Soul of Searing Steel
chapter-155

03 undoubtedly had the power to destroy all Aragami on the spot. However, she could not stop the Aragami from getting onto her body. If 03 would really want to annihilate the Aragami that managed to get onto her body, her attacks would definitely do some damage to her own base.

The battles over a thousand years had turned the metallic base of the pyramid into ruins. If she could, she would not want to harm her own body as well. Therefore, even when 03 could annihilate the Aragami all by herself, she chose to request aid from Joshua and his friends.

Meanwhile, Joshua had upheld his side of the bargain. He kept his word.

The three monsters were charging towards them right before their eyes. These monsters looked like hornets with six limbs and two pairs of violently flapping transparent wings. There were so many eyes all over their bodies that any person who had trypophobia would faint on the spot. The size of their bodies was much larger than the size of a mammoth, exceeding fifteen meters tall. Meanwhile, the shells formed from chitin crystal substances were perfectly covering up the weaknesses of these monsters. There were also strange and bizarre tentacles coming out from the bottom of their bodies, wiggling and twitching. From the looks of it, they were like the combination of insects and creatures from the abyssal sea.

[The Famine], the names of these Aragami appeared right before Joshua's eyes. With the special names labeled on them, these Aragami were far more powerful than their own species. They could even sustain the attacks from the glowing concentrated light cannon launched by 03—with extremely high resistance against magic attacks since the beginning. The Order energies of the A.I could destroy the lower tier Aragami. However, it could not really deal much damage to these powerful monsters.

In the surroundings, dense clusters of cannons were bombarding the Aragami that were coming barbarically at the fortress. Along each of the flashes from the magic cannons came an explosion. The explosions were spectacular! However, even so, endless Aragami came back right in to fill back up the missing number of the Aragami that were destroyed by the cannon strikes. The army of Aragami was closing in at the moving fortress one step after another.

Meanwhile, Joshua was facing the sky. There were three Gold-tier Chaos daemons appearing wretched as hell charging in. He then grabbed tightly on the handle of his giant axe and charged at the three monsters with all he had. Even though he was not on a horse or any sort of mount, Joshua was moving as fast as the raging wind that could tear the border of the land apart.

The violent winds stirred up and the dust into the air all over the place. Joshua's speed was so fast that it could no longer be described in words. Upon hearing a loud explosion that broke through the sound barrier, Joshua's whole body was surrounded by white electrical charges as he was charging forward. Every step of his heavy iron boots on the ground left remarkable cracks on the surface of the fortress's metallic base. Dense rumbles were heard along with the heavy footsteps that cracked the ground.

While holding a sword, one must use the style of the swords. While holding a spear, one must use the style of the spears. Whatever weapon you chose to use, one must use the style of the weapon being wielded. Wielding a greataxe, Joshua would want to maximize the 'slashes' that this axe could offer.

The Aragami and Joshua were charging at each other swiftly. The distance between him and the monsters was shortened to almost zero in one brief breath. As such, right at the moment right before the two sides were about to clash into each other, the warrior instantly took a heavy leap and left a large dent on the surface of the metallic base of the fortress. His whole body then leaped a hundred meters over into the air under the support of his Combat Aura all over his entire body. He charged towards the first Aragami in front of him in mid-air and struck his axe straight at the monster without having a second thought in his mind!

Although these Aragami had no wisdom in them, however, they were still creatures with battle instincts that far exceeded the battle instincts of normal creatures. In the face of the direct blow from Joshua, it used its reflex to immediately stretch out two limbs and turn its outer shell that was tougher than steel to face Joshua's strike. Meanwhile, the other two Gold-tier Aragami were also flapping their wings, attempting to surround Joshua.

However, how would these mindless monsters know that a Divine Armament was actually a weapon that was born to fight specifically against Chaos? How would they know that the weapon would be insanely powerful against them?

Along with the sharp noise caused by the friction between steel and crystal, the tough shell made of chitin and crystals was torn apart in an instant. The red axe came right down on it like a falling comet, blazing with the red Combat Aura, cutting through the two limbs of 'The Famine', striking down its defense and plunged the axe straight into its body.

However, the Aragami was no ordinary creature itself as well. Upon sustaining the strike, having its body split open, dealing with the excruciating pain that overwhelmed its senses, it did not hesitate. It did not falter at all. Instead, it immediately swung its limb and tentacles from its bottom of its body straight at Joshua, attempting to whip him as hard as it could.

Its long tentacles and its limbs swooped across the atmosphere in the air, causing loud whooshing sounds. Meanwhile, the other two Aragami had also accelerated, attempting to swoop in from the side and the back of the warrior. The two of them seemed to be able to understand each other well in order to perform such coordinated attacks. However, Joshua was not battling alone either.

Shoof—

Just as Joshua was fending off against the whipping attacks of the Aragami's tentacles and its limbs with his right hand, corroding the body of the Aragami with his intense power of Order, a fierce rumbling trembled across the surface of the ground. A dozen of green beams came in like the giant arrows being shot out from a ballista. The lights went across the dark sky, striking onto the two Aragami continuously. Meanwhile, the two Aragami that were charging forward had to sustain the impacts of the attacks. Just when the two Aragami were stunned for a brief moment, a beam of golden light in the shape of a spear came through at a speed faster than the speed of sound. The air, the mists, and the chaos were being broke through like a lightning that was struck straight from the sky. By the end of it, the golden beam struck right on the shell of one of the two Aragami, striking it down to the ground.

"Thank you!"

With the threat at the rear cleared, Joshua yelled and pulled the black giant axe out of the Aragami's body. The heavy blade and spearhead had wrought out a wriggling flesh and blood, followed by a powerful kick to the chest of that Aragami right before him. Under the cracking sound of the Aragami's tough shell, the monster itself fell straight to the ground, joining its fallen comrade on the ground.

