TLed by NolepGuy
Chapter 13
“Th-That, yes, that’s right.”
The knight answered absentmindedly, wearing a dumbfounded expression.
Thirteen years old was undoubtedly an age that required protection.
It made no sense for Kraush to have experienced World Erosion before that.
Then, one of the knights beside him tapped his arm.
The Intermediate Knight Squad of Balheim was, in reality, at the lowest rank within Balheim.
This was a power struggle among the direct line.
If they got involved, it was clear they’d end up seeing blood nine times out of ten.
“Ah, ahaha! It was just a joke!”
And so, the knight quickly laughed it off and moved away from Kraush.
Meanwhile, Belorkin was glaring at Kraush with furrowed eyes.
Belorkin couldn’t make sense of the current situation at all.
‘How on earth is he so composed?’
Kraush’s demeanor now was completely different from when Belorkin first entered World Erosion.
Surely, he should be flustered and making one mistake after another.
Yet Kraush was even giving advice to the knights.
‘How on earth is that half-penny Kraush…’
Kraush’s appearance was so different from before.
For some reason, this kept making Belorkin more and more anxious.
At that moment, Kraush and Belorkin’s eyes met briefly.
Kraush looked at Belorkin and smiled.
As if to say, “Do you think you and I are the same?”
Belorkin clenched his teeth and turned his head forward.
For some reason, he couldn’t look directly at Kraush.
Kraush, whom he had thought would live as a half-penny beneath him for life.
Yet, in just one day, the guy had completely changed.
A question slowly surfaced from the deep darkness within Belorkin’s heart.
Perhaps, just perhaps.
Wasn’t the biggest half-penny in Balheim actually himself?
If Kraush, like Charlotte, grew and eventually rose above him…
Then the one at the very bottom…
The endless doubts made Belorkin’s teeth grind together.
‘No, no, that’s not it!’
Belorkin trudged through the swampy terrain.
His unease was evident in his movements.
Belorkin had already been in a mentally unstable state, envious and insecure about being inferior to Charlotte.
Ironically, the only safety device for such a Belorkin was none other than Kraush.
Someone below him existed.
And every time he crushed that someone beneath him, Belorkin gained psychological stability.
However, that someone below him was suddenly soaring upward.
As if he would pierce through and rise even higher.
The reason Belorkin brought Kraush here today was to confirm that Kraush was still beneath him.
But an even scarier reality than that fact was tightening around his neck.
If Kraush rose above him.
In Balheim, there would only be one person left at the bottom.
Belorkin’s mind spiraled into chaos.
The thought of “what if” kept tormenting him.
“Brother, Brother Belorkin.”
“Huh, what?”
At that moment, Belorkin flinched and raised his head at the voice he heard.
Kraush, looking at Belorkin, pointed ahead.
“It seems like we’ve almost reached the owner’s location.”
Belorkin, hearing those words, belatedly turned his gaze.
Just as Kraush said, the color of the swamp was gradually turning black.
The ominous atmosphere clearly indicated that this was where the owner resided.
“Hah, that was easier than I thought. It seems like you’re lucky, Kraush. Back in my day, it was much harder than this.”
Belorkin forced himself to suppress his stray thoughts and made a joke.
As if to suggest that Kraush’s first experience with World Erosion was no big deal.
And in fact, not only Belorkin but the knights thought the same.
“It seems there aren’t any other Erosion Species besides the owner.”
At that, the knights spoke as if relieved.
Given the swamp’s nature, fighting here would have been incredibly troublesome.
They seemed relieved that they had only encountered bugs and passed through without a major battle.
“That’s why you need to be even more cautious.”
But Kraush rebuked Belorkin and the knights.
As Belorkin furrowed his brow and the knights turned to him in confusion, Kraush spoke as if teaching them something obvious.
“It means the owner is dangerous enough to earn a 3-star rating even without other Erosion Species.”
And the moment they heard those words, everyone froze.
As Kraush said, the owner they were about to face was an Erosion Species capable of maintaining World Erosion alone without others.
They certainly needed to be cautious.
However, Belorkin was displeased that Kraush had contradicted his thoughts.
“Honestly, what a cowardly guy. It’s just a 3-star. Why are you all so swayed by what a kid says?”
Even though he was the most swayed himself, Belorkin scolded the knights.
