### Chapter: 259
Glycis Radius.
After the icy breath had swallowed everything whole…
Inside the completely frozen forest,
A thick fog of cold air enveloped the surroundings.
Amidst this chilly haze,
The ice dragon, Krima, had disappeared after unleashing its breath three times.
Bianca quietly shifted her gaze.
And there was Dalia, who had just moments ago stood against her.
Completely frozen solid, she was no longer in a state to fight.
Bianca scanned her surroundings.
She spotted a red bracelet that some applicants had dropped while caught in the breath.
Bianca casually slid the bracelet onto Dalia’s outstretched hand and started to waddle away.
Perhaps due to the excessive effort expended,
She felt a throbbing sensation throughout her body.
Having taken a direct hit from the ice dragon’s breath, she wasn’t in a normal state herself.
Additionally, she’d consumed quite a bit of aura while facing the formidable Dalia.
Bianca could feel her eyelids growing heavy.
‘I still haven’t found my bracelet.’
To pass the exam, she needed to find a yellow bracelet.
However, her fatigued mind couldn’t reach that far.
At that moment, an ice fox came scurrying towards her.
Having escaped from her arms, the ice fox, Pii, wore a yellow bracelet around its neck.
“Pii? How…”
Bianca exclaimed in surprise as Pii approached her, wagging its tail enthusiastically.
Seeing that, Bianca slowly smiled and took the bracelet from Pii’s mouth.
“Good job.”
At Bianca’s praise, Pii bounced with joy.
Hugging the bracelet protectively, Bianca leaned against a tree, hidden in the forest.
She felt utterly drained of energy.
Watching Pii bustling around her, Bianca gently closed her eyes.
“Pii, I’m just going to rest my eyes for a bit.”
It was the moment she closed her eyes to recover a little strength.
Snap—
Without her hearing, footsteps approached her.
＊ ＊ ＊
With the icy breath unleashed three times, and magic collapsing all around, the screen in the arena flickered crazily.
Kraush gazed absently at the screen.
“You don’t seem busy looking for anything,”
At that moment, Astria tossed a casual jab from beside him.
He had merely been staring at the screen.
What on earth was she talking about?
“Not really.”
“What’s that? I’ve never seen you open your eyes so wide before.”
As Astria exaggeratedly widened her own eyes in imitation, Kraush wore an incredulous expression.
Astria was getting more and more informal with each passing day.
Not that she didn’t realize it, as she cleared her throat and poked Kraush in the side.
“Anyway, you look like something’s been bothering you.”
Was she spying on him all day, or what?
Kraush’s expression had given her enough of a clue for her to figure it out.
“A little.”
“You always say a little, then something big happens.”
“Seriously, what are you implying?”
“Do you have any idea how many messes you’ve gotten into that I had to sort out?”
Every time he came back injured, and yet she was the one being scolded!
“Ouch!”
At her scream, all eyes turned toward them.
Astria, realizing the attention, flushed crimson and glared at Kraush.
Who could have predicted she would scream like that?
“You always told me to come to you first if I needed treatment.”
“Hmph, who says that?”
Astria pouted and turned her head away.
“Kraush, over there.”
At that moment, Haring tugged on Kraush’s sleeve and pointed upward.
When Kraush turned back to the screen, an unexpected sight unfolded before him.
In the icy mist, Dalia stood frozen solid.
In her hands, she clutched two red bracelets.
“Did Dalia Junon lose?”
“The daughter of the Junon clan?”
The other participants from Arena shocked by the event reacted in surprise too.
They had seen Dalia and Bianca clash.
Yet here, Bianca was nowhere to be found, just Dalia stuck in a frosty pose.
Those who had perceived Dalia to have lost couldn’t believe what they were seeing.
Kraush felt his shoulders tense up for some unknown reason.
However, the fact that Bianca wasn’t visible also gnawed at him.
‘Seems like she really put in a lot of effort.’
Just as Kraush anxiously eyed the screen, soon Bianca appeared.
The assistant professors had started flipping through screens in search of Bianca after her fight with Dalia.
And then, Kraush’s face tensed.
Because in front of a knocked-out Bianca stood a single figure quietly watching her.
A boy with messy black hair.
The one who had made Kraush uneasy.
As Kraush unconsciously rose from his seat, the boy’s eyes locked onto him.
It felt as if those eyes were recognizing the screen and looking directly this way.
It was like a warning.
‘This could break what you treasure at any moment.’
Kraush.
Just then, the voice of Crimson Garden rang out.
Kraush had sent Crimson Garden to investigate the boy.
As he focused on her voice, it continued.
‘That boy belongs to the Lacroix family.’
Hearing that, Kraush froze.
The Lacroix Family—known as lawless and shrouded in mystery, their whereabouts unknown.
But they had one odd characteristic.
‘A family specializing in exterminating World Erosionists.’