On the metallic based, in the surroundings of Clyre, dozens of plants that are slowly withering were being turned into flying ash all over the place. These plants that were summoned by the druid had the appearance of pea-headed turrets. The seeds that were shot out from these pea-headed turrets were capable of breaking the walls and destroy the fortress. Even if the attack of these plants had no strength to specifically destroy Chaos, the impact of their attacks was enough to shatter the tough shells of the Aragami that were formed from chitin and crystals. The impact of their attacks would be enough to slow down or even stun the movement of the flying Gold-tier Aragami, allowing the old dwarf's attacks to land solidly on those Aragami.

If it was not because there was no support from the slightest primal energy in this forsaken world, these plants would not have actually withered so quickly. They were not one-time products after all. Instead, they were actually castle-defending beings that could survive for more than ten days. After all, the Karlis world was already coming to an end. The world itself was almost losing its flame. There was no other existence of power that could support the plants anymore. However, even though that was the case, Clyre could still sprinkle seeds all over the ground, summoning all sorts of plants using her own magic power as if it was free.

Meanwhile, Moreila was charging himself with his own Combat Aura. Right in his hands, he was holding onto the golden radiating spear charged with his golden Combat Aura which had the faint power of Order. As a Divine Armament prototype, the creation of the Karlisi was capable of piercing through the defense of the Aragami. Furthermore, that was the golden beam, the spear that the old dwarf threw out to strike down one Gold-tier Aragami back then to provide a little support to Joshua. At that time, with all his strength, the metal ring on his beard and the metallic crown on his head were emanating a bright glow.

This was the power of the mountains that was bestowed upon its own descendants. Each ring was forged from different types of metal. Such handcrafts had a powerful extraordinary ability stored within when they were in the hands of the dwarves. Meanwhile, the iron crown on top of Moreila was the proof of him being a master blacksmith. That was also a handcraft that could store extraordinary ability beyond the limits of his power. Earlier, the old dwarf had used his two supernatural abilities called the [Seismic Toss] and the [Weapon Recall]. That was the reason why the spear that was thrown out to kill one Gold-tier Aragami could still come back to his hands.

"I've not realized how rusty you've become since the last time we adventured together."

Moreila's concentration was high while he was observing the situation in the surrounding. Then he whispered to Clyre right beside him, "That was a good strike."

"I've never thought that you can still move your old bones."

The elf chuckled and she turned her head towards the warrior who was battling in the frontline right in mid-air.

Meanwhile, back in the sky, out of the three 'The Famine', two were struck down in an instant. However, the only Aragami left in the air did not seem to have the slightest thought of retreating from the battle. Its body was covered in a gloomy silver-gray dark aura. On the next moment, it opened its mouth and let out a screeching roar. Instantly, a beam of pure energy began to gather right at the tip of its tail. After that, it launched the beam of pure energy straight at Joshua who was levitating in the air. The energy bean that was moving as fast as the speed of light was carrying a terrifying heat. That beam seemed to be able to annihilate anything that was in the front of it.

Meanwhile, Joshua remained calm. There was no expression on his face at all. It seemed that the terrifying beam attack looked like a small spat of saliva from a pitiful insect to him. He raised his right hand, the red Combat Aura turned dark and volatile in an instant. A horrific sense of murderous aura was brewing up in his palm. By raising his hand up, he blocked the Chaos flame that was shot at him with ease. Then he charged his Combat Aura all over himself and charged towards the Aragami which was still attempting to attack him. The energy beam that smashed into his hand splattered and the residues of the energy beam showered down upon the Aragami army that was marching on the ground. The Aragami that had bad luck were burned into crisps.

At the same time, the warrior who charged towards the direction of 'The Famine' had already clashed into his target. Joshua, fully wrapped in his body armor, was blazing with his red Combat Aura, along with trembling white mist. Along with a sound of crispy cracking, he had already crashed into the arms of this giant monster at supersonic speed, striking the monster down from the sky with that terrifying movement of his.

Boom!

The Aragami that was as huge as tens of meters large had clashed onto the surface of the metallic base of the fortress. The powerful impact of the fall had caused an area of hundreds of meters of the metallic structure to tremble. It felt like a small earthquake. Meanwhile, the head of that Aragami filled with eyes had been crushed into bits. The remaining of the head had scattered all over the spot while half of its body had plunged into the metallic surface of the fortress base.

Joshua stood up right on top of the belly of the dead Aragami. He did not have the slightest sense of hesitation. With a simple and straight forward swing of his left hand, he swung out his giant axe. The heavy movement of his axe swooped the air up causing movement of wind to form along with the swing. That swing broke right through the monster's chest ending its dying life with ease. Meanwhile, the twitching tentacles that were attempting to whip Joshua on his back had stopped moving as if they were stunned. With a quick backflip with his giant axe, Joshua cut off the tentacles in an instant.

Phew!!!

"Hargh!"

Along with the rapid flow of wind brewing across his body, the warrior took a deep breath as he was standing right on top of the dead Aragami.

The forces of the three dead Gold-tier Aragami were completely absorbed by the Azurite that was hanging right before Joshua's chest. The green light even went through his armor layer, radiating brightly right before his chest. White mist was escaping from the gaps between his armor. Then this mist turned into shining lights and once again made it back into the warrior's body.

The burning pain that was carrying an enormous amount of blazing power was spreading slowly to every part of his limbs and body. With merely a just a slight movement of his feet, the overwhelming power that dented the surface of the metallic base of the fortress, also causing countless web-like cracks all over the surface of the metallic ground.

Turning his head as he looked at the Aragami army that was constantly plowing toward the fortress, Joshua could feel the power in his body building up. He grinned and said, "Blood—it seems like there will be more."