Chapter 38: Precisely Because of That
Inside the unknown world.
Priest and Su Er were sitting side by side in a corner of the Aklafa Hub, both with their tongues sticking out, looking like two dogs utterly exhausted from work.
"I'm completely worn out... I never expected it—elves look so slender, but their weight isn't any lighter than humans!"
Priest was a Gold-rank warrior. Even as a newly ascended Gold-rank, his arm strength was measured in tens of tons. But his previous task wasn't simply unleashing dozens of tons of force to attack; it was maintaining a similar output while carrying dozens of elves through the air for over a dozen miles.
Flight wasn't a big deal for a Gold-rank expert, but that only applied to flying alone. Carrying others—more precisely, lifting a group of people and flying such a long distance—was still somewhat beyond Priest's capabilities. After all, he was a warrior, not a knight, and certainly not a flying vehicle.
"At least everyone's moved in. I can't believe we actually pulled it off!"
On the other side, Su Er extended one hand and casually draped it over Priest's shoulder, laughing boisterously. "You're amazing! I was just arranging people one by one in the hall, and I'm almost dead tired."
"It's fine, it's my duty..." Priest could clearly smell the fragrance emanating from the elven girl. He looked a bit uncomfortable, wanting to escape, but soon gave up the idea of breaking free from her arm.
"So, what now? Anything else to do?"
On the other side, the four members of the squad who had finished settling all the elves approached. The knight also asked in a casual tone. Hearing this, Priest quickly stood up. After thinking for a moment, he shook his head and said, "Actually, there's nothing left for us to do... All the elves have been settled. I've activated the Aklafa Hub's automatic defense system, sent out the signal—everything that can be done is done. Even if the Evil God wakes up right now, we have no way to defend against it. We can only pray that the Hub holds out, or that someone from Mycroft sends reinforcements."
Hearing this, the hall fell into silence.
Priest was right. As Gold-rank experts, reaching this point was already their limit. Although, according to information from the Watcher tribe, there were at least seven or eight other elven tribes living in this world, saving just the Watchers had exhausted them completely and consumed all their time. The earthquakes outside were already very noticeable. The Clergy could even see mountains rising abruptly in the distance, and even farther away, enormous tentacle-like shadows writhing—these were likely signs of the underground Evil God awakening.
"Is our luck just that bad?"
Thinking about this, the knight couldn't help but start pondering. "Come to think of it, when we were still Silver-rank, we encountered the Black Mist in World One—that was a Legendary-rank vicious monster. Later on, we ran into plenty of wild Gold-rank magical beasts and Ultimate-rank overlords. Now that we've advanced to Gold-rank, we immediately run into an Evil God... I wonder—mmph?!"
"Stop wondering!" The Spellcaster and the Clergy simultaneously cast "Hard Tongue Technique" and "True Word: Seal." On the other side, the Alchemist also threateningly pulled a bottle of black potion that looked very dangerous from his bosom and made a pouring motion toward the terrified knight.
"Anyway, let's just wait. We've been through so many desperate situations before. This time is definitely the most dangerous, but it's not the most tense."
Priest had no intention of discouraging everyone. He just rubbed his forehead tiredly and smiled bitterly. "At least the Aklafa Hub and September have the power to suppress things... According to records, this isn't the first time the Evil God has stirred. Maybe it'll be pushed back down?"
Even as he said this, Priest himself held no hope. This Evil God's uprising was probably a final resurgence, or a last-ditch struggle before death. Its intensity far exceeded all recorded rebellions... Without reinforcements, they were likely doomed.
But still, there was hope.
Priest looked at Su Er beside him, who was laughing without a care. Escaping the erosion of the foreign world disease was already incredibly fortunate for this elven girl who had felt death approaching. Naturally, she could laugh so happily.
At this moment, the nearly fatal chaotic wounds on Su Er's body had mostly dissipated. Although some stubborn remnants clung to the girl's spine, they could be purified once they returned to the Mycroft World... Like Su Er, the entire Watcher elven tribe could be purified.
At least, it wasn't the worst-case scenario. Priest thought this and couldn't help but smile as well.
Wait, and hold onto hope. That was the last thing the Elite Squad could do.
Outside the unknown world.
A speeding silver star and green star arrived outside a small, black, dead world.
"The chaotic fluctuations are coming from inside."
The Nature Mentor, who had exhausted herself to catch up with Joshua, comforted her tired Legendary-rank beast with concern. At the same time, she pointed with certainty at this ordinary-looking dead world, a hint of confusion on her face. "Strange... I can actually smell a trace of elven aura..."
Joshua didn't speak. He stared at the world's shell, his Steel Force vision fully open, trying to see through the world's barrier, but it was useless.
It was a black body defense similar to the Black Mist.
The warrior thought to himself. Perhaps other civilizations couldn't understand, but the experts of the Mycroft Civilization, who had recently fought the Black Mist Mother Entity, all knew the meaning of a black body. It represented an existence that could absorb all energy, all light and wave fluctuations. Once blocked by a black body, any energy, even light, couldn't escape; it would be completely absorbed.
This was a defense system modeled after a black hole.
Although it appeared to be a dead world on the outside, the inside might be very different. The energy light emitted from within the world was entirely absorbed by this specially crafted black body shell, blocking all distress signals and even the transmission of Steel Force information. Inside and outside were completely isolated. In theory, even chaotic fluctuations couldn't escape.
But perhaps the Decay Evil God's power had weakened the black body, creating a flaw in this theoretically perfect information-blocking barrier, allowing chaotic fluctuations to leak out.
