### Chapter: 294
The Whispers of the Willow
Swoosh—
The willow branches fluttered gracefully.
In the underground space, the scene of the willow scattering in the light was incredibly beautiful and enchanting.
Even Kraush found himself staring blankly at the view.
But aside from that, a sinister presence lurked among the willows.
And this presence was undoubtedly tied to Biolain’s power.
“Biolain.”
As Kraush called her name, she nodded in acknowledgement.
Biolain began to walk towards the willow tree.
She stood before the willow, lifting her hands towards it.
Closing her eyes, she focused as if trying to regain her lost powers.
Soon, Biolain would reclaim her original strength—the power of the Gateway.
As Kraush silently observed, a different thought struck him.
Was there really a need for Biolain to bear the weight of that power?
The barrier mage had sealed away the power within Biolain, intending to prevent the clash of World Erosion powers with world powers.
What Ixion was targeting was likely related to this as well.
While Biolain excelled in barrier techniques, she wasn’t particularly strong in combat.
If she was targeted by Ixion, the odds would surely be stacked against her.
‘In that case…’
Wouldn’t it be better for them to take Biolain’s power for themselves?
“Wait, Biolain…”
Just as Kraush was about to call her name again, something distorted caught his eye.
In an instant, Kraush felt the surge of Annihilation Erosion rise through his body.
Thud—
Before the sound of his feet hitting the ground could echo, Kraush’s form scattered.
“Yikes!”
In a split second, Kraush wrapped his arms around Biolain and twisted his body.
Slash!
A huge oval chakram whizzed by, slicing through a few strands of his hair like a hot knife through butter.
It was a blue chakram containing starlight.
As soon as Kraush saw it, he recognized who had just appeared.
‘Black Bird.’
A dark attribute demon and a key member of Ixion.
“Oh my, did you just take a hit?”
Black Bird, appearing from beyond the distorted space, revealed herself, crafting an almost impossible-to-see space with her movements.
Kriiiing!
Before Kraush could regain his stance, the chakram started spinning in mid-air.
At that moment, a powerful gust from the chakram pulled Kraush harshly towards it.
Caught unprepared, he found himself helpless against the force of the chakram.
‘Not like this!’
But Kraush wasn’t ready to go down that easily.
Clutching Biolain, he pulled out Rain Thunder Prime and hurled it with all his might, not bothering to make it into a blade.
Clang!
The moment the grip of Rain Thunder Prime hit the chakram, it twisted.
This was a testament to Kraush’s pure strength.
Thanks to this, the chakram, now twisted, slammed into the surrounding walls, leaving a trail of destruction.
Whoosh!
At that moment, Aslan’s late fire spell erupted against Black Bird.
Black Bird quickly fashioned a circular chakram to deflect Aslan’s magic and wiped it all away.
But Aslan wasn’t just any slouch when it came to magic.
The dispersing flames soon transformed into electrical currents, exploding towards Black Bird.
Caught off guard by the sudden change in magic, Black Bird twisted the chakram.
As a result, the incoming lightning magic ricocheted wildly, demolishing the walls around them.
Kaboom!
Through the billowing smoke, Black Bird grimaced.
The technique of activating magic and then reactivating it again was a high-level skill not easily executed by your average magician.
“Just an insignificant human?”
Thanks to her quick judgment, she had escaped harm, but anger brewed within her for almost being caught off-guard by a human.
Her pride as a dark attribute demon wouldn’t allow her to accept being outdone by a human.
With a sharp turn of her head, she extended her hand.
She intended to retrieve the chakram she had thrown at Kraush and kill the mage who had interrupted her.
But it didn’t take long for her to realize that was a mistake.
Swish!
Amidst the smoke that had thickened around them, Kraush, with Rain Thunder Prime honed to an extreme, was closing in on her with Excel activated.
He had just hurled his sword a moment ago.
With some trickery, he had retrieved his weapon and, in that split second, his eyes burned with a fierce red light, alarming Black Bird.
His sword glowed a deep red, burning intensely.
The overwhelming bloodlust of a dragon surged forth, fueled by the power of World Erosion.
At that moment, the essence of Kraush’s World Erosion converted into a bright aura.
Flash—
As the white sword engulfed in dazzling light was perfected, Kraush swung it with no hesitation toward Black Bird.
Annihilation Erosion
Four Styles
Absolute Death Slice!
