Soul of Searing Steel

Chapter 379: Only Name is Required

Without looking at the description below the name, Joshua closed the system right away.

“The monsters are called the Desolate Predators.” He took a step forward, closer to the head of the ark, after briefly explaining to everyone. The tentacles that were covered with sharp teeth seemed to have noticed the presence of that man. They instantly began to violently smash the barriers of the Epoch.

The great black tentacles were two meters thick. Each strike from each of the tentacles was as heavy as smashing a hammer over tens tons on the barrier. Whether it was the rain or the air, everything was torn apart by that brute force. The impact was visible because of the rain. The shockwave of the impact spread a couple of meters into its surrounding. A thunderous rumbling sound echoed with the smash.

If it were not because of the barriers on the Epoch, the tentacles would have torn through and wrecked the ark easily, killing everyone on board.

“You know about these monsters?” Roland asked. However, he was not surprised. The Radcliffe family had been enemies with the Aragamis for many generations. They were initially very familiar with the spawns of the Evil God of Famine. They knew quite a lot about those spawns as well. “So how do we handle those things?”

“I have no idea.” Joshua shook his head and said, “I only know their names.”

However, that was already enough.

Once he was done talking, his black coat flapped despite the lack of wind in his surroundings. The blazing presence of the warrior began to shine brightly. Joshua lifted his right hand up. He could see that there were many black tentacles slamming at the ark’s barriers.

The Epoch, which could not propel forward anymore, could not evade those attacks. Under those attacks, the white hexagonal barrier faded at a rapid speed as if it was about to break. However, the warrior was not bothered by that. Instead, he smiled and said, “At least I know what I have killed.”

Then, he threw his fist forward.

Tension seemed to be building up on the strong muscles on the warrior’s right arm, which looked like as if the arm was made of steel. Black and red combat aura began to burst out of Joshua’s right fist and condensed into a mass of black ripples.

A punch was launched with a sharp whistling sound. Black ripples spread across the fist of the warrior. In one brief instant, the storm vanished. The violent waves instantly calmed down. The entire world seemed to have come to a standstill, followed by a ripple on the surface of the still water. The horde of black tentacles that were densely packed together were struck by a force, leaving a huge hole with the diameter of twenty meters in the middle the densely packed horde of the tentacles. The force went right through the horde with the blast more powerful than a cannon. Right after that, the black shroud and the surging waves were pushed aside by an invisible force, forming a vacuum passage of hundreds of meters on the surface of the sea. At the other far end of the vacuum passage was a detestable monster preparing to flee the scene.

The monster looked a cone. Its body was formed from layers of reddish black flesh and blood, stacking on one another. It was approximately ten meters tall. On the huge body that looked like a lighthouse were many brownish-yellow distorted eyes of different sizes. The shape of its body looked something like an octopus. Its tentacles gleamed with some sort of crystal-like substances. The gigantic octopus sprayed black crystalline dust to contaminate the sea region.

Because of the black mist, the daemon hid well from plain sight. Even Robzek could not sense its presence. However, it was like a pathetic joke to Joshua who held the Azurite. The warrior was able to locate its hiding spot right away simply with a glance.

It intended to flee. However, the black ripples instantly struck its body. The monster felt as if it was hammered by a gigantic truck at full speed as its entire body twitched uncontrollably. The shape of its wretched-looking head and its mouth shifted rapidly. Its reddish black flesh and blood had been crushed. It was completely turned into a pile of runny meat. Masses of reddish black shredded meat and mist burst out from its body. A gigantic pit in the shape of a fist appeared on its body.

The remains of the octopus monster were still. Black ripples continued to spread as the body of the monster seemed to be burned by a virtual flame. The remains of the crystalline tentacles crumbled into pieces. The energy in every piece of the shattered crystal shards was completely crushed by a force stronger than the energy itself.

The flame of the Combat Aura blazed in the sea water. The Desolate Predator completely turned into ashes with steam rising to the sky. Even the ash of the monster was dispersed with the wind and the tides.

