Soul of Searing Steel

Under the influence of the Chaos runes, Anos Abyss underwent a heavenly change.

The so-called rune was the realization of a concept. Its existence could mean some kind of power. Now, because more and more Chaos forces gathered into the sky, those Chaos forces and the Abyssal rift had released a presence of Dark Abyss that were fused together, turning the entire giant whirlpool into some sort of an outer world itself.

The two presences were the Chaos Void that existed since The beginning of Creation and Chaos destruction when everything had come to an end. The two presences entangled and gave birth to all sorts of horrific changes to the world.

Looking at the sea from the sky, one could notice that there was a layer of translucent, black barrier covering the entire region of the Great Central Whirlpool. The humungous waves at the whirlpool were tightly converged into the whirlpool under the influence of the runes in the sky. The storm and the dark clouds in the entire region of Anos Abyss dispersed and vanished. The sunlight once again shone.

However, the center of the great whirlpool was completely covered by the black barrier as the entire region was isolated from the outside world.

The changes that turned heaven and earth upside down was experienced deeper by the Epoch that by the border of the gigantic whirlpool. Just as Joshua commanded to charge into the center of the gigantic whirlpool, the ninth Chaos rune slowly gathered and appeared in the middle of the sky alongside the other runes. The strange ritual seemed to have completed more than one-third of its total progression. It was beginning to unleash a small part of its power.

Within the region covered by the barrier, the density of the main four elements—wind, fire, water, and earth—began to thin. The color of everything gradually faded away. The sky and the sea water were reduced to black and white—at the same instant, the heat in the atmosphere was sucked away. The rolling waves were instantly frozen. Pieces of giant icebergs appeared in the whirling current of the whirlpool. Each of the icebergs slammed at the 'puny' ark at the speed of approximately two hundred meters per second as if they were trying to crush the ark into bits.

"It is beginning to attack us now."

Robzek did not bother himself with the hundred-metered gigantic icebergs that were currently flying at the ark. He grunted and lifted his head to look at the unnamed runes as they slowly rotated in the sky. Then he lowered his head and looked at the center of the great whirlpool which was now dark.

"That is all? That's hilarious," the holy knight retorted.

At the border of the whirlpool, a spot of light suddenly emerged. The light blinked like the stars in the heavens. Suddenly, the silvery light expanded like it had just exploded. Then, the glorious outburst of the holy light transformed into a gigantic cross warhammer. It was grabbed by one giant hand and swung towards the icebergs that were about to smash into the ark.

The icebergs that were hundreds of meters huge were smashed into bits by the warhammer. However, the broken fragments of the icebergs still contained horrific Chaos energy. If any one of those fragments touched any ordinary man, that person would suffer a great sickness and the after-effects of that sickness would remain forever in the person's body. However, two more holy lights of different origins flashed across the surface of the deck on the ark. The energy of the two holy lights had blocked all of the residues of the icebergs.

With the protection of holy light, the pure white ark that was covered by red Combat Aura and the Magic energy of Thunder sailed right through the shattered icebergs. The ark was able to sail through the outer rim of the whirlpool and arrived at the center region of the whirlpool.

If it was just an ordinary ship, even if it could withstand the strong current of the Central Whirlpool in Anos Abyss, the ship would never be strong enough to sail through the obstacles like how the ark did. The ship would definitely have been dragged in by the current of the whirlpool and they would have gone round and round for over ten minutes before arriving at the opening at the center of the whirlpool. However, the circumstance was different for the Epoch. Right on board of it, there were two Supreme-tier champions and three Gold-tier champions. The enchanted core of the ark and the Nuclear Star could outperform a Supreme-tier being. Under the circumstance where everyone went all out, the great whirlpool with a diameter of more than ten kilometers was not capable of even slowing them down. The entire ark appeared to be flying over the surface of the sea. It did not even make contact with the whirlpool. Hence, they did not have to spend their energy on handling the current of the whirlpool at all.

