Chapter 95 |
[EP.95] The Only Goal He Possessed
How many hours had passed?
Kraush, replenishing his drained stamina with world erosion, gasped for breath as if on the brink of death.
His eyelids felt heavy.
His legs trembled.
From rolling on the ground so much, his body was in shambles.
It was only natural, as the fierce battle with Agares had been going on for quite some time.
Especially with Agares targeting and focusing its attacks on Kraush, he struggled with his dwindling stamina.
There were even some dangerous moments.
Even now, recalling that moment sent a chill down his spine.
But no matter how much Agares prioritized Kraush as its target, the Sky-Piercing Knights continued to suffer injuries.
The injured were quickly evacuated from the battlefield, but those remaining had to deal with Agares even more.
It was a miracle that there were no casualties.
‘Lilish’s role must have been significant.’
While Kraush distracted Agares, whenever a Sky-Piercing Knight was injured or in danger, Lilish would immediately grab them and throw them out of the battle with all her might.
It was a rough method, but without it, there would have definitely been deaths.
‘But now, it’s our side that’s about to die.’
That bastard Agares was relentlessly unleashing its attacks.
So much so that the surrounding black forest had been completely destroyed, exposing the ground.
At this point, a sense of defiance rose within him.
A resolve to shatter that bastard no matter what.
“God, Agamenu, raise my stamina or something!”
Dodging Agares’s hand sweeping over his head, Kraush somersaulted and immediately stood up.
There was not a moment to rest.
Perhaps from overusing the wall power, a severe headache pounded in his head.
But even so, Kraush endured without paying it any mind.
All to seize that one chance.
At that moment,
Boom!
With an erupting explosion, Agares staggered to the right.
After enduring for hours, Lilish had finally brought down Agares’s right leg.
Startled, Agares hurriedly stretched its hand towards the ground, trying to maintain balance with its other arms.
Through the gaps between its fingers, Kraush caught a glimpse of Lilish’s blue hair beneath Agares’s leg.
Lilish, who had dashed forward at a speed that blurred her silhouette, had already reached the left leg.
The left leg, which the Sky-Piercing Knights had desperately struck, was about half-collapsed.
Lilish’s sword, infused with all her power, swung at that leg.
Crushing Slash Sword
Boom!
As the reverberating explosion rang out, cracks spread throughout Agares’s entire left leg.
Crack!
Unable to withstand the impact, Agares’s left leg finally shattered into pieces.
Thud!
Losing both legs in an instant, Agares’s lower body collapsed, and its upper body crashed to the ground.
Amidst the billowing dust, black rain poured down.
“Kraush!”
Piercing through the dust and rain, Lilish’s cry rang out.
By the time he heard that cry, Kraush was already running.
Kraush leaped into the air.
Stepping on the spine of Agares, whose lower body had crumbled, Kraush immediately began sprinting along its spine.
He chose this method because if he tried to jump directly to the head, the arms would block him.
Kraush’s body began to temper itself once more.
Just today, he had already activated the second stage of Annihilation Erosion several times.
Because of that, his entire body creaked.
Despite having the Lunar Body, his body was starting to give out.
It felt as if his muscles were tearing apart.
His insides burned fiercely like an active volcano.
It was a sensation of his bones shattering into pieces and scattering inside his body.
Crunch!
But even so, Kraush gritted his teeth and endured.
Instead, he drew out Annihilation Erosion even more.
All for the sole purpose of killing Agares.
At that moment, the black flames flowing along Rain Thunder Prime began to transform into a storm.
To contain that storm, the surging thunder of Lioner took the form of a sheath.
Kraush desperately suppressed the storm of black flames within the thunder sheath.
Each time he did so, the power of the storm within the thunder sheath grew stronger.
As Kraush ran along the spine, a single cloak gradually came into view.
As if the cloak itself was the main body, it had spewed out Agares’s body up to its neck, fluttering in the wind.
‘I’m here.’