Then, with his hand resting on the sword at his waist, he began striding forward.
The knights had no choice but to hurriedly follow behind him as he moved ahead.
After all, Belorkin was the central figure of this mission.
Following behind Belorkin and the knights, Kraush sensed something more intense than the swamp’s gas entering his nose.
This sharp, stinging scent was the thick smell of a curse.
‘I had a rough idea.’
As expected, this owner seemed to be quite strong.
‘If anyone gets hit by this curse, they’ll have a hard time.’
Or they might die before they even have a chance to be cursed.
However, since Kraush had already warned them, he didn’t pay much attention to it.
Balheim wasn’t just some random dog’s name, and both Belorkin and the knights were part of Balheim.
From Kraush’s perspective, as long as they weren’t overly careless, it seemed like a manageable situation.
So Kraush began focusing his attention elsewhere.
What he focused on was none other than the power of World Erosion itself.
The source of the power that constituted World Erosion.
It might be invisible to ordinary human eyes, but to Kraush, who had endured countless curses and mastered Extreme Blood Immersion Poison, it was vividly clear.
It felt like stepping into a place where gray smoke spread thickly like fog.
Even with just a slight breath through his nose or mouth, it seemed as if the power of World Erosion would immediately flow into Kraush.
‘Can it work?’
Kraush, who had continuously trained in Extreme Blood Immersion Poison, knew how to absorb and handle this power.
But theory and practice were different matters.
Even for Kraush, the power of World Erosion was something that made him tense.
‘No, it has to work.’
As thoughts of the near future flashed through his mind, Kraush clenched his fists tightly.
If destruction couldn’t be stopped, there would be no future anyway.
He had already rolled through curses with his bare body; how could he not handle this?
“Hup.”
At that moment, Kraush inhaled the power of World Erosion through his breath.
Then, gray smoke rapidly entered through Kraush’s nose and began to spread throughout his body.
“Gah!”
Kraush unintentionally let out a sound as excruciating pain struck his entire body.
“Mr. Kraush?”
When the startled knights turned to look, Kraush waved his hand as if to say he was fine, covering his mouth.
“Sorry, I just lost my footing.”
Kraush forced himself to say so while still covering his mouth.
At that, Belorkin even showed a somewhat pleased look in his gaze as he offered sympathy to Kraush.
“Tsk, it’s because you’re overdoing it at the onset of World Erosion. If it’s too much, just say so. I’ll even have one of the knights carry you.”
It seemed he had mistakenly assumed that Kraush had finally reached his limit.
Leaving behind Belorkin, who suddenly seemed invigorated, Kraush slowly removed the hand that had been covering his mouth.
What appeared before his eyes was dark red blood.
The moment he absorbed the power of World Erosion, his body had coughed up blood.
‘Well, of course.’
World Erosion was a force so powerful it could alter the surrounding environment.
It was closer to a deadly poison, even worse than a curse.
It was only natural that his body couldn’t accept it when he took it in raw.
But he had to accept it.
‘Extreme Blood Immersion Poison.’
It was for this that he had mastered Extreme Blood Immersion Poison.
Kraush focused on his heartbeat, maintaining steady breaths.
To allow his body to accept the power of World Erosion, he began to slowly mix it into the flow of his aura.
Aura was like the stream of a mighty river.
As it circulated endlessly, the power of World Erosion gradually diluted as it mixed in.
It had been absorbed into the vast river of aura.
Demaris Balheim had handled such a river of aura with incredible precision.
And the method for such precise handling had been meticulously recorded in the Secret Technique Book.
It was an essential process for mastering Extreme Blood Immersion Poison.
Kraush had read that Secret Technique Book hundreds of times.
By now, he could recall its entire contents even with his eyes closed.
So Kraush focused.
He focused on drawing out the true essence of the secret technique known as Extreme Blood Immersion Poison.
As time passed, his body gradually became unable to distinguish between aura and the power of World Erosion.
Some parts of the aura’s color turned murky, but that murkiness created yet another pure color.
Pitch black.
A color that no other could ever overlay.
Kraush slowly exhaled and opened his eyes.
For a brief moment, darkness flickered in Kraush’s pupils before disappearing.
“Ugh.”
At that moment, Kraush’s body swayed.
Because the entire world had twisted and turned blood-red before his eyes.
