Soul of Searing Steel

Everything was possible.

Passing through the dust, Joshua stepped into the ark house. Without only a glance, he had remembered every detail within the place.

The hall was a complete mess. The tables, chairs, and vases were scattered everywhere. There was a strange red light and dried corpses within the place. There were also some blasphemous-looking circle and the stench of innards. In the center of the circle, bones of a baby were completely wrapped by fungus. The small heart had already fused with the dark water, stored within the rippling black organs.

It was a familiar yet despicable scene.

At this moment, the warrior felt that he had returned to his past life during the invasion of the abyss. It was an era where the world progressed closer to death. The land was filled with bloody mud. Mountains of bones and skeletons scattered through the land. Cries of pain and despair could be heard everywhere.

The era where the stars had fallen and the demons were reborn.

“At the end of the day, you guys succeeded anyway.”

With the low voice, Joshua spoke. He looked at the scene before him with a cold expression. At the end of it, there were only two red dots left in the dark. “I shouldn’t be late for this.”

The bloody Combat Aura, bringing forth a chilling sensation spread throughout the vicinity with Joshua being the center of it. The people wearing dark robes in that place woke up from the spirit attack launched by the warrior. Before that, they were unable to withstand the attack and was plunged into a world of illusion. Just when Joshua released his bloodthirsty aura, they were forcefully brought back to reality, escaping from the terrifying illusionary world.

“Kill him!”

Without having the time to think of the reason why the perfect barrier malfunctioned and analyze the power of their enemy in front of them, the old man in black robes shouted in a sharp voice, “Don’t let him interrupt our summoning.”

The other cultist immediately responded. They took out all sort of wands and weapons from their robes. Being the elites that could infiltrate the Empire, they had a certain level of combat ability despite being too obsessed with their cult. Before the old man could finish his sentence, there was a red light shone from his body. There was another cultist who was hurriedly casting his spell to summon the evil power from the other world.

The light resembles the sunset contained a large amount of death aura and the power to combust everything in its path. At that instant when the casting ended, the light left the body of the cultist, forming a flaming hurricane that flew directly towards Joshua. The hurricane successfully surrounded the warrior in an instant. The floor and furniture that was scattered around burned due to the high heat, turning into ashes. Even the vases, which were made by steel turned into red molten liquid, flowing on top of the rocky floor that was softened by the heat.

Before they could land the attack on their target, the black-robed cultist found out that the man in front of them easily shattered their effort. The fire was scattered and Joshua was still moving forward step by step without any form of damage. The dark aura, which was surrounding his body, easily destroy the flaming wind.

 How could this be happening?

Their hearts were terrified, as if it was gripped by the hands of terror. Even though these cultists did not fear death, the happenings in front of them still gave them quite a shock. The previous attack was a Gold-tier skill [Abyssal Inferno]. Even the highest ranked Gold-tier cultist would need the assistance of a wand to channel the attack. As a result, it was one of the strongest attack in the Gold-tier range. Even the defensive arts of the same tier could not withstand its might.

Yet, the man in front of them easily withstood the attack!

With an uncontrollable emotion, the old man in black robes could not understand what was happening. The opponent was definitely not a Supreme-tier warrior. However, his strength was inconceivable. He endured the pressure and continued to give his command in order to buy time. The black robed man suddenly felt shocked when Joshua suddenly disappeared in front of him. At the same time, a palm that seemed to be made of steel slapped onto his face.

He tried to scream in pain yet there was no sound. The sweat caused by fear dripping down from his body. The attack from the warrior broke the neck of the cultist directly, giving him an instant death. All five fingers seemed to be bonded into a strong steel. The sound of bones being crushed could be heard from the man in black robes. Under to pressure of the slap, his face was completely disfigured into a lump of meat. The eyeballs and the brain fluid gushed out from his eye socket, dropping onto the floor.

Within a second, all the other members came back to their sense. They could only take a deep cold breath in fear. The terror had completely seeped into their bones. The high pressure that they were facing causes them to be unable to mourn in pain or even breathe smoothly.

 How is this possible? How could he kill our leader instantly?!

 Monster! HE IS A MONSTER!

There were those obsessive ones who could successfully triumph over their own fear. They shouted to boost their morale, raising their weapons against Joshua. Even though the warrior in front of them was strong, he was still not a Supreme-tier warrior. If they would just attack him together, they might have a chance of victory.

Yet their dreams remained as dreams only. When they started to advance, all Joshua did was turning his head, looking at all the cultist. All the cultists felt that Joshua’s cold and calm eyes had completely seen through their plan. With a swift swing of his hand, Joshua took a silver greatsword from the edge of the array. Without any rush, he moved towards the cultist.

After a long period of hiatus, the Chaos defender finally returned to his original battlefield. The battlefield was foul rotting meat with blood and killing was something normal people could withstand.

For Joshua though, it was completely normal.

The cultist in front of Joshua was so pressured. He could no longer withstand the fear and acted on their own. He raised his cross-blade against Joshua, slicing apart the air resistance accompanied by a misty hurricane. His attack could turn steel into a slab of scrap metal, turning rocks into power. There was no need to mention about the aftermath of human meat.

