Soul of Searing Steel
chapter-146

Chapter 146: A Mobile Fortress

[The Sun represents the source of life, the birth of fire, the king of light. It has cultivated tens and thousands of lives, filling up the void and emptiness. Praise the Sun, may the Sun be eternal.]

[The Sun’s Blessing]

The sun was the source of energy for the entire world. Every living being depended on the brilliance of the sun to sustain their life. The existence of the sun allowed all living beings to continue growing and not freeze to death with the power granted by the sun.

Just imagine the scenario if the world lost the sun; it would be a complete nightmare for all existences within the realm.

The world which currently existed in front of Joshua had proven that a roof of darkness shadowing the brilliance from the sun, completely restricted any form of light from reaching the land. Thus, only the scent of death and silence existed on the barren plains.

Despite being a world void of light, there were still differences between day and night. During the time when Joshua and his group just entered this new world, a very dim light existed that could allow Joshua to see the view around him. Today, that little form of light source was no longer available. There was no longer any form of light other than the radiance released from a Gold-tier warrior.

Within this complete darkness, there was a humming sound that echoed from afar. This sound resembled the sound of rumbling metals. When Joshua turned his head towards the direction of the sound, he noticed a large shadow resembling a mountain was heading their way at a fast pace.

“Those are not mountains?”

Moreila immediately stood up and cleared the dust from his behind. He looked at the huge shadow in surprise and said, “I thought this large shadow was a group of mountains.”

Clyre stood up while facing the same direction and said, “However, mountains do not move.”

“Well, beasts the size of a huge mountain do exist,” said Joshua who gazed at the movement of the mountain from afar, listening to the changes of the humming sound and estimated the speed and distance of the beast. Then, Joshua said, “Lao-Shan Lung, Jhen Mohran ,Yama Tsukami… These are monsters larger than a mountain, however, the sound of this noise is definitely man-made. ”

As the shadow approaches their side, the four who were standing still were finally able to see the details of the being which was approaching them. As the humming sound echoed, multiple streams of white gas erupted and rushed out of the grey fog white was obstructing it. After it escaped to the sky, it slowly disappeared, leaving behind a little gas with fluorescent lingering in the air.

Rumble

As the target approached closer, Joshua could hear the detailed rhythmic sound even clearer. The sound of a machine with wheels was moving towards them. All of them were puzzled by the noise within this dark realm and looked towards each other, trying to see if anyone here knew what was happening.

“This is getting weirder and weirder.”

Joshua was getting more interested in this unknown entity approaching them as a smile was shown on his face at that moment. The mysterious being in front of him had triggered his curiosity and interest. He was very eager to unveil its truth.

Moreila had noticed Joshua’s intention and he quickly reminded him, “Be careful, we had no idea what is the thing in front of us now. Are you thinking of finding out the identity of that thing?

“It is best not to take unnecessary risk,” replied Clyre, who was frowning.

Finding a gigantic moving object within this dark dead world was not a good sign. This thing was as huge as a mountain, no matter what was the object is, they should be observing it cautiously first before taking any reckless action.

Joshua shook his head after hearing the advice from both of them.

“Come on guys, do you think you have any other options left now?”

His expression was calm and he continued to state the facts, “I do not think that the supplies, water, food and other living necessity which you all bring are unlimited. Although a Gold-tier warrior does not need any food supply to sustain their vitality for combat, the condition only applies to Mycroft Continent. This is a foreign world that sucks up our energy even during the time we are resting. Without water and food, we would only increase the burden on our bodies.

Joshua shook his head and continued, “Being careful is a good practice, but that could only apply to normal circumstances only. However, today we do not have the luxury to do so.”

As he finished his speech, he rushed towards the huge shadow with determination. Ling also followed Joshua closely. As he passed Moreila and Clyre, he could only smile apologetically.

” Sigh … Let’s go then.”

After a moment of silence, the old dwarf could only shake his head and smile. “He is not wrong after all. We do not have much choice left to choose it seems.”

Clyre decided to follow Moreila. They moved towards the direction where Joshua had left. She looked at the Twin Serpents ring for a moment. Nobody knew what she was thinking at that moment.

After a while, both Moreila and Clyre managed to catch up with Joshua at a small hill. However, Joshua’s current action surprised them.

Why did Joshua stop?

The old dwarf thought it was unusual at first. Then he stood beside Joshua and looked at the view in front of him.

He was stunned on the spot by the view he saw.

The object shown in front of them was a huge pyramid. It was as huge as a mountain, occupying a ten kilometer square area with a huge base and tank treads providing its movement. The steel gear with the tank treads contained the radiance of a ridiculous amount of magic power, supporting the whole weight of the living mountain and its movement across the land. A loud mechanic roar emitted from the movement of the mountain itself.

Clyre was the last member to reach the spot and joined it to look at this terrifying view. This green-haired elf was also stunned on the spot.

The huge mountain was getting closer to them.

Being able to see this huge pyramid with numerous patterns on it. The pyramid was built using numerous amount of white steel. All the surface of the pyramid was built smoothly. The only difference between all surfaces was that the front part of the pyramid had wide stairs flight. On the side of this pathway, were many strangely designed statues. Most of the statues were portraying the looks of a warrior wielding their own weapon and was battling with different types of magical beast. On this smooth looking pyramid, there was a huge crystal ball with a dull golden radiance in the middle. This radiance was not bright, by the looks of it, this weak glow might extinguish at any moment.

“So… this is the mobile mountain. This is surely a big pyramid.”

Looking at this magnificent view, Joshua could only take a deep breath in disbelief. Despite having quite a bit of knowledge from his previous world, the current scenario still gave him quite a shock.

Joshua had never seen such a humongous structure before in his life. Joshua knew some of the largest building in the world, for example, the Sacred Mountain of the High Seas which was built by the by the clergy from scratch. There was also the Skypiercing White Tower which had a wisdom crystal which directly connected to the World of Stars. On the northern side of the empire, there was the Triplet Mountain that had a comparable scale to this pyramid. In the abyss, there was the Tear Valley fortress that was made by millions of daemons.

However, all of these huge infrastructures had one thing in common, that was they do not move! The pyramid had the capability to move around as compared to the other ones.

“This is… this is…”

Looking at the magnificent creation, Moreila no longer able to stay calm despite having over a hundred years of experience. He was flabbergast by the sheer brilliance of the pyramid design. Being a huge structure that was capable to move around, this fact itself had blown his mind away. “This gigantic infrastructure was manufactured with a complex enchanted alchemy technology. My god…”

“… Why is it that I can feel the scent of nature from within?”

Closing her eyes, Clyre focused her mind on detecting this scent. After a while, she opened her eyes and said, “There is a perfect ecosystem running within the internal of the pyramid. This is unbelievable.”

“Indeed, this is really out of my mind. This is the last artifact that could travel through the multiverse, reaching a thousand worlds beyond space.”

Recalling the message left by the old butler, Joshua suddenly spoke, “They had once defended the invasion of Aragami from that mountain-like fortress. Even until now, they were planning for a counter-attack against Aragami. At first, I thought it was a bluff, who would have thought that I could meet such an artifact right now.”

The scale of the pyramid had already surpassed a small hill.

“What should we do now?”

As time progresses, the core member of the group had shifted towards Joshua. Clyre subconsciously asked Joshua.

“What else can we do?”

Looking at the steel pyramid, moving towards the direction of this group, Joshua smiled and said, “You already said that there was a living ecosystem within the pyramid. Now it is time for us to explore it.”