Chapter 322
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 322
Chapter Title: Mad Dog vs Dragon
Mad Dog
A monster that had been forcibly remodeled into a chimera as combat personnel in the world before its destruction.
Such a monster was now standing before Krash, its dog's nose snorting heavily.
The Mad Dog had two defining traits.
One was its axe technique.
The Mad Dog's axe work had reached a level that even skilled martial artists couldn't easily block.
The other was its signature phantom arts.
The Mad Dog's illusions could deceive all five senses of a person.
Under the right conditions, it could even ensnare opponents stronger than itself.
Thus, the Mad Dog's illusions were not to be taken lightly.
In fact, the beam of light it had fired just moments ago was one such illusion.
The Mad Dog had attained such a profound mastery that it itself believed the light it conjured was real.
Its illusions felt utterly tangible despite lacking substance, making them akin to true magic.
Combining these two created the Phantom Hammer Axe.
Krash had once suffered greatly from this Phantom Hammer Axe at the hands of one of its kind in the past.
Even now, recalling that moment made his severed right arm throb.
"Huff."
Perhaps due to the dog's face grafted onto it, the Mad Dog snorted coarsely, its breathing labored.
Its eyes burned with thick killing intent toward Krash.
This malice stemmed clearly from Krash having slain its kin, the Doberman.
"What are you glaring at?"
Krash said this, but he didn't attack the Mad Dog recklessly.
The reason was the unconscious Haring cradled in his arms.
He himself could endure, but Haring mustn't suffer any more injuries.
'Above all, there's Evelask.'
Evelask, wounded by the Mad Dog, also needed treatment.
Boom-
"Phew, that was a brush with death."
At that moment, another figure emerged, using a smoke giant to clear the collapsed wall of the forge room.
It was none other than Yeonma.
Having fallen victim to Haring's surprise poison, he dusted off his new bowler hat and looked at Krash.
"It's been a while."
Yeonma's lips curled into a slight grin.
Though the tremor in his raised lip suggested the poison wasn't fully purged, he excelled in ranged attacks.
With the close-range Mad Dog and the ranged Yeonma joining forces, it wouldn't be an easy fight.
'No matter what, I have to protect Haring.'
She had shielded him with her life.
If he couldn't protect her in return, Krash had no face to show.
"It looks like guarding that girl is making it hard for you to fight properly."
Yeonma slammed his staff into the ground with a thud.
"In that case, since I owe you one, I'll help make this fight easier for you."
At that instant, smoke giants rose from beneath Yeonma's staff.
Simultaneously, the Mad Dog swung its axe once and kicked off the floor.
As Krash clashed fiercely with them and moved to unleash Annihilation Heaven Dragon—
Kaboom!
The side wall of the forge room shattered, and another figure burst in.
"Hyah! No holding back now!"
There stood a man with long crimson hair and red eyes.
In his hand was the Blood Demon Sword, one of the Ten Heavenly Swords.
"Mad Sovereign!"
The moment Yeonma recognized and shouted, the Mad Sovereign slammed the Blood Demon Sword into the ground.
Kabooooom!
The area around the struck sword was instantly devastated.
As soon as it happened, the Mad Sovereign bolted from the spot.
"Where do you think you're going!"
Yeonma hurriedly sent smoke giants after him, but white flames erupted before them.
Seeing this, Yeonma's eyes narrowed sharply.
Krash's white flames had incinerated the smoke giants.
The Mad Sovereign swiftly scooped up Evelask onto his back and fled.
"Where? He's your old comrade. You should let him go with some old times' sake."
Haring was no longer in Krash's arms.
Yeonma realized Krash had handed her off to the Mad Sovereign in that brief moment.
With his hands free, Krash drew Thunderclap and let fierce white flames pour forth.
Now there were no restraints on his rampage.
But it was still two against one.
In that instant, through gaps in the smoke.
The Mad Dog's axe thrust toward Krash.
It was too fast for the eye to follow.
The Mad Dog had forcibly broken its physical limits by activating its own phantom arts.
Its bulging muscles and bones vividly displayed the Mad Dog's power.
Just before the swung axe reached Krash—
Thud!
The Mad Dog's axe clashed against something in midair and halted.
It was the remnants of white flame.
But the Mad Dog didn't stop.
It spun the axe wildly, accelerating as it unleashed a mad barrage toward Krash.
Yet every strike was blocked by the same white flame remnants.
A collaborative product of Krash's white flames and the White Dragon's momentum.
Bang, kaboom, kabooms!
Explosive noises echoed relentlessly as white flames overflowed from Krash's entire body.
The sight was so ferocious it made even Yeonma hesitate.
