Soul of Searing Steel

The two laughed and punched each other in their smiling faces. However, truth to be told, it was a little awkward afterward.

Because after the holy knight who was enduring the attacks from the warrior discarded his shield, he was easily knocked down to the ground by Joshua. Not only did he fail to strike back, he was also swiftly defeated by his opponent.

Roland, who was hit in his temporal lobe by a fist, instantly felt a violent concussion on his brain in the skull. The soft brain was shaken around like bean curd, and the violent concussion went across every nerve in his entire body. Although his strong will and the holy light had swiftly stabilized the shaking of the brain, and his tough body was still stood straight with his feet on the ground. However, even though Roland did not collapse because of that concussion, it was obvious that this holy knight could no longer battle.

Because he had already passed out as he withstood the impact of the punch and stood still without moving a muscle.

Although it was difficult to understand, that was actually a normal thing. Instead of being pressured, it was better to try to perform a counterattack. Although Roland’s idea was good, however, the odds of reality was against him. Things did not go the way he wanted to. Not to mention that he was tricked by Joshua’s movement during the battle. Joshua baited the holy knight and tricked him into doing something the warrior wanted him to do.

Of course, the most important thing was because he was a holy knight after all.

So what kind of class was a holy knight really then? Whenever this question was asked, maybe everyone would have a different answer. However, for Joshua, for most of the people across the entire continent of Mycroft, the holy knight would be a class where the holders would be stationed in a place, or across the whole continent, dealing with various threats across the entire mainland.

Of course, most of threats they were dealing with were related to daemons.

They were like warriors who specialized in hunting gigantic monsters. In the past, these holy knights could even switch class to Dragonhunter Holy Knight inherited from the Dragonslayer Sage Saint Georgius. Meanwhile, the first dragon knight in history was also a holy knight, a pope of a church. Because they were a class of good guardians which protected humans, they seldom engaged in hand-to-hand combat with other humans. Also, their fighting style would be going out in large numbers. Even though they were imposing when they go out in numbers, they were a little inadequate in the art of battle.

During the previous battle, Joshua relied on rapid movements and swift assaults. That had tricked Roland’s subconscious into thinking that the swift and ferocious assaults were already the warrior’s limit. Well, the warrior seemed to be nothing more than a lion that went berserk—that thought of his was indeed not. The extreme madness of the Golden Lion—his mid was indeed not wrong. Even if it was Joshua, it would be difficult to perform swifter and much more powerful punches.

However, Joshua could switch styles!

After noticing that his opponent had abandoned the thought to defend and ready to exchange a strike with him, the warrior switched his thought as swiftly as lightning. After that, he immediately changed the course of his assault—Both he and Roland were also swinging their right fists towards each other’s faces. But now, Joshua did not aim for Roland’s face anymore all of a sudden. He slanted his body to the side a little as he pulled his left arm back to the limit as if he was pulling the bowstring to the limit. Meanwhile, he opened up his right fist and positioned his hand with his palm opened, blocking Roland’s right arm. Right at the moment when he blocked his arm, he had also made Roland lose balance.

After that, Joshua’s ultimate skill was activated straight away!

Stomping his feet onto the ground trembling the ground violently, at the time the frozen soil cracked and countless dust erupted, the earth across tens of meters was shaking violently. The warrior turned his back. At the same time, the muscles on his waist and his chest burst out with incredibly powerful tension and elasticity, allowing the charged up strength on his left fist to be swung out, launching it like an extremely heavy metallic hammer straight into Roland’s face.

At that moment, the helmet of the holy knight deformed and shattered as the holy knight instantly passed out.

It must be said that Roland was indeed a holy knight. Ordinary Gold-tier champions who received that blow from Joshua would have their heads blown across the ground staining the ground red by now. They would at least have half of their skulls blown away by the impact of that punch. However. Roland’s body was as tough as diamond. Roland’s body was just a little weaker than the body of the warrior which activated ‘Steel Armor Kokyu-ho’ and the support of the power of Order. At the moment when he received the attack, he even instinctively burst out with holy light and used his holy spell to connect himself to the atmosphere around him, discharging a large amount of power. After a furious and scorching blast, he just stood steadily on the spot. Other than passing out, it seemed that he had not sustained many heavy injuries from the battle.

That was really tough.

Joshua withdrew his left fist. He looked at the broken middle finger of his and sighed. Then he smiled.

“I still like battling a little too much.”

