Soul of Searing Steel
chapter-225

"Artanis, you've finally come."

Upon noticing the old priest was approaching him, Joshua turned his head around and looked at the old priest. Then he attempted a joke, "Your arrival is a little slow. You see, no matter what, everything is over now."

"It's not me who is slow. It's you all doing everything too fast! Too sudden!"

Artanis, who walked up to the side of the warrior, felt very helpless. What could he had possibly done then? From the moment when the dragon assassins burst out with their power trying to wreak havoc upon the mansion until the time they began fleeing, the entire process did not take longer than ten seconds. Meanwhile, Artanis who was browsing through the material books in the library which was at the deepest part of the church, needed seven to eight seconds just to walk all the way out to the door of the library. Meanwhile, along with the incident where the warrior came back and battled the holy knight, the entire process had only taken a few minutes. When he had gathered the troops of city guards ready to scout ahead to inspect what was going on, the battle between the warrior and the holy knight had already ended. Even if he could react to the situation, he would not be able to get there in time before everything ended.

Looking at the surroundings, there were huge pits and holes everywhere. The ground was already stirred around unevenly. Trees were destroyed. The remains of the trunks and twigs were scattered all over the place. Artanis shook his head before he turned around to look at Roland who was still trying to suppress the concussion in his head. He looked at the holy knight as he slightly widened his eyes.

"Looking at his poor appearance… They actually battled and the holy knight actually lost."

He silently thought in his heart, "I did not expect that the strength that Joshua has would actually reach such a point. His body seems to suffer nothing at all… not even a scratch. This is an absolute victory!"

Anyway, as a member on the senior-level of the Church of the Seven Gods, he simply stepped forward and saluted the holy knight. "Good day, Holy Knight Roland. I am Artanis, the archbishop for St. Laurent Cathedral of Moldavia."

After the departure of Pope Igor, the holy knight who remained silent all the while had finally lifted his head. His original handsome face was stained with blood. He seemed to be thinking about something before he heard Artanis greeting him with a 'hello'. Upon hearing Artanis's voice, he reacted and immediately bowed courteously at Artanis. "Good day, Lord Artanis. I am Roland, the Upper tier holy knight from the Sacred Mountain of the Distant Sea. It is an honor to meet you."

Although Roland's strength was much stronger than Artanis, and having the pope as his adoptive father, however, by the end of everything, he was merely an ordinary Upper tier holy knight. He still could not be deemed as the same level as all of the captains of the knights. Hence, he would require to bow and greet as a gesture of courtesy when he met the old archbishop right before him.

But this was actually normal for two people who believed in Order. After all, the management of the church does not look at one's strength in deciding one's status. After the two had greeted each other, the holy knight reacted and he covered his body with holy light. After a moment, it changed the appearance of the holy knight that looked pathetic as the blood and sweat on his body had disappeared.

The beginner-grade holy spell, Purification. Regardless of whether it was the priests or the holy knight, they would be able to master such practical Spells. Meanwhile, the wounds on Roland had also been healed. After all, he was also a Gold-tier melee combatant who already reached the pinnacle of his current tier. A long time had passed, even his concussion was halfway recovered by now. In the meantime, after thoroughly tidying up his own appearance a little, he turned his head around and looked at Joshua who seemed to be staring into the void.

The man's attention did not seem to be focused on the surroundings, but instead, he seemed to be looking far into the void. That had led Roland to freeze for the moment with awkwardness. He did not know what to say to the warrior at the moment.

In the meantime, Joshua who was looking at the system noticed that someone was staring at him. So the warrior turned his head to the side and nodded at two members of the church.

At this time, Roland had also made a choice. He smiled, and then he stepped forward and spoke to Joshua, "This time, I lose."

Meanwhile, Joshua who seemed to be in a good mood was not bothered by that. He shook his head and said, "You're just inexperienced. Your qualification is similar to mine. However, just like what the pope said, you're lacking the experience to fight humans. I'm very much looking forward to battle with you again next time."

Speaking of that, it was Joshua's turn to feel awkward—but who was he actually? Since that he was not a good person! Hence, the warrior deliberately ignored the fact that he was the one who deliberately provoked this battle to happen. Then he even attempted to taunt the holy knight of being a traitor, a spy sent by the dragon race. Meanwhile, the holy knight seemed to have forgotten about it. Instead, he was immersed in the fact that he had failed in the battle, and he was prepared to work hard in the future.

The city guards in the surroundings stepped forward after noticing the gesture Joshua made. They also saw the traces of this horrible battle. They were all feeling anxious at the moment. They were stunned when they saw the two wretched-looking heads of the demon-blooded dragons stained with blood. Some of them even gulped their saliva a couple of times, softly praying to the gods to protect them.

Joshua shook his head as he could not help but think that the mentality of his city guards was still a little bit weak and poor. When the Dragon's Calamity happens in the future, although it was impossible that they would be battling against powerful elite dragon army which was as powerful as the demon-blooded dragons, most of the dragons and draconic beasts would be flooding into the battlefield as they march towards the human armies and legions. If they could feel weak in their limbs by just seeing such a small insignificant 'dreadful' scene, then how would they be strong enough to face that sort of dragon armies?

