Soul of Searing Steel

Panda Novel

The heavy snowfall was obscuring the view.

On the top of the granite wall, was a flag painted with two hands bearing swords fluttering along the direction of the wind.

Meanwhile, a young guard was standing on the towering central tower where he looked out into the white plains and the mountains around. His had his thoughts removed from his mind for the moment, not thinking about anything at all.

The vapor condensed into white mist as the man exhaled. This young guard was called Anruya. He was breathing in the freezing air all around him. He felt as if the cold air had passed through the thick layer of cotton he was wearing, reaching deep into his body. Because of that, he felt an intense chill throughout his body and sneezed, which made him recollect himself.

“I’m really crazy to stand guard in this post in the middle of a snowstorm!”

Standing up high in the middle of the snowstorm yelling aloud with a trembling tone, Anruya felt as if he was already frozen solid while he was holding his shield and his weapon. He felt unbearably cold at the moment. Both of his legs and feet were numb to the point that he could barely feel them anymore. Swiping off the frost forming on his eyebrows, he clenched his teeth and muttered to himself, “Anruya, just hang in there. Just hang in there for ten more minutes. It’s almost time to switch shift. Just a little longer.”

While comforting himself, the young guard began to move his body around under the countless snowflakes. He wanted to move his stiff muscles so that they could move more smoothly. However, the attempt was futile, as the frosty breeze kept coming at him blowing the little body warmth inside of him away. Anruya could not help but feel that he was about to be frozen into a block of ice. “Why must they put the control panel of the city gates at a high place like this…”

Right underneath the middle tower was the south gate of Moldavia. The gate was a gigantic mechanism made by the northern rune dwarves. The mechanism was using gears to lift the gate up and down. It was ten-meters wide, five-meters thick and ten-meters tall, made of 4,200-ton solid steel. The main idea of constructing the gate as such was as long as the gate is closed, it would become impossible to open the gate even if it collapsed. Therefore, it would be better to think about how to break the black granite wall which was twenty-five-meter thick than thinking about blowing the reinforced steel gate open.

Truth to be told, only the dwarves living in the magma of molten iron had the ability to forge materials. If that amount of metal could be forged into weapons, no one could tell how many soldiers could be armed.

Of course, regardless of any hearsay, this was merely a gate. It was just slightly thicker and heavier. Meanwhile, the control panel responsible for the opening and closing of the gates was right beneath the tower where Anruya was standing on. That was also the reason why there would still be someone standing guard on top of the tower in the middle of the snowstorm.

“It would have been so much better if they could just shield the tower with a layer of glass. It wouldn’t affect anyone from observing the surroundings as well. So tell me, people on the top, why didn’t you…”

“Anruya!”

While he was complaining, the young guard suddenly heard someone shouting his name by the bottom of the wall. The voice sounded anxious.

He could not help to have a feeling that something was off. It was still a little while away before his shift ended. Could it be that someone felt pity towards him and came earlier to take his shift? It would be much better if that was true.

“Speak louder!” In a trembling voice, Anruya attempted to reply with his hoarse voice due to the cold. “Anything?”

“Mon…ster… invading… Close the gates!”

The voice coming from the bottom of the wall became louder. However, the sudden howling of the wind had covered the muffled the voice. The young guard could only hear the faint command ‘Close the gates’ which was strange.

“Wait, what? Close the gate? But why? I can’t hear you clearly!”

Taking a step forward, he went up to the control panel covered by runes. Anruya then grabbed onto the handle of the panel. Although he trusted his comrade very much and was ready to close the gates, he still hesitated, with a perplexed look on his face.

“When the gates closes, it can only be be reopened after two hours. We would need to wait for the runes to be fully charged!”

“Enemy attack! Close the f**king gates, now! Use the fastest way to close it, now!”

This time, the voice that was embedded with Combat Aura had finally broken through the snowstorm and completely boomed into the ears of the young guard. Meanwhile, Elson could tell that the voice belonged to his commander. The extremely anxious voice berated, “Anruya you stupid boy! I’m going to die if you don’t close the gate now!”

“Where the f*ck did the enemy come from?!”

After being rushed, Anruya felt a little nervous. He looked down at the bottom of the wall. However, he did not see any sign of enemies down there. At that moment, his heart was filled with big questions. However, as a soldier, the guard obeyed the direct order of his commander. So he pulled the panel with all his strength.

