### Chapter 383
On the Demon Bastion.
Bright white flames surged fiercely.
The intense white flames were so hot that even the demons shrank back in fear, flamboyantly lighting up the entire bastion.
Underneath the completely burnt white embers,
Kraush was panting heavily, having unleashed his maximum output.
Having emptied all the white flames left in his body to completely incinerate Demon Emperor Argol,
the fifth life burned away inside its cocoon.
The sixth life burned away inside its cocoon.
The seventh life burned away inside its cocoon.
The eighth life burned away inside its cocoon.
The ninth life burned away inside its cocoon.
‘Feels like it’s been a while since my head spun like this.’
In front of Kraush, there was not even a trace left of Argol.
Argol originally had five lives remaining.
However, thanks to the continuous burning in the cocoon through the white flames,
in the end, Argol himself couldn’t withstand that heat and was completely obliterated.
“Kraush.”
Hearing his name, Kraush raised his head.
Haring had approached and was supporting him, looking concerned.
“It’s hot.”
“It’s fine; this much is bearable.”
Despite Kraush’s reassurances, Haring didn’t pay him much mind—just a classic Haring reply.
“Sorry, but I need a favor. Let’s head inside the Demon Bastion.”
With this turn of events, Kraush decided to lean on Haring.
Inside the Demon Bastion lay the seed of the utmost evil.
He still hadn’t fulfilled his true purpose of coming to the Demonic Bastion.
As Kraush glanced back, everyone nodded.
Even though Argol’s defeat meant the effects of the highest curse sacrifice had vanished, they still hadn’t regained their lost aura.
So, Kraush opted to head further in with just Haring.
Haring led Kraush inside the Demon Bastion, supporting him as they went.
The inner sanctum was in ruins in every direction.
With all the chaos starting from the first flame, there was no way the Demon Bastion remained intact.
Swinging his dagger, Haring cleared a path through the debris.
Now at quite a high level, even for a master, making a path was a piece of cake for Haring.
Kraush advanced continuously along Haring’s path.
They were getting closer to the seed of utmost evil.
Kraush felt the power of the seed intensifying as he quickened his steps alongside Haring.
After a short while, they both halted.
There stood a door adorned with the image of a demon.
It looked thick enough to hide something important behind it.
“Haring, wait.”
Various curses dripped from the door.
Touching it could lead to who-knows-what-terrible fate.
So, Kraush stepped in front of Haring, extending his hand towards the door.
Thud!
In that moment, a flood of curses surged into Kraush.
It was as if they recognized their long-lost prey.
The curses bared their teeth at him.
‘Doomsday Curse, Betrayal Curse, Cataclysm, Determining Curse… all piled up with higher-level curses.’
An overwhelming amount of curses flooded into Kraush, almost making him retch.
But he accepted the curses with an indifferent demeanor.
He bared his own teeth fiercely, as if protecting his territory.
Seeing this, the curses couldn’t even hold their ground and faltered.
Some even showed signs of wanting to escape.
‘You think I’ll let you go?’
Sorry, but he had no plans to allow any of the invaders to leave.
Kraush ignited his flames immediately.
The curses screamed as they were engulfed in flames, disappearing into Kraush’s body.
In an instant, Kraush devoured the curses whole and turned to Haring.
Haring, though having witnessed this many times, looked worried.
She had a worried expression as if asking if this was really okay.
Kraush raised his hand and gently patted Haring’s head.
“Don’t worry. I’m fine.”
At Kraush’s touch, Haring’s face naturally softened.
Then, realizing she might seem too easily swayed by Kraush each time, she flinched and awkwardly corrected her expression.
“Still, I hope you won’t absorb any more curses.”
Kraush paused at Haring’s words.
During his curse-receiving days, except for Astria, everyone had taken it for granted that Kraush would devour the curses.
But now, many people genuinely cared about him.
This thought struck Kraush quite deeply.
“Yeah, you’re right.”
With that, Kraush pushed open the last door.
“There will come a day when I can stop doing this.”
Kraush began to realize he was reaching the end of his journey.
And so, even toward that final end, he wouldn’t stop moving forward.
Bam!
Inside the shattered door, devoid of curses,
black energy swirled wildly.
The seed of utmost evil was entering a full ignition state, and the evil was about to awaken.
“Kraush, this is…”
“It’s about that time. Haring, step back.”
Kraush pushed Haring backward and approached the seed of utmost evil.
The seed attempted to repel him with the chaotic power of world erosion, but Kraush was unfazed.
Instead, he raised his hand and activated the Black Hood as usual.
Rumble!
As soon as Kraush activated his Black Hood, the entire seed began to shake.
As if making one last desperate attempt, the black light from the seed spread out and began to melt the walls, but
it was nothing compared to Kraush’s heat.
Positioning himself to shield Haring from the black light, Kraush managed to extract the seed of utmost evil just in the nick of time.
Crunch!
