Soul of Searing Steel

Panda Novel

When Joshua walked out of the vault empty-handed, he looked a little stiff and hardened. Nostradamus moved aside to close the door and asked, “What’s with that face?”

He then casted the magic spell as he closed the main door to the Royal Treasury Vault once more. The moment the door clicked shut, the old mage immediately resumed the paused operation of the seal circle. As the cold air, once again, filled up the hall, Nostradamus looked, puzzled, at the empty hands of the warrior and asked, “Was there nothing that is to your liking?” As he said that, his knitted his white brows in concern before starting again, “Though the Bloodline potions may not be useful to you, each of the container that houses souls has the potential to become a family treasure to your family. You can use the magic circle in your territory to amplify and enhance their effects. In that way, you can cast an invisible, formative influence on everyone in a certain area of a region – in a good way, of course.”

“Not to mention that there are a lot of Kokyu-ho Legacies on the shelves on the side. Their values are far more than any of the enchanted weapons in the entire continent. Each of them is a foundation that can potentially boost the power of a person. Israel has seen that you have the potential to transcend into Legendary tier. That was why he has given you an opportunity to have a look at his secret vault.”

I have already possessed all of the Kokyu-ho techniques you have. In the meantime, the Kokyu-ho techniques that I possess, you have none.

“I have obtained the most precious thing of all from the vault,” Joshua replied, as he shook his head. Under the witness of everyone near him, he lifted up his right arm. Everyone stared curiously at the palm of the warrior. Even Nostradamus could not avert his eyes from the warrior’s palm. A speck of light glowed faintly at the center of his palm. Within the light, one could see that there were countless shadows of people emerging one after another, and vaguely, one could also hear the battle cries of many shouting in unity alongside the sound of the long horns.

[Souls of the Fearless]

[Passive Effect: When you hold this item, your ally shall be bestowed with the effect of the Aura of Courage.]

[After activating it, you can rapidly accumulate a large amount of Soul Points, increasing the maximum limit of the user’s soul and the user’s Will. It can also be processed by a person with shaping spells of a Legendary-tier soul in exchange for ‘Indestructible Crystallization’, ‘The Firewood of the Wounded King of the Searing Soul’, or ‘Rune: Indestructible’.]

[It is just like how the weak would hug each other in a group in order to keep themselves warm—bravery beckons more bravery. The countless souls that are bounded with the remnants of soldiers are willing to contribute a part of themselves to you and form into a speck of soul light. The one that still lives, do not let the dead down.]

[—Please let us advance forward together with you.]

Ling and Nostradamus seemed to have sensed that this thing has quite a number of functions. However, Brandon and Ying, on the other hand, were pretty puzzled at the moment. “This is… a highly concentrated soul crystal?” the blond swordsman asked as he scratched his head in confusion—the silver-haired girl did the same. Ying furrowed her brows as she thought hard, trying to believe that something is precious about this.

However, Ling could vaguely sense that there was an infinitive potential hidden deep within the speck of souls. Artificial souls like himself and Ying would be able to enhance their own essences by staying close to the soul light. Ying seemed like a delicate little lady that resembled a doll, her essence was in fact, the same as the dull and insensitive personality of her master’s. Hence, it was perfectly normal that she could not sense it.

The old mage was the only person who could see through it clearly. He looked at Joshua with a strange expression as he mumbled, “You’ve actually managed to have that many souls approve you?”

That thing was truly, the most precious thing Joshua could have taken from the vault. The souls in those Horcruxes ¹  has detached part of themselves from their vessels and bestowed it upon the warrior. That was certainly a heavy burden to do as each of these Horcruxes will need at least decades for them to fully recover to their initial state—even if they were stored under the best of conditions or environment.

Joshua nodded slightly as he kept it in his inventory. The passive effect of the [Souls of the Fearless] offered him quite a variety of functions. From enhancing the bravery of a warrior to summoning a fearless army, from training mounts that could charge towards the enemies with no fear to forming a formidably powerful party of knights. Joshua could potentially become much more powerful under each of the passive effect of the [Souls of the Fearless].