“… Terrifying Glorious Strength.”

Funa furrowed her eyebrows and unconsciously shielded herself before Hill. She felt a slight chill in her bones with her draconic instinct. The blue-haired draconic girl looked at the shadow of the warrior on his back as she muttered to herself in a soft voice, “He actually took out a Gold-advanced daemon with a single hit…”

Before she could finish her words, Funa, who had always been straightforward, gently shook her head and stopped herself from speaking. Her surroundings were filled with a blue ionized smoldering fire. Obviously, that was the strength of her self-defensive instinct forced out by the warrior’s aura when he launched his fist attack. Now, she was trying to suppress the electrical charges that surged around her and back into her body.

Saya who stood beside the warrior had also taken a step back. The moment the aura of ‘Satsui Hadou’ began to charge on the warrior’s body, the great nun could see visible shapes of desperation and hatred that looked black. The souls of the monsters that were slaughtered seemed to be chained to the body of the man right before her. Those souls were like the origin of his power when he unleashed his strength. A few dozens of gigantic dragons mourning miserably were also among those souls. Perhaps that was what Funa was fearful of.

Saya naturally knew that those were opponents and monsters slain by the warrior in the past. Of course, they did not reflect Joshua’s personal feelings. Despite that, the great nun was still a little unsettled after what she saw.

She stayed silent as she looked at the back of the warrior which looked like an indestructible statue–who could actually guarantee that a man with a body as strong as steel would not be affected by the emotions coming from the raving souls?

While the great nun troubled herself with her worries, Robzek and the others did not seem to think too much about it. Although they were shocked by Joshua’s strength, they were simply impressed by it. As another Supreme-tier champion, the silver-haired holy knight could better understand what that strike could mean–such a condensed combat aura and Glorious Strength that brings such destruction… Truth to be told, the holy knight might have surpassed Joshua if they were just comparing strength.

Right after he threw his fist, the warrior sensed a small change in power in his body.

With Experience Points flooding into him, Satsui Hadou that drove the shattered soul of the Desolate Predator had also returned to his body. The power of the Chaos daemon was turned into pure life force by the Azurite and his own combat aura as the new power strengthened his body and his combat aura.

Perhaps that was the truth about ‘Experience Points’?

Without thinking too much, Joshua looked at the surroundings of the ark. After losing the host that was manipulating the crystal dust in the waves, the dust began to sink slowly to the bottom of the ocean. As the crew cheered, the warrior also sensed that the engine of the Ark was recovering. With no more crystal dust interfering, the ark would be able to reactivate its engine soon.

However, the black shroud remained floating on the surface of the sea. Even the fiercest wind could not blow them away.

The bizarre presence did not disperse after the death of the Desolate Predator.

“We might still have enemies in the vicinity.”

Roland had also noticed that. He walked to the edge of the ark and his eyes narrowed. He used his holy light to see through the black shroud to observe the situation. Not long after, the holy knight frowned. “As expected.”

He lifted his hand and pointed at the sea on the left side of the Ark. “Look over there.”

Everyone looked towards the direction Roland was pointing. Not far from where they were, waves rolled in the black shroud. In the black mists and the waves, black shadows emerged one after another. They could see that there were a large number of fin-shaped shadows breaking the surface of the sea water. Their movements formed visible water movement in the middle of the storm as they moved toward the ark.

Those sea monsters were swimming at a strangely rapid speed. In a mere few seconds, they arrived next to the Epoch.

“These shrouds are really troublesome as hell!”

After seeing that, Robzek broke his silence with a complaint. Soon after that, the energy nodes on his body began to get lit up by the light particles of the holy light. The holy knight reached out his hand and pointed at the silvery light that was as blinding as the blazing sun. Then he waved his hand and five beams of silvery holy light exploded from his fingertip as they were shot towards the dark mists in the surroundings.

