When Joshua walked out of the secret vault with empty hands and asked Nostradamus to close the door, there was still a trace of seriousness on his face.
"What? This expression."
The old mage used the magic power in the atmosphere to close 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 warrior's empty hands and asked curiously. Said: "Didn't you find what you wanted?"
Having said this, Nostradamus was a little puzzled, and he frowned: "Although the blood potion may not be useful to you, each of those artifacts with souls in them has the potential to be used as a family heirloom. By placing it in the territory and using the amplitude of the magic circle, people in an area can be subtly affected."
"Not to mention that there are many extremely cherished Breathing Technique inheritances on the side. Their value is far more than a powerful enchanted weapon. They are the foundation for a force to become stronger quickly. Israel is promising to see you become a legend in the future. , this will give you a chance."
—I have all the breathing techniques that you have, and some of the breathing techniques that I have, you don’t have.
"I've got the most precious thing."
Shaking his head, Joshua stretched out his right hand in front of everyone watching. Brandon, Ying and Rin all looked at the warrior's palm curiously. Even Nostradamus couldn't help but look at it. Lean, look here.
In the center of his hand, there was a ball of pale golden light with uncertain brightness and darkness, in which countless figures emerged. In the faint, war roars that seemed to be shouted by tens of thousands of people in unison, and the long sound of horns echoed.
[The souls of the fearless]
[Passive effect: When holding this object, the friend will gain a halo of courage.]
[After active use, you can quickly obtain a large number of soul points, which increases the user's soul limit and will limit. It can also be processed by people with legendary soul shaping spells in exchange for 'indestructible crystal', 'incomplete soul king firewood' or 'rune·indestructible']
[Just as cowards gather together to keep warm, the brave themselves are also attracting other brave people. Countless souls living among the remnants are willing to contribute a part of themselves to you, forming this collective soul light. Those who are still alive must not live up to the expectations of the dead.]
[—Please let us move forward together.]
Except for Rin and Nostradamus who vaguely sensed some of the functions of this thing, Brandon and Ying were a little confused.
"This is... a highly concentrated soul crystal?" The blond swordsman scratched his head in confusion, as did the silver-haired girl. Ying frowned slightly, thinking hard, but she didn't think there was anything precious about this thing.
But Rin could vaguely sense that there was immeasurable potential in this group of souls, especially for artificial souls like him and his sister. As long as they stayed near this soul light, they could slowly strengthen their own essence. , Although Ying looks like a beautiful girl who is as delicate as a doll, she is actually a mentally rough person like their master. It is normal to not notice it.
But the old mage saw it most clearly. He looked at Joshua with surprised eyes and murmured to himself: "You can actually get the approval of so many souls?"
It is indeed the most precious thing. The souls in those Horcruxes separate part of themselves and give them to the warriors. This is also a heavy burden for them. Under the best care, 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 makes warriors braver, obtains a fearless army, or cultivates warriors who are not afraid of charging. Mounts can be used to form an extremely powerful knights, even if they are actively used, it can make his own power even more powerful.
This is something far more precious than blood potions and breathing methods. It is a treasure that he was willing to bear the faith of all his souls to obtain.
"Speaking of the Knights..."
Joshua raised his head slightly and looked towards the north with his red eyes: "I don't know how Black is doing lately. Is he enjoying himself in the volcano?"
—In the continent of Ilgona, in the province of Babel, there is the suburban plain near the capital.
The air was filled with the smell of gunpowder smoke, and the rumbling sound of the magic furnace core was heard in all directions. With the mobilization of several armies, more than fifty armored vehicles with large-caliber artillery arrived here urgently, and countless accompanying infantry hurriedly dug in. They are standing in the trenches, and their target is a terrifying creature from outside.
Golem.
In the forest on the edge of the plain in the distance, there was the roar of giant movement, the sound of tree trunks breaking, and rocks shattering. The sound was like countless giant elephants running together, causing countless birds to scream and leave their nests among the trees.
