Soul of Searing Steel

Joshua would never waver in indecision—departed once he said so.

After confirming all information with Artanis, he briskly took the skies without delay and flew towards the Great Ajax Mountains.

Two missing Legendary mages? He thought, his heart filled with curiosity. It's a fun thing that's really hard to come by.

Joshua would never believe that the North held anything so hazardous that two Legendary-tier spellcasters would die—not even if it were volcanic eruptions or encirclement by countless monsters.

Legendary mages held majestic power that escapes the imagination of ordinary people. If a volcano was exploding they could freeze the volcano, and wipe out every monster if they were encircled. Even if the Ancient Dragons of legend should appear, they would at most flee wretchedly after a large-scale battle, and would never have been killed so discretely.

The only possibility was that they have mistakenly entered some dimensional passageway or far-reaching forbidden land, just as Black had carelessly stepped into one and entered the world of Illgner. That should be the greatest possibility for those two mages whose hearts were dead-set on adventures, and the dimensional barriers in the North were as thin as paper—it was almost definitive that they had gone to another world.

Those thoughts only flashed for an instant, and in that instant, Joshua had left the main city of Moldavia and arrived at the rather vast plains of the North.

However, Joshua's flight was in fact slower than before because his weight had greatly increased. After ascending to Legendary and assimilating some materials through Steel Strength, his weight had risen quickly up to tens of thousands of tons. He must now carefully control even his daily speech and movements or he could cause a small earthquake after taking just a light step out, which was the same for flight—he could easily cause a huge cyclone that engulfs the entire material realm of the North.

Still, he was extremely agile despite slowing down his flight speed when compared to typical Supreme tiers. In minutes, he arrived by the edge of the Great Ajax Mountains.

Due to his arrival, anguished howls and sounds of panicked fleeing arose throughout the Dark Forest. Countless monsters had sensed their natural enemy that the greatest horror had descended, with sheets of black figures flying away from the forests and feeling in all directions. Brown-boned geese and sonic bats darted off the fastest, while dozens after dozens of violent beasts were wresting space to run amidst the thickets. A frost plain tiger was actually running beside an armored deer—their bodies emanated in mana radiance at full capacity, the two beasts that ranked high up in the food chain having no time or courage to hunt their natural prey, the tides of beasts a figure of harmony.

Having chased away a multitude of beasts, Joshua's gaze swept through the edges of the mountains. His gaze, as if it was solid, froze monsters such as Frost Slimes and Forest Shades that could not escape in time to freeze where they were, fearing to even move. They could sense a searing presence as if the sun was indiscriminately scouring every inch of their habitat.

After some time, Joshua withdrew his gaze and continued flying deeper into the mountains.

"I could sense those two mages' presence. They had previously used magic to conceal their presence and could even mix their life attributes with high-level monsters—no wonder I could never sense them within the Great Ajax Mountains."

Nonetheless, the warrior was not worried about what the two Legendary mages were scheming in his territory. Firstly, he knew those two yes-men in his pre-existence—[Runic Swordsman], his hero class at the time, was a special legacy that Barnil had uncovered from ancient ruins. Secondly, they would not have hidden for a year if they really wanted to pull something malevolent. Mind Lord William alone just needed to stealthily shift the citizens of a certain region to make homicidal maniacs out of all of them, ending lives tragically by hundreds of thousands without once lifting a finger.

And most importantly, they absolutely feared hassles and did not have that leisured mind to play destroyer.

The two had come solely to pursue information regarding Ancient Dragons, and the Great Ajax Mountains had precisely been the habitat of those mythical creatures.

As that thought went through Joshua's mind, he could already see that the dormant volcano amidst the mountains. On its summit crater was a boiling sulfuric lake, spreading poisonous gases that would suffocate ordinary folk in every direction.

However, it only worked on ordinary folk—silver-tier warriors or spellcasters would never be affected by it. Joshua was, as a matter of fact, taking a deep breath of the gases having sensed the distinct presence of those Legendary mages.

