Soul of Searing Steel
chapter-24

After confirming that most of his strength had recovered, Joshua did not say a word. He immediately held his sword with both hands and charged forward. The silver blade was swung towards Moz's neck with a violent pressure that was enough to rip a regular human's body to shreds. The whistling swing of that sword was intense.

Meanwhile, even though Moz had a broken left elbow, he reacted as a true Gold-tier warrior would, by not hesitating. He stopped breathing for a brief moment and regained his composure. Then he raised his broadsword in an attempt to block that strike.

However, how could it be possible for him to block a two-handed strike with a one-handed weapon? There was no need to think about who would win and who would lose under that circumstance.

A radiance flashed, the shockwave in the next moment swept across the entire street. The scattered rocks and rubble were blown away into the distance. The windows and the doors that were not closed tight cracked. The impactful force from the collision of the two swords resulted in countless shockwaves and explosions. Everything in the surrounding area was wiped clean.

"Arghhh!" Once again, Joshua let out a roar. The red radiance beneath his skin continued to glow, slowly gathering in his hands. Warrior was a Class where players rely on roaring to unlock their full potential. With that loud roar, his power instantly raised by a notch or two. Immediately, that became the last straw that determined the battle between the two of them.

The blade of the greatsword began to press towards Moz's direction inch by inch. Meanwhile, the broadsword that was forged from steel and embedded with god knows what sort of spells was beginning to crack. After a brief moment of cracking up, a loud snapping sound of steel was heard. The broadsword broke into more than two pieces. The heavy silver greatsword was slashed down towards Moz with unstoppable force as if the sword would slice this gray-haired man in half.

However, as a Gold-tier warrior, Moz was not that useless. Although he lost an arm because he underestimated his opponent earlier on, he was ready to face his opponent in his strongest form!

[Glorious Strength: Shape of the Wind]

The power of a Gold was rampaging that moment forth!

Greenish-gray Combat Aura was beginning to rise from the surface of Moz's body. The radiance of glory shone brightly. It looked like green flames blazing on. Moz was controlling the rhythm of his breathing, using his breath as a support to boost all the power in his body. He then used his soul to activate, condense, manipulate, and unleash the power!

Countless strange-looking runes arose from among the blazing flames on Moz. The shattered blade had already been dispersed into the surroundings due to the previous strike from Joshua. However, a strange power formed itself into the shape of the broadsword blade that was shattered. Then the shape of that power condensed, intensified and solidified. Following the sound of flames ignited by a spark on fuel, the sound of flames spreading rapidly was heard. A vague shape of a huge blade that seemed to be formed from the air had replaced the shattered broadsword. The length of the newly 'formed' broadsword was approximately twenty meters. With the reappearance of the broadsword, Moz succeeded in blocking Joshua's incoming strike.

This huge blade that was made of green elemental power trembled from time to time. Other than Joshua's huge sword, anything that came in touch with it seemed to be crushed instantly. It was similar to Moz's light punch in his previous attack. This blade should be able to crush steel and cut through weapons with ease!

Meanwhile, the silver Divine Armament that was engaging it also had the red radiance coursing through the entire huge sword. Within that radiating light, a terrifying power was about to be unleashed.

The red and the green flames were blending into each other. The two huge powers clashed with each other and the impact created a gigantic hole in the street where they were battling against each other. Countless violent air currents which were muted due to their speed had blown the rocks and dirt into the sky, causing a dust storm all around the street. Some of the wooden houses even collapsed and turned into ruins.

At the same time, the situation was a tie. Meanwhile, Moz was completely astounded; he could not believe what just happened.

The elemental blade that was formed from the power of his [Shape of the Wind] could naturally destroy most regular weapons. Even enchanted weapons would suffer damage to some extent. However, witnessing the silver greatsword pressing against his own weapon without sustaining any damage at all— could it be that this normal-looking weapon was actually a legendary weapon that was more than just excellent?!

What the f*ck! Even the Wilson family's armory does not have many legendary weapons! More importantly, none of those legendary weapons were in Moz's hands!

Well, even if Moz used up all of his ultimate moves, he would still not be able to turn the situation around. He did not even force his opponent to activate his [Glorious Strength] yet. Moz could sense that the situation was not in his favor at all. However, Moz was considered to be doing quite well for he had lost the left hand that caused him to not be able to use most of his skills.

Well, would his enemy be kind to him then?

Facing the onslaught of his opponent without triggering his [Glorious Strength], Joshua kept quiet as he was activating his third skill today.

[Supreme: Enrage]

This skill belonged to the strongest warrior in the forest, the Bear Warrior Ursa's Ultimate move—Enrage!

His blood was like boiling magma, his life force actively converted into rage. The power within was slowly spreading every part of his body. The red Combat Aura instantly burst out in a much more powerful manner. In one brief instant, the whole silver greatsword blazed in flames. It looked like a crystalized red sword radiating in blinding light.

Joshua lifted his greatsword and slammed it right down onto the target again and again! Under the circumstance where they were competing with each other in term of strength, the elemental blade that was basically just like the broadsword, cracked bit by bit until it was forced to gradually return to its original elemental state.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The only thing that Moz could do now was back his steps up one after another! Every step backward left a large hole in the ground. Every step he took, he spat blood right out of his lungs. Moz could not withstand such pure violent power that was pushing him back. Followed by the consecutive blows that Joshua was throwing at him, without saying a word, Moz could only clench his teeth and take it all head on.

