Soul of Searing Steel
chapter-571

The engine before Joshua's chest was humming deeply while countless machine constructs that could hardly be seen with the naked eye flowed in his veins. He stood on the fusiform colossal monster corpse that was 1753 meters long, and looked around at the surrounding stars.

What came into view was a swarm of two million horrifying beasts that blocked out all the stars and all the light, exceeding the capacity of his field of vision.

"Master… Isn't this a little too many?"

In the spiritual ocean, Ying's soul which was sharing the warrior's eyes. She blinked uncomfortably, and whispered. "This could be even more than the monsters we've killed before put together…"

"That can't be? Our last kill record was back then with Father Nature, when we borrowed His divine power to kill more than a hundred thousand golems." Ling recalled calmly, although his voice showed that he was anxious as well. "By the way, the warp scale is quite huge…"

Just a while ago, the three Midgardian Colony Fleets had relied on warp ambushes and successfully culled over a hundred thousand Void beasts, and subsequently simultaneously fired luminous lances and releasing starfighters that killed over a hundred and fifty thousand of the monsters and destroy their formation. However, that was all they could do—most of the monsters that were caught by the area of effect of the projectiles and were forced to temporarily stay out of the fight had recuperated and reentered the fight, which in turn meant that the multitudinous ranks of those beasts were not diminished by much.

"If that's so, we'll just have to multiply our combat results."

Joshua smiled nonchalantly at the little moods of his weapons and his declining energy. He flexed his four arms to cool his golden-red shell, which soon turned into a silver-white steel luster. "Of course, the larger warp scale is my true power."

After a few dozen times of warping in a brief moment, Joshua used up monumental energies that nearly withered the furnace in his body. In spite of that, thanks to his exponentially elevated psionic levels, as long as the Midgardians were not wiped out and the psionic light from the Midgardian home planet did not vanish, his speed of recovery would be a dozen times or perhaps over a hundred times greater. With just a little time, he would make a full recovery.

But there was no 'little time' on the battlefield.

At present, the Void monsters that had dispersed following the warrior's surprise onslaught had regained focus and rapidly assembled. In seconds, they had assumed their instinctive formations and began to charge silently and determinedly at the new target.

Thousands of dark-blue energy trails shot out amidst the dark space as over thirty thousand monsters that had accelerated to two thousandth light speed shot toward Joshua with their profound numbers. Most of them were unable to withstand the speed, and their body constructs hence crumbled underneath the overload—even so, their corpses were suitable weapons.

"Just Scout classes that are over ten meters long? I could have adjusted my position if they were larger."

The monsters' speeds were almost arriving at six hundred kilometers per second—they would cover a lap around Earth in a minute. At present, when taking the distance between the swarm and Joshua into consideration as well as the timeframe for their acceleration, they would meet within just two seconds after the swarm dashed out. Even so, Joshua showed no hint of nervousness. He stood his ground, two arms folded across his chest while the other two grasped the Void, brandishing the two divine armaments assimilated into his own body and converted into enormous energy weapons.

Perfect timing for a warp-up.

Soon, every crew of the Third Fleet in another corner of the battlefield saw a spectacle they would not forget their entire lives.

Azra watched as the Steel giant who stood over a giant monster corpse and focused upon by the psionic screen as if a sailor on a small craft, surrounded by the boundless darkness of the universe that was the bellowing sea, while the swarm of Void monsters were torrential waves. But regardless of how the sea churned or the world collapsed, that silhouette never moved, holding a silver-white greatsword and black greataxe in his two hands that sparkled with dazzling light.

Tens of thousands of Void beasts came striking, the psionic undulation causing ripples even out of vacuum. Nonetheless, the Steel giant merely brandished the sword and axe in his hands arbitrarily and hundreds of those beasts were promptly split down the middle, before violently detonating. In an instant, a circular space of three hundred kilometers around the Steel giant became a no man's land—the Void beasts that were assaulting from three hundred sixty degrees were could not push an inch deeper, with any who dared venture in being cut into ribbons by the keen energy edges that could cut apart space.

There was utterly no aesthetic in the manner in which the Steel giant swung his weapons, but the very act cut down every monster with no exception. With deft observation and reflexes, he slashed everything apart by the order from the closest to the furthest, but precisely because of that, there was nothing elegant about its move other than a killing breath that cuts into the marrow.

Even further away, the numerous 'main force' Void monsters that were over three hundred meters long paused at once, charging energy as if sensing that merely charging would not threaten their formidable foe. In the very next instant, when thirty thousand beasts that had rushed ahead and supremely accelerated corpses were mostly cut into space fireworks by the Steel giant, endless dark-green orbs of light that resembled whirling spheres appeared in their mouths. Those were attacks that imitated the luminous lances of the Midgardian warships—though they did not have the same extreme heat or the maximal penetrating force, the psionic spheres which contained torque that could distort everything and had a radius above twenty meters had a turning speed of eight thousand and seven hundred times per second. And now, the Void monsters shot out those spheres that could slit apart space battleships, forming dense specks of light that ejected towards the Steel giant.