Judging from that regard, the precious thing that Joshua just possessed was far more valuable than any bloodline potion and Kokyu-ho techniques that anyone could ever come across. It was deemed to be a treasure that he can possess in exchange for his willingness to bear all beliefs of the souls.

“Speaking of knights…” Joshua lifted his head up slightly. His red eyes looked towards the North. “I wonder how Black is doing… She should be having a great time playing at the volcano.”

In the meantime, on the Illgner Continent, in Babel Province, on the plains by the outskirts of the Capital City.

The air was filled with the smell of smoke. The rumbling sound of the magic core was still echoing through the land. More than fifty armored vehicles with large-calibrated artillery arrived at the scene along with the mobilization of several troops. Numerous soldiers were seen digging a trench across the ground as their target was the terrifying creature that came from another dimension.

Golems.

In the woods on the border of the plains, the rumbling sounds of gigantic beings moving shook the earth. Trunks were ripped by their roots and rocks were crushed into bits. It sounded like giant elephants charging across the plains, startling the birds that screeched in fear as they leave their nests.

Not long after, under the intense gaze of all, a great number of terrifying beings, at least a dozen meters in height, came to sight. Each of them had a gray, rock-like body. A light source emitting white light were attached next to their eyes. These creatures were named golems because they looked just like giant rock statues that came alive. Their appearances resembled either humans or some sort of animals. Even though they appeared like heavy statues, their movements were unexpectedly agile. They behaved just like ordinary living things.

The moment they left the woods, they stopped simultaneously, sensing for something—searching for their enemies. After a while, they seemed to have picked up something. These stone giants or stone beasts began to charge towards the capital city of the Babel Province with heavy steps that shook the earth, causing the vast plain to tremble.

“Begin the assault!”

After patiently waiting for the gigantic monsters to enter their attacking range, the Confederation Army, which has already lined themselves up in their formation, swiftly launched their attacks at their targets. Under the order of their commander, countless alchemy cannons were shooting the cannon balls at the golems. As one of the cannon balls struck the body of the golem which was leading on the frontline, the cannon ball blasted off one third of the golem’s torso. The remaining of the golem’s body was covered in cracks that were severe enough to immobilize the monster.

But that was only one golem down; there were a dozen more golems charging towards the Confederation Army. Just as the army was getting ready to engage the incoming golems, more golems emerged from the forest. Some of them were obviously much tougher and stronger than those at the frontlines. Their scales were much thicker that even a few blasts of cannon balls barely made any significant damage on them.

“The Iron and Silver-tier golems are revealing themselves to us! Prepare to switch up the armor-piercing bombs!”

Upon noticing the weakness of their attacks, many of the armored vehicles’ personnel began to replace their ammunition with armor-piercing bombs. Years of fighting the same war has allowed them to understand their enemies. In general, the weakest and smallest could potentially be killed by one shot from their cannons. Those enemies were labelled as Rock tier. The Iron-tier golems which had their shells fortified to become even tougher than the other, would be able to take more than just a few hits from the cannons. As for those that were tougher than the Iron-tier golems, were labelled as Mithril tier. Ordinary cannon attacks would not be able to cause even the slightest scratch on the surface of their bodies. Only special rounds of armor-piercing cannons and bombs could penetrate the thick and tough shells of the Mithril-tier golems in order to cause some damage to their cores.

During the beginning of the golems’ invasion across the continent, most of them were merely rock tier. The Elven Dynasty was still around to conquer the continent during the invasion. The magic-enhanced weapons that were fueled with nagic crystals had just surfaced from many years of researches and developments. During that period, weapons were not popular. Most of the people were still using magic powers, bows and arrows to battle as magic powers in the atmosphere were still strongly present. Hence, encountering the golems during the early times was one of the toughest and also the darkest time for the people across the Illgner Continent. Countless of cities were under siege by the golems and many citizens were slaughtered.

As time went by, along with the advancement of the elves’ technology, the toughness and the power of the golems have grown stronger as if they too, were attempting to adapt to the advancement of the elves. The first Mithril-tier golem had revealed itself to the people of Illgner Continent approximately 70 years ago when the Elven Dynasty was overthrown. During that period of time, the golems had caused a great deal of damage to the newly-formed Confederation. It seemed unstoppable at that moment. At the end of it, the Confederation managed to lure the Mithril-tier golem into the volcano to end its life and put an end to its destruction.

