Chapter 170
Chapter 170
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 170
Chapter Title: Mary VS Krash
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In the forest of the intermediate evaluation grounds.
There was someone crossing through that forest at breakneck speed.
With blue hair whipping in the wind as she ran—it was none other than Krash Valheim.
"Chit, chiiik, chit!"
Then, the corpse rat barely stuffed in his pocket let out a frenzy of screams.
A rough translation would be something like "I'm gonna die!"
Pretty noisy for a guy who was already dead.
In that instant, the corpse rat bounced out of his pocket and went flying.
Krash snatched the flying corpse rat right out of the air with his hand and shoved it back into his pocket.
"Well, don't say I didn't warn you."
Krash scolded the corpse rat while changing direction and drawing Thunderclap.
Because his Sixth Sense had just stirred.
"Kieeeek!"
Ahead of him as he charged.
Suddenly, a single erosion beast let out a monstrous screech.
Atop its spherical body.
A nearly hairless face protruded from between hundreds of arms.
The monster's grotesque form was horrific even at a glance as it snapped trees and reached out its arms toward Krash.
The light from the bracelet on Krash's wrist was crimson.
A 5-star erosion beast—the average limit for students.
The moment he encountered that erosion beast, Krash's Thunderclap was bathed in golden light.
At the same time, the black flame that erupted like a blaze—
Krash took a short breath.
Thud!
With a stomp of his foot, the sword he thrust forward tore straight through, shredding all the arms in its path.
The black flame surging from his blade was beyond what a 5-star erosion beast's arms could withstand.
Riiip!
Through the gaps in the shredded arms.
Krash's sword plunged precisely into the erosion beast's face.
"Giiik, iiiik......"
The erosion beast's blood evaporated in the black flame's heat before it could even resist.
But Krash had no intention of stopping there.
Shlick!
The blade swung upward in one motion, cleaving the erosion beast's head and body in two.
The blade's absurd heat was too much for the creature's frail form to endure.
The time it took to reach that point: 2 seconds.
Against a 5-star erosion beast, Krash had spent a mere 2 seconds before the counter ticked up on his bracelet and he kept running without pause.
If it had been any other student, they might have poured their entire test time into that one erosion beast.
But to Krash, a 5-star erosion beast was no longer even worth considering an opponent.
If he got stalled by something like this at full condition, all his training up to now would have been meaningless.
In that instant, an alert sounded, and the color on the bracelet around Krash's wrist changed.
Orange.
The orange line.
'The highlands are right ahead.'
Krash's goal was the red line.
Even having entered the orange line, there was no tension on his face.
Thud!
In that moment, a rumble echoed from the ground.
The vibration traveled straight to Krash's feet, and he immediately kicked off the ground, leaping into the air.
Crack!
At the same time, the ground beneath him crumbled, and tree roots shot upward.
The surging roots instantly shattered the earth, laying waste to everything.
And from within those roots.
A pitch-black, pinecone-shaped monster gleamed with red eyes.
A 6-star erosion beast, the plant-type Bottler.
A colossal erosion beast that rooted itself across 1 km of land and devoured anything passing overhead.
Seeing it, Krash let out a hollow chuckle.
Even if it was conjured by magic, wasn't this a bit much?
"Yeah, they won't let you reach the red line easily. Right?"
Jet-black energy began pouring from Krash's Thunderclap.
He couldn't just bypass the Bottler that had swallowed everything for 1 km.
So he planned to deal with it first.
But just before Krash could kill the Bottler.
His Sixth Sense twitched first.
[It's here.]
The moment Crimson Garden spoke as well, Krash turned his head to the side.
A beam of light streaked past his head in an instant.
The beam vanished into the ground below.
Kaboom!
Soon after, beams erupted from the ground with a massive explosion.
The Bottler's roots were torn apart and sent flying into the sky, and Krash was caught in the blast.
His hair and clothes whipped in the wind.
As Krash shifted his gaze through the smoke, the roots that had risen from the ground fell limply one by one.
Roots the size of decent buildings thudded down, but Krash's focus was entirely behind him.
Through the smoke, a spear shot up into the sky.
The spear flew through the air as if possessed by a will of its own before vanishing behind Krash.
