Chapter 30: Get Out Here!
When he said he would set out, he set out—Joshua never hesitated for even a moment.
Without wasting any time, after confirming all the information with Verdani, he soared directly into the sky and flew toward the Great Aias Mountains.
Two legendary mages missing? he thought, curiosity brimming within him. This was truly a rare and interesting occurrence.
Joshua never believed that any danger in the Northern Lands could suddenly kill two legendary-rank spellcasters—not even a volcanic eruption or a siege by countless magical beasts. Legendary mages possessed power beyond ordinary imagination. A volcanic eruption? They could freeze the volcano. A siege by countless magical beasts? They could annihilate them all. Even if a legendary ancient dragon were to appear, at most it would force them to flee in disgrace after a great battle. There was absolutely no way they could be killed so silently.
The only possibility was that they had accidentally stumbled into some space-time passage or forbidden zone—just like when Xiao Guang had inadvertently crossed a space-time passage and ended up in the Ilgena World. For those two adventurous legendary mages, this was the most likely scenario. After all, the space-time barrier in the Northern Lands was as thin as paper, and it was entirely possible they had gone to another world.
These thoughts took only a brief moment. And in that single moment, Joshua had already left the main city of Moldavia and arrived at the somewhat open plains to the north.
At this point, the warrior's flight speed had actually slowed compared to before, due to his greatly increased weight. After advancing to the legendary realm, Joshua's Steel Force had assimilated some matter, causing his weight to skyrocket at a maddening pace. It had now reached the point where it had to be calculated in tens of thousands of tons. Every word and action in his daily life had to be carefully controlled; otherwise, a single light step could trigger a small-scale earthquake. The same applied to flight—if Joshua didn't restrain himself, he could easily create a massive storm sweeping across the entire Northern Lands in the material world.
But even this slowed flight speed was still extremely fast compared to ordinary ultimate-rank beings. A few minutes later, Joshua arrived at the edge of the Great Aias Mountains.
His arrival caused a sudden outbreak of wails and panicked scurrying in the silent Black Forest at night. Countless magical beasts sensed their natural enemy, the most terrifying presence descending. A dark shadow surged from the woods, scattering in all directions. Brown-bone geese and sound bats fled the fastest, while on the ground, through the gaps in the leaves, various kinds of ferocious beasts could be seen fleeing for their lives. A frozen tundra ice tiger ran alongside a horned deer, but the predator at the top of the food chain had neither the time nor the courage to hunt this meal. A scene of perfect harmony.
After dispersing the large groups of magical beasts and monsters, Joshua swept his gaze across the entire edge of the mountain range. His gaze, almost tangible, froze all the monsters that hadn't managed to retreat in time—such as slow-moving frost slimes and forest shadows—in place, not daring to move. They sensed a scorching aura, like the sun, meticulously sweeping through every corner of their habitats.
"I've sensed the auras of those two legendary experts."
After a long moment, Joshua withdrew his gaze and continued flying deeper into the mountains. "They used magic to conceal their auras before, and even mixed their life signatures with those of high-rank magical beasts. No wonder I didn't notice they were in the Great Aias Mountains for this whole year."
The warrior wasn't worried about these two legendary mages having any ill intentions toward his territory. First, he had known these two good-natured individuals in his previous life—back then, Joshua's hero profession was a special inheritance that Baniel had discovered from an ancient ruin. Second, if they really wanted to cause trouble, they wouldn't need to lie low for a year or two. Not to mention others, just William, the Mind Controller, could subtly alter the minds of people in a region and turn everyone into murderous madmen within half a year, without lifting a finger, causing hundreds of thousands to die without a burial place.
These two were simply chasing information about ancient dragons, and the Great Aias Mountains were the dwelling place of ancient dragons. Thinking this, Joshua could already see the volcano in the mountains. The Great Aias Volcano, now in a dormant period, had a slowly boiling high-temperature sulfur lake at its summit, with toxic gases spreading in all directions.
But such toxic gases were only dangerous to ordinary people. Even a silver-rank warrior or spellcaster wouldn't be affected by them. Sensing the clear aura of the legendary mages nearby, Joshua even took a deep breath.
