### Chapter 339
The Guardian of the Great Sea, Zaratan.
The ten-star erosion creature, Zaratan, met his end engulfed by the white flames that even evaporated parts of the ocean.
Deep in the ocean, Kraush lifted his slightly weary head.
He might be using the Annihilation Flame Dragon now, but unlike before, he wouldn’t drop like a rock at the first opportunity.
Still feeling fatigued, he pressed his fingers to his eyes momentarily.
At that moment, Kraush felt something coiling around his ankle.
Looking down, he spotted shadows wrapping around him.
Without a second thought, Kraush averted his gaze.
Just ahead…
Glide was walking toward him.
In his hand, he held the egg of the sea dragon, having taken down Zaratan and dismantled him.
Kraush stared blankly at Glide.
Why? Because in his other hand, a formless black shadow was gathering, twisting ominously.
That looked like a bomb made of shadows.
If it exploded right there, it would obliterate everything in the vicinity.
Kraush was dumbfounded at the sight and let out a laugh.
“Now that the job’s done, you planning to kill me or what?”
“You can spin any excuse you want. The fact remains that you’re trash handling the powers of world erosion.”
Kraush let out a short sigh as he stared at the extreme world erosion hater, Glide.
“You know best that the Empress herself made me the bait for Ixion.”
Ixion was now a declared enemy of the world.
And Kraush was being used as bait by the Empire, Hardenhartz, and several groups to catch Ixion.
Killing Kraush here would send all those plans crashing down.
Knowing this full well, they still wanted to kill him?
“You seem to be missing something. Allow me to enlighten you.”
Glide abruptly stopped in front of Kraush.
“My brother, Glyze Hardenhartz, had infused the powers of world erosion into shadows.”
This was genuinely a revelation even for Kraush.
Glyze Hardenhartz, the firstborn of the Hardenhartz family.
According to the tale, he was slain by the world erosionist.
As a result, his mother, the Empress, transformed into a fierce hater of world erosionists, ultimately aiming to eradicate them.
But that story was far from the truth.
“The reason our Hardenhartz could no longer contract with the gods was tied to that.”
The skill “Umbra.”
This skill now belonged to Zodiac Cloria, who was graduating from Rahern Academy this year.
Originally, Umbra was a skill used by the Hardenhartz family.
Thus, Hardenhartz’s mystics were all related to shadows.
However, Hardenhartz could no longer inherit such skills.
The reason? Their firstborn, Glyze Hardenhartz.
“My brother was blinded by the power of world erosion.”
The power of world erosion was incredibly alluring.
Kraush understood this better than anyone because he handled it directly.
Violent and destructive power.
If one could wield the powers of world erosion, they’d easily break through any limitations placed upon them.
That’s why those who felt their limits often fell into the ranks of world eroders.
“My mother was remarkable.”
The Empress, Glyssis Hardenhartz.
During her prime, her feats were so incredible that they left many speechless.
Immortal Swordsmen were indeed such.
To belong among the top four in the world, one would need the world’s greatest talents and tremendous effort.
Hence, countless individuals envied their talent, sometimes burying their peers and heirs beneath it.
Glyze Hardenhartz was buried beneath such talent from his mother.
No matter how hard Glyze tried, he could never surpass his mother, Glyssis.
The Immortal Swordsmen represented an insurmountable wall.
As a result, Glyze began to be consumed by his mother’s reputation.
Many had placed their hopes in him, but those hopes quickly turned into disappointment.
That’s when someone whispered in his ear.
“If you can’t reach it, why not find another power to attain it?”
The voice belonged to no other than the world eroder.
Seeking to consume the great house called Hardenhartz through Glyze, the world eroder showed Glyze a new power called world erosion.
However, this was a gross underestimation of Glyze.
Glyze accepted the world erosion as per the world eroder’s wishes.
In that process, he realized in the worst possible way his greatest talent.
The ability to merge the skills of Umbra and the powers of world erosion.
Whenever any kind of power was contained, there should be a limit.
The limit of the vessel represented one’s talent.
“Hah, hah, so that’s why.”
But Glyze began to exploit the skills bestowed by the gods, the Umbra, to break free from that talent’s limitations.
He used the shadows of Umbra as his vessel.
The power of the gods is, after all, sacred.
He had committed a taboo by corrupting such divine abilities with the powers of world erosion.
This act incited the wrath of the shadow god who bestowed the skill.
Yet for Glyze, taboos meant nothing.
He would do whatever it took to surpass his mother.
Thus, he first consumed the world eroder, who had granted him the power of world erosion.
“You! You dare—!”
The world eroder that sought to engulf Hardenhartz through Glyze became Glyze’s offering instead.
Enthralled by the powers of world erosion, Glyze stuffed them into shadows by any means necessary.
Naturally, this provoked the wrath of the shadow god.
As a consequence, disaster descended upon Hardenhartz.
Everyone connected to Hardenhartz was swallowed by shadows and perished.
The anger of the shadow god turned toward all of Hardenhartz.
In the blink of an eye, the entire family was on the brink of annihilation.
At that time, Glyssis Hardenhartz desperately pursued her son and eventually found him.
“Glyze!”
Having consumed the powers of world erosion, Glyze was no longer human.
He had become something even worse than a world eroder.
Glyssis had no choice.
To quell the wrath of the gods, she ultimately had to kill her own son with her hands.
That’s how Glyze met his end in her grasp.