"You brought this on yourself. Otherwise, even I might not have found this inconspicuous world in a few hundred years."
Joshua couldn't help but chuckle slightly, but soon his expression turned serious. The warrior turned to Galannod and said, "Mentor, can you break through this barrier?"
"Of course, but it will take some time."
The Nature Mentor naturally wouldn't refuse, and she understood Joshua's intention. She turned to look at the void behind them, then frowned and said, "Don't go too crazy."
Just now, they had flown past more than twenty Void Behemoths. Although the Nature Mentor had been rushing at full speed, she certainly wouldn't ignore these terrifying, dangerous existences.
More than twenty Void Behemoths meant more than twenty Legendary-rank entities. Even if all of Mycroft's forces were combined, they probably had that many Legendary-rank experts... Of course, these Void Behemoths weren't millions of years old adults; at most, they were a few thousand or ten to twenty thousand years old. Moreover, these behemoths seemed to be carrying something strange, heavily constrained, unable to exert their full power. Any Mycroft Legendary could probably fight multiple at once.
But even so, they were still Void Behemoths. The results of more than twenty Void Behemoths rampaging through the star river were clear to see: large swaths of worlds destroyed, barren like grasslands gnawed by goats. Yet Joshua planned to fight them alone.
That was truly insane.
"It's an unknown civilization."
Joshua said calmly, seeing more clearly than the Nature Mentor. He could tell that these behemoths had clearly been modified by some intelligent civilization, their auras altered, making it impossible for him to initially distinguish them from worlds.
And whether this civilization was friend or foe, good or evil, no one knew. Had they come to release the Evil God, or like them, to kill it while it was weak? They had appeared abruptly, shrouded in mist.
But based on how this civilization had mercilessly destroyed several living worlds earlier, just to let the Void Behemoths absorb some organic matter, Joshua was unwilling to trust them. At the very least, he didn't want this civilization to be an observer while he fought the Evil God. He couldn't believe such a cold-blooded existence harbored any goodwill.
Time passed. According to Joshua's calculations, in three minutes and twenty-seven seconds, the civilization commanding the Void Behemoth fleet would arrive in this star domain where the Evil God was sealed.
Joshua didn't pay attention to the Nature Mentor, who was using her power to break through the black body defense. His avatar stood atop his silver star body, shining like a world in the void.
"Twenty-seven Void Behemoths... If that's all this civilization has to rely on, it's not enough."
Thinking this, the warrior let out a derisive laugh for some reason. His gaze drifted slightly into the depths of the void, recalling a long time ago—or rather, not so long ago.
Nine years ago, he was just an ordinary human from Earth.
He was worrying on Earth about how to pass the boring, tedious time.
Nine years later, he was already one of the most powerful Legendary-rank experts in the Mycroft World.
Worlds, Evil Gods, the boundaries of the star river were in his hands. Flocks of Void Behemoths didn't even register in his eyes.
"Galannod, you asked me before why I'm always so serious... Actually, I'm not serious. I'm just enjoying all of this so much that I forget to express joy."
Joshua said in a low voice, then closed his eyes and began to gather power.
Yes, the warrior enjoyed this life.
If he hadn't crossed over, the former martial arts champion would have faded into ordinariness in ordinary times.
He would have continued running a martial arts school, taking on a few disciples he found somewhere, playing games in his spare time, drinking with friends. Maybe he would have had a wife, had children, developed a belly, lost muscle tone, and year after year, spent his life in the calm sunset.
But that was just one possibility—a possibility that Joshua van Radcliffe had long since rejected.
Perhaps it was fate, or the Sage, or some other mysterious existence, that had prepared for him a path and future filled with suffering, hardship, and the burden of one world after another. This path was full of danger, every step painful.
But precisely because of that—just like civilization, just like the Era of Falling Stars struggling to rise from the ruins, just like this unknown civilization driving Void Behemoths across the star river, and just like himself.
At this moment, in the world fleet, the Great Khan was staring at the black world approaching before him, and the silver star blocking the fleet's path.
At this moment, in the Aklafa Hub, the Elite Squad and Su Er pointed in surprise at the sky, where deep green natural light was gradually emerging at the highest point of the heavens.
At this moment, at the very bottom of the world, the twisted, evil ancient existence was roaring and wailing.
Joshua opened his eyes. Beneath the surging silver light, a deep red glow was flickering.
Boom! Beneath the warrior's feet, the silver star body suddenly began to deform in a violent tremor. The strongest substance in the observable universe—neutron star matter—was being reshaped by a man's will. The steel, hard enough to destroy stars, was being forged into a giant fist capable of twisting space-time and star rivers.
Because of suffering, torment, hardship, and the responsibility of bearing everything. Because of a man's determination to become stronger.
Precisely because of that, the one who walked this path was worlds apart from a martial arts gym owner who might have gradually grown fat in a space orbital city.
"Stop."
The star trembled, space-time twisted. The colossal Steel Giant stood at the center of the void. Chaotic space-time currents swept up the surrounding dead worlds, orbiting around him like planets around the sun. Joshua, who had transformed into a giant god capable of devouring worlds, looked indifferently at the dark cosmic void, at the world fleet slowly decelerating in the distance.
He raised his hand. Five fingers, each as massive as a mountain, spread open. In his palm, a storm of Steel Force was unfolding. The warrior reached into the center of the storm and pulled out a silver-white greatsword. The sword's tip pointed forward, tracing a silver arc in the void.
"From here on, this is the territory of the Mycroft Civilization."