The black tendrils surrounding the seed collapsed.
At that moment, Kraush felt the immense power that the seed of utmost evil in the Demonic Bastion had accumulated.
The power of the utmost evil surged heavily into Kraush’s body.
Kraush began fueling his Ignis with everything he had.
From then on, it was a war between Kraush and the seed of utmost evil.
Until Kraush completely devoured it,
the Demonic Bastion would do everything in its power to force the seed out.
Boom!
Far away in the fortress, an ominous rumble echoed.
It was the movement of countless demon spawn from the realm of erosion.
All over the Demonic Bastion, demon spawn stirred frantically.
They were rushing into the Demon Bastion, intent on reclaiming the seed of utmost evil.
By now, the outside must have been in chaos preparing for the counteroffensive.
But Kraush had no time to concern himself with that.
What he needed to do right now was one thing.
Devour the Demonic Bastion.
“Haah.”
Amidst the black smoke flowing from his mouth, Kraush sat cross-legged.
It was an insane amount of world erosion for the Demonic Bastion,
but Kraush’s mind didn’t waver anymore.
He had devoured this kind of power countless times already.
Without hesitation, Kraush ignited the seed of utmost evil with fervent flames.
The intense heat radiating from around Kraush began melting the walls and floor.
Haring, unable to get close to Kraush, circled around him instead.
She stayed on guard to respond immediately if anything went wrong with Kraush.
Boom! Crash!
The cheers of the people and the howls of the demon spawn echoed maddeningly.
The entire Demon Bastion shook, and the sounds of collapse were heard all around.
But Icarus held steadfast until Kraush absorbed the entire seed of utmost evil.
Aslan’s flame magic,
Bianca’s ice spirit magic,
Karandis’s water technique,
Felray’s swordsmanship—
Everyone desperately unleashed their powers to keep the demon spawn at bay.
Icarus spread his wings fiercely and took flight.
As if he wouldn’t let a demon catch him at all.
They resisted tirelessly against the relentless onslaught of demon spawn pouring in like crazy.
At the very edge of the horizon, the demon spawn, going wild, were met with a single slash.
Boom!
The strike cleaved the horizon apart,
and right there, the demon spawn disintegrated into nothingness.
As everyone gaped in shock,
the figure that appeared was none other than Balok Balheim.
He gracefully strolled onto the ramparts with his sword drawn.
Behind him were Charlotte, Lilish, the Guardian Sword, the Swordmaster, Maju, and even Maria.
All of them appeared one after the other.
Seeing this, Icarus’s morale soared.
They only had to defeat demon emperor Argol and deal with the seed of utmost evil remaining.
High morale boosted Icarus’s strengths even further.
“Protect the Demon Bastion.”
With Balok’s command as the temporary captain, Icarus shouted enthusiastically.
A nearly day-long battle had ensued.
Injuries piled up, and deaths followed.
Before long, dark clouds loomed overhead again, pouring down black rain that chipped away at Icarus’s mental strength.
Yet they did not relent.
They did everything they could, burning their lives to desperately defend the Demon Bastion.
And at the end of it all, someone looked up at the sky and said,
“Dark clouds.”
Hearing his mutter, the team members began glancing up at the sky one by one.
They soon spotted the demon spawn they were fighting against.
Gradually, the figures that had been reduced to ash began to drift apart.
Icarus had seen this sight numerous times.
They were all veteran warriors who had made it through the Kingdom of Jeblam.
“We won.”
The moment someone shouted that, it resonated like wildfire around them.
“We won!”
“We closed the Demonic Bastion!”
Cheers of joy erupted from all sides,
the resounding cheers shook the entire Demon Bastion.
Amidst the joyous shouts, Bianca kept anxiously gazing down the corridor.
Though she was exhausted from fighting the demon spawn all day,
she couldn’t feel at ease until she saw Kraush.
After a while, she heard footsteps approaching from down the corridor.
Bianca hurriedly made her way towards the sound.
As she rushed over, a deep sigh of relief escaped her lips upon seeing a familiar face.
There was Kraush, walking towards her with Haring assisting him.
Kraush, with his once dark blue hair now fading to a white hue, raised his hand as their eyes met.
“Wow, it’s super noisy outside.”
As Kraush joked about the noise pollution, Bianca dashed over and embraced him.
Kraush barely managed to stay upright as he patted Bianca’s head.
“Did you wait for me?”
“Yes, a lot.”
Upon hearing Bianca’s answer, Kraush smiled briefly and looked up at the sky.
“Yeah, let’s head back now.”
They had finally finished one of the remaining two seeds of utmost evil—the Demonic Bastion.
From a long time ago, starting from the eight-star demon, Agares, to today,
it was definitely a long and winding journey.
Now only one seed remained.
The forest of giants in the Freya Mountains.
And once this was done,
“It’s time to settle the score with Abella,”
the one who kidnapped Aria.
It was time to show her who was boss.
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