Chapter 51: You Choose to Face the Enemy Head-On
"What is that?!"
"A new stone golem?"
"No, no, that meteor is flying horizontally—it's not falling vertically, but streaking sideways through the atmosphere!"
In the distance, the elves who witnessed this scene through the light screen fell into chaos. This bizarre sight was utterly incomprehensible to them, and the command room instantly became noisy. But when these elves saw what happened next, they all fell silent again.
At the center of the smoke pillar caused by the meteor's impact, there appeared... an elf?
No, not like an elf. The armor worn by this indistinct figure was elven in style, but the patterns were completely different. He had jet-black hair, crimson eyes, and ears that were not pointed. Though similar, he was definitely not an elf.
Surprise, astonishment, shock—various expressions flickered across their faces. Most people were temporarily unable to understand what was happening. Many researchers' minds went blank on the spot, staring blankly at the light screen before them, their thoughts empty.
What is this? What exactly happened?
Outside the command room, Professor Nielsen, who was casting enhancement spells on various elven warriors in the outer fortresses, could clearly hear the words echoing through the sky. For this reason, he stood frozen in place, unmoving for a long time.
—Just now, that voice... it's the language of the Plains People!
What is he saying? Who is bullying his horse? What horse? Where did a horse come from?
In an instant, countless questions flooded his mind. Professor Nielsen's thoughts were a tangled mess, but suddenly, the old white-haired elf had a flash of insight.
The Volcano Dragon speaks the language of the Plains People.
According to biologists, Volcano Dragons possess some horse-like characteristics.
Volcano Dragons are known to be close to intelligent beings, clearly domesticated creatures.
And now, while the Volcano Dragon was fighting countless stone golems outside the city, a powerful being whose voice could drown out thunder had arrived here, angrily demanding who was bullying his horse... No further explanation was needed, no more thinking required. The old professor, who had been on the verge of despair and merely fighting with all he had, suddenly shouted excitedly: "It's him! He's here, the master of the Volcano Dragon!"
—He's finally come for his mount!
The other elves around him looked at this suddenly excited old professor with confused expressions. But now was not the time to ponder such things; their tasks were still heavy, with many elven warriors in the fortresses needing their support. After his excitement, Nielsen calmed down and resumed bestowing enhancement states on the warriors. Yet even so, his expression had changed from its previous gloom to one filled with hope.
If it's the master of that dragon, maybe he can... no, definitely can!
Meanwhile.
Joshua slowly walked out of the deep crater created by his landing. Black smoke rose from the pit's bottom, which was filled with golden-red magma, emitting a scorching hellish odor.
Then, he joined the battle.
Facing the countless stone golems frozen in place, the warrior took a step forward. His right foot stomped the earth, releasing frenzied power that rippled out, creating countless cracks. The surrounding rock golems all lost their balance from the tremors beneath their feet, unable to control their stability.
Then, a streak of silver-white light mixed with black and red transformed into a ribbon of light barely visible to the naked eye, cutting all the surrounding stone golems in half at the waist. Black battle qi even flew out, turning into an arc that continued pushing forward into the distance, cleaving over a dozen stone golems in two.
The stone golems only reacted at this point, beginning to move to deal with this new enemy. The light wheel in the silver humanoid's head above spun rapidly, attempting to use its immense psychic power to attack this monster, clearly more terrifying than the half-dragon.
But they searched everywhere and could not find the warrior's figure. They only heard the howling wind as countless stone golems were chopped into fragments by streaks of swift light. Joshua unleashed extreme speed, leaping and maneuvering through the golem army like lightning. One second he was in the north, reaping the heads of countless puppets with his greatsword, and the next he appeared elsewhere, slaying an adamantite golem with his giant axe.
Within seconds, the golem army visibly diminished, and they hadn't even seen their enemy's face clearly. The puppets turned around in confusion, completely unable to catch up with his speed, watching helplessly as their companions dwindled one by one, hundreds disappearing in the blink of an eye.
Even if the elves had used all their fortress cannons, the results would not have been so spectacular.
Nearby, the completely ignored Black struggled to stand. It too could not track Joshua's figure, but that didn't matter. The half-dragon let out a moved low growl.
—Master has come!
