Chapter 93
It had now been 11 hours since the battle against Agaris began.
The Jukcheon Order had been clashing with Agaris in the darkness without a moment’s rest since the first encounter.
Naturally, they were avoiding direct confrontations.
Agaris’s power far surpassed that of humans.
A disaster.
That word would be a fitting description for Agaris, the erosion entity.
Thus, the Jukcheon Order had meticulously employed a strategy of buying time.
“UAAAH!”
In that moment, a member of the Jukcheon Order, caught by a strand of black darkness, was suddenly pulled toward Agaris.
If one makes direct eye contact with the multitude of eyes that surround Agaris, a barrage of curses such as confusion, vision impairment, bleeding, and panic would strike simultaneously.
Thus, they hadn’t noticed the incoming attack while trying to avoid eye contact.
Zwooosh!
As Agaris’s body expanded, his bright red teeth were revealed.
He was ready to swallow his prey whole and digest them.
Gulp!
Chomp!
But before that could happen, two figures emerged before the dark tendril.
One was Kraush, shrouded in black flames.
The other was Lilish, wielding her blue aura blade.
Both of their swords slashed simultaneously through the dark tendril, allowing the Jukcheon Order member to quickly regain their footing.
“Captain, Kraush! Thank you!”
“Get a grip! You’re getting caught!”
“Yes!”
While hearing the Jukcheon Order member’s response, Lilish sliced through the dark tendril with her sword.
Meanwhile, her eyes swiftly tracked Kraush.
After tirelessly moving for 11 hours, Kraush had saved the Jukcheon Order member at this critical moment.
Thanks to him, not a single member of the Jukcheon Order had fallen despite the passage of this much time.
If it were just her, she couldn’t have accomplished such a feat.
‘He must be at the top tier of experts.’
Where on earth was that level of aura continuously emanating from?
That was beyond her understanding.
However, there was one thing that continually tugged at her mind.
And she knew exactly what this feeling was.
Skill: Id
It was her skill known as Instinct.
She had chosen this skill only a year ago.
On the day of Belorkin’s funeral, she made that decision.
Because that day, her older brother, the Sword King, had told her directly.
“In times of world erosion, sometimes it’s fleeting instinct that can save your life more than sheer power.”
That was the Sword King’s advice to prevent the direct descendants from dying in the world erosion.
He must have been discontent with Valheim’s strength.
Though the underlying meanings were different, Lilish agreed with that statement.
She intended to acquire a skill that wouldn’t require her to rely on it once she had trained herself to a sufficient level.
But when it came to instinctive intuition, it felt permissible to lean on the skill a little.
So she chose Id.
In fact, Id had proven useful in the world erosion.
And today, that Id had activated once again.
It was when she saw the black flames enveloping Kraush.
As soon as she observed that, her instinct aligned with the memory of Belorkin’s Ignis.
Checking Kraush’s reaction confirmed that she was right.
Now, her Id was activating once more.
It was directed towards Kraush.
She instinctively felt that her younger brother might be about to do something dangerous.
“Darvian, how long has it been now?”
At that moment, Kraush’s shout erupted.
Darvian checked the time and replied.
“It’s been 11 hours and 21 minutes.”
With the precise timing given, Kraush let out a light breath.
Soon it would be 12 hours.
It was almost time for this hellish darkness to come to a close.
Of course, not just Kraush, but all the Jukcheon Order members were aware of this fact.
Many from other family lines aside from Valheim had faced Agaris up to this point.
Though they hadn’t managed to defeat Agaris, the survivors had gradually collected information about him.
Thus, everyone knew.
Agaris’s darkness could only be maintained for a maximum of 12 hours.
‘No, we can’t call it a limit.’
Let’s put it differently.
They believed Agaris wouldn’t be able to kill his enemies with darkness and would switch to another means.
Griiind—
At that moment, a bizarre sound resonated from Agaris’s body.
Agaris is an intelligent being, similar to humans.
While it was unknown whether it could communicate or how high its intelligence was, one thing was certain.