The moment he saw that, Kraush’s Annihilation Erosion soared to a level incomparable to before.
Simultaneously, Kraush swiftly shoved the darkness he had been holding into his mouth.
The darkness entering his mouth passed through his throat and permeated his insides.
At the same time, an unpleasant sensation spread within Kraush’s body.
Thump-
Along with the brief sound of his heartbeat, a sensation of being possessed swept through his body.
It was none other than the effect of Agares’s sovereign command.
The sovereign command only works on erosion species possessing world erosion.
Thus, it has no significant effect on ordinary humans.
However, there was one exception.
Only Kraush here was different.
Through Extreme Blood Poison, Kraush could embed world erosion into his own body.
Which means,
He, too, could be included in the effects of the sovereign command.
The sovereign command immediately tried to reach into Kraush’s body to take control.
Whoosh!
But at that moment, Ignis flared up inside Kraush’s body.
That Ignis instantly devoured and incinerated the encroaching sovereign command.
As a result, he felt a sensation of burning himself from within, but Kraush paid it no mind.
After a few seconds,
Darkness slowly flowed out of Kraush’s mouth, following the smoke.
Kraush had definitely incinerated and eliminated the sovereign command.
However, its aftermath still lingered, so he was included as a subject of the sovereign command.
‘This is the moment.’
Without falling prey to the sovereign command’s possession,
The conditions for being a subject of the sovereign command were now fulfilled.
Even for Agares, who wields the sovereign command, there are restrictions.
First, Agares’s true main body, its head, is bound to the Demon Castle and cannot leave.
Second, those included in the sovereign command can directly strike Agares’s darkness.
Of course, the second point was essentially meaningless since the sovereign command could only be used on erosion species.
Erosion species would never attack its darkness.
However, there was one exception.
An unexpected individual had appeared, one Agares had never anticipated.
A mutant who had embedded world erosion into his own body.
Flutter-
The crimson cloak fluttered violently in the wind.
The inside of that cloak was engulfed in pitch-black darkness.
Although Agares’s eye on this side was destroyed,
Its other eye was on the other side of the cloak.
And Kraush knew very well where the inside of that cloak was connected to.
At the point where Agares had fully emerged from the cloak up to its neck, the cloak was connected to its neck.
Boom!
Belatedly, Agares noticed Kraush’s presence running along its spine.
It immediately raised its arms to kill Kraush.
Beneath the raining bony arms,
Kraush furrowed his brows.
Cold sweat formed on his back.
He was still far from reaching Agares’s neck.
Just a bit more, even a few seconds would do.
A little bit more.
For the few seconds it took for the bastard to raise its body, Kraush needed more time.
If he used more strength to dodge the arms here, his attack on Agares would weaken.
Just as Kraush was about to make a decision,
Boom- Boom!
A flying flash of light blasted away all of Agares’s hands reaching for Kraush.
In the far distance, at the edge of the horizon,
A figure was sprinting at full speed towards this place.
The Heavenly Dog Star, Blavi.
He had arrived just in time.
Even looking at it again, his power was bizarre.
It was no wonder Kraush called him an old monster.
But even Blavi could not kill Agares, whose main body was in the Demon Castle.
Among those present, there was only one person who could kill Agares.
Kraush himself.
Kraush immediately took a deep breath.
‘Just 1 second.’
His thoughts and reflexes, accelerated by Annihilation Erosion, made the world appear as if it had stopped.
And in that frozen world,
The moment he felt the world had truly stopped,
Kraush’s foot stomped on Agares’s spine.
Thud!
The sound belatedly filled that spot, and at that moment, the remaining arms, shattered by the flash of light, rained down on the spine.
But Kraush was no longer there.
Leaving only traces of black flames, Kraush had reached a place none other than in front of the cloak.
His held breath reached its limit.
Soon, the surge that began from the ripples of his mind reached Rain Thunder Prime.
Crack!
When the thunderous roar originating from Rain Thunder Prime filled the surroundings,
The storm of black flames engulfed the thunder and descended upon the world.
