Chapter 205
Chapter 205
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 205
Chapter Title: Growth
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From the very start, going all out.
It was one of Krashu's specialties.
But the price was utterly gruesome.
"Keuk!"
The gap in World Erosion had been emptied as the cost of forcibly invoking even the Heaven-Destroying Asura.
Aura surged into that gap, rampaging once more to tear Krashu's body in half.
The pain was so intense it ignored even the backlash from using the Heaven-Destroying Asura.
But Krashu was a vicious outlier among vicious outliers.
Grind!
Krashu ground his teeth.
At the same time, he forcibly suppressed the surging aura.
Krashu had experience suppressing the power of World Erosion all this time.
So, drawing on that, he relied solely on his mental strength to push the aura back by force.
"Haring!"
With Krashu's shout, Haring scooped him up and kicked sideways at the same time.
Pew!
A beam of light streaked in a straight line through the spot where Krashu had just been.
Krashu, who had practically rolled with Haring, gazed at the spot where the flames of Heaven-Destroying Moonfire were burning away.
There stood the Eclipse Star, who had taken his Heaven-Destroying Moonfire head-on.
But it wasn't called a 9-star Erosion Beast for nothing.
Its condition looked relatively intact.
However, Krashu had definitely inflicted damage just moments ago.
Because the Eclipse Star's back was charred black.
Plop—thud!
The wing attached to its back finally couldn't withstand the heat and fell off.
Including the two wings blown off by the initial strike and the one that just dropped, a total of three wings were gone.
'If only I'd aimed for the neck from the start.'
But if he'd gone for the neck, he might have been the one to suffer instead.
Even using Haring's Invisible to approach from maximum range, the Eclipse Star had still sensed him.
'But with this, I've blocked its flight and additional attack options along with its escape.'
The Eclipse Star's wings were incredibly troublesome.
Not only could it fly freely through the skies, but its speed broke the sound barrier, and the high-heat beams pouring from its wings could melt human flesh in an instant.
Especially the barrage of light from above—it was hell itself.
So, losing three of those wings was nothing short of a huge boon.
It couldn't fly with just the one remaining.
"Haring, curse incoming. Duck."
At that moment, Krashu immediately pulled Haring close and wrapped his body around her.
The light pouring out around the Eclipse Star instantly reached Krashu.
"Krashu!"
Haring cried out in alarm, but Krashu didn't mind at all.
Any curse that seeped in would just be burned away by Ignis and replaced entirely with World Erosion's power.
This side had the absolute advantage against curses.
"Haring, stay close."
However, this curse was lethal to Haring.
The Eclipse Star's curse was spontaneous combustion.
Light would penetrate the body, igniting flames from within.
Naturally, with fire starting inside the body, there was no way to extinguish it, and victims usually died spewing smoke from their mouths.
[Then isn't that no different from your usual self?]
Krashu let out a breath as he regarded Crimson Garden, who was making snide remarks even in this situation.
Through recent training, Krashu had significantly extended the duration he could maintain the Heaven-Destroying Asura.
The mania from World Erosion had sharply decreased since acquiring aura.
Probably thanks to the inherent stability of aura itself.
On top of that, the killing intent of Heavenly Murder Star rarely went berserk after obtaining Nox.
Nox's night was what kept Heavenly Murder Star most stably in check.
As a result, the time Krashu could wield the Heaven-Destroying Asura had increased dramatically.
In the first place, the berserk phases of mania and killing intent only lasted 10 seconds, which imposed the time limit.
With those resolved, the wieldable time naturally extended.
Moreover, proving how much stronger Krashu had become, he could now invoke the Heaven-Destroying Asura without momentary enhancement elixirs.
"Hoo."
On top of that, Krashu's body bore the curse Cold Frost Fang.
The Cold Frost Fang, wielded alongside to further extend the Heaven-Destroying Asura's duration, was keeping his body temperature at an optimal level.
With this, the time until reaching the limit would be longer.
However, even with the extended maintenance time for Heaven-Destroying Asura like this.
It was still insufficient to subdue the Eclipse Star.
"Grrrrrr."
The Eclipse Star let out a boiling sound as its black finger pointed at Krashu once more.
Krashu, holding Haring, activated Excel to evade the incoming beam of light.
Without Excel, holes would surely have been punched through his body by now.
To put it bluntly, a 9-star Erosion Beast was still overwhelming.
If he'd come here alone, even Krashu would have given up.
But.
Krashu had never intended to face the Eclipse Star alone from the beginning.
"My luck just keeps plummeting endlessly."
With the echoing voice, a blood-red sword thrust toward the beam of light.
Pew!
And the incoming beam—what do you know.
It couldn't pierce the blade and instead bounced off, streaking across the sky.
Blood Rakshasa Sword, one of the Ten Heavenly Swords.
It was a sword even the Sword King's light blade couldn't penetrate.
And standing before it was a man with the same blood-red hair fluttering.
None other than the High Light Sovereign, turned into a corpse and moved by Evelask.
He had appeared here to confront the Eclipse Star under Evelask's command.
"Haring."
"I'm fine."
Krashu called to Haring at his side.
She gripped her dagger tightly as if to say not to worry.
He'd asked just in case, since Haring had lost her brother because of the High Light Sovereign, but it seemed like a foolish question.
"Krashu already got revenge for me."
She no longer clung to a settled grudge.
It was just like Haring.
