Soul of Burning Steel

Buzzing, what is it?

Didn't the maid change the quilt and bed sheet before? Could it be that something was accidentally left behind during the cleaning process?

Joshua didn't think too much about it, he just lifted the quilt up - anyway, Yingying is still asleep and wearing clothes, and there is really nothing worth seeing, so the soldier looked straight at the buzzing sound without looking sideways where it came from.

Joshua's eyesight is not top-notch in this world, but it can be considered top-notch. Just looking at it with the naked eye can achieve an effect similar to energy vision. He took a closer look and easily discovered the source of the buzzing.

Before the girl fell asleep, the magical power was condensed in a long military dress for women. This kind of dress has two pockets on the waist for storing small gadgets. At this time, there seems to be something in the pocket on the right side of Yingying. Vibrating constantly, the frequency is very high.

Joshua simply reached into his pocket and grabbed the thing.

"I feel like I've suddenly become a very bad person."

The soldier shrugged his shoulders. Thinking about it carefully, whether it was lifting the girl's quilt or digging out the little things in the girl's body pocket while she was sleeping, it was indeed a very bad thing.

He took the vibrating unknown object out of Hotaru's pocket, but it was strange that the high-frequency vibrating thing stopped vibrating when it touched Joshua's finger. At the same time, the warrior also felt I saw a strange force suddenly appearing in the palm of my hand, as if trying to enter his body.

"……what."

Burning battle energy in his hand, blocking that strange force, Joshua looked down at his palm.

It was a translucent polyhedral crystal, black and red rays of light flowed in the thumb-sized crystal, and faint rays of light flashed along countless small slices, like stars.

"Such a beautiful gemstone? Where did Firefly get it?"

Confused, he murmured to himself, the soldier held the gem in front of his eyes, and looked at it carefully: "The quality is also very high, whether it is a cut surface or a crystal quality, it is above the standard... But where did it come from?"

The magical girl has been following him on weekdays, almost never acting alone, how can she have the time to buy or get such a level of gems? And there was an inexplicable force coming from this crystal just now, what is going on?

"interesting."

Squinting his eyes, Joshua couldn't help but have an association in his mind.

——Is Yingying's coma related to this gem?

Although it sounds ridiculous, it is indeed one of the possibilities, and since it is possible, he will not let it go.

So the muffled voice sounded.

"System, identification."

Immediately, countless cyan-blue streams of data flashed before his eyes, and finally condensed into a report.

【...Item appraisal...Mineral knowledge is successfully judged, ancient knowledge is judged failed, and strange object knowledge is judged failed. 】

[Appraisal Report: Infected Crystal of Steel · Ancient Rare Object]

[Minerals: The power of steel is one of the foundations of material existence. It combines with other energies in the world to form everything that all living beings see today. Except for some pure spirit and energy life, any life contains the power of steel in its body . At certain strange moments, such as when the world was created and the world was on the verge of destruction, the most basic force, the power of steel, would condense into physical crystals and spread them all over the place. It might take any form, but most Appears in the form of gems part of the time. The crystallization of steel is one of the important raw materials for forging equipment above the legendary level, and the weapons forged from it will have all kinds of incredible abilities. 】

[Ancient: This crystal of steel has existed for more than thirteen hundred years. 】

[Strange thing: This crystal of steel comes from another world, and it has been infected by some kind of power. There may be some after-effects when touching it. 】

[Comprehensive: A rare ore from another world is extremely precious, but it has some kind of strange power. You need to think carefully before using it. 】

"It's actually a crystal of steel?"

Frowning, Joshua murmured, he turned the black-red crystal in his hand over and over for several times: "It's not like I haven't seen this thing before, but isn't the crystal of steel a silver-gray gemstone? Why is it red and black now?"

The reason for the impregnation of that unknown force? possible.

"Although Yingying is usually in human form, she is still a divine device and a weapon..." Joshua thought about the information revealed in these identification reports: "She must have been more affected than a human being when she came into contact with this crystal of steel. .”

Maybe Hotaru has been sleeping until now because of the strange power brought by this crystal of steel, and it can also explain some of the information that Claire and Nostradamus said, such as the stagnant power of steel and the inexplicable atmosphere of chaos some type of.

After thinking for a while, Joshua turned his head to look at the silver-haired girl on the bed. Yingying is now sleeping peacefully and breathing steadily, and she doesn't seem to be in any bad condition.

If everything is as he thought, then there is no doubt that the inexplicable force is the main reason.

"We should try what consequences this power will bring."

The soldier's idea is not reckless, but a well-thought-out choice.

"My resistance is stronger than that of Yingying, and if it doesn't work, I can also activate the God of Heaven to expel bad states, and there will be no accidents."

Thinking in this way, he let go of the shield of grudge against the spar in his hand, allowing the power contained in it to touch his body.

——Then, Joshua's field of vision fell into chaos.

...

Fog, and darkness.

This is what Joshua saw when he opened his eyes and broke free from the guidance of the inexplicable force with steely will.

