TLed by NolepGuy
Chapter 94
The moment Kraush clashed with Agares.
In the Space Magic Circle exclusive to the Demon Realm’s Sephira, a figure appeared.
Her hair fluttered as she emerged, letting out a small sigh as soon as she revealed herself.
‘Am I going to get disciplined for this?’
Her name was Mirvis.
She was a 3rd Class Officer of Sephira.
The reason she was here today was none other than a request from her master, Crimson Garden.
To her, Crimson Garden was her benefactor.
Back when she lived in the slums, just before being sold into slavery, Crimson Garden had saved and cared for her.
So if Crimson Garden asked, she was willing to do anything.
Even so, the likelihood of facing discipline for this matter made her let out a bitter laugh.
No, it might not just be discipline—if she raised suspicion, she might end up packing her bags and leaving Sephira entirely.
It was about the news of Kraush, who was fighting in the Demon Realm where most magic becomes distorted.
If she were asked how she even came by that information…
There would be no way around it.
She could only try to cover it up with the preparations she’d made in advance.
‘It was because Lady Crimson Garden pleaded with me so earnestly.’
Originally, it would have been fine to bring it up when the Blue Sea Knight Order arrived.
But Crimson Garden, apologizing profusely, had urged her to hurry.
Since her request was a top priority, even above Sephira’s matters, Mirvis moved without hesitation.
The place she headed to was none other than the tent where Serang Sephira, the princess of Sephira, resided.
When she arrived there, a figure, sensing her presence, poked their head out.
“What is it?”
It was none other than Blavi, the Heavenly Dog Star.
Born under the Heavenly Slaughter Star, he was Serang Sephira’s guard.
Until recently, Mirvis had simply thought of him as Sephira’s new guard.
Who could have imagined that the Heavenly Dog Star, who had supposedly retired long ago, would reappear in such a youthful form?
If not for Crimson Garden, Mirvis would never have known.
“I have an urgent message for Lady Serang.”
As she conveyed her message, Blavi glanced at the Sephira insignia engraved on her chest.
Then, he stepped aside without resistance.
His judgment was that someone of the rank of a 3rd Class Officer wouldn’t be acting frivolously.
As Mirvis entered the tent, she saw Serang seated in a chair.
As always, she was leisurely reading a book.
Could she possibly read through a veil covering her face?
Turning a page with her slender fingers, she soon raised her head.
Then, as soon as she saw Mirvis, the pink lips beneath her veil curved upward.
“It’s a pleasure to see you, Mirvis. I take it you have business with me?”
Hearing the call, a hint of tension appeared on Mirvis’s face.
In the long history of Sephira.
There was only one bloodline in this world that could rise to the rank of 1st Class Officer in Sephira.
That was the Sephira bloodline, astrologers who divined fates through the stars.
Until now, Sephira had predicted the progression of World Erosion and responded accordingly through astrologers.
To respond more effectively, they had gathered talents from various countries with their support.
As a result, Sephira had become the premier institute specializing in World Erosion investigations.
Serang Sephira was the only direct-line descendant of that Sephira family.
The title of princess of Sephira was not given without reason.
“Did you already know I would come?”
“The stars do not reveal everything. However, if it concerns Sephira, even I cannot remain unaware.”
From behind her veil, she let out a soft, lilting laugh.
That alone made Mirvis tense up once again.
It was as if she knew everything, including the fact that Mirvis was a servant of Crimson Garden.
Standing before Serang’s peculiar and mysterious aura, she barely managed to part her lips.
“If you already knew I was coming, I’ll deliver the message right away. It seems there’s a problem with the Balheim members who entered the Demon Realm.”
“Oh my, a problem with the Balheim members?”
“Yes, Agares, an 8th Class Erosion Species, has appeared.”
Serang fell silent upon hearing that.
Judging by her reaction, had she already foreseen it through divination?
As Mirvis waited for a response, Serang tapped her desk slowly with her index finger.
Though Mirvis was tense, Serang’s eyelashes furrowed slightly.
It was understandable, as ever since she had arrived in the Demon Realm, she had been continuously divining the Balheim Knight Order.
‘For some reason, no matter how much I try, I can’t see anything.’
It had been a persistent mystery to her.
The astrologers of Sephira had always been divining the Forbidden Zones to assess the stability of World Erosion.
But in recent weeks, the divinations for the Demon Realm had become increasingly blurry, rendering them unclear.
Aware of this fact, she had left Sephira and ventured out herself, wondering what was going on.
And lo and behold, turmoil had broken out in the Demon Realm, prompting her to urgently request support from Balheim.
She had thought the turmoil might be the reason for the obscured divinations.
But for Agares to appear…
If she had been careless, the inability to see the divination might have led to the unprecedented disaster of Agares reaching the city wall.
‘But even so, it’s strange that the appearance of an 8th Class Erosion Species would completely obscure the divinations.’
The emergence of Agares was undoubtedly a critical emergency.
However, it was difficult to believe Agares alone was the reason for the missing divinations.
World Erosion was always full of variables, and incidents involving 8th Class Erosion Species were not unheard of.
