Soul of Searing Steel

Panda Novel

The surprise spiritual attack wrought by the silver human silhouette completely decimated the elven troops along the flanks.

Most of the soldiers did not die at the hands of the golems, succumbing instead to self-induced hysteria. The gruesome spiritual assault wore their souls down, turning virtually every single one of these resilient warriors into vulnerable madmen. Being torn into pieces by the golems would have been a mercy—a great many of them were dying senselessly in desperate, demented despair.

The golems advanced all the way. Without the fortress defenses, the city wasn’t even an obstacle to these monsters. Like an unstoppable wave, the large stone army effortlessly demolished every single building along the way, their humongous fists punching through concrete and bringing about ruin. It did not take long for them to reach the great doors leading to an underground shelter.

The shelter had been constructed with a golem attack in mind. A huge space tens of yards deep beneath the surface, it could accommodate up to tens or even hundreds of thousands of elves for some time, and its entrance was carved especially small to prevent the golems from entering.

Thunder and lightning flashed across the gloomy sky. Torrents of rain fell, accompanied by piercing winds. As the golems stayed their ground and considered how they might enter the shelter for a cleanup operation, a red flare flashed across the sky. Turning into a pillar, it struck one of the golems directly.

The violent explosion blew every normal golem within tens of yards into smithereens. The large army of monsters turned around, looking afar with lights shining in their eyes.

In that place stood a gigantic creature, its body covered in a black carapace, its head adorned with two long horns. Huge thorns protruded across its back and tail, and a golden core in front of its chest. An immense power churns within it, as if it were a small volcano.

Seeing that these monsters had cast their sights on him, Black let out a long groan and charged towards the outskirts of the city.

Without any hesitation, these golems immediately abandoned the shelter in flanking pursuit of the half-dragon.

The creature held the power of Order. Its force was immense. It was the ‘Great Pest’ that could threaten even the executors. In comparison, the insects that shuddered underground were insignificant.

The silver human silhouette in the sky also shifted its attention to this side. The halo in its head whirled as it emitted a sharp cry, and in that exact moment, a razor-like spiritual assault assailed Black’s mind at the speed of thought, but the half-dragon merely shook its head, ignoring the attacks.

Compared to the presence of my Master, it’s too weak! Black thought, disdainfully. It wasn’t some elf that lived for centuries in a world without any major threats under such elements, who has never seen any major conflicts. Would a mount that can get used to the black-haired warrior’s Aura of Despair even fear such a spiritual assault?

The silver human silhouette paused for a moment; it had never expected its attacks to have no effect. Then the halo in its head began to move, unleashing rays of light. It turned its body around, ceasing its suppression of the city and instead focusing every last bit of its strength to one point, to attack the large beast.

Looking down from the sky, a red spot of light can be seen sprinting off at breakneck speeds, with a dense wave of rocks in close pursuit. A silver spot of light was also floating in the sky, chasing after the gigantic shadow.

The golems’ attacks were gradually slowing without the spiritual repression of the silver human silhouette. As for the men at the Babel provincial command center, they finally had the strength to pull themselves off the ground. Grunting and moaning, many elves struggled to their feet; they barely had the strength to hold their listless bodies up while they looked out the window as well as the screen with misty eyes.

“… What is that?”

It wasn’t long before one of them noticed the silver human silhouette. Intrigued, he asked around but nobody could come up with an answer. It took a while before the crowd, who had finally become a little soberer, cried out in surprise, “Oh my goodness, there are so many golems!”

Everyone looked to the screen in front of the person who made the exclamation; they immediately felt a chill down their spine and couldn’t help but shudder—all of them silenced by terror.

On the screen, the dense puppet army numbering in the tens of thousands strode forth in their orderly march, in pursuit of the huge shadow. Even with the occasional dragon breath attacks, they never broke formation. A majority of them were Iron-class golems, a part of them were Mithril class, as well as more than a handful of Adamantine-class golems.

This is a frighteningly insurmountable number even for the Federation, let alone Babel Province! The warriors who participated in the battle of the Valley of Cold Winds pondered, and swiftly arrived at a conclusion.

