Soul of Searing Steel

Panda Novel

Rumble—

The warhorses trampled the ground, stirring up all the snow on the ground up into the air. The layer of frost on the ground was crushed. The ground faintly trembled while the fifty strong warhorses with the blood of dragons coursing through their veins ran across the land; these tremors gradually increased. The rumbling sounded like an avalanche; of a thousand horses marching forward towards their enemies.

Every single inch they charged meant trampling. Every step they moved forward meant conquering.

It would be like sanctioning the hammer down from high above the sky, annihilating the enemies with unmatchable speed and tranquillity that could usher inner strength.

Sensing the chill in the wind that was blowing against his face in between the jolts of his warhorse while it was rushing forward, Joshua was approaching the countless daemons right before his eyes. He did not feel doubt or panic, but instead felt like his soul was somehow blazing.

That’s right… That’s how it should be!

That’s a real battle ahead of him! There was no need for him to hold back. He only needed to go all out on his enemies to survive. Any tiny little miscalculation would end up with his own demise! It was a dreadful place to be. It was despair and fear—

Therefore, it was worth looking forward to! It was worth the excitement that was overwhelming his senses right now!

Like meeting an old friend, the black-armored warrior raised his metallic lance and gripped tightly on the hilt of his silvery-white greatsword while he fixed his eyes upon the countless hideous and wretched faces of daemons. He chuckled like a maniac.

I’ve come to collect!

So die!

It did not matter what type of daemons they were, they were all colossal. Even the most common deer-type daemons that were vegetarian were at least one to two meters tall and hundreds of kilograms heavy. If there was only one or a few of them, the situation would still be manageable. However, in the middle of the Dark Tide horde, there were tens of thousands of daemons forming themselves into an army of darkness that seemed like an unbreachable black wall.

Facing that sort of monster horde, the tanks might not be able to charge through the tide of monsters.

However, Joshua did not show any hesitation. He led the fifty Silver-tier knights charging straight into the horde fearlessly.

So why did he only choose these fifty Silver-tier knights instead of recruiting more soldiers before coming over here? That was because only Silver-tier knights would be able to keep up with his pace in handling the threats that the Dark Tide brought. Joshua would not need to worry much about his knights while he could focus on slaying the enemies himself.

Meanwhile, the warrior himself…

Who was he in the first place? He was the previous legendary warrior. He had encountered countless battlefields compared to any normal person could in their entire lives. So there was no one in the vicinity that could match his power!

Dark Tide? They were like maggots to him!

Boom!

The metallic lance was thrown forward at a speed where normal eyes could not see. A few Berserk Daemons were blown away like they were blown up by high-speed cannonballs. Their bodies were torn apart like they were sacks made of cloth. After that, the lance continued on piercing through the other daemons behind those that were torn apart. Instantly, a large disturbance was spread across the horde. In the meantime, there the black monster horde was breached. A hole was presented right in the middle of the horde.

With Joshua as the leading point, the fifty knights went into a sharp formation like an arrowhead. They were charging into the horde like having a hot knife cutting through butter. They broke through the side of the Dark Tide with ease and cleared a path into the middle of the Dark Tide.

Instantly, they were surrounded by the daemon horde the moment they went into the middle. Every single direction Joshua and the knights faced was filled with foul breath and the scent of daemons’ blood.

Daemons from the Dark Tide did not have any tricks up their sleeves. They were only fighting their enemies with numbers. Facing a barrage of enemies that came out of nowhere, the daemons approached swiftly without any fear of dying. They were ready to press against the knights to restrict their movement and space.

Under the circumstance where they were surrounded by enemies in all directions, no matter how swift the knights were or how ferocious they were attacking their targets, they were all forcefully stopped by the daemons. After losing their speed to move forward, they were shredded to pieces. Especially the daemons right before them, the daemons had those dark purplish dust dispersing out across their entire bodies. It was pretty obvious that they had all entered the first stage of Berserk Mode. Their power was swelling tremendously that they were a couple times much stronger than the regular daemons. They were much more ferocious as well.

