Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 1402: Fossil to Mud and the Ascetic in Hemp Robes
"It’s not a fountain, it’s black mud, it’s that black mud!"
Even the bonfire on the ground trembled continuously due to the strong earthquake, and the horses tied to the trees frantically tried to break free from the ropes and escape.
In the flickering firelight, Shard finally realized that it was black mud, surging black mud jetted towards the sky from the hilltop like a fountain, then the viscous black mud flowed downward from the hilltop.
"Roar!"
Roaring sounds appeared under the starry sky enclosed by dark clouds. From the ground where the black mud flowed, jet-black stone arms emerged one by one from the soil beneath the hill, and then numerous fallen earth elemental titans appeared.
The fallen earth elemental titans were taller and larger than the ones the three of them had encountered in the evening. As they took heavy steps towards the area below the hill, the crazy earth actually spread outwards with their footsteps.
Before Shard and the others could take action, the church’s camp had already launched an attack. The team that came this time, led by the Sun Church, used one of the basic sorcery "Earth Wall" collectively by dozens of inner ring sorcerers, summoning a huge wall from the base of the hill, temporarily halting the steps of the fallen earth elemental titans, then the subsequent church teams launched frontal attacks as well.
Due to the dangerous nature of the crazy earth’s range, the church teams did not enter the hill area, only defeating the elemental aggregations summoned by the earth at the periphery one by one.
"There’s someone at the hilltop."
Miss Benanis said to Shard, squinting at those blurry shadows in the night:
"This situation is still not simple, the cultists and Blood Spirit School people are probably over there. But, how did they get up there? No one saw them... ’Puppeteer’s Notes’?"
"None of that matters now."
Shard shook his head and said to Luviya:
"You and Miss Benanis stay here, I’ll go alone."
"But..."
The girl with purple eyes wanted to object, but the witch pulled her:
"You should trust Shard more than me."
She said to Shard:
"Luviya and I will stay on the periphery to assist the church in intercepting those monsters trying to go further, and we’ll be here ready to back you up. Don’t be reckless; if things go wrong, retreat immediately. It’s easy for me to take the two of you and escape."
Saying this, she took off her gold ring and handed it to Shard:
"Tonight, you need this more than I do."
"Understood."
Shard nodded with a smile, waved to them, and then ran into the night under their worried gaze. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮
Amidst the night, battles were illuminated everywhere; though the fallen elemental titans moved slowly and weren’t very aggressive, it wasn’t easy to completely defeat them either.
Fortunately, most people from the church were unable to enter the area contaminated by the crazy earth, so Shard just needed to choose less intense battle locations to directly get into the hill.
Explosions seemed to sound everywhere, and although black clouds covered the starry sky, the glow of divine arts made the area as bright as day. The closer to the hill base Shard got, the more he was certain that this matter was undoubtedly related to the cultists.
When he first met with the Stone Mirror Demon: Goethe outside Worsent Manor, he had accidentally broken a statue of an evil god. The sense of desecration felt back then was very similar to what he felt now.
Looking up to the hill already covered mostly by black mud, somewhere beyond the hill seemed to stand a huge and dreadful shadow. Shard couldn’t be sure what it was; he could only hurry through the forest to face yet another challenge he couldn’t handle.
In the forest, besides the advancing Shard, there were also some strange shadows prowling. And as he entered the war zone between the church and the fallen earth elemental titans, Shard noticed that the church also sent a Thirteen-Ring Sorcerer again.
This time it wasn’t the "Earth Shaker" Granger, but Miss Maria, the Nightmare Witch, an old friend of Sister Delphine from the Church of Nature, whom Shard had met during the Battle of Pantanal.
She wasn’t engaged in combat but was floating above the forest sea, gazing at the hilltop as if guarding against something. Even when Shard inadvertently glanced at her from below, she did not sense the presence that touched her inspiration and look down to observe Shard.
This indicated that tonight, something even troublesome for a Thirteen-Ring Sorcerer would appear.
Continuing forward, Shard officially entered the area where the black mud flowed. The black mud, which had been erupting for ten minutes, still maintained a fountain-like appearance at the hilltop, making it impossible for Shard to find a safe foothold to continue upward.