According to rumors, there were also golems that were more powerful than the Mithril-tier golems, which were known as the golems of the Adamantine tier. Three years ago, the fortress in the Valley of Cold Winds almost fell because of the Adamantine-tier golems. However, the news and information about the golems were too few to back up its existence. Hence, no one could identify if it truly existed.

This battle was supposed to be a tough battle. The Confederation Army did not make enough preparation to battle against the incoming golem army. The recent natural disasters that has been frequenting the continent has had everyone running around restlessly. Due to the storms, the blizzards, the earthquakes or the tsunami waves, one calamity after another, not to mention the eruption of Mount Sigma next to the Babel Province that hit, hard, the people across the continent, all the army forces has been mobilized in response to rescue people from the disasters. Even after they maximized their efforts, they could only summon a certain size of an army to defend the city against the incoming golem troop. Fortunately, one third of the invasive golem troop has been annihilated by the ‘Volcanic Dragon’.

Now, the golems that the volcanic dragon took out were about to attack the city. And because of that, the army did not have to worry too much about the golems landing too near the city—for the moment. The golems were being struck down and destroyed by waves with the continuous bombardment of cannon attacks upon them. Some of the golems had made it into the campsite of the elves and destroyed several armored vehicles, killing some of the army. However, they were instantly eradicated by the remaining elves that were holding grudges against them for killing their kind.

Everyone’s ears rang after the explosion. Though the number of golems were not huge, the ones that appeared later were much more elite in terms of tiers. The incoming wave had five Mithril-tier golems and that complicated the situation as most of the Confederation Army was suffering a tremendous amount of stress. Behind the shield of the Mithril-tier at the frontline, the Rock-tier golems were able to charge forward at the most crowded spot of the army’s formation.

Even when the armor-piercing bullets hit, they didn’t kill the Mithril-tier golems immediately. The speed of the golem’s assault was far too fast for the Confederation Army to comprehend and neither could they avoid the golems from charging at them. The elven soldiers were standing still as they were ready to accept the imminent death. However, just before the golems could run over the Elven Army, a beam of red light flashed across the eyes of everyone on the battlefield. A huge ball of fire instantly appeared at the center of the chest of the Mithril-tier golem on the frontline, followed by a deafening explosion. The blinding light from the point of explosion was so intense that the sun seemed dimmer compared to it. The Mithril-tier golem that took the full impact of the fire ball attack was blown into thousands of pieces of shards.

A gust of warm wind blew upon their faces as the Elven soldiers turned around and looked behind their backs in shock. They saw a daunting beast that was larger than any of the golems that they have encountered. It trudged slowly out of the city through the city gate. With every few steps it took, sparks flew out of its chest. Streams of reddish golden light shined from its body. It continued toward the formation of the Confederation Army. As it moved forward, beams of light were struck upon the bodies of the powerful Mithril-tier golems, one after another.

The explosion was rapid and continuous. The powerful shockwaves of the impacts coming from each explosion kept blowing dust and sand into the air. Even armored vehicles looked so insignificant and small when they were placed before the impacts that were sweeping through the battlefield. The earth trembled as if an earthquake has just occurred.

When the explosions ended, the spot, where the golems were, has turned into a giant pit. Right in the middle of the pit, the lava cooled down rapidly. The remaining of the golems seemed to be swept away by the impact, leaving not a single trace behind

“Is the volcanic dragon really on our side?” a military personnel, who was hiding in the trench in an effort to avoid being blown away by the impacts, whispered to his comrade, who was also doing the same beside him.

“That power was horrifying… the creature actually took out each of the Mithril-tier golems with just one hit. It eliminated them one by on as if they were nothing. We would have needed more armor-piercing ammo than we could even count in order to do the same to the golems…”

His comrade simply shook his head and said, “If I were you, I would not have thought about any of those things. If the volcanic dragon was not on our side, do you think we would still be alive?”