A gale promptly surged across the skies. The turbulent white shockwaves, echoing the atmospheric tides, briefly formed a cyclone pillar. All air within miles were swiftly drawn inside the warrior's body and rapidly analyzed.

The burning smell of sulfur, stone being scorched into molt, the vapors of the boiling lake, and the volcanic dust scattered into the air.

Heat of almost seven degrees, dry and without any windy air, the speed of wind, and the rate of the earth's vibration.

Using 'breathing' as a move and ritual to sense the world around, Joshua's spirit shrouded the entire Great Ajax Volcano at this very moment. His will moved as everything around him moved, with innumerable details arbitrarily cascading into his brain and utterly analyzed by his mental faculty.

He found the two Legendary champions' presence at once. It was two extremely conspicuous tracks in the warrior's eyes, the myriad-colored mana ripples that resembled a rainbow and the dark-gray mana ripples merged and soared towards another corner of the mountains.

Joshua turned to look, and found that it was a peak not too far away from him.

However, traces of those two Legendary champions stopped there unusually and left nothing else. Joshua frowned, feeling that something was not quite right but jetted towards that direction nonetheless.

It did not take long to head towards that mountain. Joshua reached it within ten seconds, and quickly picked up a supremely faint dimensional ripple that was about to dissipate when he finally arrived at the summit.

"That's it!"

His eyes glinting, Joshua understood that he had found a clue. Thanks to his quick decisiveness, his flight and investigation took minutes—the dimensional ripple was so faint it could not be found if he was slightly further and would have vanished in a few dozen seconds. At the thought, he immediately descended and approached the spot where the ripple resided, planning to recreate and maintain it.

And when he landed, Joshua suddenly furrowed his brow.

Wait. Why is there still such a thick sulfuric scent?

Although the mountain was not far from the Great Ajax Volcano, it was blanketed in lush vegetation—the clear fragrance plants would have mostly cleared any remaining sulfuric odor, and it would not be thus concentrated. Then, in the very next moment, the warrior's heart went on high-alert—he had abruptly sensed that there as a smell from the Abyss contained within the sulfur!

The scent of demons!

Even so, the warrior did not become excited over his discovery. Blowing out a long breath of air, he calmly re-enacted the dimensional ripples, with a plan in mind to get Nostradamus to analyze where it heads. There were specializations amongst classes and ability after all—the Legendary mage of dimensional disciplines would definitely be more adept at tracing dimensional aspects than himself. At the same time, as he stored the heavy demonic sulfur scent in passing, he could sense a familiar smell.

It was neither familiarity of sulfur or abyss—but familiarity in regards to the demon itself.

After that was done, Joshua looked around again, his eyes scanning the mountains and Dark Forest, driving endless avian species to escape in fear. Be that as it may, he definitely did not notice any trace—demon or mage, and so shook his head then glided towards the main city of Moldavia.

The fruits of this night were truly above expectations.

Still, Joshua was too lazy to think about why the two Legendary mages would suddenly get involved with demons. Ultimately, both Barnil and William were unlearned in rituals and summoning, so instead of them summoning a demon it was more likely they met a demon in the North. A lot of cultists were still here a while ago gathering devotees too—perhaps something they left behind them had drawn some creature from the Abyss? That was very likely.

Compared to toiling as he tried to determine the pair's whereabouts, the warrior had far more leisurely methods to obtain information.

In minutes, he has returned to the main city of Moldavia.

In his overlooking view in the sky, most of the citizens were already resting, their life flames immeasurably steady as they dreamed—the occasional flicker caused by said dreams too. As for the adventurers, they gathered in taverns and their rented campsites—their life flames even more obvious, spreading light as they brimming in the cheerful atmosphere.

In the cathedral, Archbishop Artanis was in the library. The old man always slept late and favored killing time flipping through old volumes. Sensing Joshua's sight, he looked up and smiled, waving his hand in greeting.

The construction zones within and without the city were calm. There was no trace of demon or cultist presence—nodding, Joshua could not help but become doubtful at the sight.

