Chapter 302
Chapter 302
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 302
Chapter Title: Knight of Ruin
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Spear Sovereign Chant
The pinnacle of Dragon Capture that the former War Emperor had perfected using aura.
Yet even he had failed to master the Spear Sovereign Chant.
What had Krash done to learn this Spear Sovereign Chant?
It was something utterly beyond anyone's expectations.
"You want me to go in there?"
"That's right."
Krash glanced sideways, where pitch-black darkness loomed.
To be precise, it was an impossibly deep chasm between cliffs.
A bottomless abyss so profound that even tossing a stone yielded no echo in return.
The former War Emperor, Durandal, was now telling Krash to plunge into it.
Confusion clouded Krash's face.
And rightly so.
He'd followed along eagerly, thinking it was the perfect training spot.
Instead, Durandal had dragged him to a lawless wasteland.
At first, Krash assumed they'd train at the divine tree or the world tree.
But Durandal pressed on without pause, leading Krash further and further.
After days of traversing endless plains, they finally arrived.
The place was called Demon Valley.
Or, in other words, the Rift of the World.
It referred to the spot split by an infinite chasm stretching between two sides.
As Krash turned his head, he felt wind rising from the bridgeless gorge.
The fierce gales that occasionally whipped up from Demon Valley were strong enough to shatter any bridge built across.
That's why, atop Demon Valley, one had to restrain from trying to leap it with flight magic or the like.
A single misstep could send you swept back into the valley by the winds, never to return.
And now, Durandal was telling him to descend into that very Demon Valley.
Even before his regression, Krash had never once visited this place.
Arthur had shown no interest in Demon Valley either, merely standing by all this time—that was reason enough.
The only merit to be gained from Demon Valley was a single title.
Survivor of Demon Valley.
No one knew what lay below, or even if it truly had an end.
"Are you sure you don't want to reconsider?"
"Your tongue's awfully loose today."
"I have a fear of heights, you see."
"I've heard plenty about how you soar through the skies."
His past reputation was now biting him back.
Krash let out a gloomy sigh.
Time to stop whining like a child his age.
He knew full well this path would be one of endless hardship.
"To learn the Spear Sovereign Chant, I need to survive Demon Valley too, right? Something like that?"
"Close enough."
An unavoidable step to mastering the Spear Sovereign Chant.
If you can't avoid it, might as well enjoy it, or so they said.
Krash steadied his breath.
He then stood tall at the chasm's edge.
Crackle...
Pebbles at his toes tumbled into Demon Valley.
Of course, no sound came from them hitting bottom.
Whooooosh...
Instead, the wind whistled past his ears.
"Student Krash, Demon Valley—the Rift of the World—is the place closest to the world's core."
Deeper than even the vast ocean's abyss, the Rift of the World plunged.
No one knew when or why these rifts had formed.
Except for one person.
Durandal, standing here, knew the reason Demon Valley existed.
"Demon Valley is the scar left when the world unleashed its inner power to combat World Erosion."
That inner power was none other than aura.
As World Erosion invaded and warped the world at will, the world responded by erupting its own force.
That force, spread throughout the entire world, was aura.
The unexpected revelation even surprised Krash a little.
"So it's the world's defense mechanism?"
"Exactly. And you'd know best what effect aura has against World Erosion."
He certainly did.
Thanks to aura, Krash had overcome crises time and again.
Aura was the strongest counter to World Erosion.
"So aura wasn't always permeating the world from the start."
"It wasn't entirely absent. Aura is the world's own power. But after World Erosion began, the world deemed it insufficient and released aura in quantities we could sense."
With that, Durandal stepped up beside Krash at the precipice.
"That's why the deepest parts of Demon Valley are thick with aura. Once you pass the midpoint, you'll feel it growing denser by the minute."
Krash now understood why Durandal had chosen this as the training ground.
"You want me to expand my aura capacity even further."
"Spot on."
To wield the Spear Sovereign Chant, one had to shape aura into armor.
That process naturally consumed vast amounts of aura—meaning insufficient reserves meant failure.
Just in time, becoming a Dragon King had vastly increased Krash's capacity.
