# Chapter 6: Can't You Trash Be a Bit More Useful?
The clouds parted.
Bit by bit, following the north wind, the snow clouds summoned by chaotic magical power were slowly dissipating due to the power of the Golden Warrior. Golden sunlight pierced through the gaps in the clouds, forming golden pillars of light that struck the ground.
Crack.
A foot wrapped in iron armor stepped onto the earth, which had been baked bone-dry by the intense heat, producing a crisp sound.
The warrior clad in full black armor walked out of the crater created by his landing. Crimson light flowed through the grooves of his Maximilian-style heavy armor, radiating a scorching brilliance.
Joshua raised his head, his eyes behind the V-shaped slit in his helmet observing everything before him—broken arrows were scattered haphazardly among the soil, craters from cannons or magic covered nearly every inch of ground before the fortress, the slippery entrails and shattered flesh of frenzied beasts were everywhere, melted snow and ice water mixed with multicolored beast blood flowed like small rivers converging into the craters.
It was like a scene from hell.
Taking a deep breath of the blood-tinged air, the warrior felt something within him being activated as he observed all this. Like gears wound tight, like an engine filled with fuel, a desire born from the depths of his soul began to spread slowly. Behind his helmet, a satisfied smile appeared on his face.
The smell of blood. How wonderful.
Looking around, the ruins of the collapsed city walls were littered with enormous gray-white boulders, countless frenzied beast corpses buried beneath them.
In truth, the Black Tide had not yet ceased. At the edges of the city, some magical beasts were still slowly climbing the walls. They dared not linger near the ruins where a Gold-rank existence had descended, but neither had they given up on breaching this fortress.
The city guards who still retained some combat capability were putting up scattered resistance. Thanks to Joshua's warning before his descent, aside from a few slow-moving guards who had broken their legs, no one had been caught in the blast of his power. The city's defensive strength had not suffered too great a loss, so the attacking magical beasts had still not managed to scale the walls.
"Boom."
A faint tremor came from behind.
Joshua turned, somewhat surprised, to look behind him.
The dust had completely cleared, revealing the enormous Golden Beast, now covered all over with purple magical patterns, lying at the bottom of the large crater in the center of the collapsed wall. One of its massive tusks had broken off, and the bone armor covering its head had developed some cracks. Its body, resembling a mammoth but several times larger, was covered in terrible wounds. Though the beast had not yet died, as the central point that had absorbed the impact of Joshua's descent, this magical beast—whose spine had been crushed by the warrior's stomp—should logically have been unable to stand at all.
But in reality, accompanied by the nauseating sound of flesh writhing, black-purple mist drifted, and countless tumors rapidly swelled and proliferated, repairing its wounds. Before long, the beast had regained the ability to move. It raised its limbs, slowly stood up, its purple-blue eyes still filled with chaos, its berserk battle intent undiminished.
And as the beast's will revived, the cold wind and ice once again became active, covering its wounded body to provide defense.
"Mammoth Beast, Silver high-rank herbivorous super-massive magical beast. Normally lives deep in the snowy mountain ranges. With strength comparable to Gold-rank and the terrifying vitality contained within its massive body, it has no natural enemies."
Gazing directly at this giant magical beast, Joshua turned and walked toward it step by step, looking very interested. "Because of berserk transformation, it advanced from Silver peak to Gold-rank. After being severely wounded, the virus eroded deeper, even achieving the conditions for Mad Dragon transformation—Elite Gold-rank. To reach this level, it seems that chaotic Black Erosion Dragon has indeed arrived near the Northern Lands."
"But this is not the reason you survived my attack."
So let me see what's inside your body.
Casually raising the greatsword in his hand, crimson battle qi infused into it, Joshua gripped the hilt with both hands, pointing the blade at the beast before him, and spoke softly: "Come."
I'll give you a chance to face me head-on.
"Boom…"
Even though it had lost its reason, the beast that manipulated ice and snow seemed to understand its current situation through instinct alone. It let out a low rumble, its purple patterns flashing with light, and the cold magical power surging throughout its body suddenly expanded. Within a hundred meters, all heat was rapidly expelled, while outside this range, the suddenly increased heat melted the snow and ice, muddy water soaking into the soil.
Magical power is the primordial force of the world. It is the foundation of all things, and all things themselves. This power obeys the will of the soul, capable of taking any form, any state… Expelling heat, halting motion, reducing everything to stillness—these are merely a few of its countless applications.
Magical beasts are named for their innate ability to use this power. They are favored by magical power, the darlings of the world, the firstborn of nature.
But in the end, they are nothing more than mere beasts.
"Roooooar!!"
Responding to the beast's low rumble, endless ice and frozen earth rose into the air from the surrounding ground, coalescing into a massive ice sphere dozens of meters in diameter. Without hesitation, it manipulated this ice sphere to smash rapidly toward Joshua. Because a tremendous force was compressing and accelerating the ice, the sphere's form began to change during its flight—from solid ice to a non-freezing tide somewhere between matter and liquid.
The ice water, countless times colder than freezing, surged violently yet never froze. It rushed at supersonic speed toward the warrior in black armor.
He could dodge.
Having been focused by the fortress's fire from the start, then worn down by a squad of three Silver peak-rank fighters, and finally struck by the warrior's descending blow—the beast was already running on empty. This was evident from its choice to manipulate magical power rather than attack with its proud physical body. The cold tide's power was certainly not insignificant, but its flaws were too many, and its attack range was limited to only the area directly in front. Any experienced Gold-rank warrior would not be hit, let alone Joshua, a former Legendary warrior.
But why should he dodge?
The bone-chilling wind howled. Joshua stared at the non-freezing tide rushing toward him at high speed, raised his greatsword, and in the face of such danger, revealed an excited smile.
Crimson battle qi burned fiercely on his armor, radiant light flowing along the edge of his blade.