Chapter 215
Chapter 215
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 215
Chapter Title: Breaking the Birdcage
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Leaving the fainted Benox behind, Krash pocketed the magic communication device that had fallen beside him.
Then, Krash leisurely slipped out through the gap in the collapsed wall.
Smoke laced with intense heat billowed from his mouth.
‘To think Benox was here. I ended up using more output than expected.’
For the ambush, Krash had even unleashed Annihilating Flame Asura alongside Excel, then swiftly cooled his body with Cold Snow Ogre.
He’d known they’d send opposition forces to the Holy Grail side, but he hadn’t expected the Heresy Inquisitor General himself.
Benox was a master-class powerhouse.
Even for Krash, it would have been impossible without pouring everything into the ambush.
‘Without Excel, even the ambush would’ve failed.’
Thank goodness it had succeeded.
Benox, the Heresy Inquisitor, was a zombie of a man who invested every ounce of his holy power solely into self-recovery and physical enhancement.
Not only was he optimized for stalling, but the longer the fight dragged on, the trickier he became.
The ambush had been the right call.
Kwaaaang!
The moment Krash stepped outside, the chaos was still in full swing.
Aslan and Diona were there.
They were unleashing attacks on the opposition forces tangled up with the royal holy knights.
Aslan’s flame magic from the underground space was especially overwhelming.
It didn’t just burn—it smothered them with smoke for extra punishment, throwing both the opposition and the royal knights into disarray.
And weaving through it all was Diona’s terrifying swordplay.
She’d been elevated to cardinal purely on her blade skills alone.
Among those who’d already clashed with her once—the opposition and royal holy knights—no one could block her sword.
‘That side’s handled.’
Krash turned his head right away.
In the distance, he spotted Astria floundering under the temporary perception-jamming spell Aslan had cast.
Krash dodged through the melee and dashed straight to her side.
“Astria.”
“Ah.”
Astria flinched in surprise as Krash appeared right in front of her.
Seeing her like that, Krash turned his back to her and crouched low.
“Hop on.”
“H-Hop on your back?”
Astria panicked, but there was no time for that.
As Krash urged her on with a glance, she bit her lip hard and finally climbed onto his back.
A heavy yet soft sensation pressed against his back.
Astria had leaned her upper body against him.
The feeling was still one Krash hadn’t quite gotten used to, but he gripped her thighs firmly.
“Hold on tight.”
“H-Here, even tighter?”
“You’ll fly right off otherwise.”
She knew just how fast Krash got with Excel, so she gulped and wrapped her arms around his neck.
The moment he confirmed her arms locked in place, Krash stepped forward.
The instant his foot slammed the ground...
Excel surged through his legs, accelerating him.
His boosted body crossed the distance in a heartbeat.
Astria didn’t even have time to scream before squeezing her eyes shut.
Kung!
Krash soon arrived at the door Benox had blasted open moments ago.
“Eek, eek.”
Astria let out strange noises from his back, her robe askew and hair a mess.
Her face had gone deathly pale, her expression screaming it was an experience she never wanted to repeat.
Krash carefully set the wobbling Astria down and approached the ruined door.
Kwaaang!
The commotion still raged behind them.
Thanks to that, no one seemed to be watching this side.
Krash looked up.
There was the shattered door etched with holy royal crests everywhere, and Benox’s axe.
It should have had a holy barrier, but Benox’s axe swing had stripped it away completely.
Krash roughly kicked aside the fainted priests lying next to it and stepped inside.
“I’m coming too!”
Astria followed, shooting the priests an apologetic look as she passed.
The interior was a pitch-black space.
Not a single ray of light penetrated it, so Krash swiveled his head around.
Spotting a lamp he could light, Krash ignited Ignis in his hand.
Once he lit the lamp, the space began to brighten.
It seemed magical—one flame spread to the others in sequence.
And what came into view was far from pleasant.
Krash caught the acrid stench of blood assaulting his nose.
Right ahead, in that direction, stood a tank brimming with bloodied water.
Mysterious tools were scattered here and there.
Just looking at them screamed unspeakable horrors, so Krash approached the tank.
At the tank’s front...
Sat a single round cup.
Embroidered in gold, it looked like an extraordinarily expensive item.
The Holy Grail.
For all its beauty, it was a horrific device that drained every last drop of a saintess’s holy power.
A monstrous creation by Freeman to sustain the holy royal family.
Krash picked it up.
Whoooosh!
In that moment, he felt something from deep within himself being sucked toward the Grail.
Krash wielded skills too.
Skills were a power akin to holy energy.
Thus, the Grail tried to absorb Krash’s skill power as well.
“Not on my watch.”
But Krash had another power.
Before his skills could be pulled from his body, the power of World Erosion swirled forth.
The Grail failed to absorb the skill power dwelling within him and remained in his grasp.
What the Grail could absorb were skills.
Even then, it didn’t restore them to their original form—it converted them into holy power.
Freeman had used it until now to melt down countless skills and holy powers, birthing saintesses.
The problem was that even this Grail was a fragment of a nameless god.
‘Blasphemy isn’t an unfair charge.’
Made from part of a nameless god’s corpse, no wonder the opposition cried for religious revolution.
“This place...”
