Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 747 - : The Cave in the Mountainside
Chapter 747 -747: The Cave in the Mountainside
The pathway leading to the seal was in a cave beneath the cliff, but not everyone was to enter, as some needed to remain outside to wait and guard against enemies approaching from the rear.
Miss Aphrola and Granny Cassandra were certain to enter since only they understood the seals left behind by the Witch Empresses. Among the rest, two High Ring Female Sorceresses and four Inner Ring Female Sorceresses stayed outside, and Shard did as well.
He had requested this himself, after all, he didn’t understand the power of the witches. With some time to spare, and the Evil Spirits nearby having been cleared out, it seemed like a good opportunity to collect some Corpse Grass, Underduran, and Black Resentful Woman Flower that Mr. Copus was looking to purchase.
Compared to Shard’s last trip to the Interstice when entering the city, these types of plants were more common in the mountains. If the Interstice wasn’t so dangerous, this place would be littered with Gold Pounds.
Thus, the group temporarily split, as the Grand Witches led the majority into the cave under the cliff. The six Female Sorceresses who remained atop the cliff were all followers of Granny Cassandra, and naturally, they too were aware of Shard’s situation.
When Shard expressed his wish to take a look around nearby, the middle-aged brunette Eight Rings Sorceress immediately offered to accompany him.
“No need, I’m just going to collect some plants.”
Shard waved the sword in his hand:
“I won’t go too far. If there’s danger, I can escape on my own.”
Considering Shard’s performance along the way thus far, they did not stop him. fгeewebnovёl.com
The quantities Mr. Copus wanted to purchase of the three materials were massive, just the Corpse Grass alone amounted to 200 pounds (approximately 90.72kg). Shard’s “Toy Making” was actually effective on Spellcasting Materials, but the effect was poor. He collected some Corpse Grass to try it out, and found that he could turn them into toys, but the Spirit consumed by the spellcasting was three times as much as it would be for the same volume of ordinary material.
And the more highly priced Underduran by Mr. Copus consumed even more to transform into little toys. As for the Black Resentful Woman Flower, priced at 20 pounds per plant, he could only turn it from a plant into a toy of the same volume, and couldn’t even manage to shrink it.
“Although the Flower of Resentment is large, a single flower costs two Mia. The Corpse Grass is priced at 3 pounds and 7 shillings per pound, while the Underduran is 13 pounds, 15 shillings, and 5 pence per pound. Even if they are turned into the lightest plush toys, their weight is still astonishing. Hmm…”
He carried God’s Gift Box specifically for the purpose of containing plants. This box not only provided weekly gifts and could contain Relics, but it also could preserve plants. This wasn’t a particularly noteworthy trait since most container-type Relics have a similar effect. According to research, this is due to the influence of the Whisper Element.
“I’ll collect more of the Flower of Resentment and less of the Corpse Grass.”
Having decided on a plan, he left the barren cliff and ventured alone into the woodland.
The black forest was exceptionally terrifying, with scorched trees and grey vines, resembling the bizarre plants that could only emerge after an apocalypse, with the power of death eroding everything around it. Even though Shard had barely gotten used to the place, he still felt uncomfortable all over.
“I wonder what the inside of the boundary at my home is like, I must hold a ceremony tonight to seal it!”
To prevent accidents, Shard was very cautious and did not wander too far. It took him an hour to fill the God’s Gift Box he was carrying on his back. Although this was still below Mr. Copus’s purchasing limit, Shard understood the virtue of contentment and thus turned back towards the cliff.
The six Female Sorceresses were still waiting there, and seeing Shard return unharmed, they felt relieved.
Miss Aphrola and Granny Cassandra’s group had not yet returned, and after Shard and the Female Sorceresses waited another hour without any signs of movement, he suggested that he should go down to take a look. Since no one here could restrict his freedom, although there were objections, Shard left in the end.
The Outlander still couldn’t fly, so he could only climb down the black cliffs with the aid of a rope. In the material world, the entrance that required parchment to open, in the Interstice needed the special power of a witch, so Shard shone the Light of the Witch Spirit Rune on it, revealing the pitch-black entrance.
The cave in the reality of the cliff was already dark and terrifying, but the passage in the Interstice seemed as if it led straight to the very depths of a bottomless abyss.
There was power exerted by the Witch Empresses of the Fifth Era within this passage, where no light could be generated to illuminate what lay ahead. Even Shard’s Light Spell could only produce glimmers the size of rice grains. Thankfully, after the action within the Dark Realm, he had acquired a certain degree of Dark Vision, and since the dense fog outside did not exist here, there was no need to worry about tripping in this passage.
The deeper he walked, the more he could feel the howling wind blowing from the front. Upon entering the passage, the wind brought a slight chill, but as he continued, the breath of death slashed at his skin like knives.
It took a full twenty minutes of walking before leaving the passage to arrive at a platform on the side of the large cavity within the mountain. In reality, this place once sealed a Flame Demon, and the bridge connecting both platforms was broken. But here, there was a bridge built of white bones connecting both sides of the large cavity.
