Soul of Searing Steel

Over Anos Abyss, dark clouds rolled. The purplish lightning flashed in the thick shroud and the heavy rain. The light from the lightning in the sky shone upon the dark region of the sea. Because of that, one could actually see that there were many air vortices formed from the presence of the Dark Abyss as they eventually turned into large hurricanes.

Wooooo—wooooo—

The magnificent magical vortexes formed in the air among the flashed of the light and shadows. Beneath the sea, where the vortexes were, was an enormous dark shadow swimming around rapidly like it was dancing with the vortexes. As the howling echoed, a heavy pressure spread into the area.

Dark gigantic shadows approached the surface of the sea as if they were summoned by the howling. However, those dark shadows were just the size of a leave on a gigantic tree if they compared to the enormous shadow beneath the sea. As that shadow sped up in the sea, it began to set itself afloat as its body broke the surface of the sea, arching up huge waves, causing a mini-tsunami in the sea as the waves spread.

Its back was the first thing that rose up to the surface of the sea. After that, a head and a neck that appeared just like snake appeared from beneath the sea. It was impossible to see the true form of that gigantic beast. However, anyone could tell that whatever was revealed was just the tip of the iceberg. Before it even did anything, the negative aura of the gigantic beast filled the area around it.

As the daemons stared at the humongous shadow, they hissed and roared. Their voices overpowered the rumbling thunder. The gigantic beast let out another long howl. The sea monsters seemed to have received the command from the ruler of that region of the sea. They focused on their new target as they charged at the warrior.

"Intruder that interrupts the slumber of the dragon in the depths of the sea shall perish into the dark abyss."

The giant dragon then looked at the Daemons with its cold eyes as swam into the distance. It absorbed the Magic energy in the dark sea as it gathered the water vortexes above its head into a gigantic hurricane of water. The gigantic water hurricane carried strong Magic energy that was enough to sink an entire city. The gigantic dragon was preparing for a battle.

It was the Dragon of the Abyssal Sea, Shadra.

The Marine Abyssal Dragon hailed from an outer world that only consist of sea. Their bodies and their snaky neck looked like a snake's. Their bodies were covered in scales. The abyssal dragons were obviously not the traditional Astral Dragons, nor were they the draconic beasts in the Mycroft Continent. However, these Marine Abyssal Dragons were the kings of the sea because of their gigantic bodies and the terrifying magic energy they possessed. They have the abilities to manipulate waves and storms. They could even use the power of the waves and the current to destroy their enemies.

Any warships that encountered this sort of daemon would be like paper boats or toy boats, bound to be destroyed. The gigantic body of each abyssal dragon was over three hundred meters long. The power they wielded could sink an entire island. The abyssal dragon could summon tsunamis and storms to destroy a harbor or devour an entire island.

Shadra was a true and pure-blood Marine Abyssal Dragon. Its power was much stronger than its own kind. It could even easily manipulate the Magic power in that region of the sea and gather them into a gigantic water hurricane above its head.

However, now, even a creature so powerful like Shadra felt fear lurking deep in its heart.

Not long ago, a light beam with pure Order power went through the dark clouds in the sky, illuminating the light of Order in the entire area of the sea. Half the daemons in Anos Abyss felt the magnificent power surging in the sea. That was totally the opposite of the existence in the Abyssal sea. Not to mention that the light of Order purer.

Shadra was not an imbecile. For the ancient creature that had lived on the seabed of Anos Abyss for over hundreds of years, it had obtained a lot of information due to the wisdom it possessed. Judging from its density, the holy light was definitely no ordinary holy light. An ordinary Supreme-tier priest might not even be capable of releasing pure holy light.

The main goal of the Church of the Seven Gods for sending a champion so powerful was very clear—to clean the entire region of the sea of its impurities. From the sailing direction of the ark, their main target was obviously the impurities.

Since that was the case presumed by Shadra, it believed that it had no other options but face them in combat. But in reality, Shadra was mistaken. It sent all of its minions forward to give the Church a 'warm' welcome. It charged up its strength and power to prepare itself for the champions that were sent forward by the Church of the Seven Gods.

The preparation that the abyssal dragon did was smooth. The pace of the ark was significantly reduced by the attacks of the sea monsters. Shadra was even able to complete the summoning of the magic vortex without being interrupted. That was a realm that an abyssal dragon naturally understood after advancing into Gold-tier. Within the vicinity of the vortex barrier it was maintaining, Shadra's power, speed, magic energy, casting speed, precision, vitality and regeneration ability were all enhanced. What it experienced now was like a process of mutation that was similar to a human being's Glorious Strength.

