Soul of Searing Steel
chapter-16

After taking out all of the mercenaries on the three streets and the one right before the entrance of the count's mansion, Joshua did not hesitate to punch the door open after passing through the front yard, with Ying by his side.

"That man's not dead yet."

Following closely beside her master, Ying seemed to be bothered by something.

"Why didn't you kill him?"

"I don't kill those who are not capable to fight back… Well, speaking of which, I feel like a hypocrite for saying that aloud," replied Joshua, while they were observing their surroundings. Well, he did not seem bothered with such a trivial matter though.

"It's just one mercenary. If he's not dead, he's not dead. We don't have to double tap him."

"What does double tap mean?"

"It means delivering a fatal blow to the fallen enemy to ensure their death is certain."

"Then what's a mercenary?"

"They're warriors who earn money by taking on jobs."

It was merely a simple exchange of words. Although Ying had some basic knowledge, her understanding was only limited to some situations and words. She had no clue at all about new words. Joshua believed that her databank was in urgent need of updating. Her knowledge seemed to be at least a few centuries behind time.

Fortunately for him, even though this female Divine Armament's appearance was attractive on the surface, she had a curious mind. She was interested in almost everything around her. It seemed that it would not take long before she could familiarize herself with the world around her if she kept that pace up.

After walking past a corner, they arrived at the hallway that was connected directly to the hall of the mansion.

The size of the count's mansion was similar to the size of a small city within a city. There was a wall with the main door on the outer layer of the mansion. Upon entering the door was a garden. The center point of the mansion was the building where people lived in.

Because Joshua could take longer strides, Ying had to jog a little to keep up. She looked at her surroundings while mumbling to herself, "So this is where Fang lives?"

"You know Van?" Upon picking up some interesting information from her mumbling, Joshua turned around and looked at Ying with a sense of surprise on his face.

"Yes. He used to do maintenance on us." She began talking about herself. Ying smiled slightly. She started recalling the past, "Well, he would probably do it once every two weeks. So you know too, right? Maintaining a Divine Armament is pretty troublesome..."

"No, I don't know actually. I didn't even know anything about Divine Armaments until recently."

"Oh… I see." Ying was momentarily stunned. She didn't realize her master was unaware of her existence until recently. She appeared to be handling the shock pretty badly. "Well, there are so many Divine Armaments that remained here in the blade-sealing chamber. Someone has to step in to maintain them after all. The previous count seemed to be busy all the time. So Fang was the one who did all the maintenance work."

"I see," Joshua nodded and asked again, "From what you said, are all the weapons kept in the catacombs Divine Armaments?"

Initially, Joshua thought there were only two Divine Armaments in the room. The rest of the weapons in the surroundings of the room were regular blades. After all, there were hundreds of weapons in that very room.

"That's right. They all are."

Ying nodded and said, "To ensure the best resonance, each master will get the opportunity to handpick two to three Divine Armaments first. As most of the masters in the past cannot bear the load of controlling many Divine Armaments at the same time, each master can only pick one with the highest synchronization rate. Those that do not resonate with a human will be sealed until the next pick.."

As she was talking, Ying frowned a little. She seemed to be a little puzzled at the moment. "For the sake of optimizing our fullest potential, the core of each Divine Armament is made from a body part of the master. My core is made from part of your right wrist while my brother is made from part of your left wrist. So it's strange. His resonance with you should be much higher than the resonance between you and I. So why did you choose me this time?"

That greataxe? Indeed, that axe gave me a sense of familiarity that couldn't be explained… It seems that the Soul Resonance has made some minor changes that affected the synchronization rate. Oh my… I feel a little guilty about that.

After guessing the reason behind it, Joshua was not stupid enough to say it out loud. Well, he could not help but have a new question after Ying said, "So those Divine Armaments that are currently sealed at the blade-sealing chamber, do they all have their own consciousness? Don't you think they'd be tormented by pain and suffering for being sealed away for so long?"

"Will they?"

Ying did not seem to be bothered. Although she seemed like a fifteen-year-old girl, she was quite cold and indifferent. Her green pupils showed no emotions. "Suffering and loneliness; only humans will feel those emotions. A weapon is forged just to be gripped in the hands of a human. That's the only reason we exist. If we can't be used, we shall wait while being sealed in our own sheaths. We shall wait until the day we're unsheathed for our purpose."

"That's really cold."

"Because our hearts are made of steel."

Ying did not realize it but she just made an unintentional pun. After a while, Joshua and Ying arrived before the main door to the count's mansion. He raised his head up and looked at the small castle. There were huge wooden doors of the size of the city gates. After he carefully observed for a while, he nodded and said, "They seemed to have changed the door to a magic one. The energy waves are quite messy. It'll be much more difficult to open the door now. Still, it's still manageable."

"Master, could it be that you know magic?"

Upon hearing what Joshua said, Ying was curious.

"No, I'm just used to dismantling things."

After ending the conversation with Ying, Joshua raised his fists. His eyes could only see the door that was reinforced by magic over and over again. Comparing it to the thirty-seven energy nodes on those doors made of pure steel, the magic flow and its effect on this magic door were easy for Joshua to see through.