The barren hills covered with gray-black rocks, the huge rocky mountains looming in the mist, the dry and exhausted land, the crystalline jungle full of shadows, and the strange rocks in the dark, cloudy sky, only a little bit of the sun shine.

Taking a breath of the rotten air, the soldier felt that his surroundings were overflowing with the force of stagnant steel that was extremely familiar to him, but extremely uncomfortable.

The strange atmosphere spread silently. Joshua looked around seriously, but found nothing. Although the mist mixed with thick black particles could not block his entire field of vision, it could cover all the information brought by the distance. The darkness seemed to be It seems to be moving, and it is slowly gathering towards the warrior.

Here, where is it?

Boom!

Just as this thought flashed through Joshua's mind, a sudden thunder sounded.

——This is a dead land where no one survives, a wasteland where everything is destroyed, this is a doomsday world where the light dissipates, the flames are extinguished, and sink into the bottomless abyss of chaos.

A strange voice seemed to sound vaguely and answered his question at the same time, but it was not noticed by the soldiers.

Accompanied by the thunder, light bloomed on the gray sky, the dim lightning released a little light, and countless translucent particles like rain fell from the sky, washing away the fog.

Stretching out his hand and taking a translucent particle, Joshua found that this kind of ice and crystal object brought an incomparable chill, but it would not melt. He threw the particle on the ground, then raised his head , looking into the distance.

Because the surrounding gray-black mist was expelled by the crystalline rain, the soldier's field of vision suddenly widened a lot, and on the hill at the end of his line of sight, at least ten kilometers away, there was an ancient and huge temple ruin.

The gate of the temple was completely open, and almost half of the walls collapsed. It took an unknown amount of time for the sanctuary to be covered in dust and crystals.

A shadow flickered.

"It seems that someone is active?"

Because it was too far away, even Joshua couldn't be sure if what he saw just now was an illusion, he frowned, and looked around: "Although I don't know why I came to this place, but I'll take a look first. "

After determining the path that should be taken halfway, the soldiers started to set off.

The thunder stopped, and the crystalline rain gradually weakened, and the gray-black mist emerged from the depths of the earth again, covering the surroundings.

time flies.

woo woo——

A whistle that could penetrate the sky sounded in the distance, and then passed to the ears of Joshua who was walking through the darkness by relying on the path he remembered. This made the soldiers stunned, but then, as if The sound of some huge object moving overwhelmed the whistle, it was like the sound of a machine running and gears meshing.

"Boom!"

There was another burst of thunder and flashes, illuminating the gray fog, allowing Joshua to see clearly the interior of the temple, which was already very close.

This time the warrior was sure that there was indeed a figure wandering around in confusion among the ruins of the temple.

As if sensing something moving outside, that figure walked out from the inside of the temple, behind the open ancient door of the temple, there seemed to be silver hair flashing past.

Seeing this scene, Joshua was stunned for a moment, and then asked in surprise, "Yingying?"

Afterwards, the warrior's will returned to sobriety.

As if waking up from a dream, Joshua's eyes were still a little confused at first, but then they immediately returned to clarity. He immediately used his battle energy to wrap the steel crystal in his hand, isolating the power infection in it.

"... just now, was it a hallucination?"

After confirming that his body was still sitting beside Hotaru's bed, without even moving a bit, Joshua, who prevented the possibility of his body passing through, had a solemn expression on his face, thinking about the dream-like experience before.

Not hallucinations.

The soldier looked at the palm of his left hand, the smell of decaying and uncomfortable air, and the icy temperature of the crystallized rain were deeply in his memory, this is definitely not something that can be done by hallucinations, he said softly to himself: "What happened just now That shadow, is it Firefly?"

She fell into that dream too?

Standing up silently, Joshua lowered his head and took a deep look at Ying Ying's beautiful face that was sleeping.

Is this the truth behind Yingying's lingering waking up?

"It seems that things are more complicated than I imagined... I can only try to see if the method Nostradamus said works."

- the next day.

The cemetery in the west of the city, in the church.

Joshua, who was wearing a black military uniform, stood in the study of the cemetery church. He stepped on the black granite floor, glanced at the golden fluorite fragments on the ceiling, and then walked towards the special piece with gaps. Where the floor is.

Without any hesitation, he pressed his hand on it.

The magic pattern flickered, and a deep and rigid mechanical sound sounded.

"Energy detection... the frequency band matches, target: Joshua van Radcliffe, head of the family, highest authority, the door is open."

"From fire, born from steel, wisdom is immortal, order is eternal."

Following the ancient praise, the black rock slowly opened, revealing a narrow passage leading to the ground.

And Joshua walked into it without any hesitation.

Firefly just fell asleep, not losing her will. Will you stop breathing when you fall asleep? Therefore, Yingying's clothes will not dissipate, even if they dissipate, she will return to the form of a great sword!

The state is a bit bad recently... I just bought electric water heaters, kettles, carpets and other things for the new home. Moving is really tiring