If they were to face these golems that are two to three times the number of the last battle, they would at the very least require armies from five provinces fighting together in order to mount a defensive, otherwise, they would have been easily routed from the front. The hundreds of Adamantine and Mithril-class golems turned the tides of the battle, as they are an irresistible force for any single provincial army.

Far away, at the commander-in-chief’s office in the central area of the coast, a red-haired elf stared hard at the screen. Clenching his fists, he propped up his chin, the joints turning whitish-blue from exertion. Though his visage was as ferocious as that of a man-eating ogre, it was all for naught, as the situation would not change regardless of how he rages.

There had been no warning of a massive golem invasion of the Federation’s territories, nor were there any preventive measures in place. No one was truly mentally prepared in the face of the arrival of the golems that has become a sort of natural phenomenon. Like a nightmare, it all happened so suddenly; everyone was hoping to wake up as soon as possible, to escape from all of this.

But this is the cold, harsh reality. Be it the death of millions or the wanton destruction of cities, they were all reminding him, the father of the nation and of the Federation, the ruler, that all that he loved, all that he had, the country he fought hard for with his whole life will be in ruins.

Drawing a deep breath and focusing his sights, Vulcan the red-haired elf calmly summoned his personal bodyguard. “Prepare the airship; I wish to depart in three minutes’ time.”

“Yessir!” The guard looked pallid and uneasy, but he had unconditional faith that the elf before him was capable of turning the situation around. “What’s our destination, Lord Commander?”

“Our destination…”

After a moment of silence as if in deep thought and recollection, Vulcan’s expression changed, and then sighed heavily, “Our destination is the ancient Elven Dynasty capital ruins, the deep of the Mountains of Origins.”

—Forgive me, my elven forefathers, for I might blaspheme against our roots.

Regardless if you formerly were a guardian of the Dynasty or a pioneer of the Federation, I hope that you could help preserve the future of the elves.

Closing his eyes, Vulcan quietly prayed in his heart. A while later, only after the guard brought news of the readiness of his airship did he open his eyes, softly speaking, “Now, I have no choice but to awaken that existence.”

Meanwhile, the situation in the province of Babel was dire.

As the elven troops regained consciousness one by one, the strength of the defensive line recovered for the moment. With most of the golems chasing after Black, they were able to secure quite a few of their large shelters. However, the golems had dug out a passageway into one of them. It was utterly destroyed; cries and wails have been sealed beneath the ground. All that the observation circle could see was nothing but trails of bloody crimson. The command room was laden with lamentation. There were even some whose relatives were among those lost, but they do not have the time to mourn; they could only wipe their tears away and carry on.

If they too were to fall here, many more would lose their lives.

Flanked by the seemingly endless number of golems, Black slowly came to the realization that the places where it could run and hide were getting lesser and lesser.

Under the torrential rain, packs of monsters would appear where Black had intended to run to from time to time, forcing it to choose a different direction. As this kept happening, even its half-dragon wisdom could make out that the enemy was encircling it bit by bit.

If this keeps going the way it is going, do not even talk about taking away the pressure from Babel—it would simply be swallowed up with it. While the silver human silhouette kept giving chase, Black could sense from its body the immense threat it poses. Hence it kept moving as fast as it could, denying the adversary any chance of securing it.

This existence that called itself Harmonic Interface 7 possessed a perplexing power. Perhaps it was due to it being a most peculiar life form, yet the greater possibility is that the adversary was simply too powerful to be evaluated.

The silver human silhouette and the golems were also extremely patient; they did not care at all about the speed of the half-dragon, quietly flanking it from every direction instead. It mattered not that they failed once or twice, for they are inexhaustible puppets; they could still continue with their plan even with a thousand or ten thousand failures, but Black, on the other hand, was made of flesh and blood. However high its endurance it would still tire, require nourishment and rest. That’s why it wouldn’t matter even if it would take a few days.

It seems that that much time wasn’t necessary; after being forced to change directions once again, the half-dragon realized that it was completely surrounded by the dense golem army.

There was an obscene number of them; it was nothing but a dense shifting mass of rock golems as far as the eye could see. As the cold and heavy rains showered from the dark skies, the silver human silhouette twisted and turned around bizarrely, soaring through the air amidst purple lightning until it approached Black, strange lights illuminating its entire body.

