Soul of Burning Steel

When Joshua walked out of the secret vault empty-handed and asked Nostradamus to close the door, there was still a trace of seriousness on his face.

"What? This expression."

Using the magic power in the atmosphere, the old mage closed the door of the royal treasure house again, and reactivated the temporarily suspended magic circle. In the cold wind that once again filled the hall, he looked at the empty hands of the soldiers and asked curiously. Said: "Could it be that you didn't find what you wanted?"

Speaking of this, Nostradamus was a little puzzled, he frowned his white eyebrows: "Although the blood potion may not be useful to you, each of those artifacts that house the soul has the potential to be a family heirloom. It is placed in the territory to use the amplitude of the magic circle, and the people in a region can be subtly affected."

"Not to mention that there are a lot of extremely cherished breathing inheritances on the side. Their value is far more than a powerful enchanted weapon. They are the basis for a power to quickly become stronger. Israel is the hope of your future legend. , this is giving you a chance."

——I have all the breathing methods you have, and some of the breathing methods I have, but you don’t have some.

"I've got the most precious thing."

Shaking his head, Joshua stretched out his right hand under the crowd watching, and whether it was Brandon, Ying and Rin, they all looked at the palm of the soldier curiously, even Nostradamus couldn't help but stare. Deviating, look here.

And in the center of his palm, there is a group of pale golden light with uncertain brightness and darkness, in which countless figures emerge, and in the vagueness, there can be heard the battle roar of tens of thousands of people shouting in unison, as well as the long reverberation of horns.

【Souls of the Fearless】

[Passive effect: When holding this object, allies gain a halo of courage. 】

[After active use, you can quickly get a lot of soul points, and increase the user's upper limit of soul and will. It can also be processed by someone who possesses legendary soul-shaping spells in exchange for 'Indestructible Crystal', 'Incomplete Soul King Firewood' or 'Rune: Invincible']

[Just as the cowards will hold together with the cowards to keep warm, the brave man himself is also attracting other brave men. Countless souls residing in the remnant soldiers are willing to contribute a part of themselves to you, forming this collective soul light. Those who are still alive, do not disappoint the expectations of the dead. 】

【——Please let us move forward together. 】

Except for some functions of this thing that Rin and Nostradamus vaguely felt, Brandon and Ying were a little puzzled.

"This is... a group of high-concentration soul crystals?" The blond swordsman scratched his head in confusion, as did the silver-haired girl. Ying frowned slightly, thinking hard, and didn't think there was anything precious about this thing.

But Rin can vaguely perceive that there is immeasurable potential in this group of souls, especially for artificial souls like him and his sister, as long as they stay near this soul light, they can gradually strengthen their own essence , although Ying looks like a beautiful girl who is so delicate that she looks like a doll, she is actually a person with the same mentality as their master. It is normal to not be able to detect it.

The old mage was the one who saw it most thoroughly. He looked at Joshua with surprised eyes, and muttered to himself, "How can you get the approval of so many souls?"

It is indeed the most precious thing. The souls in those horcruxes separate part of themselves and donate to the warriors. This is also a heavy burden for them. Under the best preservation, it will take at least ten years to fully recover.

Nodding slightly, Joshua put it away. The passive effect of [Soul of the Fearless] has many functions, whether it is to make soldiers more brave, to obtain a fearless army, or to cultivate soldiers who will not be afraid of charging. Mounts can be used to form an extremely powerful knight group, even if they are actively used, it can make his own strength stronger.

This is a far more precious thing than the blood potion and the breathing method, and it is a treasure that he obtained because of his willingness to bear all the soul's beliefs.

"Speaking of the Knights..."

Joshua raised his head slightly, his red pupils looked towards the north: "I don't know how Hei is doing recently, whether he enjoyed playing in the volcano or not."

——And in the continent of Ilgna, the province of Babel, the suburban plain near the capital.

The air was filled with the smell of gunpowder, and the rumbling sound of the mana furnace's operation spread in all directions. With the mobilization of several armies, more than fifty armored vehicles with large-caliber artillery came here urgently, and countless infantrymen rushed to dig They entered the trenches, and their target was a terrifying creature from outside the sky.

stone goblin.

