TLed by NolepGuy
Chapter 16
News of an entire Intermediate Knight Squad being wiped out and Belorkin’s death spread rapidly throughout the Balheim main house.
This World Erosion exhibited unusual symptoms, escalating its difficulty to 5 stars, and as a result, only Kraush Balheim survived.
Where is Kraush now?
He was at the main house, no less.
‘To think I’d come back here for such a reason.’
Kraush had been given an empty room in the main house and was currently resting.
Kraush was later found by the Purification Team and additional Knight Orders, exhausted and looking like a drowned rat.
Therefore, he was first brought to the main house, which was closer than the Green Pine Mansion.
Thanks to that, he was able to rest at the main house for the first time in a long while.
“Does this make sense! How, how could Belorkin die and a half-penny like Balheim survive alone!”
“Watch your words, no matter what, Mr. Kraush is still a direct descendant of Balheim. Do you want to cause trouble?”
At that moment, voices could be heard from outside.
The owner of the voice was none other than Belorkin’s personal butler.
It seemed he couldn’t accept Belorkin’s death and had shouted out unintentionally.
‘Some are even praising Belorkin for his valor, yet here we are.’
According to the Purification Team’s findings, this World Erosion had escalated to 5 stars, two levels higher than usual.
A 5-star World Erosion is something that only an Expert at the highest level can handle.
In such a situation, Belorkin, merely a Senior Knight, fought with all his might, and ultimately inflicted a severe wound on the Thousand-Face Demon with Ignis, defeating it.
It was a truly noble sacrifice.
Of course, as it was called a sacrifice, he could not avoid death.
He was cursed by the Thousand-Face Demon’s final attack.
Belorkin tried to pierce his face with a sword containing Ignis to breathe, but he was in a state where his injuries and breathing were not right.
As a result, he only cut his innocent body instead of his face and died of respiratory failure.
Who testified to and spoke of his heroic sacrifice?
It was none other than Kraush.
‘It seems they believe the testimony as well, so I guess I don’t need to worry about it anymore.’
Despite killing Belorkin with his own hands, Kraush felt no particular guilt, even though they were half-brothers.
He always hated him.
Until the very end.
‘Belorkin was destined to die by a family member’s hand anyway. There’s nothing new about it.’
The image of him being beaten to death by Charlotte was still vivid.
Come to think of it, why did Charlotte kill Belorkin?
At the time, due to successive curses and injuries inflicted by Belorkin, Kraush’s memory of that time was faint.
He heard that Belorkin had done something to Charlotte, just as he had done to him.
‘By now.’
She would be on an expedition against World Erosion with one of the five Senior Knight Orders of Balheim.
‘Nothing to worry about.’
In any case, Balheim was in the midst of preparing Belorkin’s funeral and conducting a full investigation into the unusual circumstances of this World Erosion.
Kraush knew well that he wouldn’t be able to return to the Green Pine Mansion until the investigation was fully completed.
‘Come to think of it, I told that guy I’d be back soon.’
Kraush scratched his head as he thought of Bianca.
She would be fine on her own.
She might even be so engrossed in reading that she’s forgotten about him by now.
‘Enough of that.’
Kraush sat on the edge of the bed and raised his hand.
Then, just as he had done with the Black Hood, the moment he infused it with power, flames rose from his palm.
This was none other than the Ignis he had stolen from Belorkin.
As Kraush looked at it for a moment, he let out a wry smile.
It was because he could clearly feel that he had stolen the skill he had so desperately wanted.
‘Is this the second time after Arthur’s regression?’
The conditions of the Dial that were activated when stealing the skill from Belorkin were three.
The first was the collapse of self-esteem.
That had been gradually built up since evening, and ultimately collapsed with Kraush’s final awakening.
The second was that the target would willingly hand over part of the Ignis.
Kraush had received the flame directly from Belorkin to fight the Thousand-Face Demon.
Thus, the second condition was fulfilled.
The last third.
The target would recognize that ‘I’ could use the Ignis better than themselves.
The ‘I’ referred to in the third condition was, of course, Kraush.
In the final condition, Belorkin saw Kraush’s one sword strike and recognized that Kraush could handle the Ignis far better.
And at the moment all the numbers on the Dial aligned, Kraush’s Black Hood was activated.
Belorkin’s Ignis was instantly grasped in Kraush’s hand, resulting in flames bursting forth from him.
This was the full story of how Kraush was able to steal the Ignis.
Kraush, who had led all situations to the end to fulfill the conditions and ultimately succeeded, was truly a stubborn person.
Thanks to that, he successfully made it seem like Belorkin’s death was a noble sacrifice, and the fact that he had stolen the skill remained undetected.
‘It’s too early to be found out by others.’
It was still too early for anyone to know that he could steal skills.
Curses were fine, but the moment they found out he could steal skills, everyone would distance themselves from him.
‘There’s still so much more to steal.’
Ignis was just the starting point.
Therefore, Kraush made it seem like Belorkin had self-destructed.
Even transferring all the contributions of the World Erosion to Belorkin.
Having confirmed the Ignis, Kraush extinguished the flame.
The gains from this incident were quite substantial.
From obtaining the Ignis to being able to use the Extreme Blood Immersion Poison.
