TLed by NolepGuy
Chapter 72
After Kraush wreaked havoc on Pendalord’s gang.
Meanwhile, Lakradiyon was slowly walking toward them.
In the current situation, Lakradiyon had yet to even step in.
Everyone present knew just how much worse the situation would become if she joined the battle.
“……Just leave.”
There was no way they could stop them.
They could only think that buying time was the best they could do.
So when they made way, Kraush turned around with the approaching Lakradiyon.
At this point, he had already mapped out the paths with his Sixth Sense.
Since the walls of the Mechanical Labyrinth didn’t change, there was no need to rely on his Sixth Sense any further, and Kraush immediately started running.
“You’re not killing them.”
At that moment, an unexpected remark was directed at Lakradiyon.
She had noticed that Kraush had held back to some extent.
“Are they bandits or World Erosion Beings? Kill them all.”
Kraush reacted with an incredulous expression.
While he couldn’t definitively say those people hadn’t committed crimes or killed anyone in the Demonic Bastion—
From Kraush’s perspective, they were opponents he could subdue even while holding back.
Kraush had no intention of killing people who wouldn’t even hold a grudge once they felt the difference in power.
After all, there were mountains of people he would have to kill in the future.
Watching Kraush, Lakradiyon stayed silent for a while.
Then, as she followed Kraush in running, she slowly opened her mouth.
“Mr. Kraush, if this mission ends well, may I ask for a favor?”
“That kind of statement tends to unsettle people during critical moments.”
Kraush made a displeased expression but soon nodded.
“Do as you like.”
Listening wasn’t difficult, after all.
But was Lakradiyon’s remark a forewarning after all?
Around the time Kraush and Lakradiyon were nearly through the Mechanical Labyrinth—
Crimson Garden, who had been leisurely following them from above, suddenly descended in front of Kraush.
[Kraush!]
Unlike when she usually warned him about traps, her tone contained quite a bit of unpleasant emotion.
[Stop!]
Her following words accelerated Kraush’s thoughts for a brief moment.
In that instant, Kraush reflexively extended his hand, grabbed Lakradiyon’s collar, and pulled her backward.
“Oh.”
With a startled tone, Lakradiyon staggered back alongside Kraush.
And at that very moment—
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
With a deafening roar, the wall in front of Kraush cracked open, revealing the space beyond.
Lakradiyon gasped at the sight.
It was a wall of the labyrinth that even an Aura Blade couldn’t cut through.
To have split it in a single strike.
In that brief moment, she realized the overwhelming difference in power.
Step, step—
Meanwhile, footsteps echoed from within the collapsed wall.
“Lakradiyon, fall back.”
Sensing the presence, Kraush immediately lowered his voice as much as possible within the smoke and pulled Lakradiyon back.
Lakradiyon also realized the situation was anything but ordinary and quickly retreated with Kraush.
Thanks to this, the two safely retreated to the fork in the path they had passed just before and pressed themselves against the wall.
Then, they sharpened their senses as much as possible, erasing their presence.
Kraush’s Sixth Sense was manifesting even more intensely than when navigating the labyrinth.
It was to identify their opponent.
Cold sweat trickled down Kraush’s forehead.
Both Crimson Garden and Ebelasque were World Erosion Beings that Kraush had encountered himself.
And these two individuals belonged to the most moderate faction among the World Erosion Beings.
‘The others.’
There was no need to say it.
The reality was that there were far more madmen.
Naturally, even Kraush didn’t have a way to face World Erosion Beings at their current level.
What are World Erosion Beings?
Born from the World Erosion, they possessed the inherent power of the World Erosion and caused various problems within the world.
Among them, some were monsters on par with the Ten Strongest Under the Heavens.
The one appearing here now must not be of that level.
Otherwise, he’d truly die a meaningless death.
Kraush desperately hoped it was at least a World Erosion Being he could handle.
At that moment, Kraush’s Sixth Sense gradually began to reveal the opponent’s appearance.
“Walls, walls, walls—damn it, there are so many. It’s so annoying, heading out to greet a new toy.”