‘He deliberately displays a certain pattern when facing opponents.’
And among the Jukcheon Order, it seemed Kraush was the only one who understood this reason.
‘He’s trying to let us lower our guard.’
Agaris created a pattern that could be attacked deliberately.
Then, as the opponent accustomed themselves to that pattern, he would strike when they were let down.
That was one of Agaris’s favorite traps.
Who says demons can’t play with humans?
The basic mindset is centered on captivating people.
This is why he was intentionally acting like a mindless erosion entity right now.
‘Sorry, but—’
Kraush dodged the spears of darkness flying his way while slicing through them with black flames.
‘I see right through your thoughts.’
Kraush took a deep breath.
Due to his rough movements, his lungs felt like they were being poked, but it was bearable.
It was all thanks to continuously absorbing the world erosion that flowed from the Ma-gyeong.
He was absorbing more world erosion than was used, making him move like a fish in water.
However, there was no cost without consequences.
Zing!
The luminance from his eye—previously pressing down—had begun to shoot up again, short and sharp, since a while ago.
With the world erosion filling his body, even the luminance had started to struggle to cope.
Clack—
Kraush, feeling the pressure, forcibly suppressed the luminance.
His mental fortitude was strong enough not to be swayed by mere luminance in such a place.
Having experienced worse.
‘Twelve hours.’
When that time was complete, Agaris would truly begin to move.
As always, he would reveal his pattern.
‘I don’t know how well the Nokhae Order managed to eliminate the erosion entities,’
but all he could do was hope the boost Agaris experienced would decrease a little.
Ching!
Kraush tore through the approaching darkness once more, his feet striking the ground.
At the same time, the sound of swords clashing reverberated from various directions.
The Jukcheon Order members were also desperately holding their ground against Agaris to buy time.
Naturally, at the forefront was Lilish.
She exhibited overwhelming prowess, even wielding her sword against Agaris directly in the darkness.
Agaris couldn’t afford to ignore Lilish either.
Whenever she approached, thousands of bony arms emerged from beneath his cloak, ready to block her attacks.
Though Lilish couldn’t inflict heavy damage on Agaris due to a defensive move, it effectively distracted Agaris.
Thanks to this, the Jukcheon Order members also managed to catch their breath from time to time.
As the battle raged on…
“12 hours!”
“Everyone, run to the opposite side of Agaris!”
It was the moment they had been waiting for, reaching the 12-hour mark.
Whoosh!
Suddenly, with a strong wind, the darkness began to be sucked away toward an unspecified direction.
That direction was none other than Agaris.
Agaris finally closed all his red eyes, halting the use of darkness.
He flapped his cloak while drawing in both the darkness and everything around him.
As a result, the members of the Jukcheon Order hastily turned away and started to run in the opposite direction.
Conventional attacks were useless against Agaris, who was absorbing the darkness.
They would only be sucked in alongside him and crushed to death.
So as everyone was fleeing…
In the desolate black forest, where everything was being devoured by darkness…
Thump!
Only one person kicked off the ground and charged toward Agaris.
“Kraush?!”
Lilish, the only one to witness this, screamed.
What Kraush was doing now was akin to a suicide mission.
She urgently launched herself to catch him, but it was already too late.
Kraush accelerated toward Agaris at a speed that had surpassed limits, using the force pulling him in.
‘Just a bit more.’
Kraush’s eyes started to gradually turn red.
His Destruction Erosion intensified, causing his entire body to heat up.
He had fought hard until this moment, waiting for the exact right chance to strike down Agaris.
‘More.’
As he exhaled, the heated essence of his flesh evaporated into smoke.
At the moment Kraush reached his body’s maximum temperature due to Destruction Erosion…
His hand raised up.
In that hand, he grasped nothing other than the Black Hood.
When Agaris absorbed the darkness, all of his eyes briefly closed.
And in that short moment, just one of his true eyes opened.
Though normally obscured by darkness, it was the real eye that Agaris possessed for manipulating darkness.
Wooosh!