Step—
At the same time, the sound of footsteps approached.
Footsteps deliberately made to announce her presence. As the smoke cleared, a figure emerged.
With that, Krash slowly turned his head back.
Black hair reaching down to her waist whipped in the wind.
Beneath that hair, her body traced curves so graceful they could captivate any gaze.
But the aura emanating from the spear she held wouldn't let anyone's eyes linger on her natural beauty.
It was an intense energy that sent chills down the spine just by looking at it.
Between strands of black hair, weary black eyes gleamed coldly.
Clearly distant from the lion-like dominance of before.
Yet the sharp intent from her honed spear seemed to warp the very air around them.
"Mary Diana."
The moment Krash called her full name, she quietly drew the spear in her hand to the side.
Whoosh!
In that instant, the energy extending from the spear swept away all the surrounding smoke at once.
Atop the forest ravaged by the Bottler.
Standing alone, she opened her mouth toward Krash.
"Krash."
A name she had called countless times.
But today, the weight of that name felt different.
An opponent she absolutely had to break.
To Mary, Krash was now her greatest enemy.
The killing intent rising from her brushed against Krash's body.
Flash!
That alone made Krash's Heavenly Slaughter Star unleash killing intent surpassing even its doll-like state.
The Heavenly Slaughter Star, most sensitive to killing intent, had sensed this was the most dangerous opponent yet.
'Stay put.'
Krash forcibly suppressed the Heavenly Slaughter Star and stared at Mary.
In her prime, using her Heavenly Martial Physique, her innate martial prowess had reached its absolute peak.
Compared to that, she clearly hadn't even reached half now.
Yet with just a few weeks of secluded training, she had become a world apart from her entrance ceremony self.
'Her killing intent's prickling my skin.'
Divine Spear.
Its meaning diverged entirely from her previous titles.
Even the famed Heavenly Sword Emperor was merely "Imperial."
But Mary Diana was different.
She alone could bear the title of god.
And now, that woman stood before Krash as an enemy.
For some reason, the fact made Krash chuckle.
He had never once imagined becoming her rival in his life.
Let alone being the wall she absolutely had to overcome this time.
"If you wanted to take me down, you should've aimed for the head from the start. Eh?"
Krash said cheekily, lowering Thunderclap.
But Mary showed not a shred of reaction to him.
Her spear intent only grew sharper.
"I have to take you down head-on at your peak condition for it to mean anything."
She was right.
She had been waiting for him to reach full condition all this time.
Enough to make him believe he could beat her.
Her final limit, where once broken, she could never rise again.
She endured, endured some more.
"Is that so?"
Do you know?
That the man before you is Krash Valheim, carrying all the memories of his previous regressions intact.
「Do you even understand the hearts of those fighting on the front lines every day? What right do you have to scream at those who gave their all, when all you do is curse from the back?」
Krash remembered clearly the words she had shouted at him.
The day a nation was wiped from the map after being crushed by the Worst.
Yes, just as she said, he had never fought on the front lines.
All Krash did was use the body infused with the saintess's holy power to steal curses.
But that's exactly why he said it.
I'll bear all the burden, so you all must never fall or crumble.
Generation of the Sky.
They had to soar higher than anyone to save this damned world, true to their name.
But Arthur and the others failed.
Even the spear of the Divine Spear before him broke futilely before extinction.
Krash had no intention of reliving that day.
He never wanted to gaze at the sky again, waiting for death in a world where everything was gone.
So, just as she said.
'I've taken my place at the forefront of the battlefield.'
To never crumble.
To never lose.
That's why Krash looked at Mary.
Could the spear of hers, once broken, reach the sky again?
Regrettably, Krash no longer held any expectations for her.
Her spear had already been broken once.
"Then."
The black flame flowing from Krash's body distorted the air.
The intense heat rising like a haze made even Mary furrow her brow.
"Let's see what you've got."
The moment a provocative smile crossed Krash's face.
Mary's foot shot forward.
In that fleeting gap.
Mary's figure blurred.
For an instant, the sounds of the world fell silent.
In a space transcending the speed of sound.
Mary's spear pierced beyond the sound barrier toward Krash.
Claaaang!