However, in the rolling waves, there were many solidified ice fragments and coral shards crashing into the barrier of the ark as they flew everywhere in the rampant sea. The three members of the church were only capable of picking the ones that were threatening to destroy them. They were forced to ignore all those pieces of fragments that were less threatening. The huge impacts of the waves continued crashing into the hexagonal barriers that were protecting the ark. Each wave was like a metal board crashing into the barriers. Ripples spread on the surface of the barriers with each impact. However, the ark held its barriers.

It looked like they had expected the obstacles and they would not slow down the ark. But the tenth Chaos rune appeared in the sky.

Instantly, the bizarre power that covered the region of the sea was enhanced tremendously. The holy light barriers around the Epoch seemed to have shrunken by a notch. The Nuclear Star above the ark appeared to be dimmer than before. It was no longer as bright as the sun.

"Be careful!"

An intense sense of danger rushed into the chest of the warrior. Joshua let out a shout to warn the others. Then, he decisively turned the direction of the ark slightly to the side so that the ark could change its course and sail towards the side of the Central Whirlpool.

Soon after, many pale particles of light gathered in the sky. These light particles were irregular in size. However, all of them hung down like pillars of light as they shot straight at the ark that was moving off of its original course.

High heat evaporated a huge amount of seawater and ice. Thick mushroom clouds began to rise. White stormy winds swept behind the ark, tearing the waves. When Hill witnessed that, he inhaled sharply and commented, "It first absorbed the heat from the sea and used frost to attack us. Then it used the heat that it absorbed and turned them all into light beam attacks before it starts attacking us again!"

"We must not prolong the battle. We must increase our sailing speed!"

Feeling as if his heart was shocked by electricity, Joshua knew that the runes in the sky belonged to some sort of super Supreme-tier ritual. It would require a long time to activate that sort of large-scale ritual. However, it could really bring some real damage when the ritual is completed. The ability to absorb energy and unleash it was just one of its many abilities. The longer they prolonged the battle, the lesser chance they had arriving at their destination. God knows what that kind of Chaos magic it had up its sleeves.

Everyone had finally arrived at the lower level of the whirlpool. The whirlpool at that region was swirling faster than any other parts of the whirlpool. The sea water had narrowed downwards at a nearly sixty degrees angle. Everyone could see the bottom of the giant whirlpool. At the pitch-black rift, the strong presence of the Dark Abyss gushed from it as the sea water in the surroundings was contaminated by its presence.

"That's it! That's the spot!" Robzek roared out loud. The rumbling of the waves by the ark seemed to have formed into visible shockwaves. Those rumblings were even more thunderous than the sound of thunder. "We shall charge into the Abyssal rift straight away. The Epoch has installed a special dimensional magic circle. We shall get over to the other side of the Dark Abyss!"

"We can only completely seal the Abyssal rift on the side of the Dark Abyss!"

"This is f***ing intense!"

A vulgar word from Roland's tongue as he spoke after his captain. He laughed out loud at first. Then he seemed serious and reassured the warrior with words of comfort, "Don't worry. The Church of the Seven Gods will guide the ark back to the Mycroft Continent. The glorious Flame Seed Magic Circle will guarantee our survival in the Dark Abyss!"

"Under the condition that we kill the one responsible for starting the ritual!"

Joshua furrowed his brows then spoke with a heavy voice as he placed his hand on the head of the ark in order to control his own combat aura, "Don't talk to me first!"

Epoch appeared to be flying towards the center of the giant whirlpool almost in a straight line. The sea water in the surroundings was at ninety degrees angle because of the rapid swirling. The ark was descending along the inner wall of the whirlpool as it spun along the current the whirlpool until it had built up an unstoppable momentum. They were currently sailing straight towards the pitch-black Abyssal rift.

The barriers of the Epoch was no longer capable of taking the impacts that strong. Horrible dents began to appear on the surface of the body of the pure white ark. Some of the outer layer of the deck had even chipped off into the sea water. The deck was reduced to small pieces by the powerful shredding current of the whirlpool.

