Soul of Searing Steel
chapter-66

The sun had set.

A massive black and gold dragon was resting on a gray rock cliff. It was looking afar at the giant fortress that was located right in between the mountains and the river.

Half of the dragon's body was glittering with the light of a golden sun while the color of the other half of its body was so dark that it looked like the dark night sky in deep space. Also, it was quite obvious that the golden part of its body was stronger than the black part of its body on the left. The dragon horn that stood up straight towards the sky on one side was like a spear. It looked as solid as metal and stone.

Dark purplish dragon scales were continuously falling from its fluttering wings. As the scales fell, they dispersed into the snow, slowly turning into Chaos mist. The mist followed the direction of the wind and spread throughout the forest. After that, the mist got mixed into the shadow of the forest and disappeared.

Deep in the shadows, there were countless shadows of bodies. Their eyes were flashing with bright blue lights. The Chaos had blinded the eyes of these wild beasts. The mist was corrupting their sanity like corrosive air. Now, the beasts had totally lost their minds to think, consumed by the bloodlust. Other than the 'King' and their enemies, they could no longer see any other things.

They could only stay so calm while they were in the middle of the dark purplish mist.

"… Hiss…"

A normal Chaotic Gore Magala did not have intelligence. They would just act based on the instinct as a beast. However, this one was different.

Upon fluttering its wings wiping away the layer of snow that rested on it, the enormous dragon stood up slowly on top of the rock cliff. It took a glance at the army of beasts which would only act under its command. Its eyes were flashing with unexplainable radiance as if it was having thinking about something.

Pure species of Gore Magala were the descendants of the Ancient Dragons that spread plagues. They were born from the corpses of Berserk Daemons that were deeply infected. They would spread like spores of bacteria. Deep inside the heart of the Dark Forest across the mainland were thousands of Gore Magala surviving and replicating. However, only one of them could breakthrough its limit and transcend into the white golden being called the 'True God'.

The dragon that was having deep thoughts was once one of them. It succeeded. However, it also failed.

Back in its lair deep in the mountains, it had broken through its own limit. It had begun undergoing the process of metamorphosis that brought excruciating pain all the way deep into its every single bone across its entire body. However, when the process was only halfway through, there was another Gore Magala of the same species that managed to attain awakening faster than it. Under the strange sense of it, the murderous aura covered the entire forest and the mountains. The black and gold dragon felt that it was locked on as a target. To survive, the dragon could only flee, abandoning its own lair and in the process stopped its own awakening that could only happen once in a lifetime.

The dragon flew across the Dark Forest through the clouds across the sky. It was flying at a speed where it could fly across the kingdoms of humans and elves over one night. By doing so, it managed to arrive at the southern sea where none of its species had ever reached. There, the dragon had finally managed to get away from the newly born golden ancient dragon that was pursuing it… Back then, it had not obtained any intelligence. The weak and vulnerable dragon had finally found a place to breathe out in relief. By instinct, it picked a deserted island and landed there.

On the island, it found a secret hidden cave where there were many corpses and skeletons of humans. There were also a lot of strange and bizarre patterns all across the walls of the cave. The evil illustrations and the altar in the cave were full of unfortunate senses and smells. However, the exhausted black dragon would not be able to understand all those things. It went straight into hibernation and was ready to sleep for a long time.

However, before it could go into hibernation and lose consciousness, the endless excruciating pain that it must endure for interrupting its awakening process was still tormenting it. All the way down to his bones, the pain was like ants chewing it outside in and inside out. That was a torturous pain that even the dragon could not endure. Even the black dragon without any intelligence could not help to have doubts in its mind.

Perhaps, it should not have interrupted its own awakening process. It should have tried its best to finish the process. It should have taken a bet to see if it could have completed the process before its nemesis could reach it.

Perhaps, even though it had interrupted its own awakening process, it should not have fled the scene like a dog. Instead, it should have put up one hell of a fight to at least wound the enemy even if it got itself killed.

However, nothing could be said much about it anymore. What done was done. The most important thing now was that it was still alive. It only wanted to live on.

