Chapter 23
Chapter 23
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 23
Chapter Title: Bandits of the Lawless Zone
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‘Ignis.’
A brilliant azure blaze erupted from Krash's sword as he kicked off the carriage floor.
Ignis was the flame of a higher god, and as such, it carried the power of purification.
‘Which means...’
Slash!
The impaled black human was engulfed in flames and melted away in an instant.
‘...it has excellent synergy against black humans.’
Krash charged straight into the midst of the black humans without hesitation.
The merchant woman swiftly grabbed a staff and smashed one apart, so she seemed fine on her own.
“Crimson Garden.”
But there were this many black humans.
Which meant there had to be an unpurified World Erosion nearby.
Not far at all.
“Hey, I'm going to wipe out the World Erosion spawning these black humans, so hold them off.”
“Got it! Leave it to me!”
Krash immediately gathered aura beneath his feet.
With a powerful kick, his body shot forward explosively.
The black humans grew more numerous the farther he ran.
But against Krash's Ignis, there was little they could do.
Krash soon arrived deep in the forest, where a mass of World Erosion came into view.
Black liquid mingled among the trees, bubbling and spewing gas—it was unmistakably unpurified World Erosion.
“Gonna swallow it?”
Crimson Garden, who had followed along, perched on a branch and asked.
“Yeah, perfect timing on your part.”
Krash unhesitatingly reached out toward the World Erosion.
Dark energy began flowing into his hand along his arm.
Krash's body already harbored World Erosion from the Extreme Blood Poison Infusion.
Thanks to that, he absorbed it without much resistance and let out a breath.
Fortunately, thanks to his Sixth Sense, no frenzy erupted.
No more black humans would spawn now.
That was when Krash was on his way back.
“Krash.”
Krash halted at Crimson Garden's call.
Lifting his head amid the trees, he spotted the merchant woman surrounded by several people.
They had her encircled, and she was swinging her staff threateningly.
“Don't you dare touch my carriage! Get lost!”
“Come on, we're all in this together. Everyone passing through the lawless zone is a friend, right?”
“Yeah, and while you're at it, be my girlfriend down there too. Heh heh.”
They looked like bandits, plain as day.
But they weren't ordinary bandits.
Being able to roam the lawless zone unscathed meant at least one of them was a real powerhouse.
“Perfect.”
Meanwhile, Crimson Garden grinned chillingly.
“Dull Sword's got great practice dummies right there.”
Thinking he'd chosen a good master, Krash cracked his neck.
“Couldn't agree more.”
Time to properly loosen up before heading to the martial tournament.
The bandits who mainly preyed on carriages passing through the lawless zone numbered eight in total.
Among them, the leader-like figure, Orel, swallowed hard as he eyed the merchant woman.
Women were a rare sight in the lawless zone, so this was a delicious meal after a long drought.
“Hey, I'm first.”
“Always so greedy, boss. Don't hog her all to yourself.”
“It's my call, you lot.”
He casually swung his massive axe around with ease.
A display of his brute strength.
The merchant woman tensed upon seeing it.
Failing to ring the bell properly amid the black humans had been a mistake.
She hadn't expected the bandits to close in like this.
She could handle the others, but adding the leader made it impossible alone.
Thud.
At that moment, footsteps echoed.
The merchant woman recognized them and lit up with relief.
Noticing her reaction, the bandits belatedly turned around.
“Huh? A kid?”
There stood a single boy.
The moment one bandit voiced his confusion...
Thwack!
A sword flew straight and pierced his skull.
For a split second, silence fell over the group.
No one had imagined a young boy hurling his sword to kill a bandit.
“Damn it, enemy! Kill him!”
Orel reacted swiftly, as befitting a leader.
He realized the boy was no ordinary kid.
Just then, the boy was unarmed after throwing his sword.
Two bandits seized the opening and charged.
But the boy showed no fear at the sight of them.
He simply raised his hand.
In that instant, the sword he had thrown moments ago was back in his grasp.
“You thought I had no weapon?”
The sudden reappearance of the sword startled the bandit.
Seizing the gap, the boy's blade plunged precisely into the bandit's throat.
The clean, efficient motion was beyond what any common bandit could handle.
Immediately after, he smashed the jaw of another charging bandit.
The bandit collapsed, tongue lolling out from the brain-rattling impact.
The boy mercilessly drove his sword into the man's head.
Swoosh—
The trees swayed slowly in the incoming breeze.
An eerie tension rippled through the bandits.
In the blink of an eye, three had fallen to the sudden boy.
The atmosphere had flipped completely.
“I'll handle him. You lot grab that woman properly.”
In the end, leader Orel stepped forward slowly.
Muscular and towering, he dwarfed the boy.
The outcome seemed obvious.
Yet Orel didn't underestimate him.
His instincts were screaming.
This kid was no pushover.
“You gonna be okay?”
Krash flicked the blood from his sword leisurely as he regarded the man.
“Coming at me alone.”
“Pfft!”
Orel barked a rough laugh.
“I could crush a brat like you just by grabbing your head.”
“Sounds good. Let's see whose head pops first.”
The moment Krash spoke, Orel kicked off the ground first.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The massive impacts reverberated across the field, matching his huge frame.