As the Absolute Death Slice extended towards Black Bird, she too launched her chakram.
The chakram, now infused with starlight more tightly than before, poured a luminous glow and clashed with Kraush’s sword.
Naturally, Black Bird presumed she could block Kraush’s attack.
Her chakram was a special weapon made from the very stars, Muhee.
Her chakram nullified powers that weren’t made of the same star-matter.
In short, no matter how much aura or World Erosion Kraush conjured up—even the power of his aura—upon touching her chakram, it would all be rendered moot.
Where she was determined to shatter his blade and split Kraush in half, she had underestimated him.
Right before Kraush’s blade could meet the chakram, Kraush’s blade simply vanished.
Black Bird’s eyes widened in shock.
The chakram was thrown based on the assumption of a collision with Kraush’s blade.
Thus, the chakram lost its intended target and lunged towards Kraush instead.
Timing was completely off.
Kraush had anticipated this from the start.
So, he instinctively ducked, letting the chakram sail over his head as he stomped down hard.
Boom!
With an explosive leap, he vaulted into Black Bird’s space.
He had no time to recreate his sword.
‘In that case…’
Kraush let go of Rain Thunder Prime.
Instead, he unleashed all the power of his white aura into his right fist.
‘I’ll land a hit, no matter what!’
With a punch aimed straight ahead, he unleashed:
Disaster Dragon Drop
Second Style
Force!
Thud!
Kraush’s aura-infused punch buried itself into Black Bird’s abdomen.
At that very moment, Black Bird’s body twisted at an awkward angle like a broken doll, while Kraush’s next trick was launched simultaneously.
Inner Concentration!
The first strike flowed right into the second internal hit.
Having taken the hit outright, Black Bird was launched upwards into the air.
Boom!
With a thunderous crash, she slammed against the wall, rolling down helplessly.
Kraush, taking a breath, glanced at his fist.
‘That didn’t land perfectly.’
He sensed his strike had been obstructed by something.
“Hah.”
As he lifted his gaze, Black Bird’s bewildered voice penetrated through the smoke.
She gradually emerged from the haze, brushing aside her slightly disheveled silver hair.
Her eyes emanated a dark malice, distorting the very space around her.
“Did a mere human just land a punch on me?”
“Black Bird, you underestimated your opponent.”
At that moment, a different voice reached Kraush’s ears.
Recognizing that voice, Kraush furrowed his brows.
Turning around, he saw a blue-haired beauty with a mask covering one eye, towering over him.
Kraush had only recently become familiar with her face.
The Hell Fairy.
The red witch Abella’s spy embedded into Ixion.
With a large glowing orb that shimmered with a blue hue in her hand, she stood beside Black Bird.
“That was too close.”
Kraush realized that the reason his punch hadn’t fully landed was due to the presence of the Hell Fairy.
Normally, Black Bird, with her arrogance, would’ve been a prime target for a sneak attack.
But things had turned out to be rather anticlimactic.
Kraush exhaled quietly.
First Black Bird, now the Hell Fairy appeared.
It was shaping up to be a pretty tough battle after all.
“Did you say I was in danger?”
While they were speaking, Black Bird was spinning three chakrams, Muhee, around her.
“Impossible! There’s no danger to me!”
“Probably true.”
The Hell Fairy responded to Black Bird’s declaration without any expression.
Kraush, quietly watching them, finally spoke up.
“There’s a possibility Gliese Lakteia was outside watching. How did you two get in?”
Currently, the one keeping guard at the entrance was none other than the Empress Gliese Lakteia.
She harbored dangerous thoughts of slaughtering every World Erosion creature.
So, naturally, she wouldn’t allow a single one past the barrier.
“Do you think that woman is anything special?”
The Hell Fairy remained silent, but Black Bird, always the loudmouth, cackled at Kraush.
“Even if the Beast King and Master of Magic both show up, that woman won’t be able to make a move.”
Could it be that those two have also made their move?
Kraush knew that Ixion was running low on key members, but he never expected them all to come out at once.
‘No matter how powerful that Empress may be…’
If the two attacked together with their full might, surely there would be gaps.
“Even so, breaking through the barrier wouldn’t have been easy,” Kraush asserted.
“Not unless you—”
“Black Bird, stop it.”
The Hell Fairy cut Black Bird off as she was getting carried away.
Black Bird narrowed her eyes and glared at the Hell Fairy.