The Mad Dog recoiled momentarily from the white flames now rebounding onto itself.
"I told you earlier. I'll clear away anything in the way."
Krash pierced through the swirling white flames to close in on the Mad Dog.
Pure white scales had emerged on Krash's face.
At the same time, the horn protruding from his forehead clearly marked him as Dragon King kin.
A chill!
Facing Krash up close, the Mad Dog felt its hackles rise.
The power emanating from Krash was overwhelmingly dominant.
"That's the worst move you could make against you two."
As those words followed, the Mad Dog suddenly soared into the air.
Kaboom, kaboom, kaboom, kaboom!
It shattered several walls in succession, flying through the sky.
Krash had thrust forward.
The moment it detected this, the Mad Dog spun its axe to barely deflect the strike.
Even though it deflected the attack, the residual force had sent it flying now.
'A monster.'
The monster Mad Dog calling another a monster.
That was the current Krash.
'But still young.'
The Mad Dog glimpsed the anger in Krash's eyes.
The source of that rage was undoubtedly the woman it had battered.
Anger fueled power, to be sure.
But it clouded judgment and composure.
As proof, the Mad Dog caught a certain scent from Krash.
A scent indicating he didn't have much time left.
'The secret art he used just now is a short-term awakening type.'
Superior in raw power, but its output plummeted sharply after time passed.
'With the power he possesses, there's no need to burst like this all at once.'
It was likely a habit formed from past battles.
Habits don't break in an instant.
Especially when overcoming crises reinforces them, making them harder to shed.
'One decisive move solves everything, so no need to think ahead.'
Thus, the Mad Dog called Krash young.
He didn't yet fully control his own body.
Overinflating his power only eroded himself and created openings.
Nothing was more foolish than aiming to end everything in a short battle.
Thud!
Yeonma's smoke caught the Mad Dog mid-flight.
The Mad Dog coiled its body upon landing in the smoke.
"Huff."
It raised its axe with all its might.
If the opponent sought a short battle.
Then they would drag it into a prolonged one.
The moment the raised axe slashed downward—
Kaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaboom!
The entire Ragren estate was obliterated.
The explosive attack engulfed an entire district in an instant, shrouded in smoke.
Not just any smoke—Yeonma's.
Whoosh!
And bursting through that smoke came Krash.
Krash prioritized the Mad Dog over Yeonma.
To finish Yeonma, he first had to end the close-combat specialist Mad Dog.
The moment Krash pierced the smoke.
The surrounding space suddenly warped.
Caw! Caw!
Unsettling crow cries echoed in Krash's ears.
At the same time, he realized everything around him was dyed red.
"Arf!"
Fierce barking erupted from somewhere.
The Mad Dog's phantom arts specialized in hearing.
The distinctive barking carried the illusion straight through the eardrums into the enemy's brain.
And the Mad Dog's illusions synergized exquisitely with Yeonma's smoke.
Yeonma's smoke dulled human perception.
In other words, those with dulled senses fell more easily to illusions.
Even foes with strong mental fortitude succumbed when Yeonma and the Mad Dog combined forces.
The Poison King, one of the Ten Supremes, had fallen to it as proof.
And now.
Krash had fallen to the illusion as well.
Black crows filling the sky swarmed toward Krash in unison.
Krash swung his sword experimentally, and the extending white flames sliced through them.
But the crows didn't burn from the white flame's slash; they split in two and poured down on Krash.
Death held no meaning for illusion-born crows.
They would pursue him until he died.
Krash's Sixth Sense activated.
This was ultimately an illusion.
If Krash refused to accept it as real, its power weakened.
Thus, the moment his Sixth Sense spread to perceive reality—
Krash's eyes twisted in shock.
"Hah."
Because his Sixth Sense recognized every crow before him as real.
Krash swiftly retreated to evade the pouring crows.
The crows slammed into the ground without slowing, chasing him relentlessly.
Why had his Sixth Sense accepted this world as real?
The answer was simple.
Yeonma's smoke was constructing the world identically to the Mad Dog's illusion.
In the Mad Dog's eyes, Krash appeared retreating from the flock of crow-shaped smoke Yeonma had created.
"Young indeed fits perfectly."
The Mad Dog spun its axe and assumed stance.
Dark red flames flickered from its axe.
The Mad Dog had sensed something upon clashing with Krash's White Dragon momentum earlier.
Krash's Sixth Sense was undoubtedly a counter to illusions.
Perceiving reality through it instead of his five senses nullified them.
Thus, he had plunged into battle despite knowing of the phantom arts.
Yet sometimes, that very strength became poison.