In order to build their courage, Joshua asked these city guards to move the two heads of the two dragons back to the city and inform them of the location where he fought the two dragons. Well, the corpses of a giant dragon would still be extremely valuable. The warrior had generously decided that the one-tenth of the money obtained from selling the raw materials from the dragons would be given to the city guards who participated in salvaging the bodies.

Even though one-tenth of the money did not sound like much, but in fact, even if it would be divided among these hundreds of guards, everyone could still get dozens of gold coins which was equivalent to the amount they could earn by doing hard work over half a year. Shortly after Joshua decided to do that, the quoted prices for the raw materials obtained from the dragons' corpses would definitely increase. If one follows the market currently, it might even be possible that the prices would become double, triple, or many more times of the quoted prices expected. After all, that was the demon-blooded dragons they were talking about, raw materials of a living being from the Dark Abyss. It would not be a loss at all even if these raw materials were sold to the mage association.

Upon hearing those words, everyone was inspired by the amount of money they would get for doing it. Who would god damn care if those things were dreadful or not anymore? On the spot, the shouts of a lot of people were heard echoing around in the area. After that, they joined forces to carry the gigantic heads of the dragons. Meanwhile, some of them took out a map and confirmed the coordinates that their baron told them about. After they were done preparing with their camps, they set out on the next day to find the corpses of the giant dragons.

Joshua asked for some them to organize plans for it. After that, he turned his head around and looked at Artanis and Roland who were talking to each other. "Gentlemen, let's go back to the city first. Especially Sir Knight, he would definitely need a good rest."

Upon saying that, Joshua seemed to have thought of something. Then he laughed and said, "It was truly my fault for destroying your helmet during the battle."

"Who would have thought of that during a battle? It's not your fault."

Roland did not feel bad about losing his helmet. He had benefited a lot from this fight. During the time he was concussed, he wanted to take the opportunity where the feeling of battling his opponent was still there to aid him in thinking about any possible ways to improve his own skills and tactics in battle. Until now, he was still pondering on the timing of Joshua's punches and the swiftness of Joshua making changes during the battle.

Obviously, they were both people that hunt on daemons all the time. However, how could it be so simple for him to battle against dragons and also humans then? Roland also knew that this was something that the current him could understand. However, the man that possessed such skills and abilities was just standing right beside him. So he would have plenty of time and chances to ask Joshua to teach him.

Upon thinking on that, a light instantly flashed across both of his blue eyes—Creature such as man, even if one was sympathetic and really admiring the other, however, when one was beaten by the other, that one would want to punch that other person back!

Joshua, of course, saw through the holy knight's idea. This friend's thought was just too simple. He could see what the other person was thinking by just looking at his face. However, he was not bothered by it at all. Instead, he even felt a little delighted. After all, under the circumstance that he was about to advance to the Supreme domain, the number of opponents who were in the Gold domain were capable of receiving so many punches from him was extremely low.

"I destroyed your helmet. I will naturally provide him with appropriate compensation," the warrior said leisurely, "Perhaps you don't know about this, but the best and most powerful forger among the rune dwarves is currently a guest at my mansion."

Upon hearing those words, Roland's eyes glittered. He naturally knew about the craftwork of the dwarves. Their works could equally match the magic-enhanced scrolls and accessories made by the elves, being equal to the sophisticated equipment. Other than his shield and cross warhammer, everything else on him were ordinary equipment made by the Church of the Seven Gods. If he could get a chance to get the dwarves to forge and make for him, then his power level would definitely get an incredible boost.

After seeing Joshua trying to persuade him with words and phrases, the holy knight was led to forget about the battle before. Even Artanis who was heading over to the mansion to be Joshua's guest was stroking his own beard. Then he shook his head and said, "Regardless of anything, let's get back to the city first… Joshua, your residence is still in ruins though. Before I got out of the mansion, I witnessed that your young lady servants and butlers were still presiding over the restoration work on the mansion."

"That's true too."

Recalling back that part of his mansion was being destroyed by the giant dragons, even Joshua could not help but reveal a stiff look on his face. Fortunately, he was able to confirm that only the second half of the living room was destroyed. His study room and bedrooms were still intact, and the reliability of Ying and Ling had also led him to feel at ease.

As a result, the three of them set foot on the road towards the city.

Meanwhile, in the distance.

Holy City of the Triplet Mountain, Imperial City of the Empire Kingdom.

In a house decorated with crystals that were gleaming with golden radiance, a crystal clear sound that indicated that something had cracked was heard. It sounded as if someone tore off the decorative crystal and threw it onto the ground.

Meanwhile, the raging voice of a man was heard echoing across the room. "Those garbage, those two dragons! They still failed to solve our problem even they were provided with the most poisonous venom. And they even got slaughtered by their own target! Do these demon-blooded monsters know how to battle?!"