Chapter 76
Chapter 76
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 76
Chapter Title: Only You Fall
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Amid the blazing flames of the carriage.
Krash was heaving ragged breaths.
His breathing was a total mess.
His bones and muscles screamed for rest, and his mind felt like it would fly away in the heat of the Inferno Erosion.
Even with his Moon Yin Body, the heat showed no signs of cooling, pushing his body to its absolute limit.
"Hoo, haa."
With an exhale, Krash slowly lifted his head.
Unlike before, a faint black flame flickered along his lowered dark sword.
Meanwhile, his opponent standing before him was unscathed.
The Armed Princess gazed at Krash without having taken any significant damage.
In truth, neither had landed a fatal blow on the other.
First off, Krash's attacks hadn't inflicted much harm on the Armed Princess.
The gap in their realms was simply too vast.
On the flip side, Krash knew all of her armaments, so he'd desperately dodged every one of her strikes.
Thanks to his Sixth Sense granting near-prophetic power, he'd evaded every attack he possibly could.
But that's precisely why his body was in even worse shape.
To dodge all her attacks, he'd pushed Inferno Erosion—which shaved away at his very bones—to its limit.
"Kept rolling around like you had some hidden trick up your sleeve..."
The Armed Princess swung her three swords with a sharp glint in her eyes as she watched him.
"You little shit, was it all just bluff?"
She'd finally caught on.
"You're no World Eroder, are you, you fuck? You know all my armaments—what the hell are you? You wield World Erosion power. Whose dog are you?"
The Armed Princess wore an expression of utter annoyance, done humoring him.
She was sick of facing this guy who slipped away from every single one of her attacks.
And the way he acted like he knew all her moves? It went beyond irritating.
Krash stared at her silently for a moment, caught his breath, and straightened his stance.
Then, out of nowhere, he sheathed his dark sword into the scabbard at his waist.
As she furrowed her brow at the bizarre action, Krash spoke.
"...Didn't you hear what I said earlier?"
The Armed Princess's eyebrow twitched.
"Stop mewling like a kitten."
And with that, the conversation was over.
The Armed Princess placed a hand on her chest, signaling she was done playing around.
"I kinda like the kids on this side, you know?"
With that, she plunged her hand into her own throat.
And pulled out a dagger from deep inside.
She wiped the drool from her mouth, her eyes gleaming a fierce yellow.
"But you? My gut's screaming that you gotta die right here."
This was the woman who'd hesitated to kill Krash out of fear of Balok Valheim's wrath.
But she'd decided to forget all that now.
Krash wasn't a World Eroder.
Yet this bastard knew all her armaments.
Which meant she had to kill him before he became a bigger threat later on.
Ting-
The moment she gripped the dagger adorned with a bell-shaped ornament, the atmosphere flipped in an instant.
The carriage, still burning with black flames, suddenly grew ice-cold.
As if everything up until now had been mere play.
Her tiger-like eyes now burned with unmasked killing intent.
Krash felt his breath catch in his throat.
There stood a massive tiger.
A beast baring its fangs to slay its prey.
Just from that, it was clear she hadn't been serious before—merely gauging his measure.
'Thirteen Armaments.'
One of the thirteen armaments she'd numbered herself.
The ninth: Hell Dragon Lord.
Krash, who knew its nature well, let out a hollow chuckle even in its face.
"Laughing?"
Her eyes twisted in fury at the sight.
From his reaction, she could tell he knew her Thirteen Armaments.
But she couldn't fathom his nonchalant attitude.
"Shua Delphia."
Once more, Krash called her full name.
"What bullshit are you spouting now?"
As the Armed Princess snapped in irritation, Krash shrugged lightly.
"Just felt like saying it."
"What?"
It meant nothing.
Just a last-ditch stall for time.
Crack!
Because the floor finally succumbed to the heat, crumbling into ashes.
Boom!
The walls tore away all at once, whipping out into the world beyond the carriage.
Even inside the Demon Palace, a fierce wind from outside whipped her hair wildly.
Realizing this too late, the Armed Princess's eyes widened in shock.
As she hurriedly leaped back from the collapsing floor, Krash retreated simultaneously.
"You fuck, what did you do?!"
"What? Wood touched by fire burns—that's normal, right?"
Krash played it cool, but the carriage was anything but.
Unable to withstand the black flame's heat, everything inside began to crumble.
Crack crack crack crack! Thud!
The pillars shattered under the heat, and the roof was ripped away entirely, carried off by the carriage's rushing wind.
Clop clop!
At the same time, the sound of galloping horses echoed from the front.
But no horses in sight—only the fields rushing past between the torn walls.
The carriage, losing everything in an instant, continued to be devoured by the black flames even in that state.
The Armed Princess clung desperately to a wall as the floor shattered beneath her.
Glancing at the blurring ground below, she felt the carriage's blinding speed.
But even clinging to the wall was futile.
The black flames were consuming even that.
"Want me to tell you something?"
