Chapter 77
Chapter 77
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 77
Chapter Title: Optimist
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Krash arrived late at the carriage area.
There, Pendal lay with his chest practically torn open, while the white-clad sorceress Olivia knelt before him, sobbing uncontrollably as she poured healing magic into his wounds.
Beside her stood Rackradion, head bowed, and Soldric, the deputy captain, biting his lip to hold back his emotions.
Rackradion finally lifted her head upon sensing Krash's presence.
"...Lord Krash, you're safe."
"Yeah."
She spoke with trembling eyes.
Krash gave a curt reply and glanced sidelong at Crimson Garden nearby.
"What happened?"
He asked in a voice low enough for only Crimson Garden to hear.
After hearing the explanation, Krash's eyes widened in surprise.
'Pendal sacrificed himself?'
Krash remembered Pendal from before his regression.
He had lived like a utter scoundrel of the Demonic Palace, committing all sorts of atrocities.
In fact, Krash had experienced those misdeeds firsthand, so he knew full well.
How rotten Pendal truly was.
So he figured the man hadn't changed much even now.
After all, Pendal had actually tried to sabotage Krash's group.
'But he saved Rackradion?'
As Krash grappled with confusion,
"Rack... ga... je ra."
He pushed forward his jade sword, calling her by her old nickname.
She silently accepted the jade sword, briefly recalling Kairan, the former team leader of Icarus.
But there was no time for reminiscing.
"Pendal."
"...I was... gonna give it to you... directly. Just... held onto it 'cause... you wouldn't take it."
Pendal spoke with great difficulty.
"Captain, stop talking!"
Olivia cried out, but Pendal ignored her.
Instead, he stared at Rackradion with dying eyes.
"I'll accept it."
Rather than questioning why he had saved her, Rackradion bowed her head, prioritizing his feelings.
Pendal seemed satisfied with that and turned his gaze to Krash.
"Val... heim direct... line."
A clumsy smile crossed his lips as his breathing grew faint.
"Sorry for... getting in your... way."
A gush of blood welled up and trickled down from Pendal's mouth.
Having heard Pendal's apology, Krash slowly swept a hand across his forehead.
He had seen countless deaths.
From wars between humans to battles against World Erosion entities, and even when the World Erosion reached its worst, sweeping away innumerable lives.
Among them were those Krash had grown somewhat fond of.
In the perished world, the survivors had been Arthur, himself, and just those three others.
So it wasn't an exaggeration to say Krash had witnessed everyone's deaths.
"Take down... Rack... Optimist... for me."
But the emotion Krash felt watching Pendal's death was different from all those before.
Krash hadn't particularly bonded with Pendal.
If anything, they were enemies.
To Krash, Pendal was barely even a passing acquaintance.
So what was this feeling Krash had now?
The answer was simple.
'How much have I been trapped by just this one regression?'
Krash felt deep self-pity.
A single, fleeting connection.
How foolish it was to define someone based on that one glimpse and act accordingly.
People change endlessly with the times.
And he, who had once lamented his life and cursed the world incessantly, knew that best.
'Judging arrogantly on my own whim.'
Krash ground his teeth.
Wasn't this making him no different from Arthur?
Arthur, who had regressed far more times than him, had failed every loop to save the world from ruin, ultimately losing regression itself to Krash.
That was because, across all those countless loops, Arthur had observed Krash and assumed he would stay that way forever.
Arthur had concluded.
That Krash's skill could only steal curses at best, not unique abilities like skills.
So he let his guard down in front of Krash and revealed the existence of the Regression skill.
Without knowing what consequences it might bring.
'And yet here I am.'
Krash had judged and concluded about Pendal based on pre-regression memories.
So he was angry at himself.
Unlike Arthur, his regression was only once.
No one knew if a second was even possible.
Since Regression wasn't directly in Krash's grasp.
If he couldn't prevent doom this loop, the world was finished.
Krash truly believed that and was giving his all.
'To protect this damn world.'
He had to abandon reliance on regression alone.
People change countless times.
Krash knew this from his own transformation, and confirmed it through bonds like Bianca's after regressing.
He would never forget this truth.
"Pendal."
So Krash spoke to him.
"Today, I entered the Demonic Palace with all of you."
Pendal listened silently to Krash's words.
He understood their meaning.
"And together with everyone, we'll defeat Optimist and open the 9th floor."
"Ha..."
Pendal let out a brief sound before swallowing a laugh.
"Noble... words worthy... of aristocracy."
There was sarcasm, but his smile held profound peace, as if no death could be more serene.
With that, Pendal's eyes closed.
"Captain! Captain! Captain!"
Olivia wailed his name like a scream.
But his body no longer stirred, despite her cries.
"Olivia."
As she burst into sobs, Soldric embraced her.
"Let him go now."
"Hic... sob."
Leaving her weeping in Soldric's arms, Krash turned to Rackradion.
She rose from her spot.
"Lord Krash Valheim."
