Soul of Searing Steel

There were times where the demons were better at keeping secrets.

However, it is not now.

Listening to Joshua’s words, Raldan Asth was very happy. This human who completely crushed him did not decide to steal his life. Yet, it was still not an event to be completely happy about. It was only delaying the inevitable. The damage on its body was just too much. And if this was delayed too much until the point where the warrior had enough power to invade the abyss, its main body would also be in danger.

As a demon which played with the hearts of the weak, Raldan Asth knew that if it was still alive, this human had all the capabilities to get the information he wanted. Within the world of magic, even death itself might not be able to avoid information leakage. Some of the necromancers might be lacking in terms of raw material. They were a bunch of maniacs who were willing to dissect the soul of a demon, forcing it to spill important information.

This had led it to a dilemma. It could not die or live. Either way, it was still in deep trouble.

With the magic energy floating on top of its head, Raldan Asth noticed that all the guards surrounding the area were waking up. There were a few footsteps heading towards its direction.

Thus, this demon was not afraid. If they were going to interrogate it, Raldan Asth would spill all the beans. Even if this double would face destruction at the end of the day, it would be much better than having its soul being probed by various experiments.

After all, demons were despicable beings. They could just say whatever they wanted.

Due to the fact that its head was being stepped onto the ground, the demon could not hear the conversation between the humans clearly. It did not dare to struggle or to even move a single muscle. It could only feel the blood in its body slowly flowing out. After a while, Raldan Asth felt that its broken horn was being held by a hand, removing itself from the ground.

“Listen up, demon.”

A familiar warrior’s voice could be heard. “If you do not want your soul to be burned by holy flames, then answer my questions.”

Not long before that, the silver greatsword in Joshua’s hand accompanied the magical light turning itself back to an adorable silver-haired girl. The greataxe had also regained its form as a young man. Both of them moved towards Joshua’s direction.

“Master, this time you only used Ying and you just left me stuck on the ground!”

Before reaching Joshua, Ling’s angry words could be heard. “This is just too biased!”

Listening to the ranting of her brother, Ying laughed. She then held onto Joshua’s hand without saying anything.

After all, greataxe seemed to be more suitable for slicing big objects. Using it to cut down demons was a bit inconvenient. So Joshua decided to just leave it on the ground.

Of course, Joshua didn’t say this up front to Ling. He proceeded to pat the head of this little butler and started thinking.

Just a while ago, when he was in the Mage Guild, he had a vague feeling that there was chaos aura appeared in a certain place. However, this is only a feeling of premonition. Thus, Joshua was a little bit hesitant to start investigating immediately. However, right after that, the Azurite trembled and had a reaction against Chaos. The vague premonition seemed to have turned into a real event and everything in the sacrificial land was shown in his eyes.

This feeling was indescribable. After witnessing it first hand, Joshua could not believe that it actually happened. After thinking for a moment there, he could only classify it as the Sage’s power which allowed him to witness the calamity around him.

Behind him, there were familiar footsteps. As Joshua turned around, he saw the golden-haired swordsman who had a surprised expression.

Brandon walked towards the warrior’s side. He bent his body to observe the demon under his foot which was not making any movement. In astonishment, he said, “Perfect Gold tier. A great demon specialized in spiritual attacks. If it was not you who destroyed the summoning circle, the successful summoning would allow the demon to have a chance to unleash a wide area attack. There would be thousands and more people harmed by its attack, creating massive terror among all human.”

“At that moment, the royal family and the Empire would lose all their credibility. No festivals could be held. Even the city guards or the forbidden guardians might have lost their ranks. Your sword saved the ranks of numerous officers.”

He raised his head and looked towards Joshua, with mixed emotions. “Although it was pressured by you in a close distance without being able to use its full potential, you were still able to subdue it easily… Joshua, could it be you have successfully leveled up…”

“There is still some way to go.”

Shaking his head, Joshua looked at his system on the quest menu which indicated [2/30]. He then rephrased his statement. “Well, actually there are still more to go.”

The answer was not of importance at all. Brandon had his own way of gauging Joshua’s strength. He nodded his head in acknowledgment. After that, the swordsman looked at the demon on Joshua’s foot. “Why are you still keeping it alive?”

“There is something that I need to confirm.”

After that Joshua extended his hand and held on the broken horn, using crude language, he said, “Listen up, demon.”

He did not allow the demon to respond. “When I ask, you answer.”

