Chapter 296
Chapter 296
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 296
Chapter Title: Mage Battle
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"Haa, haa."
Krash exhaled the breath he'd held to its limit.
Pure white smoke poured endlessly from his mouth.
His entire body was overheating, his mind growing hazy.
Even the body of a Dragon King couldn't withstand the brutal toll of pushing to the brink.
'Memory Devourer.'
A technique that traded his memories for an extreme surge in output.
The Black Tide had thrown everything she had at him, forcing Krash to go all out in response.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have needed to push this far.
But against Ixion's elite like the Black Tide, he had no confidence in winning half-heartedly.
'Damn it, I used more strength than I thought.'
Krash staggered as he eyed the crumbling barrier.
At this rate, he'd get caught in its collapse.
The moment he tried to flee—
Sudden pitch-black iron chains coiled around his body.
He looked up belatedly to see the Hell Fairy pinning his chest with one hand while extending the other.
She'd already regained her senses.
Despite his ribs being thoroughly shattered, piercing straight to her lungs.
Impressive willpower.
"Can't... go."
The chains binding him tightened even further.
Krash tried to move, glaring at the unyielding irons.
But his body wouldn't budge.
'Abella might come.'
More precisely, he wondered why she hadn't shown up yet.
'Maybe...'
Was she biding her time for something?
Unable to fathom that woman's schemes, Krash narrowed his eyes.
He'd caught on that she truly wanted Arthur back, but beyond needing the god of World Erosion, everything was a fog.
'Is she actively aiding Ixion for some reason?'
Krash clicked his tongue inwardly and drew out his inner heat.
His body would shake violently, but finishing off the Hell Fairy here made it necessary.
"You think you can hold me down alone?"
"......"
The Hell Fairy fell silent at his question.
In truth, Ixion had judged that with the Black Tide and Hell Fairy, they could capture not just Bio Ren but Krash too.
They'd confirmed Krash's skills during the recent Holy Kingdom upheaval.
Accounting for some growth over time, they'd deliberately pitted the pair against him.
But Krash had grown far beyond expectations.
No amount of assumed progress justified this absurd speed in such a short span.
The Black Tide ranked among the top combatants among World Erosion beasts.
At full caution, she matched even the Ten Heavenly Strongest.
And Krash had defeated her single-handedly.
Even granting his aura's vulnerability to World Erosion foes.
This was no longer something they could overlook.
Krash had become a genuine threat to World Erosion.
Instead, she raised her arm while keeping him pinned.
The moment Krash strained to snap the chains, an unexpected object appeared in her grasp.
A willow branch.
At the sight, Krash's eyes narrowed—then widened in realization.
The split willow tree withered and twisted the instant she gripped the branch.
"You!"
As he shouted and lunged to sever the chains—
A bizarre energy stirred around them.
Boom—
Krash looked up as the entire barrier reverberated.
Above the Hell Fairy's head.
Space warped black and distorted.
'Finally here.'
Screeeech—
A repulsive sound echoed from beyond the rift.
At the same time, a sickening sensation enveloped Krash's body.
As if his flesh rejected that existence outright.
A chilling dread swept over him.
Then, a figure slowly emerged from the rift.
A wide-brimmed black hat.
Jet-black eyes devoid of light.
Lips stained dark, her entire form shrouded in blackness, staring at Krash.
Black Witch
Deasirus Machina
The one who gathered Ixion, scheming to birth a god of World Erosion.
A dire crisis.
Yet Krash met her gaze with a scoff.
"What're you staring at? You can't even come out."
The Black Witch went quiet at his words.
She was undeniably a monster beyond control.
Top-tier danger among World Erosion, her power rivaling the Beast King or Sword Sovereign.
But she had one fatal constraint.
She couldn't step beyond the space she'd created.
This world rejected her existence.
The moment she crossed into Krash's realm, the full force of the world would crush her.
To her, this world was pure poison incarnate.
That was why she avoided direct action, employing Ixion instead.
Ruuuumble—
Suddenly, a gale howled toward the Black Witch's rift.
Krash's body began dragging toward her in its pull.
The Hell Fairy, too, sought escape into the rift on the wind.
But that underestimated him.
