Chapter 118
Chapter 118
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 118
Chapter Title: True Madness
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The allotted time was a mere 10 seconds.
The instant those 10 seconds passed, Heavenly Death Star and Madness would shatter their standoff and rampage uncontrollably.
Krash knew this fact better than anyone, and his body moved faster than ever before.
Boom!
The sound arrived belatedly, filling the space as a gust of dust whipped up.
By the time Krash, who had vanished in an instant, reached right in front of the God of the Night.
The skull's glowing eyes turned toward him too late.
Clack!
But it was already too late to react.
Because Krash's red blade was already burrowing into the God of the Night's protective barrier.
Fast.
Krash was ridiculously fast—so fast that even a god couldn't track his presence.
Perhaps the God of the Night's true body could have kept up.
But the power dwelling in this crystal skull was less than 5%.
There was no way it could follow Krash after he activated Annihilation Asura.
Boom!
With the impact of the collision, the God of the Night went flying through the air once more.
But this time, it didn't end there.
Krash moved even faster than the flying God of the Night, already waiting at the spot where it would land.
Krash's foot shot out toward the God of the Night.
Thud!
A thunderous roar echoed as his foot slammed down.
Krash had halted the airborne God of the Night mid-flight, barrier and all.
Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang!
What followed immediately was the mad barrage of sword strikes raining down.
In that instant, Krash had slashed at the protective barrier dozens of times over.
With every downward strike from Krash, erupting black flames blackened the space in front of the barrier.
Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang!
A pitch-black void ahead.
The metallic clashes echoing from within the sealed barrier were enough to drive anyone insane.
Even the God of the Night felt a chill.
What kind of lunatic smashes at a barrier like this, trying to brute-force it open?
The God of the Night was utterly fed up with Krash's madness.
【Graverobber bastard!】
The enraged God of the Night thrust out its hand, and in that moment, black thorns erupted from the barrier in all directions.
Krash was currently pinning the barrier down with his foot while swinging his sword.
If he didn't dodge, he'd be pierced clean through.
Conversely, if he dodged, it would melt into the night, becoming untouchable, and escape.
It had realized that if it just bought time, Krash would collapse on his own.
Clang!
But what returned once more was the sword's keen ring.
The God of the Night panicked.
It had clearly unleashed the thorns—why was it still getting slashed?
Clang, claaang!
Within the obscured vision from the black flames, the downward strikes continued relentlessly.
The black flames, born of World Erosion and Ignis, even disoriented a god's eyes.
Thus, the God of the Night, unable to see what madness Krash was unleashing atop the barrier, reached out its hand again—
Crack!
In that instant, a cracking sound rang out as the barrier finally failed to withstand the relentless impacts.
The glow within the skull flickered.
This was a barrier forged by a god's power, no less.
To shatter it through sheer force and repetition?
Was that even possible?
It wanted to deny it, but this was reality.
Krash was outputting power beyond all explanation.
Clang!
In that moment, a blade surged through the black flames, finally tearing through the barrier and embedding itself deep inside.
The red blade thrust right up to its face, stopping just short of touching.
Amid the spraying sparks, Krash's face finally came into view once more.
His eyes, blood-red like those of an asura, and his dark blue hair fluttered above them.
The God of the Night realized.
Contrary to its thoughts, Krash hadn't dodged the thorns at all.
Because his left leg was impaled on one of them.
If anything, having his leg fixed in place seemed convenient.
He kept swinging his sword in that very stance.
Blood dripped from his leg onto the barrier, sizzling with a hiss.
A sound that vividly conveyed just how scorching hot his body was.
Krash paid no mind to his leg whatsoever.
With single-minded determination to shatter the barrier within 10 seconds.
He simply swung his sword like a madman.
It could only be called madness.
A madness that far surpassed any human obsession.
An all-out assault that spared not even his own body.
The God of the Night felt utter bewilderment.
True, it had attacked because he was a graverobber.
But going this far? Even if he survived, he'd be in no state to stay intact.
Wasn't that putting the cart before the horse?
【Even if you pull off this nonsense and survive, your life's thread will burn to nothing anyway.】
As the God of the Night incredulously asked, Krash wasn't even listening.
