Soul of Searing Steel

Chapter 371: The Power of Freedom

The light pillar of Order power only lasted for approximately three minutes. Joshua had stopped pouring in more Order power, the silvery light pillar that pierced the heaven was beginning to disperse into light particles that vanished without a trace.

However, three minutes was more than enough—in merely a few minutes, tornadoes and vortexes formed on the surface of the sea not far away. The violent winds and heavy storms once again hit Anos Abyss. The violent tides and giant waves that were over ten meters crash at the body of the Epoch as if they were attempting to sink the ark.

If the Epoch was just an ordinary giant ship without the blessing of magic against the impacts of those tides, then it might have been crushed into pieces by those ferocious waves and in the black sea. Fortunately, the ark was a magical ship. So even when the ark was swaying dangerously, nothing serious happened during the sail.

Of course, the people on board the ark suffered a little.

The giant waves continued crashing into the ark as the Epoch sustained heavy impacts. The crews and the people on board seemed too shook to complain. Joshua walked out of the divine circle with a calm look on his face.

“Joshua…”

Seeing the warrior walk out of the divine circle, Roland moved closer and looked at the warrior. To the warrior, seemed like nothing had happened at all. The young holy knight had the impulse to blame the person standing before him. However, when he was about to speak, he suddenly felt a sense of helplessness, “Why would you…”

“Everyone, the enemies are coming,” Joshua interrupted him before he could finish his words. The warrior looked into the distance and then spoke solemnly, “I have just launched a light pillar of Order power into the world. It seems that that light pillar has attracted quite a number of daemons in the depths of this sea region. Not to mention that there is a big one among them.”

“You’re trying to change the subject —”

Boom!

Right after Joshua’s warning, the Epoch suddenly trembled violently again. Screams and noises rang from the inside of the ark. When Robzek tried to gain balance so that he could stand up properly, he furrowed his eyebrows then nodded. “No, Roland. I can sense that the daemons are gathering here now—prepare to battle!”

“Yes, sir!” Even though Roland was helpless against the recklessness of the warrior, he remained focus on Robzek’s voice as he responded to the captain with Saya. They walked towards the front of the ark as they got themselves ready to battle.

Before Joshua made it into Anos Abyss, the holy knight was resting so, he was actually wearing his casual clothes. However, with some chanting, Roland was instantly covered in the Holy Light. A few seconds later, he was wearing his Starfall Steel Armor. The silver armor did not have a single scratch on it. The clean surface of the armor was able to deflect any light beam attacks.

The weapon that the holy knight held in his hand was no longer the crosshammer he wielded before. He now held a red longbow that looked like the corona around the sun. The name of the weapon was ‘Light of Dawn’. It was an extraordinary grade magic enhanced weapon that was collected by the Church in the early days. It was once possessed by a Gray Knight who had slain over thousands of demons with it. Roland looked ahead as he activated the bow in his hand. He sensed the presence of his enemies in the distance. The bow did not have any arrows on it. However, holy light had gathered around the hand of the holy knight and was rapidly turning into a light arrow.

Robzek was also a holy knight just like Roland. So naturally, he was also equipped with the art of Soul Arming, which was known to be a divine spell that instantly equipped the user with his equipment and weapon. With a flash of holy light, Robzek donned a full set of simple silver-gray armor. Even though the heavy armor on the holy knight seemed ordinary, it was still one of the rare armors forged from Nether Steel, a rare metal of the land. It is extremely inert as it does not react with any element. Even the corrosive acids are ineffective against it. It was also undeniable that its magic resistance was able to resist against all spells that were cast by those below Gold-tier.

The weapon of the Knight Order was obviously different from before. He was holding a golden javelin that charged with the power of the sunlight. It was obvious that that was an enchanted weapon condensed the power of the ‘Sun Spear’.

Joshua glanced at the two holy knights before him. He understood why both of them did not want to use the weapons that they were familiar and had switched to a ranged weapon. Their main purpose was to protect the Epoch while still be able to attack the daemons in the distance—even though the ark was blessed and protected by a powerful divine spell, the spell was limited. It would be unwise and unreasonable for Roland and Robzek to wield their warhammers as they dove into the sea to battle the daemons, abandoning the defense on the ark.

The warrior stared at the great nun. Initially, he did not expect Saya to prepare for battle. However, what happened surprised him.

To Joshua, most of the pastors and nuns such as Archbishop Artanis were known to be adept at using holy light and divine spells, healing and buffing the other warriors and fighters on the battlefield. For instance, back in the Imperial City in a previous incident, Saya had cast a number of powerful divine spells on Joshua.

