Soul of Searing Steel

Panda Novel

Two cold, shining stars were seen in the middle of the battlefield shrouded by heavy rain and haze.

The warrior gripped tightly onto silver greatsword and the black greataxe. A dark, chilly red light that flashed on the edge of the sharp blades. An inexplicable power pulsated through the two weapons and were connected to the warrior.

When Joshua had once again came into contact with his own weapons, the familiar feelings that he longed for rushed up to his chest. The heavy greatsword and the greataxe might be extremely difficult for ordinary people to wield. However, the warrior was able to wield the two weapons like they were his own arms. Two power sources that were completely different from the power source of the warrior flowed into his body and became one with him.

[Acroll’s Cleaver: Ying]

[Incorruptible Holy Relic]

[Indestructible (Durability)/143 (Sharp)]

[Ability]

[Purging Chaos: Originated from Chaos to expel Chaos. When the wielder of the greatsword is faced with Chaos daemons, the wielder will momentarily acquire a support, ‘Incorruptible’. The sharpness of the greatsword will increase by 60 points.]

[Liege of Extinction: According to legend, the weapon was wielded by a fearsome liege. He murdered his uncle, banished his elder brother, and launched an extermination on various creatures in his territory. Even the dragons did not survive under his merciless rule over the territory. The wielder of this greatsword had also acquired the blessing of the ‘Silent Exterminator’. The targets that are wounded by this greatsword will not be able to heal his wound with any sort of ‘Holy Ritual’ for over ten days.]

[The Legend of the Holy Relic: The Flame of the Firefly (Ying)]

[The forger of the sword Acroll, had acquired the Chaos Crystal to create the body of the sword, then he used the power of Order to forge its body. The light of the blade glows dimly like the fire of a firefly. However, it emits light of its own. The wielder of the greatsword, never gives up on hope. The Flame of the Firefly (Ying) can also illuminate the sky at the night.]

[Acroll’s Dragon Cleaver: Ling]

[[Incorruptible Holy Relic]

[Indestructible (Durability)/155 (Sharp)]

[Ability]

[Purging Chaos: Originated from Chaos to expel Chaos. When the wielder of the greataxe is faced with Chaos daemons, the wielder will momentarily acquire a blessing called ‘Mountain Breaker’. All attacks of the wielder will affect 60 armor points.]

[Berserker battle: According to legend, the weapon was wielded by a bloodthirsty warrior. He slaughtered the daemons until his final days. However, he never did it for money or fame. He only wanted to satisfy his thirst for blood. He never felt even the slightest fear while he was in the strange realm of the Dark Abyss. The wielder of the greataxe had acquired the blessing of ‘A Silent Maniac’. When targets are cut by the weapon, their wounds will remain bleeding. Without using any ‘Holy Ritual’ grade Divine Spell, the person will need over ten days to heal himself before he can recover.]

[The Legend of the Holy Relic: The Light of Ling]

[The forger of the axe Acroll, had acquired the Chaos Crystal to create the body of the axe, then he used the power of Order to forge its blade and body. The greataxe looks completely black. However, the blades of the axe on both edges glisten with cold light, indicator that the blades are extremely sharp. The wielder of the axe, please do not forsake your determination, the glistening blade of the axe was forged to tear through darkness.]

Joshua swept his eyes through the system and read the descriptions. He froze for an instant. Then, he started to communicate with both of his weapons telepathically. “…Ying, Ling… what exactly did Pope Igor do to you? How did they enhance the both of you?” It was just ten days ago when they last met. So how was it possible that even the mods of the weapons had changed? Everyone knows that only famous weapons in history would have that sort of description!

The voices of the girl and the boy were filled with doubt as they echoed in the mind of the warrior. “Nothing… That old white-bearded man just placed us in a warm room filled with white lights for over ten days. After we came out of that room, we felt much stronger than before.”