From the forest on the edge of the plain in the distance, the sound of giants moving, tree trunks snapping, and rocks shattering could be heard endlessly. This sound seemed like countless giant elephants running together, causing countless birds to leave their nests among the trees with screams.

And not long after, under the nervous gaze of everyone, huge terrifying existences at least ten meters high crossed the forest and came into everyone's sight.

They have a gray rock-like body, and their eyes are white light clusters that are emitting light. These monsters called stone demons are like enlarged biological statues one by one, with obvious human or animal shapes, but their activities are different. It is extremely flexible, like a normal creature, without any stagnation caused by the body of rock.

After they left the woods, they stopped at the same place, as if they were sensing, and after a while, they seemed to sense something, and these huge stone giants or stone beasts walked towards the province of Babel silently with heavy steps. Charge in the direction of the capital.

"Start the attack!"

After these huge monsters came within range, the federal army in formation quickly launched an attack. With an order, countless alchemy cannons roared, and the shells were sprayed out. A warhead hit a stone in the lead. The demon's body, a sudden violent explosion shattered one-third of its torso, and the rest of it was also full of cracks, losing its ability to move.

But it was just a stone goblin, and as more than a dozen stone goblins were knocked down, three times as many stone monsters rushed out of the jungle. Among the stone goblins that appeared later, a few were obviously stronger than those that appeared earlier. When they are stronger, their bodies are bigger and their shells are harder. Several shells bombarded their bodies, and there is no way to see obvious traces.

"Steel and mithril-level stone demons have appeared, exchange armor-piercing bullets!"

After realizing this, the loaders of many artillery and armored vehicles began to replace the ammunition. Years of wars have given them a deep understanding of their enemies. Generally speaking, the weakest stone monsters that can be killed with one shot It is called the rock level, and the shell has been strengthened, and the one that can withstand multiple shells is the steel level, and above it, the ordinary shells that cannot cause damage at all are the mithril level, only special armor-piercing shells can penetrate the mithril level Super Stone Golem's carapace, dealing damage to its core.

At the beginning of the stone demon invasion, almost all of them were rock-level existences, but at that time it was still the rule of the last elf dynasty, and magic weapons using magic crystals had just appeared, and most people used magic and weapons that had not been weakened too much. Fighting with bows and arrows, so the early days of the battle with the stone demons were extremely difficult. Several cities were breached and all the inhabitants of them were slaughtered.

With the technological advancement of the elves, the strength of the stone goblins is getting higher and higher. The first appearance of the mithril-level stone goblins was seventy years ago when the last elf dynasty was overthrown. The emerging Commonwealth did so much damage that few could stop it until it was lured into a volcano with bait to end the catastrophe.

Rumor has it that above Mithril, there is also an adamantium-level stone goblin. It was precisely because of that adamantium-level stone goblin that Coldwind Valley Fortress almost fell three years ago, but because there is so little information, no one can confirm it. does it exist.

This battle was originally a bitter battle, and the federal army was not fully prepared for the war. The recent frequent natural disasters in various places have made everyone rush around, whether it is heavy rain, snowstorm, earthquake or huge waves on the coast. Come on, the Sigma volcano next to Babel Province also erupted not long ago, and armies from all over the country are doing disaster relief. Even if they try their best, they can only gather a large army in Babel Province.

Fortunately, the original legion-level stone demon invasion was destroyed by a third of the volcano dragon's attack, and it was about to fall near the capital, the most troublesome third, which immediately made the federal army more comfortable. , with the continuous roar of artillery, wave after wave of stone demons were destroyed. Although some of them rushed into the positions of the elves, destroyed several armored vehicles, and killed many people, they could not continue to expand the results of the battle. , but was destroyed on the spot by other angry and revenge elves.

There were constant explosions on the battlefield. Although the number of stone goblins was small, the number of stone goblins that appeared later became more and more elite. Once, five mithril-level stone goblins appeared directly. This immediately made many soldiers present feel great pressure. Under the protection of these five mithril-level stone demons, a large group of rock monsters ran aggressively towards a most densely populated position.

