Chapter 25: The Warrior's Etiquette Is to Open with a Finisher
"Boom, boom, boom—"
Warhorses galloped, pounding the earth, sending snow dust flying and ice shattering. The ground trembled faintly, and as over fifty sturdy warhorses with draconic bloodlines stomped in unison, the violent tremors superimposed and transmitted, like a tsunami or an avalanche, as if thousands upon thousands of troops were charging together.
What is called a charge is to combine ultimate speed with ultimate momentum, crushing everything in sight with unstoppable steps.
Feeling the bone-piercing wind rushing toward him, amidst the jolts of the warhorse's rapid sprint, Joshua faced the countless, innumerable monsters drawing ever closer, yet he showed no hesitation or panic. Instead, a sensation of his soul blazing with fire arose within him.
Yes—this is it!
This is true battle! There is no room to hold back; one must go all out, exert every effort just to survive. It is a battlefield where the slightest carelessness or misjudgment means death! How terrifying, how despairing, how fear-inducing—
And that is precisely why it is worth rejoicing over!
As if meeting an old friend, the black-armored warrior raised his steel lance, gripped his silver-white greatsword, and gazed upon the countless hideous faces and ferocious fangs within the beast tide, laughing boldly and heroically.
I have arrived!
So die!
No matter what kind of magical beasts they were, their bodies were all immensely large and sturdy. Even the most common herbivorous beasts, like deer, stood one to two meters tall and weighed hundreds of kilograms. If it were just one or a few, it would be manageable, but within the black tide, the army formed by tens of thousands of magical beasts was as insurmountable as a wall of black flesh.
Facing such a beast tide, even a war chariot would not dare to charge in recklessly.
Yet Joshua, without a moment's hesitation, led the fifty silver-rank knights who followed him in his fearless charge, plunging straight in.
Why did he only choose these fifty silver-rank knights and not bring more soldiers? Precisely because only silver-rank knights could keep pace with him, could handle the threats within the beast tide on their own, requiring no extra concern from the warrior, and could engage the enemy freely.
And as for the warrior himself...
Who was he? He was a former legendary warrior. The battlefields he had crossed were a hell that ordinary people could not finish traversing in a lifetime. These mere magical beasts before him—
Chickens and dogs, not worth mentioning!
Boom!
The steel lance swung at a speed invisible to the naked eye. The few frenzied beasts in front of him were struck as if by a high-speed cannonball, their bodies flying up like torn cloth sacks, crashing heavily into the other beasts behind them, causing a great commotion while also opening a gap.
With Joshua at the apex, the fifty silver-rank knights formed a sharp wedge formation, like a hot knife cutting through butter, easily breaking through the edge of the beast tide and plunging straight into its midst.
Instantly, all around turned pitch black, and the stench of blood and gore filled every direction.
The mindless beast tide's attack had no tricks; it relied purely on overwhelming numbers. Facing this sudden group of enemies, the fearless beasts quickly closed in, preparing to use their bodies to suppress the cavalry's maneuverability.
With enemies all around, no matter how fast the cavalry's speed or how fierce their momentum, they would be forcibly halted, then torn to shreds once they lost speed. Especially since the beasts before them all emitted purple-black dust, clearly having entered an initial stage of berserk, their strength far surpassing ordinary magical beasts, and their ferocity even more chilling.
However, although the frenzied beasts before him appeared powerful, with both their physical bodies and magic energy pushed to the extreme, in the end, they were nothing but puppets without wisdom or will, creatures that only knew instinctual attacks...
"Trash."
Spitting out these two words disdainfully, the moment he made contact with the beast formation, Joshua activated the power hidden deep within his body without hesitation. A crimson glow lit up from his chest, pulsing through his blood to his entire body, dyeing his skin with fiery red patterns like flames.
Even for a gold-rank warrior, battle qi was not something to be squandered freely. The skills one could use in a battle were limited, and Joshua was no exception in this regard. What suited this moment best was undoubtedly—
[Ultimate Essence: Divine Power!]
He could not be surrounded, could not be obstructed. He had to eliminate the enemies ahead as quickly as possible, at least scatter them—so, atop his horse, the unstoppable warrior decisively used his ultimate technique, then swung his massive steel lance, thrusting it straight into the beast formation right before him.
This lance was about two and a half meters long, made of pure steel, incredibly heavy. Its original design was based on the silver-rank warrior's chariot-like physical constitution, meant to charge through and pierce formations of massive tower shields weighing hundreds of kilograms.
So, what effect would it have when a gold-rank warrior wielded it like an ordinary spear?
Pfft!
The moment it made contact with the second wave of the beast tide, the lance tip broke through the atmosphere with a sonic boom, savagely tearing through all obstacles. Short, continuous sounds rang out. Before Joshua, the vital points of all the beasts in front were struck with a fatal thrust in an instant, their entire bodies sent flying, tracing perfect arcs. Meanwhile, his right hand swept the greatsword horizontally across his side, slaying several monsters that tried to pounce from the flank and rear, severing bone and flesh as foul blood splattered onto the ground.
