Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic

Chapter 1935: Stronghold

The monsters prowling around the inn grew fewer and fewer, and finally, as an invisible ripple swept out from the basement through the whole building, then skimmed along the woodland ground that had somehow turned red and spread to the surroundings, those monsters that had been drawn here by the souls and flesh of the living at last stopped in Bewilderment and continued wandering through the Woodland around them.

As long as there were not too many monsters nearby, the inn itself could once more bring its powerful concealment into play. And with the constant stream of reinforcements cut off, the remaining monsters hiding in the Woodland near the inn were quickly wiped out as well.

Without a gift like Shard’s "Enhanced Spatial Awareness," once Lost in the fog, even straying only a dozen steps from the inn might mean never finding the way back again. Thus only Shard went deep into the fog alone to clear out those monsters lurking in the shadows, and only he could see most clearly what those things roaming Bewildered across the island actually were.

Darkness, thick fog, and rain veiled most of the details. The things that lurked and prowled between grass blades and tree trunks did not all share exactly the same appearance, yet there were indeed similar details, and a bizarre sense of displacement created by the same way their forms were put together.

Those things that could change color with their surroundings mostly bore features of several different animals. These animal traits were arranged and combined in ways utterly incompatible with any living body; Shard even saw countless rat tails sprouting from a long, slender duck’s neck.

Beyond the animal traits, their fragmented bodies and the sulfur stench peculiar to Demons were also their hallmarks. It was therefore not hard to guess that these things were most likely creatures produced over centuries of Human Alchemy experiments by Laplace Klein Howard, creations that did not meet his standards. Cast aside onto this island, they had instead become the finest barrier.

Squeak, squeak, squeak~

Hundreds of long, thin rat tails surged toward Shard under the cover of the rain, like fine threads spewed by spiders. Shard raised his hand and grasped a handful of rainwater, Solidifying Water into ice and tossing it forward; with an explosive crack, he tilted the Moonlight once more in a cleaving arc.

This battle did not last long. Once he had confirmed that the monsters nearby had basically disappeared, he withdrew to the inn together with the Female Sorcerers. The girls each went to rest, but Shard did not remain:

"Ladies who went out with me just now, please rest first; the others will stand guard. I’m going out alone to see how far it actually is from here to the shore."

When Shard had gone alone into the fog to clear those monsters earlier, he had faintly heard the sound of water slapping against a shore through the rain. This seemed to indicate that the inn was not far from the shoreline. If he could successfully find a route to the shore, it would be far easier to receive the arriving Grand Witches.

As for the missing Megan, there was no need to worry too much just yet. Since of the thirteen keys closely related to "Edwards’ Ascension Technique," he still held one, the ritual had clearly not begun. Of course, he could not deliberately stall and simply wait for reinforcements to arrive either.

Since the Diviner had been able to quietly take one of the two keys, he surely had a way to take this one as well; Shard needed to move quickly.

"I’ll go with you. If we manage to chart the route, someone has to stay in the inn and record it."

Tifa said, then turned to speak behind her. Another girl in a Maid’s dress stepped forward and handed over a lead box, inside which lay some colored powders bearing faint traces of Whisper Elements:

"Relic Derivatives. They can mark the road in the thick fog, but only over short distances."

The reason she gave was one Shard truly had no grounds to refute, and the others did not wish to let Shard go deep into the fog alone either.

"Very well, stay close to me. In this fog, if you lose your way by even a single step, you can forget about coming back any time soon."

He reached out and took Tifa’s hand, and then, for some reason, he felt all the eyes of the Female Sorcerers present settle onto their joined hands.

"Shard, be careful on the road."

Knowing their own strength was insufficient, Lecia and Dorothy stood hand in hand at the door, watching the two walk off. Angelina, holding the cat in her arms, stood behind them, and the silence on her face made it impossible for anyone to read her mood.

Still holding hands, Shard and Tifa left the edge of the inn where the firelight could still reach, and walked into the forest in the Direction of the water sounds Shard had faintly heard earlier. Shard, a Six Rings Magician, had no means to ward off the rain, but Tifa, an Eight Rings Magician, did. She stayed truly close at his back; Shard did not even have to look around to hear her breathing.

"The last time we walked side by side through a place this dangerous was Late Summer last year, in the Dark Realm."

Miss Maid’s voice reached his ears. Shard nodded lightly, his eyes still fixed ahead, relying on his vision, inspiration, and Enhanced Spatial Awareness to seek a way out and avoid enemies in the strange, rain-soaked forest at night:

"Back then, the Dark Realm had swallowed the South Suburbs of Tobesk. I was anxious to find that Diviner and ventured into the Dark at risk, only to arrive at that lady’s manor first."