The black shroud was like butter being cut with a hot knife. The thick shrouds on the surface of the sea rapidly melted away like ice in the summer. The five silvery beams of holy light did not fade away right after they fulfilled their duties. Instead, they become much more condensed than before as they swept away the black mists, giving a clear view of the surroundings to everyone on the Ark.

“Good job. So how many of them are there?’

Without the black shrouds blocking their sight, Hill swept his eyes across the area of the sea. His purplish pupils narrowed a little, the young elf stared at the scene before him and was troubled when he said, “So how do we continue sailing?”

Within a few kilometers radius of the Epoch, gigantic fins tore through the tides on the surface of the sea as they made their way to the ark like an arrow that could pierce through anything. With a quick glance towards the sea, one could see that there were at least a thousand or perhaps ten thousand sea monsters swimming towards the ark. Underneath the surface of the sea were many dark shadows that were also making their way towards the ark at a high speed. As an ocean druid who knew a lot about sea monsters, Hill deduced that there were more than thirty thousand sea monsters consisting different types of fishes among the horde of sea monsters that was charging straight at them.

That was a terrifying number. Each of the sea monsters had gigantic bodies longer than ten meters. Even just ram from each of the thirty thousand sea monsters could undoubtedly wreck the Ark.

“What are they trying to do now?”

Robzek sensed that something was not right. He said, “First, they tried to disrupt our momentum sailing towards our destination. Then now they have the sea monsters surround us. All of the tactics they used did not seem to be something that wild beasts and animals do.”

“There must be something commanding all of them in the shadow.” Even Saya could tell that the attacks from those sea monsters did not seem like beastly instincts.

“Of course, and we can be very sure that that existence is trying to stall us,” Joshua said as he looked into the sky. He could hear faint thunder rumbling far in the sky. However, the black shroud lingering in the sky had blocked the lightning and thunder, blocking them from sight. The warrior’s expression was unreadable as he stood in the dark corner. Then he said in a clear, deep voice, “I can sense that there are three powerful Supreme Chaos daemons approaching us at a rapid speed… Robzek, are those the monsters you guys encountered in your last expedition?”

The silver-haired holy knight used his spirit sense the presences in the distance. Then he nodded with a serious look on his face. “That’s them. They have actually managed to get close us using the black shrouds as their disguise. They are too near for us to evade them already.”

Then, he turned around and looked at the warrior, stunned. “Wait a minute, Joshua… What are you trying to do?”

“Let’s kill that fellow who has been releasing the black shrouds before the others arrive, shall we?”

The warrior was already surrounded by the blazing flame of his black and red combat aura. The scorching heat began to spread. It burned the deck of the ark red hot. The heavy rain continued to pour from the sky. However, the raindrops vaporized before could even reach his body.

Joshua swept his red eyes over the black shrouds and the dark clouds as if he was searching for something even though there was nothing in the sky at all. Not long after, he suddenly stopped scanning as if he had found his target. “I’ll be right back. Give me a moment.”

Boom!!!

Before the others heard him, Joshua stomped his feet heavily into the floor of the deck. The entire body of the ark shook violently as the deck where Joshua stomped was dented. With a deafening creaking sound, the warrior charged into the sky and broke through all of the shrouds and the clouds in the sky. He had made his way into the dark clouds without leaving a trace behind.

Everyone on the deck tried to grab hold of themselves as they cast spells to resist the impactful sonic boom caused by the warrior. The ark was leaning slightly to the front. A huge black hole appeared on top of the front deck. There were also cracks all around the hole.

“That fellow… he is always like that.” After deactivating his combat aura, Roland laughed sharply. He believed the warrior’s words. There must be something releasing those irritating black shrouds and that something was spying on them from behind that. However, Joshua did not explain at all before he went missing. His habit of doing that had always been difficult for Roland and the others to get used to.

Black was indifferent to that. She simply looked at the sky and stared at the huge hole her master left in the middle of the clouds. She bit on her lips as she tightened her fists quietly at her sides.

Right before Joshua left, the warrior looked at her. His eyes seemed to say ‘do your best’. The black draconic girl would never let her master down.