He looked at Roland, who was standing in place without having even the slightest reaction. His heartbeat was the only thing that was moving in his entire body. Then the warrior spoke gently, “So every time when I battle, I’ll always attempt to prolong the battle as much as I can.”

That was truly a bad habit.

Joshua turned his eyes and looked at the neck of the holy knight. There was a thin layer of armor around his throat. Compared to the tough helmet and skull, that should be the spot that was completely unguarded. He looked at it and he shook his head. “A lot of attacks were not necessary. As long as I aim at the weak spots, I could have taken him out in a single blow.”

But it was so enjoyable that he couldn’t bear to give up the chance to enjoy the fun of such a battle.

No one else was worthy of being his enemy. Every time when Joshua was sparring with the others and defeated them in a single blow, the warrior felt extremely bored.

How can you end the battle so quickly? You should get up and continue!

Could it really be that no one in this world could really battle head-on with me and make me happy?

The battle had ended too quickly.

However, the sun had yet to set.

The setting sun shone, along with winds sweeping across the campsite of the caravans outside the city, blowing away the dust that was stirred up in the air during the battle between the two of them. Meanwhile, in the distance from the city wall, there were noises of people talking to each other. That was the sound of the city guards that came out to patrol and scout around to determine the situation that changed tremendously.

“Although it was good, it’s still not enough.”

Turning his body around, Joshua moved his arms around as he felt a little regret. The healing ability of a powerful Gold-tier champion had almost completely healed his broken middle finger and both of his broken fists. Only a thick layer of clotted blood was left on his hands, “You should have been able to become stronger. It’s truly unfortunate that you have not enough experiences just yet.”

Meanwhile, just when he was about to leave and summon the city guards to bring the stunned holy knight back to St. Laurent church and let Artanis heal him, suddenly a drastic change occurred.

Warmth, forgiveness, stability, harmonious, maintain, healing, justice, wisdom… a burst of light, just one, that could bring peace to the heart of people, making people sensing the warmth of the light had appeared right behind Joshua.

Feeling a shock across his entire body, Joshua turned his head around.

That was—that was the power of Order. Meanwhile, the density of that power was far beyond the density of the Order energy that was embedded in his Azurite which only had the effect of ‘purification’!

Could it be that Roland still had something up his sleeve which he is only showing off now?!

Upon thinking about that, he could not help but feel a little excited—it was certainly a very joyous thing to know that a worthy opponent could still continue to battle.

But after that instant, he was stunned.

Because what appeared before his eyes was not the holy knight awakening from his concussion. Instead, it was a light slowly gathering together.

Roland was still standing still on the ground. His posture was extremely stable. Even though he was currently in a coma, he still maintained his fighting stance. And at that time, little by little the silver-white lights were surging out from the emblem of the Church of the Seven Gods that was seen on his armor. After that, the lights gathered into a gigantic ball of light.

Countless complex geometric structures were rotating at the core of the light mass. Meanwhile, the sacred runes were gathering layer after layer upon each other like protective barriers, shielding up these mysterious complex geometric structures.

The power condensed in that light mass was originally very weak. However, after a few breaths of time, that power had grown so strong that it was a powerful as a Gold tier already. And then, that power continued to grow. That power in the light mass continued to soar up right before Joshua’s eyes that seemed to have seen a ghost. In a few seconds, that power even broke through the power level of a Supreme tier! Crossing through the triple barriers, and smashing through the Ring of Fate, reaching the Legendary domain!

At this moment, the world seems to be still, and the meaning of color and sound was lost along with that moment. The scenery between heaven and earth looked like a purely-white silhouette, leaving only ‘existence’ and ‘order’.

If one only relied on the naked eye to look at it, then he or she would not completely understand the astonishment of the scene. In the eyes of Joshua who possesses the power of Order, that mass of light which was carrying the Order energy had already radiated across the land, reaching the hills in the distant, covering every single inch of the land across the main city of Moldavia. However, the most terrifying part of it was not that. Even though it had such great power, however, it did not cause even the slightest change to the heaven and earth. It appeared silently without startling anyone or anything in the world. It appeared like a warm atmosphere, wrapping up everyone and everything up without the knowledge of anyone!

Such deep control of power could be said to be no less than the Joshua that had reached the realm of the Legendary-tier back in his previous life!

Meanwhile, just when Joshua had already guessed who might be the person appearing, that light mass gathered and formed into a blurry shape of a human figure. Meanwhile, a voice of an old man along with a sense of laughter came out from the light.

“Joshua van Radcliffe.”

He said softly and politely, “Greetings.”