### Chapter: 323
Rabid Dog, Garda
He was just an ordinary guy from a regular family.
A simple man who loved to play with the puppy he grew up with, laughing and enjoying life without any big dreams.
But one day, misfortune struck him.
In Garda’s world, his kind was treated as slaves.
The village where Garda lived was a slave village that had to regularly offer people to the great beings.
Garda was a naive person.
In some ways, he was a bit slow.
So, even though he was past the age for marriage, he eventually lost his value in the slave village.
A slave who can’t have children is considered a useless labor resource.
Eventually, Garda was caught by the villagers and sacrificed to the great beings.
What followed was a nightmare.
The great beings tore apart Garda’s head, played with his brain, and poked at all his nerves.
Then, they read his memories and brought his beloved puppy to combine it with him.
Thus, the combat chimera was born.
It was the Rabid Dog.
The Rabid Dog stood there, dazed, not knowing what he was doing.
Why was he suddenly reminiscing about the past?
“Looks like a cockroach.”
He heard the voice of a great being looking down at him after he lost in the arena.
Unable to bring himself to kill his comrade who had also become a chimera, the Rabid Dog was forced to take a beating instead.
“I need to mess with the brain more. Yes, let’s force some illusion magic in there. That way, he’ll know no fear towards battle. A chimera only needs to have murderous intent.”
The Rabid Dog felt a headache and rubbed his forehead.
Drip—
Blood trickled down his forehead.
Where did this blood come from?
The Rabid Dog had no idea.
The next day, when he faced his chimera comrade in a revenge match, the Rabid Dog tore him apart mercilessly.
“Woof!”
At that moment, the sound of a dog barking echoed.
Did he bark perhaps?
The Rabid Dog checked his mouth.
But strangely, there was no familiar dog snout he typically felt.
The only friend that made him promise he could live if someone loved him.
It was Ir’s snout.
“Woof!”
Another bark sounded.
The Rabid Dog turned his head.
There sat a dog, waiting quietly.
As soon as it noticed the Rabid Dog, its eyes sparkled, and it used its four legs to jump towards him.
“A.”
Tears welled up in the Rabid Dog’s eyes.
That dog was definitely Ir.
“Ir!”
“Woof!”
Ir charged at the Rabid Dog.
The Rabid Dog joyfully embraced Ir, laughing.
The murderous intent that used to torment his mind had somehow vanished.
The Rabid Dog only smiled brightly, holding Ir close.
Tears streamed down his face.
Then he realized one fact.
This was a death montage.
A vision seen right before dying.
‘I’ve lost.’
It was the axe he swung with all his might.
But ultimately, that axe couldn’t reach Kraush’s sword.
However, the Rabid Dog felt calm.
It was actually too late.
He couldn’t bring himself to kill anyone, endlessly harming others without being able to die due to the memory of Ir being transplanted into him.
“Ir, I’m sorry. I was greedy.”
For your sake, the one who died because of me.
He wanted to live just a little longer in this world and clung to life.
“Woof!”
Ir licked the Rabid Dog’s face, smiling.
That was enough for the Rabid Dog.
It was a long time.
Now, it was time to rest.
In a space swept by white flames, the Rabid Dog’s body was rolling around in half.
“Haah, haah.”
And in front of the half-sliced open Rabid Dog stood Kraush, panting heavily.
Having mixed the might of the White Dragon to fill the space and also using the Eight Forms, Kraush was feeling the toll on his body as a result.
The combination of the Rabid Dog and the Igrit technique was powerful.
It had enough power to even ruin one’s sixth sense.
‘Had I slipped up, it would’ve been me suffering.’
Indeed, the World Erosions were not to be underestimated.
But the battle was not over yet.
Kraush dodged the fist of the smoke giant flying toward him.
Just then, a hand of the smoke giant, which had appeared from the ground, slammed into Kraush’s legs.
Kraush lost his balance and was sent flying into the air.
Within the smoke, Igrit could be seen.
His staff had condensed smoke as if it was solid metal.
Kraush grasped Thunder Prime.
Soon, a mass of Igrit’s smoke was launched.
Smoke Manipulation
Smoke Chase
Beneath the tip of his staff, a barrage of smoke-like bullets erupted, chasing after Kraush.
While spinning in the air, Kraush swung his sword, parrying the smoke barrage right and left.
However, unable to deflect some of them, Kraush was struck and tumbled to the ground.
Drip—
The parts where the smoke bullets hit turned his skin white, dripping with pale blood.
It seemed prone to curses of some kind.
‘Curses creeping in from the outside? The white flames can’t do anything about that right now.’
Kraush rolled on the ground to avoid the advancing smoke giant without a moment to catch his breath.
Igrit was formidable.
A different kind of strong compared to the Rabid Dog.
The shape of Igrit disappeared into the smoke once more.
He couldn’t sense his presence even with his sixth sense.
Despite the Rabid Dog’s death, he was pressing Kraush without even blinking.
Perhaps he thought of it as an opportunity since Kraush was currently worn out.
