras rushed at Henry and his allies.

***

“Run! Run away!” shouted a soldier. He was pretty short, only about one hundred and fifty centimeters tall.

At first, nobody believed what he said, despite his ear being torn off, because of his short and slender appearance.

However, only when it was discovered that the three more courageous soldiers had been killed did the troops of Enkelmann finally realize that something was terribly wrong. But unfortunately, it was already too late.

Narva made it through the gates of Enkelmann by himself, and his power was truly out of this world. As he casually flicked his fingers, a soldier’s brains exploded through his helmet, and when he hurled his fist at another soldier, his abdomen burst open and his organs gushed out.

The city troops tried everything, from arrows to boiling oil and spears, but nothing worked.

Narva simply destroyed everything that stood in his path, showing off his power. As he strolled down the streets of Enkelmann, he made everyone worship him and his godly power.

“What is everyone doing? I’m sure I told everyone to kneel?”

“Grr…!”

He was just one man.

One man.

However, due to his overwhelming strength and his terrifying aura, the city troops, who had gathered like a swarm of bees, had no choice but to give up any hope of resistance and kneel obediently.

“There we go, good job.”

It was a terrible humiliation for the Enkelmann troops. Even though their numbers were in the thousands, the most skilled soldiers were barely Sword Experts, and the soldiers whom Narva had killed earlier had been of that level.

Because of that, everyone had no choice but to surrender. Narva treated the city troops like dogs.

“Why aren’t you guys kneeling?”

Narva turned his head and gave orders to the peasants hiding inside their homes. Even though there was no way Narva could see them, they still heard his voice, as if echoing inside their heads. It was a strange phenomenon.

Soon, Narva found everyone who was hiding and brought each and every one of them to their knees. He then summoned a throne made of tentacles and sat in front of everyone as if he were their king.

After Narva sat down, the throne was elevated by the tentacles at the bottom. He then asked, “Who’s the highest-ranking human here?”

“...”

"Why aren't you answering? Hey, you there.”

“Y-yes…?”

“Do you not hear me?”

“Oh, no, I hear you!”

“Then why aren’t you answering?”

“Well… Well…!”

“Tsk, you’re getting on my nerves, damn it.”

Swoosh!

Narva had asked the nearest soldier for the person with the highest rank in this city, but unfortunately, the soldier was so frightened that he kept stuttering, unable to get the words out. This frustrated Narva, and he hated when humans frustrated him. He thrust a tentacle from his head into the soldier’s neck, killing him instantly.

The soldier’s lifeless body fell to one side. Narva raised the corpse with his tentacle and shook it in front of everyone, blood flying everywhere like light drizzle.

“Everyone, remember this. I really hate waiting, so from now on, if you don't respond quickly to my questions, you will end up the same way as this imbecile. Pay attention to what I say.”

After issuing his warning, Narva moved his other tentacles and tore the soldier's body apart, stretching and ripping apart the muscles and the organs like delicate threads. Blood continued to spray everyone, which made Narva’s warning even more terrifying.

Everyone was frozen in place, horrified; they knew they would end up like this if they didn’t respond fast enough to Narva’s questions.

After he was done mutilating the corpse, Narva threw it at those in front of him and ordered, “Bring the highest-ranking human here before me. Otherwise, I’ll kill you all.”

“Oh, yes…!” Everyone shook in fear at his orders. Regardless of how many citizens and soldiers were gathered here, it seemed like Narva was serious about his warning that he would kill everyone. Tens of thousands of people scattered, running frantically to capture the leader of Enkelmann.

The primal instinct of survival overtook everyone’s judgment.

***

“What in the…!”

“Sir Harz, you must leave here immediately, and you must ask Sir Henry for help as soon as possible! Enkelmann’s untrained city troops alone will never be able to stop that monster!”

Harris had immediately come to Harz after hearing news about Narva. At first, Harris hadn’t believed that one person had managed to subdue all the soldiers. However, when that eerie voice suddenly echoed in his ears, Harris realized that this was a real, urgent situation, which prompted him to rush over to Harz.

“B-but the teleportation gate is far from here, and even if the gate was nearby, I don’t have any mana stones… How on earth am I supposed to…?”

Harz had also heard Narva, but he had been resting in his vacation house far from the square, which allowed him to get away from Narva and save himself.

Hearing Harz, Harris frowned and grabbed his head.

‘What should I do?’

Harris had no clue what Narva was, but according to one of the commanding officers of the city troops, he had already killed several Sword Experts, making it clear that Harris would stand no chance against him.

The situation was so dire that Harris’ head was throbbing. However, he had a strong feeling that if he didn’t do anything, he and everyone else would just die in vain.

‘Damn it!’

Things were definitely not looking good. This Narva had already ordered everyone to capture Harz, so thousands of city troops were searching through the city. Moreover, for some time now, Narva had been whispering threats to Harz to surrender obediently, which caused him to tremble in fear.

