Soul of Searing Steel
chapter-73

The daemons' breath attacks would normally be powered up by the magic power within their own bodies, which would be spat out right at their targets along with the special substances in their body parts.

Fire dragons spat flames. White bears let out frosty breath attacks. The speed of their breath attacks had nothing to do with their own power. It was related to the medium that transmitted their power; dragon breath was powered by the combustion dust that their bodies created. Meanwhile, white bears relied on the freezing liquid within their bodies to create frost breaths.

The magic power would convert this medium as the material and act as the catalyst to use them as the source of power. At the end of the process, the magic power would turn the combustion dust into fireballs that could melt steel and gold, and turn the frost liquid into frost or ice attacks that could break solid rocks. Naturally, the conversion speed of the dust form would be much faster than the conversion speed of liquid form and crystalline form. Needless to say, the Chaos power and the scale dust on the black dragon were quite similar in nature to begin with.

As fast as the speed of light, the scale dust that was carrying the virus was instantly converted into pure Chaos energy, turning into a dark beam of light which shot straight at the target.

The dark and contaminated radiance went across the night sky without making a sound. The passing beam did not stir any wind or waves. It just went straight towards the warrior standing on top of the wall at a speed faster than the speed of lightning.

The beam of light was greeted with a hand that was lifted earlier on.

After Joshua threw his lance, he already predicted that the enemy would definitely fight back. So he had made preparations to defend himself earlier on. With his left hand lifted up, his Combat Aura began to surge through his hand. Meanwhile, by wearing the black armor forged from the toughest metal with magic runes crafted on the surface of the armor, Joshua just stood there and took on the light beam that looked as large as half of his size with no intention of evading at all.

"Get clear—"

Brandon who was standing right beside him had also noticed the enemy's attack. He panicked and screamed. However, compared to the speed of the black dragon's breath attack, he reacted and spoke too slow. He only managed to say a few words before the dark light came across the sky over thousands of meters and landed right on the warrior in black armor.

Boom!

Black smoke rose. A pungent scent began to gush into the surroundings. The high temperature and the dark purplish mist instantly shrouded the spot where the breath attack landed on.

"…"

Gulping, the golden-haired swordsman had no idea what Joshua was thinking. It was rather obvious that the enemy would fight back instantly after being attacked. However, Joshua did not dodge. Even if the defense and resistance of the warrior might be much more powerful than the ability of the swordsman, Joshua should not have been so reckless. After all, that was a magic breath attack of a Gold-tier dragon-type daemon. Although there was no way to differentiate the type, that sort of attack must surely come from the best among the best.

However, if Joshua was confident enough to take the attack head on, then he should be able to sustain that without suffering much damage.

Well, the truth was exactly what he thought it would be.

Drip—

That was the sound of something dripping onto the ground.

In the middle of the black smoke, there seemed to be some golden-red substance flowing around.

The knights that put their heads down to resist the explosion looked towards the shadow in the middle of the thick smoke.

"This armor would be much more useful if it's used against a Silver-tier enemy. However, facing a Gold-tier enemy, it seems that the armor is not enough at all."

The voice of the man was heard, followed by his footsteps. The man walked out of the range covered in smoke.

The hot wind that was surging around had melted the frost and snow in the surroundings.

Currently, with the warrior's left hand as the center point, the horrific high temperature was beginning to spread throughout into the surroundings. The initially black armor had been melted by the dragon's breath. The melted metal turned into golden-red molten steel form and it was slowly dripping down onto the ground. However, Joshua did not seem to give a damn about it at all.

The black dragon's breath managed to breach Joshua's Combat Aura protection layer and armor, but failed to penetrate Joshua's skin. Joshua's Steel Armor Kokyu-ho had really enhanced his defense. Even though the red-hot molten steel dripped on his body, he did not feel the scorching heat at all under the support of his Combat Aura and his Kokyu-ho skill. Instead, the heat felt like warm water from a hot spring.

At the same time, when Joshua used his hand to stop the dragon breath attack, he managed to grab a small amount of black mist which seemed to be spinning around endlessly, as though trying to break out or disperse. However, under the imprisonment of Joshua's Combat Aura, it could not do anything.

The warrior then looked into the sky seeking for the shadow of the black dragon. After that, he furrowed his eyebrows and said, "So it fled after using a puff of its dragon breath?"

There was nothing in the night sky that looked pitch black. The blurry shadow of the black dragon was no longer there.

However, the warrior did not appear to be disappointed. He lowered his head and looked at the black mist within his grip. Then he smiled coldly and said, "I've blocked your dragon breath attack out front on purpose because I want to acquire this… You're not getting away now."

Joshua had already expected that the black dragon would flee. Currently, the Dark Tide had descended into chaos, and the dragon had a wounded wing. So for the black dragon who had most of the advantages and the initiative to strike, it was not the perfect time for the final showdown just yet. So it was perfectly natural that it would retreat now.

