Soul of Searing Steel
chapter-308

"I am born of the forests–"

A thick voice echoed throughout the earth. New shoots that grew on the branches of the giant tree had flourished into large green leaves. In the humongous basin in the mountains, the giant petrified trees began to shake. The rocky layer the tree that showed signs of hibernation fell off of the giant tree as the tree returned to its former glory where the blue light of life swayed from one leaf to another.

The voice came from nowhere but it echoed across heaven and earth. It carried the will of the great god and even staggered the movements of the massive golem army as the army stopped marching forward toward the tree.

Joshua continued to wield his gunblade as he remained engaged with the golems. He shook his head in surprise as he sensed that he could see multiple realms flashing before his eyes. The warrior had seen a gigantic tree that went all the way up to the heavens, as if it was supporting that space. The gigantic tree was located in the middle of the mountains and the lakes. There were elves gathering around the base of the tree as they established and built their kingdom. They did that as a united race. The fire of civilization was being cultivated underneath the gentle shade of the giant tree.

He was also able to witness the prosperity and the development of that civilization. Prosperity was like a wonderful dream. The elves opened up new territories as they expanded to the far end of the distant sea, spreading their civilization from the center of the main continent. They had even confronted human beings as they make peace offerings to coexist with all the other races on the continent. Deep beneath the surface of the earth in the underground caverns, the dark elves with silver hair and black skins had established and signed a treaty with the dwarves who had colonized the underground regions by the boiling river of lava. Their efforts in such regard had equally divided the underground world.

The holy knight and Black also stopped fighting and lifted their heads, staring at the radiating green light that suddenly flooded the sky. The light appeared sacred and holy as if every secret of life was embedded in it.

They heard chants and praises, saw faith and sacrifices. They were also exposed to the last holiness. That voice did not pause at all. It continued to hum in a heavy tone. "I—dominate nature!"

Numerous green lights emerged from the crown of the giant tree, forming a beam of light that went all the way up into heaven. Half the sky that was dark was instantly purified and brightened into the color of pure and sacred green. The golden rays of sunlight slipped through the dark clouds as they made contact with the green light, forming a greenish gold color that appeared bright and enchanting.

The true form of Father Nature was initially a complete ecological cycle. Tens of thousands of races and creatures had been living in the body of the giant tree. The giant tree was their world as they reproduced and grew in it. Father Nature had obtained the very first 'belief' for cultivating such a large number of races in the first place.

As for the understanding of nature and ecology, no one could surpass the knowledge that Father Nature had. The reason was simple, the Father Nature had witnessed the cultivation of nature, its circulation, life, and reproduction. Its power was great enough to jump-start a new ecological cycle in a new world that was not suited for survival, using that world as a base and terraforming that entire world into a world suitable for habitation.

–Buzz!!!

Up in the sky, the Apocalyptic Circle seemed to be obstructed by that power. Its ten light wheels continued to spin, echoing deafening sounds in the sky. The Harmonic Core that had its will staggered by the great will of Father Nature instantly broke out of its trance as it responded to the deafening noises coming from the Apocalyptic Circle. The Calculation Circle embedded deep in its mind was operating at a rapid pace. Soon, it once again gave the golems a new command.

"Highest authority granted!"

Although its tone of voice still remained emotionless, others who heard its voice would think that the Harmonic Core was in shock. "Assault Command—Activating the Critical Overclocking Protocol!"

"Assault, begin!"

The moment the command was given, the golem army seemed extremely agitated. 

In an instant, all of the puppets had relieved themselves from the constraints placed over their cores as they began to tremble in excitement. Hundreds of thousands of them were trembling at the same time as they unleashed purplish magic energy. They compressed all of the energy in their bodies, turning the energy into a great momentum, ready to battle!

At this time, the overflowing magic energy gathered and turned into purplish lightning surging in the air, striking from the sky to the ground. It continued to spread like a spider web, spreading from the dark clouds into the distance. The atmosphere of the air was filled with a horrible burned stench. An endless horde of golems was emerging from the dust and mist in the sky and on the ground. Their bodies gleamed with bright Magic Runes. These golems charged towards their enemies without a care in the world in their crumbling bodies. They charged straight at Father Nature, the warrior, and his comrades wilfully.

