Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 799: Blood Thorn Echo

Chapter 799 -799: Blood Thorn Echo

Sister Delphine’s Chosen One ceremony even caused a minor earthquake that spread from the Interstice to the real world, but compared to other events tonight, this earthquake was hardly worth mentioning.

In the real Midshire Fort, at the Cassandra Auction House, the witch apprentice Miss Rita Swift was organizing people to repair the walls broken from the recent battle, sealing the breaches through which the white mist was pouring in.

Although she heard strange noises outside, noticed the undead wandering on the streets suddenly pausing in their actions, and saw the peculiar golden glow in the sky, she paid no attention.

Twenty minutes after the Chosen One ceremony was completed, a figure appeared outside the Cassandra Auction House. Accompanied by urgent knocking, Miss Rita Swift, who was temporarily in charge of all auction house affairs, found Shard at the door.

“I just ran down from the mountain, Miss Swift, please open the door!”

“Sorry, I need to confirm your identity first, may I ask…”

Before she could finish her question, Shard used the Key of the Door to open the door and burst inside.

He was sweating profusely, panting heavily. The situation at home was extremely dire; the white mist spreading on the third floor was almost reaching downstairs, and the witch was urgently sealing off those deadly auras. Meanwhile, the out-of-control Traveler’s Gate, even temporarily suppressed by the Spatial Stabilization Aura, was still restless and couldn’t be moved next to the Ancient God Statue in the basement for subduing.

But even in such circumstances, after leaving Joey Barton and Marilyn Handel at Saint Delan Square for the inquisitive witch to interrogate, Shard immediately bid farewell to Luviya, who had observed the signs of the Star Whale, and rushed from the basement at home towards Midshire Fort, reaching here as quickly as possible.

Without the Night Watchman, it was not that quick to deal with the evil spirits spilling from the Interstice into reality; without any divinity within him, even though the Afterglow State persisted, the hollow feeling that drove him crazy still left Shard mentally exhausted.

Fortunately, the power fluctuations from the Chosen One ceremony made the restless undead fearful to make any moves, allowing him to arrive so quickly. After entering, regardless of how bad his body and mental state were, he asked in a shaky voice:

“Where are Grace and Helen?”

Miss Swift, who was closing the door, lowered her head slightly. Shard then noticed that the entire first-floor hall of the auction house had almost turned into ruins.

This was the headquarters of the renowned Cassandra chain auction houses across the Old Continent, the exquisite decor more luxurious than some noble estates. But now there were claw marks and explosion traces everywhere, and even the floor and ceiling were no longer intact, with several large holes leading to the basement and the second floor.

The smell of smoke and dust had dissipated, but it was still imaginable how intense the battle here had been not long ago.

Granny Cassandra had taken the main followers into the Interstice, and now everyone left was trying their best to repair the building, at least ensuring no more white mist poured in.

“Am I too late, have the vampires already left?”

“How did you know… About an hour ago, two High Ring and one Mid Ring vampires came here, intending to take away the teachers who still couldn’t leave. The battle was fierce, and in the end, the teachers appeared and stopped the fight, then left with the two High Ring vampires.”

“Grace and Helen left?”

Shard took a deep breath.

“However, the Mid Ring vampire was severely injured and left behind. They said they would pay to redeem him after this matter was over. Moreover, we seized a Sage-Level relic, the Blood Thorn Scepter…”

“Where is the Mid Ring vampire?”

Shard asked urgently.

“In the basement.”

The captured guy was Shard’s familiar, Mr. Armand Bernhardt, who had brought his nephew to Midshire Fort. He was held in the relic storage room in the basement.

This man was a distant relative of the Carsonrick Royalty and had always epitomized elegance and high society whenever he appeared. However, this time, he looked utterly miserable.

Lying on a bed against the wall, his face was as pale as white paper, and his clothes were soaked in blood. Miss Swift did not kill him, but she had only given him the most basic treatment:

“Truly an ungrateful person; Granny had introduced him to buy good items from other witches.”

