Chapter 306
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 306
Chapter Title: The Reason She Gave Up on the World
BOOM! Crash!
The explosion of white flame echoed throughout the sanctuary.
The thick fog of the sanctuary scattered in an instant under the white flame.
Krash swept through the divine messengers.
But Krash wasn't in a great spot either.
The divine messengers had a kind of core that sustained them.
To finish them off, he had to smash that core, but the problem was that each one's core was in a different spot.
If he didn't destroy it cleanly, they would regenerate even after their bodies burned or were sliced apart.
The fog left behind by the dead gods supplied the divine messengers with infinite power.
There were no limits to their recovery.
One by one, they weren't much of a threat and could be dealt with quickly.
But the problem was their numbers.
Ever since Arthur began awakening the holy sword.
They kept swarming into this place.
What was needed to awaken the holy sword was none other than the fog filling the sanctuary.
The moment the holy sword's awakening finished, all the fog in the sanctuary would vanish, which meant death for the divine messengers.
They were parasites clinging to the sanctuary's fog, after all.
Of course, the divine messengers wouldn't allow that.
So they desperately focused their attacks on Krash and Arthur.
Facing the endless horde of divine messengers pouring in, Krash swung his white flame alone.
So that Arthur could complete the holy sword's awakening even a little faster.
He didn't let a single one into the altar.
BOOM! Crash!
The explosions of white flame hammered on without pause.
The sword that sliced through one divine messenger stretched toward the next.
The divine messengers surrounding him on all sides thrust their weapons at Krash.
They swung their weapons wildly, heedless of their own deaths, intent on killing Krash.
Even blocking one attack brought dozens more crashing down.
Krash trusted his Dragon King's body and tanked the hits toughly, over and over.
But no matter how much of a Dragon King's body it was, the damage kept piling up.
Wounds steadily accumulated on Krash's flesh.
Even absorbing aura couldn't keep up as his body slowly reached its limits.
Grind—
But Krash gritted his teeth to the breaking point and endured with grim tenacity.
The light flowing from the holy sword at the altar grew even stronger.
It meant Arthur's awakening was almost done.
White scales sprouted across Krash's face.
Squeezing out his last reserves of strength, Krash slashed divine messengers and blocked attacks.
But as the light intensified, the divine messengers grew more frantic.
Death was closing in on them.
In the distance within Krash's sight, the divine messengers began acting strangely.
They were pulling out each other's cores and shoving them into one of their own.
He wanted to stop it, but he couldn't reach that far.
So Krash could only watch, knowing they were preparing something.
Crunch— Cruuunch!
The divine messenger that devoured the others' cores began to transform.
It had been a pure white ghost-like thing, but suddenly bones formed on its body, and flesh sprouted.
Soon, Krash felt the intense divine power pouring from it.
Krash's eyes widened.
The divine messengers were making a makeshift god by combining the divine power they'd hoarded as their final struggle.
It wouldn't last even a day.
But if it could fight for today, that was enough.
"You crazy bastards!"
The makeshift god's red-glowing eyes met Krash's.
The flesh clinging to its bones wasn't fully formed and kept melting away endlessly.
No matter how they combined, this was the limit for divine messengers.
Yet the aura emanating from the incomplete makeshift god was overwhelming.
The makeshift god reached out toward Krash.
At that moment, blades of wind surged toward the altar.
Realizing what it was trying to do, Krash shook off the divine messengers and leaped.
Scraaaaaape!
The divine messengers caught in the wind blades were torn apart.
Even allies were no exception as the wind blades closed in on Arthur's altar.
Just before they hit.
Krash stood in their way.
Claaaaaaang!
Krash's Thunderclap collided with the wind blades.
But Thunderclap couldn't block them all, so Krash's body was shredded by the wind blades.
Blood sprayed.
Muscles tore, and bone peeked through.
Krash fumbled in his pocket with his tattered arm and pulled out a vial.
He dumped the prepared rapid-healing elixir into his mouth.
Siiiizzle!
Smoke rose from Krash's body.
True to the work of alchemy master Darling, it hurt like hell but excelled in healing.
"No more than once a week. From the second time, the effect halves, and the side effects get worse."
But it was limited to once a week.
Krash knew that well, so he knew he'd used his one shot.
But there was no better timing than now.
The makeshift god was already preparing its next attack.
Each attack accelerated its self-destructive collapse.
How many more?
Should he block the next one?
No way to know, but Krash calmly assumed a defensive stance.
"Then I'll block as many as you throw."
His eyes, empowered by the Star of Deadly Calamity, blazed with fierce red light.
After climbing onto the sanctuary's altar.
Arthur focused everything on awakening the holy sword.
He heard Krash fighting intermittently.