Boom!

The hectic and chaotic noises echoed through the clouds.

The sky glowed with a dense, radiating purple light. That was actually the flashing light where the golems operated their bodies over the limits. Beams of purplish meteors strode across sky, leaving trails of purplish light in the sky. Those light penetrated through the layer of clouds as they made their way towards the surface of the ground. Their target was the giant tree that was slowly recovering its vitality.

—The giant ancient tree must never wake!

That was the most direct and strictest command deep in their minds.

Originally, the holy knight had exhausted quite a lot of strength in order to take on the relentless horde of golems that went berserk. Suddenly, he made a small mistake as he fell right into the charging course of the flying golems. If he could pull a distance between himself and the enemies, he should still be able to handle these golems that just removed the restraint over their cores. However, now that he was up close with thousands of flying golems that went berserk, there was only one thing left for him to do. He lifted up his giant shield but could barely keep himself alive.

Black did not possess the response and reflexes of the holy knight. It was much slower in that sense. However, the enemies before it were much slower than the aerial golems that the holy knight had to deal with. Hence, the draconic horse succeeded in evading the charging attacks of the massive golem army on the ground. It leaped into the air and made its way over to the top of a cliff with a few hops. From there, Black continuously blew its dragon breath and swept out a large number of enemies with each strike. However, Black had to admit the fact that its effort was insignificant in the face of such a massive army of golems which had enhanced their bodies and movement.

That was truly a bitter battle to the core.

Looking from a distance, the dazzling lights were seen raining down on the earth like fireflies descending on the horizon. Even though white sacred lights and red flames of dragon breath flashed in the sky to obstruct the descending of those dazzling lights, all of the efforts were in vain.

The enemy force was not short of sky fortresses in their formation. New titan colossus emerged in large numbers. Their heavy footsteps trembled the earth so violently that even the hills shook. These gigantic war machines also went completely berserk, just like the rest of the golems. Regardless of whether it was their strengths or their attack speed, the titan colossus were coming in stronger than before. Upon noticing their enemies before them, the titans immediately aimed at Roland and Black. Soon, these monster began to launch their fiercest attacks towards the two of them. Many thunderous light beams that could destroy almost anything was launched at the holy knight and the draconic horse, as two of them kept evading the attacks.

With Roland and Black out of the way, the golems were able to march towards the giant tree without any obstacles. The situation had instantly taken a turn for the worst. It would still be manageable if they were only handling the ordinary puppets. However, if the endless stream of titan colossus and the sky fortresses that possessed great power of destruction ever made their way to Father Nature, the ancient gigantic tree with no power to defend itself would be damaged.

With a flash of red light crossed the sky in a straight and smooth line, it penetrated the sky fortresses before it made a large hole through each of the titan colossus on the ground. That light had just taken down two dangerous war machines. It currently fixed its attention on the other powerful gigantic puppets.

This red light was the light of a Combat Aura that only one person possessed in the entire world.

In the middle of the sky, it struck down another sky fortress. The warrior then slowly kept his gun blade. His eyes were flashing with light of a fire. Currently, the warrior was buffed up by three different types of Divine Powers. Because of that, Joshua had become an unstoppable monster. Wretched faces emerged one after another on the surface of the armor layer that was formed from his Combat Aura. Those faces were actually the faces of his enemies he defeated in the past. Those were actually the souls of the Daemons he killed before.

"You..."

The red Combat Aura was blazing just like flames and lightning which charged up the blade. Joshua had fixed his eyes on the golems as he lifted the Dragon-hunting gunblade in his hand and spoke firmly but slowly, "…shall not pass!"

