Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic

Chapter 1929: Countdown

The boundless light and heat manifested behind him, and the Golden Holy Emblem representing the Ancient God "Chaos Witch" appeared directly before everyone at the window along with that prayer.

The emblem was reflected in the huge eyeball close to the window, and the radiance of the Ancient God made that unknown enormous fog in the deep sea close its eye again.

A hand behind him took hold of Shard’s hand, and Shard immediately understood what she meant:

"Feliana’s Witch Light!"

The ever-intensifying Glimmer shone into the water outside the window, and the monster outside finally retreated into the distant sea.

Only then did the sound of rapid breathing emerge around them. Shard turned to look back; Miss Sylvia behind him was also deathly pale, the color only just returning to her lips.

Audrey let go of Shard’s hand and supported the two of them so they wouldn’t end up sitting on the seawater‑soaked floor. Miss Sylvia nodded to Audrey, who had rushed over to help, then waved her hand to wipe away the water on the floor, and Megan walked toward the window:

"Girls, get up, block this place."

She held a plank up against the window again and raised her hand to lift it. The other set of hands extending from behind Megan held nails and a hammer, fixing it in place in just a few strokes. Four hands working together made this far more efficient than when Shard had blocked the window just now.

"Audrey, you should go back, now."

Shard hurried over, but although the brown‑haired girl stepped aside for him, she still didn’t leave:

"It really won’t do without me here. Shard, you’re strong, but not strong enough yet."

Though she was talking to Shard, he felt she was actually talking about Miss Sylvia. After all, he was only Six Rings, nowhere near comparable to a dual‑soul Witch about to advance to the Twelfth Rank.

"What was that just now?"

The other girls were still resting; they hadn’t recovered yet. Miss Sylvia also came over, bracing the plank behind Shard so Megan’s four hands could conveniently nail both sides at once. She asked softly, her voice still very weak. Although Tenth Rank and Eleventh Rank differed by only one step, for High Rank Witches that gap was like heaven and earth.

"I don’t know, but the deep sea has always been the gathering place of those ancient Evil Objects. They rarely leave the depths; supposedly, they’re bound there by the Deities. So only the Deities can truly know what’s down there."

Audrey’s tone was very cautious:

"Hurry and plug this up. Oh, I’m soaked through; this feels awful."

With her four hands helping, the window was finally sealed up without further danger. The water that had flooded into the corridor was quickly evaporated, and since the floor and walls hadn’t been submerged for long, they weren’t significantly damaged.

The Magic Potions prepared in greatest quantity by the Witches were those for restoring Stamina and body temperature. The potions were brought over and the three of them each drank one. Miss Sylvia thanked Shard and Megan, then opened her arms to give Shard a brief hug. She seemed to want to say something more, but after letting go of Shard, she hurried off to check the other spots on the third floor, to see whether anything had gone wrong while she was away just now.

"She’s young, but she really is a very gifted Witch."

Megan patted her own clothes, evaporating the seawater, but even after the water had turned to steam she still felt uncomfortable all over:

"If you ask me, if her luck is good enough, it’s not impossible for her to become the next Speaker."

"Before you start judging others, shouldn’t you be heading back to your room right now?"

The Maids found a change of clothes for Megan and Shard and sent them to the room. Dorothy, Lecia, and Angelina had not left the room earlier. The cat being held by the Little Princess wanted Shard to hold her when she saw him come in, but upon seeing how drenched he was, she only meowed softly a few times instead.

"This cat really is..."

Shard wiped his hands dry, then vengefully rubbed Mia’s head a few times, which only made the cat even happier. Seeing Lecia walking over with clothes in her arms, Shard glanced at the lower half of Lecia’s body again, still remembering Miss Galina’s vicious "threat" from earlier. The Red-Haired Princess looked in puzzlement at her own backside:

"What are you looking at?"

Then her face flushed at once, clearly misunderstanding something. She gave Shard a light pat:

"Honestly, now is not the time to be thinking about that."

Looks like Miss Galina hadn’t come upstairs.

Even though Shard protested as strongly as he could, Dorothy and Lecia still helped him change clothes together. During this, Angelina was told to turn and face the wall, so all she could hear was Shard’s complaining behind her:

"Oh, I can do it myself... No need to undress me, I’ve got it... Hey, Lecia, cut it out, your hands are freezing... I’m not hurt, Dorothy, you don’t have to stand that close."

After changing, Shard checked the state of the room again and told Angelina to keep an eye on the other three and not let them leave the room casually, then he returned to the corridor.

"Have me do it?"

Angelina, holding Mia in her arms, looked at the three ladies behind her who were all taller than she was.