The deep and dark space of the rift was the very passage that connected the two worlds. However, the length of the passage was approximately a few thousand meters while the width of the passage was about a few hundred meters. That was the center point of the Great Central Whirlpool in the depths of the Anos Abyss. The contaminated seawater gushed into the other world. That was the reason why the whirlpool was formed.

Above the whirlpool, the eleventh Rune appeared among the clouds. That was almost half of the number of Runes required for the ritual to be completed. Right after the eleventh Rune had appeared fully in the sky, the Elemental energy that formed everything began to distort. The outer wall of the world began to distort. With the layers of dark clouds dispersing, a moon appeared in the sky.

However, that moon was not one of the two silver moons in the Mycroft Continent. Its color was inconspicuously shady. However, the blood did not condense into its solid form as it remained in color of black and red. Its light shone upon the seawater of the great whirlpool, turning it into violent waves that looked like sea of blood.

The dimension had been switched. The interior of the black barrier completely fell into some floor in the Dark Abyss. The shady moon in some floors of Dark Abyss had also projected its power as it corrupted everything near it, causing them to putrefy and be destroyed.

Under the guidance of Chaos runes, the shady black moon shone its blood ray at the Epoch. Joshua no longer had the extra strength to change the direction of the ark. He only gritted his teeth as he attempted to speed up the ark.

"Use the Core until it melts! Full speed ahead!"

In the middle of the captain's cabin, the red-haired old man was giving his command. Many of the crews with weaker strength were unconscious after experiencing the intense trembling and the influence of the Dark Abyss, leaving only the elite grade veterans and the vice-captain who had the strength of a Silver-intermediate conscious. But they were also barely hanging on.

"Yes! Magic Enhanced Engine Overdrive, Core Detonation Particle, full speed ahead!"

The remaining technicians immediately carried out the command given by their captain and instantly readjusted the function of the ark. The engine of the ark instantly exploded loudly. Right at the heart of the Epoch, the gigantic enchanted core began to overload, the magic particle of the core that maintained the transfer of energy to the ark had completely shut down. In just a few minutes, the power system of the giant ark would self-destruct to provide the ark with energy a few times higher than it normally did.

Boom! Cracking! Rumbling! Boom–

Right at the bottom floor of the Epoch, the waterproof cabins that were now useless was shattered into pieces by the tremendous force of the explosion. The next place that got blown up was the cargo bay where Black and Funa were. The insanely powerful Magic energy that was unleashed by the 'Core Detonation Protocol' had been turned into the momentum that pushed the ark forward at full speed at the cost of dismantling the ark piece by piece.

The Church of the Seven Gods seemed to have foreseen that. They came prepared with a plan that covered every possibility that they could think of. As long as the magic circle at the core of the ark remained intact, they would be able to guide everyone on board the ark back to their world. The body of the ark was insignificant.

With the support of that push, the white ark flew straight towards the Abyssal rift at its top speed as its body slowly dismantled one part after another and slowly turned into a broken ark.

Joshua who was standing at the bow, saw the Abyssal rift getting larger by the second as they approached it at top speed. The presence of the Dark Abyss was also getting stronger as they moved nearer to the rift. The warrior was overwhelmed with excitement. That was a charge that was much stronger than any charge he had performed in the past, both past life and this life–after all, the warrior did not get a chance to sail on a gigantic ark in his past life!

At the moment before the Epoch entered the dimensional rift, at the centermost of the body of that ark which had already broken to the point that it no longer looked like an ark, parts of it that remained intact suddenly gleamed with a flash of warm holy power. That wave of energy behaved like water and began to cover the remaining of the ark entirely, forming a strange oval shield.

The Epoch was completely submerged into the dimensional rift. The ray of bloody moonlight that was on their tail vanished without a trace after losing its target.

In the sky, the twelfth Chaos rune slowly appeared.

With the unpredictably ferocious waves, the ark was completely submerged into the dimensional rift. Joshua who remained standing at the bow could see that everything before his eyes were floating and looming around the Epoch before disappearing. Through the transparent barrier of holy light, he could also see the scenery on the other side of the dimensional rift. A world of red. Blood moon lingered in the sky. There were mountains levitating in the sky as well. Right beneath those mountains was an endless pit of void.