Although the Berserk Daemons looked extremely powerful, regardless of flesh or magic power, both were boosted to the max already. However, by the end of it, they were merely a bunch of puppet beasts without intelligence and wisdom. They only knew how to attack based on their basic instincts…

“Garbage.”

Saying the word with disdain, Joshua activated the hidden power that was resting deep within his body after he made contact with the daemons right in front of him. The red radiating flame was ignited right before his chest. Following the blood flow across his entire body, the red rune pattern that was radiating like fire began to spread across his skin all the way throughout his entire body.

Even if he was a Gold-tier warrior, Combat Aura should not be simply activated on a whim. There was only limited number of skills one could use in a battle. The same applied to Joshua. Meanwhile, the most suitable skill to be used in this crucial time was…

[Mastery: Divine Power!]

There was no room to be surrounded or stopped. He had to annihilate the enemies before him as soon as he could. At the very least, he had to push the enemies to scatter into the surroundings. Riding on the back of his horse, the unstoppable warrior decisively used his Ultimate Skill. After that, he began to whirl his gigantic metallic lance and struck the tip of his lance straight towards the daemon army that was so near him right now.

The length of the lance was about two meters. It was made of pure metal and was extremely heavy. The initial design of the lance was to fit a Silver-tier warrior or even a barbarian. It was designed to pierce the formation formed from extremely large shields that weighed hundreds of pounds.

When a Gold-tier warrior could swing it like a normal lance, what kind of effect could it offer then?

Poom!

The moment the lance came in contact with the second wave of the Dark Tide, the lance pierced the air and let out an explosive sound. The lance tore through all obstacles right before its tip. Short bursts were heard one after another. Right before Joshua, the weak spots of all daemons were penetrated in that instant. They were blown away backward in the shape of a perfect arc. In the meantime, with a swing of the greatsword in his right hand, he slaughtered the few daemons that attempted to attack him from the back. Flesh and bones splattered across the battlefield. The blood splashed on the ground all around, the stench trailing up to his nose.

Although there were still countless daemons charging at him, right before Joshua’s absolute power, none of the daemons could make it in front of Joshua. With the warrior as the center point, within the attack range of the greatsword and the long lance, there were no living beings that could actually get near to Joshua at all!

The warhorse that had dragon’s blood coursing through its veins could not help but let out a miserable neigh. The strong forces which came from the rough movement Joshua did earlier on had strained the backbone of the horse a little too much. The horse was suffering badly. The four limbs of this magnificent and strong horse were beginning to tremble lightly showing that it could no longer sustain the powerful force of its own master. However, the heavy hooves on its legs were still trampling on the blood of the daemons on the ground without slowing down at all.

“Onward, do not slow down!”

“Yes, my Lord!”

Responding to the command of their leader, the Silver-tier knights went into a formation that looked like a moving steel fortress. Their formation had perfectly blocked off the attacks of the daemons that were aimed at them from all directions. After all, the hardest task to clear a path for them to go through the Dark Tide to the city gates had been taken care of by their liege. So they only had to charge and block off their enemies’ attacks. Their job was much easier. Under the speedy charge forward, they had also unleashed their full power. They were using their lances, swords and all other weapons to slaughter the daemons on the spot.

Joshua and his knights looked so puny among the Dark Tide that was formed from countless waves of daemons. However, they looked like solid rocks that were thrown into the sea. They were sinking deep into the Dark Tide but seemed unstoppable as they kept breaching deeper and deeper into the Dark Tide.

As they were pushing forward, the red light on Joshua’s body was radiating brighter with every passing moment. The radiance became so bright that it illuminated the entire night sky. Meanwhile, under the influence of their liege, the knights right behind Joshua roared with rage. Then their bodies began to emit different colored auras on each of them.

Steel tier represented Revelation. Silver tier represented Radiant Spirit, and Gold tier represented Glory. Why did Continental War categorize the power tier by giving them such names?

Because the radiance unleashed by Silver-tier beings could shine and burn the souls of their enemies. Meanwhile, the radiance unleashed by Gold-tier being symbolized victory!

