Soul of Searing Steel

The summer wind in the distant sea always brought a storm. The same was in Anos Abyss. It seemed that the heavy rain was gradually getting lighter, even the huge waves at the sea were gradually tamed. However, rain remained light and small, with the sea breeze above the waves.

Maybe that was the aftermath of Joshua and the other members of the church using their full strength. Or maybe that was the influence of the bizarre ritual that was happening at the Great Central Whirlpool. When the third rune appeared high up in the sky, the rain and the clouds seemed to crack. The silvery moonlight of the two moons shone down on the sea like stairs hanging down from the sky.

The weirdly peaceful moment where the waves had suddenly calmed, as well as the gentle moonlight, was not like before. Everyone felt puzzled and unsettled.

However, the black draconic girl was very fond of it.

The white holy ark calmly sailed at the sea at a rapid speed. With the support of the warrior’s combat aura, the Epoch sailed at a gradually increasing speed. The ark had even surpassed the swimming speed of the swordfish that were known for their speed in the sea.

Black stood behind Joshua by the bow. She hugged her master’s waist and leaned her head against the warrior as the two of them looked into the distance. They looked at the horizon of the dark sea that separated the sea and the sky. The rumbling of the whirlpool in the distance was vaguely heard.

The sea breeze swept by and flipped the girl’s hair into her face. Black felt an itch on her nose. Joshua reached out to help the girl with her hair, pushing her hair behind her ears. He reminded Black with a gentle tone, “Black, move your head away for a little. Your horn is poking on my waist.”

The black draconic girl obediently kept her head away from the warrior to prevent distracting him as he used his Combat Aura to boost the ark.

She kept hugging the arm of her master.

Unlike the blazing heat of the magma and the lick of the flames, the warmth that she felt from her master was strange. The holy light that Mr. Roland, Mr. Robzek and Ms. Saya possess is warm as well, but, that warmth is different from the warmth of Master’s body. 

That warmth had a special sense of security. The warrior’s body was irresistible to her.

An ordinary warhorse that possessed a draconic bloodline.

There were many similar types of warhorses. Across the battlefield with the orcs on the great plains of the West, those warhorses possessed a part of the bloodline of draconic beasts and were standard mounts for the vanguard knights. They had the stamina of a draconic beast and also the loyalty of a horse. They were the best mounts that were intermediate grade among the Imperial Legion.

However, because they were warhorses, they remained loyal to their masters as they would march into the battlefield with their master without even the slightest hesitation. They faced the horde of berserk orcs. They even faced the heavy mount like Rock Rhinos that could crush everything. Just like any human being, these warhorses would die eventually. They were also crippled during battle like any other man on earth. And because they were known as a mount, their lives were insignificant to the humans. Only a few would actually care and love the warhorses.

Black was considerably a lucky horse. She experienced quite a few great battles with her master and came back in one piece. However, she was also unlucky. Because there would always be war. Perhaps she came back in one piece this time. However, she might not be so lucky next time.

Black did not have any thought on her mind as a warhorse. She did not carry that sort of wisdom, nor did she understand the situation of war. She only understood one thing–her life was like a dying flame on a candle, just like a summer flower. It could extinguish or wither at any time.

—Until that day.

A tall and sturdy warrior with a black hair came into the stable in a rush. He swept his eyes across all horses that were eating in the stable and pointed at one of them.

The fate of the black warhorse was in the warrior’s hands after that day.

That warrior was not a good knight though.

While they were on the way to the North, even though the warrior did care about the horse and its stamina, he remained unfamiliar with the art of riding a horse. Sometimes, he would put too much force when he pulled on the reins. There were even blood marks on the neck of the warhorse… Of course, that did not actually matter much. This happened on the battlefield. The warrior was in a hurry to get back to his territory. He was not engaged in a battle with someone. Although the warhorse was exhausted at that time, it was still able to do her job without killing herself.

Along with the passing of time, the warrior had improved his technique of riding a horse. He also arrived at his destination, a giant city that was covered in snow and frost.

“Alright, horsey. You’re free.”

Right in the middle of the falling snows, the warrior untied the reins from the warhorse’s head and removed any restraint that was on her. Then, the warrior patted the head of the horse as he gently told the horse, “You possess the bloodline of a dragon. Perhaps you’ll have a better life in the wild. From now on, no one can restrain you.”

Seeing the warrior turning his body around as he walked towards the black giant city one step after another, the warhorse felt doubtful. As a warhorse that was born to be a battle mount in wars, she never understood what freedom meant. She actually felt insecure when she was not restrained by any human being.

Just like how the water flowed downstream, the clouds also rise higher into the sky. So how would a warhorse survive without a master?

She was confused and did not know what to do at the time. The warhorse attempted to wander around the outer city for days. However, she did not know what she should do for her future. After thinking about it seriously, she decided to look for the warrior by following his presence. With that, she made her way to the mansion where the warrior lived.

Black could still remember the warrior’s gentle smile on his sour face the moment he saw the horse.

“Alright then. If this is the case, from now on, you shall be my mount.”

