Soul of Searing Steel
chapter-41

The letters that Ying passed over seemed ordinary. However, there was a name that anyone from the Empire would be shocked to see.

Israel Diamond.

That was the name of the current emperor of the northern Empire.

People could tell by looking at the surname of the emperor that the emperor and his royal family were not natives of the north. His roots should be from the mountains in the west. Regardless, the forty-five-year-old leader devoted his entire life to expanding the territory of the Empire was an ambitious conqueror. Above all, as the emperor with the most powerful personal power in the history of the Empire, he was capable enough to support his ambition and get all people to swear their allegiance to him.

He was a fine and extraordinary leader. It was as if the gods had chosen him to do their bidding, worthy of being in the tier of Legendary.

During the time before the Dark Tide, Gold-tier warriors were still one of the best. A Legendary should be enough to support such a big empire.

Upon opening up the envelope of the letter, Joshua removed the enchanted paper and took a closer look at the contents.

[Bestow this letter to the faithful liege, Radcliffe]

The handwriting on the first and second part of the letter was not the same. This was a practice of the royal family, where other than the signature and the first sentence, the rest of the content would be written by another, based on what the emperor said.

Joshua continued to read on.

[The source of the plague is suspected to be a powerful dragon clan of an unknown origin. It should be the one spreading the plague, a plague that causes the bloodlust in the daemons to overwhelm them. It is believed that the purpose of spreading the plague is to prepare for the Dark Tide that has yet to come.

The Dark Tide this time appears to be malignant. However, the number of the daemons are greatly reduced compared to the previous ones. In addition, the fortresses have been well-fortified, which provides more defense for the humans. However, in order to prevent any influence from the 'Territory Sealing' incident, it is necessary to take precaution in any case. I've sent Wolf to pass a piece of Dragon-slaying Stone over to you as a means of contingency.

If it does not attack, then armed forces would be dispatched soon. However, if that dragon comes to invade, I believe that with the power of Radcliffe and his 'weapon', it is entirely possible to slay it, stopping the plague from spreading.]

[God bless the Empire, Starfall 813, Year of the Emperor 25, Bestow this letter upon the examiner Mengsk Wolf of Morlaix Palace]

Appendix: The Royal Catastrological Laboratory will obtain information about the dragon as stated below:

After the simple content, there was also a piece of white appendix sheet. There was a dragon with a strange appearance drawn on the sheet. Right on the back of the white sheet, there were also numerous data analysis and some presumed attack patterns.

Half of the dragon's body in the drawing was as shiny as platinum while the other half seemed to resemble the darkness of night. The pattern could be seen throughout its body. Its right horn, the golden side of it, was standing straight up, pointing towards the sky. The other horn, the black side of it, was bent downwards to its neck. Oddly enough, the golden side of the dragon had a closed eye, the dark side had none. This oddity of a dragon had a pair of large wings which was the only thing normal about it. Its limbs, despite having four of them, were clearly divided. Two were golden and the remaining were black. Likewise, the two golden limbs were armed with powerful claws that rippled with strength.

It was an obvious contrast that the golden side of the dragon was much stronger and tougher than the black side of the dragon. The two sides were two completely different kinds of creatures.

Joshua was looking at the drawing with a serious face that no one had ever seen before. He examined the details of the drawings over and over again. After that, Joshua took a deep breath and read out the words one after another, loud and clear, "Chaotic Gore Magala!"

Upon saying those words out loud, he quickly put the drawing aside, looking solemn. Then he recalled back on his memories, "That's right, I should have thought about it earlier. The dark-purplish powder, the berserk daemons, the unbalanced ecosystem! What else could it be if it's not the Chaotic Gore Magala?"

As a former legendary warrior, Joshua had slaughtered all sorts of daemons across Continental War. Meanwhile, the dragon species were the more important ones among the important ones. Although he had slain a lesser number of Chaotic Gore Magala back then, he could still recall a small fraction of his memories about them.

The Chaotic Gore Magala were special species of gigantic dragons without the ability to see nor to hear. They purely relied on their wings to spread their scale dust containing viruses into the surroundings. Meanwhile, weaker living beings that were stained with those scale dust would be weakened even more so that the Chaotic Gore Magala could prey on them. Meanwhile, stronger living beings would become creatures that lust for blood. They would seek for opponents for a death battle all over the place. Those symptoms completely fit the description of the plague.