Even though the beneficial statuses were not utilized by the warrior during the battle, the warrior’s power undoubtedly increased by a few notches. Because of that, the warrior was mentally prepared that the nun would do the same this time—buffing Robzek and Roland with some beneficial divine spells to aid them in slaying the daemons in the sea.

However, that was not the case. “My prayers shall turn into the glory of our victory—”

With a gentle and yet determined prayer, the divine power instantly gushed into the surroundings of the top floor of the ark. Soon, a gleaming star that flashed bright from the heaven pierced through the layer of haze and dark clouds as its light shone down on the deck of the ark from the heaven.

The light was weak. However, it was solid. It easily dispersed the abyssal presence of Anos Abyss that covered the surroundings of the ark. Joshua’s eyes widened as he stared at the nun who supposed to be a supporter in the battle as her entire body was surrounded with sacred light. Divine Spells that were extremely powerful washed over her, one layer after another. The benefits had completely surpassed the beneficial limit that a body of a human being could hold as more than thirty benefits blessed Saya’s body.

God’s Blessing, Weakness Detector, the Grip of the Holy Flame, the Holy Eye of the Gods—glancing at those benefits, the warrior turned away. There were too many benefits on the great nun at the moment. Most of the effects of the benefits were combined into one because of the effect of holy light. They combined together to form an extremely complex Divine Spell barrier. The barrier shielded Saya’s entire body. The light of those divine spells formed into a pair of light wings and a halo ring above her head. She looked like an angel.

However, as the buffing gradually stopped, the radiance of the angel gradually vanished as well, revealing Saya who appeared to have her eyes shut as she prayed. The great nun looked different than she was before. Her body was covered in a layer of white and golden light. The radiance was extremely bright and holy. It appeared almost as bright as the Nuclear Star. The crystal shield that levitated beside Saya cracked up and collapsed into pieces like shattered glass. Each of the shattered crystals contained a high level of holy light.

It was undeniable that those shards of crystals released the Order power in them and would completely destroy their enemies the moment their master gave the command to do so!

That was a Humanoid Divine Spell Fortress that was acquainted with levitating cannons!

His heart trembled all of a sudden, Joshua instantly recalled quite a number of his past memories—the styles and methods of holy knights and warriors in battle were just simple and straightforward. Other than the combat aura, they would just wield their weapons and swing their weapons straight at their targets. However, the situation was different for the mages. In the pre-existence, the situation was considerably fair for the mages. Who would not buff himself seven to eight layers of benefits and get ready to activate all sorts of spells before heading into a serious battle, right? The priests and the nun shared the same view in such regard. They would always buff themselves with protection spells before heading into the battlefield with a tough turtle shell of divine protection against their enemies.

After bestowing all the protections and spells on her body, the nun moved her limbs around to loosen up a little. Then, she nodded in satisfaction and took out a longbow. The longbow was completely made of translucent crystal. There were Divine Runes floating around the body of the longbow. The name of that longbow was ‘Crystal Archer’. It was also one of the superior magic enhanced weapon that the church kept as a collection. It was pretty obvious that the Holy Mountain was not stingy at all to supply everyone in this journey to the depths of Anos Abyss.

“So how do you feel?”

Roland who stood beside the warrior noticed the eyes of the warrior. Then he chuckled and said, “Sister Saya is a Saint who has received blessings from the ‘Lord of Life’. Her strength is actually nearly as powerful as our commander, Robzek. If she went all out at her best state, her strength could reach the strength of Gold-pinnacle. Her strength could even touch the realm of Supreme.”

“Impressive,” the warrior praised immediately and nodded. Then he said, “It seems that we won’t be having problems with the smaller beasts in the sea then. We only need to be careful with the big fellow down there.”

Woooo—

Before the warrior could finish his words, a long and loud howl echoed through the region of the sea. A chilling murderous will crossed the storms and the rampaging winds and hit the holy ark. The surface of the sea in the surroundings of the Epoch began to roll as shadows flew rapidly towards the ark one after another!

“They’re here!” It was obvious that the three of them from the church had their very own formation in battle. Roland stood on the left as Robzek stood on the right. The great nun Saya stood behind the two of them, being protected by both of them on the forefront. The radiance on the nun was extended to the both of them. The three of them seemed to have become one in a certain way. They locked vision in all directions of the ark. In the middle of the sky, the shards of crystals that carried the power of holy light rotated as they automatically aimed at their enemies.