Illusions grew stronger the more one believed them real.
And now, Krash's Sixth Sense—which should have denied the illusion—had accepted it as reality.
The Mad Dog's illusion, now affirmed even by Krash's Sixth Sense beyond normal senses.
Had become a trap he could no longer escape.
This was precisely why Yeonma and the Mad Dog had been stationed here.
From past experiences, Ixion knew Krash employed extreme secret arts that spiked output momentarily.
So, they would use Yeonma and the Mad Dog's illusions to waste his time, neutralize him, and capture.
That was part of Ixion's plan this time.
'Now, just stall for time.'
Krash scattered meaningless white flames while desperately fleeing the crow flock.
But his flight was futile.
Trapped in illusion, he was now mere plaything for the Mad Dog.
'And when that time ends.'
The Mad Dog poured more power into its axe.
Just one opening.
The single moment his self-induced rampage's power faded.
Neutralize him completely.
"Huff, don't worry about a few flying off. Stick to it."
"Yes, now's not the time to fuss over that."
The Mad Dog warned Yeonma, who agreed.
As the Mad Dog said, Krash was dangerous.
If they couldn't capture him, at least fully neutralize him.
With aligned resolve, the Mad Dog's eyes gleamed with heightened killing intent.
Krash continued fleeing, spraying meaningless white flames wildly.
And that behavior hastened his limits even faster.
'A bit more.'
Just a little longer.
'Soon.'
Soon.
The moment the Mad Dog tensed its grip on the axe—
Its eyes faintly widened.
It was unease.
A pure sensation that something was off.
That feeling brushed past the Mad Dog's body.
Why?
Why feel it now?
Krash was trapped in illusion, continuously expending power.
All he could do now was take the Mad Dog's axe strikes with all his might.
Look at him even now.
He kept scattering meaningless white flames.
Scattering them.
Definitely scattering them.
The Mad Dog's eyes began to widen slowly.
The moment it snapped its head up—
It glimpsed white flames flowing into Yeonma's smoke.
"Arf! Yeonma, dispel the smoke!"
The Mad Dog's judgment was swift.
Krash was using white flames sent into the smoke to pinpoint their positions.
His white flames carried a sense distinct from his Sixth Sense.
This was why he'd been deliberately spraying meaningless white flames.
As the Mad Dog realized and shouted to Yeonma—
"As expected from a dog bastard—good nose."
Krash's voice resounded.
Yeonma's staff was clearly moving to strike the ground.
Yet in this instant, the Mad Dog felt time freeze.
Krash's body moved faster than anyone in a flash.
The acceleration applied to his body had vastly sped up his time compared to others.
As Krash and the Mad Dog's eyes met briefly—
A smile crept onto Krash's face.
"Why are you so far away?"
With those words, the Mad Dog realized the white flames dispersed in Yeonma's smoke were converging on Krash en masse.
And those flames instantly dragged both Yeonma and the Mad Dog toward Krash.
The Spearless Martial God Krash had mastered.
Its foundation was compressing aura.
White flames were aura burned by Ignis.
Thus, pulling back dispersed white flames meant those enveloped in them were drawn into Krash's grasp.
"Arf!"
But the Mad Dog was no ordinary foe.
As it was pulled, it kicked off the ground and leaped.
Its counter-thrust axe blazed with dark red flames.
Krash still hadn't escaped the illusion.
The caster Mad Dog could guarantee that.
Thus, it charged at Krash instead.
The way he perceived it now was through the dispersed white flames.
So it leaped into the void created between them as he began pulling.
Krash couldn't perceive it now.
End it in this fleeting moment.
As the Mad Dog judged thus—
It witnessed white flames gathering on his sword.
Krash truly couldn't perceive the Mad Dog.
But whether he did or not no longer mattered.
With the Mad Dog and Yeonma confined in white flames.
All that remained was to obliterate the enclosed space entirely.
Output like fragile glass cannons was Krash's specialty.
The Mad Dog's eyes bulged.
At the same time, it realized.
The one who had been careless, deeming him young, was itself.
He had orchestrated everything from the start.
So the Mad Dog had only one recourse.
Pray that the power it had amassed thus far surpassed Krash's.
Phantom Hammer Axe
Secret Technique
Phantom Mountain Collapse
The Mad Dog's full-power axe smashed down toward Krash.
Before it.
Krash sent ripples from a single drop falling into a deep lake within his heart to his sword.
When the blazing white flames erupted in light too intense to behold—
Krash's sword moved.
Flame Annihilation Erosion
Eighth Form
Flame Annihilation Martial God
The moment the cleaved world was swallowed by white flames.