Strange. Throughout his flight, he had surveyed most of Moldavia as well as the towns and villages along the way. It appeared that the cleansing operations before were complete—there was neither hidden cultist nor any sign of ritual and summoning, and he should probably reward the legion of knights who had done well in that undertaking when he returned.

So, where did that demon come from? Could it be that it had run from beyond the North to the Great Ajax Mountains, and, discovered by the pair of Legendary mages, vanished together? What coincidence—even forged sensational headlines was nothing compared to it.

Whatever the case may be, Joshua had returned to the sky above the liege's residence. He descended gingerly as if there was a layer of ice that would shatter on contact was beneath his feet.

In truth, with his weight now, the little granite castle was definitely no different from paste—it would not take a second after he unrestrained himself that the entire residence would collapse into a huge crater under his gravity field, even crumbling the entire center of the main city.

"Ling, Ying, bring out that grimoire inside my study's cabinet," the warrior commanded loudly as he returned inside the residence from the roof's stairs. "That's right," he quickly answered when he heard the silver-haired girl's mumbles inside the room. "That grimoire that summons demons—bring it to me, I want to summon ask a demon and ask about the situation."

"But Master, you've summoned too many demons to kill before. I don't think there'll be some stupid demon who would resonate and be summoned." The divine armament girl complained as she pushed open the study door; she held an old tome that had covers that were seemingly made from human skin.

It was an abyssal grimoire concealed within a noble's collection in the Imperial Capital after having spared a Southern Fort from destruction by an Abyssal Terraria Worm. Later, every time the warrior felt the itch, he would use the grimoire to summon and slay one or two demons before having a drink. It had even shocked Archbishop Artanis then—the old man sighed as he understood Joshua's behavior (savagery) a bit more.

"It's fine."

Joshua could sense the simple intelligence residing within when he took the grimoire named Eibon from the girl's hands. The will panicked when it sensed his appearance and tried to hide its existence, the whole book struggling as if alive to flee the grasp of the horrible monster before it. It was absolutely meaningless, however, since the warrior's eyes could see through even the Divine Dungeon Shroud. A single grimoire could shake like a sieve or shrink however it could, but it would never escape his grasp.

With a little shake of his hand, the abyssal grimoire that was once immeasurably cruel and had devoured an indeterminable number of souls simply froze as if staggered.

Joshua tousled the silver-haired girl's hair and coaxed her to get some rest instead of troubling his work—the upcoming spectacle would be violent and inappropriate for children after all.

Afterward, Joshua had left his residence in seconds towards the unoccupied areas outside of the city.

There was a damp and rather cool spring wind billowing where he stood, the soil of which had largely defrosted and was rather sticky.

Then, with an imposing air that allows no refusal, Joshua forced the grimoire open.

Crack-crack-crack-crack–

The sound of metals being contorted rang as the Book of Eibon abruptly wailed shrilly and in agony. In the next instant, a summoning fissure directed towards the Abyss opened from its pages against its will. Dark-purple mana surge assembled into a ritual circle that summons demons forth, attracting and tempting any abominations that wanted to approach the Prime Material Realm.

It took a long time. Especially given that the warrior had slain quite a few demons that had headed for the Prime Material Realm, not many fools would head for the land of no return.

And yet, Joshua did not have to wait for long.

"Come out!"

Reaching out with his hand impatiently, Joshua broke through the abyssal crack directly. Breaking through the book pages that was forced open with his robust arm and reaching within, his tremendous power searched for a target at the Abyssal Realm on the other end through the dimensional barrier.

"I choose you!"

Boom!

As the grimoire cried in anguish, the warrior withdrew his hand, and the abyssal crack too rapidly closed itself as if rejoicing that its mission was over.

At the same time, a Balrog with an obtuse expression, its body burning with intense flames and its head grabbed by Joshua was thus 'summoned' compelling into the Prime Material Plane.

Where is this place? Its simple brain thought.

Then, the Balrog saw Joshua's face.

Ah. Looks like it's still the Abyss.