Without any warnings, three light beams of great holiness blasted towards the shadows beneath the sea. Three masses of white and golden lights exploded the moment they hit their targets and slowly formed into three barriers that appeared like a bowl.

After the barriers vanished, the daemons and the seawater that were trapped within the barriers completely vaporized into thin air. Some distorted black smoke dissipating from the barriers. They seemed to be the residues of the daemons that were vaporized.

However, there were many more daemons underneath the surface of the sea. There were over a thirty or more of them left. One after another, the daemons emerged from the sea. The black abyssal presence began to float with the waves on the surface of the sea. Those monsters revealed themselves at last.

The monsters looked like the creatures that were commonly seen under the sea. There were those which looked like the great white sharks, the mackerels, the killer whales and the blue dolphins. As for the others, even though their appearances were extremely strange, the appearances of the sea monsters that were corrupted by the abyssal presence were not much of a difference from the appearances of their own kinds. Their bodies were made from bones and shells. Some of them had seven to eight tentacles. Some of them even had many eyeballs and gigantic mouths that looked disgusting.

Though the appearances of the monsters varied from one other and were bizarre, all of them shared something in common. They were all covered by a black shroud. Those infected sea monsters remained in silence as they were charging forward against the current. They made their ways towards the Epoch. Among those monsters, the largest one was a giant shark that was about twenty meters long. If it rammed into the ark with the tide of the sea wave, the ark would definitely sustain damages no matter how powerful the divine circle was.

However, a beam of light blasted right into the giant shark as the blazing holy light tore through the black shroud and cut the shark in two. The stanching internal organs and the blood of the shark splattered into the sea. A piece of the crystal shards that rotated above the head of Saya seemed to have lost all of its power and made its way back to the side of the nun to recharge itself.

The three of them did not reveal even the slightest worry on their faces despite the ferocious sea monsters and continued to fend off the daemons from the ark. The three of them had already experienced four times of sailing into the depths of Anos Abyss over the past two months. Hence, they had already gotten used to such attacks. The holy light beam attacks landed accurately on each of the daemons that attempted to board the deck of the Epoch, killing them one after another.

Next to the ark, a gigantic beast leaped out of the water. It was a sea dragon with blue scales and a sharp horn on top of its head. There were a few stripes of green lines across its body that looked like branches of a tree. Roaring, the green lines on the sea dragon gleamed and lightning appeared around it, burning any sea monsters that were attempting to board the ark into crisp.

It was pretty obvious that the sea dragon was the companion of that young elf. It easily suppressed all of the sea monsters that were attempting to leap onto the ark from the right side of it. It slaughtered all of the daemons nearby.

At the entrance on the top of the ark, rapid hoofsteps of a horse were heard. Black arrived with a roar. A strange light flashed across its neck as the draconic horse landed on the ground. After the magic spell was relieved off of it, the body of the draconic horse went back into its original size. Black leaped over to the sea on the left side of the ark. The moment when it made contact with the sea water, its blazing body temperature caused white vapors to rise, shrouding half of the ark.

Soon, a great beam of golden red light pierced through the white mists and straight towards the shadows in the sea. Miserable shrieks and roars sounded one after another as the sea monsters were cooked alive.

Everyone did their part as they brought down the sea monsters. The ferocious horde of sea monsters were no longer vigorous as they were being completely suppressed. However, neither Roland nor Rozbek were showing any sign of relief. They remained vigilant as they slaughtered the sea monsters that were attempting to come on board. Every now and then, they would look into the distance, keeping an eye out for something in the distant. The long howling of the monsters approached swiftly. The monsters were about to arrive at the Epoch.

Woooooo—

Long howling that sounded like whimpering echoed through the air. Even the sound of the storms and thunder were no match to those howling as that was the only sound audible. Everyone listened to the howling as they witnessed the rise of a dark blue light in the distance. The light looked like the color of the sea water.

The gigantic daemon had yet to reveal itself. However, its power had already formed into waves of magic energy in the air. The blue magic energy of water began to swirl in the air as they swiftly formed into a humongous vortex. The vortex absorbed the magic energy in the atmosphere like a sponge as if it was preparing to launch a powerful attack.

“That’s the Dragon of the Abyssal Sea Realm,” said Saya who possessed sharp senses and was able to recognize the voice. Even though her eyes were blindfolded, she could still recognize the stern and serious tone of the captain, “Although this is just Gold tier, its size is anything but. Its power is definitely not weak!”

“Tell Hill and Nono to brace themselves…”

“Alright. This is far enough.”

Just as Rozbek was ready to give his command, a voice of a man interrupted Rozbek.

“Leave this to me.”