And not long after, under everyone's nervous gaze, huge terrifying entities, at least ten meters tall, crossed the forest and came into everyone's sight.
They have gray rock-like bodies, and their eyes are white light groups that are releasing light. These monsters called stone demons are like enlarged biological statues, with obvious human or animal shapes, but their activities are Extremely flexible, just like a normal creature, without any stagnation caused by the rock body.
After they left the woods, they stopped in place and seemed to be sensing something. After a while, they seemed to sense something. These huge stone giants or stone beasts walked silently towards the Babel Province with heavy steps. Charge in the direction of the capital.
"Start attacking!"
After these huge monsters came within shooting range, the federal troops arranged in formation and quickly launched an attack. With an order, countless alchemical artillery roared and sprayed out the shells. A warhead hit the leading stone. A sudden violent explosion shattered one-third of the demon body, and the rest of the body was also full of cracks, and it lost its ability to move.
But this was just one stone demon. As more than a dozen stone demons were knocked down, three times more stone monsters rushed out of the jungle. Among these stone demons that appeared later, a few were obviously stronger than those that appeared before. Stronger, their bodies are larger, and their shells are harder. Several cannonballs hit their bodies, and no obvious traces were even visible.
"Steel and mithril-level stone demons have appeared, switch armor-piercing bullets!"
After realizing this, many loaders of artillery and armored vehicles began to replace ammunition. Years of war have given them a deep understanding of their enemies. Generally speaking, the weakest stone monsters can be killed with one shot. It is called the rock grade, and the shell has been strengthened and can withstand multiple shells. It is the steel grade. Above it, the ordinary shells cannot cause damage at all, which is the mithril grade. Only special armor-piercing bullets can penetrate mithril. The carapace of the super stone demon causes damage to its core.
At the beginning of the Stone Demon invasion, almost all were rock-level beings. However, it was still during the reign of the last Elf Dynasty, and magic weapons using magic crystals had just appeared. Most people used magic and weapons that had not weakened too much. Fighting with bows and arrows, so the early stages of the battle with the stone demons were extremely difficult. Several cities were captured and all the residents in them were massacred.
With the technological advancement of the elves, the strength of the stone demons has also become higher and higher. The mithril-level stone demons first appeared seventy years ago, when the last elven dynasty was overthrown. At that time, its attacks were against The emerging federation caused great damage, and almost no one could stop its actions. In the end, it was relying on bait to lure it into the volcano to end the disaster.
Rumor has it that there is an adamantine-level stone demon above mithril. It was because of that adamantine-level stone demon that the Cold Wind Valley Fortress almost fell three years ago. However, because there is so little information, no one can confirm it. does it exist.
This battle was originally a hard-fought battle. The federal army was not fully prepared for the war. The recent frequent natural disasters in various places have kept everyone running around. Whether it is heavy rain, blizzards, earthquakes or huge waves on the coast, they have all occurred one after another. Come on, the Sigma Volcano next to Babel Province also erupted not long ago, and armies from all over the country are working to provide disaster relief. Even with all their efforts, they can only gather a large army in Babel Province.
Fortunately, one-third of the original legion-level Stone Demon invasion was destroyed by the Volcano Dragon's attack, and the most troublesome third was about to fall near the capital. This immediately made the federal army more at ease. , as the roar of artillery continued, waves of stone demons were destroyed. Although some of them rushed into the elves' positions, destroyed several armored vehicles, and killed many people, they were unable to continue to expand the results. , but was destroyed on the spot by other angry and vengeful elves.
Explosions were heard on the battlefield. Although the number of stone demons was small, those that appeared later became more and more elite. Once, five mithril-level stone demons actually appeared. This immediately caused many soldiers present to feel great pressure. Under the protection of these five mithril-level stone demons, a large group of rock monsters ran toward a position with the most densely populated people.
