Chapter 249
Chapter 249
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 249
Chapter Title: Dragon
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World Corroders—three of them—now faced off against Krash.
The overwhelming presence emanating from Krash had hardened the faces of all three world corroders.
And among them, the first to react was the Armed Princess.
"Damn it, you little shit, talking like you're somebody!"
The thought that he was looking down on her ignited her rage to the tips of her hair.
"Armed Princess."
The one who stopped her fury was none other than the Demon Flower.
She held her sword at a slant, glaring at Krash.
"Our goal is to capture Krash Valheim alive. He knows that, which is why he's putting up such a strong front."
"So?"
"It means we can do anything—as long as we don't take his life."
At that moment, tendrils sprouted from beneath the Demon Flower's feet.
"I have healing abilities. It means you can go wild as much as you want."
Even if they drove Krash to the brink of death, she could just heal him.
The unspoken constraint: they must not kill Krash.
The Demon Flower had forcibly removed that limitation.
Because Krash was no opponent they could face while holding back.
"I'll block that bizarre power he's using."
At that, Mokseong slammed his staff into the ground once more.
The impact collided directly with the aura of Krash's White Dragon, creating a deafening noise.
"Go wild, both of you."
"That's what I planned from the start!"
With a shout, the Armed Princess kicked off the ground and charged again.
The White Dragon's aura surged toward her once more.
Kagagagang!
But the air currents rising from Mokseong's staff clashed with the White Dragon's aura, clearing a path for the Armed Princess.
Kuung!
At the same time, the trees and plants of the Giant Forest around them began to uproot themselves.
They lifted their bodies with their roots and swarmed toward Krash.
It was the ability of the Demon Flower, from the Floria tribe.
Amid the scene where everything closed in on him in an instant...
Krash quietly exhaled.
The three had yet to notice what he was focusing on now.
And they had no idea it would prove to be a grave mistake.
The supreme curse within Krash's body: Four Seasons.
Four Seasons had currently devoured three things in total.
One was world corrosion.
Another was the power that protected the world: aura.
And the third was the Dragon King clan's White Dragon King.
What did that signify?
The answer was simple.
Aura was the most dangerous power to world corroders.
They were invaders who corroded the world, and aura was the power the world created to eradicate such intruders.
And now, that aura...
What if it were infused not just with ordinary world corrosion, but with the power of the White Dragon King as well?
Hwaruk—
In contrast to the chaos outside, the interior of Krash's body was extraordinarily calm.
The flames rising within him flickered silently in the wind, burning quietly on their own.
The flames burned using various elements inside Krash as fuel.
Gradually, the color of the flames began to darken to black.
Because they had started burning the power of world corrosion as fuel.
And now, one more power unlike before was added.
It was the power of the White Dragon King, infused with bitter cold.
The chilling aura of the White Dragon King that could freeze everything.
Yet before the flames, even the White Dragon King's chill was meaningless.
Before long, the flames had swallowed even the White Dragon King's chill, using the cold itself as fuel to burn even more fiercely.
With every bit of the White Dragon King's chill that burned, the vessel and flesh known as Krash grew ever tougher.
The white stone affliction manifested by the White Dragon King's egg was the process of transforming the body bearing the egg into that of the Dragon King clan.
Krash had forcibly accelerated that process, ultimately awakening even the White Dragon King itself.
And through that process...
Though incomplete, Krash's body had also transformed into that of the Dragon King clan.
As proof, scales had already sprouted on the skin inside his clothes.
A body transformed into the Dragon King clan's.
The aura dwelling within it would normally rampage to destroy a body that had grown close to a world corroder.
But the one that had devoured the aura was Four Seasons.
The power of Four Seasons ensured that no matter how much the body changed, the cursed subject would never die.
As a result, bizarrely...
Krash had achieved coexistence within one body of...
Re-Dragon Lock, tempered on the foundation of aura.
The body transformed into the Dragon King clan's.
This fact had forged Krash into an extraordinarily sturdy vessel.
The strongest vessel capable of containing even the fiercest flames.
In turn, Krash was ascending to an entirely new realm.