Miss Swift, who led Shard to the basement, said discontentedly, and hearing the voice, Mr. Bernhardt struggled to get up from the bed:

“Oh, it’s Mr. Hamilton.”

He tried to smile, but his injuries were too severe to do so.

“Where?”

Shard asked in a deep voice.

“I don’t know, I only arranged for the Blood Clan’s prince, disguised as my nephew, to come here. I don’t know the exact location.”

Mr. Bernhardt answered with effort.

“When?”

“Midnight, under the Blood Moon.”

It was now 11:23 PM, leaving only half an hour.

“Mr. Hamilton, you don’t need to worry. What we are doing won’t harm this city or anyone. We will compensate for the Cassandra Auction House’s losses. You might as well sit down and wait with me until midnight to witness the blood curtain being…”

“Shut up.”

Miss Swift said in a grim voice. Granny Cassandra had temporarily handed over the auction house to her, but she had allowed such a huge oversight. Even though the opponent was strong, it was still her dereliction of duty.

“The Blood Thorn Scepter is here. Can you really succeed in what you are planning?”

Shard let another Mid-Circle female witch standing at the door bring the scepter temporarily housed in another room in the basement.

The Blood Thorn Scepter was a black wooden scepter, with a ruby embedded at the top end, and the entire scepter was entwined by a blood-colored thorn. One end of the thorn seemed to grow out of the ruby, while the other end wound around the tail of the scepter.

The surface of the black wood was polished smooth, but when examined against the light, barely noticeable raised letters could be seen—

“Thorns pierce the flesh, blood light accompanies me.”

It had to be held very carefully to avoid being injured by the thorns. This was a genuine Sage-Level relic and a weapon type at that.

“No problem, we collected nine relics but only needed seven of them to be sufficient.”

Armand Bernhardt said, having no intention to hide anything, and Shard only knew about five of them.

“Mr. Hamilton, you saved me in the Sin Mansion, so let me advise you. Don’t chase after them. If you can’t catch them, that’s fine, but if you do catch them, you won’t be able to come back.”

The severely injured vampire looked at Shard, his eyes filled with bloodshot.

Although this man had brought the little boy to Milestone, Shard did not have a bad impression of Mr. Bernhardt. Armand Bernhardt was merely executing orders, and now he was willing to share all the information he knew:

“They are very important to me, I must get them back.”

“Wait a moment!”

The weak Mr. Benhart asked doubtfully:

“We are discussing the Angel-Level Relic, the Red Butterfly Twins.”

“Yes, they are very important to me.”

Shard nodded, then saw an expression of reverence appear on the face of the refined middle-aged Vampire Kind.

With Miss Swift’s permission, Shard gave Mr. Benhart a small cup of water treated with Satiety Food. After he drank it slowly, Shard sat down by the narrow prison-like bed by the wall and asked:

“I must catch up with them. Are you sure you have no other clues?”

“I am only an Inner Ring, and bringing the prince here was because my noble status made it convenient. But they are certainly on the mountain; I just don’t know the exact location. Sorry, I can’t help you… Don’t pursue this, it’s really for your own good.”

He still advised tirelessly.

Shard was silent for a moment, his peripheral vision caught the sight of the scepter carefully held by Miss Swift:

“The function of this scepter is to enhance supernatural powers related to blood. How strong is this enhancement?”

“Very strong. If it is related to my master, then it is even stronger.”

Mr. Benhart said, seeing that Shard took the relic voluntarily, and explained its usage:

“Recite the spell words ‘Blood Thorn pierces through me, the blood path is now open’, the Blood Thorn will stab into the back of your hand. It cannot be recited in the common language; it must be using the Columban secret language. I do not like using such scepter-type weapons… I prefer my own two alchemical pistols.”