The formation of the army was on the verge of getting hammered into pieces by the charging golems. If it was not for the dragon that has come to their rescue, at least a few hundred of them would have died over nothing. Countless armored vehicles would have been destroyed as well. Giving his comrade a brief moment to let it sink, the military personnel spoke in a resigned tone, “And even if that creature is not on our side, we couldn’t have done anything anyway…”

Upon hearing that, the former military personnel was instantly silenced. Indeed, regardless of whether the dragon was a friend or a foe, the Confederation would have been defeated.

That battle ended very quickly because of the dragon’s participation. The Golems’ attack was disorganized. The golems were blindly charging into the battlefield in groups. And because of that, the Confederation Army found a weakness in their attack and gained an opportunity to strike back.

When dusk arrived, the scouts has confirmed that all of the golems were annihilated. The unexpected invasion has finally come to an end.

On the other side, Black was lazing on the ground. It seemed to be resting. It did not feel as exhausted as it was back when it had used all of its energy to annihilate the meteors before those golems could even touch the ground. However, the constant throwing of fire balls has worn off its spirit a little.

Right beside the draconic horse, man soldiers and researchers were observing. However, the draconic horse did not seem to be bothered by their presence at all because Black has already gotten used to being around people. It has gotten used to the feeling of being watched and looked at by others. After all, the main city of Moldavia and Winter Fort Academy had always been crowded with citizens and students. Besides, Black has been hanging out at the two places quite often. As time passed by, Black seemed to be relaxed enough to not even notice that an Enchanted armored vehicle has arrived.

An old elf with white hair walked out of the armored vehicle that were protected by several Elite soldiers. On the chest of the white-haired elf, was an emblem with the words [Confederation’s Highest Academy].

“Professor Nielsen… this is the volcanic dragon.”

An elite soldier who seemed to be the captain of the elite squad pointed at the huge black body of the draconic horse and whispered to the old elf, “It is resting now. So what says you? Should we come again a little while later?”

As they fought together earlier on, many soldiers felt less afraid of Black but their survival instinct was still strong enough to leave a slight sense of fear that tells them that they did not want to be near it for longer than necessary.

“Even though I have seen the pictures, I’m still astounded at what I am looking at right now…” said Nielsen the old elf, as he shook his head in disbelief. He narrowed his eyes as he stared at the gigantic body of the draconic horse.

“As expected! There is a large amount of dragon traces all over it. The name ‘Volcanic Dragon’ does ring a bell—are you guys sure that it is friendly and tamed? Did it really interact with a boy for a brief moment?”

“Of course! We have the footage that shows all the details of the entire process,” assured the leader of the squad. “Or else we would not have brought you all the way here in such a hurry. We can show you the footage at the Commanding Center to prove, if you want.”

“It’s okay. It is good enough to know this… oh!” as he was speaking, the old elf suddenly appeared and shouted, “It’s awake!”

As he was talking to the other elves, Black has finally noticed the people around it and opened its eyes to see with its golden eyes. It stared at the old elf and the other soldiers who looked just as stunned.

Black lifted its long and slender neck and neighed. It stared only at the only elf whose expression was void of fear from its eye level. That elf was Professor Nielson.

This old man and the old mage that keeps appearing next to Master look very alike.Black thought. However, there was a significant difference between the two old men—the man on the right was too weak and appeared to be a completely different being from the powerful old mage. Just as the draconic horse was about to sink deeper into its own thoughts, Professor Nielson cleared his throat and began to communicate with Black in an ancient draconic language, “Greetings, powerful and mighty creature…”

As a linguistics professor who was proficient in various languages and even in the mythical and legendary languages, Professor Nielson came forth to meet the mighty draconic horse with intention to communicate with it. However, as he was attempting to communicate with Black, the old elf noticed that Black seemed to be puzzled by his words. It seemed that the draconic horse could not understand a word at all.

That’s really strange… a dragon that doesn’t understand draconic language?

At that moment, Professor Nielson felt a little embarrassed, not because he did not know any other languages of the dragons but because if the volcanic dragon could not understand a single word of the draconic language, then it should not be able to understand any other languages as well.

