Soul of Searing Steel

Chaos was just something like that. It would just corrupt the mind and soul, body, and will of a living being without any sound or scent. It would extinguish the flame in the hearts of men bit by bit. After that, the corrupted would fall into Chaos and get turned into living corpses or puppets without any sense of free will.

Chaos that emerged in the northern sealed land and the being that was responsible for the ambush at the high seas of the south. There must be a large conspiracy behind all those incidents. That conspiracy would undoubtedly affect the lives and the fates of countless men. It could even be the origin of the countless historical quests that happened in the previous life. It could also be the first reason why catastrophic disasters and wars happened in the first place.

It might be possible that all of these happenings were just a part of the conspiracy that the worshipers and believers of the Evil Gods had been planning for over hundreds of years. They had been waiting for the right moment with patience. As long as they could get the dimensional rift activated, their plans that they went through a lot of hardships just to get everything in place would begin to be set in motion. They would be pulling the world into Chaos one step after another as time pass by.

So what?

Joshua did not give a sh*t about it.

Just like that dracospider which Joshua blew off half of its body, just like the black dragon which was oppressed by Joshua so much that it could not even use any skill to attack Joshua, and just like the Gold-tier frost butterfly that had been hiding in between the blizzard and the clouds.

Conspiracy—was utterly pointless!

Saving Moldova or the entire continent was not as complicated as anyone thought! As long as Joshua could take out all enemies and launch an explosive punch at the dimensional rift to shatter it, the problem would be solved!

The frost butterfly that was concealing itself far away in the clouds had once again summoned the blizzard. The sky was once again covered by dark clouds. The ice and snow that was infused with the power of Chaos had once again poured down from the sky. The two smoke columns were being blown away by the strong howling winds and the wind from the blizzard. Meanwhile, at the same instance, Joshua was acting like how he usually react while he was facing the charging black dragon right before his eyes. He did not choose to dodge. Instead, he lifted his head and looked at every move that the black dragon was doing.

Chaos was gathering.

It was just like dirty water flowing all into the same abyss. That purely black body of the monster that had no sign of any life was surging vigorously with waves of Chaos power. Then there was a stream of contaminated black trace left in the sky.

Even after the black dragon had lost its free will and wisdom, its strength was still much more powerful than a normal human. In just one brief moment, that monster had charged over hundreds of meters over to ram Joshua at the speed that was faster than the speed of sound. The huge body of the monster that was tens of meters tall charged over, rippling shockwaves, stirring the air all around into small black tornados. The current of air flowing around was insanely fast and violent as if the wind could potentially tear metal and steel apart.

Meanwhile, this body no longer had a soul, nor any wisdom. It had become a mere walking dead.

Therefore, it was vulnerable now!

“Ha!”

Lifting his right arm that was holding the silver greatsword and placing the sword before his eyes, Joshua was facing towards the enemy which had recovered back to its full state with his half-wounded state. At that moment, there was no sign of any expression on Joshua’s face. He let out a roar and completely disappeared out of the monster’s sight all of a sudden.

On the next moment, he already began charging towards his enemy.

Right at the 0.001 second, a black and a red light dot were seen clashing into each other in the middle of the sky. The sound barrier was broken through by the intense sound of the impact and the flying snow in the surroundings was flushed away by the shockwave that was emitted out from the impact point of the two light dots. At that moment, as an intense light flashed into the surroundings, there was no other sound could be heard in this world. Everything went completely silent.

After the silence, along came a shrilling hurricane that blew all dirt and sand off the ground, away from the entire region of this land. The only things that were left on the land were the rocks and some solid frosty ground.

A large shadow was seen flipping round and round flying out of the clashing lights. Then the shadow crash landed on the ground. Meanwhile, one large shadow and one small shadow had also flown out of the clashing point of the lights in the sky, leaving traces over hundreds of meters across the surface of the ground.

The battle was not as intense as anyone had imagined it to be. It was even simpler than the battle while the two of them were intertwined with each other while falling from the sky before that. This battle had ended in one split moment.

There was no soul to direct the magic power. It was just a disorganized stream of water. There was no wisdom controlling the flesh. It was merely a moving piece of meat. It was true that the Chaos cured black dragon’s injuries and restored its power back to full. However, it also took away the one thing that the black dragon needed to stand a chance battling against the Gold-tier warrior.

Struggling to stand up from the ground while holding on his silver greatsword, Joshua did not say a word. He turned around and looked at the large body that seemed to remain unmoved.

During the moment when the battle started, Joshua made use of his opponent for rushing straight at him. He stopped the black dragon’s head and withstood the impact of that headbutt. With a swing of his sword, he cut off the head of the black dragon. That Chaos daemon did not even know how to dodge anymore. Although Joshua had also sustained quite a lot of damage holding back against the impact of the black dragon’s head ramming into him, he could still handle that amount of damage done to him.

Hundreds of meters away from him, the daemons in the surroundings began to get agitated. They could feel that the breath of their ‘king’ had suddenly vanished. The only existence that could bring terror to them had almost vanished. That had led the daemons to lurk from afar. However, their instincts were telling to stall first. So they did not move yet.

However, that did not have anything to do with the warrior. He had walked across hundreds of meters all the way to the front of the black dragon.

There was no blood oozing or flowing out of the huge wound from the remaining neck of the dragon. There as only some disgusting black mucus dripping off the cut wound. The black corrosive liquid had melted the land and the rocks, giving out some stinky stench that could make people dizzy for smelling it. Upon confirming the dragon’s death, Joshua felt relieved and let out a breath. His face finally revealed a real smile.

This battle was not tough for him, instead, Joshua felt contented with it. Joshua’s heart was actually really simple and pure. He only sought for the pleasure that only existed when both sides were going all out at each other in a battle. That pleasure could lift off the tiredness in his body.