The so-called “Columban secret language” was used in the territories ruled by the Vampire Kind during the Fourth Era, known as the Dark Age. Unlike the Elves, the Vampire Kind was not strong enough to have a language named after their race. Therefore, the Columban secret language from the ancient prosperous era of the Vampire Kind became the cryptic text of the upper echelons in the Sixth Era, and is a very ancient language.

This language is not even part of the compulsory courses at Saint Byrons, but is an elective. Although Shard understands its characters, he must see them to read them; it’s not possible to know the pronunciation from the common language translation alone.

He hesitated for a moment:

“Does the Columban secret language have a strong relation to your race?”

Shard asked again. Mr. Benhart thought for a moment but before he could speak, the Witch Apprentice opened her mouth:

“This is a very important language to the Vampire Kind. At least one-quarter of ancient documents and arcane techniques, as well as sorcery scrolls, are written in this language. It can almost be equivalent to a racial language.”

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Mr. Benhart nodded lightly and drank the water. Although he was still in a severely injured state, his complexion improved slightly.

“I understand.”

Shard reached into his pocket and took out the two green leaves he obtained after completing the Year 3024 of the Fifth Era key.

These two Ever-Youth Leaves, one represented Knowledge – Original Sin Magic, the other represented A Piece of True Information – Vampire Kind. Since the leaves did not have labels, Shard first put the left one in front of his eyes.

As the golden veins of the leaf gradually penetrated into his eyes, Shard frowned slightly. This leaf was Original Sin Magic, containing the method to incorporate the Sloth spirit rune into the Great Sin Chain, but it was of no use to him at the moment.

“It’s this one.”

He placed the second leaf in front of his right eye. As vast knowledge and information surged into his mind, Shard found the information he wanted:

“There it is.”

He took the scepter from Miss Swift’s hand. Under the watchful eyes of Mr. Armand Benhart and the Witch Apprentice, he softly recited with a nasal hum supporting his voice from the lungs:

“Blood Thorn pierces through me, the blood path is now open.”

The knowledge of the Elven Race allowed Shard to grasp Elven language at a basic level. Similarly, knowledge from the Vampire Kind contained elements of the Columban secret language.

As Shard’s words fell, the blood-colored thorns on the scepter squirmed, climbed onto Shard’s wrist, and tightly wrapped around it. They did not pierce the skin, but Shard distinctly felt a stinging sensation all over his body.

“This should do it…”

“Mr. Hamilton, are you really going up the mountain?”

Mr. Benhart still tried to dissuade Shard from going:

“I cannot tell you what will happen on the mountain, but…please, don’t go. I can guarantee with my soul, what happens next will absolutely not endanger Midshire Fort!”

But Shard shook his head and left with Miss Swift.

The two entered the deepest part of the basement, the room where Helen and Grace had once lived. The twins had already left, the curtains beside the huge four-poster bed had been lifted, and the clothes on the floor were gone, but the density of the Whisper Element was still extraordinary.

“Mr. Hamilton, how are you going to find them?”

Miss Swift asked softly.

“I have an arcane technique that allows me to see all the movements of the owner of any blood within a day by dripping their blood into my eyes.”

“But there is no blood of the teachers’ teachers here… Do you have it?”

“No, I don’t.”

Shard shook his head, holding the scepter, and looked at the giant bed:

“But I once dripped their blood into my eyes. That was in the last era…”

He paused:

“To be more precise, that was two months ago (Chapter 568).”

The Blood Thorn Scepter enhanced the Echo of Blood, allowing Shard to see traces of blood beyond a day’s time, touching the power of blood over a longer period. A clear red halo, representing the presence of two people, appeared on the bed.

The overlapping red halo indicated Grace and Helen had stayed here for a long time. When they left the bed, the tall, god-like figures returned to the normal size of human females:

“Miss Swift, I am leaving.”

He watched the two red halos, fully aware of what the Vampire God was planning. The ten wine-making stories were simply reminders of the true intention.

To help Lecia and Luviya, and to prevent two innocent souls from being sacrificed, just as he had aided them at the Divine Banquet in the previous era, he would help them again this time.