Soul of Searing Steel

The first explosion occurred inside the dark mist. The extreme heat of the Steel Spear ignited the black particles that was the true form of the mist, incinerating them cleanly at a frightening speed into nothingness. After that, all substances within the mist were completely burnt off, and vacuum thus rapidly expanded, the great suction drawing in all matter in its surroundings to its center.

The second explosion occurred at the heart of the dark core. The Steel Spear hence pierced the dark core that almost arrived at boundary point, illuminating half the Void and the world of Kronos.

The dark mist’s method of assault hence became the tool for Joshua and the others to retaliate against it.

Indeed, just a while ago, the other Legendary champions had launched counteroffensives of varying degrees, but was absolutely fearsome.

Every Legendary champion—the Demon General and the two Pentashade Dragon Kings included—might not have the all-encompassing defense like Joshua’s or the unconstrained countermeasures against the mist needles attack, their ability allowed self-preservation with no problems. That was true especially for the Leviathan and the Golden Fleet: one possessed great vigor that was perfectly fine with being attacked, while the other had extraordinarily stalwart psionic shielding that could withstand the onslaught of black needles. As for the two Legendary mages… they always had a way to face anything unexpected, for their ability to handle sudden things was never suspect.

Furthermore, even the demons appeared to be very angry at the dark mist.

—As demons of the Abyss, it had always been us who schemed and struck others from the shadows. Since when did it become our turn to be ambushed?!

The Insectoid Demond General Shaluka which had been struck by the black needles for at least a few minutes felt a great disgrace welling up its heart. Combined with the rage after being handed a great beating by Joshua over the last few days made it feel like it was about to explode. Therefore, facing that dark core that was rapidly condensing, the Demon Monarch did not hesitate to aid Joshua indirectly, using the Abyssal explosive spell it was proficient at to delay the speed of the core condensing.

The others had more or less the same thoughts. As the dark core exploded and a substantial portion of its mass had been burnt away, the black mist was forced to recall the other mist that had spread within the world of Kronos. From the very start, its target was the Ancient Dragon inside the world, which was why it did not act against the Legendary champions in its initial ambush. In other words, the black fog appeared to have underestimated the power of the superior beings, and was hence gulping a bitter pill for it even as it redirected its priority.

However, that was not very useful… beneath the tacit combined force of eight Legendary beings, the dark mist had utterly no meaningful counter. Was the unnamed Darkness powerful? Certainly—to instantaneously consume half of the Void, permeate into the world of Kronos as well as pulling multiple Legends into its own domain was, to some extent, a godlike power. Still, it had relied on ambushing to accomplish it, acting while the many champions were spiritually after days of battle, while continuously assaulting them to disturb their movements.

But no, it was besieged tidily by everyone—even those who had been giving each other a beating just a while ago. Even the Black Dragon King and Leviathan that could not wait to kill each other tacitly partnered, using their power to wipe up the dark mist around them.

In an instant, waves of flashes surged in the Darkness. The two Dragon Kings worked together, using negative energy and sub-zero temperatures to extinguish all stagnated regions around them. As all mass and energy approached devastation and a spatial boundary of near absolute zero, not even the Darkness could approach, and was kept motionless where it was.

The colossal Leviathan did not use any skill, and simply gathered a warped field of gravity around it before charging imposingly, crushing everything along its way—unless the thing that stood in its way was larger, nothing could stop a ten-thousand-meter class of behemoth, and the black mist clearly was not.

With nary an expression, Barnil conjured a gilt grimoire, the tome itself dancing with thousands of complex and mysterious runes. Extending his right hand, the old mage simply pointed at the tome for a few times, and the runes promptly leaped out, forming five unusually shaped energy spheres in the Void—those spheres were not the simple energy condensation of silver-tiers, but the Rune Master’s very own secret technique and Truth. As Legendary power materialized, the five runic luminous spheres that represented ‘broiling explosion’, ‘sub-zero freeze’, ‘electromagnetism disturbance’, ‘matter disintegration’ and ‘particle acceleration’ respectively fused into a single body, and finally turned into a condensed chaotic cluster of light, blasting into the depths of the dark mist and flashing dully, wiping out all dark mist in the area at once.

There were limits and types to the energy that the black mist could absorb. Once an assault of completely different high-energy class, it would naturally reveal its own opening.

Even as he attacked whimsically, the old mage frowned. “What creature is this mist…” he muttered to himself in doubt, “it’s like a mist but could exist in the Void, and controlled great plundering aspect. If it didn’t attack physically, I would have even suspected that it’s the Void Specters of legends.”