Astria’s voice came then.
She stared blankly at the Holy Grail setup.
For her, it was also her birthplace.
Though she had no memory of it, of course.
She’d become a saintess as a newborn.
Countless saintesses had met their end here as saintesses, only for new ones to be born.
Gazing silently at the scene, she soon turned to Krash.
Her eyes no longer on the Grail.
“What now?”
She was looking ahead.
To her ironclad resolve to live as herself, even if today might be her last as a saintess.
Sensing that determination, Krash had already drawn Thunderclap sometime ago.
Aslan and Diona were buying time, but by now, both the opposition and the holy royals would have caught on.
Forces from one side or the other were surely swarming outside the underground space.
No time to tangle with them.
So Krash opted for the shortest path.
“Simple enough.”
Might as well make a massive announcement to the entire world.
The saintess who shattered her yoke.
Astria Stigma Freeman.
Her very existence.
Black Flame began coiling around Krash’s Thunderclap.
Along with it, the surrounding air flowed in reverse toward Krash, like a reflux.
Sensing something ominous, Astria looked at him.
“...You?”
As Astria asked with a what-are-you-planning expression...
Pzzt!
A sheath of lightning began forming over Krash’s blade.
Sparks flying, Krash gripped the Grail in one hand and lowered his stance.
With each motion, the Black Flame nestled in the lightning sheath grew fiercer.
The Black Flame storm—inspired by the Sword Ghost’s drawing technique—began spewing intense heat.
“Hoo.”
Smoke poured from Krash’s mouth.
Kuung!
At the same time, the surroundings began shaking like an earthquake.
The power radiating from Krash was affecting everything around him.
“W-What are you doing?!”
Astria yelped in shock and grabbed a nearby pillar.
Even that pillar trembled before Krash’s power.
Kung!
Then, footsteps echoed from the door.
Astria whipped around in alarm to see Benox standing there.
Blood trickled from his head, his eyes half-rolled back.
Truly zombie-like, he gnashed his teeth at the sight of Krash.
“You bastard!”
His rage exploded outward.
Krash had made sure to knock him out cold, yet somehow his body and spirit had recovered in that short time to chase him here.
As he raised the axe he’d dragged along to stop Krash...
A sword came crashing down on it.
Chaeng!
The greatsword slammed the axe down, staggering Benox.
As he whipped around, there stood Diona, covered in dust.
“Diona!”
Benox, recognizing her, shouted, but her eyes flashed a warning.
“Before the Saintess. Who dares raise their voice?”
She’d once been offered a position by the opposition.
But she was a knight sworn only to protect Saintess Astria.
Having chosen Astria over even Freeman, Benox erupted in fury at her.
Right on cue, Tersada’s voice emanated from the magic communication device Krash had taken from Benox.
He’d sent it assuming Benox had secured the Grail by now.
Hearing it, Krash gripped his impossibly heavy Thunderclap and grinned.
“Ah, yes. All prepared.”
As Krash’s voice transmitted through the device, panic rippled from Tersada’s side.
But it was already too late for whatever he tried to say.
Pzzzjik!
With a thunderous roar from Thunderclap, Krash thrust his sword toward the ceiling.
The Black Flame storm had raged so fiercely that, the moment the weighted blade pierced upward...
Crraaash!
The lightning sheath shattered, and Krash’s Black Flame ascended to the heavens.
Extinguishing Flame Erosion
Third Form
Extinguishing Flame Heavenly Thunder
Kwagagagagagagang!
The raging storm of Black Flame and lightning tore the ceiling apart and surged upward.
Shredding the underground space to pieces, the Black Flame climbed until it hit the central fountain’s base.
Something like a fountain base couldn’t block its path—it demolished the fountain, vaporized the water, and shot straight into the sky.
The fountain, said to be where the gods once washed their hands, shattered to ruins that day.
Before that staggering sight...
Onlookers screamed and fled from the fountain with shocked faces.
Luckily, its massive size filling the center meant no one got caught up.
Beneath that soaring Black Flame...
Krash turned to Astria.
“Astria!”
As he called her name, she understood and ran to him.
“Lady Astria.”
The moment she stood by his side and glanced back...
Diona, blocking Benox, curved her lips into a smile.
“Leave the birdcage and spread your wings freely.”
Diona, the saintess’s holy knight who had always wished for her to escape the cage and soar.
She’d raised Astria from childhood to now, and she beamed radiantly at her.
Diona had always been the parent Astria never had.
Seeing her, Astria wore a smile brighter than the sun.
“I’ll fly so high. Watch closely.”
With those words, Krash wrapped his arm around her waist and leaped.
The two vanished through the hole they’d blasted in an instant.
Watching them go, Diona let out a soft breath.
The Saintess had taken flight to achieve her wish, so she had to fulfill her duty as her holy knight.
“Diona, you’ve lost your mind. You should’ve only done what you could handle.”
Benox, seething with rage, filled her vision.
Entering full combat stance, his body swelled with a menace unfit for a temple servant.
“I’ve always done what I couldn’t handle.”
Diona parried his words flatly and raised her sword.
“You lot wouldn’t know what a hell-raiser our Saintess is.”
Hoping the whole world would know for sure today.
Diona raised her sword for her saintess once more.