Instantly, a storm surged in the sky. A fierce white shockwave followed the atmospheric currents, forming a temporary tornado in midair. Within a radius of several miles, the air was drawn into the warrior's body in an instant, then rapidly analyzed.
The scorching smell of sulfur, the burnt odor of rocks roasted by heat, the steam from boiling lake water, and the volcanic dust scattered in the sky.
Temperatures nearing seventy degrees, dry air without a trace of wind, wind speed, and the frequency of the earth's tremors.
Using 'breathing' as the action and ritual to sense the surrounding world, Joshua's spirit now enveloped the entire Great Aias Volcano. His will moved in sync with everything around him. Countless pieces of information flooded into his brain in meticulous detail, then were thoroughly analyzed by his mental organs.
In the first moment, he had already found the traces of the two legendary experts. In the warrior's eyes, they were two extremely conspicuous trails—a rainbow-like fluctuation of seven-colored arcane power mixed with a deep gray arcane fluctuation, flying toward another corner of the mountain range. Joshua turned to look and saw a peak not far from him.
But strangely, the information about the two legendary experts stopped abruptly there, with no further trace. Joshua frowned, feeling something was off, but he still flew in that direction.
It didn't take long to reach that mountain. Joshua arrived within ten seconds. When he officially landed on the peak, the warrior sensed an extremely faint space-time fluctuation that was about to completely dissipate.
"This is it!"
His eyes lit up. Joshua knew he had found a clue. Fortunately, he had acted swiftly, flying all the way and searching for information in just a few minutes. Otherwise, it seemed that in about a few dozen seconds, this space-time fluctuation, already too faint to be detected from a slightly farther distance, would have completely vanished. Thinking this, he immediately lowered his altitude, approaching the area where the fluctuation still lingered, intending to replicate and preserve it with his own power.
But when he actually descended, Joshua suddenly frowned.
Wait, why is the smell of sulfur still so strong?
Although this peak wasn't far from the Great Aias Volcano, the vegetation here was lush. Even if some sulfur smell remained, it would be mostly covered by the fragrance of grass and trees. It shouldn't be this intense. In the next instant, the warrior's heart immediately went on high alert—because he had quickly detected that the sulfur smell here contained a trace of the Abyss!
The smell of a demon!
Letting out a deep breath, the warrior didn't get excited about this. Calmly, he replicated the residual space-time fluctuation, planning to find Nostradamus later to analyze where it led. After all, everyone had their expertise—a space-time legendary mage was indeed better than him, a warrior, at tracking space-time traces. At the same time, he also stored the dense demonic sulfur smell, sensing a familiar scent within it.
It wasn't the sulfur or the Abyss that was familiar, but the demon's scent.
After doing all this, Joshua scanned the surroundings again. His gaze swept over the mountains and the Black Forest, causing countless birds and beasts to flee in terror. But he indeed found no other traces of the legendary mages or demons. So he shook his head and flew back toward the main city of Moldavia.
Tonight's harvest was somewhat unexpected.
He couldn't be bothered to guess why the two legendary mages had suddenly gotten involved with demons. After all, neither Baniel nor William knew anything about sacrificial rituals or summoning. It was more likely that they had happened to encounter a demon in the Northern Lands. After all, quite a few cultists had been spreading their followers here not long ago. Maybe something left behind by them had summoned some creature from the Abyss? That was entirely possible.
Rather than racking his brains over where Baniel and the others had gone, the warrior had an easier way to confirm the information.
A few minutes later, he was back in the main city of Moldavia.
From high above, in Joshua's overlooking gaze, most of the city's residents had already rested. Their life flames were steady in their sleep, with occasional fluctuations caused only by dreams. The adventurers were gathered in taverns and their rented camps, their life flames more conspicuous, radiating light and a cheerful atmosphere.
In the church, Archbishop Verdani was now in the library. The old man always stayed up late and liked to browse through ancient books to pass the time. He sensed Joshua's gaze and smiled, raising his hand to wave in greeting.
