Chapter 276
Chapter 276
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 276
Chapter Title: Because I'm an Expensive Commodity
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The master of World Erosion and an 8-star Erosion Beast, the Red-Haired Ghost.
Krash and Bianca had achieved the feat of taking down such a monster with just the two of them.
Through this battle, Krash could truly feel his own growth.
From using Heavenly Dragon Extinction without the aid of an instant reinforcement elixir.
To now being able to draw out even the Four Forms, which he couldn't before when using it.
It was proof that he was gradually adapting to the White Dragon King's body.
'If I just get the Demon Emperor's help to finish the process.'
He would achieve marrow cleansing and rebirth, fully making the White Dragon King's power his own.
Krash vowed for the future as he hoisted Bianca onto his back and raced back to Demoran Village.
"You look more beat up than me, somehow."
"It's proof of my effort."
To pierce through the Red-Haired Ghost's hair, Bianca had pushed herself beyond her limits.
Honestly, he felt like giving her a light scolding.
But considering what he'd done himself, he couldn't bring himself to reprimand her.
"Take it easy on your body. I'm not collapsing right away like I used to anymore."
So he settled for a gentle warning.
Bianca didn't reply, just buried her face deeper into his back.
Thanks to the chill emanating from her body, Krash's own flesh cooled rapidly.
Sensing her feelings through that, Krash soon emerged from the Giant's Forest.
The sight that greeted him next was no longer the World Erosion from before.
It was the familiar Freyja Mountains.
'The Giant's Forest must have swallowed up the remaining remnants.'
Krash halted abruptly at the forest's boundary and gazed at it for a moment.
The Giant's Forest, which had begun creating the Seed of Utmost Evil.
A forest he would have to return to before long.
This time, he'd merely ended the World Erosion.
But next time, he would have to defeat the forest's master and destroy the Seed of Utmost Evil.
'I'll make sure to end it completely then.'
As Krash made his short vow, Bianca suddenly tightened her arms around him a bit more.
"I'm coming with you."
She was quick on the uptake.
"Of course."
Krash didn't deny it and began running again.
Before long, Demoran Village came into view.
With the plague forcing all the civilians to evacuate, the village remained eerily silent.
Just as he was about to enter.
Krash caught a distinctive scent that stung his nose.
He stopped dead.
Krash scanned the surroundings.
A bad premonition gripped him.
"Lord Krash?"
As Bianca asked belatedly from his back, the Corpse Rat poked its head out of Krash's pocket.
"Krash, there's a World Erosion nearby."
And sure enough, Evelask confirmed his hunch.
"...Do you know who it is?"
Krash pressed himself against a building's outer wall and narrowed his eyes.
If it was someone connected to Ixion, a fight was inevitable.
As he slowly drew up Ignis and asked, Crimson Garden's voice rang out this time.
[You've heard the name too.]
Someone whose name he'd heard.
That meant...
"The Barrier Master."
Krash froze the moment he heard Evelask's next words.
The World Erosion who had been forcibly made Vioren's mother out of the Demon Emperor's pure curiosity.
Barrier Master
She had come here.
Coincidence?
Or intention?
Hearing that the Barrier Master had appeared, Krash didn't move rashly.
'I don't know much about the Barrier Master.'
In his previous regression, he'd encountered her only once.
And that was after her death, in corpse form.
He didn't even know the reason for her death.
It was right around when the war against the World Erosions had finally ended.
The Barrier Master was discovered by chance, already long dead, reduced to a skeleton.
The body was too old to determine the cause of death.
Besides, as a World Erosion, there was no need to dig into why she'd died.
He just remembered Vioren looking at her corpse with conflicted eyes.
「If it was going to be like this, she could've at least shown her face...」
Because she was Vioren's mother.
That was why Krash only knew fragmentary details about the Barrier Master from Vioren.
Her mother, who had abandoned Vioren in childhood.
That was the extent of his knowledge.
"Evelask, Crimson Garden, do you two know anything about the Barrier Master?"
Which made the current Barrier Master an unknown variable.
If she harbored vengeance against the Demon Emperor and was aligned with Ixion.
She was destined to become an enemy.
"I don't know much. Never crossed paths with her."
He hadn't expected much from Evelask.
She hadn't interacted much with World Erosions.
[A little. Before the thing with the Demon Emperor, I talked with her a bit.]
And from Crimson Garden came some rather ancient info.