Ling added, a little doubtful at first, “Master, I am indeed stronger than before … This time, I am sure that I will be able to bear the weight of your power!”

It seemed obvious that the black-haired boy was still unsettled by the incident where he passed out. It was a complete humiliation for a weapon. He stuttered a little as he felt anxious when he spoke to the warrior. He behaved more differently than when he was the calm butler of the mansion.

“Then I shall look forward to your performance, Ling.” Joshua nodded slightly. It was true that he was looking forward to the performances of these two enhanced divine armaments. In fact, even the airship only had over 70 armor points. So any sharpness that went beyond 100 points would definitely be a destructive weapon that could destroy anything. Not to mention that Ying and Ling could still increase their sharpness and their Armor Penetration points during the battles with the Chaos daemons. Having their capabilities was just like adding wings to a tiger. Even the ordinary legendary weapons could not do that.

—From the looks of it, Igor should have placed them in the ‘Holy Sanctum’ back at the Great Central Shrine.

The warrior assumed quietly but confidently.

The Holy Sanctum was used by the Church of the Seven Gods to store all sorts of Holy relics and Holy equipment left behind by the powerful Holy Beholder who had passed away. That place had the most condensed Order Power in the entire Mycroft Continent. In that place, even an ordinary brick or tile could be enhanced with the Holy Light and be turned into some sort of magical materials with extraordinary attributes, let alone the divine armaments, the enemy of Chaos, which were already extraordinary beings themselves.

Placing Ying and Ling in that place would indeed result in extreme enhancements of their qualities without any side effects or any necessity to re-forge them.

Most of the renowned Holy Relic actually came from that place.

As for the change in the mod of the weapons, the warrior had forgotten one thing–although these two divine armaments did not have a long history that wowed the world, his name alone, Joshua Van Radcliffe, and his title was already known in the Imperial Kingdom. His name had even reached the ears of many other kingdoms and states on the other side of the great continent. Hence, Joshua and his weapons in arm were already recorded in the documents of the world.

However, currently, even though Joshua was a little bothered by the abilities of Ying and Ling, he was too lazy to bother himself with too many things. His current objective was to enjoy the feeling of swinging the two enhanced weapons in both of his hands in this battle.

It would not matter even though he was just going to slaughter those wyverns that were too weak.

However, the situation in reality did not play out according to the warrior’s expectation.

Ever since Joshua picked up the greatsword and the greataxe, a powerful pressure spread rapidly from the warrior into the surrounding.

Invisible momentum rose from behind him and turned into a silent but great wave. A dark shadow formed into a horrific black mountain before the wyverns and the dragons, blocking them.

Fear began to spread, causing many wyverns in the sky to screech in misery.

Just as Joshua leaped into the sky and started to pursue the horde of wyverns in the sky, every single dragon and the wyvern on the gray island Aida immediately turned around at the same time and attempted to flee into the clouds. The scene looked just like doomsday was approaching and everything single in that area would die. Some of the weaker wyverns were no longer capable of balancing themselves in the sky. They fell straight to the ground, overwhelmed fear.

Instantly, half of the sky was filled with the miserable roaring of the dragons. Thousands of frenzied draconic beings fled for their lives as their formation crumbled.

“… Huh?!”

The speed of the ordinary wyverns was undoubtedly slower than the flying speed of the warrior. However, how could he find joy and satisfaction in slaughtering these weak and old retarded beings? He slaughtered a few wyverns that were descending into complete chaos and despair with the greatsword he held in his hand as he went. Joshua remained floating as he hesitated about whether he should pursue the berserk dragons that already flew into the clouds.

That… was completely different from the scene he imagined it to be. He came here to test his weapons, not chase draconic beasts away from the area!

Among the clouds, a Supreme-tier blue dragon that assumed the role of commanding the berserk dragons hovered in the sky above the west region of the island. It flapped its stiff wings and felt a chill that was also felt by the dragons beneath it. That sense of chill spread through its body.

