Chapter 74: Divinity 1
Nolan could only see a pitch-black shadow, trailing crimson air currents, hurtling a fist brimming with infinite power and might directly toward her head.
She had absolutely no time to react. The microcurrents in her brain were still flowing through her neurons, the sensory modules hadn't even received the information yet, and there wasn't even a moment to feel fear or despair. The punch had already been thrown. The force of the blow, transmitted through the air, shattered the atmosphere and triggered a violent explosion right before the girl's eyes.
Nolan herself couldn't think of anything. But her enchanted equipment reacted with speed rivaling lightning. A series of hexagonal, grid-like rigid shields materialized from the air in an instant, blocking the path of the warrior's fist.
Such defenses, however, were utterly meaningless against Joshua's full-powered strike.
The fist, blazing with Battle Qi, slammed solidly into the shield. With a thunderous explosion, this [Stabilized Energy Field], capable of withstanding a Gold Peak-level attack and remaining intact under thousands of degrees of lava and the crushing pressure of the earth's crust, was shattered into fragments. The fierce wind from the punch blasted Nolan, who had just managed to react and was retreating rapidly to the side, sending her flying.
Just the residual force of the punch's wind was enough to tear off the left shoulder, half an ear, and part of the skull of the alchemy girl who had barely dodged the center of the blow. Large chunks of flesh fell away, and blood gushed from the wounds. But Nolan had no time to care. Facing the warrior charging at her again, she let out a scream. Rapidly chanted spells conjured one translucent air shield after another before her, while the girl herself quickly opened a pre-prepared directional teleportation portal, intending to flee the battlefield directly.
At the same time, the crystalline black dragon from the spatial rift in mid-air swiftly abandoned its hiding place. It could not afford to sit idly by and watch its collaborator be so easily killed by Joshua. Besides damaging its relationship with the organization behind her, it also meant it would have to face the enraged warrior alone from now on—and nothing was more terrifying than that.
Temporarily halting the ritual to project the Chaos Runes, the undead dragon Mandagar officially entered the fray.
Its first strike was a grand spell capable of killing a dragon in one blow—[Bitter Punishment Light].
Using six crystal prisms that suddenly appeared before the Crystal Dragon as focal points, violet beams of light converged in front of Mandagar's chest. Unlike any grandiose spell that creates a multitude of phenomena, the gathering of this light was silent and completed in an instant. A superheated, plasma-like beam of light, mixed with a terrifying instant-death curse, shot down from above toward the warrior.
The beam, laden with potent poison, plowed through the sea of blood. A deep, bottomless chasm instantly appeared on the crimson surface, revealing only a shadowy abyss. With an unstoppable, touch-and-die momentum, it arced toward Joshua's back, attempting to block his pursuit of Nolan.
But the warrior didn't care.
He allowed the beam—which would normally vaporize any human upon contact—to slam into his back, piercing through his left lung. He allowed the venomous curse to spread through his body, reaching his heart. Joshua remained utterly oblivious to it all, moving forward with singular intent. He shattered barrier after barrier, arriving before Nolan like a bolt of lightning.
Then, he grabbed her head.
The intense pain and pressure from the crushing grip instantly caused the girl's spellcasting to fail. The backlash of magical energy surged within Nolan, causing her to spit a mouthful of blood mixed with internal organ fragments onto the warrior. Joshua didn't kill her immediately, but waited for her to regain consciousness.
"Traitors must die."
Addressing Nolan, whose eyes were gradually clearing but whose expression was growing more desperate, Joshua endured the relentless magical bombardment from Mandagar behind him and spoke in a tone devoid of any wavering. "No one is an exception."
There was no hesitation or regret in the warrior's eyes. He simply wanted to bid farewell to this former friend, this former pride of their battle group.
So he said, "Farewell, Nono."
He tightened his fingers.
*Crack.*
Turning his head, Joshua looked up at the crystalline magic dragon in the sky, which was still bombarding him with spell after spell.