His last words were known only to Glyssis.
That day, the shadow god abandoned Hardenhartz.
Instead, an unquenchable grudge settled between Hardenhartz and Glyssis.
Who was it that killed her son?
Who was it that devastated the Hardenhartz family?
Glyssis couldn’t assign the blame to herself.
Doing so would mean she would crumble along with her family.
Thus, Glyssis had to channel her resentment toward the world eroder.
The insidious beings that lured her son.
Even now, they created their kind throughout the world using the same tactics.
Glyssis couldn’t just stand by and let such disasters descend upon others.
“Every world eroder is an evil that should not exist in this world.”
So she changed Hardenhartz.
A family established to exterminate world eroders.
That’s the current Hardenhartz.
And to carry on that legacy, the second son, Glide Hardenhartz was born.
This is why he had no choice but to harbor hatred toward world eroders and the concept of world erosion from a young age.
“I was born to hate world eroders.”
His mother, who lost her son, wished that her second son would never follow in the same path as the first.
So she made sure to inform him of the grim realities of world erosion from childhood.
To be precise, he was indoctrinated.
“And now, before me stands someone walking the same path as my brother.”
The shadow space gripped tightly in his hand began to grow ominous.
“Is there any guarantee you won’t follow in your brother’s footsteps?”
A promise that one would consume the powers of world erosion merely for oneself without bringing misfortune to those around him.
Glide questioned where such a guarantee could lie.
“There isn’t.”
And to that question, Kraush responded rather calmly.
The power of world erosion is indeed dangerous.
This was something Kraush, once cursed, knew best.
If even a curse could devour a person, how much more the essence of world erosion itself?
Kraush suppressed the frenzy of world erosion within him using countless curses and various techniques.
Even now, the frenzy from the powers of world erosion lingered dormant inside Kraush.
Moreover, with the burden of being a Demonic Bastion, Kraush was considerably more dangerous than Glyze.
If he slipped up even slightly, Kraush could become a threat to the world itself.
Yet Kraush couldn’t renounce the powers of world erosion.
Like his Aura, they constituted his greatest firepower.
“Pretty shameless, aren’t ya?”
Kraush was indeed shameless, as Glide pointed out.
“Yeah, I’m shameless. But you see, not everyone ends up like your brother.”
This confidence stemmed from Kraush’s belief in himself.
“I studied curses deeper than anyone, even before handling the powers of world erosion.”
The essence of curses is the power of world erosion.
Thus, mastering curses equates to mastering the powers of world erosion—that’s nothing new.
Kraush, as a cursed one, absorbed countless curses, nullified them, and wielded them as his own.
It was the only thing he could do to protect the world.
Kraush is a born outlier.
And this outlier remained true even in his cursed days.
If there was something he could do, he’d crawl on the ground to get it done.
He absorbed numerous curses, negated them, and twisted them to use as his own.
This is something even a world eroder couldn’t accomplish.
“I can confidently say that I handle the powers of world erosion better than anyone else in this world.”
Kraush was sure he could handle the powers of world erosion.
That’s why he had grasped this power and managed it until now.
And it wouldn’t change in the future, either.
To protect this rotten world, Kraush would resort to any means necessary.
“You trust what you will, I trust myself, and that’s why I will keep using this power.”
So don’t annoy me and block my path.
Kraush warned Glide.
“……”
Glide fell silent, quietly gazing at Kraush.
He wore an expression as if deep in thought.
Kraush had a firm heart.
In fact, he was still wielding the powers of world erosion, saving countless people, and being referred to as a hero.
This was something Glide was well aware of.
How could it be any other way? His mother Glyssis acknowledged it personally.
“Looks like a hell of a stubborn kid, huh?”
In that remark was Glyssis’s recognition of Kraush.
Seeing Kraush treading the same path as her son.
Though Kraush only handled the Aura in front of Glyssis.
This meant a lot for Glide, who witnessed Kraush in person.
“……Could my brother have walked a path like yours?”
Glide asked quietly.
“Not a clue.”
And that was something even Kraush couldn’t answer.
A person could change with just a small event, after all.
Kraush learned this through his reincarnation.
Crack!
At that moment, the shadow prison set up by Glide started shaking violently.
Something was attacking from the outside.
Glide glanced past the shadow prison.
Beyond the densely packed shadows, a massive eye appeared.
That eye belonged to a dragon.
“The sea dragon.”
The lord of the great sea, the sea dragon.
He had come personally to punish Kraush and Glide for killing his guardian.
Thud—
In that moment, Kraush caught what was thrown at him.
It was the egg of the sea dragon.
“Go ahead first.”
Glide turned his body, keeping hold of the shadows.
“I’ll at least see whether my brother can walk a different path than this erroneous choice.”
With those words, Glide vanished.
Was he planning to confront the sea dragon?
Kraush, aware of his situation, realized Glide was stepping up.
Kraush didn’t stop him.
After all, Glide was chosen as a candidate for the Ten Great Lords.
He’d surely know how to stall for time and escape.
Kraush gripped the sea dragon’s egg.
Simultaneously, he turned and opened his mouth.
“Ebelasque, Crimson Garden.”
Calling out the two, Kraush’s brows furrowed deeply.
“Zodiac Cloria, find that guy right now.”
What he heard from Glide.
The fact that the skill “Umbra” could contain the powers of world erosion.
If Abella knew of this…
She would surely be gunning for the skill Umbra!
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