“What are you doing? I’m in the middle of a story. Don’t cut me off.”
She showed her irritation even to a fellow member of Ixion.
Kraush didn’t see Black Bird as a significant threat, but he didn’t consider her to be a harmless foe either.
There would be no cooperation with Black Bird.
The Hell Fairy appeared to understand this fact well enough as she quietly chided Black Bird.
“There’s no need to share information.”
“That’s my decision to make. Next time you cut me off, I’ll shove Muhee down your gut, understood? Don’t interrupt me.”
The Hell Fairy offered no reply.
However, Kraush could read her thoughts somewhat.
‘What a nasty piece of work.’
What caught Kraush’s attention, though, was Black Bird’s earlier words.
“Even so…”
Clearly, that was referring to the barrier mage.
Which meant that the barrier mage had cooperated with Ixion.
‘What a mess.’
Kraush decisively deemed the barrier mage to have been caught.
It was unfortunate for her, but now wasn’t the time to worry about her.
Right now, he had his hands full.
“I’m going to kill those two first.”
Black Bird’s chakram began to spin once more.
Kraush couldn’t help but chuckle softly as he watched.
Seeing Kraush break into a smile turned Black Bird’s gaze uneasy.
What could possibly be so funny?
“Those two, huh? Why mention just two?”
Kraush mocked, smirking.
Black Bird glanced at Kraush with a look that suggested she was trying to comprehend what he meant.
Behind Kraush stood Aslan, quietly gathering magic, and Biolain, standing closely behind him.
At that moment, the Hell Fairy paused.
“…They’re in trouble.”
Black Bird soon realized what the Hell Fairy meant.
A sudden burst of wind scattered the images of Aslan and Biolain.
That was an afterimage spell.
Not just any afterimage, but one blended with Biolain’s barrier spells, designed to keep even those skilled in magic like the Hell Fairy from perceiving it.
This was a plan devised collaboratively by Kraush, Aslan, and Biolain from the very start.
The two World Erosion creatures had just walked right into it.
“Are you trying to sacrifice yourselves for this?”
Black Bird, now separated from her allies, reacted with sheer disbelief.
“Oh, so you didn’t realize you were being targeted either.”
As the malice shimmered in her eyes, Black Bird’s anger peaked.
“I’ll make you regret that choice!”
Black Bird’s two chakrams launched fiercely toward Kraush again.
The power contained within the Muhee was so intense it could obliterate everything in its path.
Given the nature of those chakrams, they couldn’t be deflected head-on.
Kraush felt the impending threat as they closed in on him from both sides.
At the same time, the Hell Fairy attempted to teleport and rush past Kraush.
Her goal was to leave Kraush to Black Bird while she secured Biolain.
Crack!
But that plan didn’t quite play out as expected.
At the moment her hair fluttered and obscured her vision, she lost track of Kraush.
“Wait.”
As the poor Black Bird missed, just off to the side the sound of an impact resonated.
Clang!
“Gah!”
It was the Hell Fairy, who had activated her teleport spell, but instead collided with Kraush’s missed strike.
Fortunately, the shield spell she had cast beforehand absorbed the blow, but failing to withstand it completely sent her crashing against the wall.
Black Bird’s face turned pale, entirely failing to read Kraush’s movements.
While she was confused, a white-hot steam began to billow from Kraush’s mouth.
He lazily turned to face Black Bird.
To her eyes, Kraush’s appearance was unlike anything seen before.
With sharp teeth and white scales shimmering through disheveled hair, tiny horns peeked through.
This transformation was miles away from being human.
“…Dragon Royalty?”
Kraush’s encounters with the armed princess had informed him of the power he had begun to wield.
But this was no longer just the power of the White Dragon; this was the embodiment of the dragon itself.
Black Bird stared at Kraush’s shocking form with wide eyes.
To go from being human to becoming a dragon royalty—it was no wonder she was struck dumb.
Demon Dragon of Annihilation!
Transformed into Dragon Royalty, Kraush unleashed his true technique.
A vicious grin spread across his face as he spoke.
“Don’t you talk nonsense.”
Kraush had aimed for Biolain’s safety when letting her escape, but there were other important reasons too.
“I’m simply…”
Simply because he wielded this power himself, it meant he was too strong.
With both of them present, he might just drag them down, preventing him from utilizing his full potential.
“I’m here to take down both of you!”
Now was the time to show them who the real trapped one was.
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