I Became A Thief Who Steals Overpowered Skills - Chapter 16

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 16. The Full Account

News that an intermediate knight squad had been wiped out and Belrokin had died spread through the Valheim main house in a heartbeat.

This World Erosion had developed abnormal symptoms, and the Difficulty Level had skyrocketed to five stars—the result being that Krash Valheim alone had survived.

So where was Krash now?

He was at the main house.

‘I never thought I’d return here under these circumstances.’

Krash had been given an empty room in the main house and was resting there.

He had been discovered by Jung Hwa-jo, who arrived afterward, and the additional knights—exhausted and bedraggled as a drowned rat.

So they had brought him to the main house first, as it was closer than Cheong Song Gwan.

Thanks to that, he was resting here for the first time in ages.

“This doesn’t make sense! How could Belrokin die while some half-breed of Valheim survives alone!”
“Mind your tongue. No matter what, Krash is a direct heir of Valheim. Do you want disaster?”

At that moment, a voice came from outside.

The speaker was none other than Belrokin’s personal butler.

It seemed he could not accept the fact that Belrokin had died and had cried out without thinking.

‘Yet some are already praising how outstanding Belrokin was.’

As revealed by Jung Hwa-jo, this World Erosion had indeed reached five stars—a rise of two levels from the original.

A five-star World Erosion is the kind of thing that requires an expert of the highest rank to defeat.

Yet Belrokin, though only advanced rank, had fought with all his strength and ultimately wounded Cheon-An-Gwi gravely with Ignis, bringing the creature down.

A truly noble sacrifice.

Of course, sacrifice being the word, he could not escape death.

He had fallen victim to a curse from Cheon-An-Gwi’s final attack.

Belrokin had tried to pierce his face with the sword containing Ignis so he could breathe, but he was wounded and his breathing was not steady.

As a result, he only tore through his body instead of his face, and died from respiratory failure.

And who was the one who testified to his heroic sacrifice?

None other than Krash.

‘They believe the testimony, and I won’t need to worry about this anymore.’

Though they called him a half-brother, Krash felt no particular guilt for having killed Belrokin with his own hand.

Belrokin had hated him without ceasing.

Until the very end.

‘Belrokin was fated to die by his own family’s hand in the end anyway. There’s nothing strange about it.’

The image of him beaten to death by Charlotte was still vivid in Krash’s mind.

Now that he thought about it, why had Charlotte killed Belrokin?

The successive curses at the time and the injuries inflicted by Belrokin had left Krash’s memories of those days hazy.

He’d heard that Belrokin had done something to Charlotte — probably done to her what he’d done to Krash himself.

‘By now.’

He’d be out on a World Erosion expedition with one of Valheim’s five senior knights.

‘There’s nothing to worry about.’

In any case, Valheim had launched a full investigation into the anomalies surrounding this World Erosion incident, even as they prepared Belrokin’s funeral.

And Krash knew well that he wouldn’t be able to return to Cheong Song Gwan until that investigation was complete.

‘Speaking of which, I told her I’d be back soon.’

Thinking of Bianca, Krash scratched his head absently.

She managed well enough on her own, so it should be fine.

She might even have forgotten about him by now and buried herself in her books.

‘Never mind that.’

Krash sat down on the bed and raised his hand.

The moment he channeled power into it the same way he had with Black Hood, flames burst to life above his palm.

This was none other than Ignis, stolen from Belrokin.

As Krash stared at it for a moment, a hollow laugh escaped him.

The reality of having stolen the skill he’d desired for so long settled upon him with unmistakable clarity.

‘The second one after Arthur’s Regression.’

The Dial’s conditions for seizing Belrokin’s skill were three in number.

The first was the collapse of self-esteem.

That had been steadily accumulating from the start, and it finally crumbled with Krash’s final awakening.

The second was that the target would voluntarily surrender part of their Ignis.

Krash had directly received flames from Belrokin in order to face Cheon-An-Gwi.

With that, the second condition was fulfilled.

And the third, the final one.

The target would come to believe that ‘I’ wielded Ignis more skillfully than they did.

The third condition pointed unmistakably to Krash.

In the final test, Belrokin watched Krash wield a single blade and came to realize that Krash commanded Ignis far more masterfully than he ever could.

And the moment every Dial aligned, Krash’s Black Hood activated.

Belrokin’s Ignis was seized in an instant by Krash’s grip, and from that moment, flames bloomed in Krash’s hands.

This was the full account of how Krash had been able to steal Ignis.

Krash, who had orchestrated every condition to the bitter end and achieved success, was nothing short of ruthless.

Thanks to this, he had successfully made Belrokin’s death appear a noble sacrifice, and the fact that he had stolen the skill remained undiscovered.

‘Not yet. It’s too soon for anyone to know.’

No one could learn that he could steal skills.

A curse was one thing, but the moment anyone discovered he could pilfer skills, they would all keep their distance from him.

‘And there’s still so much I need to take.’

Ignis was merely the beginning.

That was why Krash recast Belrokin’s death as self-destruction.

He surrendered all the credit for World Erosion to Belrokin as well.

Having confirmed Ignis in this way, Krash extinguished the flames.

He had gained considerable gains from this affair.

From obtaining Ignis to becoming capable of wielding Geukhyeol Chimdok.

And he had even verified a temporary measure for Geukhyeol Chimdok.