Even so, the giant kept its tactic of not evading against the spheres that were coming twice as fast as the previous onslaught of the beasts. The four-hundred meters behemoth body merely shifted its standing position and combined the greatsword and greataxe, and with a powerful crimson flash that was extremely blinding even for the Third Fleet, the weapons vanished and in its place was a Dragonslayer Swordspear. The Steel giant then swung the weapon that was flickering with golden-red bolts on its front end, drawing endless trails of light that formed an almost circular shield within the hundredth of a second. The infinite fireballs thus struck several hundred meters before the shield but could go no longer further, for in the instant the spheres of light darted towards them, a rather blinding flash of a spear would flash and break the spheres that contained psionic energies and detonate it.

 Designated Silent Vanquisher Ability activated, Vanquish Targets locked.

Targeted Race: Minions of Pestilence

—Attack commencing.

Somehow, Azra could almost hear an extraordinary voice telling him certain mysterious knowledge, but he did not pay too much attention since he was still engrossed in the screen.

In the distance, the spheres of light detonated without a sound but wrought streaks of dark green spiral energy ripples. With the brutal force of over a thousand spheres, it was as if over a thousand vortices had also appeared around the Steel giant—a dangerous, wondrous sight that was somehow also beautiful and bizarre, marked tightly down in everyone's mind.

"Wait, that's not right!"

Whether it had been against the Scout-tier Void monsters' suicidal charge or the Main Force's shots of luminous spheres, the Steel giant's countermeasures up to now were considered perfect and had stayed unscathed. Be that as it may, Azra and the crews of the Third Fleet who were spectating agilely discovered a noteworthy situation: there had been a dazzling golden vortex before the Steel giant's chest when it first appeared, but now, after its arduous battle, the golden vortex became a threatening dark red and was now even flickering. Additionally, after the first wave of luminous spheres had ended, the giant had withdrawn his colossal spear, and stood, barehanded on the monster corpse that was mostly destroyed in the shockwave of its offensive.

"The speed of regeneration isn't keeping up with the speed of energy consumption."

At that moment, Joshua stood where he was, his brow furrowed. He had kept standing over the colossal Void monster without moving, not to put up an act but to save every ounce of energy. According to his calculations, the three-dimensional spatial maneuver combat on a planetary scale would expend far more energy than standing where he was and just wait for the enemy to come and fend off their attacks. After all, the former necessitates offense while the latter merely require a stalwart defense.

Be that as it may, the first wave had already consumed much of his already-lacking energy.

Without giving Joshua any time to breathe, the second wave of almost ten thousand Scout-tier monsters dashed toward him in super speed once more. These diminutive beasts that made up two-thirds of the monster army had the simplest of body constructs, carrying only one energy core and its main body at the front and a propelling engine at its back. This time, the warrior was precisely in the dead center of the monsters' formations, which was why their all-direction onslaught this time was far denser than the last. On the other hand, the speed at which the warrior rematerialized sword and axe was slower.

Surprisingly, however, even there was a clear sluggishness in Joshua's movements now, the Void beasts still could not step through that forbidden zone of three hundred kilometers just like before. Moreover, there were hundreds of those beasts that had been pushed away by a similar energy blast even before they reached the zone, causing a chain reaction as they crashed forcefully into other Void monsters, and so thousands of them died due to their own speed.

It was not the remaining strength that Joshua had—he was simply using his full power now. Indeed, it was a simple physics application: with the dust clouds which was the remains of the last wave of exploded monsters yet to dissipate, Joshua had deliberately baited the current wave of monsters. Having accelerated to two thousandth or up to three thousandth light speed, the dust was sufficient to cause such massive obstructing force and friction that it directly made the leading cluster of monsters self-detonate. Joshua had caught the fact, and only had to slashed out at several monsters within key zones to trigger their self-destruction sequence.

While that may be the case, the trick could only be used once. The potent and incessant explosions had also brushed away the monster corpses and dust clouds that Joshua had deliberately guided around him, and the latter half of the second wave struck again. Even as his hands clenched upon his sword and axe, the glinting red light before his chest was weakening, which in turn made him realize that he perhaps should be using his true power.

Nevertheless, the warrior who had always fought alone clearly forgotten a truth.

He had comrades.

When immeasurably powerful energy emanated behind him, Joshua unwittingly turned his head a little, and in that very second almost a thousand luminous lances shot out from the direction of the Midgardian Fleet, cutting into the rampaging beast swarm that was scheming to encircle Joshua. Multitudinous energy spears that burned at over a million degrees shot into the rapidly flying swarm and exploded violently yet silently. In the blink of an eye, the monsters around the warrior had been swept away, allowing him some precious breather.

"Not bad."

Joshua was certainly surprised. He had thought that the dilapidated fleet would have followed their comrades and warp a short distance to the perimeter of the Sea God planet—he never thought that they would risk themselves to support him. When the Mother Tree had discussed with him the matter of reinforcing the fleets, Joshua had already been prepared to hold the rear for the fleets by himself since he could just run as well if the worst happened. Even so, both the Mother Tree and himself had underestimated the Midgardian desire to fight.