By the end of it, the elemental blade that was formed from the [Shape of the Wind] had completely disintegrated into countless green light spots, dispersing into the surroundings. At that instant, a radiance flashed across Moz's eyes.

It is time!

Before that, Moz had relied on his [Glorious Strength] to counter Joshua. Even though he failed, it was not for nothing. Now that Joshua's power had been largely amplified because of his secret move, his movement speed was slightly affected. Furthermore, the elemental blade had been dispersed to the surroundings. The powers were clashing in the atmosphere of the city. That moment was also a moment where the insanely powerful enemy let his guard down, showing weakness. So that was it! That was his chance to strike back!

Taking a step forward, pushing his body forward like a whirlwind, Moz abandoned every single defense on himself and turned all of his power into speed. Then he pushed himself forward so fast that his movement speed had exceeded the speed of sound in one instant, offsetting an explosive bang in the atmosphere. He charged straight into a position where Joshua's sharp greatsword could not reach. At the same time, he raised up his right hand and swung a punch right towards Joshua's heart.

Receiving such a swift and intense punch that was enough to break through rocks, the skin on Joshua's chest was instantly torn apart. His muscles and veins were exposed to the air. However, his blood did not ooze out like a fountain or whatsoever even though the punch had landed solidly on Joshua's chest.

Moz believed that he had won!

During that 0.01 second long battle, Moz could only strike out in full strength in time with his Gold-tier body which had undergone severe training and hammering. That was the only punch based on his instincts that could possibly change the tide of battle. Although he did not have enough time to do any thinking, it was a situation where he either did it or die! So before his enemy could react at all, he could basically end the battle with that strike of his!

Joshua van Radcliffe was indeed a powerful enemy… He actually managed to forced Moz to such extent…

A left hand suddenly appeared right before Moz's fist. Moz's fist was firmly gripped by the hand.

His thoughts were cut off, his breath stopped. The gray-haired Gold-tier warrior was so stunned to see that his fist was almost smashed by the left hand into bits. Flesh and blood splattered everywhere. Meanwhile, the shards of the broken bones even went into the muscles of Joshua's chest. The enormous power even completely twisted the joints of his elbow. His entire palm was basically sunk into his chest. A large amount of blood began to splash out from the wounds.

However, that was it! A punch that was initially enough to crush an enemy's heart, go through the chest of the enemy, and break the enemy's backbone and other internal organs had only managed to crush a right hand and a few ribs of the enemy. A Gold-tier warrior would only require a few days to fully heal from that sort of injuries.

A heavy strike from Joshua's knee was struck right in the middle of Moz's chest. Moz's ribs and chest were smashed into bits at the same time. At that moment, Moz could also hear an emotionless voice being spoken from above his head.

"I've got you."

That was a calm and yet much more terrifying sentence to hear. Before the gray-haired Gold-tier warrior could react to the situation at all, his body had dropped heavily to the ground. His blood began to flow out from the large wound right in the middle of his chest. He was lying on the ground while his life was slowly slipped away from his body. Moz was stunned as he fixed his eyes on his enemy. He could not react to anything at all.

Joshua went up to Moz. He turned his right hand around to hold down his huge sword. Coldly, he said, "Die."

Upon a heavy strike down at Moz's body, the huge sword that was tough enough to break steel cut Moz's body in half. Blood began to gush out of that Gold-tier warrior's body like a fountain. Meanwhile, the gray-haired Gold-tier warrior had no breath left to say anything.

I… I'm defeated? I still… I still…

After breathing heavily for a brief moment, he drew his last breath and died.

That battle had only lasted less than two minutes before it was over. So it actually made sense that Moz died unwilling to believe that he was defeated.

"Well, that's not bad at all."

Lifting the broken left hand that did not seem to look like a hand anymore, Joshua frowned. Now that he was still in the [Enrage] status, 80% of his pain had been shielded from him. So the injury in his left hand was like being slammed by a sledgehammer. Even so, he did not feel much pain.

"That's quite a powerful strike before he drew his last breath."

Since the beginning, Joshua did not intend to take out this Gold-tier warrior of the Wilson Family without sustaining any damage; it was too troublesome and the city had sustained too much damage as well. When two warriors of the same tier were battling against each other at full power, they would definitely be throwing skills at each other. So it would only take less than a few minutes before the center of the city was totally destroyed. Even if the priests and the high tier warriors were there to protect the civilians, the number of casualties in the city would still be far too great. Furthermore, those who survived would have no place to stay anymore. Although Moz's [Shape of the Wind] could not deal any damage to the greatsword which Ying transformed into, that power could still destroy any normal houses in a blink of an eye.

If Moz could also infuse his [Glorious Strength] and other more threatening skills during the battle, well, by then...

Tsk, pathetic. That was why Joshua wanted to end the battle with the swiftest method. He had been planning to take out that troublemaker as soon as he could.

So before the Gold-tier warrior could actually unleash all his strength, he was already slain by Joshua.