These were families that hunted down World Erosionists rigorously, aiming to eliminate anything connected to them from this world.
“ Squeak!”
Even Ebelasque, who had suffered at their hands, let out a chilling squeak.
‘Even if it’s just a slight connection, they strive to erase it from existence.’
People sometimes scold the Lacroix family for their ruthlessness.
Yet their existence was not denied.
Ultimately, in this world, World Erosionists were the enemy.
‘With Ixion starting to make moves, they’ve begun to act as well.’
Kraush realized why he felt uneasy watching the boy.
The power of World Erosion nestled in him instinctively reacted.
‘The real issue is…’
The centerpiece of the Lacroix family—its head.
Heaven’s Sword’s Four Strongest:
The Conqueror’s Glacius Lacroix.
It wasn’t just that the Lacroix family hunted numerous World Erosionists.
The reason even World Erosionists dared not confront the Lacroix family, despite their lair being in lawlessness,
Was that very existence of Glacius Lacroix.
In the past, he was a symbol of fear for the World Erosionists –
Now, he was the figure they feared most.
‘Right at this moment, a member of the Lacroix family stands before Bianca.’
A chill embedded itself within Kraush’s eyes.
Kraush directly communicated with the powers of World Erosion.
Let alone, the number of World Erosionists associated with Kraush had become numerous.
‘Am I an ally or a foe to the Lacroix family now?’
That was something Kraush couldn’t determine.
But the moment the Lacroix family touched Bianca,
Kraush resolved to knock them over without a second thought.
‘Better put a lid on your beams.’
With Crimson Garden’s advice echoing in his mind, Kraush confronted the black-haired boy.
In his memory, the boy was surely someone he couldn’t recall.
Perhaps he had changed his appearance or something.
The fact that he was lost to memory usually meant he had died before making a mark on this era.
If so, was the boy in front of him sending a warning or was it just coincidental?
‘Doesn’t feel like he’s about to attack.’
True to those words, the boy just stood close to Bianca.
He showed no signs of hostility.
And that’s why Kraush held off from intervening.
Had the boy displayed any signs of malice, Kraush would have jumped in immediately.
Instead, the boy simply stood there, offering no more movement.
‘What’s he plotting?’
Kraush watched the scene with a troubled expression before sinking back into his chair.
By now, the people around him were cautiously glancing at him.
“…Kraush, are you mad that another guy’s standing in front of your fiancée?”
Just then, Astria broke the awkward silence with a puzzled look directed at Kraush.
When Kraush turned to her with a baffled expression, even Karandis nodded along.
“It’s alright, Kraush. I understand.”
Oddly enough, that earned him Haring’s acceptance.
Even Aslan managed a forced smile before choosing to say nothing more.
Kraush felt a sense of something he wanted to say, but he couldn’t voice it out.
So all he could do was exhale a long sigh.
“It’s not like that.”
It felt as though misunderstandings were piling up.
His head swirled with confusion.
＊ ＊ ＊
Deep within the forest of melting ice,
A silver-haired girl began to slowly open her eyes.
Bianca, experiencing a throbbing in her head, still maintained her typically impassive expression.
Despite her headache, she looked around stoically.
At that moment, she realized her ice fox familiar, Pii, was missing—where it was supposed to be protecting her.
As she glanced around, she soon caught sight of Pii nestled in someone’s arms.
Upon seeing this, she was taken aback.
It was the first time Pii, who never showed affection to anyone but her, was held by someone else.
There stood a boy cloaked in robes, with striking red eyes.
He halted his hand that had been stroking Pii and regarded Bianca with a steady stare.
There was a sense of foreboding about the boy.
“Hand over Pii.”
Upon requesting the familiar, the boy gently placed Pii down.
Pii then glanced back at the boy before bounding over to Bianca.
“Not like I intended any harm.”
The boy raised his hands as if to show he meant no threat.
Bianca, petting Pii’s head, nodded in acknowledgment.
“I understand. If you were going to harm me, Pii wouldn’t be here with you.”
“That’s a relief.”
The boy said that and stared off in a direction blankly.
Following his gaze, as Bianca prepared to question him, the boy spoke first.
“This side’s voice won’t reach that way, so I’ll speak.”
Bianca’s eyes filled with confusion.
She had no clue why he was saying that out of the blue.
“Kraush Balheim is currently involved with World Erosionists.”
At that revelation, Bianca revealed no sign of reaction.
If there was a chance the other party might harbor suspicion, reacting here could give them an opening.
Showcasing her intelligence, she deftly perceived that Kraush was in a precarious situation,
So she merely regarded the boy with her customary blank expression.
“I’m Arashizm Lacroix, hailing from the Lacroix family.”
The boy gazed at Bianca with a fixed stare, his red eyes piercing.
“I’m here to save Kraush Balheim.”
That was when an absolutely unexpected declaration escaped his lips.
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