He had already raised his sword high overhead, quietly exhaling smoke.
'Two seconds left.'
Lightning gathered at his sword, forming a scabbard shape.
At the same time, the black flames within that scabbard clashed, brewing a storm.
A single, concentrated downward strike.
As Krash reached the realm of unity between sword and self.
Crackle!
The lightning scabbard shattered, and black flames and lightning surged forth together.
The blood-red sword slashed straight down toward the cracked barrier.
Staring blankly at the afterimage of the red blade, the God of the Night asked.
【What the hell is worth going this far for?】
With those words as the last, the sword reached the God of the Night.
Flame-Exterminating ErosionThird Form
Flame-Exterminating Heavenly Thunder
Kwaaaaaaaaang!
The storm of black flames and lightning swept through the graveyard.
The aftermath shook the entire cemetery.
After the storm of black flames and lightning subsided.
Beneath the charred youth's body rolled the cracked crystal skull.
In that instant, a hand shot out and firmly grasped the crystal skull.
Clack—
The sound of the crystal skull's teeth clattering rang out.
The owner of that hand was none other than Krash.
"Tch."
Krash spat out the black blood pooling in his mouth and wiped his lips.
Then, as blood trickled from his nose, he clicked his tongue and wiped that too.
It was thanks to reawakening the eye doll the instant the 10 seconds ended, forcibly suppressing Madness and Heavenly Death Star.
The timing had been razor-close, so the aftereffects lingered fully.
Even now, Krash gritted his teeth to endure the sensation of his mind fraying.
His consciousness was muddled.
'My body's aching all over...'
He had forcibly elevated his body with Heavenly Death Star, then amped it further with Madness for Flame-Exterminating Erosion.
The backlash was fiercely battering his body as a result.
But without this, he couldn't have pierced the God of the Night's barrier.
Even if the power within was far short of its true self, it was still a god's might.
Anything less, and he couldn't have contended with it.
In that moment, Crimson Garden's voice echoed.
"If I didn't, my mind would get corrupted and I'd turn into a murderous demon."
"I'm planning to handle that with your immortality."
"Got anyone else to give it to besides me?"
Krash felt a mix of exasperation as he pulled out a painkiller from his makeshift stock and tossed it into his mouth.
He then poured a potion directly onto his pierced leg.
True to its high price, it hissed as the hole in his leg began to heal.
He dumped the remaining potion into his mouth.
This should suffice for first aid.
'Once I'm back, I should see Astraia again.'
That's what healers were for, after all.
Feeling much better thanks to the potion, Krash turned to the crystal skull.
The Night's power dwelling within it had diminished greatly from before.
He could have annihilated it during Annihilation Asura if he'd wanted, but Krash refrained.
After all, he had to achieve the goal he'd set since arriving at the graveyard.
"You still have some life left in you, right?"
Krash called out to the God of the Night inhabiting the crystal skull.
The skull's glow faintly returned.
【Still on about that conversation?】
"Well, that was my goal from the start."
【I don't know the details of your god either.】
Starting from that conversation, huh.
It seemed the God of the Night interpreted Krash's interest as limited to the god he was contracted with.
【I only know it's the god most resented by the others.】
"Resented?"
【What do you think it did with that thieving ability?】
"Don't tell me... it went around stealing gods' powers themselves?"
No response.
That meant it was true.
Skills were blessings bestowed by gods.
Strictly speaking, skills were also a form of divine power.
However, they differed distinctly from a god's innate power.
Skills were merely lent portions, not the power itself.
The god contracted to Krash had stolen the gods' actual powers.
'What a lunatic.'
That would draw the ire of all gods, even among themselves.
She'd end up in a worse state than the God of the Night if she wasn't careful.
On top of that, Krash had long harbored a question.
The others might have been contracted since birth, but when Krash regressed, he hadn't met the god who gave him Black Hood yet.
'I figured she'd approach me at least once, since I have her skill.'
Yet she never showed herself, not even once.
'What the hell is she up to? Or did she just toss me a skill like before and lose interest?'
He wasn't sure, but the God of the Night's tale piqued his interest a bit.
'Maybe I should try it myself later.'