It didn't seem very useful now.
'Guess I'll have to clash with her directly.'
Krash made his decision.
Thanks to Bianca's chill on the way back, his body had stabilized quite a bit.
By now, the Demon Emperor should have returned leading the villagers.
No harm in testing the waters.
His only concern was Vioren.
But that wasn't something he could worry about now.
"Can you pinpoint the exact location?"
"Got it. I'll guide you."
The Corpse Rat hopped down from Krash's shoulder.
Krash decided to follow Evelask's lead and turned to Bianca.
This was heading into a confrontation with a World Erosion.
No matter how strong Bianca had become, he couldn't allow her to come this far.
Understanding his intent, Bianca looked at him before speaking.
"Crimson, please make sure Lord Krash returns safely."
Unlike her ignorant childhood days.
She now knew well that Crimson Garden was by Krash's side.
At her request, the sound of flapping wings echoed from afar—a crow.
"I'll be back. Keep an eye on Vioren for me."
Krash ruffled Bianca's hair with a wave before following the Corpse Rat.
Soon, he passed through the woods.
And the moment he crossed a certain point.
Krash's steps began to slow involuntarily.
He felt a strange energy constricting his body.
As if trying to push him out of this place.
He quickly realized what it was.
'A barrier.'
This was a barrier.
An original one crafted by the Barrier Master.
The type that repels all living creatures.
'That's how Evelask was able to detect her.'
Evelask's corpse wasn't a living being.
As an object, it could pierce the barrier and enter.
'If she's sensed this much contact with her barrier, she's aware too.'
Being stationed near Demoran Village meant she knew of Vioren—and Krash.
Krash quietly ignited White Flame within him, preparing for her approach.
Click-
In that instant, the sound of high heels echoed from afar.
Fog had thickened around him before he knew it.
As he stared silently in the direction of the footsteps, a woman's voice soon followed.
"You found me well. Thanks to the World Erosions with you, I suppose?"
The Barrier Master's voice spread throughout the fog.
Some kind of barrier technique, likely.
No hostility detected.
But not certain yet, so Krash asked cautiously.
"Barrier Master, mind if I ask why you've come? Is it related to Vioren?"
A nuance of potential cooperation, depending.
She fell silent for a moment.
Then opened her mouth.
"Exactly."
"Then is it revenge against the Demon Emperor?"
Krash pressed.
The fragmented story he'd heard from Vioren before regression.
About how the Demon Emperor had forcibly taken the Barrier Master to bear a child.
"Revenge, huhu."
Her short laugh echoed through the fog.
It carried an insight that pierced what Krash was thinking.
Krash's eyes flickered subtly.
'No strong feelings toward the Demon Emperor after all?'
Krash pondered deeply for a moment.
He'd only heard the story one-sidedly from Vioren.
So there was a chance Vioren's account stemmed from misunderstanding.
"That child chose to see it that way."
Her laughter ceased, and she revealed herself.
A young woman with brown hair stood there.
Her plain attire evoked a simple country girl.
But the eerie aura from her body betrayed that it wasn't her true form.
'A shell made from the barrier.'
No intention of showing her real self.
Krash narrowed his eyes and asked.
"So the story Vioren knows is a misunderstanding?"
"Partly. Terasius may be overbearing, but not to that extent."
At least, different from what Vioren believed.
"Instead, both sides used improper methods."
Regret tinged her voice.
Krash sensed there were other secrets to Vioren's birth.
"You're not here to apologize, then. What's the business?"
No more beating around the bush.
As Krash cut to the chase, she paused briefly before speaking.
"Ixion is targeting Vioren."
And out came something truly unexpected.
Not Krash, but Vioren was the target.
Krash looked baffled.
At the same time, he felt a sense of incongruity in the conversation.
'Something...'
He couldn't pinpoint the oddity right away.
So he set it aside for now.
"How did you find out?"
"A while ago, Ixion approached me. Asked for cooperation since they were after Vioren."
The Barrier Master was a World Erosion too.
Likely aiming to recruit her.
But she'd refused and come to Vioren directly.
"Krash Valheim, you're Ixion's enemy."
She faced him directly, naming him.
A smile played on her lips amid the fog.
"I'd like to propose a deal."
A deal proposal.
Hearing that, Krash grinned suspiciously along with her.
"How much did you find out I'm worth?"
Let's hear the details first.