I Became A Thief Who Steals Overpowered Skills - Chapter 95

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

Episode 95. A Single Goal

How many hours had passed?

Krash gasped for breath like a drowning man, replenishing his depleted stamina through World Erosion.

His eyelids felt heavy.

Both his legs trembled.

His body was a wreck from being rolled across the ground so many times.

It was only natural—his fierce battle with Agareth had been raging for quite some time now.

Especially since Agareth had singled him out as a target, raining down attacks relentlessly, Krash had been struggling against his dwindling reserves.

Because of that, there had been several harrowing moments.

When he’d nearly been crushed beneath one of Agareth’s arms, he’d genuinely thought he was about to die.

Even now, recalling what had just happened made cold sweat bead on his skin.

Yet regardless of how intently Agareth had focused on Krash as his primary target,

the Jucheon Knights continued to suffer wounded from Agareth’s onslaught.

Though the wounded were quickly evacuated from the battlefield, it meant the remaining knights had to bear even more of the burden against Agareth.

It was a miracle that no one had died.

‘Lilish must have played a huge role.’

While Krash drew Agareth’s attention,

Lilish would immediately grab any knight who was wounded or in danger and hurl them away from the battle with all her strength.

It was a crude method, but without it, there would undoubtedly be corpses piling up.

‘Now it’s this side that’s about to die.’

That creature Agareth was raining down attacks deliberately, methodically.

So much so that all the black trees around them had been obliterated, and the ground was now fully exposed.

Having come this far, stubbornness was kindling in his chest.

A stubborn resolve to smash that bastard no matter what.

“Damn it, if I’m going to make it through this, I need to raise my stamina or something!”

Krash dodged Agareth’s hand as it swept past his head, then performed a backward roll and immediately came up again.

There was no time to catch his breath.

Was it because he’d used Heavenly Thunder so much?

A sharp headache was pounding at his temples.

Yet Krash held firm regardless, enduring the onslaught.

All for a single opening—a chance he’d been hunting.

That moment had come.

Crack!

The thunderous boom split the air, and Agareth lurched violently to the right.

Hours of relentless pressure had finally paid off—Lilish had shattered Agareth’s right leg.

Panicked, Agareth thrust his other arm toward the ground, desperate to catch himself.

Between his splayed fingers, a flash of blue-black hair streaked past beneath his leg.

Lilish had closed the distance in a blur so fierce the very air seemed to tear, now bearing down on his left leg.

The left leg—already half-crumbled by the Jucheon Knights member’s desperate assault.

Now Lilish’s blade, pouring all her strength into it, descended upon that weakened limb.

Shattering Collapse Sword.

Boom!

The deafening explosion sent splintering fractures racing across Agareth’s entire left leg.

Crunch!

Unable to withstand the impact, Agareth’s left leg shattered completely, exploding into fragments.

Thud!

In an instant, robbed of both legs, Agareth’s lower body collapsed, and his torso crashed to the ground.

Through the billowing dust, black rain poured down in sheets.

“Krash!”

Lilish’s cry rang out, cutting through the dust and rain.

Krash was already moving the moment he heard her voice.

He launched himself into the air in a single bound.

Landing on Agareth’s spine, Krash immediately began sprinting up the length of his foe’s back.

A direct assault through the front would only invite Agareth’s arms to block—this way was his best option.

Krash’s body began to temper itself once more.

He’d lost count of how many times today he’d activated the second stage of Extinction Fire Erosion.

His entire frame was groaning under the strain.

Even with the Moon Sound Body, his body was beginning to fail.

His muscles felt as though they were tearing apart.

His insides burned like a live volcano, rough and wild.

Bones fractured into shards, scattering through his body—a sensation of dissolution.

Grrgh!

Yet still, Krash gritted his teeth and bore it.

Instead, he drew upon the Extinction Fire Erosion even more fiercely.

Driven by a single, unwavering purpose: to kill Agareth.

In that moment, the black flame flowing through the Thunderous Star began to transform into a tempest.

To contain such a storm, Raioner’s thunder-force rose up and took the shape of a sword-sheath.

Within that sheath of thunder-force, Krash suppressed the black flame’s tempest with desperate intensity.

With each act of suppression, the storm inside the sheath grew fiercer still.

