Chapter 64: When Outnumbered, Strike the Few
"Ever since the white tower mages in the east developed the Void Core twenty years ago, they've been trying to recreate the legendary floating city in the sky. But until now, there's still no sign of any airborne fortress."
Standing up and flexing his wrists, Joshua looked up at the massive fortress covering half the sky and remarked with emotion, "I never thought I'd see its prototype in another world."
—It really is huge, huh.
Suspended within the clouds, the colossal hexagonal sky fortress, over two hundred meters in diameter, showed no pause in its operations just because Joshua had awakened. A relentless barrage of magical attacks came pouring down—frost, fire, lightning, air—all sorts of high-energy blasts mixed with countless dazzling magical lights, dyeing the surrounding clouds into bizarre colors. Arcane power was being rapidly consumed and converted by the six faintly blue magical runes along its edges, even draining the elemental energy around the fortress to emptiness.
Facing this storm of spells, the warrior showed no fear. Amid the furious roar of the elements, he extended his hands, and Ying and Lin tacitly grasped his palms without a word. The radiance of magic flared, and a sword-light rose from nothingness, sweeping through the air like an explosive surge. Dozens of the foremost spells were instantly shattered by the violent shockwave.
Standing on the dragon's back, Joshua continuously swung his greatsword and giant axe. Surging battle qi rolled like tidal waves, crushing every spell aimed at the black dragon. Pure life energy swelled, blasting apart light, lightning, and even invisible curses with overwhelming force.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Violent explosions erupted. The half-dragon felt a heavy pressure and impact on its back, causing it to stumble. Loranda, who had been blasted into the ground by spells earlier, rose again. He repelled several flying stone golems attempting to ambush him and glanced toward the black dragon's location, now covered in chaotic elemental light. The paladin could guess who was withstanding the aerial fortress's bombardment right now.
"This guy—does he only wake up at the most critical moment?"
Joshua hadn't woken up at this critical juncture by coincidence. In fact, he had actively requested the entity calling itself the Forest Soul to let him awaken.
The being had been recounting the ancient history of this world and the truth behind the massive array in the sky, but the warrior could no longer endure it. The enemy was attacking his friends, his family, and his mount. He had to fight.
"Fire, ice, lightning, arcane arts, curses, air manipulation, mental attacks... The power of magic is truly capricious, but it chose me as its enemy."
Laughing heartily, Joshua swung his sword repeatedly. The air was twisted by terrifying fluctuations and surged toward the storm of spells. The howling reached its limit, eventually forming a vacuum ring, leaving only piercing sonic booms. Violent explosions engulfed everything around, and the residual shockwaves made the other flying stone golems dare not approach. Blazing elemental light covered half the sky, blinding all.
"What an honor. I only came looking for my horse, but instead, I have to face the siege of an entire world!"
As he spoke, time seemed to freeze for an instant. Whether it was the black dragon, the paladin, or even Ying and Lin held in the warrior's hands, in their minds, it felt like this would go on forever—battle qi would keep clashing with magic, and they would keep fighting while retreating.
But the next second, Joshua moved.
The black dragon suddenly felt a massive impact on its back, followed by a sense of lightness. It immediately realized the warrior had left its back. The half-dragon stopped running and quickly turned its head. Meanwhile, Loranda, who had been drawing the fire of the flying stone golems, saw a blur before his eyes and noticed that Joshua, who had been standing on the black dragon's back, had vanished.
They both looked toward the sky.
A figure, like a blade, sliced through the countless spells, carving a straight path through the endless elemental tide, rapidly closing in on the underside of the sky fortress. But astonishingly, the sky fortress stopped attacking at that moment. Its surface flowed with mana light like crystal veins, as if it were thinking or puzzled.
"Authority verification. Coordination Core Number 7, Lightning Golem Aggregate..." It emitted a strange psychic fluctuation but still refrained from attacking the warrior now right before it. "Authority verification in progress. Target does not match appearance, yet possesses core halo..."
Joshua, however, showed no surprise. On his chest, battle qi carried two strange wheel-shaped fragments, letting them float in the air. One came from the light humanoid outside the Babel Mansion, the other from the Thunder Mountain that had exploded not long ago.
Especially the latter—the Forest Soul had suddenly telepathically told him to grab it. To get this thing, he had even been hit by the residual shockwave and knocked unconscious until just now.
"What a pitiful puppet. With something like this, it can't even distinguish friend from foe?"
The thought flashed through his mind. Taking advantage of the sky fortress's hesitation, Joshua closed in on its hexagonal underside and then headed straight for the weakness the Forest Soul had described—
Those six faintly blue magical runes!
