Soul of Searing Steel
Soul of Searing Steel - Chapter 90: Not Far from Here

Right in the middle of the thick Dark Forest, the dark purplish mist continued to shroud every corner of the place. The corrupted ground that turned black was trembling on. Endless hordes from the Dark Tide were gushing out of the forest like an unstoppable flood that devours anything that stands in their way.

Following the closing of the dimensional door in the middle of the Dark Forest, the disappearance of Chaos power had led the corrupted daemons to no longer suppress their true nature of being enraged and chaotic. So, under the order of their leader, they began to charge towards the direction where the fortress was located. They were ordered to raid the location that was the highest populated in that region, also the place with the most breath of lives.

Devour, crunch, annihilate everything and devour every single living being in the entire world!

With such a pure evil instinct planted deep in their conscience, these Berserk Daemons became unstoppable even though they knew that they were going to die. The daemons were massive in size and powerful in strength. They could no longer suppress their urge to feed anymore and thus began shredding up the smaller and weaker daemons to feed on them. Blood was spilled all over the place. The scent of blood had agitated the monsters' frenzy even further in. The daemons' roars had pierced through the blizzard, rising above the clouds along with the howling winds.

Unlike the types of daemons that were living by the borderland of the forest, these monsters that had their eyes radiating with green blue radiance had no longer possess any intellect at all. They no longer fear death. Any part that was left of them only knew how to attack. Facing such an insane Dark, even the metallic forts might be overrun by them with ease. The humans could only rely on the gigantic big wall and countless alchemy machines to fight against the Dark Tide now.

Based on logic, that would be the case.

However, today, there was a red source of light charging through the Dark Tide full of unstoppable daemons.

Seeing two flashes of cold flash across the air, the steel-made great sword pierced through the atmosphere in the air, bringing black lines out of the void one after another, killing the few wild boars with ease. The bodies of these wild boars that were enhanced after getting into berserk mode were split open like they were made of mud. Even their solid sharp fangs were crushed into pieces by the strikes. Blood and internal organs along with the stench of blood came right out from the cut wounds. After that, the blood was evaporated by the blazing Combat Aura into bloody red mist shrouding the entire area.

Along with each of his steps, one full power swing of his sword would take out a dozen daemons at the same instance!

In the center of the red blazing radiance, there stood the warrior in his black armor holding on one silver greatsword in one of his hands while his other held on to another black greatsword. The warrior was wielding the two gigantic weapons that were actually larger than the size of a normal human with his unspeakably powerful strength. The violent movement of the wind that was caused by the swinging of his greatswords was whirling around so vigorously that they were like a meat grinding machine, grinding on the daemons that were caught into the whirling wind. The whirling sound of the metallic weapons was so loud that they had covered over the roaring sounds of the daemons. Right in the middle of the Dark Tide, Joshua's attack was like a blazing flame whirling through the horde, incinerating any living being that got too near to Joshua, scorching them all down to earth. The daemons that were scorched would be turned into gray-white ashes flying along with the wind like snows.

Wearing his armor along with his two giant weapons, the warrior began slaughtering anything that came at him without saying a word. He was slaughtering the daemons up like a machine. Any sounds in his surroundings did not bother him, not even a single bit. The roaring of the daemons, the sound that the daemons swinging their claws that could pierce through the air, none of those actually mattered to him. Currently, the only thing Joshua felt was serenity. The warrior who had immersed himself in battle could hear and smell nothing.

Facing such a ferocious tide, Joshua actually closed his eyes.

A battle would require blood to boil. At the same time, serenity was important as well. One's heart must ignite like the flames, and also be as calm as steel. In other words, one must be like a steel that burns.

Upon closing his eyes, he had increased his senses beyond the senses he could get from his body and organs. Even though he could only see darkness after he closed his eyes, his heart could also project out every single detail on the view within the area of ten-meter radius all around him. Even the dark purplish Chaos mist could not dull these senses.

The sense of his heart was much superior to his eyes that he could use to observe the surroundings. He could sense every movement of each daemon within range through his mind. Engaging these daemons that were relying on their eyes and instincts that made them all vulnerable while they were attacking, Joshua did not have to defend much. All he had to do was to whirl his two weapons around to nullify all attacks that the daemons threw at him. He could just easily shred those daemons into pieces. Along with getting the daemons shredded, the dark purplish blood of the daemons was oozing all over the place. Shredded meat and internal organs splattered across the surface of Joshua's armor. Meanwhile, the warrior in black armor was charging forward like nothing was stopping him.

Boom!

A tall and large tree that turned demonic was instantly rammed over and got its trunk broken. Meanwhile, the giant white bear appeared right in front of Joshua. The berserk Chi of the bear even terrified the other daemons all around it, stunning them momentarily.

However, Joshua was not affected by its appearance at all. Facing this gigantic monster, he did not feel any sense of fear nor panic. Joshua's eyes lit up behind the helmet he was wearing. The muscles on his legs were tightened up like how the string would behave when being pulled tight. After that, he burst into action! He even increased his movement speed to a whole new level as he charged towards that monster.

Along with waves of explosive sounds and shockwaves that came back and forth, the soft and decayed ground that was covered in fallen leaves was stomped. A deep hollow footprint was left on that spot after that. Along with those explosive sounds, Joshua swung the black greatsword in his left hand at the head of that ten-meter tall gigantic bear that looked tough and sturdy in the speed that exceeded the speed of sound.

