Soul of Searing Steel

Brandon was the one talking. The expression on his face seemed much better than when he was worried about Vale Dani. It was much better now. However, he looked deadly serious at the moment, "However, even if that's the case, we cannot ignore the problems that the soldiers were having. Their stamina and morale have to be taken into consideration though. In previous years, the normal Dark Tide only had approximately 10,000 to 20,000 daemons. Meanwhile, that number of daemons is considered so abundant that they could have covered the land and the sky. Their massive army would seem boundless… However, what we are facing here is all daemons from the entire Dark Forest."

"These daemons are mainly reindeers, giant wild boars, winter wolves and white frost bear. Meanwhile, the flying daemons are mainly the giant bats from Mount Great Ajax and some frost wyrms… If I'm not wrong, all of them can go into Berserk Mode."

Speaking up to that point, the golden-haired swordsman spoke in a firm tone. "We are sure that these 200,000 daemons are all infected with the Berserk Virus from the black dragon."

"Speaking of which, there are 200,000 daemons waiting for me to slaughter them."

Nodding his head, Joshua thought to himself. After being infected with this kind of strange mutated virus, it'll be extremely hard to revert to normal again. If we don't kill them, we will be keeping the source of the plague.

Meanwhile, the experience of the daemons that went berserk would be much higher than those normal daemons. Truthfully, from the Dark Forest all the way to the fortress of Moldova, the number of monsters that the warrior slaughtered was abundant. So the amount of experience he acquired was tremendous, which made him level up three times.

Currently, his level was [Level 34 + 5, Gold-Tier Glory]. Joshua could finally acquire his true [Glorious Strength] after one more level. If he could just slay one Gold-tier Chaos Daemon, he could directly level up five times. He could cross over Level 40 into the realm of Intermediate Gold tier.

Being in the same realm, the true combat power level and level would not truly define a person's strength. Joshua knew that better than anyone. He was currently in the Lower Gold tier. However, humans or monsters of the same Gold tier might not be able to defeat him. However, those of even higher tier would have higher attributes and stats. They might be able to force Joshua into using more of his skills in the same battle.

Upon resting his thoughts there, he could not help but frown a little. Then he asked with some doubt in his eyes, "In the previous Dark Tide, there were usually over 10,000 to 20,000 daemons only. There would always be a Gold-tier daemon among them. However, just like what I told Brandon just now, there was only one Gold-tier daemon among the Dark Tide that invaded my territory… So why is there no sign of any daemon of that tier while I was charging towards the Dark Tide that you guarded against?"

Joshua thought to himself that he could kill one Gold-tier daemon to complete his quest conveniently.

"At first, there were two Gold-tier daemons. There were at least two, I think."

As Brandon rushed all the way from the Empire to the fortress after he received news that the Dark Tide was invading the fortress, Vale Dani was the only one with the knowledge to answer that question. In her still weak voice, she explained, "When the Dark Tide was invading the fortress for the first time, those Gold-tier monsters revealed themselves on the battlefield. It was a gigantic Dragon Spider and a Frost Butterfly… The Dragon Spider looks similar to the Sea King, Cancer. It also has a rock solid shell on its body. It also can resist most of the magic attacks just like the dragons. The webs that it spits are not like normal webs. Instead, the webs had become some magical substance. The webs could now work like high-level restraining spells."

Upon recalling that, her face was stricken with fear. "If I'm not a war mage who could use meteorite attacks that rain down from the entire sky or other skills that could summon stars to fall upon the enemies scorching them all with blazing flames, I'm afraid that one daemon could have taken down the entire fortress all by itself. Because no matter how tall the wall is, it will become pointless to a spider."

"As for the Frost Butterfly, although the creature itself was not powerful when we were battling it face to face, however, the negative effect of its frost-type magic came at us like blizzards. Without the support from the fortress's heavy assault force to push them back, there might not have a later to think about. We would have lost."

Upon saying that, the countess had a perplexed look. "However, those two monsters did not reveal themselves after the first encounter with them… Frankly speaking, if one of them reappears again for the next few waves, I might not have lasted so long for you two to reach the fortress."

Brandon did not say a word. He just cuddled Vale Dani and comforted her with a few soft words.

The two of them went lovey-dovey as if they had ignored the others around them.