Though countless monsters surged toward him from all sides, before his absolute power, not a single one could reach him. Within the domain of his greatsword and lance, centered on the warrior's body, no living thing could break through!
At the same time, the black dragon-blood warhorse beneath him let out an involuntary whinny of pain, the immense recoil force on its spine causing it agony. The sturdy, handsome steed's limbs trembled slightly from its master's overwhelming power, yet its heavy hooves still stomped unwaveringly onto the blood-soaked ground, not slowing in the slightest.
"Keep advancing! Do not slow down!"
"Yes!"
Responding to the leader's command, the formation of silver-rank knights moved like a mobile steel fortress, perfectly defending against all attacks from the beasts trying to scatter them. After all, the hardest part—blasting open the path ahead—had already been handled by their lord. All they had to do was charge and knock away enemies, making their task truly easy. In their rapid advance, each unleashed their full strength, using lances, longswords, and even flails to slaughter beasts on the spot.
At this moment, compared to the endless tide of monsters, Joshua and his men appeared minuscule, yet they were like hard rocks dropped into the sea—heavy and unstoppable as they sank and broke through!
As they advanced, the crimson light on Joshua grew brighter and brighter, even illuminating the night sky in one direction. Seemingly spurred on by their lord, the knights behind him let out roars of their own, and various colored auras began to bloom on their bodies.
Black Iron Revelation, Silver Shining Soul, Golden Glory—why did the Continent of Strife use these names to define the levels of power?
Because the light released at full power in the Silver Realm could indeed shine and harm an enemy's soul, while the light of a gold-rank powerhouse's power was the glory that brought victory!
The steel knightly order, originally like a charging fortress, was now shielded by the light of soul and will. This was the greatest reason why humanity could resist beast tides. Led by a gold-rank warrior and surging emotions, all the warriors' souls began to resonate. Their power merged into a single, unbreakable whole in an instant!
"Waaaaaah!!!"
The surrounding beasts let out agonized howls at this soul-piercing light. Their souls were already weaker than those of equivalent humans, and after being eroded by chaos, the gap was as vast as that between a match and a bonfire. Faced with this direct pain stabbing into their souls, even the frenzied beasts in their current state could not maintain it. They could only retreat in panic, their muscles relaxing and lifting the berserk state, finally gaining a moment's respite.
The lance in his left hand knocked away enemies ahead; the greatsword in his right slew foes attacking from the sides. The silver-rank knights ensured no enemies appeared from behind, and their armor protected their bodies... At this moment, the warrior's name was Unstoppable! And the beasts that had lifted their berserk state recalled what fear was. They blindly retreated, some even collapsing limply to the ground, unable to move.
Yet astonishingly, a few beasts did not retreat. Amid the blazing, unified glow of battle qi, some monsters remained in place, unaffected by their companions' retreat.
Their heads were covered in smooth carapaces, their insect-like limbs incredibly strong. Transparent crystal-like protrusions dotted their bodies, flashing with blue-green light as they moved, as if they were bizarre monsters from another world.
These oddly shaped monsters stomped the ground, dashing forward at gale-like speed. They ignored the blazing radiance, crossing over countless beast corpses and bodies with movements as fluid as a sword dance, roaring as they opened their fang-filled maws and lunged at Joshua.
But it meant nothing. Even though they appeared far stronger than other beasts, their speed so great that even some knights in the formation might not have been able to track their movements, it was still too slow for the black-armored warrior.
The silver-white greatsword traced several streaks of light. Joshua hadn't even had time to glance at these monsters' forms with the corner of his eye. With instinctive swings, they were all split into pieces, their bodies falling to the ground, then trampled into indistinguishable pulp by the charging knights.
"What the hell."
After cutting them down, he muttered belatedly to himself: "These monsters are different from the others, very strange, but their form looks familiar..."
Another wave of frenzied beasts surged in. Their souls had not yet been roasted by the gathered battle qi glow of the knightly order, so they remained fearless. This forced the warrior to focus once more, swinging his greatsword to sever the steel-hard neck bones of these beasts, while his lance thrust and knocked away other monsters around him.
Suddenly, feeling a fiery heat burning in his chest, Joshua, without stopping his advance or slaughter, diverted a sliver of attention to his chest.
There hung the Azure Orb. And now, this strange artifact, which had been as inert as a stone, emitted a colorless glow. As if receiving some kind of offering, it began to slowly rotate, releasing a trace of power that flowed into the warrior's body.
His expended stamina rapidly recovered, and strength returned to his entire body. Though his battle qi was not fully replenished, after charging through the beast tide and slaying so many monsters, he was nearly back to his peak state!
At the same time, within the silver-white greatsword, Ying's spiritual transmission reached Joshua's mind.
"Master! Those you just killed—they were Wild Gods!"