Each time, Sephira had been able to divine the situation and appropriately request support from families.
But this time, no such divination had appeared.
At that moment, a boy came to Serang’s mind.
A member of the Balheim Knight Order and a boy who possessed three skills.
Moreover, the bold boy who had expressed his desire to inherit the Heavenly Slaughter Star from Blavi.
‘Could it be…’
She subtly raised her hand.
The boy who had persistently lingered in her thoughts.
She disliked seeing people’s fates and thus refrained from divining them.
Yet at this moment, she felt an overwhelming urge to know about that boy.
An orb invisible to others materialized in Serang’s hand.
Her eyes, revealed beneath her raised eyelids, quietly scanned the orb that seemed to contain a flowing Milky Way.
Before long, Serang’s body stiffened.
‘I can’t see anything.’
Anything related to that boy was absent from the divination.
That was when she realized.
The reason the Demon Realm’s divinations had been obscured was none other than the boy’s impending arrival there.
‘What on earth…’
Her expression turned to one of confusion.
He had spoken as if he, too, could see divinations, making prophetic remarks akin to a seer.
How flustered she had been by his words.
And now, she realized she couldn’t even see divinations related to him.
Her confusion had given way to a state of utter bewilderment.
What kind of being was that boy, that even the divinations could not perceive him?
‘There was only one other time something like this happened.’
Serang’s eyes turned toward the sky beyond the ceiling of the tent.
The audacious divination aimed at the gods, born from the rebellious thought of wanting to spy on their intentions.
At that time, Serang had seen absolutely nothing.
It was precisely for this reason that she first became interested in the boy.
The unspoken rule among the gods.
Skills granted to anyone, except a Saintess, are limited to one per person.
And yet, the boy who broke that rule—what exactly was he?
She felt an overwhelming sense of suspicion toward the boy.
Something immense seemed to flow around him as its center.
Then, she realized she had not yet responded to Mirvis.
First things first, before the boy or anything else, she had to finish this task.
“…Understood. I’ll request assistance immediately. I’ll reach out to as many places as possible, not just Balheim.”
It is the duty of nobles to aid in any variable arising from World Erosion.
If contact is made as quickly as possible, they might be able to assemble a rescue team within a day.
The response was swift.
However, Serang noticed that Mirvis had more to say.
It was because her expression remained stiff.
“Mirvis, there’s more you want to say, isn’t there?”
Thus, Serang posed the question.
As always, her tone carried a mysterious weight, as if she already knew the other person’s intentions.
Her unique position as an Astrologer lent her words an enigmatic quality that left an impression on others.
Serang often enjoyed using this kind of rhetoric.
“Yes, as you might have already guessed, Serang, I plan to request aid from the Heavenly Dog Star as well.”
Even Mirvis was aware of Blavi.
Though Serang had suspected Mirvis might be connected to the boy.
At this point, it felt as if the entire world knew Blavi’s true identity.
“…Blavi is my personal guard.”
She spoke while maintaining her composure with great effort.
Normally, she wasn’t easily flustered, but lately, it seemed to happen far too often.
“Yes, I’m merely relaying what Lord Krad requested. He proposed a deal.”
As expected, Mirvis did have some connection to the boy.
Yet another deal.
She found herself dreading what might come next.
However, in the end, she nodded, signaling Mirvis to continue.
“May I borrow your ear for a moment?”
“Go ahead.”
When Serang leaned in to offer her ear, Mirvis began to whisper something into it.
Shortly after, Serang flinched, her body jerking slightly before falling silent.
Beneath her veil, her face turned a vivid shade of red for some reason.
“Blavi!”
She hastily called out to Blavi.
“Yes, Young Lady.”
“Can you go to the Demonic Realm immediately and provide support to Balheim?”
When she asked, Blavi blinked momentarily.
Then, his pitch-black eyes briefly turned toward Mirvis.
Under that gaze, Mirvis felt as if her breath had caught, like a mouse encountering a predator.
For someone like her, who had always valued knowledge above all, Blavi’s oppressive presence was akin to staring into the face of death.
At that moment, Serang raised her hand sharply in front of Mirvis.
That simple gesture immediately dispelled Blavi’s oppressive aura.
“Blavi, this is a personal request from me. Can you help?”
“I am your guard, Young Lady. I cannot act independently of my assigned duties.”
“It’s all right. This is more important than that.”
Serang rose from her seat and walked toward Blavi.
Then, she spoke in a voice low enough that Mirvis could not overhear.
“Krad, a member of the Blue Sea Knight Order—be sure to save him. He may become another shadow blocking my path.”
Hearing this, Blavi bowed his head.
“Understood. I will go.”
With that, he opened the tent’s entrance and stepped outside.
Watching Blavi’s retreating figure, Serang exhaled briefly.
“Mirvis, is that everything you had to say?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“There’s a tent for the Sephira group. You should go rest there. It’d be better for you to stay until this is all resolved.”
Bowing slightly in response to Serang’s consideration, Mirvis exited the tent.
Looking up at the sky, now tinged with the colors of sunset, Mirvis quietly pondered.
