Chapter 203
Chapter 203
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 203
Chapter Title: The Real Madman
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Beltua Rackroad, the world's greatest curse resolver.
The day Krash first met him was in some tavern.
"The stench of curses is so thick it's stinging my nose. Eh?"
The man, cloaked head to toe in a robe, pinched his nose with a face overgrown with beard and cackled.
"What the hell's this senile old coot babbling about?"
It was probably because Krash was at his most foul-tempered back then—words like that spilled from his mouth.
He was dying day by day, the only one who could shoulder the curses.
"You're that famous young curse-bearer, right? How about a deal with this old man?"
Beltua tossed that proposal at Krash.
"Who the hell are you?"
Seeing Krash's furrowed brow, Beltua grinned.
"Curse resolver Beltua Rackroad. I'll make use of that curse of yours in the most spectacular way."
That was Krash and Beltua's first encounter.
And now.
Krash was facing Beltua Rackroad for the first time once more.
Back then, it had been a tavern.
Now, it was the Forbidden Zone, the Endless Night.
Wriggle—
A curse centipede squirmed beneath Krash's feet of its own accord.
The talismans plastered all over its body were forcibly holding its shape as a curse centipede.
This thing was packed full of curses that could erase a human in an instant.
Even Krash found the curse centipede unsettling, yet Beltua rode it around without a care.
It wasn't for nothing that Krash called him a mad old curse fiend.
"A talk, huh."
Beltua tapped the long pole with its lantern—the one Krash had chased—against his shoulder.
Then he loosened his robe a bit and flicked up his wide-brimmed hat with his index finger.
"This old man's just a worthless curse resolver, y'know?"
As if a worthless curse resolver could roam the Forbidden Zone freely.
Krash knew the lantern he carried was one that hunted black erosion beasts.
Because he'd once entered the Endless Night with Beltua before.
So he'd figured he'd be carrying it again this time.
And sure enough, he was right.
"Plus, I don't chat much with guys lugging around World Erosion parasites like ornaments."
Beltua pointed at the approaching carriage in the distance and smirked.
It was a reaction that said he'd chase him off right now if he didn't introduce himself.
Even with two World Erosion carriers and the unknown Krash there, he looked utterly at ease.
As expected of Beltua.
And Krash knew full well that if Beltua decided to shake him off, it'd be hard to keep up.
"I'm Krash Valheim, junior to Dorma Rackroad."
"Dorma? My baby disciple has a junior?"
"Yes, Dorma's currently attending Raheln Academy."
"Raheln Academy, huh. Hmm, oh right, that was the one Martial Emperor buddy was making. He actually went and built it."
He seemed clueless about the world—he was hearing about Dorma and even Raheln Academy for the first time.
Probably because he'd abandoned the world for his curse obsession.
"More importantly, Valheim."
He stroked his chin beard as he eyed Krash.
"Why's a kid from the world's most blessed family in that state?"
His eyes gleamed with keen interest.
He was the world's best at piercing through curses.
Naturally, Krash's current condition intrigued him.
"One little imbalance and your body'd blow apart. Even I couldn't fix that."
Beltua had also sussed out why Krash had come to him.
"You want me to purge the World Erosion and curses from your body?"
"I have no such intention."
Krash immediately made his refusal clear.
Why would he discard the curses and World Erosion he'd gathered with such effort?
"Even if you pulled them out in this state, my body would just collapse anyway."
World Erosion and curses rode on yin energy.
Aura and oler, meanwhile, rode on yang energy.
These yin and yang energies always sought harmony with each other.
If one vanished, the balance would shatter, and body and mind would break as the price.
Krash had learned that from Beltua.
Balancing curses by offsetting them started with harmonizing yin and yang.
Beltua's interest grew as Krash showed unexpectedly deep knowledge.
"You've studied quite a bit, eh?"
He used the lantern pole as a staff and stood atop the curse centipede.
"So, what do you want from me that you came looking?"
He bared his yellowed teeth in a sleazy grin.
It was the perfect leer of a cranky old geezer.
But Krash desperately needed this old man's help.
The supreme curses couldn't be fully obtained without Beltua's aid.
"The supreme curse, Four Seasons."
Beltua's hand, stroking his chin beard, froze.
"Lend me a hand in acquiring it."
His eyes filled with shock at the utterly unexpected request.
"...Are you insane?"
When Beltua finally spoke, he questioned Krash's sanity.
And rightly so.
The curses called supreme were on a whole other level from the rest.
Each one's property was a horror that could drag a person's life to ruin in an instant.
Naturally, even Beltua handled supreme curses with extreme caution.
Every one was so dangerous that even in the world's top curse resolver's hands, they were bombs that could go off anytime.
And now.
A Valheim boy he'd never met before pops up out of nowhere asking for a supreme curse.
It was no request a sane person would make.