Joshua sighed and paused for a moment before asking for more information. "Frost Butterfly is common. They can be deemed as one of the most common frost-type daemon insects. However, it is extremely rare to see a Gold-tier one… On the other hand, the Dragon Spider is a close relative of the Sea Dragons and the Cancers. The only difference is that the Dragon Spider lives on land. So it can't be deemed as a rare Gold-tier daemon as well… including that black dragon, there should be three Gold-tier monsters."

"Indeed. If the black dragon had launched their assaults on the fortress at the same time, judging based on the defense of the fortress, things would have gone pretty ugly."

Brandon had witnessed the breath attack of the black dragon. If it wasn't for the black-haired Warrior right before him, he could not be sure if he could have survived that attack back there.

Joshua nodded and said, "That's right. These creatures are a great threat to all of us. So the next time when they reveal themselves, I shall make them my priority on my to-kill list. That should ease the pressure exerted on the fortress's defenses."

???

"Hold on, sir. I'm sorry. Did I hear it wrong… What did you just say?"

The violet-haired mage was expressing her confusion, not believing what she just heard.

"I said, when the Dark Tide hits the fortress next time, I shall slay the two Gold-tier daemons first. Without the two of them on the battlefield causing havoc, defending the fortress should become much easier."

Vale Dani was stunned and she dropped her jaw. She did not know what to say. She felt that her thoughts and minds could not sync with the man at all—no, everything about this man was wrong in the first place. The words coming from this Count of the Radcliffe family had been strange from the start! What did he mean by 'there are 200,000 Daemons waiting for me to slaughter them'?! Even if he was given a year to kill that many daemons, he might not even be capable of wiping all of them out! Those were daemons, not ants!

I told you the news so that you can be more cautious instead of getting yourself killed. That would be a loss to the fortress's defense force! I only briefly explained the current situation and some information about it to you. I had no intention of asking you to help solve the current problem…

Vale Dani could feel that blood rushing to her head. The young-looking face of hers was unreadable. If there was another Gold-tier priest here with them, they could have formed a small Gold-tier party of four and easily charge into the heart of the Dark Tide, a massive army of at least 200,000 Daemons. They could have easily slain the Gold-tier daemons easy. However, if there was only one of them…

"If we talk about logic, we follow the code and honor of the Count and the aristocrats. The soldiers will be guarding the wall with everything they've got, ensuring that there will not be any losses at the rear. Meanwhile, the Gold-tier combatants should lead a small elite party to charge into the middle of the Dark Tide to cut off the head of the Gold-tier daemon. That's how the way it should be, right?"

Joshua was not perturbed; it was not enough for him to feel that way. He led a platoon of fifty Silver-tier knights in order to combine the strength of everyone and charge straight into the Dark Tide, clearing their own path towards their destination. Meanwhile, reality had proven that the knights were actually capable of charging through those daemons under Joshua's leadership.

"That's not the problem. You're right. As lieges, we should lead a party or a platoon to slay any powerful monsters that could pose a threat to the fortress and the city. However, that would require strength. According to the comparison between the strength of a daemon and the strength of a human in the current situation, we should not be capable enough to kill one monster that seemed so powerful right in the middle of the Dark Tide."

The countess was still attempting to explain. However, right before the eyes of Joshua staring at her, she felt that her words were meaningless. "You can't just charge into the Dark Tide just like that… That'll be wasting the firepower of the fortress. It will also be an irresponsible thing to do for anyone…"

Joshua narrowed his eyes and looked at the woman with the thought, You're such an annoying woman. Why shouldn't I just charge out and kill them all?. His thought was reflected right on his face. He furrowed his brows and adjusted his tone appropriately. After that, he slowly said, "However, truth to be told, our strength is similar to the strength of the Dark Tide. According to my prediction, the plan could totally work. We do not need to waste out battle power while I can try my best to unleash part of my power on the monsters."

Well, it was not about whether it could work or not…

"I'm sorry, I'm feeling not well now…"

With a hand resting on her forehead, Vale Dani's voice shook. "Rest is needed if one wants to recover from the effects of 'Spiritual Concussion'. So allow me to remove myself from this room…"

The violet-haired female mage was looked feeble. She looked into the eyes of Brandon who was standing right beside him. Both of them nodded at the same time. After that, they spoke to the black-haired warrior who was right before them, "Brandon can make any decision on behalf of me… Mr. Radcliffe, if you have anything on your mind, you can just talk to him about it. As long as it meets the criteria reasonably, we will not reject your request… Yue, come here and help me get upstairs."