Just then, Krash—also plastered to a wall—spoke up.
"Doors burned by Ignis... for some reason, they don't recover."
"Huh?"
Her head snapped up at his words.
Her eyes frantically scanned the surroundings.
And soon, she realized.
Three out of four doors had been burned away by Ignis.
The only one left untouched?
The single door right behind Krash.
"Wh-what?!"
For the first time, true panic colored the Armed Princess's voice.
Her ears and tail stood straight up, sensing the dire situation.
Belokin Valheim had stumbled upon the eighth floor's secret by sheer luck via Ignis: carriages burned by Ignis don't recover.
This was the Demon Palace, yet it connected cunningly to some field on the surface world.
Thus, when the carriage's space collapsed, anyone inside would be flung out into that field.
Belokin had used that fluke to fell Nakcheon and ultimately claim the Thunder Citadel.
"Oh, and now there's only one door left?"
Krash flashed a taunting grin, sweat streaming down his face.
Thud!
In that instant, Krash shoved backward with his back, flinging open the last remaining door.
No other exits—all others incinerated.
What did that mean?
If the Armed Princess didn't follow Krash out that door right now, she'd be hurled away just like the roof moments ago.
Inside the fully ablaze carriage, the Armed Princess felt her head spin.
While he'd been desperately deflecting her attacks, what had he been up to?
This bastard had been quietly burning the carriage behind her back all along.
And by deliberately needling her nerves, keeping her too distracted to notice the carriage's state.
Her caution in reading her opponent had turned into poison in a flash.
What she needed now was sheer audacity.
The Armed Princess's face flushed crimson.
Realizing she'd been toyed with by Krash, her features twisted in rage.
"You fucking bastard! How dare you toy with me!"
As Krash backpedaled through the door.
She gripped the Hell Dragon Lord in reverse.
Stab!
In that moment, the Hell Dragon Lord plunged deep into her heart.
In a flash, red and pitch-black energies of the Hell Dragon Lord enveloped her body.
The instant a flower from hell bloomed from her chest.
Horns sprouted from her head, a tail emerged.
Her legs and arms transformed into those of a dragon, radiating menace.
Squelch!
Her swollen thighs gathered power to their limit.
Her body compressed into a single point and shot forward like a bullet.
Kaboom boom boom boom boom crack!
The belated roar echoed as the already-burning carriage shattered entirely under the impact.
But the Armed Princess couldn't care less.
She planned to burst through that door after Krash and rip his throat out.
Enraged, her form like a wrathful demon, she reached the exit in an instant.
Then she saw him.
Krash, as if he'd been waiting all along for her arrival.
In iaijutsu stance, quietly inhaling, a storm brewing within his scabbard.
Their eyes met for the briefest moment, and hers flew wide.
His mind had long since reached the realm of mind-sword unity, awaiting her precisely.
Chill!
Every hair on her body stood on end, sensing the World Erosion power pouring from Krash on a whole other level.
"You goddamn bastaaaaard!"
Realizing it was already too late, she screamed curses and lashed out with her elongated claws.
It wouldn't reach.
She knew it wouldn't.
Yet she had to tear that damned face apart somehow.
But as if refusing to give her time to vent her fury.
The dragon roar blooming in Krash's mind devoured all the flames.
And that heralded.
The completion of a single sword.
Whoosh-
Inferno Erosion
Second Form
Inferno Heavenly Sword
Kaboom boom boom boom boom boom boom crack!
The erupting black flame storm raged, devouring everything in its path.
The entire eighth floor shook violently once, the massive tempest shredding the carriage interior to pieces and marking the end of that zone.
"Hoo, haa."
Before the gasping Krash's eyes.
The walls torn apart by the Inferno Heavenly Sword left not even a trace.
And the Armed Princess was nowhere to be seen.
Clop clop-
Only the sound of hooves echoing from beyond the fields.
By now, the Armed Princess was probably tumbling across some surface field cunningly linked to the Demon Palace, courtesy of the carriage's crash.
'That woman's not gonna die from something like that.'
The Inferno Heavenly Sword was Krash's full power, but not enough for a lethal wound on the Armed Princess mid-Thirteen Armaments.
So she'd probably be back on her feet soon, spitting fire in rage.
Next time they met, she'd come at him for the kill.
Of course, the outcome would be vastly different then.
"...More like I'll die first."
Krash muttered as he collapsed onto the floor.
The mental strain from the fight with the Armed Princess, plus the Inferno Erosion, left his mind and body throbbing in agony.
'Gotta swear off walking this tightrope ever again.'
He wouldn't have pulled this without the Thunder Citadel at stake.
Flap flap-
In that moment, the sound of flapping wings came from behind him.
Krash turned to see a pitch-black crow perched there.
"Crim, what about Lakradion?"
The Armed Princess issue was settled.
With her gone from this space, her clones would've evaporated by now too.
So when Krash asked, Crimson Garden clicked her tongue.
[You'll have to see for yourself.]
Something unpleasant had gone down.