But unfortunately, Krash was perfectly sane.
"No other curse fits me as perfectly as Four Seasons right now."
At those words, Beltua's eyes narrowed suspiciously.
He was puzzled, recalling Four Seasons' properties.
"Looks like there's one thing you don't know."
Beltua gave Krash a displeased look.
Like he'd seen a young fool itching to throw his life away.
"The name 'supreme curse' is just a curse in name..."
"In truth, it's closer to an erosion beast with its own will. That's why it's classified separately from curse species. Isn't that right?"
Krash cut him off and voiced what Beltua had been about to say.
Beltua swallowed dryly, stunned.
As he'd sensed earlier, Krash knew curses inside out.
Even things specialist curse resolvers barely knew.
"Did my baby disciple tell you that?"
Krash shrugged.
No answer would convince Beltua anyway.
"Hmph, yeah, he probably hasn't researched that far yet."
He let out a tsking chuckle and eyed Krash.
The supreme curse, Four Seasons.
It was an exceedingly bizarre curse.
As mentioned, supreme curses had wills strong enough to warrant separate classification as curse species.
Especially Four Seasons—it was freakier than the others.
Once afflicted, Four Seasons rampantly devours something specific inside the body.
Then it fills that void itself, gaining the power to manipulate its host at will.
That "something specific" could be physical, like the stomach, liver, or brain.
But that's mild by comparison.
Rare research on Four Seasons indicates it devours oler too.
It even swallows curses inside the body and souls themselves, replacing them.
Thus, one afflicted by Four Seasons ceases to be themselves.
They live eternally as Four Seasons' slave, their soul unable to return to the cycle of life.
So Beltua frowned at Krash's intent to use it—it was natural.
Even Beltua couldn't handle Four Seasons easily.
Controlling a curse that wandered with its own will was no simple task.
"Planning to feed it all the curses inside you? You'd be mistaken."
As stated, Four Seasons devours and replaces even curses.
But that's mere replacement.
It swallows the curse but leaves an identical curse in the body.
So Four Seasons can't dispel curses.
"No. As I said earlier, I have no intention of discarding my curses or World Erosion power."
Beltua furrowed his brow—what was the point of getting Four Seasons then?
Seeing that, Krash decided to tell him something he didn't know.
"Four Seasons can indeed devour and replace anything inside the body, as commonly known. But it has one unknown property."
Four Seasons certainly devours and replaces something in the body.
"It doesn't just replace what it devours as-is. If it has devoured multiple things with equivalent energy, it can substitute one for another."
If it devoured both brain and stomach, Four Seasons could make two stomachs in place of the brain.
Without any impact on the body's survival.
In fact, Krash had found someone ravaged by Four Seasons with twenty lungs left in their body.
Even in that state, their breathing held steady.
Doubt clouded Beltua's eyes.
"What do you plan to do with that?"
Krash raised his left hand to show him directly.
Whoosh!
Black Flame rose from his left hand.
It was the power of World Erosion burned by Ignis.
Then he raised his right hand.
Whoosh!
White Flame rose from his right.
It was the power of aura burned by Ignis.
"I'll have Four Seasons devour both the World Erosion and aura."
Beltua's eyes slowly widened.
He knew Krash's body was in a highly unstable state.
The powers of aura and World Erosion were always eyeing each other to devour.
A slight imbalance and his body would split in half—a desperate crisis.
And in that situation, Krash had this absurd idea.
"Then have it substitute one power for the other."
If successful, only aura or World Erosion power would remain in Krash's body.
Aura and World Erosion powers were separate vessels.
Distinct vessels, each filled separately.
But Krash was saying he'd use Four Seasons to break down those vessel walls and merge them into one.
World Erosion power gained by substituting aura.
Or aura power gained by substituting World Erosion.
Either way, it would make him several times stronger than now.
"...You're not sane."
And the price would fall entirely on Krash.
Setting aside Four Seasons' risk of rampaging at will.
The moment of substituting two powers into one would overload the body immensely.
"But I won't die."
Four Seasons never allows the body's death.
Even if it leaves twenty lungs in the body, it somehow sustains it.
And the same went for aura and World Erosion powers.
Even substituted into one power, the shock wouldn't kill Krash.
Four Seasons wouldn't let him die.
Krash's eyes glowed blue.
His blue irises held a madness that even curse-mad Beltua found chilling.
"Haha, alright."
Beltua burst out laughing.
"In this crazy world, sometimes you gotta go properly mad to live."
His lips split wide in a gleaming, manic grin.
"Fine. Handling a supreme curse in someone else's body will be a first for me too—a good experiment."
Thud!
Beltua stabbed his pole down, halting the curse centipede.
The lantern flickered ominously in response.
Beneath that lantern light, a grotesque smile curved across Beltua's face like a crescent moon.
"Don't cry if you die."
Curses come to those who laugh.