I’ve been completely surrounded. Black gave a low sigh, but it remained unfazed—it knew that this moment would come, albeit a little too soon. It had originally thought itself capable of holding on.

Guess I overestimated myself, huh. Figures, I shouldn’t have been too self-confident. I’m not master, I don’t have the power to defy common sense… Feeling a bit tired, it closed its eyes. Then, red flares danced about, three golden light spots flickered. When it opened its eyes once more, the gargantuan dragon opened wide its huge maw and unleashed a cry that shook the heavens.

And then, without a moment to lose, a golden pillar of light erupted from the core in its chest and shot out towards the golem army, striking devastatingly at the dense puppet formation.

The enormous detonation and the strong gale that followed quickly vaporized tens of golems. The shockwave caused the earth to tremble, forcing many of the golems to the ground, immobilizing them as they lay on top of each other, but many more golems swarmed ahead, fearing neither the high heat of the inferno surrounding the black dragon, nor the death that came from the talons of the huge dragon that could smash them into pieces, nor do they care about themselves at all as they charged forward, intending to dominate the monstrous beast that dwarves them.

Having routed a group, smashed another, killed another with its dragon’s breath, and tearing to pieces yet another with its sharp claws, the dragon found it all to be futile; there is no reasoning at all with the neverending monsters. They were relying solely on their advantage in numbers to slay the half-dragon.

It’s a pity…  Black had a revelation while being completely overwhelmed by the golem army: this may be the day that it dies, and this may be the day that everything comes to an end.

I’m not a flying dragon, I can’t take to the skies…  Such thoughts filled its head, as the half-dragon couldn’t help but be filled with regret. If the battlefield were the ocean or a volcano, for as long as there were water and lava, the battle on this day wouldn’t necessarily end in defeat. But alas, the reality it was in means that it was held back by such a great disadvantage. It was enough already for so many of those abominations to be destroyed.

It is enough.

The golems charged, one after the other, towards the half-dragon’s side. They kept tackling Black’s body, but the half-dragon offered no resistance in return. Red streaks of light streamed from its core and wafted around its body; a terrifying fire element coursed through its veins, moving, as if it would explode at any moment, endlessly spreading to its surroundings.

If it were to die here, it would have to bring a majority of the enemy down with it at the very least.

It was the last thing it could do as the warrior’s mount.

But then there came a voice, which caused it to cease what it was doing.

“WHO?!”

A will that was freezing cold yet filled with flaming fury swept across the battlefield; the golems who were merely puppets were even stopped in their tracks by this malevolence that had seemingly taken form, while in the horizon from afar, a red comet streaking with trails of scarlet mist tore through the clouds and headed towards Babel Province with extreme speed.

The silver humanoid looked to the heavens in great surprise. Even Black, who was bogged down in a bitter struggle, lifted its head to look at the skies north of Babel Province.

There, the layers of clouds were dyed black-red by the crimson Combat Aura, the heavy clouds parted by some great might in the blink of an eye, as if a titan that controlled lightning and thunder parted the skies. The brilliance of the stars was revealed behind the black clouds, while the surrounding clouds rippled as if they were water.

“WHO DARES TO BULLY MY HORSE!”

A voice bringing sheer terror muffled even the thunder and echoed across the land. A figure completely wrapped up in a black-red Combat Aura descended like a star falling to the earth; his speed was so swift that neither the golems, nor the silver humanoid, nor Black, nor the elves could react as they simply watched the crimson meteorite fall to the land.

An intense scarlet sparkled, emitting a sunlike radiance; any human who gazed upon it would experience intense pain as if they were staring directly at the sun, yet Black kept its golden draconian eyes opened wide. It stared intensely at the figure.

There was an explosion, then a shockwave, then great earthquake-like tremblors followed by a little mushroom cloud. Then out came a familiar voice.

It was the black-haired warrior, holding a silver greatsword and a black greataxe in his hands; his two eyes were red like fire, revealing an irrepressible rage.

This place would be hell.

Because the Lord of war, massacre, and destruction has arrived.

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