However, even though that was the case, the Marine Abyssal Dragon was dissatisfied. It believed that its preparations were insufficient to ensure its victory over the people of the church. So it was subconsciously a little unsettled as it did not know what to do.

Right above the sea, not far from it, a black and red light spot came into its view.

That red light was not obvious as it got through the rain and the darkness. It appeared just like a weak spark that could be extinguished by the raindrops. At first, Shadra did not even notice that little red light. However, soon, it immediately sensed its presence. It also noticed that the little light seemed to be moving a little too fast than it should.

It was moving so rapidly it was almost invisible.

The abyssal dragon could see that there were many sea monsters attempting to jump at the small little spot. However, all efforts were futile. They were not only unable to slow it down, instead, but they were also slaughtered by it, and their life forces were absorbed and turned into energy for the light spot.

"Roar!!"

The abyssal dragon felt an instant chill deep in its heart as it observed the little spot with its spirit. It knew the identity of the man that appeared as a light spot. That was one of the champions from the Church of the Seven Gods who leaped off the ark earlier as he tried to get to Shadra. He seemed determined to slay the abyssal dragon—for many centuries, there were quite a number of people who attempted to slay Shadra. None of them succeeded. Most of them ended dead in the stomach of the abyssal dragon. Some of them managed to survive to tell the tales after they failed to kill it. However, this time, the circumstance seemed to be different.

The survival instinct in Shadra told it that the man was completely different from the others it used to kill. With the spiritual sense of the abyssal dragon, Shadra noticed that the man was completely covered with resentment as dark as the Dark Abyss itself. Miserable mourning and shrieking of the daemons and humans were wrapped around the body of the man.

Hatred, resentment, madness… Simply looking at that human, even the abyssal dragon which sided with darkness felt terrified. Shadra also sensed that there were signs that suggested that the man had slain giant dragons. This man was a powerful Dragonslayer who had slain more than two dozens of giant dragons.

In just a few seconds, the black and red light spot had enlarged a couple of times in the view of Shadra's spiritual sense. It could see that there was a blurry shadow of a man charging through the waves, flying straight towards it at a speed a few times faster than the speed of sound. It would most probably take approximately half a minute for that man to arrive by its side.

Before Shadra could even panic or feel terrified, the Marine Abyssal Dragon let out a long roar. It slapped the surface of the sea with its gigantic fins as the Elements in its surroundings began to tremble. The monster used a powerful energy to change the basic structure of the world around it. It merged the Magic energy that was beyond Gold-tier with the vortex of the water to cause a chain effect between the two.

The vortex spun at a rapid rate with Shadra at its center. In a spherical space with a diameter of five thousand meters, the water became still. The rain that filled the sky, the waves that rolled, the damp mist, and even the blood that contained rich Magic energy flowing below the sea monsters had completely stopped moving. All of them gathered and slowly formed into the shape of arrows.

Hundred thousands of arrows were formed in the air. The densely concentrated magic energy shaped those water arrows to look like water jets. Soon after, the abyssal dragon did not hesitate giving its command to all the water arrows. Those water arrows flew at a high speed, straight towards their target.

The traveling speed of those water arrows exceeded the speed of sound as they burst into a sonic boom in mid-air, leaving the sound of explosions that was a few times more powerful than the sound of thunder.

With that sort of attacks, Shadra believed that no gigantic sea monsters nor the ark would be able to get away unscathed. That included the human that was engulfed in the blazing flame of black and red. However, it still felt a little unsettled. The impression that the warrior struck on its heart was just too terrifying, pushing the abyssal dragon so hard that it did not dare to be careless. Hence, while the water arrows flew at the target, Shadra did not stop. It let out another roar and turned its attention towards the water vortex in the air.

Instantly, a light shone from behind the dark clouds. The water pressure in the sky became heavier with the drive of the Magic energy. It entangled itself with the water that rose from the sea as they formed into enormous tornadoes. Water mist around the tornadoes was moving so fast that they could cut through steel.

The abyssal dragon felt a little tired after summoning a superior magic spell. The water vortexes had shrunk to one-third of their original sizes. Without wasting any breath, Shadra acted vigilantly and swiftly and threw the powerful tornadoes straight at the little red light spot that was about to be hit by the water arrows it threw earlier.