Along his spine, Krash’s vision began to catch sight of a Cloak.

As if the Cloak itself were the true body, it billowed, having vomited forth Agareth’s form up to his neck.

‘Almost there.’

At the sight of it, Krash’s Extinction Fire Erosion surged to an entirely new magnitude.

In the same instant, he thrust the darkness clenched in his hand directly into his own mouth.

The darkness entering his mouth slid down his throat and seeped inward.

With it came an ugly sensation spreading through Krash’s body.

Thump—

A heartbeat, brief and sharp, rang through him, followed by a sensation as if his body were being bound.

It was none other than the effect of Agareth’s Lordly Command.

The Lordly Command could only be wielded by Erosion Species who possessed World Erosion.

Therefore, it held no special effect on ordinary humans.

But there was one exception.

Krash, alone in this place, was different.

Through the Extreme Blood Poison, Krash could embed World Erosion within his own body.

Which meant, in other words—

He, too, could fall within the grasp of the Lordly Command.

The Lordly Command immediately stretched inward, seeking to seize control of Krash’s body.

Whoosh!

But in that very instant, Ignis ignited from within Krash’s body.

The Ignis swallowed the Lordly Command that shot toward him in an instant and consumed it in flame.

Though the sensation of fire scorching his own insides washed over him, Krash paid it no mind.

Several seconds passed.

Smoke curled from Krash’s mouth, and darkness began seeping out slowly behind it.

He had surely burned away the Lordly Command entirely.

Yet its aftermath lingered still, and that meant he remained caught within the scope of Agareth’s power.

‘This is my moment.’

To avoid suffering the full brunt of Agareth’s Lordly Command.

Now, with the condition of being included as a target within the Lordly Command satisfied.

Agareth’s Lordly Command carried constraints even upon its wielder.

First, Agareth’s true body—his head—was bound within the Demonic Castle and could not escape.

Second, targets included within the Lordly Command could deal direct damage to Agareth’s darkness.

Of course, the second point was truly a meaningless weakness, since it was a Lordly Command that could only be used against Erosion Species.

No Erosion Species would ever attack his darkness.

But there was one exception.

An exception Agareth had never anticipated.

A single aberration bearing the World Erosion within his own flesh.

Flutter—

A bright crimson Cloak billowed violently in the wind.

Within its folds lay pure, absolute darkness.

One of Agareth’s eyes was ruined.

But his other eye lay beyond the Cloak.

And Krash knew precisely where that Cloak led.

When his body had fully emerged from the Cloak past his neck, it became clear—the Cloak was connected directly to Agareth’s neck.

Boom!

Agareth finally sensed Krash’s presence as he ran along the spine.

The creature immediately raised his arms to strike him down.

Beneath the cascade of bone-white limbs.

Krash’s eyes narrowed sharply.

Cold sweat beaded along his spine.

He still had far to go before reaching Agareth’s throat.

Just a little longer—even a few more seconds would do.

Just a fraction more.

Krash needed those precious seconds—the brief window it would take for Agareth to rise.

If he spent extra strength dodging here, his attack against Agareth would weaken.

As Krash made his choice,

—Boom! Crash-BOOOOM!

A flash of light struck down, severing completely the arm Agareth had been raising toward Krash.

From the far horizon’s edge,

A figure sprinted full-force toward this place, delivering the blow in a single stroke.

Blavi of the Thunderous Star.

He had arrived in time.

Truly, an eerie power to witness again.

It was no accident that Krash called him a prodigy.

But even Blavi could not kill Agareth, whose true body lay in the Demonic Castle.

Only one person here could kill Agareth.

Krash himself.

Krash drew in a sharp breath.

‘One second. Exactly one.’

Acceleration through Extinction Fire Erosion made his thoughts and reflexes render the world as though frozen.

And in that suspended world,

At that single instant when the world seemed to stop,

Krash’s foot drove down hard against Agareth’s spine.

Thud!

The moment the sound belatedly filled the void, the severed arm that had been shattered by light came raining down across the spine.

But Krash was already gone from that place.

Leaving only the lingering traces of black flame, Krash had reached his true target—the Cloak.

The held breath was pulled to its limit.

Then the spiral born from the tremors of consciousness touched the Thunderous Star.

Crack!

The thunder that erupted from the Thunderous Star consumed the air as its roar filled everything around it.

