Chapter 174
Chapter 174
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 174
Chapter Title: Extinguishing Snow Erosion
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Lavados.
A 7-star Erosion Beast composed of lava and rock.
True to its 7-star name, Lavados was a ridiculous monster capable of turning an entire mountain into an active volcano.
According to ancient documents on World Erosion, there were regions where the terrain itself had been altered by the volcanic eruptions triggered by its appearance.
However, perhaps because of these very traits, Lavados's inherent power was somewhat inferior compared to other 7-stars.
That was the reason Lavados had been selected as the Erosion Beast to manifest via 7-star magic in this Red Line exam.
If it had been a pure combat-type, no student could have handled it.
And standing before such a Lavados.
A girl was desperately fending off his attacks.
She had healthy, tanned skin and dark crimson hair.
She usually wore piles of jewelry, but for today's exam, she had none.
Instead, her hands gripped only a shield conjured from water—unlike her usual style.
She had started with a sword, but it had proven useless against him.
So now, she focused solely on defense, blocking Lavados's frontal assaults head-on.
Karandis Poseidon.
Her nature was innately flexible.
Her mindset was always adaptable, and if she wanted something, she pursued it by any means necessary.
Perhaps because of that, this trait shone through in battle as well.
Unlike at the start, she was now deflecting Lavados's attacks with fluid grace.
A shield made of water.
She flowed it in harmony with the liquid's motion to match his swings.
As a result, his fists slid harmlessly off, diverting the blows.
Thanks to her, she had firmly captured Lavados's gaze.
A tiny human slipping his attacks over and over—it drove him into a fury.
When Lavados spewed lava, she erected a wall of water to sap its force.
Blackened, cooled lumps of lava now littered the ground everywhere.
It was pure superiority in compatibility and flexibility.
But if it had been just her alone, Lavados wouldn't have struggled.
A few solid strikes, and her shield would shatter—or her aura would run dry, spelling defeat for Karandis.
The problem was that she wasn't alone.
"Ballak!"
"Yeah!"
Glen swept his spear shaft sideways, and Ballak—who had dodged the lava—landed atop it.
In one motion, Glen swung it to hurl Ballak back toward Lavados, then chased after him himself.
There was no hesitation, no second-guessing.
As if they had synced a thousand times in practice, Ballak and Glen moved in perfect harmony that drew gasps of admiration.
This duo's teamwork steadily grated on Lavados.
They couldn't inflict major damage, but they fully succeeded in preventing him from focusing solely on Karandis.
In truth, they had disrupted countless openings where he could have finished her off.
Even so, with just these three, Lavados could have managed somehow.
None of them could land a truly decisive blow, after all.
But among them was one who could reliably wound Lavados.
Pak!
A flying dagger sank into Lavados's flank once more.
Crackle-crackle-crack!
In that instant, the dagger sprouted an ice flower from his side.
"!"
Lavados slapped at his flank in rage.
But his palm connected with nothing.
The blooming ice flower had merely frozen a chunk of his side.
That flower was one of Haring's poisons.
After endless research, she had pushed poison efficiency to extremes and begun infusing them with curses.
It started as aid for Krash's studies, chatting with Darling about poisons and curses.
But before long, she carved her own path in that research.
The result: Haring now wielded a arsenal of curse-blended poisons.
From explosive curses mixed with acid poisons that detonated on contact.
To ice flower curses that froze instantly, blended with toxins that seeped into the body in a flash.
Unlike before, she wielded a vast array of poisons and curses.
Ever since the day she met Krash.
To stand at his side, Haring had honed her poisons without cease.
Her skills had reached this height and grew daily.
In crisis, geniuses always advance a step.
Haring stood shoulder-to-shoulder with such prodigies.
And so.
Since the Mania Festival, she was growing once more today.
'I see it.'
Lavados's attack patterns now appeared far more defined than before.
She was intuiting exactly where and with what poison to strike to corner him further.
Before she knew it, the aura cloaking her daggers had solidified into a blade form.
Not the smoky haze of an expert, but a true edged shape.
Aura Blade.
She was now crossing the threshold to Master.
Oblivious to the fact, she hurled poison-laced daggers at Lavados with impeccable timing.
It was driving Lavados insane.
He wanted to rip these pests apart right now.
One-on-one, he could handle any—but as a group, finding a way through was no easy task.
And so, Lavados shifted tactics.
He raised both arms to the sky.
Boom!
But instead of Karandis, he targeted the ground.
"Kyaa!"
Startled by the sudden move, Karandis screamed as she barely kept her footing amid the collapse.
Yet Lavados ignored her entirely, repeatedly slamming his fists into the earth.
"He's gonna flood us with lava—block it, everyone!"
Glen bellowed, reading his intent.
The moment Ballak charged first, steam erupted from Lavados's body.
Pshwooooooo!
The blast of scalding steam forced even Ballak to retreat.
Lavados kept pounding relentlessly.
With each strike, the cracking ground revealed the layer below.
As Glen predicted, he meant to trigger a lava surge.
In lava, Lavados was invincible.
He not only resisted it but absorbed it to grow even stronger.
It was then, as Lavados hammered away in confidence.
Crack—
A sudden sound like something freezing rang out.
Lavados, fixated on his strikes, hadn't noticed the source—but now puzzlement hit him.
The air around him felt endlessly colder.
