Soul of Searing Steel

After digesting his master's words, Ling was a little fazed for that brief moment. He was holding onto the spellbook as he blinked a few times—He really did not expect his master to think about such a trivial matter when he saw a true demon.

After all, Ling thought that he could advance to a new tier anytime in the future. Meanwhile, comparing between a demon that had not appeared in the world for over ten years and the spellbook that was being held in his hand, it would be obvious that which one was much more important, right?

However, it was fine that way as well. The young male Divine Armament shrugged. He then stepped forward with joy as he held Joshua's hand. Along with a flash of light, a black greataxe appeared in the hands of the warrior.

The blade of the double-edged axe had a flame-texture. The edge was extremely sharp and jagged, like a saw. Meanwhile, right in the middle of that double-edged blade, were also two long slots for blood. Regardless of whether it was slashing or piercing, breaking armor or penetrating the enemies, this greataxe would be able to deliver.

Meanwhile, on the ground, the demon that was struggling to draw its final breath had noticed Joshua's movements.

Its four limbs were crushed. The double horns on the head were broken off as well. The muscles all across its body had been cut open by the warrior. It could only look at the warrior wielding a giant axe up high into the sky and aimed at its own head. Looking at the black blade of the giant axe brewing with both Combat Aura and Order energy, the demon knew that this attack would be so dreadful that even its demon baron would not be able to endure.

It was about to die!

Among its sea of thoughts, that was the only thought that through its mind. However, right after that, right before its moment of death, the flowing blood that was flowing vigorously underneath the veins of the demon and the tough basic instinct of the demon was beginning to boil.

—Even if it was going to die, it would not just go like that!

A shredder demon was an Upper-tier demon in the Dark Abyss. Its physical attacks were extremely pure and powerful that they could not be guarded against with armors nor shields. Their claws and the demonic flames surrounding them could even tear apart magic shields and imprisoning spells. That did not mean that they did not possess the ability to cast spells.

In fact, as high-tier demons, their casting ability went far beyond the capability of ordinary Silver-tier human mages. They might even be much more capable than some of the Gold-tier daemons in such regard!

The dying demon was burning its own blood as it attempted its final struggle against the warrior before meeting its doom. Its body had almost completely been destroyed, though its soul was still perfectly unharmed. It could definitely still unleash spells—The dark red demonnic blood was boiling just like sulfuric spring water, releasing a red mist that carried the scent of decay. Terrifying fire element began to gather upon the demon from all directions. In a flash, an immediately effective 'Explosive Flame'!

The 'Explosive Flame' itself was not some sort of high-tier magic spell but its destruction was extremely terrifying. A blast of 'Explosive Flame' would be enough to destroy an entire platoon of heavy infantry. High heat and demonic blood had the attribute to putrefy. This putrefying attribute could cause excruciating suffering to those who did not get eradicated as well. If the demon could perform immediate effects, meaning, if the demons could just spam the skill and cause multiple explosions, it could even become a destructive force enough to destroy city walls.

As this was an instinctive spell that could potentially deplete one's vitality completely, even Joshua could not block this immediately-effective explosive flame that was unleashed by the shredder demon in time.

In the next moment, a light-blue fireball that was two meters large was flying straight towards Joshua's face at the speed of lightning!

However, the warrior had not shown even the slightest hint to evade that attack. He only lifted his right arm up and simply placed it right in front of him. His face looked calm as if he was just reaching his hand out to catch a rubber ball that was being thrown at him.

So this is an immediately-effective explosive flame that was casted by a dying demon.

In this moment of emergency, Joshua still had the mood to think about other things. He looked at the blue ball of fire that was surrounded with plasma charges along with it as he spoke absent-mindedly, seemingly forgetting about the current situation, "I remember, back in the year, at the bloody altar… When I was still a Silver-tier, I formed parties to hunt demons. My party members were either always hunted by the demons or whenever we were about to kill the demon, the demon would self-destruct across an area of twenty square meters, wiping my entire party out."

"But now…"

The blue ball of fire exploded on the warrior's palm. Instantly, scorching presence began to expand into the surroundings. Joshua was instantly engulfed in the blue and red flame currents. At the next moment, the surging magic energy brought along endless fire element energy and caused an intense explosion. Among the ringing of the explosive sound, a small mushroom cloud rose. The shockwave of the impact that was visible swept across the surroundings along with a brewing wind that was over 500 degrees, melting all the snow that was accumulated in the surroundings.

Did the demon manage to do it?!

Upon unleashing the final strength remaining in it, the consciousness of the shredder demon was beginning to get blurry. It knew that it would definitely die this time. Even if he could kill the warrior right before him, the silver-haired girl that was standing not far beside them could still be capable of killing it. However, it was merely trying to drag someone down along with it.

However, suddenly, a voice that gave the demon endless despair came from the high rising smoke.

"Such an attack will do nothing to me already."

How is that possible?!

How could a human survive such an attack?!

In the mist that formed from the evaporation of melted snow, a shadowy figure of a man came out and placed his right hand out. He was completely unharmed. Even his hair was completely intact. Not even a single hair was curled up or out of place. The warrior that had already attained the pinnacle of Gold tier was looking at the demon who had its own blood dried from combustion right before his eyes. He then lifted the greataxe up into the air with no emotion on his face at all.