It was the aftermath of the frenzy brought on by Extreme Blood Immersion Poison.
Demaris Balheim must have gone mad after seeing such a world.
Knowing this well, Kraush reached for his eyes.
It was time to use the secret technique he had temporarily mastered for this purpose.
After Demaris Balheim, the Green Pine Mansion had effectively been sealed off.
However, that didn’t mean no one had ever discovered the secret library afterward.
Just one person.
Someone who saw the world in an entirely different way had discovered the secret library.
A blind individual who, as a direct descendant of Balheim, had been pushed to the very back of the line.
Even though he had discovered the secret library, he couldn’t read the Secret Technique Book.
Thus, he had to close the library’s doors again, but he left behind one Secret Technique Book, hoping no one like him would emerge in the distant future.
Another sense to replace sight.
A hypersensory perception that spread aura like fine threads in all directions, allowing one to perceive everything.
Sixth Sense.
It was an extrasensory perception that felt everything through aura rather than physical senses.
‘It’s small.’
Unlike the blind ancestor who had spent his life mastering the Sixth Sense, Kraush could only extend his aura to the size of a fingertip.
Even so, he could sense the presence around him and recognize where he was.
He was not in a world consumed by the frenzy caused by World Erosion.
His mind recognized that this was the world he had lived in all his life.
The moment he realized that, Kraush slowly opened his eyes.
The twisted world before him gradually began to fade.
The frenzy that had occurred started to dissipate.
Of course, it couldn’t be said to have completely disappeared.
As long as he absorbed the power of World Erosion, the frenzy could arise at any time.
That was why Kraush needed Bianca’s curse even more.
The Sixth Sense was nothing more than a temporary measure.
But for now, what mattered was that the Sixth Sense could suppress the frenzy.
Even if it was just a temporary fix, it was still a fix.
At this moment, Kraush felt that he had taken yet another step forward.
He was beginning to realize, one by one, the joy of growth he had never felt in his life, only after his regression.
Shiver!
It was at that moment.
Kraush suddenly turned his head sharply, accompanied by a sudden chill.
Something strange had brushed past the lingering sense of the Sixth Sense that had suppressed the frenzy.
‘Could it be?’
“It’s the master!”
As Kraush realized it, Belorkin’s voice rang out from ahead.
When Kraush turned to look forward, a bald human face suddenly emerged from the pitch-black darkness.
That face, which had its eyes closed, slowly began to open its eyelids, and as soon as it confirmed Kraush, its pupils rolled once.
Then, one after another, more faces began to emerge from the darkness.
There weren’t just human faces but also those of animals and even insects.
Every conceivable kind of face was present.
As the grotesque sight instinctively evoked a sense of discomfort, the mouth of the first human head began to slowly open.
“Screeeeech!”
At that moment, a piercing sound, as if tearing through the ears, erupted, and eight arms suddenly shot out from the darkness.
Thousand-Face Demon.
The master of the three-star World Erosion had detected the intruders and begun its attack.
“Prepare for battle!”
With Belorkin’s shout, blue aura surged from his sword.
The form of that aura gradually transformed into flames, directly tied to his skill.
A skill that could ignite flames on anything.
Ignis.
Belorkin had ignited flames within his aura.
Seeing Belorkin’s brilliantly blazing flames, the knights’ morale soared.
Belorkin’s Ignis had the power to inspire those who witnessed it.
On the other hand, Kraush felt a wave of nausea.
It was because, during his powerless days, he had suffered terribly at the hands of that flame.
“This is the difference between you and me! Got it? You’re not even close to being in the same league as me, you worthless insect!”
Where he had heard such words, Kraush could not recall.
The image of Belorkin, who had defeated him and burned one of his arms with Ignis, remained vividly etched in Kraush’s mind.
Back then, both he and Belorkin had been broken.
And Kraush knew.
He knew that even now, he was still broken.
Even after regressing, the memories of that time lingered, refusing to fade from Kraush’s mind.
‘I wonder what you’re like now, Belorkin.’
‘A seventeen-year-old who tried to poison his thirteen-year-old sibling—what kind of person are you?’
‘Could you still claim that you’re not broken?’
A chilling smile crept across Kraush’s lips.
It was perfect timing.
By chance, an opportunity had presented itself to find out.
By the end of today, someone would cry, and someone would laugh.