Chapter 93

Chapter 93

[EP.93] Striking During Transformation

11 hours had passed since the battle with Agares began.

Without a single break since the first engagement, the Sky-Piercing Knight Order had been clashing with Agares in the darkness.

Naturally, they avoided a direct confrontation.

The power possessed by Agares far surpassed human capabilities.

A disaster.

That’s precisely what Agares, an erosion species close to a calamity, is.

Hence, the Sky-Piercing Knight Order thoroughly adopted a strategy of stalling for time.

“Aargh!”

At that moment, a knight from the Sky-Piercing Knight Order, caught by a dark tendril, was swiftly dragged towards Agares.

Looking directly into Agares’s encircling eyes induces confusion, visual impairment, bleeding, panic, among numerous other curses.

Hence, in an attempt to avoid eye contact, the attack went unnoticed.

Creak!

Agares’s body opened, revealing its blood-red teeth, ready to engulf and digest its prey immediately.

Crunch!

Snap!

But before that could happen, two figures appeared in front of the dark tendril.

One was Kraush, shrouded in black flames.

The other was Lilish, wielding a blade of blue aura.

Both of their swords simultaneously sliced through the dark tendril, and the Sky-Piercing knight quickly regained their posture.

“Captain, Mr. Kraush, thank you!”

“Keep your wits about you. Let’s not get caught off guard.”

“Yes!”

Lilish, hearing the knight’s response, struck down another dark tendril with her sword.

Meanwhile, her eyes swiftly followed Kraush, who, like her, had been moving ceaselessly for 11 hours, saving a fellow knight from Sky-Piercing at such a critical moment.

Thanks to him, despite the elapsed time, there were zero casualties among the Sky-Piercing knights.

Something she couldn’t have achieved alone.

‘Surely he’s of peak expert level.’

Where does he keep getting such a level of aura from?

That was beyond her knowledge.

However, one thing constantly nagged at her.

And she knew what this nagging sense was.

Skill

Insight

Her skill, often called Intuition.

She chose this skill just a year ago, on the day of Belorkin’s funeral, after making her decision because the Sword King, her eldest brother and the family’s head, told her directly.

“In the face of world erosion, sometimes it’s a quick intuition, rather than immense power, that keeps you alive.”

It was advice from the Sword King, hoping to prevent any more direct losses to world erosion in the future.

While their inner meanings differed, Lilish agreed with him.

She had planned to acquire the skill when she felt she no longer needed to rely on it after further honing her abilities.

Thus, she chose Insight.

Indeed, Insight proved useful during world erosion.

And today, it activated when she saw the black flames surrounding Kraush.

Instantly, it reminded her of Belorkin’s Ignis.

Confirming with Kraush, she knew she was right.

And now, her Insight was activating once again.

This time, directed towards Kraush.

She intuitively felt he was about to do something dangerous.

“Vice-captain Darvian, how long has it been?”

Kraush’s voice suddenly erupted.

Checking the time, Darvian responded.

“11 hours and 21 minutes.”

As the precise time was confirmed, Kraush exhaled lightly.

Soon it would be 12 hours.

Time to conclude this hellish darkness.

Not just Kraush but all members of the Sky-Piercing Knight Order were aware of this.

Agares had faced other houses besides Balheim.

Those who survived had diligently gathered information on it.

Hence, everyone should know.

Maintaining darkness was Agares’s limit for 12 hours.

‘No, calling it a limit might not be accurate.’

Let’s phrase it differently.

It’s more like Agares deciding it can’t kill with darkness, so it switches strategies.

Screech-

A strange noise emanated from Agares’s body.

Agares is a sentient being.

Though it’s unclear if it can engage in conversation, one thing is certain.

‘It deliberately shows a pattern when facing opponents.’

And looking at the Sky-Piercing knights, it seemed only Kraush knew why.

At that moment, black flames and Lioner surged atop Kraush’s Rain Thunder Prime.

Crackle, whoosh!

Focusing on one point,

A ripple spread across the lake of Kraush’s immense willpower.

The eruption, mingling fire and thunder, met with world erosion, spewing black light.

Eventually reaching Kraush’s sword.

Crack!

The moment the black blade burst through Rain Thunder Prime,

Kraush’s thrust was unleashed.

Pugh!

“Gaah!”

For the first time, Agares let out a scream as lightning and black flames exploded together.

Bones resembling a giant’s arms flew out from Agares’s cloak, quickly lifting its body into the air.

These arms then descended towards Kraush, leaving no room to dodge.

“Huff!”

Just as Kraush wrapped himself in black flames, prepared to shatter his body if necessary to split the fist,

Crash!

It was Lilish who blocked the attack.

She shattered the bone arms with a swift swing of her sword, then grabbed Kraush by the neck and flung him backward, extending her sword in a straight line.

Her sword, charged to the brink with blue aura, was enveloped in a storm.

Crushing Slash Sword

When the condensed aura touched Agares’s giant arm,

Only a tiny sound of displacement echoed.

However, the aftermath of Crushing Slash Sword didn’t end there.

Agares’s bone arm started to twist and resonate.

Crack, crack-crack-crack!

Boom!

A delayed explosion shattered the bone arm into pieces.

Lilish’s original technique, resonating aura within to cause an explosion, was still in development.

Partly because of the technique’s aftermath, her sword also cracked.

Despite this, she glared at Kraush with eyes wide open.

Furious at Kraush for not hesitating to rush in at the chance,

“You!”

As she yelled, Kraush gave a brief smile and readjusted his posture.

“Miss Sister, striking during transformation is common sense.”

Agares only reveals its true eye once,

When absorbing darkness.

Kraush knew this, hence his desperate rush.

If its real eye is destroyed, the other curse-bearing eyes cannot open.

Moreover, the most significant factor is that with the eye, the conduit of darkness, damaged,

Agares can no longer freely manipulate darkness.

Proof of this inability is the real bone arms now flailing about.

Normally, those arms’ muscles and skin should have been filled with darkness.

But now, Agares’s arms showed no further transformation.

Unable to manipulate darkness, Agares’s use of its original power was hindered.

A consequence of Agares letting its guard down in amusement.

Had this attempt failed, Kraush planned to give up on directly killing Agares.

Facing Agares with its full body revealed and manipulating darkness is a genuine disaster.

There’s no winning against that – not at the moment.

But the gamble paid off.

Securely.

Realizing this, Lilish’s eyes furrowed.

Instead of scolding Kraush, she turned to the astonished Sky-Piercing knights.

“Sky-Piercing Knight Order!”

She wasn’t about to miss this opportunity.

“Attack with all your might!”

Following her command, all members of the Sky-Piercing Knight Order, their aura blades raised, charged at Agares.

Agares, having finished recalling the darkness, revealed its real bony body from beneath its cloak.

Without the armor of darkness, the original body was nothing but bare bones.

Furthermore, perhaps due to the Green Wave knights exterminating more erosion species than expected,

The power of Agares’s true body, bearing the sovereign command, had significantly weakened.

“Gaah!”

Agares screamed in fury.

Nonetheless, Kraush exhaled and tightly clenched his fist.

“Hey.”

In his hand was Agares’s darkness.

“Let me borrow your curse for a bit.”

Now was the time to use Agares’s curse.