Endless excruciating pain followed by despair entered the heart of the dragon. The dragon's will continued to fall.

Just when it was feeling lost and despair, the dragon felt as if it was sinking. At the same time, the rune and patterns on the walls looked slightly brighter as if they were beginning to glow. The altar also began to glow in a dimmed light. Not long after, a strange and bizarre voice echoed across the heart of the black dragon that was about to hibernate.

That was an extremely obscure language of the dragon. Even the top scholars would not dare to say that they knew this complicated language. However, the dragon could clearly understand the language. That was the moment when the dragon obtained the intelligence of thinking and replied the voice in its heart.

"Give, and take."

"Chaos is upon everything. You insolent dragon, make your choice."

*****

After recalling back on its past memories, the black-and-golden dragon slowly closed its one and only eye.

So what did it really give up on and what did it get in return for it? Even the dragon could not remember.

Regardless, the black dragon who already obtained intelligence knew that it was no longer the Chaotic Gore Magala who failed to awaken itself in the past. The Chaos power that was surging in its body had been altered, using its scale dust and viruses to spread. The dragon had become much more intelligent and much more powerful than before.

Where Chaos went, Order would follow. Pure chaos would only mean silence for eternity. Life and souls were the most orderly chaos. Or perhaps they were the most chaotic order…

The mysterious voice had given the dragon a destiny. That would be killing as many intelligent lives as it could, using their blood and souls as sacrificial to unlock the few seals across the northern land. By providing more sacrifice, the seals could be unlocked in a shorter period of time. Meanwhile, the power and lifespan the dragon would be stronger and longer. There would even be a possibility that it could obtain a second chance at undergoing the process of awakening, erasing the pain for the first failed attempt to awaken.

The sun had set completely. The radiance of the two moons was beginning to shine brightly in the night. The silvery-white radiance was shining upon the land.

"Hiss! Roarrr!"

Following the insane howling of the Chaos dragon, the Dark Forest that was once quiet suddenly boiled. The moving footsteps trembled the entire land. Countless beasts and monsters that were infected with Chaos were galloping out of the forest. Their roaring pierced through the heavens.

Their main target was the fortress that was far ahead of them.

The war had begun once again.

At the fortress.

The twin moons rose up high in the sky.

Holding a gray metal staff, the violet-haired woman was standing on the city wall that was covered by a thick layer of snow. She remained silent as she looked far at the white mountains, the forest, and the Berserk Daemon horde that were charging towards the fortress. After seeing that, she could not help but sigh lightly.

Vale Dani Scarlet, a Gold-tier mage. She looked young because she had a remodeling when she crossed into the Gold-tier's Extraordinary grade. However, it had been tens of years ever since she had inherited the title as Countess of Moldova. This thirty-three-year-old woman was already a mother to two children. She had also experienced fending off the Dark Tide for decades. She could be deemed as a very experienced mage in that regard by now.

However, even though she had seen many and experienced a lot, the mage could not help but feel lost upon seeing the scene that lied before her eyes.

The blizzard was falling from the gray sky. The cold winds were howling. Countless daemons were gushing from the forest and charging towards the fortress. There was no end to that. There was no edge to that. The monsters were gushing in furiously. Among the monsters, there were tens of thousands of winter wolves, frost mammoths, white bears that went berserk and some low tier dragons charging on the frontline. Giant bats and wyrms that were flying in the sky were coming in like dark clouds.

"200,000…"

That was the number of Berserk Daemons.

The calculation made by the purple-haired mage was not wrong; the truth was obvious. All the daemons on Mount Great Ajax were gathered in a spot by some sort of entity. That entity had also been commanding the daemons to go back and forth at the fortress that was on the brink of collapsing.

The fortress was not going to take more than a few more impacts before its defenses were crushed.

Vale Dani looked upon the number of daemons that were coming at them. The number did not decrease even after a few days. Then she looked at her own feet. She looked at the city walls that were about to crack and shatter. She was starting to feel the despair lurking in her head.