Chapter 74: Chaotic Battle
The aerial fortress.
This was merely a name Joshua and the others had given it out of convenience and due to its appearance. In reality, it should be called the 'Purge Core Aerial Type,' a terrifying aerial stronghold created by the corrupted World Coordination Array to suppress lifeforms from various worlds.
Its shape was a highly regular hexagonal prism. The six magic runes inscribed on its base possessed multiple abilities such as 'Absorption,' 'Accumulation,' 'Conversion,' 'Release,' 'Alteration,' and 'Amplification.' With these runes working in concert, the aerial fortress could endlessly bombard enemies with various terrifying spells when magic power was abundant, thereby completely destroying its targets.
Even on the Mycroft Continent, this was undoubtedly a national-level strategic weapon. Its power was equivalent to several Gold-ranks, and its importance was comparable to an Ultimate-rank expert. Any fortress equipped with such a stronghold could be considered impregnable.
But such a mighty fortress was now falling.
The Dragon-Hunting Sword Lance, hurled with all of Joshua's strength, streaked across the sky like a burning meteor, shattering thunderbolts. It ignited a great fire in midair that seemed capable of burning even lightning itself. The crimson light flowed backward along the trajectory of magic power, turning the gray dust clouds high above into a sea of fire.
Then, with a thunderous roar, the colossal aerial fortress, engulfed in flames, slowly descended. On its base, six magic runes flickered with rapid blue light, operating frantically. But at the fortress's center was a massive, completely open hole. Uncontrolled magic power, turning into lightning and shockwaves, spread from this hole, making the fire raging on the fortress's surface even more ferocious. Finally, accompanied by a shrill alarm, the aerial fortress disintegrated piece by piece in midair and crashed to the ground in flames.
Loranda witnessed this from afar. He also vaguely saw Joshua's figure, charred black and covered in countless wounds from lightning strikes, streaking across the sky to catch the falling spear.
At the same time, he swung his heavy hammer, creating a visible ring of wind, and smashed it into the countless massive stone golems before him. A giant stone golem, at least fifty meters long, was pierced through the chest by the hammer and then split in two. The immense difference in size created a powerful visual impact.
"Joshua..."
Even while surrounded by countless flying stone golems, the paladin couldn't help but let out a sigh amidst the battle.
He had long memorized the names of all the famous experts on the continent. Thanks to the Church of the Seven Gods' intelligence network, he even knew of many reclusive experts and prodigies unknown to most people.
As the Radcliffe Family were the Chaos Wardens, Loranda naturally had their information in his mind. But this family had never been famous for being 'powerful'; they were renowned for their tenacity.
With the strength of a single family, they held fast to the Chaos seal in the Northern lands. For four hundred years, even though many family heads had died in battle, they had never made a single mistake, never allowing Chaos monsters to reach the outside world.
One must know that even the Church of the Seven Gods had to rotate several knight orders to suppress the Chaos monsters of the Plague Lands within their seal. Although the nature of the plague itself was troublesome and couldn't be compared by usual standards of strength, it still showed the difficulty. It was precisely because of this that the Gatekeeper Family was admired and respected by all.
But ever since the previous Chaos Warden died and his son returned to the territory to inherit everything, everything had changed.
Joshua van Radcliffe. This incredibly powerful man, like a suddenly appearing dragon, crushed all obstacles in his path with overwhelming force. Unlike his predecessors, the progress of his power seemed endless. In less than half a year, he had broken through from Silver High-rank to Mid-Gold Rank, and even directly repelled the beast tide from the front, closed the space-time gate, and wiped out all Chaos monsters.
And a year later, he had already reached the Ultimate realm.
Inhuman strength.
It was like a monster that had suddenly appeared, catching everyone off guard. Although those in the know said it was due to the Sage's inheritance, Loranda, who had personally fought Joshua, knew that wasn't the case at all.
The other's power was purely from battle qi and physical strength. The Order Force from the Azure Orb was only used by the paladin when dealing with Chaos monsters. If someone said the Sage's inheritance could grant powerful physiques, Loranda would believe it. But the blazing fighting spirit like fire and the soul-like steel were definitely forged from one's own flesh and blood, tempered through iron and fire.
Where he had obtained such immense power, Loranda didn't know. This man was so free, so casual. He was kind and gentle to his people in peacetime, but like a demon or evil spirit in battle. The paladin had spent considerable time in the other's territory, yet still couldn't understand what Joshua was fighting for, why he always had such vigorous, seemingly unquenchable battle intent.
To eradicate Chaos for his family's mission? Or to save this world?
A spinning heavy hammer blow shattered the tide of stone golems surging around him. Loranda shook his head, dispelling his distracting thoughts.
—No need to overthink.
A warrior craving battle, and a paladin wanting to drive out Chaos—these were perfectly natural, requiring no reason at all!
At the edge of the sky, countless explosions flashed. The dark clouds were dispersed by the shockwaves, revealing the bright sunlight behind them. But this light was distorted and blurred by the howling hot winds.
As streaks of red light arced through the clouds, the remaining two fortresses were blasted with huge gaps by Joshua's continuous spear throws. They slowly disintegrated in midair, fell, and then exploded.
Many of the surrounding flying stone golems, flapping their wings, were also shattered by the residual force of these attacks. The air was instantly filled with dust and flames, rock fragments and Chaos magic power. The ignited dust even caused a second, muffled, and violent explosion. Half the sky turned into a sea of fire in an instant, and the distorted airflow turned into a hot, bloody wind, spreading in all directions.
"Rrrrip!"
Spitting out a breath like a fire dragon, the black carapace seemed to be burning, constantly melting and recasting into a harder shape under the high temperature. Its core occasionally flashed with a swift burst of fire, striking the more troublesome high-rank stone golems, easily blasting them into a pile of fragments.
But it suddenly felt a crisis. An extreme sense of danger spread upward from its spine. This cold fear made it abandon its attack directly and run away at top speed. This decision undoubtedly did it a huge favor. A massive piece of aerial fortress wreckage, flung by the explosion, crossed a great distance and crashed like a meteor onto the spot where it had been standing.
—What's going on???
Immersed in battle, the black dragon hadn't heard the previous explosion. It looked up at the sky in confusion. The dark clouds had been dispersed by the explosion, and the view was clear. As the half-dragon saw its master's figure, it also discovered an extremely dangerous thing!
On the ground, a crippled Titan Colossus, with only half its body remaining, extended its huge steel hand, reaching for Joshua, who was suspended in midair!
The giant puppet, which hadn't died from Joshua's previous attack but had been lurking, had originally used the dark dust clouds to conceal itself. But now, the dust clouds had been blown away by the dust explosion, and its ambush was discovered. So, it simply accelerated.
Boom!
Too fast. The hand, wreathed in lightning, pressed down towards Joshua's back like a mountain peak.
The Titan Colossus was hundreds of meters tall, and its hand was dozens of meters wide, at least the size of a house. Its golden shell looked incredibly heavy, weighing at least a hundred tons. Magic circuits transmitted immense power for it, coupled with violent lightning magic power. With this palm strike, even a mountain peak would collapse and melt into rubble.
In terms of pure strength, even Joshua, empowered by the Father of Nature's divine power, couldn't match it.
But even with his back turned, the warrior had clearly sensed the direction of this punch. The movement of steel and magic power had a unique, puppet-like mechanical beauty, but the way it channeled its power was too rigid. Although its strength was immense, it had no finesse or variation.
To him, it was utterly harmless.