The voice, though still quite distant, was caught by his heightened senses.
A high-pitched, sharp female voice.
At the same time, the opponent’s outline finally began to take shape.
A crimson tail fluttering behind her and two tiger-like ears protruding from the top of her head.
Between her slightly shaggy hair that just barely reached her neck, an eyepatch covered one side.
But what stood out the most was the hundreds of weapons adorning her entire body.
It was impossible to fathom how she carried so many weapons on her frame, but she did so as if it were natural.
The Armed Princess.
As Kraush described her—
She was a World Erosion Being whom it wouldn’t be wrong to simply call a madwoman.
* * *
The Tiger Clan’s Armed Princess.
A World Erosion Being utterly obsessed with weapons, carrying every kind of weapon from around the world.
If there was a weapon she wanted, she would kill its owner to take it, regardless of who they were.
The moment Kraush heard Crimson Garden’s words, he immediately realized why she had appeared in the Demonic Bastion.
‘She’s here for the Rain Thunder Prime.’
One of the world’s ten Heavenly Swords, the Rain Thunder Prime.
Naturally, for the weapon-obsessed Armed Princess, it was irresistible.
‘Did the Armed Princess target the Rain Thunder Prime in the past, too?’
That much wasn’t clear.
But if she had, it would mean that in the past, the Armed Princess had failed to take the Rain Thunder Prime from Nakcheon.
Because the one who took it was none other than Belorkin.
‘……Even the Armed Princess couldn’t deal with Nakcheon?’
The Armed Princess could easily defeat Nakcheon.
Her abilities were monstrous, beyond question.
However, Nakcheon’s peculiarities must have been an obstacle.
Within the Demonic Bastion, Nakcheon was virtually immortal.
Continuously supplied with energy from the Demonic Bastion, Nakcheon possessed near-limitless regenerative power.
Furthermore, Nakcheon could freely roam the eighth floor at will.
If he had resolved not to lose the Rain Thunder Prime, he could have continuously evaded the Armed Princess without much trouble.
‘If the goal had been to conquer the Demonic Bastion, she could’ve just left Nakcheon beaten and moved on.’
But for the Armed Princess, whose target was the Rain Thunder Prime, dealing with an undying Nakcheon must have been frustrating enough to give up.
After all, the Rain Thunder Prime wasn’t the only one among the ten Heavenly Swords.
But of all times, it was now that the Armed Princess appeared.
Could it really be just a coincidence?
Unfortunately, Kraush couldn’t dismiss it as mere coincidence.
‘The Armed Princess had already been targeting the ten Heavenly Swords.’
She must have heard the rumors just in time.
Rumors that Balheim’s direct line was aiming for the Rain Thunder Prime and challenging Nakcheon.
She’s simple-minded and reckless.
So the moment she heard the news, she acted immediately.
‘It must have bothered her that I’m from Balheim.’
Balheim is her most hated enemy.
That’s because the thing she fears most in the world is the Martial Emperor, Balrok Balheim.
The eyepatch she wears on one side.
The scar etched into that eyepatch was one the Martial Emperor left on her during his travels around the world.
Because of that, she has an uncontrollable reaction to anything related to Balheim.
She must have stormed into the Demonic Bastion recklessly, thinking she’d snatch the Rain Thunder Prime before it fell into Balheim’s hands and became an untouchable prize.
And not by steadily descending from the first floor like us, but with a mad dash, using one of her weapons to break through from the seventh floor.
Kraush frowned in irritation as he reached this conclusion.
Just when things had started going smoothly, of course, a massive problem had to arise.
And on a scale that was far from ordinary.
Meanwhile, the sound of the Armed Princess’s footsteps echoed as she headed toward the eighth floor.
Luckily, perhaps because they had retreated as quickly as possible, it seemed she hadn’t noticed their presence.
After all, while she excelled in combat, her sensory abilities were lacking.
A shallow breath of relief escaped Kraush’s lips.
If he had directly faced the Armed Princess on the seventh floor, there would have been no way out for him.
“Mr. Kraush, that person just now…”
“A World Erosion Being.”
Lakradiyon swallowed hard.