An ordinary person would use only as much power as their vessel could handle.
But Krash couldn't care less about such things.
A stronger vessel meant...
It could pour out far more power right up to the brink of shattering.
Thus, before the massive flames devouring even world corrosion and the White Dragon King's chill...
Krash summoned the seven stars known as the Heavenly Slaughter Stars into the dark night sky.
The moment the red light of the Heavenly Slaughter Stars, which amplified curses and world corrosion, shone...
The flames blazed uncontrollably.
The rising flames soon swallowed even the night itself.
And in that instant, as the aura, now infused with world corrosion, burned as fuel...
The flames filling Krash's entire body incinerated everything.
Krash's eyes glowed crimson.
Every scene reflected in his vision seemed to freeze in place.
The result of the blazing flames accelerating his body's cognition.
Mokseong, trying to suppress Krash's White Dragon aura.
The Demon Flower, watching for an opening amid the moving trees.
The Armed Princess, charging straight ahead in a reckless frenzy.
Smoke trailed from Krash's mouth as he regarded each of the three world corroders.
But Krash was no ordinary madman.
He didn't stop there, accelerating the flames that extended throughout his entire body.
The rotational speed of the flames within his flesh intensified.
His body was tempered endlessly, pushing toward its limits.
Heat that even the Dragon King clan's body and Re-Dragon Lock-tempered flesh could scarcely endure.
As that heat pounded his flesh madly...
Kaduk—
A cracking sound echoed from within Krash's mouth.
"Listen well. This one's purely about firepower, so there's a high chance it'll overload your body beyond its limits. I bumped it up because my boyfriend keeps wanting more, but ideally, avoid using it."
The instant enhancement elixir, a collaboration between Darling and Dorma.
As it melted and merged with the flames, they gained new fuel and soon vented flames even beyond Krash's body.
Hwarrrrrruk!
Fierce black flames engulfed the area in an instant.
The tree monsters caught in those flames ignited all at once.
Even the rainwater pouring from the sky vaporized in a moment—the flames were that intense.
Ossak!
The Demon Flower and Mokseong both felt chills crawl over their skin at the sight.
Something was wrong.
The moment danger registered in their minds...
The Armed Princess, who had pierced even the black flames, was swinging down the cleaver-like swords in both hands.
The cleaver-like sword, infused with strange black currents, was about to embed in Krash's neck.
Krash and the Armed Princess's eyes met.
Jjureut!
Deep within her, alarm bells rang violently at that gaze.
At that moment.
The black flames that had escaped Krash's body surged back into him in an instant.
As if the world had frozen solid.
An extraordinarily quiet world followed.
And atop that world...
Hwaruk—
Pure white flames rose.
"Armed Princess!"
Before Mokseong could shout and slam his staff down, Krash's figure scattered.
Mokseong witnessed Krash right before his eyes.
He reflexively thrust out his staff, but Krash pinned it down with his hand.
With that alone, Mokseong couldn't move his staff at all.
At the same time, he spotted Krash's sword thrust toward his face.
Paak!
"Kyaak!"
Far off, the Armed Princess—delayed by a step—had her Hell Flower shroud shattered and was sent flying into the sky.
In that single instant, Krash had neutralized the Armed Princess and reached Mokseong.
Mokseong could do nothing as he watched the sword aimed at his throat.
The moment Krash's sword partially pierced his neck...
Kagagagagagagang!
The Demon Flower appeared beside Mokseong, her sword barely deflecting Krash's blade just as it had for the Armed Princess.
But the power behind it was different this time.
"Kuhk!"
The Demon Flower felt her arm twist as she failed to deflect the trajectory much.
As a result, Mokseong and the Demon Flower were blasted back by Krash's force.
Kwaaaaaang!
With a massive roar, the Demon Flower and Mokseong tumbled across the ground.
The Demon Flower, who had avoided a direct hit, hurriedly rose.
"Mokseong!"
As her cry echoed, she saw him in her vision.
There, clutching his neck—nearly half torn open—was Mokseong.
"Guhk, geuk."
Hududuk!
