Chapter 286
Chapter 286
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 286
Chapter Title: Reason to Live
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Krash had begun receiving Theracius's full assistance.
Halfway through, Vioren, fed up with their conversation, huddled in the corner with her legs drawn to her chest, watching the two of them.
'Boring.'
Vioren spat out her honest feelings and clicked her tongue.
She hadn't heard exactly what Krash wanted to do.
But Theracius's eyes gleamed fiercely as he envisioned the research data he could gain through Krash.
That human can make eyes like that too, huh.
Theracius had always looked at her like nothing more than an experimental subject.
So Vioren felt a bittersweet pang somewhere deep inside.
"I'm heading out for a bit."
Finally tired of waiting, Vioren spoke up to the two.
But they were too focused on fine-tuning the spell for Krash to notice.
When even Krash didn't respond, Vioren pouted and left Theracius's lab without another word.
Soon after, she headed to where Aslan was.
Curious about what the others were up to, she peeked in and witnessed an astonishing sight.
Sarah-sarah-sarah-sarah—
Aslan was flipping through bookshelves nonstop, every single book from the library pulled out and piled around him.
Was even the time to blink too precious?
He had cast water magic on his eyes and vision enhancement spells, speed-reading through them all.
This guy's lost it too.
Vioren felt a slight chill at the utterly abnormal sight.
Just then, her eyes met a maid who was organizing the books Aslan had read.
The woman with striking beige hair put a finger to her lips with a "shh" gesture as their eyes met.
Don't disturb him.
Vioren nodded and moved on elsewhere.
The next place she sought was where Rona was.
Rona Imblaze, the magic tool craftsman.
Vioren had never spoken to her, but she knew the rumors.
There, Vioren witnessed another absurd scene.
"This works too, and this! Yeah. If I use the Fraysi magic tool and the Pentaron magic tool together."
Rona spewed expert terminology like a madwoman, cackling with manic glee.
Too stunned to even speak, Vioren quietly slipped out of the magic tool workshop.
No one's normal around here.
Vioren muttered her frank assessment and started wandering the palace aimlessly.
Before she knew it, her steps led her down a familiar path.
Realizing where she was headed, she looked up late.
What entered her view was the door to her own room.
The room where she'd spent nearly her entire life confined before going to Raheln Academy.
Facing it after so long, Vioren placed her hand lightly on the doorknob.
For some reason, she lacked the courage to open it right away.
Standing there gripping the knob for a while, she finally gritted her teeth.
What am I scared of?
She pressed down and pulled the door open.
Her room came into view.
All her old belongings from the past were still there, untouched.
And with an auto-clean spell in place, the room was spotless.
But it lacked any human warmth.
Vioren gazed at the bed, oversized for one person.
It was the bed she'd once shared with her mother.
But her mother's warmth was gone from it now.
Even from Vioren's heart.
「Your mother, the barrier master, might have wanted to protect you all along.」
Krash's words echoed in her mind.
He had shared his speculation with her too.
She'd dismissed it as nonsense, but deep down, a sliver of "what if" lingered.
Did she really leave to protect me?
Vioren slowly ran her hand along the bed's edge.
Her mother's reason for abandoning her, and old memories.
Vioren had rewritten them all to protect herself.
Her mother had been forced to bear her by Theracius and left in hatred of it all.
But if that wasn't true.
If it was really to protect her.
Vioren bit her lip hard.
Her emotions were in turmoil.
And she realized one thing.
She had resented her mother too, deep down.
Looking back, her mother had never lamented or despaired in front of Vioren.
She was always kind, hugging Vioren warmly.
Vioren clutched the bedsheet tightly and wiped her eyes.
Whatever it was about her that made Ixion and Theracius strike a deal.
The secret wouldn't stay hidden much longer.
Kwang!
Just then, a explosion rocked the air, making her flinch and turn.
Vioren bolted in that direction.
Was Ixion rampaging enough to storm the Jeblam palace?
But the place she arrived at was none other than where Krash and Theracius were.
"What happened?!"
She burst in yelling, and an unexpected scene unfolded before her.
Krash, seated in the magic circle, was engulfed in pitch-black Black Flame.
She panicked.
His skin bubbled and burned fiercely within the inky Black Flame.
It was blatantly abnormal.
"Krash!"
As Vioren shouted, another magic circle lit up.
The flames around Krash surged even higher.
Even from this distance, Vioren felt like she'd get burned.
"I-It's... fine."
Then, Krash's voice came from beyond the flames.