If he could steal gods' powers, stopping the world's destruction would be far easier.
'No way to go to the divine realm. So force the gods to manifest instead.'
Krash mulled it over briefly before shaking his head.
It was too distant a prospect for now.
【No news after that. And now it's granting skills to humans?】
The God of the Night reacted with disbelief.
Watching it, Krash waved his hand dismissively, as if that was that.
"I was curious about that too, but whatever if you don't know."
He had already realized long ago that his god was anything but ordinary.
"What I'm proposing to you is a deal."
I'd appreciate it if you didn't nitpick humanity's most rational tool.
At the word "deal," the skull's glow sharpened.
At the same time, it clacked its teeth, laughing.
【Graverobber brat. What could you possibly offer this body to warrant a deal?】
"Your name."
The God of the Night's laughter stopped dead.
"I'll get your name back for you."
【...Don't spout nonsense. A graverobber can't find it.】
"You steal gods' powers. Think I can't steal a name? One of the gods took yours, right?"
The God of the Night fell silent.
It had lost its name and fallen into this graveyard slumber.
To a god, a name was power itself.
Naturally, it wanted its name back too.
【What do you want?】
And that guess hit the mark.
As the God of the Night asked, Krash replied.
"Your skill, Nox."
【You already have a skill. I can't grant it.】
"It's fine. Grant it to that guy."
Krash pointed to the charred but still-breathing youth.
Its lifespan wouldn't be long with the God of the Night having dwelled in it, but it was alive nonetheless.
Krash was telling it to grant the skill to that youth.
The God of the Night reacted with bewilderment.
It had caught on that Krash planned to use Black Hood to steal the skill it granted to the youth.
【True to a graverobber, greedily scheming to the hilt.】
"That's how you're supposed to use your ability."
As Krash spoke, the God of the Night seemed to sigh.
Then the crystal skull clacked as it moved.
【Can you really be confident you'll restore my name?】
"You're just gonna sleep here forever anyway. Better entrust it to me, no?"
【Now I see you're not a graverobber—you're a con artist.】
But it had no reason to refuse.
No loss either way.
【Place me on that one.】
Following the God of the Night's instruction, Krash placed it atop the youth's body.
The crystal skull clacked as the lingering Night power began transferring into the youth.
The youth didn't need to give any contractual response to receive the skill.
He had already hosted the God of the Night once, forcibly becoming its apostle.
Thus, the moment the skill seeped into the youth's body, Krash activated Black Hood.
The youth was unconscious, unaware he even had the skill.
Naturally, without even dialing it in, Nox—the God of the Night's skill—fell straight into Krash's grasp.
In that instant, Krash felt pitch-black night settle within his body.
As the night spread throughout, his Moon Yin Physique emanated a starkly potent yin energy.
His body, scorched from Annihilation Asura, began to cool noticeably.
Krash clenched his fist.
Stealing Nox had indeed been the right call.
And Nox had one more additional effect.
When night fully descended.
Beneath that night, Krash could become far stronger than now.
Nox's power was strongest when night reigned supreme.
This would prove incredibly useful against the Moon Cat later.
"Thanks."
【Remember, this is a deal.】
"I said it myself; of course I'll remember."
Krash grinned and turned away.
His body swayed once.
The potion and Nox had helped, but the aftereffects weren't fully gone.
【One question. Where'd you send that girl?】
As he did, the God of the Night posed a question.
The girl it referred to was none other than Haring.
Rubbing the back of his head at the query, Krash answered.
"Told her to smash all the holy relics you're using as this graveyard, and bring back just one."
It would take time, but that would give him solid leverage to threaten the God of the Night.
Krash had gone all-in against it from the start.
Deal if the deal worked.
Threaten if it failed.
【Y-You mad bastard! Aren't you afraid of divine retribution?!】
It tried to vent fury at Krash for threatening a god, but it was too late.
Krash was already hightailing it out of there.
"Then I'll go stop Haring before she smashes them all."
【Get back here now! I'll smash your head first!】
"Haha, what's getting smashed are your holy relics."
Not yielding a single word to the end—classic Krash.
Only Crimson Garden quietly cursed in the God of the Night's stead.