Whether it was the stone golems, the rock giants that appeared later, or the Thunder Mountain, their material was just ordinary rock, at most mixed with some metal and magical materials. Even the sky fortress was no exception. Their power source came from the mana core and core runes within their bodies. Destroy those two things, and no matter how powerful the puppet, it would instantly crumble into a pile of rubble.
The aerial fortress hadn't even had time to identify what was before it, but Joshua's attack had already arrived. With a flash of silver and black light, the greatsword and giant axe were hurled in an instant, slamming into two of the glowing magical runes!
Though the panicked cries of the young boy and girl could be heard, it was just an illusion. The next second, centered on those two points, crimson battle qi spread like radiation, forming a powerful shockwave that carved massive cracks across the sky fortress. In an instant, the magical runes were completely shattered, and the mana light across the entire fortress dimmed considerably.
"Judgment—Enemy!"
With this attack, the aerial fortress finally reacted. A furious, berserk psychic fluctuation assaulted everyone nearby. Even the flying stone golems fighting Loranda fell one after another due to the overwhelming mental impact. In an instant, centered on the fortress, the clouds and stone golems within several kilometers dispersed, and sunlight shone down on the earth.
But neither Joshua nor Loranda was affected by this impact. Even the black dragon just shook its head, feeling a bit dizzy. Not to mention Joshua, Loranda, as the Pope's adopted son, had grown up alongside a legendary expert. The aerial fortress's mental attack was like a gentle breeze and rain to him.
Taking advantage of the aerial fortress's daze, Joshua had already grasped the greatsword and giant axe, now transformed from Ying and Lin, once more. Though the divine mechanisms complained, they resonated without holding back. Divine mechanization amplified the warrior's stamina and strength. Combined with the buffs Joshua had cast on himself, he had reached a new height.
But still a distance away from the Ultimate Realm.
Just as Joshua planned to push forward and destroy the third magical rune, the aerial fortress suddenly rose a bit. Two of the six magical runes on its underside had been destroyed, but the remaining four still shone. In an instant, hundreds of magical arrays appeared simultaneously, covering half the sky with slowly rotating runes and rings. The aerial fortress, attacking with full force, fully displayed its power as an executor of the [Purge] mission.
Violent magical energy launched indiscriminate attacks. Blue, red, cyan, white—all kinds of light flashed. Small mushroom clouds rose from the earth. Lava flowed, dyeing the ground red. Even many of the surrounding flying stone golems were destroyed. Loranda swung his massive shield, blocking a decomposition beam that was clearly a stray shot but happened to hit him. A small melting point appeared on the hard shield.
Joshua didn't dare be overconfident either. His eyes swept across, accurately analyzing the source and trajectory of every attack, then began to dodge. He leaped through the air, battle qi spreading. Whatever the spell—fire, lightning, or anything else—was shattered by the berserk shockwave.
While dodging and looking for an opening to attack, he roared, "Loranda, Black Dragon! Forget those flying stone golems! Come help!"
—Focus fire, kill the boss first!
"I've been waiting for you to say that!"
With a laugh, the paladin's body radiated a holy light. He had been entangled with the endless flying stone golems in the sky, ensuring the black dragon could run smoothly. Even though many had fallen from the aerial fortress's mental impact, their numbers were still countless. But after this holy light flashed, countless stone golems crashed to the ground, shattering into pieces.
[Purification Aura] had the effect of temporarily removing weapon enchantments from enemies or similar berserk states like bloodlust. Applied to puppets, it temporarily disrupted their mana circuits, rendering them immobile.
Flying stone golems were fragile to begin with. Falling from the sky meant certain death.
Temporarily free from the flying stone golems' harassment, the paladin turned into a white light, flying rapidly toward the aerial fortress. He raised his massive shield, blocking many spells. The black dragon in the distance wasn't to be outdone. Powerful mana gathered before its bear-like chest, and the wings on both sides of its body slowly grew larger and longer under immense force. With a long roar, a massive beam of light, pale red tinged with gold, shot into the sky, bringing a scorching gale as it howled upward!
The power contained in this light was so immense that even the aerial fortress had to divert some of its strength to defend. Layers of semi-transparent hexagonal barriers unfolded. With the sound of glass shattering, seven of these barriers were broken through, but three more still shimmered with mana light.
But that was enough. Loranda summoned his cross-shaped warhammer again, then, with a shout, hurled it. The warhammer condensed holy light as bright as a morning star, and even the sound of sacred hymns could be heard. It broke through the remaining barriers with unstoppable force.
"It's all yours!"
What else needed to be said?
Seizing this opportunity, Joshua immediately stopped dodging and turned to charge at full speed toward the underside of the aerial fortress. He even detonated his battle qi behind himself, creating powerful acceleration. In an instant, the warrior completed both a turn and breaking the sound barrier. Ring-shaped shockwaves spread behind Joshua, and in his hands, the silver greatsword and giant axe gleamed with sharp light.