Recalling the past eased Shard’s heavy mood somewhat. After that, Tifa stopped speaking, as though she had truly only spoken just now to help Shard relax.

This island feels very different from the real Green Lake Central Island. Traveling through the Dark on a rainy night— even if you can keep the rain off you, the slick, sticky damp in the air still feels like a dead man stretching out his tongue to constantly lick your skin.

Shard knew that was a very strange metaphor, but that was exactly how it felt. The way his body kept wanting to hunch over, to hold his breath and creep forward through the rain, already said enough about how bizarre this place was.

Fortunately Tifa was right behind him. The Maid’s unique and pleasantly fragrant perfume was one of the very few things on this rainy night that could still put Shard in a better mood.

His hearing was excellent, and that water sound from before hadn’t been an illusion. Soon the sound of water grew louder and louder. The two of them passed through the Woodland and saw that path between the trees that looked very similar to the one on the real island, only more sinister. Following the Woodland path onward, a beach and a dock appeared at the edge of the island.

That decrepit Pier was not the most horrific sight in this pitch-black, rainy night. Beyond the Pier, murky green Lake water crashed wave after wave against the shore. Normally there were no reefs at all on the surface of Green Lake, but now, clustered all around the island, a host of bizarre black reefs—like unspeakable, uncanny beings from some ancient Myth—were scattered densely across every patch of water they could see.

The surfaces of the reefs were covered in an astonishing number of very fine pores, and as the wind in the rain blew over them, they let out a sharp whistling that only made one more uneasy. Looking farther out, in the depths of Darkness, rain and fog, there was only an Abyss-like, terrifying, skin-crawling Dark.

The Lake kept slapping the shore, the rushing rain and the whistling grew ever clearer. When the wind brushed across the skin, tiny bumps rose and fell with his mood. This scene of eerie sound and color together made even Shard feel a chill straight to the bone:

"Damn it!"

He rarely used foul language, but he spat out a curse and immediately tore his gaze away. As for Tifa behind him, although the Maid’s arms were trembling slightly, she still maintained the dignity of a Head Maid:

"This is the shoreline?"

She asked softly, eyes closed.

"Yes, it matches the dock from all the times I’ve come ashore before. This place is just like the Hell in stories that only Evil men go to after they die..."

Shard also spoke in a low voice, gripping the Night Watchman in one hand, then calling upon the Moonlight Greatsword to carve a glowing groove hard into the ground. The sand beneath his feet was red; that eerie color only made the scene at the shore even stranger.

As for leaving a mark, that was in Hope of guiding the Witches here, whenever they might arrive.

The two did not waste any time and immediately went back the way they had come. They were still holding hands, and Tifa did not forget to scatter those colored powders along the way. The powder couldn’t be seen with the naked eye, but through the special lenses in the Witches’ hands, it would show.

By the time they returned to the inn in the clearing in the woods, the good news that this place wasn’t far from the shoreline greatly lifted the spirits of the girls inside. Relying on his Enhanced Spatial Awareness, Shard even quickly sketched a simple map that included the inn, the Woodland path, and the shoreline.

From the map, as long as the Grand Witches landing on the island didn’t run into any accidents in the fog, they could find this place within five minutes.

"All right, on to the next part of the plan. I’ll go on alone into the interior of the island. Tifa, Haley, I’m leaving this place in your hands. Miss Dector, you understand Spatial Power here better than anyone; please confirm whether you can find a passage between this inn and the inn in Green Lake City. If what we’re dealing with really is a Spatial copy, then there should be a Connection between the two identical spaces."

The three Female Sorcerers all nodded together.

Shard then said to Dorothy and Lecia:

"I don’t know what’s going to happen later, but you must, absolutely must not leave the inn. You promised me you’d follow my arrangements."

They also nodded gently. Shard stroked Mia, who was curled up in Angelina’s arms, declined the umbrella Tifa handed him, picked up the Night Watchman and prepared to leave.

But Tifa called out to him again and took a triangular Metal Talisman from her pocket:

"Don’t forget this."

This was the Return Charm made by Miss Sylvia. Because the materials were difficult to obtain, crafting it consumed an enormous amount of Time and effort, and the charm only worked over short distances, Shard remembered there weren’t many finished pieces at all.

Witch Apprentices like Tifa and Haley each had one charm, and Shard had one as well. For Angelina’s safety, Miss Galina had even given the Little Princess one. Together with the three kept in the inn as spares, that meant there were seven charms in total in this inn at the moment.