Chapter 120
Chapter 120
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 120
Chapter Title: Colored Glasses
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It's dangerous.
Anix's instincts told him so.
And Krash, who had laid eyes on Decarabia, thought the same.
The mother spider was thrashing about, but Decarabia was steadily killing her.
And with each moment, Decarabia's presence grew stronger as it devoured the mother spider.
The thing was preying on other Erosion Beings just like those from the Demon Realm, increasing the power of World Erosion.
'That monkey bastard came from the Demon Realm.'
Krash frowned, realizing Decarabia's true nature.
'And it's right on the verge of reaching 7-star level.'
The creature had clearly devoured all the other Erosion Beings in the graveyard besides the mother spider.
Otherwise, it wouldn't be brimming with World Erosion power to that extent.
If his body were in proper condition, maybe, but in this state, there was no way he could take it on.
"Krash."
In that moment, Haring grabbed Krash's collar again.
Haring's face, having seen Decarabia, was equally grim.
A red alert was blaring inside her body as well.
"We need to get out of here right now."
She owed Krash a debt.
So, to repay it, she was determined to save him no matter what.
But Krash knew that judgment had already come too late.
BOOM!
Decarabia's head, in the midst of slaughtering the mother spider, suddenly turned this way.
And the direction its eyes locked onto was none other than Krash.
'Greedy monkey bastard.'
Krash realized Decarabia had sensed his World Erosion and grown covetous of it.
Decarabia had set him as its next target after the mother spider.
[ Krash. ]
This time, Crimson Garden warned him that it was dangerous.
Krash scanned his surroundings.
Including Haring, the others hadn't yet realized Decarabia had targeted him.
However, one person was different.
The most skilled and perceptive among them knew.
Krash's eyes met Anix's.
Anix had noticed in that brief instant that Decarabia's gaze had turned to Krash.
So, his eyes shook as they met Krash's.
The Twin Wings Squad had expended a great deal of energy battling other Erosion Beings.
Anix knew well that clashing with Decarabia in their current state would mean total annihilation.
There was the special circumstance of the Demon Realm, but even Valheim's Sword had stepped up against a 6-star Erosion Being.
Moreover, Decarabia was effectively on the cusp of 7-star.
Krash had taken down 6-star Erosion Beings with relative ease thanks to the Demon Realm advantage and his body in peak condition.
Without him, the late-stage recruits like the Twin Wings Squad couldn't handle it.
In that situation, Anix had realized Decarabia's target was Krash.
Now, what decision would the Twin Wings Squad leader make?
Would he fight Decarabia to the utmost for Krash, despite their bad blood, choosing annihilation?
Or would he throw him out as bait and escape the graveyard with the fainted key members?
Whichever it was, the answer was clear enough.
"Anix."
So Krash asked him.
"What will you do?"
Krash's eyes fixed on Anix.
A sudden situation.
Somehow, Krash found himself facing a scenario eerily similar to one from the past.
A crossroads of life and death hinging on Anix's choice.
Krash's fist clenched quietly.
The Anix Krash knew was a rational man.
At least until Charlotte broke him, he had chosen to save the many by sacrificing the few.
But Krash knew.
That repeated choices like that had eventually gotten him exiled from the Generation of the Sky.
The world was a bitch.
Even when it seemed like a perfectly rational decision.
Sometimes, abandoning rationality and charging ahead led to better outcomes.
Like how Krash had ultimately defeated Agreas alongside Lilish.
Not everything in the world could be resolved through logical judgment alone.
So Anix's rational choices were treated as mere evasions.
They were right sometimes, but repeated avoidance yielded no results in the end.
'This is why I say this world is shit.'
Truly shitty— a world where you had to discard rationality, clash head-on, and let someone sacrifice if you wanted to move forward.
That was this rotten world.
And Anix was the one who made the most rational choices, repeating them until he was eventually exiled from the Generation of the Sky.
Once exiled, Anix grew increasingly obsessive, and upon hearing of Charlotte's marriage—the object of his love-hate—he finally broke.
That was the future laid before Anix.
Thus, Krash was certain.