Harz was generally a fearful man to begin with, so he was naturally horrified when he heard whispers that seemed to come out of nowhere. He felt that he was either hallucinating them or that he was being haunted by some otherworldly entity.

But suddenly…

'Wait, I forgot about that!’

As Harris was racking his brains to replace a way out of this mess, he suddenly came up with a good idea. Without the slightest hesitation, he took out the only caller scroll that Henry had given him long ago from his pocket. He then tore it apart, and as the rune words written on the caller scroll disappeared, a circle of light appeared in front of their eyes.

'Please, please!'

Harris desperately begged for a response. He had treasured this caller scroll for the longest time as it was a gift from Henry; someone who had saved him from the bottom, from hell. He considered Henry his savior, so he didn’t want to waste his precious gift.

However, he had no choice but to use it now; otherwise, he knew he would die in vain.

After the ring of light appeared, nothing happened for a while. Harz and Harris stared at the ring, baffled.

‘W-what…?’

Harz was more surprised than Harris. It was only natural for him to react like this because Henry had promised he would teleport to him if he ever desperately needed help.

Before Harz could even do anything, he heard someone shouting outside.

“I found him!”

“He’s here!”

The city troops, driven by desperation and the will to survive, found Harz and Harris in their vacation house.

“Si-sir Harz, hide!”

Harris desperately tried to hide Harz, but there just weren’t that many places to hide in a vacation house. Before they knew it, a group of soldiers and regular people surrounded the property. A soldier gently pushed the door open, and Harz and Harris met eyes with him. The soldier seemed nervous and frightened.

“I’m… I’m sorry! But if we don’t take you, we’ll all die!”

The soldier, knowing that what he was doing was wrong, apologized to Harz as he got closer, and to make matters worse, the ring of light started to vanish.

“Oh, no…”

The ring of light disappeared; the caller scroll was spent.

Harz was in despair, while Harris looked downcast, hopeless. He knew that there was nothing left they could do. With that, Harris collapsed on the floor and asked the soldiers that had come in, “Ho-how dare you…?”

“We’re sorry, Sir Harris…”

The highest-ranking human in Enkelmann that Narva had been asking for was the leader of Enkelmann, Harz. The soldiers pushed Harris aside and grabbed Harz, who was shaking uncontrollably in fear.

As the soldiers dragged Harz outside, he burst into hysterical laughter. “Hahaha… So this is it…”

The soldiers, burdened by guilt, escorted him in silence; they couldn’t bear to look him in the eye. Without saying a single word, they threw Harz before Narva, and the monster proceeded to interrogate him.

“So you’re the highest-ranking human here?”

“Ye-yes… Yes sir…”

“Yeah?”

Harz no longer laughed; he was once again terrified, which was only natural. Even though Narva had the face of a beautiful boy and a slim frame, his murderous aura paralyzed Harz.

After hearing Harz’s answer, Narva extended his hand, and twisted tentacles came out of it. With a sinister and cruel smile, he bid Harz farewell.

“Okay, bye then.”

“What, what do you… GHAAA! GWAAA! Gwa…!”

The tentacles pierced Harz in his abdomen before he knew it. Everything happened in a blink of an eye. He trembled at the overwhelming pain, but despite being impaled by the tentacle, Harz’s anguish was more mental than physical.

“What… What have I…”

The pain Harz felt at this moment was due to despair and loneliness. Henry hadn’t answered the caller scroll, and Von, the person whom he had spent most of his time in Enkelmann with, wasn’t here either.

As Harz’s vision became blurry, fragments of his life flashed before him. He soon broke into tears; his pain worsened as he realized that he had lived his whole life as a civil servant, serving Henry and Von just to be forsaken by them. He had never done anything wrong, and yet here he was, dying miserably in the street.

“What… Cough… What was this all for…”

Harz’s lips turned blue as blood kept oozing from his abdomen.

His life was fading…

He was cold…

The world felt cold and cruel to him, but it was the memories full of regret that filled him with overwhelming sorrow in his last moments.

“He’s dead.”

Harz’s slight trembling finally stopped. Narva looked at Harz’s lifeless body with a cold, emotionless expression. Narva had killed Harz because of one of the things Dracan had taught him. He had told Narva that if he wanted something that someone else had, he had to eliminate the owner.

Narva wanted the people of Enkelmann, so he had eliminated the leader of Enkelmann. Simple as that.

Narva lifted Harz up in the air with his tentacles. He then opened his mouth like a snake and devoured his corpse.

Gulp-!

Narva swallowed Harz whole. He then licked off the blood around his lips.

“Ugh, he’s not good. I bet it’s because of his old age.”

With that, Narva retracted his tentacles and looked at the kneeling people.

“Well then, I guess I’m your leader from now on, right?”

The people of Enkelmann were stunned, but nobody dared to object. Seeing how obedient they were, Narva realized that Dracan's teachings had been correct all along.