Chapter 71
Chapter 71
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 71
Chapter Title: Krash is a Bit Too Much
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Pendal, the leader guiding Pendal Road and a darkness akin to the Demonic Palace itself.
He was currently passing through the seventh floor of the Demonic Palace.
By his side walked the team members who had led Pendal Road with him all this time.
One was a white horse sorcerer, another a scout, plus one close-range fighter and two sorcerers.
True to being the elites Pendal had handpicked, their skills ranked among the very best within the Demonic Palace.
"Boss."
At that moment, a woman with dark red hair—a sorcerer—adjusted her robe and called out to Pendal.
Her voluptuous figure peeked through the robe, the form-fitting fabric drawing any man's gaze, but the material was precious thread from red spider silk, found only in the Demonic Palace.
That alone spoke volumes about her skill and wealth.
With an anxious look on her face, she called to him.
"...I respect your resolve to challenge Nakcheon again, Boss, but are you really sure about this?"
Pendal silently continued walking as she asked cautiously.
To those who lived in the Demonic Palace, Nakcheon was a lifelong wall.
Even long after the legendary team Black Lion, to which Nakcheon had belonged, disbanded, Nakcheon still guarded the eighth floor as a lingering spirit.
How many challengers had been brutally crushed before that monster?
Pendal entering to defeat Nakcheon this time was, at heart, a matter of pride.
Seeing the direct descendants of Rakradion and Valheim had ignited a knee-jerk rivalry, after all.
"If you're unhappy about it, you can turn back."
The woman who had voiced her opinion sighed as Pendal snapped at them.
The other team members felt the same.
"No way we'd abandon you, Boss."
"If we lose you in the Demonic Palace, who'll even mention Pendal Road anymore?"
They all showed their resolve not to leave him.
Pendal stared at them wordlessly before turning his head away.
"You worthless lot."
Pendal said that and fixed his gaze ahead.
Having struck first and taken a shortcut, Pendal was reaching the eighth floor far faster than Krash or Rakradion.
'If that's the case.'
He would be the first to challenge Nakcheon.
He carried not his usual hook sword at his waist, but a long straight sword, which he slowly drew.
In the past, Team Icarus, which included Rakradion and Pendal.
This was the sword Okcheon—Jade Heaven—once wielded by Kairan, the leader of Team Icarus.
A famed blade second only to Thunderclap in renown.
Though Kairan, their leader, had fallen before Nakcheon and met his end.
This time would be different.
Pendal would carry on Kairan's will to conquer the entire Demonic Palace.
"Pendal Road will defeat Nakcheon."
With that, he declared it to those following behind.
His team members beamed brightly upon seeing Pendal's eyes shine with fierce determination.
"No kidding."
"We're the kings of the Demonic Palace!"
Pendal drew in a breath and exhaled as he watched them rejoice.
Unlike Rakradion, who stubbornly swung her sword at the wall, Pendal turned away from it.
Instead, he looked back at those behind him.
The challengers who steadily entered the Demonic Palace even after Team Icarus's failure.
If Rakradion kept swinging at the wall,
Pendal pulled those behind him along.
'I don't know how to climb the wall alone.'
So Pendal chose to scale it with others.
On the day he fell to Nakcheon, Pendal had already been forging ahead in his own way.
This was something Krash knew nothing about.
And why would he? His encounter with Pendal was still far in the future.
After Rakradion finally crumbled before the wall, and Pendal—who had shouted for a year to convince her—himself collapsed.
Long after that.
Darkness exists because of light.
"...Did you set it up on the sly?"
At that moment, another sorcerer—a middle-aged man—following Pendal asked the swordsman at the rear.
The middle-aged man was none other than Pendal Road's vice-leader, Solldrik.
The swordsman nodded slowly at Solldrik's question.
"Yes. I instructed the guys. To make sure Rakradion and Valheim's direct descendant never reach the eighth floor."
"Good work."
Solldrik quietly swallowed.
Call it cowardly if you must.
He could always claim it was his solo decision later.
But for at least the time Pendal Road challenged Nakcheon, no one would interfere.
Not on his watch—for their leader Pendal, whom they'd strived for all this time.
＊ ＊ ＊
Seventh floor, Mechanical Labyrinth.
Surrounded entirely by gears and mechanical walls, it was a perfect maze.
Not to mention the countless traps and mechanical monsters that popped out unexpectedly, sometimes the maze walls shifted positions at random to thwart pathfinding.
The goal of the seventh floor was to escape this mechanical labyrinth.
Escaping relied purely on luck or extraordinary observation.
Which made this the place where a scout's role was most crucial.
Yet here, in this scout-dependent area, Krash and Rakradion faced a single wall alone.
Without Derek, who should have been scouting, or the white horse sorceress Penichelli—just the two of them.
"...What shall we do?"
What had happened moments ago.
It was a trap set by Pendal Road's crew, sprung in an instant.
Shortly after entering the seventh floor, Pendal Road's gang ambushed Krash's group.
Needless to say, against Krash and Rakradion, they stood no chance.
The pair who had even bested Pendal himself swiftly subdued the gang.
But that's where the problem arose.
At that precise moment, the mechanical labyrinth's walls shifted whimsically, instantly separating Derek and Penichelli from the two.
"Penichelli! Derek!"
Rakradion rushed to the wall, but it had already sealed shut.
Even Rakradion's Aura Blade couldn't cleave it.
The wall regenerated faster than she could cut.
Pendal Road's gang had clearly timed their ambush for a wall shift.
And it didn't end there.
The instant the walls parted, mechanical weapon-beasts swarmed, targeting only Krash and Rakradion.