And with the power of the four seasons added via Biorein's gates, he could hold even more.
"To perfect the Spear Sovereign Chant, you must reach the endpoint. Otherwise, you won't master it fully."
Even Durandal had never quite reached that end.
So he pinned his hopes on Krash.
On the future his acknowledged successor as War Emperor would forge.
"One warning: past the midpoint, stay sharp. What unfolds will surpass your wildest imaginings."
"I've lived beyond imagination my whole life. I'll manage."
With that, Krash drew a deep breath and exhaled.
He then leaped lightly into the abyss.
A sense of weightlessness enveloped him.
Gravity yanked his body downward at accelerating speed.
The scene looked as if the darkness were devouring him whole.
But Krash had no intention of plummeting blindly.
Even he couldn't ignore the impact at this velocity.
So midair, he twisted, channeling flames behind him as he swung.
The explosion propelled him toward the chasm wall.
As the wall neared, Krash drove Thunderclap into it.
The heated blade sank cleanly into the rock.
Kraaaang!
His descent slowed slightly from the blade's anchor.
He yanked it free and fell further.
Krash repeated this, keeping his speed steady.
Whoosh!
Gusts sometimes hurled him upward against the flow.
Then he wedged Thunderclap in and waited them out.
'Stamina management is key.'
Krash popped a small strip of jerky from his pouch into his mouth.
Magic-preserved special jerky.
One piece filled him up completely. He pocketed the rest and resumed his descent.
"Going down's a chore already. Coming back up will be hell."
Krash glanced up.
The impossibly high ground above offered no view.
The thought of climbing back made his head spin.
[Just make wings and fly up.]
"Where am I gonna get wings?"
[You're not human anymore, are you?]
"Fair point."
Krash conceded.
He'd shed his humanity, but wings? No clue.
"Squeak!"
Suddenly, the corpse rat in his pocket squeaked in alarm.
It had wriggled free, clinging to his hem with wide eyes.
Evelask beyond it began panicking.
[This is...]
Crimson Garden felt it too.
In that puzzled moment.
"Huh."
A sound slipped from Krash's lips.
He felt intense aura enveloping his body.
Just as Durandal described—an overwhelming amount.
'So this is the midpoint.'
And he'd come so far already? Astonishing.
The corpse rat's body whitened, beginning to burn.
Krash realized Evelask's necromancy was unraveling.
Without eyes, the two Erosion Beings could no longer see him.
Noticing, Krash caught the rat gently, tucking it away.
"Evelask, Crimson Garden."
Before it fully whitened, he flashed a smile.
"I'll be back."
"Squeak."
[Come back in one piece.]
As their replies came, the rat went still.
Krash peered below.
The massive aura swirling around him was staggering.
'Is this what the inside of World Erosion feels like to Erosion Beings?'
Krash had wielded Extreme Blood Poison Infusion, handling Erosion power similarly, but this was far denser.
No wonder aura clusters had become visible white orbs.
Too concentrated to remain unseen, they materialized.
"Any Erosion Being entering here would burn to ash."
Krash had already converted all Erosion power to aura using the four seasons.
Otherwise, he'd be the one aflame.
The aura orbs multiplied.
But Krash held off absorbing them fully.
To reach the endpoint, as Durandal said.
As he accelerated downward, piercing the aura.
The materialized aura thickened, blinding him in white.
The world turned utterly white, weightlessness feeling illusory, as if trapped in stasis.
"Ugh!"
Krash squeezed his eyes shut against the piercing light.
He snapped them open—and saw floor ahead.
'The end?'
A split-second later, and he'd have crashed. He twisted midair, landing.
Momentum skidded him across the ground before he halted and stood.
His soles felt charred.
As Krash brushed his feet and slowly looked up.
An unimaginable sight met his eyes.
"...What the hell is this?"
Blazing crimson flames.
Countless homes crumbling within.
Black clouds and smoke blotting the sky.
Screams echoing everywhere.
And finally, a white knight descending slowly from the heavens.
Krash knew its identity.
The ultimate scourge born to devour the world through World Erosion.
The White Knight of Conquest.
"...Shit."
A scene from before his regression.
The world marching toward ruin unfolded before him.