Joshua did not show any sign of hesitation. He interrupted Rozbek and took a step forward. The warrior walked to the front of the ark. His black long hair was a mess from the violent winds that blew from the sea. His red eyes focused on something in the distance as he said, “I know. You guys must be wondering if I can show you my strength. So let me fight alone this time.”

“Are you serious about this?”

Roland blinked and could not respond to the warrior. He looked Joshua in his red eyes and understood that the warrior was not trying to joke at all.

“But you don’t even have your weapon with you…” said Saya who was currently engulfed by the barrier of the divine spell radiance and was hesitating after she shot an arrow. She tried to remind the warrior, “Joshua, we are well aware of your strength. However, you have no weapon at the moment. Or perhaps I can bring you a holy weapon…”

Before she could finish her words, the voice of the nun suddenly faded away until her voice vanished. The warrior did not bother himself with what the others said. Instead, he lifted his head and looked at the sky that was filled with dark clouds and smiled strangely.

No weapon? Indeed, that was true.

Joshua looked at the sky where the storms came from. Thunder and lightning flashed across the sky. His did not even have the slightest sense of unease. Instead, he felt like doing it his own way. He wanted to do as he pleased.

Having no weapon at all? So what? Without limiting himself to swinging a sword, having no worry about breaking the weapon, and having no need to restrain his own power, he could fight as freely as he wanted to. He did not have to restrain himself at all.

The warrior leaped off from the ark and plunged into the powerful waves. The warrior did not feel excited or anxious. He felt something that was indescribable.

Well, that should be good enough.

Splash!

The three of them who were sent by the church looked at each other as they went over to the side of the ark to look at the spot where the warrior fell into. Instead, they saw only a mass of black and red combat aura.

The warrior turned into a flowing light of black and red as he stepped on his combat aura and sprinted towards the vortex that was gathering force at an incredibly rapid speed. The waves fluctuated. Humongous waves formed. However, nothing on the surface of the sea was able to stop or deter the warrior from moving forward towards his target.

The sea monsters lunged at the arrogant flowing red light. They wanted to stop the warrior. However, Joshua lifted his hand up and struck out. The gigantic sea monsters were torn into pieces one after another, blown into pieces of flesh and bone before falling back into the dark sea. The warrior seemed to have possessed a sacred sword in his hand. Everything that blocked his way was torn apart. Nothing was able to stop the warrior from moving forward.

Mastery.

The limit of the mortal realm.

That was a skill that even the gods were surprised at. A being having a powerful body without limitations and a soul equal to the holy spirits.

Out of the three masteries, Joshua had already possessed two of them. That was a realm that no one had ever reached in the entire history of the world. A champion must possess an extraordinary gift in order to understand each mastery. A champion who has met the requirement might not even be able to do that even after spending his entire life trying to understand it or to enhance it. No one in the entire world had ever thought of mastering two out of three of them.

However, the warrior had done it. That was actually something unbelievable. The scent of blood that began to fill the atmosphere attracted more sea monsters to Joshua. Some of them started ramming at the Epoch. However, the warrior remained focus on using his ‘karate chop’ as he brought down every single monster around him. Until then, none of the monsters were able to get close to his body.

However, the warrior got bored of that style of slaughtering. Suddenly, a flash of light suddenly moved across his red eyes as he swung his arm around, creating a gust of combat aura around him. The gust of combat aura spread a couple hundreds of meters into his surroundings. Every single sea monster within that radius was crushed and shredded into bits. Their flesh and bone were blown far away.

That was not the end though. Joshua let out another roar and instantly sped up by a notch. His sudden movement caused a loud explosion and a vacuum tunnel behind him.

The warrior vanished into the storms and the howling winds of Anos Abyss. The three of them from the church could only see a black and red flash of light speeding across the distant sea as it made its way straight towards the dark blue vortex of water. The gigantic tidal waves were pushed aside by the light and the seas monsters were thrown off, leaving a trail of dead sea monsters behind. Even the howling winds and the thunder were terrified of it and stayed away from the black and red light.

In the middle of the black and red flash of light, the warrior’s eyes were fixed on the sea water as if he could see through all the darkness in the sea. He looked straight at the true form of the gigantic shadows that was hiding beneath the surface of the sea water not far from him. He seemed bored. He did not even show the slightest fear in his eyes. There were only pure lights in his eyes.

The warrior allowed his own will to reach his own expectation. Whether it was the Dark Abyss or Chaos, as long as they were his enemies, he would eliminate all of them.

That was the foundation that defined a champion. That was the power that was free from all restraints.