Wait a minute, tiredness?

Upon setting his thoughts on that, the red eyes of the warrior widened.

He had not forgotten his misjudgment of the dragon-slaying stone; that black dragon was a Chaos daemon in the purest form of Chaos. So why didn’t the Azurite react? What about the physical feedback?!

Something was off. That dragon was not dead yet!

Just when Joshua reacted to the whole situation, he noticed that the dark purplish mist had once again risen up around the headless corpse of the black dragon!

“Master, beware!”

The anxious voice of the Divine Armament passed through Joshua’s mind. However, before that, the warrior had begun to back off a little after his instinct told him to do so. He pulled his legs down a little and he was ready to leap backward in an attempt to gain some distance in between him and the dragon.

However, feeling his body tensing up and froze, Joshua could feel that his legs were drained. He lowered his head to have a look at his legs just to notice that there was some dark purplish color spreading up from the bottom of his legs. There were also lines of strange runes extending on the part of his legs that were tainted by the dark purplish color.

Berserk Dragon Virus! Chaos power corruption! When did it happen?!

That’s right, while they were caught in an aerial fight in the middle of the sky; attacking each other violently and intensely. So the blood of his opponent must have entered his own body by accident, through the wound on his body.

It was pointless for Joshua to recall on that now. Even with his legs drained, he could still back up a little without a problem. He immediately controlled his Combat Aura and blew out an impact below his body. The powerful impact then pushed his body towards the direction the aimed to go. However, even though he was temporarily far away from the black dragon, the dark purplish mist had shrouded the entire body of the Warrior. His body had been infected with the Berserk Dragon Virus. That had also contaminated his will.

Order and Chaos were always conflicting with each other. So for both sides, their opposition side was like the most deadly poison.

“Hiss—”

A strange hissing sound came from the remaining body of the dragon that was unleashing the mist. The black dragon that was headless stood back up on its feet. The large body was shaky a little as if it could just collapse back onto the ground anytime. However, regardless of anything, the dragon was not dead yet.

After standing firmly on its feet, it began to vibrate its vocal cords. Its lungs were also exhaling air. However, without the head, the black dragon could not let out an intimidating dragon roar like it was doing when its head was still attached. Regardless of everything, it was still the source that spreads the Chaos. It was still the alpha among all frenzied monsters in the entire Mount Great Ajax—their king!

“Rawgh!!!”

Sensing the breath of the Berserk Dragon once again, the endless horde of the daemons that were observing from the sides was once again agitated to attack! Regardless of whether it was a giant buffalo or a demonic bear, or a berserk bee or a termite, anything that was corrupted by Chaos, or any daemons that was infected by the Berserk Dragon Virus, they had received the same order at the same time!

Take out that human!

Rumbling!!!

The mountains began to tremble, so did the Dark Forest. Endless hordes of frenzied monsters began to charge at Joshua like a gushing tidal wave under the order of their ‘beloved’ king!

Facing the ferocious horde of daemons charging towards him, having the bones in his left arm completely shattered and both of his legs being infected with the Chaos venom, there was no expression at all on Joshua’s face. Before that, there was still a smile on his face, but now, there was nothing. He looked at the black dragon that was slowly retreating from not far from him. The deep wound on its neck was wriggling vigorously as if a second head was about to pop right out of the wound.

“Pretending to be dead. That’s your final life-saving card?”

Sighing in a low voice, a white steam was exhaled right out of Joshua’s mouth. Then the white steam was blown away by the strong current of wind. Standing in the middle of the blizzard snow, the Warrior who was battling alone had a sense of sarcasm in his eyes.

Black dragon… you’ve brought so much problem to me, giving me a battle that I’ve long waited for. I should feel contented now.

You should have been an opponent worthy to be respected. However, no one would have thought that the moment after you’ve been corrupted by the Chaos, you actually became a pathetic and sad creature.

So why would the frenzied monsters care about an enemy that was standing still on the ground? Regardless of whether Joshua’s both legs were still in good condition or moveable or not, they were currently charging at Joshua like a wave of mad daemons. They were ready to attack. They were ready to destroy anything that stood in front of them. So the daemon horde had not noticed the strange change on the warrior’s body, and also the light circle that was getting more obvious as time passes.

Sticky saliva was dripping down to the ground from between the teeth of the monsters. Their sharp claws had crushed the rocks on the ground they stomped on. They were approaching Joshua closer and closer with every passing moment. Joshua could even smell the disgusting scent of their bodies now.

The enemies were just right before his eyes.

At that moment, Joshua had finally made peace to go with his decision. He took a deep breath and raised the silver greatsword that he was holding tight in his hand. The warrior’s red eyes began to emanate red-golden radiance. He was facing an endless wave of enemies while laughing with pride, “Final trump card… I have that as well.”

Boom!

Along with an explosive tremble, having Joshua as the center point of it, a golden radiance that was emanating brightly instantly enlarged into a light barrier. After that, it expanded rapidly into the surroundings. In the middle of the golden light, all the impurities and Chaos that were scattered in the atmosphere were dispelled. The fierce and vigorous Combat Aura turned into a burning flame, surging around the warrior’s body. His body was currently being pumped with an unparalleled power. His veins and bones were buzzing. His muscles were expanding. His blood was coursing through his veins like an endless powerful flowing river stream.

In the meantime, the violent sound that carried along boundless anger penetrated through the blizzard and the wind, overshadowing the howling and the roaring of the daemons. That sound echoed back and forth on the land.

“Allow me to show you the final attack of a warrior!”

At the same time, right before the sight view of Joshua, there were a series of words in gold appeared—

[Mastery: Avatar ¹ !]