Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 600 - False Immortality

Chapter 600: Chapter 600 False Immortality

Chapter 600: Chapter 600 False Immortality

The source of the cries for help was precisely in the direction Shard needed to go. He walked briskly forward, and a huge figure gradually became clear through the fog.

At least three meters tall, its waist was more exaggerated than three Shards and a Mia combined. It wore armor patched together from numerous terrifying human faces, with the facial area densely scarred as if slashed by blades.

“Evil Spirit!”

The more a spirit’s appearance deviates from that of a normal person, the more powerful the evil spirit is. And the one in front of him was clearly the most terrifying type of spirit in the traditional sense.

This fierce spirit noticed Shard as well. As it turned around, Shard noticed that the foe wielded a spear over five meters long, spearing a young man dressed in a Draleon Royal Army uniform at its tip. Shard and Captain Lades had learned the distinctive features of various soldiers and officers during their visit to the veterans’ club, and this young man appeared to be a sergeant.

The cries for help had indeed come from him, and his clothes and skin still had color, even the blood spurting from his wounds, indicating that he was alive.

The man also noticed Shard emerging from the fog, trying to reach out in his direction, but because of his severe injuries, the young sergeant couldn’t even complete this action.

“An ordinary person who wandered here by mistake?”

Thinking this, Shard stopped walking. The towering evil spirit emerged from the fog, flung the speared man aside, and charged directly at Shard. The charging force stirred the previously still fog, yet such a massive body made no sound as it stomped on the ground.

“The opponent’s weapon is longer than mine.”

Shard made a rational judgment, crossed his arms in front of his chest to draw the Silvermoon’s cross of light, then stepped back and kicked forward. The crossed beams of light flew towards the evil spirit, who fiercely swept with its spear. The spear was utterly destroyed but neutralized the attack.

“Stronger than the knight earlier, not just a simple evil spirit, but also a derivative of this Level 0 Relic?”

Fortunately, Shard in this state was also stronger than usual.

As the spear shattered, Shard silently appeared above the evil spirit’s head. His hands wielding a sword cleaved down, the evil spirit turned and raised its hand to block, but then half of its body was smashed by Shard.

Shard landed, and the remaining half of the evil spirit, with agility completely incompatible with its form, quickly swung its remaining left fist towards Shard’s head. Already too late to raise his sword, Shard struck upwards with his right fist bearing the Mind Crystal Ring:

“Psychic Shockwave!”

The huge fist of the evil spirit collided with Shard’s right fist, and in a daze, Shard actually heard a loud “bang.” However, the sound was not due to the collision of fists, but because the “Soul Echo” combined with “Psychic Shockwave” allowed Shard to achieve in this liminal world between life and death an effect he could never have imagined before.

Starting from the point of contact of Shard’s fist, the massive evil spirit gradually disintegrated into a pile of white light points, eventually disappearing completely:

“I’m just a butcher who likes to slaughter.”

Confirming the opponent had truly vanished, Shard quickly ran towards the young sergeant who had been thrown aside.

He lay on the street side, with a penetrating wound in his abdomen, crimson blood flowing along the ground, quickly assimilated into gray-white by this world.

“False Immortality!”

Shard crouched down, immediately placing his hand on the man’s chest, then his eyes widened in shock:

“Why isn’t sorcery working?”

It wasn’t that the man was already dead so sorcery couldn’t be used, but rather, sorcery was completely ineffective on the living man before him.

“[All mortals must die, and false immortality is but a ridiculous solace.]” (Chapter 52)

The sourc𝗲 of this content is freēwēbηovel.c૦m.

“What? False immortality can’t be used in the Interstice?”

“[This place is too close to death.]”

Without time to discuss further with “her,” Shard quietly comforted the sergeant as his eyes gradually lost their luster. He then pulled out a wooden tube from his pocket, shook it to fill it with water, and tapped the side of the tube with his fingers to imbue the water with the properties of Satiety Food.

He poured the water over the young sergeant’s wound, but such a fatal injury was beyond what Satiety Food could heal. Even if Arcane Technique had a greatly enhanced healing effect due to the Divine Afterglow State, it was after all just healing.

The sergeant strained to look at Shard, his blood-sticky hand using the last of his strength to grab Shard’s sleeve, his pupils somewhat dilated as he looked straight at Shard:

“Are… are you alive?”

“Yes,”

said Shard, knowing he couldn’t save him, that this world would hasten the process of death. Without false immortality, he couldn’t save anyone. False immortality was truly just a consolation.

“Sir, please, do me a favor…”

The sergeant’s other hand reached towards his waist, and Shard saw a handgun.

“Take this, this to the First Legion, Rising Wind Trail…”

Each time he spoke, it seemed his lungs were sucking out all the air:

“Red Water Camp’s Third Squadron, Captain Ronald.”

His eyes looked at Shard, who nodded:

“I will.”

“Thank you.”

The faint voice spoke as the color drained from his eyes, and he died.