Red aura cloaked his charging axe like smoke.
The flickering aura marked him as an Expert-level fighter.
He swung the axe down toward Krash's waist, carrying all his momentum.
Clanggg!
Krash's sword met it squarely.
But with their size difference, Orel's raw power was superior.
Krash's body floated slightly and slid sideways.
Orel's eyes gleamed.
Krash's skill didn't seem that impressive compared to what he'd shown against the bandits.
And his aura was just a tad weaker than his own.
‘Those guys must've let their guard down because of his looks.’
They wouldn't have fallen so easily otherwise.
Orel's axe cleaved the air once more, clashing with Krash.
Bang! Bang!
Amid the relentless assaults, Orel grew certain.
He was stronger.
Besides, the kid's sword was slow.
Slow enough to wonder how it had blocked his axe at all.
“Where'd all that big talk go?!”
Orel roared threats while swinging wildly.
Krash had no room to reply, merely blocking the axe repeatedly.
“Ngh.”
Orel decided to end it quickly.
He had no hobby of tormenting anyone but women.
Finish fast and move on to the tasty prey.
His axe swings grew fiercer.
The clashes between sword and axe were deafening.
Thus passed one minute.
Five minutes.
Ten minutes.
“Hah... huh?”
Orel's ragged breaths echoed.
He was still swinging his axe.
This was the dozenth time he'd thought the next strike would finish it.
Yet Krash stood unharmed, while Orel tired.
‘What the hell is going on?’
Krash's sword was visibly slow.
Which meant its power and aura were nothing special.
Indeed, Krash staggered with every clash.
Yet somehow, his sword was always there for the next swing.
‘At this rate...’
It felt like he was deliberately swinging his axe at Krash's sword.
No, was that actually the case?
Was he truly aiming for the sword every time?
Confusion swirled in his mind.
“You done?”
Flinch!
Under the night sky cloaked in darkness, Krash's blue eyes gleamed coldly.
His tone was the same as before.
Orel swallowed hard.
He gripped his axe until his hands bled.
“Ha, haha, pulling some fancy trick, huh? It's over now!”
He forced nonchalance into his shout.
Seeing that, Krash smiled faintly.
“Good thing. Thanks to you, I'm getting the hang of it even without Sixth Sense.”
Twitch.
The burly man's thick brow twitched.
It was as if Krash was toying with him.
His pride wounded deeply, Orel drew a long breath.
He hadn't planned to use that technique on a kid, but this bizarre swordplay would drive him mad first.
Boom!
Without warning, Orel kicked off again.
Krash dangled his sword loosely, awaiting the attack once more.
It felt like shoving his head into a snake's maw, but Orel suppressed the fear.
Instead, he cloaked his axe in denser aura than ever.
But where his axe swung, Krash had placed his sluggish sword again.
‘Got you!’
Orel's eyes flashed.
In that moment, his axe moved strangely.
The axe, which had been arcing down at Krash's sword, left only an afterimage of aura as it veered toward Krash's side.
Illusory Axe Feint
It was his trump secret art.
He'd bisect the kid and split him in two.
The instant Orel grinned in anticipation of the spraying blood...
Clannnnggg!
The fierce clash of metal rang across the entire field.
Blink.
Orel's eyes closed and opened once.
He couldn't comprehend it.
The sensation on his axe wasn't flesh—it was metal.
“Hey.”
Krash's low voice reverberated.
“Where'd you learn that?”
Behind the axe and sword, sharp light gleamed from his blue eyes.
“Guh?!”
Seeing it, Orel's body shrank back.
He felt like prey facing a beast.
Krash was frowning now.
He recognized whose secret art that Illusory Axe Feint belonged to.
‘Did he flee the Empire around this time?’
There had been a mass murder case in the Empire recently.
A single man had massacred an entire village.
The Empire dispatched knights, but the slaughter mage escaped across the border.
Krash normally wouldn't have cared—it was the Empire's problem.
But the real issue lay elsewhere.
‘He accepted the power of a World Erosion spawn and became one himself.’
Like Bianca in her Hundred Ghosts days, this guy was a spawn of a World Erosion entity.
Slaughter Hound Bergman
That was his signature move: the Illusory Axe Feint.
“Are you one of Slaughter Hound's underlings?”
Orel's face hardened.
‘Whether he is or isn't doesn't really matter to me.’
The problem was that Slaughter Hound would later hide in the Staron Kingdom.
‘And get caught by Charlotte.’
The reason Krash remembered this, despite his disinterest in outside news, was Charlotte.
Slaughter Hound's death was the pivotal moment that made her name known even in the Empire.
A 16-year-old overwhelming and defeating a World Erosion spawn single-handedly was heroic legend material.
“Whatever. You broke my flow.”
With that, Krash's sword moved.
“Huh?”
The moment Orel voiced his doubt, his massive body slowly toppled.
Krash stepped forward as the man's head rolled across the ground, severed.
Slaughter Hound would die to Charlotte anyway.
No need to bother with his underlings.
“V-Valheim-nim!”
The merchant woman, locked in combat with the remaining four bandits, called out to Krash tearfully.
Witnessing that, Krash clicked his tongue and ignited Ignis on his sword.
Time to finish quick and get some sleep.