Theoretically speaking, under ordinary circumstances, even a Supreme-tier champion would face complications and troubles after getting bombarded by waves after waves of attacks like that. That should open up an opportunity for the abyssal dragon strike the Champion that could potentially end the battle. Shadra took a few breaths which lifted its morale, then it let out yet another thunderous roar-the dark clouds in the sky were suddenly filled with lightning.

That was Shadra's ultimate skill. Only a few beings could avoid getting killed on the spot by the three ferocious waves of attacks from the abyssal dragon. Even if there they were able to avoid those attacks, they would be too injured to fight back. Before Shadra even saw its opponent, it had already launched a full attack at the target. That proved that Shadra was paying a lot of attention to that red little spot.

However, it was very obvious.

The warrior did not intend to negotiate with it at all.

A wild scream shook the sea. Even the whistling sound of the tornadoes was not as loud. It seemed that Shadra had its worst moment in its life. It sensed the trembling across the great sea. There was a power so great and was as unstoppable as a tsunami gathering in the distance.

abyssal dragons do not have faces to show their expressions or feelings. However, the change in the color of their scales revealed their feelings and emotions. Shadra's scales had turned from dark blue to completely grayish black. It meant that the dragon had completely lost it. It could no longer control its emotion. It was overwhelmed by fear and anxiety. With a violent tremble in the great sea, sea monsters stopped swimming in the sea water. Most of them even sank deeper into the sea as their bodies stiffened up. They were overwhelmed by fear after sensing the power that caused the sea to tremble.

However, no one was paying any attention to those fleeing sea monsters anymore.

The threat that caused the heart of the abyssal dragon to shrink in fear approached quickly. It had already given up on attacking with lightning and had decided to dive deep into the sea. It dove into the sea and turn itself into a humungous shadow as it observed the situation like an experienced old abyssal dragon. However, that area of the sea that was initially dark was illuminated by some light. Instantly, a beam of black and red lightning went head-on with all of the water arrows that were flying towards it. That light spot had easily destroyed a number of the tornadoes. The light spot then clashed into the last tornado on the surface of the sea and ended the attacks from the abyssal dragon.

It was obvious that the tornadoes that were capable to destroy everything were absolutely ineffective against that black and red light. As their magic nodes were completely crushed by the red light spot, the tornadoes had no other choices but dispersed and flow with the winds. That red lightning did not slow down at all. It aimed accurately at the abyssal dragon as it flew rapidly straight at it.

The black and red light was not obvious as it was shrouded by a layer of haze that blocked the sun. However, it seemed as if the light had instantly turned into the center of the world. That light completely ignored everything that blocked its path as it moved towards its target quickly in the sea. It aimed straight at the giant shadow beneath the surface of the sea and dove straight into the sea.

Boom! Splash—

A high-pitched sound wave swept across the area. Even the rain was pushed away. The thunderous sound only followed a few moments after the red moving lightning flashed across the sky. Sea monsters in the surroundings hissed as they backed away from the area. However, the voices were too soft compared to that thunderous sound. Right after that, it felt as if a meteor struck the surface of the sea. The strong waves of the sea were replaced by that impact. Instantly, a huge circular wall of water as tall as tsunami spread into the distance with a thunderous rumbling.

The sea trembled violently from the impact between the black and red lightning and the surface of the sea, bringing chaos to the entire area of the sea.

A moment after that.

A human figure that was engulfed by the black and red combat aura broke through the surface of the sea, pulling a snake-like dragon head out of the sea as he made his way into the sky.

Even though that dragon head seemed damaged, it was still releasing strong energy. The abyssal dragon let out a raging roar as it attempted to bite the monster that pulled it out of the sea by grabbing its flesh.

That was not a human being at all! The abyssal dragon was convinced. A human being would never have such power and a terrifying will. That must be a human daemon which possessed the brute force of a giant dragon and the merciless heart of a daemon!

However, how was it possible that Joshua let himself be bitten?

He looked at the giant beast that expanded and distorted under the influence of the power of the Abyss then sneered coldly.

The abyssal dragon before the warrior was covered with fine and closely woven tentacles with tiny little suckers all over them. Those tentacles were attempting to break the defense of the warrior in order to suck his flesh and blood while the warrior was attacking the abyssal dragon. Between those tentacles were six yellowish giant eyes the size of a house. Parasitic worms the size of an ordinary man tunneled in and out on the eyelids.