And even confirming the temporary solution for the Extreme Blood Immersion Poison.
But among them, what Kraush found intriguing was that the Ignis had ignited even the power of the World Erosion.
Whoosh!
The moment Kraush summoned the Ignis again, what rose from his hand was a pitch-black flame.
Black Flame.
This was the power of the World Erosion that had settled within Kraush due to the Extreme Blood Immersion Poison, ignited by the Ignis.
The black flame felt far more dangerous than the usual aura flames.
The burning flame showed considerable firepower as well as intensity.
Unintentionally, he had gained a secret weapon.
All thanks to Belorkin.
However, there was still one more important issue remaining.
The real issue that kept Kraush bound to the main house.
‘The unusual symptoms of the World Erosion escalating.’
Due to this incident, personnel dedicated to investigating the World Erosion were dispatched.
Because this event was such a significant incident.
‘And they still haven’t found the reason.’
Kraush, who knew the reason well, set down his sword and fell into thought.
The reason for this unusual symptom was actually simple.
‘Immortals.’
It was their kind that had moved.
World Erosion Beings.
Born within the World Erosion, they resemble humans while being Erosion Species.
They carry the World Erosion within their bodies, and each one of them is composed of beings more bizarre than a Master.
And among them, there is the Immortal.
The one who controls the most species of World Erosion Beings like the back of its hand.
‘Was it from this point? When that guy started intentionally raising the stages of World Erosion.’
That guy was doing something strange, deliberately raising the stages of nearby World Erosion by more than two levels.
The world still doesn’t know about such an Immortal.
‘Well, of course. The one who revealed this was none other than Arthur.’
Arthur shared information about the Immortal through his memories of regression.
The Immortal’s actions of raising the stages of World Erosion repeatedly caused significant dangers.
Thus, Arthur informed them about the Immortal and killed him.
Ironically, Kraush ended up using the power of such an Immortal.
Even Kraush couldn’t just leave the Immortal unchecked.
“Mr. Kraush.”
At the sound of a knock on the door, Kraush quickly extinguished the Black Flame.
“Come in.”
When Kraush spoke, a woman opened the door and entered.
Seeing her, Kraush tilted his head.
The woman’s appearance was different from that of a typical maid.
Wearing a veil engraved with Balheim’s emblem, she was dressed in tight-fitting clothes with a blue cloak draped over her.
She was none other than a Valkyrie, a direct knight member of the mistress of Balheim.
At the appearance of the Valkyrie, composed of Expert-level elites, Kraush showed doubt.
“What business does a Valkyrie have with me?”
“Lady Aria Balheim is requesting your presence.”
“Mother?”
Aria Balheim.
The woman who married into the patriarch of Balheim after the previous mistress passed away, and the mother of Charlotte and Kraush.
Thanks to giving birth to Charlotte, a star in her own right, she was effectively the second most influential woman in Balheim after the patriarch.
Hearing her summons, Kraush felt a sense of displeasure.
‘I thought Sephira, the specialized World Erosion investigation team, would call me first, but to think Mother would summon me instead.’
Kraush had already roughly guessed why Aria had called for him.
After all, no one knew her personality better than her own son.
“Alright. Lead the way.”
“Yes, understood.”
The Valkyrie courteously escorted Kraush.
Following her, Kraush saw an unfamiliar corridor.
Everywhere he looked, traces of Balheim were evident, making it feel unmistakably like the main house of Balheim.
And that fact made Kraush feel unnecessarily small.
After all, there was no one as disconnected from this place as Kraush.
Knock, knock-
“Lady Aria, Mr. Kraush has arrived.”
After a moment, the Valkyrie stopped in front of a room and knocked.
As Kraush glanced at what seemed to be a guest reception room, the sound of footsteps echoed from inside before a voice invited him in.
Click!
With the opening of the door, the scent of cosmetics wafted out.
At the same time, there stood a woman with a subtle blue radiance, whose beauty was undeniable even without heavy makeup.
Despite her age, she still possessed a striking appearance, and as soon as she saw Kraush, her eyes widened.
“Kraush!”
She immediately rushed over and embraced him.
“My son, do you know how worried I was, thinking something terrible had happened to you!”
Seeing her fuss, Kraush clicked his tongue, as if he had expected this reaction.
She was none other than Aria Balheim, the mistress of Balheim.
She was Kraush’s mother.
“Mother, let’s go inside first.”
“Oh, right, how silly of me. Come in, come in.”
Aria, delighted, led Kraush into the room.
Not her own room, but the guest reception room, as if it were her personal space.
Watching her, Kraush felt indifferent.
As a child, if he had been chased out to the Green Pine Mansion and then reunited with his mother, he would have cried his eyes out.
But unfortunately, Kraush had already been through too much.
And Kraush knew all too well what kind of woman Aria was.
With the door closed, Aria hummed a tune as she prepared tea.
Watching her, Kraush asked without even sitting in a chair.
“Mother, why did you call for me?”
“Hmm? Well, I called you because my son came back from the brink of death, and I wanted to see your face.”
Hearing that, Kraush couldn’t help but scoff.
If her son had truly returned from the brink of death, a mother would be the first to rush to him.
But instead, she had waited until later to summon Kraush.
And she did so with an expression devoid of any real concern.