Even if the armor-piercing projectile hits, it cannot instantly kill the mithril-level stone demons on the spot, and their charging speed is too fast to avoid at all. When he was about to rush into the position, a red light flashed, and a huge ball of fire appeared in the center of the body of the leading Mithril-level stone demon. There was a huge explosion sound, and the bright light shone, as if the sun was dimmed. For a moment.

And the mithril-level stone demon that hit the fireball was naturally completely broken into countless pieces, and was destroyed on the spot.

And in the hot wind that was blowing, the elf soldiers looked back in shock, but they saw a majestic behemoth that was bigger and more terrifying than the stone demons was slowly walking out of the city, and it walked every few steps. , a golden-red streamer was ejected from the core of the chest, and as it continued to approach the position, successive beams of light bombarded those powerful mithril-level stone demons.

The sound of continuous explosions came, and the powerful shock wave lifted the surface of the earth, sputtering countless dust. Even armored vehicles seemed very small in the face of such impact, and the ground trembled like an earthquake.

After the explosion, only a large pit remained where the Stone Demons were. The center of the pit was rapidly cooling lava. With a little remnant.

"Is the volcano dragon really from our side?"

An elf soldier who was avoiding the blast wave in the trench whispered to his companion beside him. He looked a little frightened: "This kind of power is really terrifying... A mithril-level stone demon can completely destroy it with a single blow." , we have to use a lot of armor-piercing bullets to do the same thing..."

But his companion shook his head: "If I were you, I wouldn't want to do this kind of thing. If the volcano dragon wasn't from our side, would you still be alive?"

The stone demon almost broke through the artillery position before, if it wasn't for the dragon horse rescue, at least dozens of hundreds of people died, and several armored vehicles were destroyed. Giving the fearful friend some time to think, the soldier said in a helpless tone: "Also, even if it's not, we can't do anything about it..."

Hearing these words, the soldier before him suddenly fell silent.

Indeed, whether it is friend or foe, the Federation has nothing to do with the Volcanic Dragon.

This battle, with the participation of Longma, ended soon. This time, the arrival of the stone demons did not reach a large scale, nor did they gather together to charge together, but one by one, one by one, gave the federal army Opportunities to break through.

In the evening, the reconnaissance team determined that all the stone demons had been wiped out, and this sudden invasion had come to an end.

On the other side, Hei Lazi was lying on the ground, as if he was resting. The previous battle with the stone demon was far less hard than the first time to destroy countless meteorites with all his strength, but repeating the same thing again and again made its spirit Some tired.

Beside it, many soldiers and scientific researchers were watching, but Ryoma didn't care. Whether it was in the main city of Moldavia or Nisierin Winter Castle College, it was the focus of attention of citizens and students. Accustomed to being watched by others, Hei rested very peacefully as time went by, and he didn't even know that a lightly equipped mana armored vehicle drove up to it.

An old white-haired elf walked out of the armored vehicle. Several elite soldiers stood beside him to protect him. This white-haired elf had a badge on his chest with the words [Federal Supreme Academy] written on it. .

"Professor Nelson, this is the Volcanic Dragon."

A leading elite soldier pointed at Hei's huge body, and whispered to the old elf: "It is resting now, tell me, do you want to come back later?"

Because they have fought together, many soldiers are not too wary of Hei, but there is still a trace of instinctive fear, and they are unwilling to stay with him for a long time.

"...Even after seeing the pictures, I feel so shocked..." Shaking his head slowly, the old elf man named Nelson squinted his eyes at the huge body of the dragon horse: "Sure enough, there are a lot of traces of dragons, The Volcanic Dragon is well-named - are you sure it's gentle, and even interacted with a boy for a while?"

"Of course, we have a detailed video." The leading captain affirmed: "If you didn't come too hastily, we can call up this video for you in the command room."

"It's okay, it's enough to know this... oh."

Just as he was speaking, the old elf suddenly let out a soft cry, and a cautious expression appeared on his wrinkled face: "It's awake."

And just as he said, after realizing that someone was talking in front of him, Hei opened his golden dragon eyes, staring at the old elf and several soldiers who were facing an enemy.

"Roar……"

Neighing softly, Hei raised his slender neck, condescendingly, and looked at the only elf who did not show fear, that is, Professor Nelson.