Yet, it was too slow for Joshua. So slow that he could let out a sigh before he took his action. Just as he sighed, the greatsword in his hand turned into a bright light, cutting the cultist who attacked him in half.

The splattered blood was not able to reach the ground as the red Combat Aura turned them into a bloody mist. Other attacks from the remaining cultists were launched towards Joshua. Under their angry swearing, the sound of arrows could be heard clearly in the air. Numerous arrows were launched directly towards Joshua. Leading the assault were the cultists that held onto their spears and axes. With their last drop of bravery, they had dashed towards Joshua. Behind them were the mages who were casting dark magic against Joshua.

Facing all these dangers, Joshua replied with a small laugh. He did not put any effort in dodging the arrows. After the sound of a collision was heard, the arrow powerlessly dropped onto the ground. The head of the arrow was completely bent, rendering their attack useless. The Metallic Respiration Technique was a skill which enhanced his defense which could easily defend against non-magic based attacks. Joshua moved forward, swinging his greatsword and decapitated the cultists in front of him.

Within an instant, blood and flesh were flying around. The sacrificial land for the cultist turned into a slaughterhouse. All the heads, limbs and weapons dropped on the floor. All of their weapons could be considered as high-grade weapons, but it was not on par with Joshua’s power and the sharp Divine Armaments. If both were to be compared, their weapons were nothing against the Divine Armament.

It was no longer a battle but a one-sided slaughter. After a while, the cultists who were wielding their weapon previously were now a pile of crushed meat. Blood and innards were mixed on the ground. The fats from the corpses were burnt by the flaming Combat Aura, releasing a foul stench in the house.

“AHHHHHHH!!!!”

Looking at the deaths of his comrade, the last cultist could no longer hold onto her staff. She did not fear death in the first place. Yet, under Joshua’s presence, the resolution she had was completely shattered. She was shivering in fear, no longer capable of fighting against the monster in front of her.

Joshua dragged his greatsword on the ground, creating sparks between the sharp edge and the rocks. He calmly reached the completely crumbled cultist in front of him and delivered his final blow.

 It all ends here.

He swung his sword, removing the bloodstain on top of it. Although he was late, he did not let even one of them escape.

Dum! Dum! Dum!

Suddenly, a strong heartbeat could be heard behind Joshua. A foul stench of sulfur brought forth by the flames of hell permeated the air. The warrior frowned and had doubts as he turned his head to look at the happenings behind him.

I turned Ling into a great axe to stay within the circle, stopping it to function. How could the summoning be successful?

When he saw the happening behind him, he had cleared his own doubt.

Within the bloody mist, all the corpse and pieces from their remains dried up, turning into a pile of dried skin and bone shards. All the blood formed new lines to complete the summoning circle that was destroyed by Joshua. The dark heart that gathered all the blood and soul of the cultist strongly vibrated, causing a tremble within the air.

“HUAAAAHHH!!!”

A dimensional crack had been opened. A sound which could shake a man’s heart, causing them to lose their sanity, could be heard from the new dimensional pathway. It was a sound which did not originate from a human. Within the voice, it contained a strong spiritual energy of fear.

Joshua was completely unaffected. Such spiritual attacks were nothing but a walk in the park for Joshua. He looked at the dimensional crack, knowing that an extremely terrifying behind was heading his way from this pathway towards their world under the guidance of the dark heart.

It was also a voice of a familiar ‘person’ to Joshua.

“Ho ho, Ha ha!”

A cold and sarcastic laughter could be heard from the dimension. Under the combat aura and bloody mist, Joshua’s expression was extremely ferocious. He muttered, “Who would have thought that it was some old friend that was being summoned. The Heart Devourer, Heart of Despair Raldan Asth.”

“Old friend, long time no see.”

Joshua slowly walked towards the circle. He removed Ling that was turned into a great-axe back into his control. The summoning was already completed. The coordination for the Heart of Despair had been set. The circle no longer had its value. Joshua looked at the dimensional crack in the sky. An unknown force had forcefully opened a small gap to this world. Joshua was able to vaguely see the gigantic beings behind that pathway. The huge single eye was also observing the world on their side.

Looking at the human being on the other side, the horrifying existence extended its claw to cut through the dimension, trying to grab Joshua. Yet, Joshua had no fear. He smiled wryly. Without evading or dodging, he took out both his greatsword and great-axe to go against the attack.

 BOOM!!!

An explosion occurred when both parties came in contact. The bloody mist within the small house was blown away. The scaly claw of the Heart Devourer was as thick as Joshua’s arm. Yet, the warrior could easily deal with his attack without putting too much effort.

It was normal because the Azurite had completely boosted Joshua’s body into a very strong state. He could easily wrestle against dragons while having the upper hand against them. Even the abyssal demons were no match for him in terms of pure physical power.

“A coward who likes to devour the souls of young children.”

Joshua let out a cold smile against the demon in front of him. As he held both of his feet onto the sound, releasing all the powers within his muscles and circulating the combat aura in full force, Joshua released an indestructible power in an instant to pull out the monster from the abyss.

“Come on, fight with me!”