Annihilation Erosion
Third Technique
Sky-Thundering Annihilation
Boom!
The storm of thunder and black flames raged, pouring into the inside of Agares’s cloak.
Piercing through the darkness, the storm that reached beyond shredded everything to pieces.
Boom!
At that moment, a faint explosion echoed from a very distant place.
Sky-Thundering Annihilation had extended through the darkness of the cloak from the Demon Castle’s side.
Ring-
Tinnitus rang in Kraush’s ears.
His body wouldn’t listen to him after unleashing an attack condensed to its limit and then condensed again.
‘Ah, Agares is…’
His vision swayed uncontrollably.
His sense of balance was in shambles.
Flutter-
But amidst that tinnitus, Kraush clearly caught one sound: the fluttering of the cloak.
The cloak looked as if it was trying to escape.
At the point of fleeing, it was evident that Agares beyond had also suffered significant damage.
Well, it was a lethal move infused with world erosion absorbed to the brim.
If there was no damage, it would be worthy of cursing.
However,
‘It’s not over yet.’
Kraush’s eyes turned red once more.
Being able to escape meant the bastard was still alive.
The blade of Rain Thunder Prime, which had been fading, emitted a golden light as it thrust towards the cloak.
Pugh!
A sound of something being torn apart came from the blade that had pierced into the darkness.
The inside of Agares’s neck, which would have been in tatters from Sky-Thundering Annihilation, was being torn apart by the sword that had entered through the darkness.
Kraush, whose vision was no longer clear, continued to drive that sword into the inside of the cloak.
Pugh! Pugh! Pugh!
At that moment, a sound of something bursting from his forehead was heard.
Drip-
He couldn’t tell if what flowed down his face was his own blood or sweat.
But Kraush paid no heed and continued to strike with his sword.
Crack!
Kraush felt all the sensations in his body twisting.
This feeling was a curse.
Agares’s darkness was essentially a mass of curses.
It was proof that the remaining Ignis in his body could no longer burn away the curse.
Crack!
But Kraush gritted his teeth until they shattered.
His fingertips turned black.
Yet Kraush raised his sword once more.
Pugh!
The downward-striking blade plunged deep into the darkness of the cloak.
He no longer had the strength to pull out the sword.
Instead, Kraush gripped the blade of Rain Thunder Prime and stubbornly drove it inward.
“——–!”
Abandoning the defense against the curse, he poured all the remaining Ignis into the cloak.
Black flames soared high enough to engulf the sky.
With that as his last act, Kraush felt his consciousness abruptly sever.
Grip!
But Kraush desperately clung to that consciousness.
Because he needed to know if Agares was dead or not.
If the bastard died here, one of the reasons for the empire’s downfall would disappear.
Those who would have died without reason would live, and one of the stepping stones leading to destruction would vanish.
Those who could face world erosion would increase.
One of the paths to somehow maintain this shitty world would continue.
For someone like him, who had lived as a half-wit and couldn’t have any goals,
The one and only goal he had embraced in his heart and could move forward for,
To prevent the world’s destruction.
For that single goal,
Just as Kraush was about to twist the blade once more,
“Kr-ush!”
Someone caught Kraush’s body as he was about to plunge his head into the darkness of the cloak.
Through his hazy vision, he caught a glimpse of blue hair.
That hair color was the symbol of the Balheims.
It had to be Lilish.
“Sis, A, gares is…”
His throat was hot.
His vocal cords must have been partially burned by the black flames, making it difficult to even speak.
“Enough, enough. Agares is dead. Please, please, stop.”
Kraush, hearing the barely audible voice, slowly closed his eyes.
Lilish wouldn’t lie, after all.
“Take, me to the, saint.”
Managing to utter a way to recover himself,
Kraush lost consciousness, still gripping his sword until the very end.
Amidst the pouring black rain,
The tenacity of one who knew nothing but to charge forward quietly burned out.