What could possibly be inside the third drawer of her room, to evoke such a strong reaction from Serang?
* * *
Boom!
An enormous skeletal arm, now fully transformed from its cloak-covered form, slammed into the ground.
Its sheer size carried overwhelming power.
The impact tore through the earth, causing tremors akin to an earthquake.
Yet, compared to its original strength, this was nothing.
Agares, clad in armor forged of darkness, had no range restrictions on his attacks.
Wherever the darkness spread, it became his domain.
Moreover, the darkness carried within it every kind of curse imaginable.
The moment one touched it, they would be consumed by the curse.
And it didn’t stop there.
The more Erosion Species that fell to the darkness, the stronger Agares became, thanks to his Lord’s Command.
The Lord’s Command endlessly amplified Agares’ strength.
However, Agares was unable to fully utilize the effects of the Lord’s Command at present.
This was because the Command’s basic premise required corrupting Erosion Species through darkness.
Since being struck in his true eye by Kraush, Agares had lost the ability to wield darkness.
In other words, Agares could no longer corrupt Erosion Species with darkness.
As the Green Wave Knight Order continued to diminish the Erosion Species,
the effects of the Lord’s Command gradually dwindled without replenishment.
And naturally, this meant that Agares was weakening.
Yet, even so—
Agares remained an 8th Class Erosion Species.
By now, his skeletal body, save for the head, had fully emerged, towering upright on two legs.
His colossal form easily spanned hundreds of meters, plunging all who beheld him into despair.
So much so that his upper body was obscured by the black clouds of the Demonic Realm.
Swoosh—
A deluge of black rainwater poured down, drenching the Sky-Piercing Knight Order.
In that instant, the skeletal arm extended toward the ground.
Its target was none other than Kraush.
Agares, who had been struck in his true eye by Kraush,
naturally bore an intense grudge against him.
“Kraush!”
“I’m aware!”
Kraush responded to Lilish’s warning as he sprinted across the ground with all his might.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Agares’ arms repeatedly struck the ground, filling the spots where Kraush had just been with devastating force.
If Kraush had been even a little slower, he would have been crushed to death.
At that moment, the arm pressing against the ground cracked with a sharp noise.
Emerging from the fissure were giant skeletal arms, each the size of a human.
Nearly thousands of these arms surged toward Kraush.
Each hand carried a dense, deadly aura, as if capable of dissolving flesh on contact.
Sparks erupted across Kraush’s forehead.
His Sixth Sense, combined with the activation of Thunderclap, heightened his reflexes to their peak, allowing him to evade the tidal wave of bones.
Boom!
At that moment, a deafening explosion erupted from behind, and yet another arm crumbled to the ground.
It was Lilish’s Crushing Slash Sword.
Thanks to her strike, Agares’ assault faltered momentarily.
“Hah!”
Seizing the opportunity, Kraush quickly steadied his breath and clenched his left hand tightly.
In Kraush’s grasp was a fragment of Darkness he had stolen from Agares.
And not just any Darkness—this one bore the Curse of the Lord’s Command.
However, to use it, he needed to make contact with the cloak wrapped around Agares’ neck high above.
Naturally, reaching that height was already a daunting task, and Agares wouldn’t stand idly by.
Thus, Kraush needed someone else’s strength now more than ever.
“Lilish, can you sever Agares’ leg?”
“His leg?”
Panting, Lilish heard Kraush’s urgent shout.
“Do you have a plan to bring him down?”
“Yes, if I can reach his neck, it’s possible.”
Lilish raised her gaze toward Agares.
His upper body was obscured by the black clouds.
Even the movements of the Sky-Piercing Knight Order had visibly slowed.
Their stamina, too, was nearing its limit.
Buying time until the arrival of One Sword?
Even that was too much to hope for.
Judging by the time, the Blue Sea Knight Order likely hadn’t even reached the city walls yet.
In such dire circumstances, stalling until One Sword arrived was practically impossible.
Perhaps it was better to gamble while they still had some strength left.
“Understood.”
Kraush had already risked everything to bring them to this point.
If she couldn’t trust Kraush, then who could she trust?
“Sky-Piercing Knight Order! Focus your attack on Agares’ left leg from now on!”
She would take care of the right leg herself.
“Kraush, do everything you can!”
With that cry, Lilish pushed off the ground and began to run.
Her target, of course, was Agares’ leg.
The leg was far thicker than even his arms.
Naturally, as Agares pursued Kraush, his legs moved incessantly.
After all, Agares wasn’t a stationary turret but a living, moving entity.
Moreover, true to his nature as an Erosion Species, he possessed a formidable regenerative ability.
Even the arms Lilish had destroyed were slowly recovering.
Whether it was even possible to topple such legs while evading Agares’ attacks was something Lilish couldn’t guarantee.
‘But still.’
Her much younger sibling was fighting so desperately.
How could the strongest among them afford to falter now?
‘I will break it, no matter what.’
The thought of buying time had long since vanished.
To honor her brother’s utmost effort, she would ensure Agares fell here and now.
Lilish Balheim.
It was the moment her eyes began to glow a brilliant blue.