A storm of black flame engulfed the thunder and descended upon the world.

Extinction Fire Erosion.

Third form.

Extinction Fire Heavenly Thunder.

Crack-crack-crack-crack-crack-crack-crack-crack-crack!

Thunder and the storm of black flame raged forward, pouring beneath the fabric of Agareth’s Cloak.

Piercing through darkness, the tempest beyond tore everything asunder.

Boom!

In that instant, a faint detonation echoed from a place impossibly distant.

From the Demonic Castle, riding the darkness of the Cloak, the Extinction Fire Heavenly Thunder had stretched forth and struck.

Eeeee—

A high-pitched ringing tore through Krash’s ears.

His body wouldn’t obey him—he’d poured out an attack compressed to the very limit, then compressed it further still.

‘Agareth…’

His vision swam violently of its own accord.

His sense of balance was in complete disarray.

Flutter—

Yet even through that ringing, Krash caught one sound with absolute clarity: the Cloak billowing as it moved.

The Cloak was fleeing.

The fact that it was running meant Agareth had taken grave damage as well.

Of course—it was a killing blow he’d packed with World Erosion greedily absorbed and driven home with full force.

To say it caused no damage would’ve been shameful.

But.

‘Not yet.’

Krash’s eyes burned red once more.

The fact that he could flee meant the creature was still alive.

The golden blade of the Thunderous Star flared brilliant as it erupted from Krash’s dulling sword, driving toward the fleeing Cloak.

Tear!

From the blade buried deep within the darkness came the sound of something being ripped apart.

Agareth’s throat, ruined by the Extinction Fire Heavenly Thunder, was being torn open by a blade that came rushing through the darkness beneath the Cloak.

Krash could barely see anymore, but he kept driving the sword deeper into the folds of the Cloak.

Crack! Crack! Crunch!

In that moment, something burst across his forehead with a wet snap.

Drip—

He couldn’t tell if what ran down his face was his own blood or sweat.

But Krash paid it no mind, driving the blade down again and again.

Splinter.

Krash felt every sense in his body begin to twist and distort.

This sensation—it was a Curse.

Agareth’s darkness was essentially a mass of Curses.

The fact that the remaining Ignis in his body could no longer burn away the Curse proved just how much he’d poured out.

Snap.

But Krash clenched his teeth, biting down as if he could shatter them.

The tips of his fingers had gone black.

Still, Krash lifted the blade once more.

Crunch!

The blade bit deep into the darkness beneath the Cloak.

He had no strength left to pull it free.

Instead, Krash gripped the blade of the Thunderous Star and drove it inward with stubborn ferocity.

“——–!”

He abandoned his defense against the Curse, pouring every last trace of Ignis into the Cloak.

Black flames erupted skyward, consuming the heavens.

And with that, Krash felt his consciousness snap cleanly in two.

Clang!

Yet somehow, he held onto that fading awareness.

He had to know whether Agareth was dead or not.

If that creature died here, one of the reasons for the Empire’s destruction would be erased.

Those who would otherwise die for no reason would live, and one more stepping stone toward ruin would vanish.

Those who could stand against World Erosion would multiply.

A single path emerges—one way to hold this wretched world together.

He, crippled and talentless, had lived without any goal at all.

The sole aim he had ever held in his heart, the only thing that let him move forward.

To prevent the World Destruction.

For that one purpose alone.

Krash was twisting his blade once more when it happened.

“Krash!”

Someone caught Krash’s body as he was about to wrench the sword—willing to plunge his head into the darkness of the Cloak if it meant stopping him.

Through his dimming vision, a flash of blue-green hair appeared.

That color was the emblem of Balheim.

It was unmistakably Lilish.

“W-where… i-is Agareth?”

His throat was burning.

His vocal cords had been partially burned by the black flame; even speaking was agony.

“Stop. You can stop now. Agareth is dead. Please, please—stop.”

Krash heard her voice, barely audible, and slowly closed his eyes.

Lilish would not lie to him.

“R-restore me… h-help me get… back…”

And even then, he spoke the words that would let him recover.

Krash lost consciousness, his grip on the blade unyielding to the very end.

In the downpour of black rain.

The obsession of one who knew how to do nothing but look forward and run—slowly burned away into ash.

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