It was just how Joshua put it; he must have destroyed at least 800 of these magic doors if not 1,000. So he was too familiar doing it.

Since that was the case, he swung his fist at the door without holding back!

Bam!

The air twisted in a singular shape. The next thing that followed was a loud bang. However, just before the loud bang could reach anyone's ears, Joshua's right fist had solidly landed on the door. The impact stirred up the wind and waves which set off a gust of wind that blew into the surroundings, sweeping off sand from the ground.

At the same moment, with the breathing technique which he had used countless times in the past, the power within his body rose again. Then red radiance began to flow into the door. Joshua, the legendary warrior, focused his senses and spread out his Combat Aura relentlessly all over the door. He then condensed them into countless light orbs. They were like small knives cutting through the pattern carved on the magic door, slowly destroying the magic circle that was supporting the door.

Everything happened in an instant.

Joshua slowly lowered his fist. A breeze came through. The door right before him began to wither, its ashes carried away by the wind that blew past. Only some residue remained on the ground.

[Supreme: Demolition]

Initially, only those on the powerful Gold tier could attain such a powerful skill. However, a mere Silver tier warrior could simply use the skill like nothing mattered. That would be the most significant benefit of a legendary warrior's [Mastery] skill.

"Why didn't they just use a door made of real steel? It could have been much more difficult for me to break down."

Upon setting foot into the mansion, Joshua turned around signaled Ying to follow him in. "There will be a difficult battle ahead of us. It'll be time for you show them everything you've got. Come on."

"Yes, Master."

Bam!

A loud bang shook the center point of the city.

The bang was low and yet intensely loud. It sounded like a giant hammer just smashed into the city gates.

Even though Danlya was currently sitting in the main hall of the mansion, he could still hear the loud bang clearly.

Danlya was actually deep in thought before that. However, the bang was too loud to be ignored, interrupting his thoughts. So he turned towards the direction of the bang and frowned.

"What now? What's going out there?"

The location where the bang came from was too close to ignore. He could not help to feel something was off.

"I shall go and have a look."

A mercenary who was standing right behind him was ready to go check things out outside. However, he was told to stay put instead, "No, you stay here. Let Nar go first."

This middle-aged man seemed to have other ideas. He continued, "Francis and the other patrollers are out there. If there are any incidents, they'll be the ones to check it out first. You walk slow. It's better for you to stay here and protect me. Nar is a ranger. He's more suitable to do recon."

"You're right."

The mercenary nodded and took a step back. Meanwhile, the ranger with a bow, Nar walked right up. He nodded vaguely to express that he would get it done before heading towards the direction of the loud bang.

"That's strange. Could it be possible that a house has just got destroyed by an avalanche or something? This is the north after all. Each house should have been reinforced to be sturdier and much more durable. The blizzard's not that bad this year. So it shouldn't be possible for any building to get destroyed."

Standing up on his feet, Danlya could sense that the loud bang was not of natural cause. He had seen mythical beasts attacking the city and houses crumbling down before his eyes. However, the loud bang did not sound like any sound he ever heard from those incidents…

Bam!

Another loud bang was heard. It was low and loud as well, more intense than the previous one. If the first bang came from nearby, this one sounded like it was coming from the floor directly below him!

"What the hell is going on now?!"

It was not just the loud bang. Even the tables and chairs trembled a little. It was as if they were hit by a very small earthquake. Even though Danlya was puzzled, his mind was still whirring.

"Not long before this, there was a loud bang nearby. Awhile after that, another incident struck the floor below me. These two incidents must have some sort of connection ...That's right, there's an intruder. He must have taken out the patrols and Francis. He must have blown the main gate wide opened and he must have arrived at the mansion by now!"

"Joshua! That's right, it must be him! He actually struck at a time like this! How is that possible?!"

Astonished by what just happened, Danlya regretted endlessly. He should have reacted earlier. However, he had not thought that it would be possible for Joshua to come for him directly. He had never thought it was possible that Joshua would oversee to negotiate or whatever before striking his way to get to him. However, there are more than twenty Silver-tier soldiers guarding the mansion at the moment. So how could he still dare to do it then?!

With regular logic, Danlya could not have guessed what was on Joshua's mind at that moment. He thought that his nephew might lurk around in the dark for some time before seeking an opportunity to strike again. As a result, he never imagined that Joshua would strike at a time where the count's mansion was on highest alert!

"Lando, Rowe, you two should go too!"

After giving the swift order, the middle-aged man said decisively, "Summon the guarding mercenaries as well. Tell them it's a direct order from me!"

"Roger!"

The remaining two Silver-tier mercenaries responded loud and clear. Then they quickly headed downstairs with their heavy footsteps.

"You came alone… How daring of you, Joshua. My idiotic nephew, you'll draw your last breath when the patrols and the mercenaries all over the city gather here!"

Translator Note:

Note that the Divine Armament mentioned has Synchronization and Resonance. Both are used but neither was explained. My guess is that Synchronization means the exchange/flow of power between the weapon and the human, while Resonance is how compatible the weapon is to the human.