There was nothing connecting any of those levitating mountains. Many of the mountains were already shattered and reduced into debris and dust. The dimensional rift was activated above all of them. The dark shady sea water gushed out of the rift like a gigantic waterfall as the water poured towards the bottom of the Dark Abyss.

The broken white ark came through the rift and remained floating in midair. Unlike the sea water, the ark managed float in midair by relying on the acceleration they obtained by activating the 'Core Detonation Protocol' where they melted the core to gain power. Joshua and Funa had also distributed their power on the ark as well. The ark continued to fly in the air in a curved line as it made its way towards a mountain formed from a set of black rocks.

"Impact ahead! Brace yourselves!"

Roland's eyes widened as he stared at the black rock mountain that grew larger by the second as they approached it at a high speed—in fact, that mountain looked even larger than an intermediate-scale island at the sea. It would be an understatement to call it a mountain–it was a horrible sight. Even though the Epoch was tough, it would definitely be torn into pieces if it were to crash into a mountain that was purely formed from a pile of giant rocks at that speed.

"Stop talking, Roland! Concentrate!"

Robzek let out a raging roar as he immediately lifted his hands. Runes appeared around his body. The blond-haired holy knight responded to the situation at last as he charged himself up with his holy light and his combat aura as fast as he could.

When the broken ark was about to collide into the mountainous island, two gigantic light wheels suddenly appeared on both sides of the ark. The light wheels came into contact with the surface of the black rock first as they smashed into the rocks, shattering the surface of the rocks into pieces of tiny rocks. After that, using that momentum as the force, the wheels rapidly spun as they brought the ark forward.

Instantly, the Epoch was like a strange flying ark-shaped car with two gigantic wheels on each side. It force-landed in the internal area of the floating island.

The surface of the ground collapsed and was shattered by the impact of the two rolling light wheels. Rocks and dust floated outside. The entire ground made of black rock was plowed with a long and deep trench all the way through in a straight line.

At the bottom of a long grand canyon, the Epoch gradually slowed down until it stopped. The deck was pretty messed up. Everyone on board of the deck was almost thrown off the ark. Everyone was out a breath but relieved that they were still alive—Funa hugged Hill tightly. The draconic lady had plunged both of her legs into the deck as she attempted to resist the thrashing force of the ark as it crash-landed moments ago.

The three members of the church used their own holy light to balance themselves and prevented themselves from getting tossed out during the crash. Joshua did almost the same thing. However, the black draconic girl who almost fainted because of the immense jolting force of the crash hung onto the warrior.

Back in the cabin, almost all of the crews had lost their consciousness. Some of them had even sustained heavy injuries during the crash. However, there was no one there to attend to their injuries. Hence, their fates were in the hands of the gods.

After shaking his head while regaining conscious, Joshua looked around him. They were currently in the middle of a grand canyon. There was no end to it by the looks of it. The ark was at the bottom of the canyon. It was probably a few thousands meters deep. The two sides of the canyon and its ground were of bizarre-looking black rocks.

As everyone had yet to catch their breath after the crash, the warrior decided to scout through the terrain. However, as he was observing the surroundings, Joshua sensed that something was not right–the surface at the bottom of the canyon was a little too smooth as if it was being polished by something. Other than the trench that was formed by the impact of the ark while it attempted to land, there was no sign of any dent nor bulge on the surface of the ground. That was definitely not natural.

Recalling his past memories, while the Epoch was landing, the warrior had a glimpse of the floating islands. The moment he recalled the images of those islands, Joshua instantly realized that the floating island was a fragment of a complete continent. The gigantic canyon that they were in was actually a gigantic mark… that was left by some sort of weapon!

After slowly taking breaths, the warrior thought deeper. He was shocked—if everything was as he thought, then how fierce was the battle that happened in the plains of the Dark Abyss be? How horrifying was the battle that even the continent was destroyed and shattered? How was there a mark that was a few thousand meters deep across the shattered continent?