But Arthur chose to trust him.
The faster he awakened the holy sword, the fewer people the White Knight of Conquest would kill.
Of course, thinking of the remaining three knights to come after, the world would end anyway.
But solving the immediate problem and buying a few days was what mattered.
Arthur gazed at the gradually awakening holy sword, lost in thought.
To speed up the holy sword's awakening, he was even burning his own power.
Once the holy sword awakened, he could surely defeat the White Knight of Conquest.
But the holy sword's awakening was practically a one-time thing.
How would he face the three knights that came next?
'I can't.'
Arthur knew.
The world's destruction was already inevitable.
This world would definitely perish.
Did he need to desperately defend a world doomed to destruction?
That day had been the same.
The day countless things went wrong, and the world headed toward ruin.
Arthur had thought.
This world is done.
Regression is the only answer.
It was a kind of obsession born in Arthur after several regressions.
An obsession to regress immediately once destruction loomed.
Because desperately fighting for a world that would end anyway felt meaningless.
Let's regress.
As she resolved to end the world.
"Cut that rotten resolve right now."
Arthur looked up at the voice.
There stood Krash, her lover, come to say his final goodbye.
Krash was a man worn down in many ways.
He'd been practically abandoned for being born talentless in Valheim.
That stigma tormented him endlessly.
He often lashed out sharply at others.
But the day he gained Black Hood, he changed.
While advancing through World Erosion, he inevitably gathered all sorts of curses.
Not only did he bear them himself.
He even wielded World Erosion's power through the secret art Extreme Blood Poison Infusion he'd found in the family's hidden library.
Even as World Erosion's madness and curses gnawed at him relentlessly.
Krash endured with grim tenacity and stood tall by Arthur's side.
Maybe that's why.
Arthur had been naturally drawn to him.
Watching him struggle desperately against any situation to avert destruction.
Arthur felt like she was seeing herself, and ended up falling for him.
But loving him like that was separate from the world's destruction.
Repeated regressions had steadily eroded Arthur's mental strength.
It was only natural.
She'd struggled to prevent destruction over and over, only to fail.
It would be weirder if her mind stayed intact.
And as a result, one defense mechanism formed in her.
Everyone would meet again after regression anyway.
No need to grieve each death, no need to feel guilt for abandoning them to regress.
And that applied to Krash, her lover, too.
If this timeline failed, she could just become lovers with him again in the next regression.
She could even treat him better next time.
And help fix his messed-up life.
However.
That was only from Arthur's perspective.
"Save my life in the next regression? Don't make me laugh."
As Arthur resolved to regress, she'd told Krash this story as a final farewell.
And hearing it, Krash harshly rebuked her.
"I've lived my life my way so far. My past made me who I am now. You think I'd thank you for regressing and fixing it?"
"That's not what I meant. I just—"
Arthur was flustered.
She hadn't expected Krash to get so angry.
She'd only come to say goodbye for this worldline.
She couldn't understand why they were suddenly fighting.
Krash's eyes coldly fixed on Arthur.
"Arthur, did you ever really love me?"
"Of course!"
As indignant Arthur shouted, Krash let out a hollow laugh.
"Then, have you ever thought about what happens to the world after you regress and leave?"
At that question, Arthur froze for a moment.
The world after she regressed and left.
It was something Arthur, obsessed with regressing, had never considered.
Because the regressor didn't need to think about it.
Arthur couldn't know what happened after she left.
What unfolded for her was just another reset world.
No traces of the previous world remained.
But what about for Krash?
"I've been thinking since the day you told me about regression."
What would happen if Arthur regressed.
That line of thought led to a simple conclusion.
Arthur would vanish with the regression.
Or a hollow shell of Arthur would remain after regressing.
"What you're saying to me is basically telling me to live on alone in this world."
To Krash, Arthur's words were no different from saying she'd commit suicide.
Because she would disappear from this timeline forever.
So Krash hoped she wouldn't give up until the very end.
If, at the absolute last moment, she couldn't save the world and regressed.
Krash would have let her go willingly.
But in a world not yet destroyed, with countless things still worth protecting, the moment she decided to regress.
Krash couldn't accept that.
"Arthur, this world may be just one of countless regressions to you, but to me, it's my one and only."
Krash tried to persuade her.
Not to solve everything with regression.
To protect this world together with everyone—and him.
He pleaded earnestly.
Arthur heard his words and stood there blankly.
Maybe deep down, she already knew this.
She'd just deliberately distanced herself to ease the guilt for her actions under the pretext of saving the world.
Even knowing subconsciously that it was a one-time world for others, she'd acted without hesitation.
But now Krash had exposed her selfishness.
And Krash had no idea what result this revelation would bring.