Rumble

Following the rumbling sound, the huge steel gate instantly smashed down to the ground violently. After all, the gate was approximately 4,000 tons. The impact from the fall of the horrific weight shook the snow and the land, sweeping up the dust from the ground, which was blown away by the strong winds. The fierce and deep crushing sound had even reached the other side of the city. The residents who were staying in their own houses were shocked to hear it.

Withstanding the familiar tremors, Anruya grabbed onto his long spear. Then he quickly headed down towards the entrance of the passage. Although he had not seen any sign of any enemy around, he still believed that his commander would not have been anxious about something not real… Could it be that there were really invisible enemies around hiding in plain sight? Could those enemies had invaded the city without anyone’s knowledge?

Running at high pace down the stairs, the young guard had arrived at the bottom of the wall outside the city.

Meanwhile, the ground that lay before him had long become a battlefield.

Woosh—

The moment when Anruya stepped out of the passage by the wall, a current of wind along with a strong scent of blood immediately blew past his face. A violent sense of danger was stimulated throughout every single nerve in his body. At the same time, the body of this young city guard responded faster than his mind. His instinct got him ready to throw the spear forward. He instantly raised his shield with both hands firmly and positioned the shield across his chest.

Then, on the next moment, Anruya felt a violent force suddenly collide into him. Both of his hands that were numb because of the cold weather, but due to the instant force, he could had sworn that he had lost both of his hands at that moment; he could not feel anything then. Meanwhile, his entire body was falling back one step after another.

“What the hell is this?!”

After taking five to six steps backward, he managed to shake off the force that was pushing him. Before he could even calm himself or even feel any pain, Anruya cursed and started to observe his surroundings.

He instantly froze.

Standing in front of him was a white, tall, giant wolf. It was about half the height of a full grown man. It had a burly body where its muscles were covered underneath the thick layer of fur. Its four limbs looked smooth and strong. However, the wolf’s right limb on the front was curled in a strange shape. Well, that might be the reason why the giant wolf did not attack Anruya while he was backing himself up just now.

“What a huge winter wolf! Look at its snowy white fur! No wonder I couldn’t see it just now! But I have a steel shield made by the dwarves in my hand. It would not be possible to clash with me, even if it was a daemon!”

Anruya took the opportunity to move his hands and wrists around. By doing so, he managed to recover his stiff hands to the point that he could grab firmly onto the steel shield. He looked at the surroundings and noticed that by the entrance of the closed city gate, there were traces of battle everywhere. The spot where the other city guards would stand guard at was a mess. Upon hearing the sound of battle coming from the corner not far from him, Anruya could recognize the familiar voice of his commander. His commander was cursing loudly while in the middle of a battle.

It was really a fortunate thing that not all of them died. Anruya felt grateful for that. Although he lost his weapon due to the surprise attack from the giant wolf, as long as he could survive until his comrades were done with their enemies, they would be able to come and assist Anruya. Upon joining forces together, they could easily eliminate the winter wolf that was standing right before him.

However, the young city guard did not notice that enemy right before him was not the wild winter wolf he once hunted down with his comrades. The two should no longer be considered as the same type of creature anymore.

“Woo-”

Initially, the eyes of the wolf were red. Now, they turned green. Along the breathing, there was dark purple mist escaping from between the teeth and the nose of the wolf. It was pretty obvious that the wolf had sustained some injuries. Driven by anger and madness, that giant winter wolf instantly howled facing the sky. The muscles and bones all over its body began to crack and reform. Instantly, the entire body of the wolf increased in size. The white snowy fur instantly stood up on end like needles. Meanwhile, visible blue-purple vascular tendons were exposed on the surface of the wolf’s skin. An unexplained power was coursing through those veins of the wolf.

“Berserk?! A f**king wolf?!”

Upon witnessing the strange phenomenon, Anruya’s heart sank into the bottom of a valley. This winter wolf seemed to be a lot larger than its own kind. Its strength and speed were far more superior than he could anticipate. Under the circumstance of having no weapon in his hand, he found it extremely difficult to deal with this world. And now, this freaking wolf actually went ‘berserk’!

There was no way that he could endure all that. The young guard stopped breathing for the moment. That was the only thought that he had in his mind right now. After that, he reached his hand to his waist and pulled out a small knife. The knife seemed finely sharpened.

“Monsters.” He looked upon the giant wolf that was surrounded by a dark purple aura. Then he spoke softly, “I shall take a piece of your meat even if I die.”

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