Soul of Searing Steel

The dim and gloomy skies.

Low-hanging black clouds drizzled. The rather chilling air, along with thin fogs, shrouded the dimly lit mountain forest.

A stretching wind pungent with blood billowed through the woods, swaying trees and leaves, revealing a small, narrow path that had been trampled by beasts.

It was a path that was difficult to traverse. Whenever it rained, the mud would turn swampy, capable of biting down on the soles of any passerby. Together with the mountainous topography and beasts that were likely to appear, even the most experienced lumberjack and hunter would not want to take this route on such occasions.

But there were some people who, under compelling circumstances, had to take this route.

A haggard red-haired girl, with pointy ears as well as a pair of dragon wings, was shambling as she walked along that path of beasts with much difficulty.

There was a blade wound over her right arm so deep that wound could be seen. The wound was scorched at high temperatures, becoming a mixture of scab and ash. On her stomach was a huge cavity that was almost cut clean through, with squirming guts visible. Even her wings were filled with arrow wounds, its membranes utterly torn, with several arrowheads that were not yet extracted digging into the flesh.

It would not have been unusual for the girl to die immediately from such extensive injuries, but she could still bite down on her pain and kept advancing the little path. Beyond that, her wounds also seemed to be recovering—in just a dozen minutes, most of the lighter wounds were already fully healed.

After some time again, the girl with dragon wings stopped in her tracks. She felt a numbing itch on her wings, therefore briskly furrowing her brow, reached out with her hand and pulled out the arrowhead that was lodged into her flesh. A pillar of black blood ejected out of the gap immediately.

It turned out that more than half the wounds on her wings had already healed, and the regrown flesh had pressed down on the arrowhead, thus causing the itch.

"Thanks to you, I've escaped with my life again…"

With a complex expression, the young girl touched the plain white gown over her body. At the moment, it was emitting a soft radiance that was immeasurably pure and holy, billowing gently over the girl's entire body and recovering every wound on her body at speeds visible to the eye. As her condition turned for the better, the girl started to trudge deeper into the mountain forest.

The raining forest was incomparably oppressing. Like thick canopies, the lofty growth barred the moving winds completely, leaving just damp and dull precipitation. The soft swampy mud beneath completely absorb the soles, requiring more strength each time the foot was lifted off it. Within the depths of the dark forest were restless shuffling as if something alive was moving, making the place even more unsettling.

But the girl with dragon wings did not fear such things. She looked towards the direction of the sounds and made a face that she herself thought was vicious—although it would not have scared five-year-old children in reality. 

Still, a powerful giant dragon presence pressed forward in that direction at the same time.

In an instant, the dull and quiet mountain forest boiled. Just like the ensuing ripples after a large boulder had been thrown into a tranquil lake, countless black birds with curious shapes and three legs flew away from within the branches, while there were sounds of rustling grass as beasts hurriedly fled into the distance.

Though it was not the Dragon Might of a purebred, the presence of one at the very top of the food chain was still very useful even if it was weaker.

Furthermore, not only did the Dragon Might chased away the beasts, it had also seemed to have awakened something.

The dark forest began to squirm—this was no metaphor, but reality as it was.

Two seconds precisely after the dragon-winged girl had unleashed her dragon-might, the silent forest that had been silent started to move as if alive. The surface shifted unstably, the innumerable tree roots and its vestiges crisscrossing beneath the ground.

"Hillya Ferragni. You should not have come here."

Finally, a cluster of twisted, interlocked tree roots appeared from below ground with a boom. Soon, the colossal half-silhouette of a human, a dozen meters tall and cluttered in mud, appeared. The socket of its single black colored eye on its skull was burning with a dark green fluorescence, and it spoke with a low, humming voice at the girl with dragon wings before it.

"The Dark Creek Forest does not welcome you or the ones chasing behind you…"

However, the treant that was ready to drive away the uninvited guests promptly stopped talking, for the girl named Hillya had taken out a gem spreading warm radiance.

The gem itself was translucent, shaped like a water droplet and navy-blue in color. There was a blurred luster over it just like water vapors, refracting a streak of rainbow colors that made it appear beautiful beyond compare.

"O Great Urbandy, King of the Forests, Shepherd of the Swamp—your highness, I'm ready to present you this Seed of the Holy Stone in exchange for your shelter."

Hillya's voice was both dried and hoarse—although the white gown had healed her injuries, it could not return lost blood into her body. And with those words, she briskly threw the gem in her hand to the giant treant named Urbandy.

The treant caught it. For a long time, it stared silently—with its single eye—at the gem that seemed to be imbued with an entire ocean and was virtually the condensation of pure energy.