After that, he swung his axe down upon the demon that looked at him with unbelievable eyes filled with despair.

*****

"How do you feel, Ling?"

Asking the young black-haired male Divine Armament that already deactivated his Divine Armament transformation, Joshua then softly said, "If that's not enough, then we shall wait for some more free time in the future and use the book to summon more of these demons to play with."

"… actually… it's almost enough."

Ling stood behind Joshua. Then he passed the 'Book of Eibon' over to Ying who was pushing 03's cart. However, he narrowed his eyes as he was thinking. "But I still haven't shown any sleepy symptoms just yet…"

"It's not like you must sleep!"

Upon hearing those words, the silver-haired lady instantly spoke agitatedly, "I've had an accident when I was advancing into a new tier! It's not like I wanted to sleep that long! It was something that could have been accomplished by resting a few days only!"

"Alright, alright, Sis… I wasn't even trying to bring that up though…"

Listening to the conversation between his two weapons, Joshua smiled gently. Then the three of them journeyed back to the main city.

Ever since he had killed hundreds of thousands of Chaos daemons, Joshua's body had been enhanced to an extremely horrific level now. The explosive flame that was shot at him could only cause an itch in his palm. The natural defense of the warrior might have exceeded 100 points now. Even the ordinary magic armor was not as tough as his body.

After walking some distance, they arrived at the city gates.

A few holy knights appeared on the road right before Joshua and his two weapons.

These knights were fully equipped with gray armor. Right on top of the surface of the armor, there were the drawings of the holy emblem that belongs to the God of Might and Justice. Meanwhile, right behind them, there were two priests in white robes. There were even a few city guards accompanying them by their sides. These people did not seem to be covering their tracks or whatsoever. After they had seen Joshua and the two Divine Armaments, they swiftly walked to the front of the warrior and bowed to express their respect towards him.

What is going on?

Joshua looked at actions of these people with doubt as he wanted to say something. Could it be that someone was about to visit me? Could it be Artanis?

Not long before this, Artanis had advanced into Gold tier back at St. Laurent's cathedral, allowing holy light to shine through the entire city. On the following day, many people were stationed in the church. The God of Might seemed to regard it as a very important place; the god even sent five Silver-tier holy knights and ten Silver-tier priests over. Fortunately, these clergymen were well-behaved. They did not do anything drastic or cause any unwanted problems when they arrived at the city. Upon entering the city, they even sent a representative to pay the liege's residence a visit to express their desire to follow the warrior's instructions.

The warrior then opened his mouth and asked the holy knight right before him, "Knight, do you have any business here?'

This holy knight seemed a little confused though. He only paid the warrior some respect and replied, "Count, we've come here to look for you on behalf of Archbishop Artanis. He has come along as well. He's just right behind us."

Upon hearing that, Joshua turned his head to the side a little and looked at the knights and the priests at the rear.

As expected, a shadowy figure of a man with white hair was walking swiftly towards him.

Priest Artanis had really arrived.

He quickly walked up to Joshua. The two of them were so close that they did not need to say anything out of courtesy anymore. The old man looked anxious and puzzled as he asked, "Joshua, I felt a presence of the Dark Abyss just now. What is going on here?"

"It was nothing, We're just eliminating a demon, that's all."

Joshua pointed his finger at the spellbook that was being placed on the same cart where 03 was on, "That book had summoned the demon out."

"… Is that so… such an evil spellbook… However, I feel relieved knowing that the book is in your possession now."

Upon letting out a breath of relief, Artanis sighed and said, "Recently, we've received the instructions from the headquarter back in the Church of the Seven Gods straight from the Holy Mountain. The strongest holy knight of the young generation from the church will be coming all the way to the North just to pay a visit to St. Laurent Cathedral. Just as I was wondering why would that man want to cross an entire continent just pay a visit to my place… Suddenly, I've felt the presence of the Dark Abyss…"

He spread out his hands. "Can't blame me for thinking otherwise… I'm nervous."

"It was my fault for causing you to feel frightened." Upon laughing a little, Joshua and the old friend were just chatting on, "However, the strongest holy knight? Who is that?"

"I remember. His name is Roland. Because he is the next heir to become the pope of the church, he has no surname."

The old priest recalled on his past memories for a brief moment and said, "According to the internal news I've got, now he should still be on the way to the mountains in the South. He is still quite far from the North though…"

"Wait! What did you say?"

Suddenly, Joshua interrupted Artanis as he was talking. His expression was one of surprise as he spoke incredulously, "Who, you said?"

"Who...? Oh… That knight's name is Roland. He's the pope of the Church of the Seven Gods's foster son. He is a candidate as the next Pope."

Artanis did not get annoyed after he was interrupted. He continued recalling and said, "I remember him being a popular candidate. He is well-supported by a lot of people. His power level has reached up to the pinnacle of Gold tier now. His strength is very near yours now."

Roland… that fellow.

Joshua seemed as if he did not listen to what the old priest was saying. The expression on his face looked complicated. The color of doubt began to appear on his calm face.

This fellow… he would fall in the days to come, wouldn't he?