Chapter 87
Chapter 87
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 87
Chapter Title: Ancestor, This is How You Use It
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Upon his return, Krash immediately sought out a conversation with Crimson Garden.
She was the perfect one to get advice like this from.
Sure enough, Crimson Garden's thoughts weren't much different from Krash's.
"Crimson Garden, what do you think the value of the Heavenly Killing Star is?"
It was truly a power whose value varied starkly from person to person.
'Maybe I shouldn't have let her know it holds value for me.'
A twinge of regret surfaced.
But lying was pointless anyway, given Blavi's skill characteristics.
He'd have to settle for the fact that it was even on the bargaining table.
"Crimson Garden, do you know what kind of people Seirang Sephira are?"
Mirvis, Crimson Garden's familiar whom Krash had seen several times, was a third-rank officer in Sephira.
She must have spoken with Seirang at least once, right?
Their public image was just a bit lively and curiosity-driven.
Seirang Sephira always kept her face veiled in muslin, maintaining an air of mystery.
Thanks to that, even Crimson Garden didn't have much information on Seirang.
'Well, I do know a bit about her for other reasons.'
But that info was from a separate source, not enough to truly understand the person.
'I'll run into her plenty soon enough anyway.'
Krash decided not to dwell on it further.
Because Lilysh and the knight captains were returning from their meeting.
"Krad, a room has been prepared for your sister to stay in."
Then Lebriang approached Krash.
It seemed Sephira had arranged one of their tents for Bianca in advance, and they'd found it smoothly.
"Bianca."
Krash beckoned to her.
Of course, Bianca couldn't come into the Demonic Realm with him.
"I'll be back."
So as she approached, he stroked her head and said.
Bianca, following his gesture, soon lifted her hand to clasp his.
"Don't get hurt."
"You make it sound like I've ever come back hurt before."
"You always come back hurt."
It was more overexertion than injury, but.
To Bianca, they seemed the same, so he'd keep that in mind.
After bidding Bianca farewell like that, Krash asked Lebriang to see her off properly.
She'd probably be inside reading a book or something.
In the meantime, the prepared knights finally moved toward the walls of the Demonic Realm.
Naturally, Krash was among the Blue Sea Knights.
The Blue Sea Knights were curious about what Krash and Seirang had talked about but didn't pry.
They figured something was up and chalked it to personal matters.
'If nothing else, the Blue Sea Knights have the straightest personalities around.'
Not Captain Vega's management, probably Lebriang's influence.
"Everyone, listen up carefully."
At that moment, the vice captain of the Jucheon Knights spoke in Lilysh's stead.
"This Demonic Realm expedition is about taking out the newly grown named erosion beast near our eastern entrance and the existing named before they clash in a turf war."
The Demonic Realm was so vast it was on another level from typical World Erosion sites.
Thus, countless named erosion beasts lived inside.
They waged turf wars daily, growing stronger by devouring each other.
'Erosion beasts in the Demonic Realm absorb the World Erosion power from their foes.'
It was similar to the blood art Extreme Blood Poison Infusion that Krash had learned.
So the Demonic Realm's erosion beasts grew every time they ate others.
Thus, when erosion beasts capable of swallowing a region clashed with equals.
Humans had to intervene, killing both or at least one beforehand.
If one won and devoured the other.
An uncontrollable monster would be born.
This expedition was triggered by a erosion beast that had suddenly bulked up recently.
Sephira couldn't handle it alone, so they'd urgently called in Valheim—situation was dire.
'The Demonic Realm.'
Krash looked at it and swallowed a bitter sigh.
As one of the golden forbidden zones, the Demonic Realm required constant management due to its nature.
But during the war between the Empire and Staron Kingdom.
All other kingdoms hoarded their strength, cutting support to the Demonic Realm almost entirely.
'Sephira struggled desperately to hold it back.'
But Sephira's own forces weren't that strong.
They specialized in World Erosion investigation, not suppression.
Eventually, the tipping point came, turf wars raged unchecked.
A colossal erosion beast shattered the encircling walls.
It massacred all tribes in the plains, then struck the Empire.
The Empire, drained from war, was utterly wrecked.
Ironically, the war ended because of that beast.
Knights and soldiers rushed back to defend, ruining the Empire's front lines regardless of war.
But by then, the beast had advanced to the capital.
'And that's when Arthur stepped in.'
Arthur felled the Demonic Realm's erosion beast single-handedly, skyrocketing to the Empire's hero overnight.
The Empire even granted him a title for it.
He got the grandiose moniker Hero King.
Around then, Princess Sigrin fell completely for him.
'Ha, that bastard.'
Reflecting now, Krash grasped Arthur's intentions.
Why he'd known yet let the war drag on, convincing the Generation of the Sky to join.
And how that gap in Sephira let a World Erosion entity kill Seirang.
'Arthur, that fucker planned to do it all alone from the start.'
Arthur, who devoured the Empire, Sephira, and even the Generation of the Sky.
He never intended to delegate to anyone from beginning to end.
'But that would leave the Empire and Sephira unable to handle World Erosion.'