The knights that were in the formation of a moving steel fortress earlier on were now under the protection of the radiance of soul and will. This would be the biggest reason why humans could still resist and fend off the Dark Tide. Under the leadership of the Gold-tier warrior who was emotionally agitated, all of the knights’ souls began to resonate. Their strengths combined during a short period of time, becoming indestructible!

“Uargh!!!”

The daemons in the surroundings began roaring in anguish the moment they were exposed to the penetrating radiance. They could not help to feel the excruciating pain spreading across their entire body as the radiance burned through their souls. Their souls were much weaker than the souls of the humans. After being corrupted by Chaos, they became as weak as a match compared to a bonfire. Under the circumstance where they were feeling the piercing pain in their souls, the Berserk Daemons in the surroundings were not able to maintain their current form anymore. They could only retreat in panic. After that, they relaxed their muscles and deactivated their berserk mode. Only then they were able to acquire a brief period of time to take a break from the excruciating pain they were feeling since the moment they were exposed to the radiance.

Wielding their lances in their left hands picking off the enemies before them while swinging their greatswords in their right hands to fend off the enemies that attempted to get them from their sides, the Silver-tier knights made sure that the enemies would not get to their back. With the powerful heavy armor protecting his body… The warrior was basically invincible! In the meantime, the daemons that deactivated their berserk mode had finally remembered what fear was and thus retreated. Some of them were even overwhelmed by fear to the point that they were paralyzed to the ground. They could not even move a muscle on their bodies.

More surprisingly, some of the daemons did not retreat. Some of them remained where they stood all the while under the blazing radiance of Combat Aura. The retreat of their comrades did not affect them even by a bit.

Their heads were covered by smooth shells. They looked like insects with strong and powerful limbs. The transparent crystalline materials were bulging out across their entire bodies. Following their movement, these crystalline materials were glittering with blue-green radiance. They seemed like strange creatures that came from another world.

These bizarre looking daemons were trampling across the ground and charging forward at their enemies in a very swift speed. They ignored the blazing radiance that was scorching the souls of the other daemons like nothing. They were moving in over the countless Berserk Daemons corpses. They revealed their wretched giant teeth as they roared, before heading straight towards Joshua.

However, everything was pointless. Even though they seemed to be tougher and much stronger than the other daemons, even though they were moving faster than the other daemons to the point that the knights might not be able to see their movement clearly, they would be deemed too slow still right before the warrior in his black armor.

The silver greatsword flashed across the air. Joshua swung his sword so fast that he did not even bother to look at the monsters to see what happened to them. Wielding his weapon consciously, the monsters were sliced into many pieces by Joshua. The pieces of their bodies dropped onto the ground. After that, they were trampled by the knights that were charging in into piles of minced meat.

“What kind of clowns are they?”

After slashing them to bits, Joshua came to his senses and muttered to himself, “They were a little different than the other daemons. They looked very bizarre and strange. However, their appearances seemed very familiar to me…”

Another new wave of Berserk Daemons started their assault. Their souls were not yet scorched by the Combat Aura of the knights, so they had not taste fear just yet. Because of that, the warrior once again put all his attention on wielding his greatsword. The sharp blade of the greatsword cut right through the throats and the limbs of the daemons that were as tough as steel. In the meantime, he pierced his lance forward and picked on the other monsters in his surroundings.

Suddenly, a blazing heart came across the front of his chest. While he was slaughtering up his enemies across the battlefield, Joshua did not stop at all. He glanced at his chest briefly.

That was the spot where the Azurite hung. Suddenly, Azurite that looked like a regular stone without any effect started to glow. It looked as if it just received some sacrifice and reacted to it. It began to spin slowly, unleashing some power into the body of the warrior.

The stamina that was exhausted was suddenly replenishing. Same goes for the warrior’s power. He could feel that his power was slowly restored as well. However, his Combat Aura did not recharge too much. After he charged into the Dark Tide and killed tons of daemons along the way, he seemed to be restored back to his initial state. His power and stamina were once again replenished!

Meanwhile, Joshua limited his communication to his silver greatsword. At the same time, Ying passed a message over to Joshua through Spirit Sense.

“Master. The monster that you just slew was an Aragami!”

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