In order to uphold and fulfil his responsibilities, the white-haired master of languages decided to switch to another language before approaching the draconic horse again. This time, he chose a language only spoken by the legendary fairies. The language sounded a little odd as he was pronouncing the words as if he was singing the words instead of saying them. As the pitch of his voice went up and down the scales, covering every note known to mankind, Black seemed to become more enthusiastic. It also seemed to be happy as it was nodding its head. It even started tapping its claws against the ground, creating a very rhythmic beat.

This creature simply does not understand a word of this language as well. It is simply enjoying it like it was a song! Professor Nielson thought. He had no choice but to interrupt his own attempt to communicate with the volcanic dragon. He was extremely surprised by the fact that Black could actually enjoy music and that it was acquainted with the rhythm. And because of the reaction of the creature, the old elf came to realize that the language of the legendary Fairies was actually melodious and comfortable to listen to.

However, the mission came first. Though Black expressed dissatisfaction with the interruption of the song, Professor Nielson tried using another language in another attempt to communicate with the draconic horse. This time, the old elf picked an outer world language used by the Elemental life form. Judging from the sound of it alone, the language sounded like some meaningless roaring and howling.

The language indeed sounded meaningless to Black because it has also started howling along with the old elf as if it was not ready to be outdone by the old elf. How could a white-haired elf make a louder noise than a dragon? Hence, the attempt to communicate with this language, once again, seemed to have failed.

Unflinching and unwilling, Nielson refused the requests of the soldiers to escort him back as he continued to try to communicate with the draconic horse using various languages. Black also seemed to treat all of his attempts as a game. It was attempting to follow up with the old Elf as it also imitated the old elf. In fact, it was enjoying itself with the old elf.

Obviously, this fellow has been communicating with life forms with wisdoms all its life. So what sort of language can it understand then?

After a long time, Professor Nielson, who has tried all means and types of languages including Shiling (dwarf’s language), giant’s language, halfling’s language and various animal languages (all sorts of orcs), was exhausted. He could not help but doubt that the draconic horse was a smart life form. However, it did turn out that the wisdom of the volcanic dragon was quite superb and equal to that of a fairy. Not only could it appreciate a good music, it could also sing along with the music with its own draconic voice. From a certain point of view, this creature possessed a certain sense of musical literacy.

“Lastly… let’s try this one…”

Although it seemed to be impossible for this language to work, Professor Nielson had no other choice. By now, the moon was high up in the sky and the old elf has yet to take his dinner and was on the verge of collapsing from exhaustion and hunger.

“In ancient legend, this language is used by the people of the plains. Though the language has nothing to do with dragons, it seems to be the only language that has yet to be tried.”

With the urge to hurry home and fill his tummy, which he should have done a few hours ago, the exhausted white-haired elf used the common tongue to make his final attempt to communicate with Black, “Excuse me, can you understand what I am saying?”

Upon hearing some familiar words from the old elf, Black instantly turned its head around and looked at Professor Nielson expectantly with its gigantic draconic eyes, waiting for him to say another word.

What a huge reaction! The old elf was greatly encouraged. He quickly recalled the vocabulary of the common tongue as he continued to try to communicate with the draconic horse. He began to stutter as he attempted to speak with that language, “Hello, mighty volcanic dragon, I am the representative of the Bay Confederation…”

“Roar!” Black shook its head as it let out a dragon roar at the puzzled old elf, just as if it was trying to have a conversation with the old Elf.

“What… what did you say?” asked Professor Nielson, as he wiped the sweats off of his forehead. He could not be affirmative that the volcanic dragon could understand his words. The creature was definitely a life form that possessed intelligence. However, he could not make sense of what Black was trying to say. Black was not speaking a draconic language. It sounded purely like the roaring of a beast.

What sort of situation is this?! A dragon that does not speak draconic language but understands the language used by the people of the plains? And it can only roar to communicate with others? What exactly is it trying to say then?!

What else can it say?

Black had attempted to neigh and roar so many times. It only wanted to say two things—’My name is Black and I am not a volcanic dragon’ and the other, ‘Don’t speak in dialect, please speak in common tongue, thank you.’

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