Yet among all these, what struck Krash as most remarkable was that Ignis could ignite even the power of World Erosion itself.

Whoosh!

The moment Krash summoned Ignis again, what rose from his hand was pitch-black flame.

Black Flame.

This was the power of World Erosion that had taken root in Krash’s body through Geukhyeol Chimdok, now ignited by Ignis.

That Black Flame felt far more dangerous than ordinary aura fire.

The roaring flames burned with such intensity that they displayed considerable destructive power.

He had somehow obtained a hidden trump card.

All of it could be credited to Belrokin.

Yet one truly critical problem still remained.

The real problem that bound Krash to the main house.

‘The abnormal symptoms from the World Erosion’s Difficulty Level rising.’

The World Erosion investigation had prompted the dispatch of specialized personnel—those whose expertise lay in understanding such phenomena.

The incident merited such attention; it was grave indeed.

‘And they still haven’t found the reason.’

Krash, who knew the truth, lowered his sword and fell into thought.

The cause of this anomaly was, in fact, straightforward.

‘The Immortal.’

Its servants had moved.

World Erosion Entities.

Born within the World Erosion itself, they were erosion-spawn yet bore a form nearly indistinguishable from human.

These creatures harbored World Erosion within their bodies, and each one—without exception—possessed power exceeding Master rank, grotesque in nature.

And among them stood one called the Immortal.

The one that commanded more of the erosion-spawn than any other, wielding them as though they were limbs of its own body.

‘Was it from then? When that creature began deliberately escalating the World Erosion’s progression?’

The creature had engaged in a bizarre practice: deliberately raising the World Erosion level in surrounding areas by two Difficulty Levels or more.

The world at large remained ignorant of the Immortal’s existence.

‘Of course they don’t. It was Arthur who told me.’

Arthur had shared the Immortal’s information through the memories of his Regression.

The Immortal’s actions—escalating the World Erosion’s Difficulty Level—had repeatedly spawned catastrophe.

So Arthur had revealed everything about the Immortal, and Krash had killed it.

And yet, ironically, Krash had come to wield the Immortal’s own power.

But Krash could not leave beings like the Immortal unchecked.

“Krash.”

At the sudden knock on the door, Krash swiftly extinguished the Black Flame.

“Come in.”

As Krash spoke, a woman opened the door and entered.

Upon seeing her, Krash tilted his head in surprise.

Her appearance differed markedly from that of an ordinary servant.

The woman wore the veil of Valheim, its insignia embroidered upon the fabric, and over her fitted garments hung a cloak of deep blue.

At the appearance of a Valkyrie, Krash’s expression clouded with questions.

“What business does Valkyrie have with me?”
“Aria Valheim is looking for you.”
“Mother?”

Aria Valheim.

The previous mistress of the house had passed, and she was the woman who had married into Valheim’s household as the patriarch’s bride—mother to both Charlotte and Krash.

And because she had borne Charlotte, that shining jewel, she held influence in Valheim second only to the patriarch himself.

Hearing her summons, Krash felt a distinct lack of enthusiasm.

‘I expected Sephira, the World Erosion investigation unit, to call on me first. I never imagined Mother would get to me before they did.’

Krash had already made a reasonable guess as to why Aria wanted to see him.

He knew her disposition better than anyone—he was her son, after all.

“Understood. Show me the way.”
“Yes, of course.”

Valkyrie escorted Krash with proper deference.

Following her down the corridor, he found himself on an unfamiliar path.

And that fact left Krash feeling oddly diminished.

There was no one more disconnected from this place than he was.

Knock, knock.

“Aria, Krash has arrived.”

Shortly after, Valkyrie stopped before a room and knocked.

As Krash glanced at what appeared to be a guest reception room, footsteps sounded from within even before a voice invited him inside.

Click!

And as the door swung open, a wave of fragrance washed over him—cosmetics, thick and heady.

Standing in the doorway was a woman with such striking natural beauty that the subtle blue radiance of her complexion shone through even before makeup—luminous, elaborate, impossible to overlook.

Despite her considerable years, her splendid appearance remained undiminished; the moment she saw Krash, her eyes flew wide open.

“Krash!”

And without hesitation, she rushed forward and pulled him into an embrace.

“My son, do you have any idea how much your mother has been worrying, thinking something terrible had happened?”

At her theatrical display of concern, Krash responded exactly as he’d expected to—with a subtle click of his tongue.

This woman before him was Aria Valheim, mistress of the Valheim household.

His mother.

“Mother, shall we step inside first?”
“Oh dear, how silly of me. Come in, come in.”

Aria ushered Krash into the room with evident delight.

Not into her own chambers, but into a guest room—though she carried herself as if it were her private sanctuary.

Watching her, Krash felt unmoved.

As a child, he might have wept the moment he saw his mother again after being cast out to Cheong Song Gwan.

But Krash had endured too much by now.

And he knew exactly what sort of woman Aria was.

With the door closed behind them, Aria hummed softly as she prepared tea.

Krash watched her without bothering to sit, and asked directly.

“Mother, why did you summon me?”
“Why? Because my son has been through hell and back. I wanted to see your face.”

At those words, Krash let out a bitter laugh.

If a son had truly returned from death itself, any mother would rush to him without delay.

But she had done no such thing. She had called for him only much later.

And without a trace of concern in her expression.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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