Chapter 288
Chapter 288
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 288
Chapter Title: Corpse Training
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Evelask Benapoci.
The world's only necromancer, she was utterly furious right now.
The reason? One boy.
"He always just orders me around, treating me like his personal servant!"
She stormed through the Terasius citadel, fuming all the way.
Her upper body shook roughly with each step.
It brimmed with rage.
Honestly, it was a little intimidating—this was the Heavenly Demon's stronghold, after all.
But after even living here with the Barrier Master, she doubted Terasius would bat an eye.
Above all, she couldn't bear not seeing Krash's face in person and chewing him out.
Boom!
Finally reaching the training room where Krash was, Evelask flung the door wide open.
"Ah, you're here?"
Krash, who had been inspecting Thunderclap, turned toward her with a bright smile.
It was clearly one filled with genuine delight.
The instant their eyes met, Evelask flinched without thinking.
All the anger she'd built up melted away in a flash.
"...Yeah."
Somehow turning passive, she stared at the floor, unable to meet his gaze.
For some reason, embarrassment flooded her, her face burning hot.
It had been like this since that day.
Ever since Krash had grabbed her during the Hardenharts incident.
Now, just seeing Krash made her heart go soft.
"...How's your body?"
"All good now."
A short while ago, during the process of Terasius casting his spell, Krash had suffered agony close to death.
Evelask, who had glimpsed it through her corpse rats, felt like her chest was ripping apart.
How desperate had she been, crying and screaming for him to stop.
Thinking back made her want to die of shame.
But even if time turned back, she knew she'd feel the exact same.
Krash had always been the type to push himself too far.
She knew that full well, yet watching him return battered grew harder with every instance.
"C-Can't you just not push so hard for once?"
Evelask's timid protest lingered for a moment.
Watching her quietly, Krash let out a short chuckle before stepping closer.
He slowly stroked the head of Evelask, who was still avoiding his eyes.
"No matter what happens, I won't die. Don't worry so much. I'll keep every promise I make."
"......"
Not that.
Evelask parted her lips but fell silent.
She wanted to savor the feel of his hand stroking her hair a little longer.
'What an idiot I am.'
Letting a kid like this wrap me around his finger.
Evelask sighed deeply to herself.
"So, do me a favor. I need your power to stay alive."
As his hand lifted from her head, Evelask shot it a wistful glance before snapping back to focus.
"I'll train without holding back at all."
"Just what I hoped for."
Evelask let out a sigh.
What she truly hoped for was him not overdoing it.
But Krash would keep pushing until he reached his goal.
'He said he was going to save the world.'
Through her corpse rats, she'd unintentionally overheard Krash's conversations with Crimson Garden in the meantime.
She had already guessed as much from what he'd said back then.
Krash had returned from the future to the past.
She didn't pay it much mind.
If anything, it made perfect sense how a freak like him had been forged.
If Evelask herself returned to the past of her own destroyed world...
She'd have thrashed desperately to save her comrades who'd stood by her, the Benapoci.
'That's why he's so soft on people around him.'
Krash was incredibly weak against certain individuals.
Evelask knew well it stemmed from ties forged in the future for various reasons.
People only realize true value and importance after loss.
A subtle fear of losing them again lingered deep in Krash's heart.
Having witnessed countless deaths firsthand, he'd become desperate to hold on.
The problem was the fallout.
'...He keeps them glued to his side.'
From Krash's viewpoint, past events meant he couldn't actively push away the women clinging to him.
And those women had definitely noticed.
'Cunning bunch.'
Even knowing she was no different, Evelask betrayed a hint of jealousy.
"Ah, Evelask—no new info from the Barrier Master side, right?"
Just then, Krash brought up the Barrier Master he'd asked about earlier.
Evelask hurriedly refocused.
"Quiet. Actually, almost no info on the Barrier Master gets through."
"She's probably moving under her own barriers."
The Barrier Master was a World Eroder too.
She undoubtedly had ways to evade World Eroder detection.
It made sense that even Evelask couldn't track her.
'If Evelask can't track her, neither can I.'
To Krash, Evelask was his top informant.
If even she couldn't find traces, no amount of his own legwork would uncover it.
'She said she'd bring info herself.'
Her prolonged silence still gnawed at him.
This worried Krash greatly.
Ixion had Abella, who knew the future just like him.
