Soul of Searing Steel

“The Dragon’s Calamity? That has a nice ring to it. The Pentashades are indeed plotting against the humans to start a war aimed at the humans only.”

Upon nodding his head, when Igor spoke about that, he turned his head around and looked towards the South. His eyes were radiating with golden light. He remained silent for a brief moment before he continued to speak slowly, “A few days after, I will be explaining the matter to Emperor Israel of the Empire. Although the Empire Kingdom has already come up with defensive measures, however, this is not just an occurrence that will only affect one kingdom. Instead, this is a calamity that involves the entire continent. He can’t just sit safely on his throne alone and he needs to do something about it. We will suppress and annihilate the lair of the Pentashade Dragons in the distant South as quickly as we can before the all-out war with the Pentashade Dragons could even break out.”

Hence, listening up to this point, Joshua had already understood quite a number of things now. Regardless of the information in the secret letter given by the old butler which he could not understand, or the fact that the Dragon’s Calamity in the previous life was stopped before the calamity got completely out of hand, he now knew the reasons behind all that. Many things that he could not connect together had now formed into a logical chain of information for him.

In the previous life, he had not reached this level nor stepped into the real core circle of the world. Hence, he had no way to know all these information. Meanwhile, things were completely different in this life now. The epic historical quests of each of the four main servers in the previous life were believed to be standalone. However, from the looks of it now, deep down inside, these quests must be linked to each another.

The old pope said so much and he seemed to be immersed in his own thoughts as well. His body which was composed of condensed holy light in the beginning, after such a long time, he began to gradually drift away into white particles of light. Meanwhile, Igor had also noticed that as he revealed a gentle smile on his face. Then he spoke to the warrior with the voice of an old man, “So, Joshua, do you have any other questions? As you can see, my temporary projection is running out of time soon.”

Originally, he was merely tagging along with the emblem of the Church of the Seven Gods, coming all the way across the entire continent, appearing through the condensation of the holy light just to meet Joshua. It had proven that Igor had already reached god-tier in the arts of controlling energy as he could actually maintain his appearance across the entire continent for such a long time.

Meanwhile, Joshua would naturally have many more questions to ask, But since the time was running out, he could only pick crucial questions to ask.

So he informed Igor of the lake formed by the palm print under the Nissia Snowy Mountain.

“The ancient battlefield of the lost age… So it seems that there’s also one in the North. However, there’s no wonder about it. It is actually normal.”

After remaining silent for a brief moment, the old pope understood something and he laughed. Then he earnestly said, “Joshua, you should have noticed it already. The North’s dimensional barriers are extremely weak. That place can easily get invaded by creatures from the other world.”

“Indeed.” The warrior nodded. Of course he would naturally know that. But then Joshua also came to understand the meaning of Igor’s words all of the sudden as he spoke, “I see… That’s the battlefield with the Evil God!”

This was similar to his assumption, but since that Igor had nodded his head, then his assumption could be determined as true already.

“That’s right.”

With a nod to express he agreed with what he heard, more and more light particles were floating and flying all around Igor’s radiating body. These light particles had already formed into stars swirling all around him, making him looked like he was in the middle of a nebula now. His face has begun to blur out, but even so, he could still answer Joshua with a clear voice, “That place… long even before ancient times, was where the Sage and his disciples, the Saints fought Chaos. The palm print you mentioned earlier may have been a mark made by one of the Saints himself… That could mark the true meaning of ‘sacred’ onto that land.”

Upon saying that, he could not help but feel a little regret. “The strength of the Sage was far beyond my imagination. Even after I have attained the pinnacle of the Legendary-Tier power level, and my soul’s personality is close to the boundless heavens where the gods are, but when I was holding this pure white scepter, I could not help but feel his mighty strength… That radiance originated from the Initial Flame, even I had difficulties in exploring it. Well, the Sage had even forged that power into the legacy items and passed them down to us.”

When he mentioned about that, the old pope could not help but tighten his grip on the scepter. Meanwhile, Joshua was also holding the Azurite in his hand.

Everything the pope said was true. The power of [Tinder] and [King of the Searing Soul] had really surpassed the previous concept that he knew of. This orb that he regarded as a family heirloom in the beginning, actually had so many hidden secrets. The warrior could not help but feel the need to understand it fully.

Meanwhile, Sage… It was truly exciting to know that a human could become that strong and powerful.

Feeling slightly emotional, Igor had also noticed that his projection was about to run out of time now. He turned his head around to look at the holy knight who passed out. His golden eyes were filled with compassion as he spoke, “This holy knight that battled with you is Roland. He is my successor in the future… He wants to know something about the secret truths about the sealed lands. However, because of my vows, I am restrained from telling him anything. Well… he knows nothing about the Evil Gods at all.”

Speaking of that, he turned his head around again to look at Joshua. Then he shook his head, seemingly that he felt a little regret. “I am worried that he might walk the path of vengeance and doubts because of the deaths of his comrades and friends… So can I ask a favor of you as an old man? Joshua, I hope you can tell him some of the truths about Chaos. That should clear his doubts about his enemies. That should give him some insight into what he is currently dealing with—Speaking of which, you did not have to sacrifice much to win. That’s truly impressive.”

“What kind of favor is this…please.”

