Chapter 10: Remnants of Chaos
The cold wind howled fiercely, dark clouds churning endlessly across the sky, as a raging blizzard swept violently across the pale plains. A gust of wind would whip up a cloud of snow dust like white mist.
Outside the Northern City, beside the Great Aias Mountains, lay the Ice Sand Wasteland.
Due to the thick cloud cover, all light had vanished entirely. If not for the faint white of the snow, it would have been so dark one couldn't see their hand in front of their face. And aside from the howling, biting wind, no other sound could be heard. Even the snow and ice here shattered into powder under the extreme cold and violent storms. Arcane power itself grew sluggish under such temperatures.
Opposing gales clashed, spinning currents forming icy dust tornadoes that ground everything into particles between the frozen grains.
This was an extreme environment where ordinary people could not survive—a death zone where no life existed except for specialized magical beasts. For years, both adventurers and veteran hunters warned newcomers never to set foot on this land, for it was the dwelling place of death itself, a one-way journey with no return.
But there was always an exception.
"ROOOOAR!!!!"
A tremendous roar pierced through the wind and snow, echoing across the ice fields. A streak of crimson light flashed across the sky, and a massive figure tumbled down from above.
Boom!
A thunderous crash rang out, shockwaves whipping up gales that scattered the snow dust into the air. A huge crater appeared in the ice desert, and at its center lay a snow-white wyvern with prominent, razor-sharp fangs. Its body was massive, its demeanor ferocious, its muscles knotted and rock-hard. Though it had fallen from the sky, the wyvern was not yet dead. Blood spilled from its mouth as it struggled to rise again.
But an arm reached out, a hand like an iron vise clamping tightly around the dragon's neck. The immense force crushed scales and flesh into pulp, gouging out a massive bloody hole. At the same time, a silver-white greatsword plunged into the dragon's heart.
The icy blade tore through the tough dragon scales, the extreme cold freezing skin and fat solid. Before blood could even flow, it was condensed into crimson ice crystals hanging by the wound. As the greatsword pierced the wyvern's body, a faint light flickered across its broad blade. A strange surge of energy pulsed, and the enormous monster, which could have struggled a while longer, glared with wide eyes before its life force vanished entirely, dead on the spot.
"What a beast, died fast!"
A voice rang out. Sensing that his prey beneath him had perished, the black-haired warrior standing on the dragon's corpse released his left hand, which had been gripping the creature's spine. The silver-white greatsword shimmered with arcane light and transformed into a silver-haired girl standing behind the warrior.
"This Ice Fang Dragon is big enough. It'll do."
Wiping the frozen blood from his left hand, Joshua nodded. He gazed at the dragon corpse, already stiffening in the cold, and said with satisfaction, "Weapons coated with Dragon-Slaying Stone retain a permanent residual effect. Even just this trace of power can so easily kill a Silver High-rank or even Peak dragon beast. Truly worth its price."
Ying's expression was somewhat odd. The girl touched her face and said softly, "But it feels like a tattoo to me... feels terrible..."
Then she turned to look up at her tall master and said helplessly, "And Master, Mr. Artemis said you need to take care of your left hand, or something unexpected might happen... But what you call 'rest' is bringing me flying to the ice fields to hunt dragons?"
"Not just that. The New Year is coming soon. I came to hunt dragons to fulfill my duty as a lord... And Ying, you need to understand that proper exercise is also part of rest."
Flexing his left arm, which had just burst with power to crush dragon scales and bone, Joshua stomped on the dragon's unblinking head. He felt quite good. "Besides, how can my body be compared to ordinary people? Aside from still feeling a bit off, my left hand is basically fully healed. Even if it's not completely recovered, it's still far stronger than this Silver-rank dragon beast."
"Now, I just need to wait for my battle qi to fully transcend this new bone."
The warrior's words were not wrong. His body far surpassed ordinary Gold-rank.
If one didn't consider innate talent differences, then after the initial [Revelation Ritual], a Black Iron-rank professional gaining transcendent power would have about three times the strength of an ordinary person. This threefold increase was all-encompassing—enough to turn a mortal who couldn't even fight a goose into a warrior capable of battling magical beasts.
In terms of pure physical strength, there was no obvious difference between Black Iron beginner and advanced. Various profession-specific training methods were designed to teach these new professionals how to use their far-beyond-mortal power. At this point, professions like warrior, mage, ranger, and thief began to diverge clearly.
By Silver-rank, powerful transcendent energy would transform the body from the inside out, spontaneously remodeling internal organs and bones, making these professionals' bodies as tough as magical beasts, with tens of times the strength of ordinary people. A Silver-rank warrior could carry tons of magical beast corpses, strike like a cannonball to shatter huge hard rocks, and generate shockwaves from attacks and running that could sweep entire streets. While mages made less progress in physical terms, their powerful transcendent energy slowly optimized their soul forms, greatly enhancing their calculation and energy control abilities.
At the peak of Silver-rank, one reached the limit of the human body. A warrior's body, tempered to the extreme, would bring latent power hidden deep within to the surface. Combined with will, this became the transcendent power called battle qi. A mage's optimized soul could freely manipulate various elements and arcane power around them, unleashing true spells.
At this stage, whether warrior or mage, when fighting at full power, their souls would emit a strange radiance, burning the souls of nearby enemies, allowing them to easily strike at spiritual and incorporeal entities without using supernatural power.
The next step, Gold-rank, was to surpass human limits and gradually transform into a [Non-Human Human].
Take Joshua, for example. Since advancing to Gold-rank, with his body strengthened by battle qi and the power of order, his physique was no longer comparable to ordinary people. He could swim in frozen rivers, bathe in lava, crush steel with his bare hands, and even press different metals together like cookies, breaking and crushing them at will.
Under the enhancement of the Steel Armor Breathing Art, Joshua's body was like a convergence of countless weapons. A flick of his finger could break the sound barrier, the air blade it produced more terrifying than ordinary sword slashes. Every move and gesture was a powerful attack capable of killing giant elephants and wyverns. At this point, if the warrior erupted with full force, his strength would be tens or even hundreds of times that of an ordinary person, easily able to wrestle with dragon beasts and emerge victorious—and this was just his physical strength, not counting various battle qi skills and [Glory Force].
Such power, in the ancient era of human civilization, would have been called [God].
"First, cut off the head."
After speaking with Ying, Joshua formed his hand into a blade, condensed battle qi, and chopped down. An arc of light flashed, and the Ice Fang Dragon's head was severed. The thick blood, too slow to spurt out, was frozen solid inside the neck and body. The massive head rolled across the snowy ground, stopping in a low depression.
At the same time, Joshua's passive skill [Purifying Radiance] activated. Invisible power of order turned into light, purifying the dragon's corpse and head, forcing out wisps of black-purple mist. Another flash of light, and these residual mists were also purified into nothingness.
Seeing this, both Joshua and Ying fell into thought. The warrior said gravely, "As expected, even though the space-time gate is closed, the power of chaos hasn't completely faded. Even in the Black Forest near Moldavia, there are still remnants of the Mad Dragon Virus..."
The divine mechanism girl muttered to herself, "Such a huge dragon corpse... how do we get it back?"
"Drag it back while flying, of course."
Hearing this question, the warrior snorted with laughter. He said matter-of-factly, "I flew all this way and killed this wyvern precisely to show this monster's head and body to my people."
(To be continued.)