CH 18

Chapter 18. Anix’s Provocation (2)

Translator: Aura

Anix was not far from where the party mainly took place.

It had been quite some time since the start of the party, so it was time for each young noble to enjoy the atmosphere in their own way.

For that reason, Anix was on the terrace from where the outside view could be appreciated.

The moment Krasue reached the entrance to the terrace, he was met by a familiar face.

It was the boy with tiger-like stripes etched into his skin.

Ballack Hogma.

As soon as Anix’s subordinate saw Krasue, his feline eyes sparkled.

“Hi, hi! Glad to meet you!”

Krasue didn’t respond to his energetic greeting. He just stared at him with a serious expression.

Ballack was a swordsman who used two swords proficiently.

He doesn’t lack talent, but there were some problems with his personality.

He could be described as uncontrollable and explosive. Someone very difficult to deal with.

Ballack’s thoughts, who never sat still, were a mystery. He was a real weirdo.

“I came to see Anix.”

Krasue thought it would be a pain in the ass to deal with Ballack, so he would rather move on without any friction with him.

“Yes! Anix asked me to let you in when you came, Krasue!”

Fortunately, it seemed that Anix had told him beforehand.

“Well, then…”

“But I don’t want to!”

Just as Krasue was about to raise his hand to the knob of the terrace door, Ballack blocked his way.

He was only a year older than Krasue, so there was practically no difference in height.

As a result, he could clearly see how a wide smile spread over Ballack’s face.

“I’m interested in you too!”

“I’m not interested in men.”

“Huh? Would it be different if I were a woman?”

Ballack tilted his head, unable to comprehend.

With a pressure on his head, Krasue sighed,

“What do you want?”

“Let’s fight!”

In his subconscious, he knew this would happen.

Ballack was an obsessive fighter who wasn’t even afraid to challenge Charlotte to a fight when she came to the Holy Land of the Stars.

Of course, he had lost disastrously, but defeat was not something that affected him as much as Anix.

He was someone who enjoyed the fight itself. So it was only natural that Krasue, a member of the Valheim Family like Charlotte, would awaken his fighting spirit.

“It is forbidden to fight in the Holy Land of the Stars.”

“But I fought with Charlotte! I want to fight with you too! Even though you seem weaker than her.”

‘How can he compare me to a star at the top of Staron?’

Krasue reflected briefly.

If he could, he’d ignore Ballack and move onto the terrace. But judging by Ballack’s personality, it was unlikely he would get out of the way.

Ballack wasn’t weak either.

‘Expert level like me.’

Ballack was only one stage above him. What really made Ballack so hard to deal with was his innate instinct to fight.

His tendency to not sit still was reflected in his combat style, which made his movements not easy to predict.

Thanks to that innate instinct, he was the one who endured the longest against Charlotte.

Even so, he only lasted about three seconds longer than Anix.

‘I’d rather not face this guy now that I have to meet Anix.’

Ballack’s eyes showed clearly that he would not let it pass.

“Alright.”

Eventually, Krasue was forced to agree.

“Wow, thank you!”

Whoosh!

Krasue immediately threw a punch at Ballack, who could barely finish his words.

As Krasue’s aura-filled fist was about to hit Ballack’s nose, the latter tilted his head back with phenomenal reflexes.

Ballack’s flexibility was admirable, as he could bend at the waist to the point where his head touched the floor.

But before Ballack could recover his stance, Krasue kicked him in the leg.

Thump!

Ballack, who lost contact with the floor, floated slightly in the air. He was about to fall backwards to the floor.

At that moment, Krasue struck him in the abdomen with his elbows in rapid succession.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Ballack, who was beaten by Krasue, crashed to the floor.

Krasue looked down at Ballack in silence, who then jumped up and did a backflip.

With his arms wrapped around his abdomen in pain, his eyes slowly lit up.

“Have you no mercy?”

“You asked to fight.”

Krasue stretched his neck to either side to loosen his muscles.

He was a good-for-nothing. Compared to the other members of the Azure Sky Order, his abilities were so poor that he had simply been a curse dump.

Still, he survived to the end.

Part of the reason Krasue was one of the few of the Azure Sky Order to hold out until the end of the world was because he wasn’t on the front lines. The other part was that he had fought tooth and nail to stay alive, which made him become a little stronger. At least he wouldn’t be pummeled by brats.

In other words, he was now sure that he wouldn’t lose. Of course, the reality was that he’d be left behind anyway once they reached adulthood.

“Great! Great! Let’s continue! I haven’t used my techniques yet!”

“Oh, really? But I think the fight is over.”

The moment Ballack shouted excitedly, Krasue responded coldly.

Ballack, who had no idea what those words meant, suddenly had a profuse nosebleed.

“Huh?”

Ballack couldn’t even express his doubts, his eyes rolled back and he collapsed to the floor.

While Ballack was like this, Krasue brushed off his hands and Bianca tilted her head.

“How did you do it?”

“It’s a secret art.”

Its name was— Power Blast.

A good-for-nothing ancestor from Valheim invented the secret art with the most destructive power in the martial arts.

This secret art was the only one he was able to retrieve and learn in his past life from the burned down secret library of the Green Pine Pavilion. Thanks to this, Krasue had survived countless life and death situations.

For those reasons, it was also the secret art he mastered best.

“It is a secret art with many conditions to be used.”

If the conditions are met, it is a secret art that even if armor is worn, it can penetrate it and cause enormous internal damage.

By the time Krasue’s first elbow hit Ballack, the ‘power blast’ had already been used.

Ballack had tried to block his attack with his arms, but the impact still shook his insides violently.

“Ahh… Ahh…”

Ballack scuffled slightly on the floor, but couldn’t get up.

It was a natural result since he received the full force of the ‘power blast’, if he had protected his insides with aura perhaps it would have been different.

Leaving Ballack behind, Krasue opened the door that led out onto the terrace.

A man and a tall woman were standing on the terrace railings.

The man was the ‘Wooden Bow’, Anix Graiza.

The woman was Emilia Elfyn, a subordinate of his like Ballack.

Elfyn glanced at Krasue and walked in his direction. She seemed to go to Ballack, whom Krasue had defeated.

As Krasue stepped carefully aside, Anix smiled with narrowed eyes.

“I can’t believe you knocked Ballack down like that. I’m surprised.”

This guy knew Ballack would pick a fight, but he had kept him in front of the entrance anyway.

Krasue glared at him menacingly, thinking he was a black-hearted bastard.

“I know you used Princess Cladia to try to invite Bianca here in order to lure me in, so I came on my own.”

“Did you notice that?”

Anix reacted frankly surprised. Then he ran his hand over his chin in disbelief.

“You’re completely different from the rumors I’ve heard. It’s strange. Could it be that the rumors were wrong?”

“If you mean the rumors that I’m a good-for-nothing, they’re true.”

Krasue had no intention of denying rumors from the past. First of all, he was not interested in such rumors.

Every day the destruction of the world, which even the Azure Sky Order couldn’t prevent, drew nearer.

He needed to be stronger, not pay attention to the rumors.

“But if I defeat you today, those rumors could start to change.”

Krasue knew better than anyone that if he defeated strong people, the rumors would naturally change.

Anix was one of them. Besides, he had been a member of the Azure Sky Order, so he was one of Krasue’s targets.

‘I’ll steal his skill.’