Massive bleeding poured blood onto the ground.
Mokseong had been neutralized in an instant.
The moment the Demon Flower's eyes widened in shock at the sight...
They slowly turned behind her.
Because the killing intent aimed at her was more pressing than Mokseong dying.
Rain falling onto his body instantly turned to steam and vanished.
The white heat emanating from his body stung even the Demon Flower with its intensity.
Scales had sprouted across parts of Krash's face.
Unlike before, even his pupils had shifted to a reptilian shape. Quietly, he lowered his sword.
The new realm he had attained.
A realm beyond Asura and Rakshasa.
The absurd result of Krash's realm merging with the White Dragon King's power.
With all his power now converted to aura...
Krash was the worst possible opponent for any world corroder.
'The duration won't last long.'
Aware that he couldn't maintain this state for an extended battle, Krash knew well.
'So right now.'
He would finish all three.
Taak!
With his figure scattering, Krash appeared before the Demon Flower.
The instant he vanished, she reflexively swung her sword, clashing with his.
Kang!
Aura flames from Krash's sword scorched part of the Demon Flower.
Forgetting even to scream, she continued clashing with his sword.
Heavy.
His sword was impossibly heavy—what power did it contain?
The blade of the Ten Heavenly Swords' Thunder Star was one forged through Krash's power.
The Thunder Star shone brightest against the strongest swordsmen.
And when that Thunder Star met Krash, it became the unparalleled supreme sword of the world.
The Demon Flower desperately moved to shake him off.
'He surely can't maintain that state for long!'
She instinctively sensed that Krash couldn't sustain the Heaven-Exterminating Fire Dragon state much longer.
So, she desperately dueled his sword to buy time.
Pure white flames assailed her from all directions, scorching her repeatedly.
Yet she clung on tenaciously, continuing to meet his sword.
That time felt like enduring eons.
Before she knew it, the surroundings felt blindingly white, as if she were trapped by Krash's sword.
Krash's sword was everywhere.
As if it knew every direction she might move.
His sword relentlessly cornered her.
A sigh escaped the Demon Flower's lips.
Her swordsmanship was second to none, but the sheer overwhelming firepower was too much.
Exhausting.
Fatiguing.
She felt like collapsing and dying any moment.
As those sensations filled her mind...
'How long has it been?'
The Demon Flower wondered how many of Krash's strikes she had parried.
By now, he must be running out of strength, his firepower waning, right?
The moment that thought crossed her mind, she glimpsed Krash beyond the white flames.
He still blazed with the same intensity, showing no signs of fatigue.
Tuduk—
At that moment, both her arms melted and crumbled.
Her flesh could no longer withstand the heat pouring from Krash up close.
The instant she saw her arms, she realized.
'Only about 10 seconds?'
The time she had exchanged blows with Krash was a mere 10 seconds at best.
Her sense of having endured eons was pure delusion, lost in trance and forgetting time.
"Kuhuk!"
Her eyes bulging, the Demon Flower began her final struggle.
She had sensed her own death.
Flower buds sprouted atop her melted arms.
They spread across her entire body, exuding a thick floral scent.
It was the Demon Flower's ultimate technique, akin to self-destruction.
The moment the buds bloomed in unison, intense light leaked from them.
It was essentially self-destruction.
"We'll... die together."
As a weary smile formed on the Demon Flower's lips...
Krash's blazing heat suddenly shifted.
What emanated from Krash was no longer heat, but cold.
The abruptly changed chill froze every blooming flower in an instant, forcibly suppressing the explosion.
The result of Four Seasons instantly converting aura's heat to the White Dragon King's cold.
Before winter, the flowers just beginning to bloom could do nothing.
Realizing her final gambit had been thwarted, the Demon Flower's eyes trembled faintly.
"M-monster."
Muttering to herself, she slowly closed her eyes as Krash's sword approached her throat.
She had struggled through that hellish world to survive and finally reach a new one.
Only to meet such an end.
There is no paradise for those who flee.
With those words etched in her mind, she shut her eyes.
Seogeuk!
It was Krash's first victory against a world corroder.