Heart of Burning Steel

Chapter 24: There's No Good Ending for Cowardice-Why Don't You Understand?

Chapter 24: There's No Good Ending for Cowardice—Why Don't You Understand?

On an empty street, Joshua and the golden-tier warrior stood facing each other.

Moze Wilson, the strongest of the young generation of the Wilson family, with gray hair and gray eyes. He was a golden-tier warrior, clad in heavy plate armor, yet showing no signs of restricted movement. The armor, which would have incapacitated an ordinary warrior, was no more cumbersome to him than leather armor.

But looking at his expression, there was no trace of ease. Now, the tall golden-tier warrior's mind was filled with restless uncertainty.

He ignored the provocations of his opponent. Using taunts to throw an enemy off rhythm was a fundamental skill for any warrior. After years on the battlefield, Moze had heard countless things far worse. He wouldn't be affected by mere words.

What surprised him was the enemy's strength—completely unlike what was rumored.

Joshua Radcliffe, according to rumors from the Black Crow Legion a month ago, should only have the power of a mid-tier silver. Even if he had broken through during the war and advanced to gold, he shouldn't have this level of proficiency. Gold-tier represented a transformation of the physical body, a level of ascension. No matter how talented, it took months to adapt and gradually master this power!

But the reality was undeniable. Now, Joshua stood before him as a formidable golden-tier adversary.

"I am Moze Wilson."

Slowly drawing a greatsword from his waist, the golden-tier warrior regained his composure. He pointed the sword at his enemy, his eyes clear.

"Joshua Radcliffe."

Joshua also announced his name without hesitation. It was tradition in this world to exchange names before a duel, as a mark of an honorable battle—win or lose, it was a matter of glory.

The next moment, the winds howled, and the clash of swords rang out. The screeching noise of steel meeting steel was overwhelming, sparks flew like a fountain, scattering around them. But neither combatant paid these small details any mind. In less than a second, they exchanged several blows, and before the wind from their clash could stir the air, their probing exchange had already ended.

"Not bad!"

Retreating back to his original position, Moze held his greatsword horizontally in front of his chest. He adjusted his breathing rhythm, then let out a low shout, and his entire figure vanished again. In the blink of an eye, a heavy, ground-splitting strike carrying immense power was aimed directly at Joshua's head. The originally black greatsword, swung with full force by the golden-tier warrior, turned into a black streak of light, nearly impossible to follow.

Even the minor leakage of energy from the strike distorted the atmosphere. This blow seemed simple and unrefined, yet it fused power and speed to the utmost degree. An attack like this, executed within a breath, required no fancy tricks.

"Foolish."

With a stern shout, Joshua's expression turned as cold as steel. Faced with such a heavy blow—powerful enough to shatter city walls and cleave through iron—he didn't choose to defend but instead raised his left hand, intending to use his flesh and blood to forcibly stop the oncoming sword. His bones and muscles would block the strike, while at the same time, his right hand, wielding the massive sword, slashed upward at Moze without hesitation!

Squelch—

No matter how formidable, a golden-tier body couldn't truly compare to a weapon forged of steel. Moreover, this weapon was imbued with battle aura and wielded by another golden-tier warrior at full strength. The moment Joshua's left hand met the blade, it was immediately sliced open. But even so, the attack aimed at his head was deflected off course, heading to the side instead. And as Moze was mid-air with nothing to leverage, he was utterly helpless against Joshua's all-out counterattack!

Ying, transformed into a Divine Armament, was a massive weapon, heavier and larger than a human. Against Moze's greatsword, it lacked agility and struggled to gain the upper hand.

But this also meant that if it struck, the damage would far exceed that of an ordinary weapon.

Never expecting Joshua to be so fearless in taking damage, willing to risk his life during their second exchange, and not wanting to relinquish his weapon so easily, Moze did not immediately use his battle aura to recoil and evade. Thus, when the golden warrior instinctively pulled his weapon back to avoid being sliced in half, it was only then that he realized his left arm had been severed at the elbow.

"... Your courage would make even the gods marvel."

Controlling the muscles in his arm to stop the bleeding, Moze gritted his teeth, cold sweat dripping. "I've never faced an opponent like you."

"That's only because all your previous opponents were worthless."

With a blank expression, Joshua pressed his severed left hand together. Under the burning battle aura, his flesh and bones quickly fused, healing back into one. He sneered. "You've hardly fought any golden-tier battles. How could you understand the techniques involved?"

As if you've fought tons of them!

Moze felt utterly bewildered. The man before him had supposedly just advanced to gold less than a month ago (a doubtful claim), yet he appeared more experienced than Moze himself?

The truth was, Joshua did have far more experience—much more than just a little.

Through energy assimilation, the regenerative abilities of a golden-tier warrior had reached new heights. As long as their life force was strong and nourishment plentiful, they could regrow severed limbs within days. If it was only a cut or a gash without loss of body parts, it would take just seconds to heal enough to regain combat strength.

For a former legendary warrior, trading quickly-healed wounds for a chance to deal serious, harder-to-recover damage to an enemy was instinct.

Clenching his mostly healed left hand into a fist, then opening it, then clenching it again...

Joshua felt incredible—better than he had ever felt. The thrill of life-and-death combat, tasting his own blood and that of his opponent, was beyond exhilarating.

By now, the street where they faced off had fallen silent. The civilians who had once lived here had fled far away, while the impact craters from their previous clashes emitted puffs of powdered stone.

Honestly, Moze's strength was slightly above Joshua's initial estimation, though this was hardly surprising. After all, golden-tier beings were legends during the first two versions of the Continent of Strife, before the Great Demon Tide. Unlike the more common golden-tiers that came later, during this time, golden-tier entities were rare and valuable. Most held elite or exceptional templates, some even with leader-level templates—far superior to the mediocre templates of those that emerged after the Great Demon Tide.

Even so, it remained an insurmountable gap. From physical capabilities to mastery over power, gold-tier represented a qualitative transformation. In the game, this transformation was replaced with the 【Glory Quest】—a quest chain that countless players had complained about for years. In the real world, adaptation was necessary, just as a child couldn't wield a greatsword or a toddler swing an axe. Ordinary people couldn't swiftly adjust to such a transformation.

But how could Joshua be like ordinary people?

Just a month ago, he had been a peak legendary warrior—someone who could unleash extraordinary talents at will, smash mountains, and stir tsunamis with a single punch. Now, he'd merely returned to gold-tier. He didn't need time to adapt to combat methods—at most, it took just a few seconds.

And in those few seconds, he could simply keep talking.