"A Gore Magala. It should only be discovered as a new dragon species after a part of the [Central Dark Forest] in the middle of the big land had been explored. So why is it appearing now… Furthermore, this is a Chaotic Gore Magala." Mumbling to himself, Joshua had vague memories of the past. He closed his eyes, trying hard to recall.

"I was advancing towards the distant lands of the south and did not visit the north much. So I only know that one of the Dark Tides back in one of those years was extremely harsh… Never mind, it'll be pointless to think too much."

Giving up on recalling his past memories which seemed to be pointless, the warrior walked slowly across the living room. He conveniently turned the greatsword and the armor set back to their miniature size before putting them by his waist, "That's one of the ancient dragon species in the original world…"

The Metal Dragon and the Pentashade Dragon were labeled as [Astral Dragon] which were deemed to be one of the species from another world. They were known to be an existence of high intelligence and civilization all over multiple worlds and even had their own gods. Meanwhile, the dragon species similar to the Ancient Dragons and the Alatreon would be known as the [Old World Dragon], the native species of Continental War. Even though some of them had the wisdom of the humans, most of them also had the mighty power of beasts.

Although that was the case, there were also dreadful existences among the species of the Old World Dragons. The [Ancient Dragons] had long lives. The moment they reveal themselves, these representations of dragons would bring forth devastating catastrophes. For instance, there was the Arashi Dragon which was the size of a few mountains, known as the [God of Calamity] that could cause hurricane storms. Also, there was also the Teostra Dragon, known as the [Moving Mountain] which could destroy cities by just moving its legs around. Not to mention that there was also Alatreon, known as the [Calamity] that causes the Great Ajax to erupt as well. All these dragons were the ancient dragons.

Meanwhile, Shagaru Magala which was known to be the [Source of the Plague] was an ancient dragon species that represented the Imbalance of the ecosystem. They were known as the awakened form of the Gore Magala.

Right in the Central Dark Forest, a real Shagaru Magala must have revealed itself. Its power must have dominated the others of its species while it was undergoing its final molting process for its awakening. Therefore, it transformed into a Chaotic Gore Magala as it only managed to molt halfway. It was moving swiftly around the entire Empire because it was searching for a suitable spot to complete the final sequence of its molting.

"The weakest power level of an Ancient Dragon should be similar power level of a Supreme or a Legendary. However, the case would be different with the Gore Magala. Before it awakens, it could only be as powerful as an Intermediate Gold. I'll still be capable of handling it."

Sitting back on the chair right in front of the table, Joshua recalled his memories on the power level of the Gore Magalas that he slew before. Then he reached his hands into his pocket and took out the red box. He thought deeply, "Even if the Chaotic Gore Magala is much stronger than anticipated, I can still rely on my Divine Armament and this piece of Dragon-slaying Stone. I'll still have a chance to slay the dragon…"

"Master, here's your tea."

A clear voice of a girl interrupted Joshua's thoughts. Joshua turned to the side and saw that the silver-haired girl walking gracefully to the living room holding a cup of hot tea.

"Thank you. But why is there only one cup of tea here?"

After taking the cup, Joshua raised his head and looked at his own Divine Armament with a disapproving look on his face. "Why didn't you prepare yourself a cup of tea?"

"Um… Because I don't need tea." Keeping both hands on her lap, she replied Joshua with a puzzled tone. Ying almost did not respond to Joshua's question. She tilted her head and said," As a Divine Armament, I don't need nourishment from food."

"There are two of us here, but there's only one of us having a tea. It's a very awkward situation, don't you think?"

Springing to his feet, Joshua reached out his hand and ruffled the silver-haired girl's hair. He then sighed and passed the cup of tea in his hand over to Ying's hands. "Also, it doesn't mean you shouldn't try something just because you don't need it. You need to learn how to enjoy life. Here, this tea is for you. Take it."

"Uh… this… Thank you…" Mumbling softly, Ying looked a little fazed as she took the teacup from Joshua. Her cheeks red, she looked at the tea that was still hot without knowing what to say next. So she changed the topic and said, "Then, Master, should we get ready to make dinner?"

"It's still early. I think we can pass on that one first. You should have a seat first. Make a copy of the white sheet with information about the giant dragon for me, will you?"

Upon sitting on the chair, Joshua lowered his head to look at the other letter. He casually said, "Thank you for doing this with me today, Ying."

"Yea…"