——It looks very similar to the old mage who often appears by the master's side.

Hei thought so, but there was a decisive difference between the two, that is, the old man in front of him was too weak, completely different from the incomparably powerful old mage.

While Ryoma was meditating, Professor Nelson cleared his throat, and began to use the ancient dragon language to say to the underworld: "Hello, powerful creature..."

As a professor of linguistics who is proficient in various languages, and even understands various strange languages ​​in myths and legends, Nelson came here this time to shoulder the mission of communicating with this extremely powerful volcanic dragon. But halfway through the talk, the old man noticed that Hei's eyes were full of confusion, as if he didn't understand what it was talking about.

— Strange thing, dragons can't speak dragon language?

This immediately made Nelson a little embarrassed. It's not that he doesn't know other languages, but if the Volcanic Dragon can't even understand Dragon Language, then there is little chance that he can understand other languages.

However, in order to fulfill his responsibility, the white-haired language master changed another language. This time it was the language used by the goblin in the legend. With energy, it nodded happily according to the rhythm, and the dragon claws in its hands were still patting the ground, making a very rhythmic beat.

——This guy didn't understand at all, he just listened to the song!

Professor Nelson had to interrupt this communication immediately. He was shocked that this volcanic dragon not only knows how to appreciate music, but also has a good command of rhythm. Just for a moment, he actually felt that the fairy language seems to be suitable for singing of.

But after all, the task is important. Even though Hei showed dissatisfaction due to the interruption of the music, Nelson still continued to try another language. This time it was the foreign language used by the elemental beings. Judging from the sound alone, it seems to be meaningless Roar.

For Hei, it was really meaningless, because it also roared, as if not to be outdone, how could the white-haired elf have a louder voice than a dragon, and this communication naturally returned in vain.

Nelson was extremely unwilling. He refused the request of the soldiers beside him to go back, and continued to stay where he was, using various languages ​​to try to communicate. Hei also seemed to regard it as a game, and responded one to one with the white-haired elf professor. And, it was very fun to play.

——This guy obviously often communicates with intelligent life, what language can he use? !

After a period of time, Professor Nelson, who has used various languages, including Stone Ling (Dwarven), Giant, Halfling and various Orcs (various kinds of Orcs), finally felt exhausted, and he couldn't help but I began to doubt whether the other party was an intelligent life, but it turned out that the wisdom of the volcano dragon is quite high, comparable to that of an elf. It can't help but know how to appreciate music, and it can also use dragon chant to accompany it. In a sense, it has considerable musical literacy .

"Let's try this one last..." Although he thought it was unlikely, Professor Nelson had only one choice. Now that it was dark and he hadn't had dinner, his body was going to be unbearable: "According to ancient legends, The language used by the people... Although it has nothing to do with dragons, it seems that this is the only language that has never been used."

With the mentality of finishing talking early and going home for dinner, the slightly tired white-haired elf said in the language of the plain name: "Excuse me, can you understand me?"

But hearing the familiar tone, Hei, who had always thought it was a game, immediately turned his head and stared at Professor Nelson seriously with his huge long eyes, as if he was waiting for the next sentence.

——The reaction was very strong!

The old elf was greatly encouraged. He recalled the vocabulary in the language of the people of the plains, and began to stammer a little: "Hello, mighty volcano dragon, I am the representative of the elves of the Gulf Federation..."

"Roar!"

Hei shook his head when he heard this, and he uttered dragon calls of different lengths to the bewildered professor Elf seriously, as if he was having a conversation.

"You... what are you talking about?" Nelson wiped off the sweat from his head. He is now sure that this volcano dragon can understand his words, and it is a completely intelligent life, but he can't hear the other party's words. I understand, that's not dragon language, but a simple roar of wild beasts.

——What is the situation? ! Dragons don't speak dragon language, but they can understand the language of the people of the plains. The way of communication is roaring? What on earth is it talking about!

What else can I say?

Hei roared so many times, mainly expressing two meanings.

One is "My name is Black, not the Volcanic Dragon."

The other is "The dialect is hard to understand, please speak standard lingua franca, thank you."

The nearly 6,000-word chapter has been delayed until now... I'm sorry!