By the next instant, ripples in the pattern light-blue concentric circles began to unfurl at a distant stellar region several thousand kilometers away from Joshua—it was unquestionably Nostradamus's warp passage. The two were traveling towards the Garden of Flowers on what was a virtually identical path, but the extended distance and the discrepancies between more than a dozen warp had caused the two to arrive on a different time and a different location. Still, everything was not too late at the moment since Joshua had already recovered a significant portion of energy in those brief few seconds of respite.

Sensing the impending arrival of another powerful foe, the Void swarm now finally acted in full-force. The abominations that almost amounted to two million shifted into two divisions, with a larger number of them rushing towards Joshua who was still supported by the Third Fleet, and a lesser number of them diving towards the stellar zone of the pale-blue portal. They intended to remove the one superior lifeform that was not at its best at the moment.

Abruptly, the ocean known as the universe churned again, and the monster swarm that was besieging Joshua was gradually becoming more densely packed. The spheres of light were also rushing towards him like rainwater, blanketing the world—the Colossals to the rear were clearly ignoring their Scouts comrades in their intent to kill the warrior.

Regardless, having acquired the chance to breathe, Joshua assumed a new form of defense after recovering considerable power.

It was the defense known as offense.

"Alright, data collection of Void monsters is almost done."

Searing light glinted in the gaze of the Steel giant. Joshua opened his mouth to breathe, and though there was no air in space, a pale colored ray assembled in all directions of the universe and subsequently seeped into the warrior's mouth. Soon, the dark-red vortex on the warrior's chest started to turn rapidly, while its light swiftly turned from red to gold.

"Next up, the purge."

Standing amidst the dark void, the warrior stood, leaning on the axe in his left hand while raising the greatsword high above with his right. Powerful silver radiance flashed around the blade, even burning every remaining ash of the monsters that died around him into little silver stars. Steel Strength activated at full power, and like a whale that draws in the particles of matter in the universe around the warrior, a fearsome mass was rapidly imbued onto the silver greatsword. In moments, an unnoticeable twist appeared in the space and light around the silver greatsword.

Then, by the next moment, the warrior moved his arms.

The great sea wind that had been calamitous and threatening to flip the world returned to calm at once, for a far greater tempest was coming!

Mass Armament—Greatsword of Steel!

The silver greatsword aimed true at the beast swarm that was advancing at two thousandth of one light speed, and simply cut the air from left to right, not unlike the scrawls by individuals who did not know how to draw on a canvas. Thus, every present Void beast was simplistically wiped out from the region.

Boom-boom-boom-boom—

In space, everything was silent, and yet the spherical illumination of explosion kept bursting without stopping just as the trail of the giant sword did from left to right, shaping into a tremendous dark green explosive zone. With one blow, over ten thousand Void beasts were killed.

Joshua did not stop, and swung out again. A massive gravity field, with the silver-white great sword at its center, turned hollow into spreading silver light that charged out at the oncoming swarm. Joshua used his recent revelation to uncover a new way of suing Steel Strength through the sublimation of the White Dwarf Hand Chop move. Within the effective area, incredible gravity shifted, causing the baited swarm to crash into each other and explode. Some were even directly crushed by the supreme gravitational force into space garbage.

Brandishing his sword in rhythmically, Joshua did not waste a single ounce of his energy. Layers of abnormally powerful gravity struck just like the warrior's aural air blade, a most common and most primitive attack that completely shattered the enemy. Being still in Psionic Soar state, he was not wasteful with the buff that was hard to come by, instead relying on it to explore future possibilities for himself. Therefore, the zone of extreme gravity vanished and was replaced by a dark tear across space. Now wielding the axe on his left hand, the powerful gravity tear changed into a sharp edge that cut toward the still endless swarm. Each several kilometers long, the colossal tears hence tore apart those Main Force monsters that were spraying luminous spheres from their mouths and cut them in half.

Being cut apart would not mean death with the incredible lifeforce of those monsters. Still, the heavy gravity quickly followed behind, pressing over them and forcing their innards and energy core out of their bodies. The two complementing attacks hence killed tens of thousands of those mountains, leaving the distant Third Fleet immeasurably shocked—although the enemy had indeed been too tightly clustered together which certainly helped matters, the blows were comparable to the firepower of one fleet!

Still, the dicing did not last too long. Keenly aware that their losses were fast swelling, a wave of ruckus rose amongst the swarm. Soon, as the monsters at the fore parted like Moses splitting the Red Sea, several silhouettes of leviathans showed themselves in space. Then, as bizarre humming sounds that could be heard even in the vacuum of the universe echoed, a dark green hemispherical boundary arose between the Void beasts and Joshua, solidly blocking the warrior's gravity and spatial attacks.

A tremendous body appeared, over five kilometers long and shaped like a disk, with an entire body throbbing with infinite dark green pustules, tumors, not to mention tentacles and joints of all shapes and sizes. The colossal Void monster had appeared before all out of the blue, throwing the Midgardians who had never seen such a monster into chaos. There was but one question that rose within their hearts, even as they gaped and inhaled sharply—

Could we really stand against these Void creatures?

Nevertheless, Joshua answered definitively with his actions.

Of course.