The white bones seemed to float in the air, at least according to Shard’s understanding of mechanics, it was impossible to analyze their stress situation from a purely materialistic perspective.
In a curious coincidence, right where the bridge corresponding to the Flame Demon seal in reality would be, there was also a bonfire. But upon approaching, he discovered that the bonfire had only recently been lit, likely left by Miss Aphrola’s party. The bonfire was still robust, and getting close to it brought warmth, even his stamina and Spirit, which had almost completely ceased recovering, began to slowly return under the firelight.
“They’re well prepared indeed.”
After a brief rest, Shard passed by the bonfire and stepped onto the White Bone Bridge.
The moment his foot lightly touched it, he immediately felt the entire bridge begin to shake. Then, an abrupt and eerie sense of dizziness nearly caused him to lose his balance and fall to the side:
“Oh.”
He clutched his head, feeling nothing but the world spinning around him without actually moving himself.
[There is a power of a curse on this bridge.]
“This kind of curse that disrupts one’s balance is simple, yet it’s diabolically effective in these circumstances.”
Just thinking about the depth of the abyss below the bridge made Shard break out in a cold sweat.
Once he had somewhat recovered, he took out the Wind Vane Bluegrass Extract and dabbed it on his tongue, planning to use “Lagre’s Leap” to cross the bridge in several dozen steps. However, this Arcane Technique failed; the eerie White Bone Bridge forbade spatial movement, working similarly to Shard’s “Spatial Stabilization Aura”.
“Extravagant and debauched, but the Witch Empress is worthy of her title,” he murmured.
He could only continue forward, braving the piercing black wind, each step taken with heart-pounding trepidation. And before the dizziness had subsided, another anomaly occurred on the bridge.
A thick, strange liquid oozed from beneath the bridge, through the crevices in the bones, seeping onto the bridge’s surface. These amorphous, odd liquids, as if they were some bizarre creatures and accompanied by Whisper Elements, converged together to form a constantly shaking monstrous shape as large as a person.
This monster looked particularly terrifying; its writhing body had little flesh buds that trembled incessantly. And between these buds grew white granules, resembling acne, that continuously burgeoned, burst open, and then grew again.
The severe dizzy spell, combined with the disgusting sight in front of him, made it difficult for Shard to suppress the urge to vomit:
“A Humanoid Relic? What in the world is this thing?”
With a light flick of his right hand through the air, a radiant Light Trace silently flew forward, parallel to the bridge, and smoothly sliced through the liquid creature’s body. But this was futile; the creature’s body could reshape and recombine at will, and an extra wound was hardly a problem for it.
“How did Miss Aphrola and her group get past this?”
He raised the “Night Watchman” in his hand but then immediately lowered it. The squirming abomination, now shaking its body, slowly moved towards Shard, its slick sounds especially prominent within the eerily quiet expanse of the mountain’s hollow. Shard could even imagine, once they engaged in close combat, that the creature would slather its slime on him until it completely “swallowed” him into its body.
“Why would the Witch Empresses use such weapons? I always thought they preferred things that were pretty and expensive.”
He took a cautious step backward, pointing his finger ahead:
“Feliana’s Witch Light.”
The power of the Witch bloomed on his fingertip, and in the golden glimmer, the liquid monster’s advance halted abruptly, and its body began to melt slowly. However, judging from the rate of melting, Shard realized that even if he exhausted all his Spirit, it wouldn’t be enough to eradicate the foe.
The sound of chains rattling echoed on the bridge as dark Great Sin Chains surged out from Shard’s sleeve and effortlessly bound the creature’s ankles—or rather, seemed to be absorbed into its body by the creature itself.
The sin-tainted forces corrupted the liquid, but more crucially, the restraining effect of the “Great Sin Chains” began to take hold. Although the “Great Sin Chains” were not very effective against Relics, they indeed prevented the creature from moving for the moment.
Tossing frog legs down from the bridge’s surface, Shard bent slightly and ran forward a few steps before leaping mightily:
“Ha!”
His excellent physical prowess, combined with the power of Sorcery, allowed him to jump over the liquid monster’s head. He maintained the effect of the chains and hurried across to the other side of the bridge.
The bridge violently shook with each footstep, and once Shard finally stepped off the bridge and onto the platform on the other side of the vast chasm, the dizzying sensation vanished almost instantly. Looking back, the end of the “Great Sin Chains” lay on the bridge’s surface, with no sign of the terrifying creature that was just there.
“An illusion?”
[It’s not an illusion; the traces of abnormal Whisper Elements haven’t disappeared.]
“Impressive, indeed.”
Now away from the bridge, the light, which had been suppressed since entering the chasm, finally returned to normal. Silvermoon’s glow spread all around, and Shard waved his fingers to each side, spotting a stele next to the tunnel entrance that led further in.
Approaching to observe, the stele was inscribed with the language of the Fifth Era, likely also left by the ruler of Wydon, Witch Empress Violetta Marshall:
[Dead end ahead.]
