Chapter 93
Chapter 93
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 93
Chapter Title: Strike When Transforming
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The battle with Agarez had been dragging on for a full 11 hours now.
Without a single break since the first clash, the Jucheon Knight Order had been locked in combat with it amid the unrelenting darkness.
Of course, they avoided a direct confrontation.
Agarez possessed power far beyond any human.
A disaster.
That was the word that best described this erosion beast, Agarez.
So the Jucheon Knights stuck to a thorough strategy of buying time.
"Uwaaak!"
In that instant, a Jucheon Knight was snared by a pitch-black tendril of darkness hurtling through the air and began getting dragged straight toward Agarez.
Staring directly into the eyes encircling Agarez's body triggered a barrage of curses all at once: confusion, blurred vision, bleeding, panic.
In trying to avoid eye contact, he had failed to spot the attack.
Screeech!
Agarez's maw split wide, revealing rows of crimson teeth.
It intended to swallow and digest its prey on the spot.
Thud!
Crack!
But two figures appeared before the dark tendril first.
One was Krash, cloaked in pitch-black black flame.
The other was Rilish, her blue aura blade shimmering.
Their swords cleaved through the tendril simultaneously, allowing the Jucheon Knight to quickly regain his footing.
"Captain, Lord Krash, thank you!"
"Get your head in the game. You'll get taken."
"Yes, sir!"
Rilish deflected another dark tendril with her sword as she heard the knight's reply.
At the same time, her eyes swiftly tracked Krash.
Krash had been moving without rest for 11 hours just like her, and he'd just saved a knight in this dangerously precise moment.
Thanks to that, despite the time elapsed, the Jucheon Knights had zero casualties.
Something she could never have achieved alone.
'He's definitely at the pinnacle of Expert level.'
How was he producing aura at that level nonstop?
Even she couldn't figure that out.
But there was one thing that had been nagging at her the whole time.
And she knew exactly what that sensation was.
Skill
Id
It was her skill, known as super intuition.
She had chosen it just a year ago.
On the day of Belokin Valheim's funeral, she had made her decision.
Because her eldest brother and vice-family head, the Sword King, had told her directly.
「In the World Erosion, sometimes a split-second instinct saves you more than raw power.」
It was the Sword King's advice to prevent any more direct descendants from dying in the World Erosion.
He must have hated seeing Valheim's forces dwindle.
Though her intentions differed from his, Rilish agreed with the words.
She had planned to acquire a skill only after training to the point where she no longer needed to rely on one.
But for instinctual matters, leaning on a skill a little seemed acceptable.
So she chose Id.
In truth, it had proven useful in the World Erosion.
And today, it had activated once before her eyes.
The moment she saw the black flame cloaking Krash's body.
Her Id's intuition linked it instantly to Belokin Valheim's Ignis.
Krash's reaction confirmed it was spot on.
And now, her Id was activating again.
Directed at Krash this time.
Her little brother was about to do something dangerous.
She felt it instinctively.
"Vice-Captain Darvian, how long now?!"
Krash's shout rang out in that moment.
Darvian checked the time and replied.
"11 hours and 21 minutes."
With the exact time given, Krash let out a light breath.
Twelve hours soon.
Time for this hellish darkness to end.
Of course, not just Krash—every Jucheon Knight knew it.
Agarez had clashed with members of other families besides Valheim before.
They hadn't slain it then either, but the survivors had diligently gathered intel on it.
So everyone knew.
Agarez could maintain the darkness for only 12 hours max.
'No, not exactly a limit.'
Better to phrase it differently.
It was switching tactics because it judged it couldn't kill them in the dark.
Screeeeech—
A bizarre sound echoed from Agarez's body in that instant.
Agarez was an intelligent being like a human.
No one knew if it could speak, so its intellect level was unclear.
But one thing was certain.
'It deliberately follows certain patterns in battle.'
And among the Jucheon Knights, only Krash seemed to grasp why.
'To lower their guard.'
It created patterns they could counter on purpose.
Then, once they got used to them, it turned the tables and devoured them.
That was Agarez's favorite trap.
No wonder it was called a demon beast.
Its very mindset revolved around toying with humans.
So it was pretending right now to be a mindless erosion beast.
'Sorry, but...'
Krash dodged the incoming spears of darkness one by one, slicing them apart with his black flame.
'We see right through your little game.'
Krash steadied his breathing.
His lungs stung from the relentless movement, but it was bearable.
Thanks to continuously absorbing the World Erosion flowing from the demon realm.
He was taking in more than he expended, thriving like a fish in water.
But it wasn't without cost.
Zing!
The mania he'd been suppressing with the eye doll kept spiking in short bursts.
With his body filled to the brim with World Erosion, even the eye doll struggled to contain it.
Grit—
Krash ground his teeth and forcibly quelled the mania.
His mind wasn't so fragile as to waver from mere mania here.
Not after enduring worse.
'Twelve hours.'
Once that mark hit, Agarez would get serious.
Revealing its true patterns, as always.
'No idea how many erosion beasts the Rokhae Knights have taken down.'
All he could do was hope they'd thinned out the lord's rings empowering Agarez.
Clang!
Krash shredded another wave of darkness and kicked off the ground.
Sword clashes echoed from all around simultaneously.
The Jucheon Knights were desperately buying time against Agarez too.
Naturally, the standout among them was Rilish.
She cut through the darkness to swing her sword directly at Agarez, displaying overwhelming prowess.
Agarez couldn't ignore Rilish either.
Whenever she closed in, thousands of bony arms erupted from beneath its cloak to block her strikes.
Rilish couldn't deal major damage playing it defensive like that.
But she effectively drew its attention.
Thanks to her, the Jucheon Knights got occasional breaths of respite.