‘No, maybe he believed he could stall a bit longer.’
Kraush quietly inhaled, secretly infusing power into Thunder Prime.
Just once.
He had to seize one last opportunity to strike Igrit.
‘Outputting power…’
Having drained strength to take down the Rabid Dog, he was not in a comfortable position.
There probably wouldn’t be many chances left going forward.
The aura of the White Dragon, which had been swirling around Kraush’s body, began to scatter white flames once more.
The white flame relentlessly spread throughout the smoke.
At the same time, the white flame began to condense within his Thunder Prime.
Igrit must have sensed it too.
He was aware that Kraush intended to pull him in again, just like before.
The Igrit hidden in the smoke would have no way to deal with the white flames.
The aura of the white flame was the natural enemy of the World Erosion.
‘If you’re not anxious…’
I’ll just make you anxious instead.
As Kraush focused his mind, with that thought in mind, suddenly—
Crack!
The ground where Kraush stood cracked.
KA-BOOM!
The unexpected situation widened Kraush’s eyes.
What reflected in his eyes was a subterranean space filled with smoke.
The smoke was rising toward Kraush like an open hand.
Snap!
At the same time, the ceiling above Kraush crumbled, revealing another massive hand made of smoke.
Two giant hands made of smoke reached out toward Kraush in an instant.
Could he have been planning this from the start after sending the Rabid Dog off?
Kraush realized he had been outsmarted and bit his lip.
Just as he began to condense the white flames to escape between the hands, he saw Igrit swinging his staff.
The moment he struck the ground with his staff, Kraush felt as if the whitish skin that had changed was being ripped away, with gravity pulling him downward.
At the same time, the hand of smoke above him quickly came down toward Kraush.
Kraush realized what the white mark Igrit left on his body was.
This mark was meant to forcibly draw him toward a predetermined point.
Including his own smoke.
“Time to go.”
Igrit smiled as he saw Kraush being pulled in between the two smoke hands.
Captured.
He felt certain of it.
Blug!
Before his purple elongated claws pierced through his chest.
“Cough?!”
Igrit’s eyes widened as his newly acquired fedora flew into the air.
Black blood gushed out from Igrit’s mouth.
The poison that spread throughout his entire body had rocked him in an instant.
Igrit tremblingly turned to look behind himself.
There stood a middle-aged man with black and purplish hair similar to Haring’s.
He revealed a menacing aura alongside the black-purple poison spilling from his body.
“Finally found these rotten things.”
With the help of the Rabid Dog and Igrit, the one trapped in illusions was none other than the Poison King, Hauran Lagrain.
Once the Rabid Dog was dead, and the illusion over him was lifted, Hauran had entrusted the Fourth Princess Sera Betella to her protection and dashed into the most chaotic location.
And seeing Kraush fighting Igrit, he ambushed from behind.
Igrit realized why he hadn’t detected Hauran earlier.
It was the white flame aura mingling with the smoke.
That white flame had disrupted Igrit’s perception, causing him to focus solely on Kraush without paying attention.
It was purely because Kraush had proven to be a formidable opponent.
Igrit’s gaze met Kraush’s once again.
With the damage he sustained, Kraush barely wore a faint smile through the disintegrating smoke.
‘Could it be from the very beginning…’
Using the white flame was to draw him in but also to hide Hauran, who was approaching.
Thinking he had trapped them, the tables had turned against him.
“The Black Witch…”
Igrit thought this was the worst-case scenario as he attempted to muster the last of his strength.
Blug, blug, blug!
Without any hesitation, Hauran thrust his hand through Igrit’s body multiple times.
Once in the neck, twice in the shoulder, six times in the chest, and even through his legs, Hauran stamped the falling Igrit.
Covered in countless holes thanks to Hauran, Igrit’s body quaked intermittently but no longer moved.
“I won’t let you die.”
Igrit was riddled with holes yet somehow was unable to die.
The poison seeping into his body granted him a forced delay on his death.
“Since I have many tales to share as a cost of attacking Lagrain.”
Hauran spoke ominously with a menacing glint as the head of Lagrain.
With that, Hauran raised his head.
In the distant underground space, he spotted Kraush, barely emerging.
A man favored by the Fourth Princess, even adored by his daughter.
Hauran’s gaze fell upon the torn body of the Rabid Dog nearby.
That pup must have been the one who trapped him in illusions.
Even Hauran had fallen prey to that illusion.
Yet, not only did Kraush bring down such an opponent but even pushed Igrit, whom Hauran regarded as a powerful enemy, to this level.
‘He’s not just stronger.’
Hauran became convinced.
The Ten Heavenly Lords would be replaced sooner rather than later.
All his worries for his daughter weighed heavily on him, and he sighed.
But it wasn’t time to rest yet.
He still had to deal with the World Erosions hidden within the palace and the raging Jeblam.
And there was the matter of settling a deal with the Fourth Princess Sigrid Ephania.
“The Empire is bound to change.”
Due to one girl and one boy.
Thinking of the future Empire that could change, Hauran lifted Igrit.
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