Even if the armor-piercing bullet hits, it cannot instantly kill the mithril-level stone demons on the spot, and their charging speed is too fast and completely impossible to avoid. The elf soldiers in the position are already ready to die, but among the group of stone demons When he was about to rush into the position, a red light flashed, and a huge fireball appeared in the center of the leading mithril-level stone demon. A huge explosion sounded, and strong light shone everywhere, as if the sun was dimmed. For a moment.
The mithril-level stone demon that was hit by the fireball was naturally completely shattered into countless pieces and was destroyed on the spot.
In the hot wind that swept through, the elven soldiers looked back in shock, and they saw a majestic beast that was even bigger and more terrifying than the stone demons, slowly walking out of the city. It walked every few steps. , then a golden-red stream of light was ejected from the core of the chest. As it continued to approach the position, one after another beams of light bombarded those powerful mithril-level stone demons.
Continuous explosions were heard, and powerful shock waves lifted up the surface of the earth, sputtering out countless dust. Even armored vehicles seemed very small in the face of such impact. The earth trembled like an earthquake.
After the explosion, only a large pit remained where the stone demons had been. The center of the pit was rapidly cooling lava. The remaining remains of the stone demons were blown away by the previous shock wave. With a little bit left over.
"Is the Volcano Dragon really from our side?"
An elf soldier who was avoiding the blast wave in the trench whispered to his companions beside him. He looked a little frightened: "This kind of power is really terrifying... A mithril-level stone demon can be completely destroyed in one blow. We need to use a lot of armor-piercing bullets to achieve the same thing... "
But his companion shook his head: "If I were you, I wouldn't want this kind of thing. If the Volcano Dragon was not on our side, would you still be alive?"
The stone demon almost broke through the artillery position before. If Ryoma hadn't come to the rescue, at least dozens or hundreds of people would have died, and several armored vehicles would have been destroyed. Giving his frightened friend some time to think, the soldier said in a helpless tone: "Besides, even if it's not, there's nothing we can do about it..."
After hearing these words, the soldier from before suddenly fell silent.
Indeed, whether it is an enemy or a friend, the Federation has nothing to do with the Volcanic Dragon.
This battle ended quickly with the participation of Ryoma. This time the stone demons did not arrive in large scale, nor did they gather into a group to charge together. Instead, they came one by one and in teams, giving the federal army Every opportunity to defeat.
In the evening, the reconnaissance team determined that all the stone demons had been eliminated and the sudden invasion was over.
On the side, Hei lay lazily on the ground, as if he was resting. The previous battle with the stone demon was far from as hard as the first time he used all his strength to destroy countless meteorites, but repeating the same thing again and again made his spirit stronger. Some fatigue.
Beside it, there were many soldiers and scientific researchers watching, but Longma didn't care. Whether in the main city of Moldavia or the Nissien Winter Castle Academy, it was the focus of attention of citizens and students. It had long been Accustomed to the gaze of others, as time passed, Hei rested very peacefully, and he didn't even know that a lightly equipped magic armored vehicle drove in front of him.
An old elf with white hair walked out of the armored vehicle. Several elite soldiers stood beside him to protect him. There was a badge on the chest of this white-haired elf with the words [Federal Supreme Academy] written on it. .
"Professor Nelson, this is the Volcano Dragon."
A leading elite soldier pointed at Hei's huge body and whispered to the old elf: "It is resting now. Do you think it will come back later?"
Because they have fought together, many soldiers are no longer wary of Heidu, but there is still a trace of instinctive fear and they are unwilling to spend a long time with him.
"... Even after seeing the pictures, I still feel so shocked..." The old elf named Nelson squinted his eyes and looked at the huge body of the dragon and horse: "Sure enough, there are a lot of traces of dragons, the volcano The dragon’s name is not exaggerated—are you sure it was gentle and even interacted with a boy for a while?”
"Of course, we have detailed video." The leading captain affirmed: "If you weren't in such a hurry, we could 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 exclaimed softly, and a cautious expression appeared on his wrinkled face: "It's awake."
And just as he said, after Hei noticed that someone was talking in front of him, he opened his golden dragon eyes and stared at the old elf and several soldiers who were facing a formidable enemy in front of him.