The battle raged on like this.
"Twelve hours!"
"Everyone, run to the opposite side from Agarez!"
The moment of truth had arrived.
Whoosh!
Suddenly, a fierce wind arose, sucking all the darkness into somewhere.
The target was Agarez itself.
Agarez had finally closed all its red eyes, ending the battle in pure darkness.
Its cloak billowed as it absorbed not just the darkness but everything around it.
So the Jucheon Knights hurriedly turned and fled the other way.
Normal attacks wouldn't work on Agarez while it absorbed darkness.
They'd just get pulled in and crushed alongside it.
So as everyone bolted—
Atop the now-barren black forest, stripped bare by the devouring darkness.
Thud!
Just one person kicked off the ground and charged straight at Agarez.
"Krash?!"
Rilish, the only witness, screamed.
Krash's action was suicide.
She lunged to grab him, but it was too late.
Riding the absorption force against itself, Krash was hurtling toward Agarez at beyond-limit speeds.
'A bit more.'
Krash's eyes began dyeing red.
Oblivion Erosion surged, heating his entire body to a boil.
The one way to take it down.
He'd endured this long, clinging desperately for this exact moment.
'More.'
Smoke rose from Krash's mouth as the scorching heat escaped.
The instant his body reached its limit with Oblivion Erosion,
Krash raised his hand.
What gathered there was none other than Black Hood.
Black Hood
Absorbing Agarez's darkness
When Agarez absorbed darkness,
All its eyes closed for a brief moment.
And in that short gap—just one.
Its true eyes opened.
Normally hidden by darkness.
The real eyes that controlled its shadows.
Whoosh!
The instant Krash activated Black Hood, Agarez's darkness got sucked into his grasp instead.
Agarez's darkness was just a construct made from the demon realm's World Erosion.
In other words, not truly Agarez's possession—but the demon realm's.
Meaning Krash could steal the mindless darkness of the demon realm too.
In that moment, a massive chunk of darkness gathered at Agarez's abdomen was yanked into Krash's hand.
Revealing, for the first time between the shadows, Agarez's true eyes.
Crimson like rubies, with pupils evoking amphibians.
For the first time, bewilderment clouded those demonic eyes.
"Nice eyes you've got there!"
In that instant, black flame and Leoner surged up Thunderclap simultaneously.
Roar, crackle!
Focusing on a single point.
A ripple stirred the vast lake of Krash's immense mental power, surging upward.
Infused with fire and lightning, it met the World Erosion and spewed pitch-black light.
Finally reaching Krash's sword.
Shatter!
The moment the jet-black blade erupted through Thunderclap,
Krash's pinpoint thrust shot forward.
Splurt!
"Greeeeeeaaah!"
Lightning and black flame exploded together with Agarez's first-ever scream.
Amid the blast, bony giant arms poured wildly from beneath its cloak.
Those arms launched Agarez's body skyward in an instant, then rained down on Krash.
And there was no room to dodge, even for Krash's Thunderclap.
"Hup!"
Krash cloaked himself in black flame, resolved to shatter the fists even if it mangled his body.
Crackcrackcrackcrack!
But Rilish blocked the assault.
She pulverized the bony arms with a swing, then yanked Krash by the scruff and hurled him backward.
Her sword thrust straight out in a line.
The moment her blade, brimming with azure aura to its limit, cloaked in storm winds—
Shatter Crush Sword
Shatter Crush Sword
Original secret technique / Aura resonance explosion
The instant the compressed aura touched Agarez's giant arms,
A faint tong echoed softly.
But the aftermath of Shatter Crush Sword didn't end there.
The bony arms began warping and resonating belatedly.
Crack, craaaack!
Boooom!
The delayed explosion shattered the arms to pieces as they twisted apart.
It was Rilish's original secret technique, exploding the foe's internals via aura resonance.
Yet, since it was still unfinished,
A faint crack spiderwebbed across her sword too.
The blade couldn't fully handle the technique's backlash.
Undeterred, she whipped around to Krash with bulging eyes.
Seeing him charge without holding back the moment the chance appeared filled her with rage.
"You—!"
As she bellowed, Krash flashed a brief smile and reset his stance.
"Sis, striking when it transforms is common sense."
Agarez revealed its true eyes only once.
When absorbing darkness.
Krash knew that, so he'd forced the charge.
Destroy its true eyes, and the cursed ones couldn't open anymore.
Even bigger: with its darkness medium—the eyes—damaged,
Agarez could no longer wield shadows freely.
Proof was the bony true arms rampaging now.
Normally, those arms would be sheathed in shadow muscle and skin.
But now, they were bare bone, unchanged beyond that.
Unable to manipulate darkness, it couldn't access its full power.
The price of Agarez toying with humans and dropping its guard.
Krash had been ready to abandon killing it outright if this failed.
Agarez with its true body and shadows was a true disaster.
No way to win now.
But the gamble paid off.
Big time.
Noticing that, Rilish furrowed her brow sharply.
Instead of scolding Krash, she turned to the stunned Jucheon Knights.
"Jucheon Knights!"
She wasn't foolish enough to waste this opening.
"Unleash everything you've got!"
At her command, every Jucheon Knight ignited their aura blades and charged Agarez.
Agarez finished reclaiming its darkness and bared its true bony body from the cloak.
What should have been armored in shadow plate was now gaunt skeletal remains.
Plus, the Rokhae Knights had apparently slain more erosion beasts than expected,
So Agarez's lord-empowered true body was significantly weaker than before.
"Greeeeaaah!"
Agarez shrieked in fury.
Regardless, Krash exhaled and clenched his fist.
"Hey."
Agarez's darkness lingered in his hand.
"Lend me your curse for a bit."
Now was the time to turn Agarez's curses against it.