His trademark smile played on his lips as he closed his eyes.
"W-Wait... there."
Hearing that, Vioren went blank.
What kept driving this guy to endure such agony time and again?
Unlike her, who'd given up even searching for her mother.
Krash faced everything head-on, never giving up.
"If you'd taken it step by step, you could've reached it eventually."
Just then, Theracius's voice rang out as he activated more circles.
Vioren's eyes shook as she turned to him.
"Then why's Krash pushing himself like that?"
Anyone could see Krash was overdoing it.
When Vioren asked, Theracius activated another circle.
"He must have something urgent to do."
Vioren froze at those words.
Then she slowly turned back to Krash.
His urgent task.
The reason he endured this pain.
She realized what it was.
He's tangled up in my mess.
Ixion was targeting Vioren now.
The barrier master might already be captured, Ixion waiting where her secret lay.
Ixion was the World Erosion faction.
Facing them required immense power.
Let alone protecting Vioren too.
Because of me.
Vioren blamed herself entirely for Krash's strain, biting her lip.
Her eyes trembled violently.
She recalled Krash punching Theracius in her stead.
Why did he do so much for her?
She knew Krash hated Ixion.
She'd sensed he wanted to thwart their goals, whatever they were.
So he was protecting her to stop them this time.
But recalling that punch at Theracius muddled her thoughts.
Their bond was just from Raheln Academy days.
Yet somehow.
Watching him now chased away her recent gloom.
Setting aside the questions, Vioren felt at ease.
She'd always carried anxiety in her heart.
But seeing Krash now melted it all away.
It was truly wondrous.
Vioren didn't mind the feeling at all.
"You bastard, hang in there! If you can't take this, how'll you survive this harsh world?!"
So she yelled, feigning anger.
Some inexplicable embarrassment washed over her.
Maybe she wasn't so different from her father after all.
She'd never interacted with others either.
So Krash, her first real connection, meant a lot to her.
"Got it."
His reply made Vioren smile for no reason.
And inwardly, she made a quiet vow.
If the day came when Krash needed her help.
She'd endure the pain he'd suffered in his place.
With that resolve, Vioren felt an overwhelming peace settle in her heart.
A vague emotion swelled in her chest, filling her to the brim.
To her, whose only goal was survival.
Krash had given her a new purpose: find her mother.
And now, repaying this true debt gave her reason to live anew.
To Vioren, this debt seemed impossible to repay in a lifetime.
It was huge.
So vast it was hard to even try.
I have to live. Really live until I'm sick of it.
Only then could she repay what he'd given her.
Vioren smiled.
It wasn't her old forced smile.
It was the brightest, like the stars she could now make.
To fully become a Dragon King clansman, a total of 182 spells were cast on Krash.
For the first time in a while, Krash felt regret amid this magic circle.
He'd said he'd do anything to grow stronger, but maybe he should've thought twice about borrowing Theracius's power.
Theracius held nothing back.
Krash wouldn't die from his magic.
But the pain might break him mentally.
So Theracius layered multiple mental spells.
Forcing extreme resistance to mental strain.
As a result, even as his body was carved away in agony, Krash's mind stayed intact.
And that was hell beyond imagination.
Krash's pain tolerance outstripped others by far.
Even he regretted it; Theracius's magic was ruthlessly cruel.
Starting with a sensation of being slowly burned from inside.
To being crushed by pressure, unfolded gently, then pulverized to dust.
It felt like every step of reshaping the flesh was brutally imprinted.
No wonder Crimson Garden sighed in boredom midway.
And Evelask wailed like a dying child, screaming her head off.
Thankfully, Crimson Garden reined her in.
Good thing he hadn't brought Bianca or the others.
But there were clear gains.
Enduring that pain, Krash distinctly felt the White Dragon King's full power infuse his body.
At the same time, his very skeleton and muscles began to transform.
Bones and muscles recombined from powder; waste inside his body incinerated clean.
His aura underwent repeated growth too.
In breaking the body, the aura's vessel shattered.
Then forcibly expanded.
His brain nearly short-circuited into idiocy at moments.
But Theracius's mental magic held even that firm.
Thus, that hellish time dragged on for a full week.
In a quiet room.
Krash heard birdsong tickling his ears.
After giving up on thought at some point.
His sense of time was utterly shattered.
...I'm alive.
Krash faintly opened his eyes.
No pain lingered in his body.
More precisely, now even major ordeals seemed bearable by recalling today.
I can't regress twice.
If I go through this again, I'll bite my tongue and die.