However, even Joshua felt there was something odd about the situation. The most superior being among the Dark Tide, the Corrupted black dragon should not have come forth to the frontline of the battlefield like this. Before the warrior threw his lance, Joshua thought he was aiming at some other Gold-tier daemons. So after he noticed that it was a Corrupted black dragon, the warrior immediately changed his strategy in battle.

That was really odd. Could it be possible that there was no Gold-tier daemons at all in the entire Dark Tide? After all, during the Dark Tide back in Moldavia, there were still colossal Gold-tier beasts like the mammoth attacking the city.

"Rawgh—"

Right in the dark clouds in the far distance, a long roar of a dragon was heard echoing into the surroundings. Meanwhile, following the long dragon roar and the sudden upsurge of the Chaos magic, the daemons below the walls were beginning to regroup. They were slowly falling back into position. Then, they began to retreat.

The dark purplish mist was evaporating into thin air like how snow evaporates under the intensely hot sunlight. The daemons also returned to the Dark Forest. Those monsters had left behind piles of corpses and blood with bad stench across the land. Meanwhile, the scent of the Chaos magic still remained in the vicinity, spreading around like a disease.

Whatever the situation was—the Dark Tide was retreating.

"I'm sorry. I noticed the enemy earlier on. So I couldn't finish my words earlier."

While the Dark Tide was slowly retreating, Joshua turned around and walked back up to the golden-haired swordsman. He greeted Brandon casually, "Now that the Dark Tide is retreating, allow me to repeat. My name is Joshua Radcliffe."

Reaching out his hand that was still had golden red molten steel dripping down, the warrior asked politely, "May I know what is your name?"

"My name is Brandon Kaos…"

With a confused face, Brandon looked at Joshua's hand with mixed feelings. He did not know what to say or what to do at the moment.

Swordsman was a Class that leaned more towards skills. In term of defense and resistance, that Class would not be able to match the warrior Class which had thick skin and high defense. Even when they were both Gold tier, Brandon did not dare to make contact with the molten steel… What the f*ck! Even regular Gold-tier warriors could not do this without getting burned!

Brandon swore quietly in his heart. However, he had to maintain public persona. So Brandon clenched his teeth and grabbed Joshua's hand firmly. "My sincerest gratitude to you, on behalf of Countess of the Scarlet family."

… Countess of the Scarlet family? Mr. Sacred Sword, weren't you the Baron of Imperial City's Kaos family? So why are you showing me gratitude on behalf of the Countess of Moldova to me then…

Joshua was doubtful but proceeded to shake hands with Brandon anyway, to express his respect towards him. "It's nothing. For the people of the north, this is my duty as one of the lieges. However, may I asked about the whereabouts of the liege here? May I know where's your countess, Vale Dani?"

"My wife… the countess has overstrained herself by using too much battle magic. Her current mental state is weak. So she passed out a while ago. Now she has been sent over to the central tower as we speak. She'll get to rest for now."

Without saying anything, the golden-haired swordsman withdrew his hand. Then he quickly put his hand that was about to get burned behind his back. He was trying to use his Combat Aura's cooldown healing to heal his hand. At the same time, he tried to look solemn. Then he said, "I can represent her in all matters. So if you have any matter to discuss, you can talk to me straight away."

Wife?

Joshua was not a dumb man to begin with. Although Brandon only accidentally spilled a word or two about it, Joshua could guess the rest. Especially the word 'wife', the warrior furrowed his brows the moment he heard the word. After that, Joshua looked at the golden-haired 'Sacred Sword' with suspicious eyes.

Brandon Kaos. As the direct descendant of the Legendary Grand Mage Carbala Kaos, even with all the excellent talents ion the arts of magic, Brandon did not choose to become a mage. Instead, he chose to become a Sacred Swordsman. However, his achievement was even higher than the achievement of his ancestors.

In the previous life, his name as the Imperial Sword had spread across the void and many other worlds. As the Guardian of Order, many Chaos and evil entities would shiver in fear the moment they heard the name [Sacred Sword of Annihilation]. In the middle of the fourth expansion, this 'Sacred Sword' had led a legendary party to the largest base of daemons in the abyss. With the support of the players, they succeeded in laying waste on the fortress of the base and they even slew the Demonic Baron [Goliath, The Demon Lord of Gluttony]. By doing so, they ended the second invasion war from the void.

Even among the players, this golden-haired swordsman was quite popular as well. As a true powerful fighter with both strength and looks, there were quite a number of girls from Joshua's party that would buy merchandise related to Brandon such as action figures and posters that were introduced by the game developers. The girls worshipped and went crazy over their dream guy.

Of course… even with so many fans around, he did not manage to rid himself of the curse that had been passed down for generations in the family of mages.

Brandon Kaos, who would be the Sacred Sword in the coming days, was currently a Gold-tier swordsman… He was supposed to be the famous holy bachelor of Continental War!