"Roar… "
Neighing softly, Black raised his slender neck and looked down at the only elf who did not show fear, that is, Professor Nelson.
—Looks a lot like the old mage who often appears next to his master.
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 extremely powerful old mage.
While Ryoma was deep in thought, Professor Nelson cleared his throat and began to speak to the underworld using dragon language from ancient times: "Hello, powerful creature..."
As a linguistics professor who is proficient in various languages and even understands various strange languages in myths and legends, Nelson came here this time with the mission of communicating with this extremely powerful volcanic dragon. But halfway through, the old man realized that Hei's eyes were confused, and he didn't seem to understand what it was saying.
—Strange thing, dragons don’t know dragon language
This immediately put Nelson in a bit of a dilemma. It was not that he didn't know other languages, but if the volcano dragon couldn't even understand Dragon Language, then there wasn't much chance that he could 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 legendary goblins. It was extremely strange, and the tone of voice sounded like singing. The ever-changing range made Hei suddenly With energy, it nodded happily according to the rhythm, and slapped the ground with its claws, creating a very rhythmic beat.
—This guy didn’t understand it at all, he just took it as a song!
Professor Nelson had to immediately interrupt the communication. He was shocked that Fa Xiang, a volcanic dragon, not only knew how to appreciate music, but was also quite knowledgeable about rhythm. For just a moment, he actually felt that this fairy language seemed quite suitable for singing. of.
But after all, the task was urgent. Even though Hei showed a dissatisfied look because the music was interrupted, Nelson still changed another language and continued to try. This time it was the external language used by the elemental beings. Judging from the sound alone, it seemed to be meaningless. Roar.
For Black, it was indeed meaningless, because it also roared, as if not to be outdone. How could a white-haired elf have such a loud voice as a dragon? Naturally, this communication was 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 and tried to communicate in various languages. Black seemed to regard it as a game and responded to the white-haired elf professor. and, had a great time playing.
—This guy obviously often communicates with intelligent life. What language can he use? !
After a period of time, Professor Nelson, who used various languages, including Stonelings (dwarf language), giant language, halfling language and various orc languages (various half-orc languages), finally felt exhausted. He couldn't help but feel exhausted. I began to doubt whether the other party was an intelligent life, but it turned out that the volcano dragon's intelligence was quite high, comparable to that of the elves. It could not help but know how to appreciate the quality of music, and it could also accompany itself with dragon chants. In a sense, it had considerable musical literacy. .
"Let's try this last..." Although he thought it was unlikely, Professor Nelson only had this option. It was already dark now, he hadn't had dinner yet, and his body was almost unable to bear it: "In ancient legends, the people of the plains The language they use... Although it has nothing to do with dragons, it seems to be the only one that has not been used."
With the mentality of finishing his talk and going home for dinner early, the slightly tired white-haired elf said in the language of the name of the plain: "Excuse me, can you understand me?"
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 dragon eyes, as if waiting for the next sentence.
—The reaction was strong!
The old elf was greatly encouraged. He recalled the words in the language of the people of the plains, and began to stutter the next words: "Hello, powerful volcanic dragon, I am the representative of the elves of the Gulf Federation..."
"Roar!"
When he heard this, Hei shook his head, and he spoke seriously to the bewildered Elf Professor with dragon sounds of different lengths, as if he was having a conversation.
"You...what are you talking about?" Nelson wiped the sweat from his head. He was now sure that the volcanic dragon could understand his words. It was a completely intelligent life, but he could not understand the other party's words. , that is not the language of a dragon, but a simple roar of a beast.
—What is going on? ! 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 saying!
What else can be said
Hei roared so many times, mainly expressing two meanings.
One is "My name is Black, not Volcano Dragon."
The other is "The dialect is difficult to understand. Please speak standard lingua franca, thank you."
This chapter of nearly 6,000 words has been delayed until now... Sorry!
(End of chapter)