“That thing might not exactly be a creature, right?” William replied simply beside him, “it would be more correct to call it a natural weapon.”

The dark mist was certainly no natural phenomenon. On the other side of the mist? Joshua was still wielding impact and searing heat, using the purest of devastation to incinerate each of the dark mist particles into nothingness. He had long seen through the true form of the dark mist, his mind holding an inference of its true identity.

—It must be a type of powerful weapon.

It was inconceivable, but was also the conclusion Joshua got. The dark mist was a weapon that a certain powerful being or supremely advanced civilization created or controlled. Its true form was a black, nanometer-class particle condensation linked together through electromagnetism into a single general body. Inside the mist, those black particles would shape countless attacks out of the Void with an ability similar to 3D printing, while the nanometer class black particles would weaken the enemy’s attacks by absorbing energy around for its own uses.

As long as the enemy’s energy did not exceed a certain threshold, any being that fell into the Darkness would be caught by the huge net due to the exhaustion of their energy. As long as they did not act like Joshua and forcibly absorbed the black particles with Nuclear Heart while converting it into fuel materials that made it semi-permanent, even Legendary champions might die from exhaustion.

The only question was—who was controlling the mist?

Just as the other Legendary champions wiped out the dark mist around them, the black sea of fog paused for a moment—as if the controller behind it was considering how to handle the current situation.

Soon, it got an answer.

In the very next instant, the once dark mist suddenly detonated in a blaze of light that blanketed half the Void. The abrupt offense prompted several of the alert Legendary champions to fall back and waited vigilantly for its follow-up blow. Only Joshua who stood fearlessly at the center realized that the burst that seemingly could incinerate all things was actually the intense radiance produced from a scarce few black particles destroying itself. Apart from pure high-energy rays, it had utterly no power—and with the mist having succeeded in temporarily forcing each Legendary champion back, it simply and decisively dropped down into the world of Kronos!

And at that moment, a vein of silver thunderbolt shot out at the descending Darkness, striking it from below.

“Grooowl—”

The gaze of the Ancient Dragon that was controlling thunder was burning with fiery rage. On its great wings, its green-blue bony spikes that were jutting out was quickly turning red and then purple before finally taking the darkest of black hues. Dim and threatening lightning bolts were spreading all over the dragon’s body as it broke through the world barrier and into Void, advancing without stopping toward its nemesis.

The rising Ancient Dragon thus met the descending Darkness. The dragon knew very well what it faced, gaping its maw after having prepared for that very instant, while the Darkness never expected that its foe would intercept itself at that very spot.

How large was the Ancient Dragon? Its wingspan was more than thousands of meters, whereas its hundreds meter length body, effectively forged from steel and far heavier than most substances, would even be more incredible if its tail was accounted for. Additionally, such a massive and heavy body could fly easily not because of some flapping wings, but its natural and unparalleled that manipulated the power of magnetic field.

In ancient times, that magnetic field once stirred thunder and wind while quaking worlds. It once worked together with other Ancient Dragons to split and fuse lifeless micro-substances, granting primeval life in deathly continents and oceans. It was the power to create and give life, a power that combined matter so that they would not split.

It was also the first spawns of Steel.

And now, the lightning of creation began to whirl in the Ancient Dragon’s gaping jaw, reversing and turning into the power that destroy all things—

Lightning was condensing, as the bolts began to dull visibly and turn into infinite translucent photon particles akin to soap bubbles. In the Void beyond worlds, an incomparable magnetic field was being contracted and driven, just as space itself began to tremble when the Ancient Dragon quaked the roots of material existence in its very desire to pulverize every being that were kept together with electromagnetism.

Joshua, who had been tightly pursuing behind the dark mist suddenly froze, his eyes picking up the threat of death. As a wielder of Steel Strength, he naturally knew the terror of that single Ancient Dragon onslaught—using its electromagnetism manipulation, the Silver Dragon would disintegrate all the van Der Waals forces within the boundary of its magnetic field breath!

But more importantly, the warrior realized that the Ancient Dragon had placed him within its boundary of attack! He was being awarded a portion of that violent rage!

Nevertheless, the dark aberration that was facing the blow directly was in a dilemma.

To turn behind and face eight pursuing Legendary champions, or to take one solid magnetic field breath that the Ancient Dragon had held onto, as it awaited the right moment to unleash it?