In mid-drag, Krash squeezed out his last reserves, forging the Thunderclap Blade.
Crunch!
Fierce pain stabbed his heart, internals tearing—but it didn't matter.
He hurled the Thunderclap with full force.
As the Black Witch reeled him in anyway.
The blade rode her wind viciously back at her.
Whiiish—thunk!
"Kyaaak!"
It buried into the Hell Fairy's shoulder blade.
Aimed for her throat originally, but the Black Witch had twisted the gale mid-flight.
Thus failing the kill, Krash gnashed his teeth and recovered the Thunderclap with Black Hood.
The brief wind distortion let him kick off the ground in recovery stance.
But his body creaked, refusing to propel properly.
Proof he'd poured out every ounce of power.
Whoooosh!
Once more, the Black Witch began sucking him in.
Krash slammed the blade's remaining edge into the ground.
Grrrrrind!
The pulling wind was so fierce his anchored body trembled violently.
Thud!
Simultaneously, black octopus tentacles erupted from the Black Witch's rift.
He'd seen them countless times before.
"Don't come, and the barrier master's life ends."
As expected, the Black Witch latched onto the barrier master.
He'd assumed as much, but hearing it hit different.
Krash's eyes narrowed.
Yet he taunted casually.
"So she's still alive?"
"See for yourself."
The black tentacles surged at him in unison.
He had preparations even if dragged in.
Krash had a safety net.
Terasius's personality guaranteed he'd shared it with the others by now.
Or at worst, he'd answer the summon alone.
But that was a last resort.
As Krash hesitated—
Rustle—
He heard something rising behind him.
A grin spread across his face.
He turned to the Black Witch.
"Pass."
As his words continued, a translucent barrier formed over him.
Clang!
The black chains snapped forcibly.
A mana-sealing barrier.
At the same time, crimson magic circles bloomed behind him in sequence.
They soon filled every direction.
Over a hundred strong.
The immense mana flow made even the Black Witch grimace faintly.
Krash recognized it as Aslan's magic.
While he'd battled the Black Tide, those two had waited elsewhere.
Bio Ren's barrier hid them from the Black Witch's eyes.
Aslan had used the gap to prepare a massive spell.
One demanding his all, usable but once.
"Thought I was alone here?"
A provocative smirk toward the Black Witch.
"Watch closely."
Then, the magic circles shattered in unison.
"This is our top mage."
The shattering circles spewed light.
A blinding flash erased the Black Witch's space and all else in an instant.
Fierce white-hot blaze devoured the surroundings, sucked entirely into her rift.
"Krash!"
Krash turned at Bio Ren's cry.
There stood Aslan and Bio Ren behind a new barrier.
Blood dripped from Aslan's nose and eyes.
The cost of invoking circle-less magic through complex sacrifices.
Aslan was out.
But the effect was certain.
Fiat Lux obliterated all but those deemed allies in one strike.
Its brutal requirements left few modern mages able to wield it.
'Found in Terasius's magic library.'
A near-forgotten spell.
An incomplete one from the books.
Requiring ten 6th-circle mages in perfect trust.
Even then, distrust doomed them all.
Hence, "incomplete."
Mages, least trusting of souls, needed mutual faith.
Rumors said its creator made it to mock paranoid wizards.
Yet Aslan saw potential, refining relentlessly.
Stripping malicious flaws, distilling essentials.
Ultimately perfecting Fiat Lux as his original.
Solo-castable.
'What a genius.'
Holed up in the Demon Emperor's library, unwilling to emerge.
Only to devise this masterstroke.
But the Black Witch was no pushover.
Beyond the white glare, Krash saw her sealing the rift.
She'd somehow retrieved the Hell Fairy and Black Tide.
The Black Tide, charred white, teetered between life and death.
Even if alive, Memory Devourer's toll plus those wounds sidelined her permanently.
"See you."
All her ploys thwarted.
Yet her oddly composed voice grated on Krash.
As she vanished fully, Fiat Lux faded.
"Cough, hack."
Aslan spewed blood and collapsed.
Thud—
Krash caught his fall.
Both battered wrecks, they locked eyes.
Then burst into wry laughter.
What're friends for, if not sharing this mess?