Originally, some bare-branched trees still grew on the small hill, but now those trees had turned into gray stone statues. Although Shard was capable of resisting the pollution twisted from the earth to a certain extent, prolonged exposure still made him feel intense discomfort:
"This Crazy Earth is another strong pollution level."
The Church’s Circle Sorcerers were only on the periphery, so no one stopped the monsters on the hill. Despite Shard’s caution while climbing the hill, he inevitably clashed with a stone giant during the ascent.
"Lagre’s Leap."
He took a light step forward and then appeared behind the stone giant, wrapped in an earthen yellow glimmer and rushing sideways at him. He initially thought of escaping, but unexpectedly, the enemy he dodged turned to charge at him again as soon as it stopped.
If he ran like this, Shard worried about making too much commotion, and by the time he reached the top, at least ten Fallen Elemental Giants would be chasing him. So, he stopped, but this time he didn’t take out the Moonlight Greatsword; instead, he opened his arms.
When he teamed up with Miss Benanis and Luviya to deal with enemies earlier, he had a vague idea, and now was the perfect time to put his plan into action.
"Roar!"
The heavy monster was very close to Shard in its charge. Shard took another step forward and disappeared again. But this time, he didn’t appear farther behind the Elemental Giant; instead, he appeared directly on the giant’s back, wrapping his arms tightly around it:
"Fossil to Mud!"
Although "Fossil to Mud" is Basic Sorcery, Shard’s version of "Fossil to Mud" was somewhat different from others’. It was a power given to him when he attempted to delve into the source of the black mud and explore the Divine Power, likely from the Randall Valley Earth Incarnation.
Normally, "Fossil to Mud" only affects natural, unprocessed stone, but Shard’s "Fossil to Mud" can affect any stone not larger than himself.
Initially, he was just giving it a try, but when his body made contact with the Elemental Giant, the backside of the elemental construct really started to "melt" rapidly.
Although Miss Benanis said this kind of creature doesn’t have a true "weak point," he still directly stabbed his hand into its chest area from behind the colossus:
"Feliana’s Witch Light!"
In the beginning, the Fallen Elemental Giant only slowed down sharply. But then, the stone on its chest seemed to be heated, faintly emitting a red glow.
Finally, as the first rift appeared, dark gold light completely seeped from its chest. The rift continued to spread across its body, and the massive elemental construct turned into a pile of rubble in Shard’s hands.
Shard patted his hands muddy with dirt, somewhat doubting whether the Randall Valley Earth Incarnation gave him this spell precisely for today’s situation.
Continuing forward, due to Shard’s caution, he encountered two more enemies, and even the second time faced two partnered enemies, but he managed to resolve them without causing much commotion.
The end of the petrified forest at the lower part of the hill was a winding path leading to the top. For some reason, as he approached the Petrified Forest Region, there were no more enemies blocking the way.
However, he wasn’t completely alone here. As Shard reached the edge of the forest, ready to head to the top in one go, he saw a tall, slender man standing with his back to him, facing the top of the hill at the edge of the woodland. He was barefoot, wearing a burlap robe, and holding a dirty-looking, bronzed oil lamp.
"A Monk from the Church? What’s he doing here?"
The Monk’s feet were completely soiled with black mud, but even so, he showed no signs of limb petrification without using any Sorcery or Arcane Technique.
If not for the fact that this was a living person, Shard might have thought a Guardian was waiting for him here.
And when Shard got closer, he clearly sensed the heavy Miracle Element on the man. That warm and hefty power undoubtedly belonged to the Sun and Earth God. Shard even felt that this unknown Monk’s power was purer than that of the Thirteen-Ring Sorcerer "Earth Shaker" Pierre Granger.
He hesitated for a moment but still approached quickly. He decided to act as if he hadn’t seen the man unless the Monk initiated conversation. But when he reached the Monk’s side, the man spoke:
"Are you the God Summoner?"
The Monk used Casenric with a heavy Eastern Southern Nation accent, making each word’s stress seem amusingly misplaced.
Shard could only stop, nodding before wanting to ask about the man’s identity. But upon seeing the man’s simple attire and the old yet ancient-looking oil lamp he held, a bold idea suddenly struck him:
"When I was at Midshire Fort, I met the Church of Nature’s ’Thorn Nun’ Mrs. Shelly Winst (Chapter 778)."