She did not understand what the warrior said.

Because a warhorse remained a mount to the warrior. It always had been. That never changed.

She was willing to charge into the battlefield with the warrior as they fended off the Dark Tide. No matter how perilous the situation was, nothing could strike fear into the warhorse. Because it knew that nothing could stop the black-haired warrior riding on her back. He was like a warrior who was born to be victorious.

After each battle, there came victory. After continuously winning the battles and wars, the strength of the warrior had improved too rapidly. No matter how hard the warhorse tried, she was unable to catch up with the warrior’s strength and power advancement.

Perhaps it was time for her to leave the warrior. She vaguely felt that she should just give it up when she could no longer keep up with her master.

However, that black-haired man was extremely generous. He was willing to purchase some bloodline of an Ancient Dragon and some valuable Awakening Potions with a tremendous sum of money. He even spent time to prepare every single material that could potentially improve the strength of the warhorse.

The warrior had given the warhorse strength, wisdom, and even dignity of a human. His actions had given the draconic girl a future and the true meaning of hope.

There were black air currents flowing around the warrior. Those were actually fragments of resentful souls that carried hatred as mourned in misery. Many resentful daemons and monsters gathered in Satsui Hadou. After they formed into his power, there were also the miserable roar of the giant dragons among those souls as well. Black feared that power because of that. However, that did not stop her instinct to approach Joshua.

Because that warmth would not turn cold for those shallow reasons. Even though the warrior seemed cold on the outside, he was warm and gentle on the inside as if his heart was combusting with a gentle flame that warms people.

Perhaps that feeling was known to be loyalty.

—Another rune was slowly appearing in the sky.

With the appearance of the fourth rune, the atmosphere seemed to tense up. A power from the Dark Abyss had formed a thin layer of black shroud as it lingered above of the holy light barrier that covered the ark. The tough barrier began to corrode with a teeth-shattering, sizzling corrosive sound.

However, a circle of white holy light appeared and floated into the air and repelled all of the mists from the Dark Abyss.

“The light of the sun protects you here.”

At that time, Saya held on to a sacred scepter as she stood in the center of the deck of the ark. The great nun stood still and began to sincerely whisper a prayer. The circles of holy light that contained the attribute to heal had turned into a powerful supportive power, covering every crew and the ark.

In their last expedition, they had also run into the same situation when they were approaching the Great Central Whirlpool. Saya was very familiar with how to handle the corrosion of the Dark Abyssal power. It seemed that the Church of the Seven Gods had already come prepared.

The current situation was pretty interesting. All three of the members from the church wielded different holy lights as the holy light that was awakened in each of them were different from one another. The holy light awakened in Saya was ‘Divine Heal’. The holy light that was awakened in Robzek was the most destructive kind called ‘Sacred Fire’. Also, the holy light that was awakened in Roland was called ‘Holy Judgment’, that was the same as the holy light that the current pope wielded.

According to what Joshua know so far, the three different types of holy lights could actually be merged together into a power far greater than they were individually. That was a power that was near to the Divine Power of the gods, a secret technique among the secret techniques that only the inner circle of the higher power of the church knew about. It was in fact the highest secret technique above all. From the looks of it, the three of them were familiar with that divine secret technique. Or else the three of them would not have come in the mission together.

As for the name of the secret technique, whether it was the ‘Saya X Sana’ or whatever they called it, Joshua did not have a single clue about it.

“Those monsters will not catch up with us now.”

Robzek, Roland, and Saya kept their attention on the three Chaos daemons, almost as powerful as a Supreme-tier being, that were on their tail. Robzek smiled with relief. “In our previous visit, they were able to ram us from the side of the ark as they caught us by surprise and we were not prepared. So, are they trying to use the same trick on us this time too?”

The blond-haired holy knight sneered and said, “After all, those monsters have no wisdom. Maybe they don’t even have memory to begin with. Who knows?”

The Ocean Dragon lady also recalled their experience in their previous expedition as she stared at the Chaos daemons in the distance. She smiled coldly and said, “So what if they have those tough shells? They are so slow! Serves them right! Eat dirt! Haha!”

In their previous encounters with those Aragamis, Funa was not aware that those monsters actually possessed a tough body. They were entangled into a difficult battle because of that. Funa even close to getting her neck cut off by a gigantic crystal monster that looked like a type of lobster. From the looks of it, she was still traumatized by that experience and also a little angry.

Hill was quietly calculating the sailing speed of the ark. After a brief moment, he frowned. Then he said, “We are actually sailing too fast now. If this goes on, we are going to arrive at the Great Central Whirlpool… Will it really be alright if we just charge in with our current speed? Wouldn’t we face any problems later?’

No one responded to the young elf. Maybe they heard him but remained in silence because they agreed to the plan. Hill noticed that as well. So, he shrugged and said, “Alright then. You guys believe in the toughness of theEpoch . However, I must say… That power of that humungous whirlpool is enormous. The ark might not be able to take it…”

Right at the bow, no one was interrupting Joshua and Black. The warrior remained focus on controlling his Combat Aura as he fueled the ark to sail towards the great whirlpool.

