### Chapter: 289
Number.
Ebelasque’s elite corpses.
They moved as one, thanks to Ebelasque’s necromancer buffs, taking on Kraush.
It was clear she didn’t choose them as her elite corpses for no reason.
At first, Kraush struggled to keep up with their synchronized attacks and ended up on the floor more often than not.
Not being able to fully control his own body was a penalty beyond imagination.
No matter how much of a prodigy he was, adapting to a body that felt like it had just been born anew was no easy feat.
If he had been a proud genius, he would have been fuming at this frustrating situation.
Even the corpses seemed to glance at each other, wondering if this was really okay.
“Let’s go again.”
But there was not a hint of indignation on Kraush’s face.
He simply recovered quickly and asked for another round.
Kraush had clawed his way up from rock bottom to where he was now.
Every ounce of his prowess was born from his tenacious spirit, even if it was nauseating.
Despite having a few lucky breaks along the way, to fully achieve that breakthrough, Kraush had relentlessly pushed his body to its limits.
For him to suddenly regress back to a beginner stage…
Would that make him despise his own weakness?
Absolutely not when it came to Kraush.
“Once more.”
After once again getting knocked flat, Kraush spat out blood from his mouth and rose from the ground.
The duration of their sparring sessions began to lengthen.
Next match, and then another.
The corpses moved without any stamina limits, thanks to Ebelasque’s power.
But even though Kraush had been reshaped with the body of a creature from the Dragon Bloodline…
As a living being, there had to be limits to his stamina.
Clearly, after this many rounds, he should take a break, but Kraush did not stop.
On the contrary, he pushed his body to the brink of exhaustion before he could properly assess his own condition.
‘So, the Dragon Bloodline’s body has a wider capacity for aura. I shouldn’t just squeeze it like I used to.’
The capacity of Kraush’s aura, which had been forcibly expanding, now widened significantly as he embraced the Dragon Bloodline’s body.
Long ago, Kraush’s aura capacity barely amounted to a trickle.
But now, it had gone from a stream to a river, and now reached the vastness of an ocean.
The way Kraush had handled his aura until now was akin to squeezing a little bit of water from a stream.
Now that it was an ocean,
He had to completely change his method of dealing with the aura.
Kraush’s aura began to become even more refined.
His moving body started to operate much more efficiently.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Kraush deflected the daggers of Number 9, who had lunged at him like a beast.
Simultaneously, Kraush’s extended leg struck Number 9 in the chest, sending him flying to the end of the training room.
Whoosh!
Kraush narrowly dodged the spear thrust by Number 8, which had grazed his chin.
Then, using the hand that had given him an excel boost, he grabbed her spear shaft in reverse.
At that moment, Number 8’s spear separated and transformed into a glaive.
But before Number 8 could make a move, Kraush yanked the spear shaft, pulling her toward him.
In an instant, lead by Kraush, Number 8 swung her glaive, but he landed a punch straight into her abdomen.
Crack!
As Kraush’s fist sunk into Number 8’s gut, he noticed the bandages of Number 7 were wrapped tightly around his wrist and leg.
Kraush’s world went dark above his head.
Number 6’s muscular rabbit was coming down hard with a hammer.
Wham!
The black dragon’s aura that erupted from Kraush’s body instantly burned the bandages away.
Kraush punched towards the hammer descending on him.
BAM!
In an explosive clash, Kraush’s punch collided with the gigantic hammer, leaving a crack in its surface.
Just then, as Kraush threw his fist skyward—
Number 5, the headless swordsman, crouched low and extended his sword with lethal speed.
The speed of the sword was so quick that it was hard to track with the eyes, yet Kraush’s right leg had already lifted in response.
Then, he imbued it with excel and slammed it down.
Crack!
The sword swung by Number 5 bent under Kraush’s foot.
At that moment, thunder sparkled from beneath Kraush’s foot.
The skill “Lioner” flowed through Number 5’s sword, delivering a shocking jolt to him.
At the same time, the black dragon’s power from Kraush struck all the flying fragments of the hammer that had been swung down.
Calculated perfectly through his instincts, the fragments rained down toward Number 7, wrapped in bandages, and petite Number 6.
As Number 6 summoned her stuffed rabbit to block the fragments, Number 7 also managed to fend them off with bandages.
Gack!
Taking advantage of the chaos created by the hammer shrapnel, a blade of thunder sliced through Number 7’s neck.
The force was so powerful that Number 7 was sent crashing into the wall of the training room.
With Number 7 incapacitated, Kraush quickly retrieved the thunder weapon as he leaped back into action.
Empowered by excel, Kraush lunged forth, tearing apart the doll that Number 6 created while ripping into her chest.
Just then, a powerful gust hit him.
Number 4, who looked like a noble lady, swung her fan, sending a blast of wind toward Kraush, causing the black dragon’s aura to swirl around him.
Breaking through Kraush’s black dragon aura was Number 3, the butler, who charged in with gauntlets on both hands.
In a flash, Kraush and Number 3 exchanged blows ten times over.
Kraush registered the impact that flowed from his sword.
Number 3 was also utilizing a similar skill to his own, involving technique.