This space brimmed with his own steam; it should have been sweltering.
Why the chill?
The moment Lavados paused his blows and lifted his head.
A boy was approaching him.
Blade glowing blue and dangling low, red eyes blazing—the ground froze at his every step.
The sight was utterly bizarre.
At the same time, Lavados sensed something off.
It took little time to recognize it as raw wariness.
A tingling unlike anything from the previous foes spread through him.
Dangerous.
That one is dangerous.
Lavados jerked both arms up.
Lava he had restrained for self-preservation surged into his palms in an instant.
He planned to melt the foe with a lava burst.
"Hey."
But a voice drifted up from below.
Lavados's eyes snapped downward too late.
The boy from moments ago stood there.
The boy grinned amid his whipping hair.
"So slow—good luck with that."
The swung blade rocketed skyward.
It sank effortlessly into Lavados's rocky arm, absurdly easy.
"―――――!"
By the time shock registered on Lavados, it was too late.
The unstoppable blade had severed one arm clean off.
Immense cutting power.
Guh!
Lava spurting from the stump clashed with the chill, birthing steam.
Sizzle—echoing everywhere as scalding vapor filled the area.
Lavados's eyes frantically swept the steam.
Krash was still darting somewhere within it.
Crack!
The persistent freezing sounds all around confirmed it.
No good.
No point holding back.
Lavados hastily raised his remaining arm alongside the shattered one.
Fierce internal lava overflowed outward in a torrent.
"Everyone, fall back!"
At Haring's cry, they all scattered in haste.
Lavados's endless lava deluge was melting everything nearby.
The lava soon cascaded like a river across the ground.
It merged with the underground flow below.
Now human-sized after expending lava, Lavados hurled himself into the molten stream.
A few daggers rained down, but submerged in the river, he was untouchable.
Lavados flowed swiftly downstream.
Enter the hole he'd punched earlier, stockpile power inside his newborn volcano's core.
Then erupt it—and slaughter all five.
As victory seemed certain.
"Glen."
Krash, who had dashed to Glen's side, shouted at the flustered boy.
"Throw me."
Glen grasped the meaning instantly.
His forearm bulged as he gripped his spear.
Glen's aura skyrocketed in a golden blaze akin to Mary's.
With a flash, he hurled the spear at full force.
"Go!"
As Glen's shout rang out, his soaring spear was snatched midair by the leaping Krash.
Pulled by its momentum, Krash shot through the sky.
High above, his eyes locked on Lavados swimming through the lava toward the hole.
This way, he'd melt away forever into the depths.
In that moment, pristine white frost leaked from Krash's lips.
Deep in a mind veiled by winter night.
Ripples stirred the frozen, silent lake.
Those ripples swelled into a surge, devouring all gazes as it rose.
Crackle!
Suddenly, a sheath of thunder encased the thunderous blade.
Fluid as water now, familiar to him—within the thunder sheath.
Cold poured forth as ice rain, then morphed into an ice storm.
Building, suppressed frost gained ever more power.
Until even the thunder froze solid.
Flash!
Krash's eyelids snapped open as the thunder sheath shattered in unison.
"Extinguishing Snow Erosion" "Third Form" "Extinguishing Snow Heavenly Thunder"
⟨ Meksulchimshik ⟩
A tempest of thunder and frost ravaged the lava indiscriminately.
Surging splashes froze solid into rock against the unrelenting cold.
Caught in the maelstrom, Lavados was hurled from the lava river into the air.
Meanwhile, the frost encased every drop of lava, ultimately sealing even the erupting vent.
Lavados's eyes bulged wide, his body partially frozen from the cold exposure.
Realizing his final gambit was thwarted, he locked eyes with Krash, who had landed atop the frozen lava.
"――――――――!"
Lavados unleashed an inhuman screech, lunging at Krash like a feral beast.
But his path was swiftly blocked.
A dagger embedded in the ground detonated, turning his way forward into chaos.
Before the rising black smoke, a water barrier suddenly surged up.
Karandis's handiwork.
But Lavados's rage had boiled over.
Ignoring the barrier, he barreled through, body drenched and straining under the water's weight.
The moment he burst free.
Ballak stood before him, twin swords reverse-gripped in each hand.
His tiger tattoo blazed with light in that instant.
Yellow eyes flashed as the blades wove their deadly dance.
The dance was profoundly eerie.
Lavados's charging form rode the sword's airflow and slipped low, off-balance.
A suppression art passed down through the Hogma family, exploiting air currents.
Ineffective against his original bulk.
But now human-sized, he couldn't resist the flow.
In that moment, twin daggers detonated beneath his feet.
Lavados tumbled helplessly, scrambling for purchase.
"Huu."
Krash, exhaling a plume of white frost, stood poised for a sword swing right before the monster's collapse.
As Lavados's eyes widened at the whirlwind of events.
Once more, Krash channeled raw cold into his blade, thrusting toward the neck.
In the winter night, seven stars ignited in unison, red currents swirling amid the snowstorm.
The enveloped currents flowed into Krash's sword, birthing a frigid red blizzard.
"Extinguishing Snow Erosion" "Fourth Form" "Extinguishing Snow Severing Night"
⟨ Meksulchimshik ⟩
Crack!
Absolute severing cold surged from the blade as it plunged forward without mercy.
And when it reached its mark.
Slice!
Lavados's severed head soared into the sky.