The Epoch was approaching the great whirlpool fast. The presence of the Dark Abyss was getting denser and thicker by the moment. Under the influence of the energy waves, the gaps between the clouds began to close up with dark clouds. The silvery moonlight no longer shone on the surface of the sea as the drizzle gradually turned into a heavy storm.

Everything between heaven and earth was blurry. The distorted Chaos runes above the clouds were becoming more obvious than before. There were already six runes in the sky. Judging from the number and the shape of the runes, the ritual of unknown origin seemed to have completed more than a quarter of its entire process. Everyone on board of the ark who killed hordes of sea monsters and escaped the three power Daemons was getting more serious.

“What in the actual world is that?! What exactly is that ritual again?!”

Roland stared at the Runes as he felt that something bad was going to happen. “I can sense that the surrounding is becoming more unfamiliar as we speak. The land of Anos Abyss seems to be changing somehow.”

“The seawater in the surroundings has been completely polluted. The holy light runes that are located beneath the Epoch are affected as we speak.” After receiving the status report from the captain of the ark, Robzek became more serious. “Although the ark has come prepared with all sorts of precautionary, the rate of the corruption is a few times faster than the rate we encountered on our last trip. The energy of the Nuclear Star is starting to run short.”

Funa’s words were very straightforward. “If that’s the case, allow me to support then.”

The draconic lady instantly knelt on one knee as she placed one of her hands on the surface of the deck.

A flow of thunder energy with a tremendous amount of magic energy formed into some sort of special magnetic force. It repelled all the magnetic forces that spread from the deep sea as it lifted quite an amount of burden on the Epoch . Joshua seemed interested as he turned around and took a quick look at Funa. After that, he continued with his task on distributing his combat aura throughout the ark without interrupting the draconic lady working her magic on the ark.

That ability was a further application of thunder magic. He first thought that Funa was just an ordinary thunder-type Ocean Dragon. He had never expected that her strength was actually so powerful. It impressed him.

The sailing speed of the ark was further increased by a notch. It seemed to be flying on the surface of the sea. The bottom of the ark did not even touch the sea water. The two different type of powers repelled the sea water at the same time as they dragged the ark forward at a rapid speed.

The winds and the rain were left behind. The scenery in the surroundings of the ark was like blurry images that were moving backward at a rapid speed so fast that no one could even see the scenery. On the surface of the sea of Anos Abyss, there was a violent wind that countered the current of the wind moving towards the great whirlpool. The Epoch was right in the middle of that violent wind.

Ignoring the tall waves, the heavy rain turned into a thunderstorm. The rampant winds that were rolling in the atmosphere and the ocean current that ferociously hurled everything in the sea, all obstacles in front of the ark appeared like illusions that swiftly appeared and disappeared. That white giant ark was sailing straight towards the Great Central Whirlpool.

In the captain’s office, the red old man who was staring at the instrument of the ark was so shocked that the smoking pipe he held in his hand fell to the ground. The speed shown on the Magic Instruments that were arranged together made the old man rub his eyes three times. Even so, the old man still would not believe the number that was showing on the screen of the Magic Instrument. He mumbled to himself, truly amazed.

“Is this really a giant ark that’s sailing on the surface of the sea? Or am I actually riding on a flying giant dragon?!”

Half an hour had passed by and everyone on board of the ark could see the Great Central Whirlpool that spun with a large momentum from afar.

Right on the bow, Joshua looked at the scenery not far from him from a higher spot.

Right above the sky, many dark clouds gathered. Purplish lightning crossed the sky, unleashing strange electrical lights that irritated people’s minds. There were already eight bizarre-looking, distorted Chaos runes lingering in the sky. They have formed into the structure of a quarter of a gigantic magic circle.

Meanwhile, there was a humungous whirlpool that appeared as dark as the color of the ink rumbling louder than the sound of thunder. There seemed like there was no end to it. Its diameter was estimated to be more than ten kilometers. The turbulent vortex formed by the whirlpool swept the interior of the giant whirlpool like a funnel. It seemed that anything that went into the funnel would be shredded instantly.

That sight would shock anyone who looked at it. Even everyone on board of the ark trembled. The giant Epoch looked like a tiny little piece of dust in comparison to the great whirlpool. It seemed as if the whirlpool can devour the ark like it was nothing.

Boom—

The strong presence of the Dark Abyss speared out violently from the great whirlpool. The center of the whirlpool was a pitch-black passage and no light was to be seen. It looked just wormhole. The sea water sucked right into that passage.

“So, what do we do?”

Someone on board of the ark asked. His voice sounded a little doubtful as if he was not ready for next to come.

“So, what do we really do?” the warrior said and smiled. “We charge right in!”

“Destination—the center of the whirlpool!”

At the same time.

In the middle of the cabin, there was a girl with gray hair looked at everyone on top of the deck from a small window.

She stared the warrior who was standing at the front on the deck. Her eyes were filled with unexplainable emotions. Suddenly, those eyes were filled with determination.