Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic

Shard checked the time, estimating that there were about twenty minutes left until dawn. He took note of the air currents and discovered that the wind inside the church originated from behind the stone walls where three fat Fishermen stood.

He then took a Steam Bomb off his waist and pulled out a Roder Card from his pocket:

"I'll show you that I didn't learn 'Treasured Item' just because it's convenient for playing cards."

Thinking to himself, he took a deep breath and his left hand reached for the ring on his right hand. A faint golden glimmer lit up within the sleeve of his robe, filling Shard with a reassuring sense of power.

He quickly pulled the tab on the Steam Bomb's surface, but no steam sprayed out since, in that era, Steam Bombs needed to be struck hard to detonate. This was a safety feature to prevent accidents.

He wrapped the second corpse doll and the bomb together with a handkerchief and tied it tightly.

Timing it right, Shard tapped lightly on the handkerchief:

"Toy making!"

Feeling the object inside the handkerchief rapidly expanding, the Roder Card, under the control of 'Treasured Item,' carried the package swiftly towards the front of the church.

"What's that?"

Even with the help of the Witch's Ring, it was hard for such a large object flying through the air to go unnoticed. Someone lit up a light, and then the expanding object crashed heavily into the aisle between the long rows of seats.

The sound of prayer was interrupted, and people curiously looked over to see a body lying face up on the ground with a blade wound at the heart, with a faint hissing sound underneath—but it wasn't very loud.

"Oh my god, isn't that little Feishna?"

An Old Fishman priest to the left gasped and quickly walked over to investigate. The grey-robed Fishermen sitting around also moved closer, even the Circle Sorcerers frowned and stood up.

Shard didn't get up; instead, he lay flat on the ground between the seats, hands over his head. After completely lying down, he began the countdown with an estimation of the time:

"Five."

The Fishermen had encircled the body.

"Four."

"It's Feishna! Quick, look who's here!"

"Three."

The Circle Sorcerers approached the body for a closer inspection.

"Two."

"Desecration, this is Desecration!"

The old Fishman priest was hysterically screaming.

"Something's wrong, why is there white smoke under the corpse? No, not smoke, it's Steam Mist, could it be the corpse is about to awaken as an Inner Ring Sorcerer?"

Shard, in the midst of his countdown, almost laughed out loud.

"One."

"Fool, get out of the way, it's a Steam Bomb!"

Boom~

The ground truly shook at that moment, as the steam bomb, containing not only a small amount of compressed gunpowder but also small steel marbles, shrapnel, and other strange objects, propelled them at an alarming speed in all directions under the force of the air pressure.

Even as Shard lay there motionless, his left leg was still struck by something, but it was merely a graze.

The nearby fishermen, however, were not so fortunate; Shard even thought he heard the sound of flesh and blood hitting the puddles on the ground after the explosion.

The ceiling above shed dust continuously due to the explosion. Shard had actually worried that the place might collapse because of the steam bomb, but the fishmen's structures were quite sturdy. Besides, if a single steam bomb could collapse this place, the church's Circle Sorcerer squad would not have been evenly matched with the fishmen.

Screams of agony, curses, and wails of pain echoed endlessly in the dust-filled air following the explosion.

Seizing the opportunity, Shard crawled to his feet, not bothering to dust himself off, and pressed forward low along the wall.

One steam bomb was hardly enough. He had taken only a few steps when he heard someone shouting for everyone to stand still.

The sea breeze was summoned, dispersing the dust raised by the bomb's explosion, while two Cultist Circle Sorcerers gathered to heal the wounded and ascertain who was engaging in unusual activities.

Shard couldn't afford to stop moving; if discovered, he wouldn't be able to handle so many adversaries at once. Yet moving increased the chances of being spotted.

Thinking it better to expose himself proactively rather than passively, he raised his right hand high and then violently cleaved toward the center of the thinning dust cloud, sending a dazzling arc of Silvermoon light flying towards the Crimson Cult's Circle Sorcerers.

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Without a second thought, Shard vanished the next moment, reappearing ten meters ahead.

Screams and curses were heard from behind again, and the place where Shard had just stood was bombarded with sorceries he could not recognize.

That was sufficient. Adding the distance Shard had covered at the onset of the explosion, he was now at the very forefront of the damp little church.

"Hand it over!"

He snatched the leather-bound tome from the hands of the old fishman priest standing there, and as the latter tried to resist, a great sword shimmering with silver glimmer cut straight down.

The crimson blood soaked the front of the robe; the fat fishman, who was robbed of the book by Shard, was immediately killed. However, Shard didn't trouble himself with the other fat priest but used his sword to block the arrow flying his way.

"Oh!"

He grunted as the bone arrowhead actually shattered the blade of the Moonlight Greatsword. Even after breaking the great sword, the arrowhead continued its trajectory; Shard turned his head to avoid it, and the arrowhead grazed his cheek, pierced through his hood, and lodged itself into the stone wall beside the Holy Emblem behind him.

The arrow made another hole in the stone wall and let in more sea breeze for Shard to feel.

"Nobody move!"

With the book under his arm, he grabbed another fishman priest and pulled out a pistol, pressing it against the priest's temple.

The dust had completely settled, and the carnage caused by Shard was now visible.

The area where the steam bomb exploded was splattered with blood everywhere. A third of the fishmen died in the initial blast, the rest were saved by the Circle Sorcerers.

But it was the Silvermoon Slash that Shard unleashed amidst the chaos that truly turned the tide; amplified by the Witch's Ring, the moonlight that was cleaved through two rows of chairs left no chance for the Inner Ring Sorcerers to block it, even with their special methods.

As a result, the bodies neatly split in half on the ground were all the work of Shard's strike. Among them, only three fishmen remained, and shockingly, one of the Crimson Cult's Circle Sorcerers also perished. It was bad luck, standing right in the path of the Silvermoon Arc.

The better news was that the old fishman priest who had gone to check the corpses had also died, and combined with the one Shard had killed, only one living fishman priest remained, the one Shard was now holding at gunpoint.

If the ritual here was to continue, the other side couldn't possibly afford to disregard this old fishman's life.

The significant impact was partly due to the ring's power and partly because Shard took advantage of the chaos to launch a surprise attack. But this success came at a cost; Shard was now surrounded by the remaining cultists.

Even with a hostage in hand, Shard's situation was not good.