The dominators of the northern forest were not the Blade Fang Tigers, nor the White Frost Wolf King. Not even the gigantic two-legged Frost Wyrms could redeem the title as the dominators of that region. The true creature that was worthy of having this title would be the Shell Armor Giant Bears which had a body size larger than a large-scale tank and the strength to crush hills.

Once this monster had reached their maturity, its strength would automatically become as powerful as Upper Silver-tier beings. Well, it did not have any nemesis in the entire world. It would consume metallic rocks and frost woods as its food source to survive. The armored shell that it had over its body had some rune patterns over the surface of it. This armored shell was actually much tougher than the armor that was enhanced with magic. Normal blades would not be able to hurt it at all. The moment when normal weapons came in contact with the armor shell on the bear, the weapons would just be deflected off and get shattered by the deflecting force.

The black greatsword in Joshua's left hand was not Ying the Divine Armament. It was also not an extraordinary magically enhanced weapon either. It was just a normal greatsword forged to serve the purpose of a normal weapon. Based on common sense, such weapon would even get stuck in between tightened muscle of the flesh it plunges in. So it would be impractical to say that this weapon could even leave a scratch on the surface of that armored shell over the bear's body.

However, the person who was using it was Joshua, definitely not a normal person.

"Ha!"

Upon letting out a raging roar, Joshua's Combat Aura expanded. A thunderous bang echoed through the entire forest region. Through the intense breath that he let out, Joshua directed the power in his internal organs and his bones to unlock the shackles over his muscles. His heart was pounding rapidly. Endless power was surging on both of his arms. His body was unleashing an enormous amount of heat energy that was overflowing out from his armor, forming streams of distorted airwaves.

The power that was hidden deep within his body was not only for using his skills. As a martial art fighter that masters all sorts of killing skills, Joshua could also use his exquisite 'Respiration' to amplify the outburst of power from his flesh and bones. That attack was called [Effective Chi Enhancing Slash], a strike that would need to be assorted with some use of Combat Aura and the weapon in hand. It was a strike that was enough to cut anything open!

The enormous Combat Aura air blade was surging along the giant blade of the greatsword. The air blade had hit the head of this giant bear before the sound of it breaking the air was heard. The friction between the steel and the armored shell had caused fierce sparks and some buzzing sounds. Along with the loud noise, the greatsword in Joshua's left hand was shattered because it could not withstand the overwhelming power of the impact. The fragments of the shattered greatsword shot out in all directions, killing a few low tier daemons that were nearer to Joshua and the bear. Meanwhile, the head of that giant bear was like it was hit by a meteor, putting a dent in its head.

Before the bear could even let out half of its roar, some white brain juice violently squirted right out from its two eyes, two ears, and nose. Joshua did not give a damn about the dead bear anymore. He leaped off the ground and jumped over the massive corpse of that bear. Then he threw the broken giant greatsword that he was holding in his hand towards the direction where there were more daemons.

His two arms were solid and powerful, with green veins were emerging on the surface. They looked like a bunch of metallic veins that were surging with powerful attributes and power. Using his full strength to throw, the half shattered blade went off from Joshua's hand and flew towards the daemons along with some violent winds surging along with the blade. While the half broken sword was flying towards Joshua's intended target spot, a low and ear-piercingly high-pitched sound was heard. It tore the air and was flying faster than the speed of sound, which penetrated the faint purplish mist that was shrouding the entire place, leaving a cylindrical hole in the middle of the mists.

Along with the deafening screech, the remaining of that greatsword landed on a black giant worm not far from where Joshua was standing. The pitch-black armored shell on the body of the worm was instantly shattered into pieces and dust. The milky white liquid splattered into the surroundings of the worm. Meanwhile, the fragments of the broken blade exploded at the same time. The red Combat Aura burst apart and brought a violent explosion to happen right after, defeating all of the daemons that were within range, clearing a small area out in the middle of the battlefield.

Without checking on the battle result of himself, Joshua decided to charge himself out of this small empty area and charge back into the heart of the Dark Tide. He whirled his Divine Armament that he held tightly in his right hand around at the daemons. The blade of the great sword that was unbelievably sharp was used by Joshua to slay the daemons and cut the trees in the surroundings into countless pieces. Meanwhile, the left arm of the warrior had never got the chance to rest yet. He took up the small action figure of a greataxe that had been hanging by his waist all the time since the moment he acquired it. A large-scale greataxe that seemed to be enough to smash a wild boar to death just by using its weight itself. Anyway, the weapon had appeared right in Joshua's hand now.

Joshua was using those weapons like the weapons were his to begin with. The greatsword and the greataxe could provide him both melee and ranged attacks. So there was no effect on him at all. His face did not show any signs that he was using a weapon that he was not fond of or familiar with.

While charging forward at high speed, Joshua directed his Combat Aura around his body and rammed right into the daemon that was charging right at him from his front. He crushed the daemon into pieces of torn flesh. The black armor was being splattered with blood once more. Meanwhile, the warrior had a wretched smile on his face that was protected right behind underneath the helmet.

No matter where one goes, there would always be war. War is endless. It always will be. Killing their own kind had become a normal occurrence now. Battles would be just as normal as a person breathes.

Currently, the situation was the same as well.

That is really... the survival method that I was craving to use!

Upon lifting his head up, under such long period of time where he only focused on charging forward, he was not far from the middle of the Dark Forest now. Even though the air had some dark purplish mist shrouding the entire atmosphere in the air for the moment, he could still see the golden light of the sun shining down from the sky. The blinding radiance was like an indicator that guided Joshua on where and which direction he should be heading towards.

"Just right in front!"