Kraush knew well how intense the pressure of the term “World Erosion Being” was.
It was just that his own life experiences had dulled the fear of that name, to some extent.
[ What do you plan to do? Giving up on the Rain Thunder Prime might be the wiser choice. There’s nothing to gain from clashing with that lunatic. ]
Unlike during the Ebelasque incident, even Crimson Garden seemed to know a bit about the Armed Princess this time.
[ Once she fixates on a weapon, there’s no stopping her. ]
Judging by her tone, it seemed she had clashed with the Armed Princess over a weapon before.
But Kraush shook his head.
Giving up on the Rain Thunder Prime was not an option.
For Kraush, there was no other sword among the Heavenly Swords that was as accessible and perfectly suited to him as the Rain Thunder Prime.
‘There’s a saying that a true craftsman doesn’t blame their tools.’
But Kraush knew full well that was a complete lie.
If anything, true craftsmen were even more discerning about their tools.
Especially someone like him, struggling to reach the heels of a master.
He had to be all the more meticulous about his tools.
‘Besides, even by chance, if the Rain Thunder Prime ended up in that Armed Princess’s hands, it would be a disaster.’
She was one of the leading figures in the war against the World Erosion Beings in the future.
Just imagining the Rain Thunder Prime in her possession gave him a headache.
And there was one person.
Among the World Erosion Beings, there was one individual who must never get their hands on the Rain Thunder Prime.
‘The Sword Master.’
If the Rain Thunder Prime were to reach him through the Armed Princess, he would become a game-changer capable of ending the war single-handedly.
The only reason Charlotte had finally been able to kill the Sword Master was because she had the Rain Thunder Prime.
And it was thanks to that Rain Thunder Prime that Charlotte defeated the Sword Master, though it cost her life in the process.
If even one of the conditions leading up to that event had not been met, the war would have ended in victory for the World Erosion Beings.
‘In retrospect, Arthur probably refrained from coveting the Rain Thunder Prime or interfering with Charlotte because of this very reason.’
Arthur had likely judged that only Charlotte, wielding the Rain Thunder Prime, could defeat the Sword Master.
‘I have no intention of standing by and watching that happen again.’
Arthur had used Charlotte and the Rain Thunder Prime as sacrificial pawns to bring down the Sword Master.
But Kraush had no intention of allowing the war to end in such a way.
That’s why he had come all the way to the Demonic Bastion in search of the Rain Thunder Prime.
‘I never intended to let such a war unfold properly in the first place.’
Just thinking about how many good people lost their lives back then still made him shudder.
Arthur had even taken advantage of that tragedy to solidify his grip on the weakened Skyborne Generation through the war.
But Kraush had no interest in such petty power struggles.
He had no need for authority to control the world.
His one and only priority was to prevent the world’s destruction.
Thus, Kraush had no intention of allowing another war with the World Erosion Beings to occur.
Instead, his goal was to weaken their power so much that they wouldn’t even dare to think of starting a war.
“Lakradiyon, I’m heading to the eighth floor.”
On the eighth floor, he could deal with the Armed Princess.
While he couldn’t defeat the Armed Princess outright, he could at least ensure that the Rain Thunder Prime wouldn’t fall into her hands.
Besides, the Armed Princess had suffered greatly at the hands of the Martial Emperor before.
Kraush calculated that as soon as he, a direct line of Balheim, wielded the Rain Thunder Prime, she would fear Balrok’s wrath and wouldn’t dare to touch it again.
Thus, Kraush turned to Lakradiyon, who had accompanied him, and asked.
Defeating Nakcheon and obtaining the Rain Thunder Prime would require her help from the beginning.
“We came to the Demonic Bastion to reach the eighth floor from the start. I’ll follow you.”
Hearing Lakradiyon’s resolute answer, Kraush took a light breath.
Although the situation had suddenly worsened, it was, in a way, fortuitous.
While he couldn’t defeat the Armed Princess, he at least had a way to deal with her.
“Let’s go.”
It was time to put to use the skills that had allowed him to survive the Great War against the World Erosion Beings.