"High Light Sovereign, draw out the Eclipse Star's true form. It'll move just like last time when you got hit. Match it well."
"What a nasty bastard!"
The High Light Sovereign grumbled but thrust Blood Rakshasa Sword toward the Eclipse Star anyway.
Seeing the red glow gradually enveloping his body, it looked like he'd handle it competently.
Even if death had diminished his physical abilities somewhat, he was still the High Light Sovereign.
It wasn't for nothing that he'd nearly endangered House Hardenharts single-handedly; he confronted the Eclipse Star with practiced skill.
That one would be impossible for even the Eclipse Star to ignore.
"Crimson Garden."
[We're already ready on this end.]
Krashu made one final check.
Good.
The final assault could be left to Evelask's side.
'What we need to do.'
Is make the Eclipse Star so furious it reveals its true form.
We can't take it down until then.
The Eclipse Star was extremely angry right now.
And understandably so.
The blood-red man before its eyes was incredibly tenacious.
With his innate regeneration, even if struck by light bursts, he recovered quickly.
Combined with his original regeneration and Evelask's necromancy, he was a true undying zombie.
"Haha, I'm already half-dead anyway. No big deal if I get hurt!"
Plus, the High Light Sovereign wasn't weak enough for the Eclipse Star to disregard.
Cunningly, he exploited gaps with exquisite precision, always launching threatening attacks.
His natural combat prowess let him fight recklessly without regard for his body's damage, which was utterly infuriating.
But aside from that, there was another truly aggravating problem.
It was the combination of Haring and Krashu.
They used Invisible to erase their presence completely, attacking only when it fully exposed an opening.
Having lost three wings to the first strike, each of Krashu's attacks was lethal even to the Eclipse Star.
Especially problematic was how sharp his instincts were.
If the Eclipse Star deliberately showed a gap, Krashu never approached.
He only moved and struck when absolutely convinced it was real.
Moreover, the occasional lunging cursed centipedes were a nuisance too.
Perhaps because of that, the Eclipse Star's patience was finally reaching its limit.
The starlight around the Eclipse Star's body intensified beyond before.
The scattering starlight illuminated patches of the night, swirling around it.
Crack!
It was at that moment.
The Eclipse Star's skin began to crack and tear.
Crack-crack-crack!
Those cracks rapidly spread across its entire body, soon becoming fissures.
"High Light Sovereign, if you don't wanna die, dodge on your own."
Seeing it, Krashu immediately scooped up Haring and bolted from the spot.
The Excel layered on Krashu's body accelerated him to his limit in an instant.
"Damn itttt!"
The High Light Sovereign's belated shout rang out briefly.
And then, lights erupted simultaneously behind Krashu.
The beams spreading in all directions swept the surroundings in an instant.
Krashu, now far from the explosion point, immediately drew Thunderclap.
In the meantime, Haring raised her dagger, spewing venom profusely.
'Must've swallowed an elixir while falling back.'
Krashu flashed a brief smile at Haring's swift response, always prepared.
It was proof that the Generation of the Sky was growing just as he was.
Feeling their reliability increasing, Krashu thrust Thunderclap forward.
Kwaaaaaang!
Haring's dagger and Krashu's Thunderclap tore into the cluster of light, shredding it.
Even at this distance, the shock was tremendous, but they successfully cleared the light unscathed.
Krashu's eyes reflected the spot where the light had burst.
There was something pure white.
The shed white skin rippled like a cluster of light, and the wing tips had become the same form as the light.
The Eclipse Star's true form, having molted its shell.
It had fused with starlight.
No physical attacks worked on the Eclipse Star in that form.
Because it was starlight itself.
"Haring, fall back."
This was beyond what Haring could handle.
No matter how much Invisible she used, the moment she released it, the Eclipse Star would strike first.
His body tingled.
Just facing the current Eclipse Star made his body warn him.
That if he didn't flee right now, it would be dangerous.
Krashu could feel it to this degree.
Haring beside him was barely holding back her body from freezing up.
"Krashu..."
"It's fine. This is what we've prepared for all this time."
Krashu plopped his hand heavily on Haring's head, then stepped forward.
Pew!
At that instant, black chains like shackles shot up into the sky.
Bam!
The soaring chains spread out in all directions, embedding into the ground.
Thanks to the firmly anchored chains underground, the surroundings resembled a scene trapped in a birdcage.
Sensing something off, the Eclipse Star scattered starlight.
The dispersed starlight stretched toward the chains—only to collide and rebound back.
Kwaaang!
The rebounding starlight grazed past the Eclipse Star and exploded on impact nearby.
Realizing it had been caged, the Eclipse Star rippled its starlight in fury.
But it was a 9-star Erosion Beast.
Now in its true form, it could probably break through even Evelask's chain cage if it attacked.
"Not if I can help it."
At that moment, a horse made of bone and blue light appeared before Krashu.
Its mane glowing with blue flames was extraordinary at a glance.
"Piiiing."
Krashu mounted the snorting horse with utmost familiarity.
Of course, he knew what this horse was.
Corpse No. 2 in Evelask's possession.
It was also the horse Arthur had ridden frequently.
And its performance was reliable as such.
Just then, the Eclipse Star turned its gaze toward them.
Indiscriminately spilling starlight, it seemed thoroughly pissed.
In that case, he just needed to make it vent all that anger and cool it down.
"Let's go, No. 2."
The second phase begins.