Krash frowned, recalling Arthur's actions.
Krash knew it too.
Even with the Empire and Sephira intact, World Erosion would spiral into catastrophe uncontrollably.
Arthur must have witnessed that hell multiple times.
And probably tried preserving the Empire and Sephira in his own way.
'...Yet he couldn't avert the end.'
So Arthur decided.
If slaving away to save others still led to doom.
Just reap the benefits from it.
For Arthur, regression rendered everything meaningless.
'So he couldn't trust anyone not under his direct control.'
Krash had always stayed by Arthur's side, watching him.
Arthur spoke boldly like a true Hero King to all.
But his actions carried an obsession: he had to lead everything himself.
Back then, Krash thought it was the burden of expectations.
Now he knew better.
'Arthur was a regressor.'
Arthur had lost the ability to fully trust others.
Krash narrowed his eyes, realizing one fact.
'...Did that bastard get betrayed by someone?'
Arthur hadn't regressed just once.
After countless cycles, perhaps an unforgivable betrayal in one of them.
'The reason Arthur trusted Mary, Abella, and Sigrin with Memory Succession.'
Maybe those three alone supported him unwaveringly across his many regressions.
'I won't deny their achievements or skills.'
Frankly, Krash had always questioned why Arthur chose Memory Succession for those three to avert world destruction.
But looking back now, he understood Arthur's true motive.
'It wasn't just their competence.'
What mattered most was their unconditional loyalty.
The mental security of knowing they'd believe in him even after regression.
"Ha, rotten bastard."
Krash muttered a curse under his breath.
Now he got why Arthur hadn't brought him along via Memory Succession.
'I acknowledged that fucker's skill but never trusted the man himself.'
He'd stuck with Arthur solely for their shared goal of stopping world destruction.
Deep down, Krash never trusted Arthur as a person.
Arthur must have known that.
So Krash was discarded then.
Though ironically, that led to Krash stealing Arthur's regression.
Swallowing a hollow laugh, Krash lifted his head.
Rumble—
Just then, the Demonic Realm's gates were opening.
Arthur had tried putting the world under his feet to stop destruction.
But Krash had no such plans.
Even Arthur couldn't avert it that way in the end.
'I'll carve my own path.'
Grow relentlessly strong, smash every root of doom, crush destruction by force.
That was Krash's goal.
'So this time, snag the Heavenly Killing Star, absorb World Erosion, get even stronger.'
Krash's blue eyes gleamed sharply.
Then he suddenly glanced at Crimson Garden.
She'd stayed perched on his shoulder the whole time.
"Crim, you okay entering the Demonic Realm like that?"
Krash whispered so others couldn't hear.
Crimson Garden glanced at him and snorted.
Well, as Crimson Garden's chosen familiar, she wouldn't be normal—he already knew that.
She'd proven it multiple times already.
That piqued Krash's curiosity about the crow's true nature, but.
He decided not to ask now.
Because Lilysh up front had just spoken.
"Valheim Knights, advance!"
With Lilysh's shout from the lead, the entire knight order entered the Demonic Realm.
The moment they stepped inside.
Krash felt the air shift entirely.
World Erosion hung thick, making every breath feel like inhaling smoke, chest tight.
His whole body grew heavier, like shackled in iron.
A phenomenon from the Demonic Realm's twisted space itself.
Shwaaaaa!
Black rain poured down, sliding past Krash's hair and face.
Above where plains had been earlier, mountains and black foliage sprouted wildly.
Gray pillars stretched in inexplicable rows.
A violet sky choked with black thunderclouds screamed Demonic Realm.
"Everyone, properly shield with aura at all times."
Then Blue Sea Knight Captain Vega said with a grave expression.
The Demonic Realm's black rain.
It was a curse.
Without constant aura, it seeped through skin, absorbed into the body.
Once inside, the black rain wormed in, forcing blood out every orifice.
Then it filled the voids with itself.
Humans became black rain husks, losing will, another wandering erosion beast.
Swollen grotesquely from the rain's flesh.
Parasitic Rain.
Those who'd been called it that.
Yet amid the downpour, Krash wore no aura.
He let the black rain soak into his body unchecked.
Fwoosh!
Instead, Ignis blazed within him.
Before the rain could displace his blood, Ignis forcibly incinerated it.
The burned rain melted straight into World Erosion power.
What did that mean?
Simple.
The black rain was pure resource for Krash—World Erosion power he could assimilate.
"Hoo."
Krash exhaled lightly.
Then, unseen by others, a lone eerie smile crept across his face.
How could he not smile?
'I expected it, but.'
A hellish place where dropping aura meant death for others.
For him, the ultimate growth ground.
'No wonder Demaris Valheim became the strongest.'
If he hadn't gone mad with mania and self-destructed, he might've truly ended the world.
But Krash had no intention of following suit.
Later generations had ancestors as guides, avoiding their mistakes, advancing further.
'Ancestor, watch how this descendant wields the blood arts.'
He'd make Demaris Valheim seethe with envy from the grave.
Crimson Garden's pitying gaze was secondary.