But the sound from her spear was not the rending of flesh, but the clash of metal on metal.
Her eyes flashed with the delayed sonic boom.
As if she hadn't expected even a single strike to land.
The aura cloaking her spear left trails of light as it thrust repeatedly.
In that natural flow were countless martial techniques she had honed her entire life.
Each trajectory of her spear filled the battlefield with delayed explosions.
Crack!
At the same time, the shockwave from the clashing spear shattered the surroundings.
Chunks of split earth soared into the sky, and the space unable to keep up with her speed warped belatedly, whipping up a storm.
The Heavenly Martial Physique and Divine Spear's prowess.
The sight of them fused together left any onlooker unable to hold back their awe.
Her spearmanship had reached its zenith.
Yet amid the barrage of her spear that could overwhelm anyone.
Mary's eyes, peering beyond the onslaught, were wider than ever.
At the exquisite point where her spear extended.
Thunderclap's blade had met it without the slightest error, piercing every thrust.
Seeing that, Mary's eyes stayed wide open, unblinking.
She knew Krash used the Dull Sword.
The Dull Sword—a slow sword technique that pierced all of an opponent's moves to dominate space despite its name.
Thus, even as the Dull Sword user seems under attack, they gradually steal control until the opponent can do nothing.
But the Dull Sword is not invincible.
It relies on the premise of reading every one of the opponent's subtle moves.
Mary had faced Dull Sword users before.
The Dull Sword was tricky, but she knew how to counter it.
Precisely, the Dull Sword was most vulnerable to her spear.
She had Excel.
Her skill Excel, which amplified instantaneous acceleration.
Her spear thrusts already deviated from normal spears in speed and trajectory with their absurd power.
And her Excel not only boosted that speed further.
It shifted her spear's trajectory in utterly unpredictable directions.
A straight thrust suddenly became an upward strike with Excel added, ambushing the foe.
The problem was that this change was even faster than the initial thrust.
No innate Dull Sword master could react to her Excel.
This had been proven even against the Sword Sovereign, a world eroder who had reached the pinnacle of the sword.
Her spear pierced the Dull Sword.
The Dull Sword could never block her spear.
And yet.
Right now.
Her spear was being completely blocked by a Dull Sword user.
Her spear, whose battle experience alone was unmatched even if not at her prime.
Clang, clang, clang, clang, claaaang!
Every one of her countless thrusts was met by Krash's Thunderclap at its exact trajectory.
With each accumulation, her eyes shook more violently.
How, how on earth?
No matter how much Krash had appeared like a completely different person this time around.
This reality was impossible to accept.
This was a realm achievable only by knowing every one of her minor habits, combat style, and techniques.
"How—!"
With her exhaled breath, another spear thrust was blocked before Krash's Thunderclap.
In that moment, the obliquely angled blade slid along her spear shaft toward her.
Grit!
Facing the blade flying straight at her head, Mary clenched her teeth and applied Excel to her spear.
Her spear veered left, deflecting Krash's blade.
In that instant, something flashed before her eyes.
By the time she realized what it was, it was too late.
Crack!
The resounding smack shook her mind a beat late.
Pain shot through her eyes along with the jolt to her jaw.
A fist.
It was Krash's fist.
Her Heavenly Martial Physique body had allowed an opponent's attack.
In that unbelievable sight, she hastily raised her spear shaft against the incoming Thunderclap blade.
Clang!
The spear shaft and blade clashed, the sound echoing.
Roar!
At the same time, she swallowed a scream from the heat flowing from the blade.
Thud!
Krash's sword began pressing down on her.
The force was so immense she nearly buckled at the knees.
Within the black flame, Krash's eyes, now burning red, stared straight at Mary.
Feeling a chill from those eyes, Mary drew a breath.
"What... the hell... are you?"
She asked as if unable to comprehend.
Hearing the question, Krash quietly exhaled smoke from his mouth.
"What else?"
Crunch!
With his answer, Krash bit down and crushed something in his mouth.
Mary didn't need to wonder what it was.
Her knees buckled as the heat from Krash's body grew sun-like in intensity.
"Krash Valheim, the one you know so well."
A name she would never forget for the rest of her life.