The head of the abyssal dragon was a giant fortress if was compared to the warrior. One of its ordinary scales was already a few times larger than the size of the warrior. However, in terms of proportion, its head was a little too small for its body. If the body of the abyssal dragon was described as a round and thick disk, then its neck and its head could be described as a long string. Joshua had forcefully carried the entire abyssal dragon out of the sea by holding onto its head. Because of that, he was almost breaking the neck of the dragon. A gentle bite like that won't even hurt ordinary Gold-tier warriors, let alone Joshua.

Without hesitating, the warrior lifted his arms with all of the weight on his hands as he clasped onto the upper and lower jaw of the abyssal dragon. Without much of an effort, he pressed his arms against the jaws of the dragon from biting down on him. Before the two gigantic eyes of the dragon—four out of six had been destroyed by the warrior a moment ago—filled with shock and fear, the warrior shook both of its arms and released his terrifying force with his combat aura to crack open the dragon's jaw.

"Roar! Roar!!"

The Marine Abyssal Dragon began to twist its reptile-like neck violently from the excruciating pain. Its jaws had already been dislocated by the warrior. Almost half of its teeth had been shattered as well. The warrior's attack struck deep into the blood of the dragon and reached its bones and nerves.

Joshua's body was the toughest weapon at that moment. Though he was still a Gold-tier, he could already resist the Dragon Breath of the black dragon head on. He could even withstand melted steel dripping from his body like he was bathing in water. He had advanced into the realm of Supreme-tier and also mastered the Strength Mastery. His strength and power had far exceeded the limit to withstand only the bite of an abyssal dragon. That bite from the dragon did not even leave a scratch on him. Even though the dragon had solidly bitten the warrior, it was the dragon which lost its teeth.

Without wasting more time with the dragon, Joshua took a deep breath as the combat aura around his body instantly intensified—combat aura was the power of life. Joshua did not possess such life force in the beginning. However, because the Azurite on his chest had transformed the hundred thousands of sea monsters he had slain into the combat aura of the warrior, his combat aura had increased to an unbelievably high level.

Raising the palm of his hand, the black and red flames around his body burned intensely, forming into a light that was ten meters long. Joshua waved his hand around and kept the light back. The neck of the abyssal dragon, which was twitching as it attempted to escape, instantly stiffened up and was torn into pieces. The remains of the neck then fell into the dark sea.

The thick scent of blood wafted in the air. The warrior could see that the flesh and blood of the Marine Abyssal Dragon were dark blue in color. There were also silver white worms wiggling on the corpse of the dragon. They were mutualistic living creatures living within the body of the abyssal dragon. They even replaced the circulating excretory system of the dragon. The living creature from the dark abyss of the sea was their creations.

However, even after the head was removed from the body of the abyssal dragon, Joshua did not let his guard down. He remained silent as he stared at the body of the abyssal dragon that was preparing to dive back into the sea. The warrior turned himself into light and stomped onto the backbone of the dragon without any mercy.

With the sound of bones breaking, a huge deep hole appeared on the back of the Marine Abyssal Dragon. The gigantic body of the dragon that was hundreds of meters long twitched uncontrollably. There was a sound of blood gushing out of its body. Joshua did not stop attacking the abyssal dragon. Even though his body was like a tiny little sand particle compared to the size of the dragon, he was capable of easily killing a giant dragon. The warrior once again charged himself up with his combat aura as he focused all of his combat aura on both of his fists.

He walked right on top of the large wound on the spine that was exposed on the dragon's body. Joshua punched his fists in the air as if he was punching at the dragon. However, each strike from his fist destroyed the dragon's internal organs. The rib cage and some other the internal organs. Having already lost its head and its neck, the abyssal dragon moaned quietly but miserably. The warrior calmly destroyed every organ in the dragon as he slowly killed the creature.

After a long while, when the Epoch arrived at where Joshua was, the people on board of the ark could only see a patch of the sea tainted with dark blue blood. Also, they could see that the warrior who appeared to be unscratched standing on the sea. He looked so clean as if he didn't just fight with a giant dragon.

"… Joshua?'

Roland, who was standing by on the side of the ark, looked at the warrior who was standing in the middle of the rain. "What were you thinking?"

"The head of the Marine Abyssal Dragon was merely a tool for it to feed. Even if you crushed its neck and destroyed its head, its brain is still inside of its body."

Hearing what his comrade said, Joshua remained silent and shook his head. Then regret filled his face as he said, "Well, this is my first time slaying this kind of dragon. I was not sure of the structure of the dragon at all. If I had known from the beginning, I wouldn't have wasted my energy doing all that."