The third floor was safe for the moment. That firmly nailed‑up window was currently being guarded by one High Ring and two Inner Ring girls. Though it was a waste of manpower, it was necessary for safety’s sake.

It was already close to seven in the evening. From the appearance of the Space Composite to the Astral Meteorite and then to the Relic at the third-floor window, less than half an hour had passed, yet so many problems had already erupted.

No one had gotten a chance to rest. When Shard returned to the first floor to regroup with Luviya, Miss Aphrola actually entered the "rainy night" once again.

"Another Space Composite."

Luviya told Shard nervously:

"Not long after you left just now, there was a flash in the sky, and then a lot of similar monsters appeared in the city."

These Space Composites did not appear specifically around the Green Lake Hotel, but for safety, Miss Aphrola still led people to the nearby area to clear out the monsters. As a result, with the Grand Witch absent from the first floor, Shard could only temporarily take her place.

And he had barely sat down when chaos broke out on the second floor again. Since Miss Galina hadn’t asked anyone else for help, Shard didn’t move. Luviya went upstairs once and soon came back:

"A Relic also appeared on the second floor. The door of Room 204 has turned from the standard hotel door into a rusty iron door, and it has a very heavy smell of blood."

She didn’t stay:

"It’s a Relic, but we still don’t know what exactly it is. I’m going back upstairs to help guard it. Before we’re sure of the Relic Properties, they need help from a professional Diviner like me."

Shard didn’t stop her:

"Be careful with everything. If anything happens, just shout and I can come up immediately."

The purple-eyed girl nodded, kissed Shard on the side of his face:

"You be careful too... Why do you have Miss Sylvia’s perfume on your face?"

Within half an hour, two kinds of Relics had already appeared in the Green Lake Hotel. Even if Space really was collapsing over the Green Lake Region tonight, this frequency was still astonishing. There was no need to think about it to know it was the Diviner on Heart Lake Island causing trouble.

Time quickly reached exactly seven o’clock on Wednesday night. Just after Shard had sent Luviya to the stairway, he heard someone on the third floor calling for him again.

He again used Lagre’s Leap and came straight from the first floor to the third. Dorothy’s room door was open, the girls were gathered together, and Miss Sylvia was holding a brand-new invitation in her hand:

"It just suddenly appeared."

She handed that invitation to Shard. The contents were roughly the same as the original one, with the only difference being that a specific time was marked:

"Seven forty-eight? There’s still more than half an hour."

"Yes."

Miss Sylvia nodded seriously:

"None of us noticed how this invitation appeared. The only good news is that it wasn’t delivered directly into Megan’s hand, but appeared outside the door."

"The basement!"

Shard immediately vanished from the corridor. Fortunately, although Laster and Mr. Soren Green in the basement had also received invitations, they were safe and sound.

"How exactly was this invitation delivered?"

"I know, I know!"

The soul of the little girl was fluttering happily around Durut Giles, whose face was tense with anxiety. She was now wearing a little party dress that matched her figure, which of course she had transformed for herself:

"Father sent it. When Father plays hide-and-seek with me, he can always find me! Father is a hide-and-seek master!"

"Your father can precisely perceive the location of his descendants?"

Shard asked, but the little girl couldn’t describe such a thing clearly; after all, she had been far too young when she met Death.

"But to set it so precisely at seven forty-eight, is he really that confident?"

Miss Aphrola, who had been "hunting" outside, was called back, and the time point of seven forty-eight surprised her a little as well:

"That Diviner is really that confident? Also, why not a whole number?"

Time had already entered the countdown, and everyone had to get ready.

The third wave of Astral Meteorites arrived right on time according to the Time Luviya had Divined in advance. This time, the number of Fireballs appearing out of the rainy night was even greater than the second wave, so besides using that unknown anti-air ritual again, the Church had additionally summoned a gigantic creature to assist in the sky.

If Shard wasn’t mistaken, that should be a Dragon. It was just too far away, so he couldn’t see clearly what kind of Dragon it was.

"The ritual is the Peace Church’s [Dragon Slayer], specifically for dealing with flying aerial enemies. But it should have been improved— the original version didn’t have this much power."

Miss Aphrola, standing at the window, recognized what ritual it was. Her hair was loose and she frowned slightly, and in that state she looked even more full of Charm.

At seven oh-nine, a roaring came from the depths of the Earth. And accompanying that terrifying sound was a violent shaking of the ground. The ten-plus seconds of swaying let Shard fully experience what that cat had felt when he shook Mia in his arms. Tables and chairs trembled together, and the items behind the counter on the first floor clattered to the floor in a mess.