Starting from the hypothesis that the fake Arthur might actually be the real one.
As Abella's aims grew harder to predict, Krash constantly accounted for her as a variable.
'Should've caught the Barrier Master back then.'
Back then's info shortage was tripping him up now.
Even before regression, to eke out any extra survival, he'd hoarded every scrap of intel he could.
Despite all that, he was still scrambling for info.
The changed world spawned endless variables.
Even with powerhouses like Crimson Garden and Evelask as informants, he couldn't keep pace with fresh developments.
'Can't rush it.'
Hasty moves would only botch things.
Krash lacked the force to clash with Ixion yet.
So he'd pour everything into building it.
"Evelask, start the training."
Krash, limbering up with light swings of Thunderclap, requested as much.
Evelask sighed deeply and stomped the floor.
Shadows erupted from beneath her feet.
What emerged from the surging shadows were coffins.
Eight coffins in total.
Each bore a number.
From No. 2 to No. 9.
Evelask's main elite corpses.
"Won't be pulling them out one by one like before."
"Just what I wanted."
Evelask was a necromancer.
Her corpses shone far brighter as a collective than alone.
They truly unleashed their potential when she amplified them.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
At her gesture, the coffins creaked open.
The corpses that stepped out arrayed around Evelask in unison.
"Fight? It's a fight!"
"Long time no see, Sir Krash."
No. 9, draped in wolf pelt, drooling greedily.
No. 8, still sporting her maid outfit adorned with a black bunny-ear headband.
"Waaah, Master, pulling us out after so long."
"I wanna sleep more."
No. 7, head wrapped tight in bandages, sniffing eagerly for outside air.
Conversely, the little girl No. 6—corpse or not, looking fatigued with her bunny doll in arms—let out a massive yawn.
"......"
"Oh my, you're Mr. Krash? I've heard so much."
No. 5, slumped like a ronin with sword in tow, was headless and speechless.
No. 4, who looked the part of a noble daughter, snapped open her fan and tittered behind her mask.
"Everyone, form up properly."
The elderly man No. 3, butler-esque, chided the corpses.
"Piiiing."
Last but not least, the black horse No. 2—blue flames whipping where its mane should be—whinnied joyfully toward Krash.
"Nearly the full set."
"No mercy this time. Gonna show you just how terrifying World Eroders are. So..."
Evelask stomped once more.
One final coffin surged up.
The moment he faced it, even Krash felt a chill.
The other Numbers tensed at its appearance.
Marked on it: No. 1.
Evelask's strongest corpse.
'She's dead serious.'
As Krash stared it down, the coffin yawned open.
White smoke billowed from within.
A massive knight strode out.
A eerie red glow leaked from his helm; ragged cloth draped over his armor.
Yet atop that helm rested a bizarre black crown, proclaiming his noble station.
"Piiiing!"
At that instant, No. 2 neighed in delight, as if reuniting with its master.
As No. 2 clattered forward, No. 1 vaulted aboard with ease.
No. 2's blue "mane" blazed fiercely.
Combined with No. 1's output, its power roared to life.
"Brace yourself."
A bold smile curved Evelask's lips.
That one got a twisted thrill from tormenting others on the sly.
Evelask's nasty habit peeked through.
"Perfect."
Ideal for training, though.
"Ah, White Flame's cheating! My corpses vanish!"
Evelask cried out in protest.
Aura-laced White Flame was pure poison to World Eroders and eroded beasts.
The same went for corpses sustained by World Erosion.
"Got plans for that. No aura."
No idiot would hobble her forces in training.
Instead, Krash kindled Black Flame slow and steady.
This session was for acclimating to his flesh.
So he'd adapt to his body's power as much as possible.
Black Flame's aura began filling the room.
The corpses facing him brimmed with tension, one and all.
Krash's Black Flame intertwined with the White Dragon's presence, forming something overwhelming.
Even Evelask gulped at the sight.
'White Flame's the least of worries now.'
If Krash fully mastered that power—and ultimately learned Spear Creation Divine Martial God...
No World Eroder anywhere could handle him.
Then aiding his full adaptation fell to her.
"Numbers."
Evelask commanded them all with a fierce grin.
They drew weapons and linked to her necromantic arts.
"Let's properly show the terror of a necromancer."
The show of the world's sole necromancer.