At that moment, Soldric called out to Krash.
"It was all my fault for blocking your path. I gave the orders..."
"Enough."
In the end, they had bought time to deal with the Armed Princess.
"Take good care of Pendal."
Krash said that and turned to walk away.
As he raised a hand out of their sight, a faint spark flickered there.
'Lioner.'
It was none other than Pendal's skill.
The second dial had unlocked, revealing the third.
For that dial, Krash had spoken his final words to Pendal.
Thanks to it unlocking, he had stolen Lioner via Black Hood.
'Call me petty if you want.'
In this wretched world, it felt like the only way to avert ruin was to devour everything like this.
On the day he first regressed, he had resolved to swallow whatever came and claw his way to the top to stop the end.
So Krash stole Pendal's Lioner.
'At the very least.'
He wouldn't let it go to waste.
Optimist.
The lone figure sitting in the foremost room of the 8th floor carriage sector.
Once a conqueror challenging the Demonic Palace, now a tragic man devoured by it.
Krash had come to the door before him, intent on bringing him down.
After resting a day in the carriage and catching some sleep, Krash swung his sword lightly to loosen up.
Aftereffects from the battle with the Armed Princess?
His body still ached here and there, but thanks to Lunar Stasis, it was healing faster than usual.
In this state, he might not have beaten Optimist.
But now it was fine.
Because he had obtained Pendal's Lioner.
Krash had tested it secretly yesterday and was confident it would defeat Optimist.
"Rackradion, ready?"
"Yes, we can depart anytime."
Krash nodded at her response.
"Let's go."
He pushed open the door with one hand.
Kiiieek-
With the screech of rusted hinges, the jolting carriage room came into Krash's view.
This carriage sector differed from the others.
The seats were empty, and the wooden floor bore cracks and scars everywhere.
But the most unusual feature was that there was only one door.
Before that single door sat an old man holding a long scabbard containing a single sword.
An elder bearing Thunder Sovereign, its black base etched with lightning streaks like wood struck by lightning.
Optimist.
The man who had long guarded entry to the 9th floor now sat there, his eyebrows sagging white with age.
Kreek, clack-
Confirming Rackradion had entered, Krash shut the carriage door.
As it closed, Optimist's shoulders twitched.
At the same time, his body began rising with cracking sounds, bones seemingly reassembling.
Who knew how long it had been since he last moved to make such noises.
And those sounds meant few had entered the 8th floor in all that time.
Optimist's eyes gleamed red as he stood.
"Rackradion, you know what to do."
Krash called to her upon seeing Optimist.
He had briefed her beforehand on how to defeat him.
While Krash burned the entire carriage with Ignis, she would hold out against Optimist.
That was Rackradion's role.
So as she drew her jade sword and stepped in front of Krash,
"Yes."
With those words, Optimist drew Thunder Sovereign.
But the drawn blade was empty.
The bladeless sword raised questions in any who saw it.
No blade meant it couldn't function as a sword.
Yet in that instant, as if proving why it ranked among the world's top ten heavenly swords, golden light surged from Thunder Sovereign's guard.
Kuung!
With a thunderclap, the blazing golden light unleashed such intense power it flipped the atmosphere in a heartbeat.
Simultaneously, as the golden light compressed in a flash,
A golden blade emerged there, rippling with energy, its sharp edge revealed.
A sword that amplified the wielder's aura to forge its blade.
Thunder Sovereign (Rain Thunder Sovereign)
Depending on its owner, Thunder Sovereign could become the world's finest sword, capable of cleaving anything—or the worst, unable to cut even a feather.
Thus, all swordsmen agreed:
If the world's greatest swordsman chose a blade, Thunder Sovereign would suit him best.
And that was precisely why Krash had always prevented Sword Sovereign from claiming Thunder Sovereign.
Kuung!
Now, Thunder Sovereign gleamed golden in Optimist's hands.
Its overwhelming golden radiance cowed onlookers and tensed Rackradion.
Because that gold revealed Optimist's true level.
"Here it comes."
As Krash spoke briefly,
By the time Rackradion raised her sword in haste, Optimist was already upon her.
Chaeng!
Rackradion moved with Optimist's step, blocking Thunder Sovereign with her jade sword.
But her body reeled heavily despite the block.
Despite his aged frame, Optimist's power was on another plane.
She realized anew.
Why Icarus had crumbled before Optimist that day, why team leader Kairan had risked death to let them escape.
Hwaruk!
Hearing the flames roar from behind, Rackradion swallowed hard.
Krash had thrust his pitch-black sword aflame with black fire into the carriage, igniting it fully.
Optimist's gaze shifted rearward.
He had noticed Krash's odd actions.
But Rackradion immediately blocked his line of sight to Krash.
As if declaring he must kill her first to reach him.
'My role is to buy time.'
She would show that this time was different from her past flight.
"Come."
As Rackradion's words rang out, Optimist and she finally clashed.