Like a storm, like a tsunami, like an earthquake, the assault showed no signs of slowing. The warrior's stamina seemed inexhaustible, enough to sustain an offensive that would exhaust an ordinary warrior in moments. The Azure Orb on his chest shimmered with hazy light as his sword and axe tore through the golem lines, sending countless fragments flying through the air.
Whether steel, mithril, or adamantite, no matter the grade of stone golem, they were no harder than stone chips before Joshua. Amid such rapid attacks, the warrior could still keenly find his enemies' weaknesses. His giant axe swept through an arc, dismembering an adamantite golem's right arm, while his greatsword plunged straight through the wound, instantly finishing off this troublesome foe.
And that wasn't all.
As Joshua fought, his battle qi, which had almost turned pitch black and completely transformed into killing intent, spread outward like ripples. This inexplicable power even directly 'killed' many weak ordinary stone golems. The battle qi expelled the magic within them, destroying all their circuits. In an instant, over half of the ten-thousand-strong golem army ceased moving, reverting to mere stones.
Still, two to three thousand steel-rank and above stone golems struggled on. But what could they do when they couldn't even catch a glimpse of the warrior's shadow? They could only be reduced to stone chips and debris under the slashing of his greatsword and giant axe. Occasionally, a full-powered qi slash would blast entire groups of golems into nothingness, leaving only ash.
The silver humanoid in the sky couldn't lock onto Joshua's position at all. After multiple failed attempts, it simply gathered all its power and unleashed a full-scale psychic interference across the entire battlefield below.
Instantly, piercing noise and endless hallucinations entered Black's mind within the affected range. In the distant Babel Province capital, a trace of the shockwave also reached, causing many people with insufficient mental strength to collapse directly, unconscious without even struggling. The half-dragon let out a pained groan, feeling its brain turned to mush, completely unable to think.
But the warrior showed no reaction. He continued as before, slaughtering stone golems at extreme speed. In just a few seconds, several adamantite golems and dozens of others were chopped into several pieces. The silver humanoid launched psychic attacks again and again, but they vanished without a trace, as if doing nothing.
"Stop bothering me!"
Just as the silver humanoid was still attempting psychic interference, a voice like it came from the depths of hell, seemingly containing infinite terror and despair, appeared in its mind: "Or die!"
Struck by this impact, the silver humanoid's entire body flickered with light, then dimmed significantly. The light wheel in its head also slowed its rotation. Joshua's counter-thought shattered its psychic attack, causing it to suffer backlash.
"——————Crackle!"
The silver humanoid looked at the black flash still wantonly slaughtering among the golem army, as if understanding something. It then issued a command, and instantly, all the stone golems in Babel Province capital turned and surged toward the suburban battlefield. The elven warriors, who had been struggling and fighting hard under the psychic assault, looked bewildered, completely unaware of what was happening.
Like a gray tide, endless stone golems poured out of the city. Their eyes had only one target: Joshua's figure. Under their superior's orders, they even removed their physical limits. Magic light patterns emerged from their gray stone bodies—this was power squeezed from all their magical circuits. They now had two or even three times their previous strength, at the cost of complete self-destruction within an hour.
They held nothing back, as if unstoppable and irresistible, a stone tide ready to drown this enemy completely.
They chose to face the enemy head-on.
So they would be slaughtered to the last.
"Come on—"
The voice, wrapped in black-red battle qi, uttered three indistinct words. Then, the battle qi all over his body transformed into an inky mist flickering with tiny black-purple lightning. He laughed loudly, then charged with full force toward this army.
In that instant, the world suddenly dimmed, as quiet and dark as a starless night—but a flash of light burst forth, streaking away, cutting through the layers of silence.
Sword and axe danced without end, forming a storm seemingly made of blades. Accompanied by piercing sonic booms and seemingly endless shockwaves, this storm transformed into a black flash that shot through. Along the way, splashing and scattering magma formed a path. The high heat from the friction of battle qi and earth melted everything in its path. Where the black streak passed, stone golems caught in the blade storm were utterly annihilated, while those further away were shattered into pieces. Large swaths of rock puppets were ground to dust by this frenzied force.
Seconds later, the world returned to normal.
On the wilderness outside Babel Province, only one person remained.
Standing on the ground covered in debris and severed limbs, amidst blazing fires and magma, that figure was surrounded by killing intent spreading through the air like ink. Tiny black lightning, while releasing infinite malice, also illuminated the face of the one holding the greatsword and giant axe.
Joshua.
(To be continued.)