Everything in the city and at the construction sites outside was calm, with no trace of demons or cultists. Seeing this, Joshua nodded slightly, then couldn't help but feel a bit puzzled.
Strange—he had flown all the way, surveying most of Moldavia along the towns and villages, but hadn't seen a single hidden cultist or any trace of sacrificial rituals or summoning. It seemed the previous cleanup had been thorough. He should reward the knight order handling such matters later. But then, where did that demon come from? Had it run all the way from outside the Northern Lands to the Great Aias Mountains, only to be discovered by the two legendary experts, and then they all vanished together? How could it be that coincidental? If you wanted to make a big story, this wasn't the way to do it.
But regardless, Joshua had already returned to the skies above the Lord's Manor. He descended slowly, as if the ground beneath him was a fragile layer of ice.
In reality, with his current weight, this small castle built of granite was indeed no different from paper—if Joshua released his restraints, it wouldn't take a second for the entire Lord's Manor to collapse under his weight field into a huge depression, even taking down the buildings in the city center with it.
"Ying, Lin, bring me that grimoire from the cabinet in my study."
The warrior walked back into the Lord's Manor along the top-floor staircase, shouting orders loudly. He could hear the silver-haired girl muttering to herself in the room, so he added, "That's right, the one for summoning demons—bring it to me. I want to summon a demon to ask about the situation."
"But Master, you've already summoned and killed too many demons for fun before. I don't think there are any demons stupid enough to respond to a summoning anymore."
In the study, the divine mechanism girl complained as she opened the door. In her hand was an ancient-looking book with a cover that seemed to be made of human skin. This was the first piece of history Joshua had changed after arriving on the Mycroft Continent. He had bought this lurking Abyss grimoire from a noble's library in the Imperial Capital, saving a southern fortress from being destroyed by an Abyss Terraria worm. After that, whenever the warrior's hands itched, he would use it to summon a demon or two to kill and have as a snack. This matter had even alarmed Archbishop Verdani, who, after getting to know Joshua's personality better, had sighed with emotion.
"It's fine."
Joshua took the grimoire, named the Book of Ibon, from the girl. He could sense a simple mind lurking within the book. This will, upon detecting his presence, trembled in terror, trying to hide its existence. The entire book writhed violently, like a living thing, trying to escape the grasp of this terrifying monster before it. But it was useless. The warrior's gaze could see through even the Divine Calamity Mist. A mere book spirit of a grimoire, even if it curled itself into a ball and shook like a sieve, couldn't escape his control.
With a casual flick, the ferocious Abyss grimoire, which had devoured countless lives, seemed to be shaken dizzy and obediently lay still in his hand.
Joshua patted the silver-haired girl's head and coaxed her back to rest, telling her not to disturb him while he worked. The scene to come would be quite brutal. The warrior left the Lord's Manor again and headed to an uninhabited area on the outskirts of the main city.
Standing in the outskirts, the damp spring breeze with a hint of chill blew, and Joshua stood on the mostly thawed, slightly sticky mud. With an irresistible momentum, he forcefully opened the grimoire.
"Squeak squeak squeak squeak————————"
The Book of Ibon let out a sound like a scream. In the next moment, a summoning rift to the Abyss opened, no longer under its control. Deep purple arcane fluctuations traced a ritual array in midair, designed to attract and summon demons, luring those who wanted to enter the main material world to come forth.
This would take quite a while, especially since the warrior had killed many demons that had come to the main material world before.
But Joshua couldn't wait that long.
"Get out here!"
Impatiently reaching out, Joshua thrust his hand directly through the Abyss rift. His immense power crossed the space-time barrier, searching for a target in the Abyss world on the other side. "You're the one!"
Boom!
Accompanied by the grimoire's agonized wail, the warrior pulled back his hand. The Abyss rift, as if relieved to have completed its task, quickly closed.
At the same time, a completely bewildered flame demon, its body blazing with fire, was forcibly 'summoned' into the main material world by the warrior, who was gripping its head.
"Where is this?"
Its simple mind thought.
Then, the flame demon saw Joshua's face.
—It seemed it was still in the Abyss.