It had witnessed the chaotic scene caused by its own underlings–many supposedly fearless berserk dragons were behaving like timid inferior goblins fleeing for their lives when they were pursued by a black-haired warrior. They seemed to have lost their minds as they flew towards any direction they felt was safe. Quite a number of them were obviously not killed by the warrior. They simply collided into the other dragons and fell to death. They panicked so much that they no longer see where they were going as they kept colliding into each other with only one goal—to get away from that terrifying dark shadow as soon as they could.

There had never been such a ridiculous scene in the past. Even the wyverns themselves had yet to see this nor had they ever experienced it before. These foul beasts with possessed wings and teeth, the ability to spit fire and acids, and hunt in packs were currently overwhelmed with fear. They rather flee than stay and fight the human being.

However, the blue dragon was not enraged by what it saw–in fact, even its own instinct was warning it of the danger lurking below, telling it to leave the dangerous zone as soon as it could. That hunch was so strong. The moment when it felt threatened, the blue dragon immediately turned around and flew in the opposite direction, away from the warrior, as quickly as it could. It did not even hesitate.

“Fear… no, that’s the ‘Aura of Despair’!”

Right next to the shrine, the strong priest who stood stiffly next to Saya lifted his head up and looked into the sky where Joshua was. Guevara gulped and cautiously asked the great nun beside him shakily, “My respected great nun, is that comrade of yours…”

The priest seemed to have trouble with his words. He did not know how to address Joshua. Should he call the warrior a creature from the Dark Abyss or the embodiment of some super demon? The words that he could come up with seemed a little inaccurate. Even he could see that the warrior was merely an ordinary man from his appearance.

However, how did a human being come to possess the ‘Aura of Despair’?!

In general, the demons in the Dark Abyss possessed powers similar to the Aura of Fear. They easily caused ordinary human beings to panic and be confused so that they could not resist. By then, the demons would break their defenses, intimidate them and lure them to their downfall. Those people might even become demons themselves and join the Dark Abyss.

That sort of Aura of Fear would be ineffective to creatures like the berserk dragons. That was because ferocious beasts that acted based on their basic instinct would never feel fear–however, the circumstances different if there was an ‘Aura of Despair’.

Only the truly powerful superior demons and their avatars would possess the aura that could spread fear. That sense of despair went beyond wisdom and could be used as one of the basic instincts. That kind of pressure was like the nemesis of living things could not be resisted merely with the ‘will’ attributes. Only the existences with unbreakable, tough faith and powerful spirit were capable of resisting the influence of the ‘Aura of Despair’.

Of course, if the people close to the warrior had gotten used to it, then it would not affect them anymore. Whether it was Saya, Robzek, or even Roland who had been staying with the warrior for over half a year, they had already forgotten that there was such a thing called ‘Aura of Despair’ on the body of the warrior. After all, the unknown was the origin of all fear.

The other priests and the maintainers of the summoning rituals from the other twelve shrines in the region walked out of the main door of their shrines. They lifted their heads and saw the warrior who was floating in the and also the horde of wyverns which were fleeing pathetically into the distance. Corpses of the frenzied dragons were scattered over the ground beneath that black-haired man. Because those priests could only see the back of the warrior, they were not affected by the presence of the Aura of Despair. They only vaguely felt that the warrior was very powerful.

Clap… clap clap clap.

Someone started clapping. Cheers followed the clapping. The priests first thought that they would have to go through hard battles before they could break through the frenzied dragon forces and to return to the Great Central Shrine. After seeing the warrior clearing out the berserk dragon forces like chasing a herd of sheep away, they praised the warrior.

The warrior remained calm and looked further into the sky.

Holding the divine armaments that were looking forward to a great battle, they stayed silent with the master after seeing that the battle was just a child’s play.

After a brief moment, the silver-haired girl cautiously asked the warrior through his mind.

“Master… are… are you feeling alright ?”

No.

Not at all.

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