“This really is…”

The Outlander had seen death before, but to witness the departure of a soul through eye contact after the failure of False Immortality was a first for him.

The sergeant’s soul slowly drifted out from his body, a mere ordinary spirit, no longer capable of any response. It drifted in the Interstice just like all other souls here, having completely forgotten everything.

If the death of a stranger could truly touch Shard deeply, that would be an exaggeration. However, seeing a poor soul die right before him, caught between life and death, did stir something in Shard’s heart.

He would deliver the gun to Captain Ronald, but finding Father Augustus was now his priority.

Turning the body into a puppet he carried with him, Shard continued forward in this city, which resembled Midshire Fort, but with subtle differences, guided by the Holy Emblem Pendant at his chest.

Having just encountered a living person, Shard was certain there were others around. Yet, he didn’t expect that just ten minutes later, he would hear unusual sounds:

But this time, it wasn’t cries for help, but sounds of battle. Shard looked ahead through the white mist, where red mist was dispersingly intermingled. As he got closer, he heard the sounds of bats.

“Hmm…”

He stood still, donned a mask instead, and decided to observe the situation before making any moves. Unexpectedly, the fighting parties were unknowingly advancing towards his direction.

One of the parties was an Evil Spirit, a figure translucent and dark, floating in the air, dressed in tattered white garments and wearing a crown. Her face was decayed, and she wielded an impressively long scythe. The other party, if Shard wasn’t mistaken, was of the Vampire Kind, traditionally known as a “vampire.”

This wasn’t an evenly matched fight; the vampire, turned into a swarm of bats, was simultaneously trying to protect a terrified little boy and fend off the powerful Evil Spirit while distracted. Touched by those blood mists, Shard could reasonably estimate that the vampire was around the fifth or sixth Circle. Since Exotic Ring Sorcerers are generally stronger than human counterparts, this one could be regarded as a human of the sixth or even seventh Circle.

As the Vampire Race, considered Semi-undead, wasn’t suppressed or enhanced in this strange world, the vampire’s exhibited power should truly be at this level. However, the Evil Spirit was clearly stronger.

As Shard pondered over the situation, the vampire, now a swarm of bats, also noticed him. A plea for help echoed through the blood mist:

“Help me!”

It wasn’t in Draleonese but in Carsonrick, fortunately, Shard understood it.

Shard took a step back, always staying on the edge of the blood mist. He couldn’t get too close, or the Evil Spirit would surely switch its attack to him.

“Do you know about the Blood Spirit School?”

Shard asked gravely—the vampires he’d met in this world belonged to the Blood Spirit School, and he needed to verify this detail.

“The Blood Spirit School? Aren’t they based in the New World?”

The Evil Spirit swung her scythe through the air, sending large sweeps at the bats. The blood mist was being eroded by the white mist, and the situation was shifting further.

“Are you a member of the Blood Spirit School?”

“Oh, I see, you have a grudge against those idiots from the Blood Spirit School? I’m not one of them! I swear, on my soul, I am definitely not from the Blood Spirit School! It was another clan that joined them! I’m just here to rescue my nephew, I mean no harm.”

Shard didn’t respond but stepped back again; however, before the vampire could call for help once more, Shard vanished into the mist.

Taking advantage of the moment the tall white-dressed Evil Spirit was distracted by the bats, Shard appeared behind her. This time, he didn’t use his sword but simply threw a punch.

But the punch was ineffective; unexpectedly, two arms extended from the sides of the Evil Spirit’s body, each holding a scythe that cut viciously towards Shard’s fist. Although Shard dared to punch the Evil Spirit, he wasn’t about to meet a scythe with his fist.

The fist arced through the air, then slashed out a beam of moonlight forward.

Clang!

The hastily swung moonlight broke the scythe on impact. Sensing that his opponent was multitasking and might not be fully focused on him, Shard thrust forward, breaking through the fragments of moonlight:

“Moonlight Greatsword!”

The greatsword, shimmering with moonlight, sliced through the swinging arms of the spiritual body. Just as he intended to pierce the body with a single strike, the Evil Spirit forcefully twisted her neck one hundred eighty degrees, presenting a skull-like, horrifying face directly to Shard.

Her mouth opened wide, wider, then snapped viciously towards Shard’s head, as if trying to swallow him whole.

But Shard had encountered this move on Daknis before. Far from dodging, he reached out and plunged his hand directly into her mouth:

“Silvermoon!”

As brilliant moonlight shot from the spiritual body’s features, Shard swiftly retracted his arm and stepped back. In a place potentially filled with countless Evil Spirits, he dared not use the “Light Spell” to illuminate the entire city, which is why he had avoided using this move. But since she had opened her mouth, he had no concerns.

The spirit seemed to freeze in mid-air; as its head, directly hit by the moonlight, first turned into pinpoint lights, then its entire body turned the color of limestone and crumbled into a layer of ash on the ground like a sand sculpture:

“I shall become, the eternal Princess.”