Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic

Chapter 1941: The Cross and Blood

The lights Shard saw in the rain and mist before entering the town were the sporadic street lamps and the gas lights from a few windows. Although there were no townspeople visible on the late-night streets for the moment, if one closed their eyes and listened carefully, they could hear, amidst the sound of rain, a faint sense of heartbeats coming from the houses.

This indicated that the town was indeed "alive," and if Green Lake Town had never fallen into decline, the town on the real island would be like this.

Although anxious to go deeper into the island to find Megan, Shard entered a house by the roadside to check the state of the sleeping townspeople inside.

As expected, although there were heartbeat sounds, when Shard pulled back the covers, what he actually saw were humanoid unnatural creatures pieced together with alchemy and undead technology. These "townspeople" weren’t disturbed by Shard’s actions and were firmly fixed to the bed by tree roots piercing through from beneath.

The roots not only bound the "townspeople," but the ends of the roots mostly pierced into places like wrists and ankles. Carefully observing, Shard could see the roots making slight sucking movements, gradually absorbing the blood from the townspeople’s bodies into the roots.

As for the roots that even needed to pierce through the first-floor ceiling to reach the bedrooms, they all came from deep beneath the town. These likely had the same origin as the huge roots at the base of the Green Lake Cemetery, and when Shard attempted to use the Night Watchman to cut a section of root for study, the root tips trembled like insects and oozed crimson and blue pus.

Not staying long in the townspeople’s house, Shard followed his memory and started walking southward, towards the direction leading to the Edwards’ Old House on the hilltop.

The closer he moved toward the island’s center, the Edwards’ Old House, the lighter the rain became, and the denser the mist grew. About a third of the way through the town, in the increasingly thick fog, he heard buzzing voices.

Continuing onward, past the next intersection, the buzzing voices gradually formed a continuous sound, and Shard realized these were many different voices chanting the same sentences.

Moving forward, one shadow after another in black raincoats appeared in the mist.

Everyone kneeled on one knee on the ground, black spiral badges of the Unifier hanging from their necks, clasping their hands together and chanting phrases like, "The Edwards Family leads us to immortality," "The Unifier leads us to escape the world’s cage."

This looked like a cultist gathering, but according to the True God Church’s ordinances, they weren’t cultists. First, this matter didn’t involve a real Evil God; second, Laplace Klein Howard wasn’t demanding any faith.

He was merely gathering followers.

Though there seemed to be someone in every home in town, half of Green Lake Town’s residents gathered here, wearing black raincoats, at the town’s only five-forked intersection. Their worship direction was also squarely towards the intersection’s center.

Looking far off, a giant cross stood there, and faintly, two different people could be seen bound on the front and back sides of the cross. Squinting slightly, Shard realized they were Mr. Soren Green and Miss Helena Green.

The distance was too great, and with the fog, Shard couldn’t ascertain their condition. There were too many townspeople here, and he realized if these townspeople were as nearly immortal as those in the cemetery, he didn’t have the time to eliminate them.

"Red Butterfly Incarnation."

With a slight jump upwards, he transformed into a swarm of crimson butterflies surging straight upwards. Upon reaching a sufficient height, he flew towards the intersection’s center under the cover of the thick fog.

Indeed, it was the Green Siblings bound on the front and back sides of the cross, held there tightly by roots emerging from beneath the roadway. Both were unconscious, and although they didn’t seem to be in mortal danger for the moment, the roots were also draining their blood, which would increasingly weaken them.

Having sworn to protect the Green Siblings with Maria Edwards, Shard naturally wouldn’t go back on his word. The red butterfly swarm gradually descended, and finally, Shard stood atop the cross.

He raised his hand, preparing to summon a heavy snowball in the fog, and then to use the Great Sin Chain to connect four snowballs to form an enclosed space, employing Moonlight Thorns to block the surrounding townspeople from converging.

Yet the kneeling townspeople showed no intention of standing up. Even when Shard snapped his fingers, causing four giant snowballs to descend from the sky, the cross shook slightly, and the townspeople remained still.

"Is it different from the cemetery?"

[Be careful below.]

Suddenly warned by "her," Shard looked down to discover the roots binding the Green Siblings had nearly merged with the cross, silently creeping up and spreading onto his feet.