In that brief distraction, the Pendal Road remnants on Krash's side of the wall fled.
Knowing direct combat was futile, they'd exploited the Demonic Palace's quirks to perfection.
Rakradion swallowed a groan.
Pendal had always pulled dirty tricks.
He was closer to villain than saint.
Even so, Rakradion had believed his passion for the Demonic Palace was genuine.
Yet even here, he'd ordered his underlings to stoop low.
Rakradion trembled with rage.
She'd once seen him as a comrade, but he'd changed.
"...Lord Krash, forgive me."
Krash's expression remained unchanged, however.
"Just a barking dog finally biting. Nothing new."
If anything, Krash was grateful for the trap.
Pendal hadn't changed a bit.
"So, how do we clear the seventh floor without a scout?"
"...If we stick to one wall and follow it, we'll get there eventually."
It would take time, though.
Rakradion didn't suggest searching for Penichelli and Derek.
Without Pendal Road's deliberate timing, predicting wall shifts was near impossible.
Reuniting would take them ages, even if they searched intently.
"So no plan from you, Rakradion."
"...Yes."
Despite being the senior who'd entered the Demonic Palace first, she felt ashamed at her helplessness.
She was combat-focused, not scouting.
"Fine. Then do me a favor."
Krash spoke as if it were no big deal.
"A favor?"
"Carry me."
Rakradion blinked.
Carry him? Out of nowhere?
Doubt flickered in her eyes, but Krash's were deadly serious.
From the start, he'd anticipated traps on the seventh floor.
And sure enough, it played out as expected.
That's why he'd brought just one scout on purpose.
To make Pendal Road think isolating the scout would solve everything.
"Don't trust me?"
"No."
Without protest, she lowered herself, baring her back.
Her thin armor and top peeked through her hair.
Krash mounted without hesitation.
Now in his growth spurt, Krash was tall for his age.
But Rakradion, towering like an average man, hoisted him effortlessly.
"What now?"
"I'll focus now. Follow my directions exactly. It's hard to move solo while concentrating."
"Understood."
Rakradion obeyed faithfully.
Krash closed his eyes contentedly.
At once, he awakened his Sixth Sense.
Far broader now than before.
Today, he'd push it beyond limits.
Requiring utmost focus.
And a mobile fortress to carry him.
The Sixth Sense was like aura spiderwebs.
Spreading thin through the air, slipping through microscopic gaps in even the densest walls, extending endlessly.
As it expanded, the vast labyrinth mapped itself in Krash's mind.
Maxed concentration dragged every detail into his head.
Of course, stretching it brought throbbing headaches.
But bearable.
"Straight 500 meters, then right."
Krash's orders came.
Rakradion dashed without pause.
"Left at the next fork."
His instructions were razor-sharp as she ran.
She noticed the scenery shifting.
Progressing inward along the right path changed the mechanical walls' hue gradually.
From black to red.
The faint red tint confirmed they were on track.
Rakradion marveled.
She hadn't expected Krash to navigate this well.
Better than Derek, even.
'How many freakish talents does he have?'
A true Valheim.
Or the mongrel tenacity that stole even her basics.
Either way, Krash was no ordinary soul.
"Here they come, as expected."
His voice made her narrow her eyes.
"If they're coming—"
"Yeah. Pendal Road's gang."
Were they panicking at Krash and Rakradion's speed?
The flustered gang rushed to intercept, targeting their group.
At this rate, the pair would hit the eighth floor first, against their plans.
Knowing that spelled doom, they'd chosen force.
"Idiots, or loyal to their boss? Hard to say."
Krash, eyes open, dismounted.
His drawn sword was already in hand.
"They'll pay dearly."
Krash hurled his sword without warning.
It streaked black, embedding in the chest of a figure rounding the corner.
"Gahk?!"
As the man panicked from the instant ambush, Krash leaped off Rakradion's back and landed.
His dark sword was back in his grip.
"Jeg's down!"
While someone poured a potion on the struck man, Krash charged.
Three shield-bearers from Pendal Road leaped forward.
Krash scoffed at the sight.
"Who you calling a weapon-beast?"
Shields mattered against beasts.
Not people.
Absurd, but the shield wall loomed high.
Behind, sorcerers poured reagents, forming a magic circle amid incantations.
Treating them like beasts, indeed.
'If it's that fight you want.'
Faint smoke curled from Krash's lips.
Ignis burned World Erosion's power, traces of Annihilation Flame Erosion activating.
Krash shot forward in a straight line.
Black Flame cloaked his sword in brilliant blaze; his muscles bulged savagely.
'I'll oblige.'
BOOOOOM!
Krash collided with the shields.
The expert-level aura shrouding them crumpled pathetically, yielding passage.
"Argh?!"
"Gaaah?!"
Swordsmen ahead swung desperately as Krash burst through.
But he was faster.
Reading every arc, he wove through like an acrobat.
Their eyes bulged.
It was acrobatic mastery.
"M-monster."
By the time someone muttered, Krash reached the sorcerers.
He slammed his dark sword into the magic circle before it lit.
WHOOSH!
Flames from the blade incinerated the reagents.
The sorcerers aborted chants, scrambling back—but Krash was swifter.
He kicked one flying, seized another's head, and smashed it down.
Having crushed both sorcerers in a blink, Krash rose slowly, leaving the twitching one impaled.
His Annihilation Flame Erosion-reddened eyes glowed dimly in the dark labyrinth.
Pendal Road's gang froze en masse.
The veterans, overwhelmed by a boy not yet 14.
"Still wanna fight?"
They flinched at his question.
Battle will utterly shattered.