Anix's future was set from here.
'Of course, his choice will be the right one. Sacrificing one to save the many—that's the commander's role.'
But fulfilling that role had broken Anix.
Krash stared silently at Anix.
He could sense the hesitation stirring deep in his heart.
Innate nature was something you couldn't help.
So he decided not to blame him for it.
Maybe in the future timeline, his rational choice would lead to a better outcome.
He shouldn't judge everything by regression alone.
"Haring, you and Anix go first."
So Krash decided to ease his mind for him.
For Krash, this was actually more comfortable.
Besides, Decarabia was clearly targeting him this time.
Rational judgment dictated Anix should escape, and Krash handle it alone.
Just that, from now on, Krash wouldn't place great expectations on Anix.
And at the end of that path, Anix's Recovery would fall into his hands—he vaguely sensed as much.
"What are you talking about?"
Haring, still unaware Krash was the target, shouted.
Regardless, Krash drew Thunder Roar and exhaled lightly.
"Lend me the poison pouch."
"Huh?"
Haring finally realized Krash had taken her poison pouch.
As the flustered girl fumbled at her waist, Krash reached the cliff's edge.
"Krash."
The one who stopped Krash was Anix.
The moment Krash turned, his eyes widened slightly.
"Do you have a way to take down that Erosion Being?"
Those were the eyes of one who had set aside rational judgment and resolved to clash.
"......"
Krash fell silent for a moment.
He hadn't expected Anix to say something like that.
He had asked a question.
And that question shook Krash's eyes.
Anix, who always acted on pure rationality, was in a way rigid.
In any situation, if he deemed rational judgment correct, he forced the team to follow it without hearing others out.
An Anix who had already judged inwardly wouldn't ask questions.
Yet now, he was seeking Krash's opinion.
The very act of asking was unexpected to Krash.
"......Yeah. If you can keep it from noticing me for 3 minutes."
3 minutes against a monster like that.
Of course, it wouldn't be easy.
But Anix turned to the Twin Wings Squad without hesitation.
"Can everyone buy us 3 minutes?"
As Anix asked, the Twin Wings Squad members looked at each other.
They had entered Raheln Academy and been with Anix ever since.
"Yes, we can do it."
Elfin, facing Anix, answered first with a resolute expression.
"I'll do it too."
"3 minutes? We can handle that much."
The others chimed in one by one.
This showed how Anix had spent the past year at Raheln Academy.
Hearing that, Anix turned back to Krash.
There stood Krash with a stunned expression.
"We'll buy you time."
Anix continued.
Krash doubted his own ears.
Krash was in ruins right now—anyone could see that.
It might even look like stubborn pride.
Yet he was entrusting it to Krash, believing in him.
Krash felt the image of Anix in his eyes begin to crack and shatter.
And through the breaking fragments, the current Anix gradually emerged.
At the time of Pendal's death.
Krash had realized people couldn't be judged solely by a single regression.
And he knew that applied to others as well.
But human hearts didn't shift easily.
Every time Krash saw Anix, he recalled the face abandoning him in a trap and leaving.
That wasn't something he could shake off lightly.
But in this moment, he realized.
He needed to let go of the memories from the regression timeline.
Anix had changed.
He didn't know the reason, but an Anix capable of this choice was no longer the one he knew.
"Got it."
Krash didn't say more and turned his body.
All while realizing just how much regression could ruin a person.
"Haring."
And in this moment, Krash decided to borrow help from a new person.
"Lend me your Invisible."
Hearing Krash, Haring's eyes widened, and she clenched her fist around her dagger.
"Leave it to me."
Krash had planned to take down Decarabia alone even without Anix.
It wasn't impossible if he pushed himself.
So he had tested Anix.
Would he walk the same path as in the future, or forge a different one as Elfin had said?
And today, facing that moment.
The result was different from before.
Maybe that was the most important thing for Krash today.
＊ ＊ ＊
"Haring, for the next 3 minutes, I'm just going to focus."
Krash conveyed his intent to Haring as he opened the poison pouch.
Haring's expression hardened upon seeing the red pill Krash pulled out.
