Soul of Searing Steel

Right in the center of the sky and earth at the far north of the Mycroft Continent was a mountain where its peak went straight through the clouds. That mountain was just located on the frozen land of the Empire’s border.

It was spitting hot smoke releasing black mist continuously, expelling endless lava coming from the core of the earth, which looked like golden rivers flowing down the ridge of the mountain. This boiling mountain was the starting point and the center point of everything. Numerous mountains and hills have emerged around the land ever since then. As time passed by, the entire area grew into a vast expanse of mountains, with thousands of years of snow falling on it, covering the dark gray mountains with a layer of silver white snow.

This mountain was named after the name of the Emperor during that time. Because of its magnificent height, there was the word ‘great’ added right in front of the name. Hence, the place was called the [Great Ajax Volcano]. The name of the mountain was [Mount Great Ajax].

Right next to the golden lava river, the melting water from ice and snow was flowing from the top of the snow-capped peaks of the north. The water then gathers at the bottom of the mountain to form an unfrozen lake. An endless stream of river emerges from it and it kept flowing towards distant lands.

The flow of the water was the flow of life while the accumulation of water was the gathering of life. The Dark Forest originated from that. That was how the forest began to grow and trees began to plunge their roots into the snowy land. That was when the sign of life began to emerge on the land. The daemons began to breed there… Relying on the warmth of [Magel’s Unfrozen River] and the lava deep beneath the ground on the frozen land that was boundlessly cold, finally, there was an area that was full of life.

Countless years later, human arrived at the place. They cut down the forest which drove the daemons away, built cities and fortresses, separated territories, and populated the area. They were usingMount Great Ajax as the center point in separating the land into four different territories. That was how the [Four Territories of the North] existed in the first place.

Currently, at the west side of Mount Great Ajax, the territory of Moldova, Dark Forest fortress.

Right in the middle of the guest room, Brandon was staring at the man before him.

Meanwhile, Ying had gone over to the armory to pick a suitable armor for her master. Vale Dani on the other hand had returned to her room to rest. There was no sign of any enemy in the surroundings of the fortress at the moment. This Gold-tier swordsman finally got to observe this mysterious ally of his right before his eyes—this new generation Chaos Guardian.

Joshua van Radcliffe. A name that was hard to pronounce. However, the family name was often seen around. This man was also a guardian of Order. Of course, the Kaos family would naturally keep an eye on the same kind in the north. Brandon must have seen Joshua’s name on the list of the future Chaos Guardian. Furthermore, Joshua had been showing himself at banquets held by the aristocrats most of the time. So he had become a person of interest or suspicion among the others.

After all, this man was rumored to have ridden a horse for seventeen days, got back to the territory and slaughtered everyone on the seat of power for the territory. At the same time right after he crossed into Gold tier, he had slain another Gold-tier warrior. That sounded like a legendary story. The story would not become dull even after years later. Even Brandon was oddly curious—about Joshua who was very confident in his own strength, who appeared like the God of War. So how powerful could Joshua be then?

However, when he received news that his lover was facing imminent danger where her territory was invaded by the Dark Tide, the golden-haired swordsman immediately forgot about that. He knew how serious the situation his lover was in. So he immediately departed for Moldova. He was ready to take the countess and leave the fortress. Unfortunately, before he could do that, the violet-haired mage had already made up her mind to stay there to fight. Even if the fortress ran out of ammunition and all supplies, she would not leave her territory in ruins. Helpless, Brandon could not just abandon her. He also did not get a chance to knock her out and take her away from the fortress… He was basically ready to die together with Vale Dani.

Without supplies and ammunition, without morale and stamina, naturally, without any reinforcement, they were in despair. He truly overestimated his own capability and resolution then.

Just as he was chiding himself, a red radiance suddenly appeared far from the fortress.

As the smoke rose, following the drifting of the red light, with a warrior in black armor as the leader of the platoon followed by a small number of knights, the platoon went over the mountains and hills just to get to the battlefield. The swordsman could see the insignia of two hands bearing swords right on a black flag with gold linings. That was the flag of the Radcliffe family; the flag of the Count of Moldavia.

Reinforcements?