Lightly leaping to the ground, seeing the townspeople at the intersection still inactive, he raised his longsword against the roots attached to the cross.

With a clang, the gray roots squirmed away from the Night Watchman’s edge. The sword blade struck the black metal cross, but before the roots could break it, they forced it to stay together.

Frowning slightly, Shard stepped back, watching as countless gray roots surged from the ground, quickly covering the surface. They squirmed and coalesced, finally morphing again into the form of Laplace Klein Howard before the cross.

Compared to the flaming half-body from earlier, the figure constructed of writhing tendrils was much more bizarre.

Not knowing the situation, Shard advanced with his sword. The dense roots were sliced by the Night Watchman but then writhed and healed again. Tiny roots on the blade even grew along the longsword, trying to encase it. Wishing to retrieve the sword after a swing, Shard found it wouldn’t let go.

Shard gripped the sword hilt, the humanoid figure with gray roots regrew a full right hand that wrapped around the blade, leaving both sides at a stalemate for the moment.

In the past, when Shard wielded the Night Watchman, he had never encountered such a situation. The angel-level longsword had a special effect on evil, deterring anyone from daring to touch the silver sword’s blade. But now, this figure formed of tentacles, with shorter white tentacles swaying in the rain around its body, was not deemed evil by the Night Watchman.

This meant that the Night Watchman’s special attack on evil was not effective at all.

"You think I can’t handle you?"

Bright red flames flowed along the hilt towards the blade, while Shard’s hands, inside and out, showed cracks glowing with crimson. The effect of the "Embers of the Primal Fire" only manifested when Shard faced extreme danger, and the surge of power and warmth within him seemed to originate from the force he felt when he shook hands with Sister Delphine not long ago in the fire.

But regardless, the crimson glow was already appearing in the gaps of the roots encasing the Night Watchman’s blade. As Shard lifted the sword, the flame-coated blade easily sliced through the gray roots.

Without hesitation, he thrust forward, the swung longsword leaving fiery scars in the mist. Although these roots were unaffected by the Night Watchman’s trait, the fire imbued with the power of the Fire of the Primordial was still their natural nemesis.

The densely burning roots quickly fell to the ground, but after the humanoid figure completely collapsed, more roots surged from the ground, reforming into the form of the Diviner.

He showed no intention of continuing the fight with the sword-wielding Shard, and as he took a step back, the town inhabitants who had been whispering behind him all asked Shard in unison:

"Do you really want to waste time with me here?"

"What do you mean? Wasting time, isn’t it you?"

Shard asked the humanoid figure in front of him.

The townsfolk from all directions answered together:

"The family’s banquet is about to begin. If you don’t reach the banquet hall before the first outsider to set foot on this island arrives at the pier, even though the key remains in your hand, you will no longer have the qualification to attend the banquet."

"Since you’re gathering your descendants for a family banquet, what are you doing here?"

The flaming longsword pointed at the Green siblings on the cross, and the townspeople spoke together in the mist and rain:

"To brew the immortal wine, this requires a process."

"You know, I despise winemakers the most!"

The longsword swung forward again, but even Shard knew that this strike would still be of little effect.

"You can bypass here and continue forward."

The overlapping voices said together, and the root-clad humanoid gestured towards the cross:

"Or, I can tell you how to rescue them."

"Are you forcing me to follow your plan?"

"No, this is your own choice."

The townsfolk said in unison:

"The blood of Edwards will nourish the fullest fruit on the tree. Though the twin siblings are peculiar, not yet transcendent, the power in their blood is far inferior to others’. Use your blood to replace theirs; or find that blood with vast Spirit, possessing spatial talent, from an Exotic Species to water the family’s roots."

"You want my blood? Did you bring me to this island just for this?"

Shard asked with a frown, the root humanoid shook its head slightly, as all the surrounding voices praised in unison:

"I can feel you are seizing the power of the Edwards’ Ascension Technique. It does not matter, for once I have chosen this path, fate must arrange my opponents.

God Summoner, you are a person outside of fate, a variable that should not exist in the ’Whispering Verses,’ a guest beneath the stage, an inevitability drawn from a string of errors. No one can chart your destiny; I merely provide you with choices. How you act depends solely on your determination, the Edwards Family welcomes your arrival."