At that instant, the darkness belonging to Agaris was drawn into the grip of Kraush, who activated the Black Hood.
Agaris’s darkness was merely a composite created using the world erosion from the Ma-gyeong.
In other words, it meant it wasn’t under Agaris’s ownership but was, in fact, owned by the Ma-gyeong itself.
What that meant was that the essence of the mindless darkness of the Ma-gyeong could be stolen by Kraush.
In that moment, the darkness, previously congregated around Agaris’s abdomen, was snatched away all at once by Kraush.
As a result, for the first time, Agaris’s true eye was revealed from behind the darkness.
It was exceedingly red, almost like a ruby, reminiscent of an amphibian’s eyes.
That gaze was tinted with the first trace of confusion.
“Your eye’s rather pretty, isn’t it!”
Boom!
In that instant, Kraush’s thunderous might erupted alongside the black flames and Lionor.
Whoosh, crackle!
Focusing on just one point.
A ripple emerged from Kraush’s immense mental lake, surging forth like a dragon.
This blend of fire and lightning merged with the world erosion, spewing forth a dark light.
Eventually, it reached the very tip of Kraush’s sword.
Crash!
As the black blade surged forth through the thunder, Kraush thrust.
FUGAAAAAH!
With Agaris’s first scream echoing through the area, both the lightning and black flames exploded together.
Amidst that thunderous roar, arms made of bone surged from Agaris’s cloak, crashing down randomly.
Those limbs lifted Agaris’s body high up into the air in an instant, pouring down toward Kraush.
And these arms offered no space for Kraush to evade, as they were too overwhelming.
Huff!
As Kraush wrapped his body in black flames, preparing to risk injury to break through the attack…
Crack crack crack!
The one who intervened was none other than Lilish.
She swiftly destroyed the bony arm with her swinging sword, pulling Kraush by his nape.
Then, she immediately threw him back as her sword shot straight forward.
Her blade, brimming with azure aura to its limits, swirled into a tempest.
Shattering Blade (破碎劈劍)
When the condensed aura finally met Agaris’s giant arm…
Just a small thunk resonated.
However, the shockwave of the Shattering Blade didn’t end there.
The entirety of Agaris’s bony arm began to wriggle and twist in response.
Crack, crack crack!
KWA-BOOM!
With a delayed explosion, Agaris’s bony arm twisted and shattered to pieces.
It was Lilish’s original technique that detonated by resonating aura within.
But perhaps because it was still in the process of completion, her sword endured a few cracks too.
The technique’s backlash was too much for her sword to handle.
Nevertheless, she glared at Kraush without a hint of concern.
Seeing Kraush rush out without holding back at all, her fury was palpable.
“You idiot!”
She shouted, and Kraush briefly smiled, regaining his stance.
“Sister, it’s common sense to attack when someone transforms.”
The moment Agaris revealed his true eyes was but one.
Only when he absorbed darkness.
Knowing this fact, Kraush had forced himself to rush in regardless.
If Agaris’s true eye were to be destroyed, then all the cursed eyes would never open again.
The most significant aspect being that the eye, serving as the medium of darkness, would no longer be capable of controlling it.
Proof that he couldn’t use darkness was demonstrated by the real bony arms that Agaris was now flinging around in a frenzy.
Naturally, those arms should have been covered in darkness, along with the muscle and skin.
However, they remained as they were, just bones.
Because he was unable to manipulate darkness, his true power was crippled.
That was the price for Agaris’s arrogance in playing with humans.
Kraush had intended to give up on defeating Agaris if this gambit failed.
For Agaris, the one capable of summoning his true form along with controlling darkness, was indeed a calamity.
Currently, there was simply no way to win against him.
But this gamble had worked.
And rather definitively.
Perhaps noticing that fact, Lilish furrowed her brows.
Instead of scolding Kraush, she turned her attention to the Jukcheon Order, who were startled by Kraush’s sudden action.
“Jukcheon Order!”
She didn’t waste this opportunity.
“All units, unleash your full attack!”
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