Mandagar's strength was indeed formidable. Both were at the Ultimate-rank, but most of Grandi's spells couldn't even penetrate Joshua's Battle Qi barrier, failing to break his defense. In contrast, even a single disintegration ray from Mandagar could easily shatter the warrior's instinctive defenses, decompose his highly tempered body, and directly damage his internal organs and bones.
Perhaps it was a difference in ability specialization. Grandi was a war dragon skilled in large-scale assaults, while Mandagar was the type proficient in direct combat.
Seeing the warrior kill Nolan and still remain standing after enduring so many attacks, the Crystal Dragon's heart trembled. It immediately increased its magical output.
Performing the ritual to merge the Bloodmoon Plane with the Mycroft World would allow it to receive the Abyss's gift. Once the twenty-four runes were fully constructed and the two worlds achieved preliminary fusion, Mandagar would be able to reach the Legendary Realm—as a subordinate of the Famine Evil God, [Youerdaimas]!
Now, it had already obtained a portion of that power from the Abyss. Previously, Mandagar couldn't control it and hadn't used it lightly. But now, it activated this power without hesitation.
Floating three kilometers above the sea of blood, the Crystal Dragon opened its jaws. For the first time as an Ultimate-rank magic dragon, Mandagar began using incantations to stabilize a spell. The clanging, resonant sound of clashing steel echoed through the thin atmosphere. Draconic words, interwoven with magically charged vocabulary, formed a spell formula capable of destroying everything. Countless mists composed of negative energy began to gather at high altitude, forming a cloud layer several kilometers wide, completely enveloping Joshua, who seemed too injured to move.
Powerful negative energy could erode everything in the world. In a sense, it was an agent directly connected to 'death'. Now, the wind of decay coalesced into light, and the next instant, shadows intertwined. A terrifying, black-purple spear of light descended from the sky.
Facing this strike, Joshua simply raised his right hand.
The light of the Azure Orb gathered in his palm. The Order Force surged like a tide, yet was firmly locked within this small area, shimmering like crystallized brilliance.
The next instant, an explosion tore through the atmosphere.
——————BOOM BOOM BOOM!!!!
The black-purple spear of light and the azure radiance made contact, immediately triggering a violent explosion. The surrounding sea of blood was shattered in an instant. The viscous liquid, under the sudden immense force, fractured like rock into countless particles, then vaporized and expanded. The sea level for several kilometers around seemed to be completely lifted, creating monstrous waves.
The nearby Time Vessel pitched violently, nearly capsizing. It was only thanks to the bodies of the two unconscious dragons acting as a barrier on one side that it didn't overturn. Even so, the terrifying energy flow scorched a massive crater hundreds of meters in diameter into the endless sea of blood. All the liquid within it turned to nothingness, and even the sea itself couldn't close up quickly.
Looking down from above, it was like an unhealable bullet wound in this stretch of ocean.
But Mandagar, who had launched this attack, still felt an immense weight in its heart.
Because it sensed that the grievously wounded warrior had not died from this blow.
Just as it thought.
The next moment, the crimson blood mist gradually thinned, revealing a clearly unharmed humanoid figure beneath the black clouds.
The light of the Azure Orb in Joshua's hand slowly faded. He raised his head, his eyes crimson red, burning like flames. The warrior was completely unscathed. Not only had he not been harmed by the previous attack, but even the injuries he had sustained earlier were fully healed. The curses in his internal organs were expelled, the disintegrated flesh regrew. Apart from his black coat being completely shredded, Joshua had fully recovered. He even spread his arms towards the sky, displaying his perfectly intact body.
—Though a thousand fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, this disaster shall not come near you; it will be driven away.
"So strong."
Joshua exhaled the stale air from his lungs, the cellular waste gas produced by his hyperactive metabolism. He flexed all his muscles, then stared at the magic dragon above the black clouds in the high sky and said, "So, I can't let you get a second strike."
He moved his feet. A force capable of moving mountains and seas gathered in the atmosphere and erupted.
Instantly, the mist scattered, flames danced. The warrior split the dark clouds, soaring up towards the sky.