“Yes, strong human.”

The single-eyed demon’s head was removed from the ground. He noticed that the dimensional gap had already been closed and lost his connection with the main body. He felt despair. He replied Joshua quickly using the human language which he was already familiar with. “Everything that you want to know, I’ll tell you.”

“…?”

Brandon gave the demon a strange look. Puzzled, he turned his head and looked at Joshua. He noticed that both of them seemed to take it as a very normal situation. The swordsman was completely out of words.

Since when were demons so cooperative?

Under the normal circumstance, shouldn’t you be using a different form of threat or soul probing to get any little information that you want?!

He did not know that normal demon were brainless. No matter how much you interrogate them, you will not get an answer where those low-tiers could not even remember in the first place. However, Raldan Asth was a demon of high intelligence, thus it knew how to communicate well.

Joshua knew the exact response from the demon. Immediately, he questioned the demon on some topics which were not known to Brandon. Questions such as: Who is the lord of the 27th floor? Is the skeleton shrine built in the bloody-rain plains on the 13th floor? What is the objective of the lord in Tear Valley Fortress? Has the Abyssal River in the Abyss shown signs of drying up?

All these questions could not be understood by the golden-haired swordsman. The abyss had different levels, this was the only thing that he understood. However, the name of each floor was something completely out of his knowledge. Not to mention the special terms used. Even the smartest demonology mage could not completely understand the hidden secret of the abyss.

“The lord of the 27th floor is the Zombie King Mordally. Skeleton Shrine? That’s not something that I know of. The lord of the Tear Valley is still hidden within its fortress within coming out… The Abyssal River has indeed gotten shallower, but not to the state of drying up…” The single-eyed demon replied swiftly. For those he did not know, he just answered honestly. For those that he knew, he explained them in detail. Their conversation was very fast, even Ling and Ying was speechless. They could no longer follow up with the information given from their conversation.

Brandon who was still standing by the side could not completely understand, but he could now vaguely get the patterns of the information.

Joshua seemed to use each question session to confirm the current powerhouse within the abyss and their motives. However, this simple fact itself was extremely surprising. After all, an ordinary human could never know the existence of the abyss. Even if the warrior was the Chaos defender, it was impossible for him to know so many details regarding the deep dark world. However, by the looks of it now the understanding of this warrior had far surpassed the single-eyed demon. During the process of question, the rate where the demon could not answer the question was getting more.

It seemed that the Azurite prototype was a Flame Seed of Order retrieved by the Sage from the abyss. The Sage had definitely visited the abyss. Thinking back on their conversation, Brandon felt that it was not a surprising thing.

After a while, Joshua nodded his head. “Seems like the changes are not drastic. Or should I say, no changes had been made in the abyss.”

These demons still did not have the thought of invading the Mycroft Continent. They were still busy in their internal conflicts without a single thought on working together at all.

It was supposed to be that way. However, there would be a time where the seal on the abyss will be lifted and the gates of the abyss will open. If it not because their internal conflicts were too much to handle internally, they would not decide to invade other worlds.

“But, let’s repeat what you’ve said once again.”

After thinking for a moment there, Joshua looked down towards the demon who was not speaking anymore, “Are you sure that the dragons you’ve seen in the plague swamp… Wait a second?”

After getting a bit closer, Joshua confirmed its status. “Is it dead?”

This was quite a shock to him. The warrior tried to kick it for a moment, yet it still felt that the huge monster would still not move. Its life force had completely vanished. Joshua frowned and asked, “Did it commit suicide?”

“I think it lost too much blood.”

Brandon looked at the stomach portion of the single-eyed demon. The big wound created by Joshua had demon fluid and innards leaking out of it. Only demons had such strong life force to sustain for so long. If it was a dragon, it would already be dead such a wound, “This demon was already on the brink of death. You’ve asked so many questions during that time. It is not surprising that it died during that time.”

“I forgot that it is only a Gold-tier body double. What a shame. I was planning to give it to Nostradamus to see whether if there was any other hidden information within its soul.”

Joshua sighed and looked at the incoming city guards that were cleaning up the mess. Brandon, on the other hand, took out a mirror which had a communication circle drawn on top of it. The swordsman took a glance at the information and spoke to Joshua, “What a coincidence, Nostradamus seems to be interested in meeting you.”

At this point, his voice turned serious. “Of course, with His Majesty as well.”