Just as Kraush was redistributing his strength to push Number 3 back…
Beyond the wind pressure from Number 4,
He felt a powerful surge of energy gathering.
Kraush’s sword was immediately engulfed by black flames.
Taking a breath, Kraush brought forth “Annihilation Erosion” and thrust his sword forward.
Zing!
A black beam clashed against Kraush’s sword.
With all his might, Kraush split the beam in two and repositioned his sword.
Clop, clop!
The sound of hooves resonated in Kraush’s ears.
Number 2 had charged in riding on Number 1, and was now thrusting a lance toward Kraush.
The lance was larger than Kraush himself.
The power contained within it was colossal, enough to warp the air around its center.
Kraush tightened his breath and pulled the “Celestial Killing” up inside him.
“Ugh!”
But still unable to fully control his body, he couldn’t bring out the Celestial Killing completely.
Instead, the recoil from that struggle sent a fierce shockwave coursing through him.
In that moment of confusion, the lance came soaring right at him.
Crack!
Yet Kraush managed to collect himself and deflected the lance with his sword.
KABOOM!
With an explosion, Kraush was sent tumbling to the ground.
No matter how many times he tried to snap back to his senses, he hadn’t fully harnessed his strength; thus, he failed to stop Number 1’s lance.
“I think I need a breather.”
As Ebelasque glanced over at his disheveled state and sighed, preparing to withdraw her Numbers—
“Uh, wait!”
Kraush rose from the floor in a battered condition and called out to Ebelasque once more.
Black flames were once again flickering around his body.
“It’s not over yet.”
Determined to give it everything he had until he lost consciousness, his eyes radiated fierce ambition.
Ebelasque regarded him for a moment, then bit her lip and raised her hand.
“Go for it.”
With that, the onslaught of Numbers began again.
Kraush stubbornly matched each attack coming at him.
What on earth was driving him to push himself so hard, even in training?
But Ebelasque couldn’t stop him.
Crushing his resolve to defend his world was something she couldn’t bring herself to do—especially for the sake of their rescue team, Benafortchi.
So all Ebelasque could do was quietly lend Kraush her support from behind.
“…I’ll make sure to collect on that promise.”
Ebelasque’s resolve solidified once again in that moment.
—
Time flew by.
Kraush kept pushing through the training over and over again to get used to his own body.
Train, pass out, sleep for a bit, then train again.
Amid the unending cycle of training days,
Clang!
Finally, Kraush achieved results from his training.
Crash!
The sound of Number 1’s lance shattering echoed throughout the training ground.
Silence enveloped the training area.
In contrast to before, Kraush stood before Number 1 without even a bead of sweat on his brow.
Then Number 1’s body collapsed sideways.
Thud!
With a solid whack, Number 1 hit the floor, knocked out cold.
But it wasn’t just Number 1 who had fallen.
From Number 1 to Number 9, all of Ebelasque’s elite corpses lay sprawled out on the ground.
Ebelasque watched this scene with folded arms beneath her chest, then turned to Kraush.
“Are you satisfied?”
“Of course.”
Kraush smiled with satisfaction as he relaxed his arms.
He had completely grown accustomed to wielding the power of the Dragon Bloodline.
“Thanks to you.”
As Kraush smiled at Ebelasque, she turned away, pretending to be annoyed.
“If you know that, then be nicer next time.”
“Not that I didn’t try.”
“I really didn’t feel it! Like at all!”
Kraush just stared at her in disbelief.
Why was she acting all pouty?
He couldn’t shake off the feeling that Ebelasque was getting more hysterical by the day, which was quite concerning.
“Can’t you just give me a hug once? It’s just all pent-up desire, I swear.”
Just then, a voice from outside the training room window piped up—none other than Crimson Garden, chuckling at the scene.
“M-Madman! Who’s saying things like that?”
“Just look at the size of those things. You think that’s not what’s going on?”
“What’s wrong with my chest?!”
Was this guy incapable of surviving a day without sexual harassment?
Kraush could only facepalm as he saw Ebelasque cover her chest with her hands while giving him a glare.
It was a look that clearly asked, “You think the same way, too?”
Kraush casually glanced at Ebelasque’s upper half and replied.
“Stop reading so many erotic novels.”
He chimed in on the teasing from Crimson Garden.
After Ebelasque had yelped and stormed off,
Kraush immediately set off again.
Finally acclimated to his body.
It was time to start dealing with Biolain’s matters.
‘The Kekkeshis still haven’t brought me any news.’
It had been three months of training for Kraush.
During that time he needed to adapt, and yet there had been no news from the Kekkeshis at all.
‘Seems like Abella has made her move.’
Despite sending Crimson Garden and Ebelasque off to search, they still hadn’t located the Kekkeshis.
With that, he had no other choice but to move on his own.
Before doing so, Kraush decided it was time to confirm something.
“Tersasius.”
Ever since helping Aslan with his magic training,
He called out to Tersasius, who had been holed up in the lab, researching the creation of magical species again.
Tersasius looked at Kraush as usually with a blank expression.
“What kind of deal did you strike with the Kekkeshis?”
Kraush needed to hear the full story about the events between Tersasius and the Kekkeshis.