Joshua did not agree to the old pope’s words though. He shook his head and said, “His strength is extremely powerful. If we’re really going to battle and resist the Chaos, I’ll be the one that asks him to join me without a single doubt. So why wouldn’t I tell him the truth then? It’s just vows…”

The old butler used to vow that he could not tell Joshua about any information related to the Evil Gods. Same goes for his father. Not only that, he affirmed that all guardian families and those who learned about the existence of the Evil Gods would be forced to vow never to spread it—However, when he crossed over to this life, he did not seem to be restrained by such vows.

However, Joshua was not mad enough to spread news and information about the Evil Gods. So that thought just flashed across his mind and vanished.

“There are four Sage’s Legacy items. The [Bright Scepter], [Azurite], [Dual Blades of Order], and also [Robe of Wisdom]. Three of them were located on the Mycroft Continent. They are all possessed by human beings now. Meanwhile, the [Robe of Wisdom] has been long lost in the outer world. There is no telling when they will be able to gather all four items together.”

On the side, the old pope felt a little regrettable as he walked up to the side of the unconscious Roland. He approached the tip of the white scepter in his hands over to Roland and gave a gentle touch on the young holy knight. Instantly, a dense holy radiance instant spread across the young man’s entire body. In just a brief while, along with a groan, Roland, who Joshua estimated would only be able to open his eyes, instantly woke up.

“… Fa… Father?”

The first person he saw was EIgor, who had his body radiating with intense light of Order that made him look like a god descending from heaven. This holy knight immediately stood up on his feet. Then he muttered to himself, “Am I dead now? But why is Father here as well…”

“I will not die yet even if you’re dead. Furthermore, even you really died, I can still save you and bring you back to life.”

Upon shaking his head, Igor sighed and he reached out his radiating hand as if he wanted to pat the holy knight on his head. However, his palm had already begun disintegrating into light particles. Because of that, the old pope could only send the ‘Bright Scepter’ back to the Church of the Seven Gods. Along doing that, he seriously informed the young holy knight, “Roland, the reason for your failure in this battle is still because you’re not experienced enough in such regard. Your experience in battling a human is too little. Your knowledge and understandings towards tactics are still too simple and most of all, you’re still too naive. You must learn better in the days to come, do you understand?”

“Y-yes, Father!”

Roland, who had grown accustomed to his adoptive father criticizing him, lowered his head in shame. However, his heart was still pondering on some thoughts as he was cursing—Joshua was obviously much younger than he was, so why has he so experienced in battle? Even in the Dark Tide in the North, the opponents that Joshua had been facing were merely a bunch of daemons. He should have the same experience as the holy knight. There should not be any difference between them.

“I have already asked Joshua. If he is willing to, he shall tell you more, and the things that you want to know.”

The foot of Igor’s light projection had completely vanished. There were only a blurry body torso and a head remaining in the air. However, his old voice still had not been influenced at all. His voice still clearly projected out from his mouth though, “I’ve not much time left now. It’s time for me to go back with this avatar now… Joshua, remember, the Azurite in your possession carries one of the Sage’s world shifting power. You must keep it safe. This might be hope.”

Before waiting for Joshua to reply, he already shook his head. It seemed like the old pope still had a lot of words to say. He sounded regretful. Roland seemed to be unable to react to the fact that his adoptive father suddenly appeared and vanished after a brief moment—after all, he was still having a concussion at the moment. It was the holy light that woke him up for the moment—hence, he did not manage to say anything in time.

“Truth be told, there are still many things we have yet to discuss.”

Just a few seconds before the projection of Igor disappeared, the old pope nodded at Joshua and said with a smile on his face, “Joshua van Radcliffe, by the name of the pope of the Church of the Seven Gods, I invite you over to the Sacred Mountain of the Distant Sea to be our guest.”

“The next time when you come to the Sacred Mountain, I will tell you everything.”

Having said that, the remaining light of this projection had simply disappeared neatly, and the presence of the Legendary power contained inside the light vanished along with it. It seemed to have returned to the distant place along with the disappearing light.

“…”

Roland’s helmet was smashed into pieces by Joshua. Hence, his appearance could be seen now. However, now that his white-blonde hair was messy, and there were blood stains and sweat sticking on his face, he looked quite pathetic in a sense. Meanwhile, his blue eyes were still looking sloppy and out of focus. The young holy knight looked as if he was struggling to regain his consciousness.

Joshua was also thinking about the information he obtained from the conversation he had with the church. He descended deep in thought and he seemed to have no time to entertain the holy knight that was right in front of him.

However, in just a few seconds later, the warrior noticed that a familiar presence was approaching him.

Archbishop Artanis of Moldavia appeared right above the pit. He then looked at the light particles that were not yet completely dispersed away with a shocked gaze.

He felt a strong presence of holy light from afar and faintly saw the projection of the old pope from the Church of the Seven Gods. Just as he was filled with doubts and hurried over to the spot at full speed, the old pope had stopped his projection and returned.

And when he saw the dusty face of the number one holy knight, he looked even shocked.

Isn’t that young man the strongest holy knight that he said would come to the North?!

From the looks of it, it seemed that the holy knight got the crap beaten out of him… So, did Joshua beat the holy knight so badly that the pope had to step out of the shadows to save the poor young holy knight?!

Although he perceived it wrongly, however, from a certain perspective, the true situation was not much different from what he perceived the situation to be.

While inhaling deeply, Artanis’s eyes widened and his expression changed slightly. He stared at Joshua who looked unscratched as if he did not even lose anything in order to win the battle. Instantly, he felt that this younger friend of his was not normal at all.