Right after he finished his words, the warrior charged himself up and light began to flow in his entire body. Then he moved forward as he turned himself into light that flowed around the place. He flew past the battlefield that was filled up with the filthy and disgusting golems. Wherever he flew, explosions followed. The golems and flying puppets fell to the ground like it was raining golems. The momentum of the assaults launched by the flying golems in the sky staggered momentarily as they could not move forward, not even by a bit. Meanwhile, the titan colossus on the ground were also getting a lot of attention from the warrior. Some of them would be randomly picked and be struck in the face by the warrior's destructive gun blade. Not to mention that their cores were totally destroyed after coming into contact with the gun blade. Soon, the golems began to retaliate by launching their thunderous light beam attacks mechanically. However, the warrior dodged every single attack with ease.

But even Joshua could not have possibly stopped that many enemies all by himself though. Even Roland and the others who had succeeded in getting off course from the attack route of the golems were only capable of focusing their attacks on the more powerful daemons. At the same time, the Divine Power within the sanctuary handled the rest whenever the weaker golems entered the effective range of the sanctuary.

This was indeed the case. When the weaker golems came into contact with the green glowing lights within the sanctuary, their bodies would crack and crumble as the spells that controlled them would be destroyed almost instantaneously. They would, then, become pieces of lifeless rocks.

Only monsters like the stone giants and the flying golems that were larger in size could withstand the influence of the Divine Power as they charged their way over to the side of the Divine Tree.

However, those terrifyingly powerful monsters had all been stopped by Joshua. The warrior had kept his words as he did not let any of the threatening Chaos daemons near the ancient tree. With a roar, another titan colossus slowly knelt to the ground as it collapsed and shattered into a pile of rocks.

These corpses filled up the entire ground of the battlefield. It was a titan colossus who slowly bowed his knees. He squatted and fell to the ground, turning into a mass of rocks. The fields across the battlefield were instantly turned into quarries scattered with rocks, filled with the cold presence of destruction that sent chills down their spines. An endless army of puppets rushed towards the giant tree. However, they were stopped by a man.

It was proven to be too difficult for the warrior who had been blessed to complete the task at hand. The stamina required to fight these giant monsters had far exceeded the imagination of everyone. For the first time, the warrior felt tired gasped for air. Just as he decided to take moment to rest before heading out to hunt and slaughter his prey again, a gentle power interrupted him.

A voice whispered into his ear, "It is already enough."

I have awakened.

The last piece of stony skin had been peeled off the surface of the trunk of that giant tree. The tips of the roots seemed as if they were activated. The existence of ancient times had completely awakened. With the words, a soft green light shone like a tidal wave from behind the warrior. The power was gentle yet unstoppable as it spread into the surroundings.

The world seemed to be purified, and every single trace of the dark haze was swept away.

Under the shining ray of light, the earth that became chaotic as the battle restarted. Seeds buried deep beneath the surface of the earth sprouted new shoots. Grass and plants of all sorts and even trees were growing rapidly across the desecrated land under the influence of the natural Divine Power. Plants and vines were seen rising up towards the sky as the entire land turned into a small forest and a plain full of green vibrant grass.

 At the same time, the voice of Father Nature had also awakened with everything that was happening in the surroundings.

"I am the spirit that protects, the ruler of the forests! I am the guardians of all life, the defenders of Order!"

That voice echoed through heaven and earth. It sounded weak at first but gradually grew until it sounded just like the rumbling of thunder, shaking the entire sky with its echoing voice.

"I am the Father Nature, the Soul of the Forests, and incarnation of the king of everything!"

The green beams of light that went all the way into the heaven vanished as if the switch of the light had been flipped off. Instantly, a network of green emerged in the sky. The network seemed layered as many and covered the entire sky. "This sacred ground is the divine throne belonging only to me, where the elves shall prosper."

The Apocalyptic Circle seemed to be agitated. The ten light wheels immediately reacted towards the green light. It began to spin back and forth as it unleashed beams of silvery radiating lights. Those lights contained the power to bring ultimate destruction and despair that could terminate the world. It seemed as if the sky was, again, firing assaults that could bring destruction to all.

However, that did not affect the giant tree, not even by a bit.

The giant tree that was still somewhat stiff seemed as if it was truly revived. It shook the leaves on its branches. The sound of the leaves rustling was heard by everyone. With all of the petrified skin peeled off from its body, the ancient existence regained its life as spoke in a serious yet heavy tone, "This is my world."

You shall not destroy it.