"Krash, that's—"
"It's fine. I know what it is."
Red Tiger Pill.
A poison that brought the body to peak condition for 3 minutes, but exacted full payment afterward.
It was akin to a suicide poison taken by those resolved to fight to the death.
And Krash was about to consume it now.
Haring reached out as if to stop him.
But Krash simply handed her the poison pouch.
"I said I'd handle it. Can't let those guys die like dogs."
Haring bit her lip hard.
Even if she took the Red Tiger Pill, she couldn't handle Decarabia.
Krash's firepower was essential.
"Gieeeek!"
In the meantime, the mother spider's death cry finally echoed out.
Thud!
Chunks of the mother spider's torn flesh began plummeting to the ground.
Witnessing that, Krash shoved the Red Tiger Pill into his mouth.
His heart suddenly pounded fiercely as the pill dissolved inside him.
The Red Tiger's effect lasted 3 minutes.
Forcing the body to peak condition for 3 minutes.
But the shock after 10 minutes had to be endured entirely by oneself.
Whoosh!
As proof, black flames erupted from Krash's forcibly restored body.
3 minutes.
More than enough time to crush that bastard's head.
'Annihilation Flame Water...'
No good.
Today, he couldn't touch Madness Surge or Heavenly Death Star anymore.
Even a little more, and both would rampage.
That would only make things worse.
Regretful, but Krash didn't dwell on it.
He'd do the maximum of what he could now.
Krash pulled back his hind leg and moved Thunder Roar to his waist.
In that instant, a soft sensation touched his back.
Haring had embraced him from behind.
Their figures and presence began to vanish completely.
Even seeing it again, it was an insanely cheat skill.
But Haring's Invisible had a major flaw.
If the Invisible user directly used aura, the invisibility broke.
So when attacking, Haring had no choice but to reveal herself.
If it was an opponent attacks could land on without aura, there'd be no need for Invisible.
Thus, Krash had no interest in stealing Haring's Invisible.
Stealing it would only provide stealth, which would hinder him.
Instead, Krash planned to use Haring's Invisible differently.
'Invisible hides the touched target too, and the touched one doesn't reveal when using aura.'
In other words, only the user reveals when using aura.
Others using aura don't reveal.
'In a way...'
Haring's Invisible suited Krash perfectly.
As long as he had prep time, he could prepare infinite one-shots while she held on.
In fact, back when Haring was with the Generation of the Sky, her skill showed limitless potential.
But that potential didn't last long.
Her family, Lagren, was branded the cause of the war.
As a result, Haring took responsibility for the family in the peace treaty and was executed.
The Poison King wiped out the Hardenharts.
In that process, Bianca became the Hundred Ghosts and destroyed the Poison King, ruining Lagren.
Then even Haring, who killed that Hundred Ghosts, ended up executed as a war cause.
Caught in the empire and Staron Kingdom's power struggle, the two families were sacrificed.
Thus, Haring's Invisible birthed potential but went unused.
During the World Erosion war when it was most needed.
Her corpse was already rotting underground by then.
'Not this time.'
Bianca wouldn't become the Hundred Ghosts.
And Haring wouldn't need revenge against her.
He wouldn't allow it.
"If you stay pressed like that, the heat will be too much. Just touch lightly."
Without aura, exposure to Annihilation Flame Erosion's heat caused burns.
So Krash warned her, but Haring shook her head.
"Then I might get knocked off by a blind attack."
"Stubborn."
But it was a valid point, so Krash said no more.
Instead, he decided to concentrate Annihilation Flame Erosion's heat into Thunder Roar.
'Even if not now, it'll happen again someday.'
Then practicing now wasn't bad.
Greater life-or-death crises would arise countless times ahead.
Thud!
In that instant, Decarabia, having finished its meal, began to move.
It shook its blue glowing eyes, seemingly searching for Krash whose presence had vanished.
"Here we go."
"Yeah."
At the same time, Krash used Lioner to form a lightning sheath and began infusing Thunder Roar with Annihilation Flame Erosion's heat.
The next 3 minutes.
Load the killing blow to end that thing.