In the end, it sighed like a human, and shook its head.

"…The Dark Creek King could not refuse your tithe."

The treant's hand, formed from innumerable roots, caved in to form a little opening and stuffed the ocean-blue gem into its body. Then, Urbandy turned its head and leveled its dark-green fluorescent gaze at the young girl.

"I'm different from your kind—I'm not flesh and blood, and would never betray my principles. But your tithe delights me, and so I will shelter you for twenty days.

"But remember, little girl with the blood of dragons—just twenty days."

Even as it spoke, the gigantic treant slowly vanished as it reverted into countless tree roots and shrunk back within the land once more. But as mana vibrated the air, its low voice still reverberated thunderously. "The grand army of the undead would reach the mountain forest in three days. You must stay within the depths of the forest or I could not promise your safety."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Hillya immediately breathed a sigh immediately after the other agreed. Her body then softened; she leaned on a huge tree behind her.

The girl was extremely exhausted, her pursuit by the enemy for days having run her ragged early on. But now that she had arrived at the Dark Creek Forest, a neutral shelter that was rare in this dark world, her safety had the bare minimum assurance in twenty days.

However, just as the red haired-dragon winged girl looked prepared to sleep, the monumental treant voice resounded across the forest again.

"A word of advice, little girl with the blood of dragons."

Urbandy's voice then appeared to have become much gentler. "In this era where the Death Shadow awakens and demons rampaged, individuals amount to nothing. Why don't you head to the west and gather with the survivors to fend off those monsters?"

Hillya, however, did not reply, as if something unexpected happened—she looked bewilderedly on the gown over her body with a lost expression.

The stark white, unsullied but plain gown was shining for some reason. Stripes of compact silver light were overlapping each other, before gathering into several lines of rune circuits with endless mystery. The circuits then glowed in different shades—white, silver, green and colorless, before finally condensing into a cluster of holy white light.

"What are you doing? Stop!"

Apparently sensing something, countless roots amassed again as Urbandy the giant treant formed from underground. It extended its hand, as if to stop the unusual shift on the girl's gown.

However it was too late.

"Whooosh––"

A bellow resounded, as if created by the long winds that billowed through the mountain creek and swamp, while the entire mountain forest trembled once. Then, a blinding beam shot straight high above to the sky with the dragon winged girl at its center, penetrating the low-hanging black clouds within seconds and extended towards the edge of the world.

"A-Again?"

Hillya pressed down on her own forehead, and stared confoundedly on her gown that animated herself.

The same thing had happened almost a year ago. On that occasion, the suddenly-alive gown had autonomously emanated virtually endless light and completely wiped out the Death Shadow army that was chasing after her. Incensed, the enemy sent out a hunting party several times larger than the last one, causing her to flee haggardly for her life until today.

But now… Hillya looked up at the sacred beam that centered around herself, a hazy premonition within her heart.

If that last beam was a miracle caused by some mystical resonance.

Then this time, the mysterious and enchanted gown inherited from her ancestors was calling out to the distance on its own accord.

"I'm getting chased because of you, but also saved time after time because of you."

The girl, having worn herself out running for her life since the Cataclysm no thanks to the white gown, mumbled with a voice that was not really distinct between loathing and perplexity. "But until now, I still don't know why… you have so many secrets…"

Meanwhile, the treant withdrew its hand even as it glared at the beam. Then, it spoke softly, its tone unfathomable.

"… The Light of the Holy One.

"Would the prophesized day really come… In this world of darkness…"

In another world, a few days after this scene had happened.

The black-haired warrior let his weapons do all the work as they scrubbed the black giant dragon beside them, while he stood at a corner and read the emergency message from the communications officer.

"What is it that needs special-urgent communications?"

Joshua curiously opened the envelope, his eyes scanning through the brief few lines.

[––The Fourth Object of the Sage's Legacy has resonated; it has sent coordinates to the target world on its own.

Authenticity of coordinates has been verified at a hundred percent.]

Dexterously igniting the letter into a bunch of smoke, Joshua pensively stood where he was.

"What's the matter?"

03 floated down from the sky and approached Joshua, staring at the black-haired man whose lips were curling up naturally.

"Why do you look so happy?" She asked, intrigued.

"Nothing," Joshua replied reflexively, and looked up towards the rare clear sky above Moldavia.

Although the sun did not scorch in the North, it was still blinding. Nonetheless, the warrior simply stared directed at it, his eyes burning with infernos that even the brilliant sunlight could not suppress.

"Just a little excited about the upcoming adventure."