However, the number was too small…

Upon shaking his head, Brandon’s glimmer of hope that was ignited deep in his heart was instantly extinguished again. He sighed heavily.

However, he was wondering if the warrior in black armor was Joshua, whom he knew quite a lot about from the rumors? That man actually led such a small number of knights over to provide support. There was no telling that either it was reckless or brave, inconsiderate or confident.

Is he really as strong as rumored?

Just when doubts began to emerge in his mind, the reality had responded to his doubts and questions.

Yes, he is.

The Dark Tide from afar was being breached layer by layer by the knights that were underestimated by the people. They were charging and ramming through the daemon horde, leaving blood raining down upon the ground. The air was instantly filled with bloody scent. Even with Vale Dani’s Glorious Strength [Starfall Break] wiping out part of the Dark Tide, Joshua and his small platoon could still maintain their speed and impact while they were charging through the Dark Tide towards the fortress. They were just overwhelmingly powerful at some point.

It was unbelievable. It was an act of invincibility. They could no longer be deemed as a normal army in this world. Instead, they seemed like the came from…

There was no word to describe their strength. Brandon took a deep breath.

There was no doubt that all of the credit should go to the warrior who was leading right at the front of the entire platoon. After all, he was both the collision and cohesion point of the entire platoon while they were charging forward ramming through anything that stands in their way.

Their movements seemed reckless. In truth, however, they had unleashed all of their strength to their fullest potential. They had not wasted a single sense of power while they were attacking forward breaching the horde, killing the daemons as easily as eating and drinking. Even though Joshua was just a Lower Gold Tier, he had done the one thing that most of the Upper Gold-Tier combatants could not do. If this man could not be deemed as a powerful being, then there should not be anyone in the world who could be deemed as a powerful being.

A man with such skills and power would definitely not be reckless and inconsiderate. A man like this would not need to consider too much because he was confident enough with his own strength.

“It seems that you have perfectly inherited the power of Order of the Radcliffe family.”

Upon sighing, Brandon broke the awkward silence that took place because of Ying and Vale Dani leaving the room. Then he smiled. “Speaking of which, I have not thanked you for saving Dani’s life.”

“Why did you say so?”

Because the clothes were too tight, Joshua felt a little uncomfortable in them. He raised his eyebrows a little and spoke with a puzzled expression, “If you’re talking about my support for your cause, I think that’s a must. You don’t have to thank me. Furthermore, the duchess herself had already thanked me just now.”

“No. If you haven’t come here while she had to face the Dark Tide that brought despair upon us, Dani would have used magic potion to suppress the ‘Spirit Concussion’ that made her so weak now regardless of minding the condition of her body. She would have forcefully used more ultimate grade magic… I know her well, I know what she would have done. So I have to show my gratitude to you for coming here. Because of you, I didn’t lose her.”

Upon shaking his head, Brandon sighed a little and said, “I know you have many questions to ask. The late count passed away a little too early. Because of that, you cannot complete the inheritance… I can ease your doubts by answering your questions. So just go ahead.”

“If that’s the case, I’ll just fire away.”

Joshua liked the golden-haired swordsman for being straightforward. Furthermore, without the countess around, he could just simply ask anything he wanted to know. Joshua remained silent for a brief moment before he started speaking again, “Where did the Azurite come from in the first place? Why did my family accept the fate of becoming Chaos Guardians? What is the nature of the Aragami? So what’s behind the dimensional passage…”

“Stop!”

Interrupting Joshua’s barrage of questions, Brandon smiled bitterly and said, “You’ll have to ask them one at a time. How’d I answer if you don’t give me the time to explain?”

“Then let’s start with the Azurite.”

Joshua roughly knew about the other matters. However, the only mysterious legendary origin item that he had zero knowledge about would be this Azurite.

Meanwhile, the golden-haired swordsman remained silent as he was reorganizing the information in his mind. Then he started explaining, his face giving off a strange expression,”It seems that the late count didn’t tell you anything before he passed on… To be frank, the Azurite came from nowhere. It has been in the hands of your family in the first place. It has been deemed as proof of the Inheritance Keepsake and the insignia of your family.”