Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 258 Silver-Eyed One

The three people guarding the ruins each had very few personal items that were reminders of their memories. That ring was related to Caris’s youthful romance.

"These three people are indeed admirable," Shard whispered softly. Then, suddenly startled, he turned to look at the corner behind him. The silver moonlight in his hand lit up the area but revealed nothing there.

"Did I just feel someone watching me?"

"I felt it too, but it’s vague, not sure what it was."

"Is anyone there?"

Shard called out quietly but received no response. After confirming that whatever had been spying on him had disappeared, he continued to examine the contents of the coffins.

He did not touch the urn or the ring, but carefully studied the map in the letter. The map was detailed, and he easily found the room where the gargoyles and mirrors were stored, and based on the directions, found the room where the "Maze Candle" was located.

Originally, that room had traps that would release deadly alchemical poison fog if someone entered rashly. But it seemed to have been modified by the "Blood of Mercury," guarded by a safer relic.

Shard could not return to that room, as he would be trapped in the maze again, and this time he probably wouldn’t get any help from the butterflies.

Fortunately, the current tomb room, though it only had one door, also had a hidden passage that led to the room suppressing the "Corpse Tree." Moreover, the room not only held the dangerous tree but also the divine emblems, statues of the Deities of Bygone Days, and "God’s Gift Box."

Shard’s lips twitched:

"It figures that the most dangerous things are kept together. But now is not the time to hesitate; I must find the ’God’s Gift Box’ quickly so I can go help them."

Following the map’s directions, Shard located an inconspicuous stone brick engraved with a holy emblem on the tomb’s wall. He pushed it inward forcefully, and the adjacent stone wall suddenly spun, revealing a dark passage.

He proceeded along the passage, which was not straight but kept turning. Even moving quickly, it took him five minutes to reach the end. Silvermoon light illuminated the stone wall in front of him. Hesitant for a moment, he first placed a drop of Wind Vane Bluegrass Extract Diluent on his tongue, then lit his remaining candle before searching for the stone carved with the holy emblem described on the map.

After pressing hard, the stone wall in front of him opened again, and beyond the stone wall, there was a strange, twinkling blue light.

Climbing out of the hidden passage and looking around, the new relic room was more than three times larger than the room with the gargoyles, resembling a vast underground cavern. The floor was uneven as countless tree roots sprawled under it, and a giant tree stood in the center of the room, its crown forcefully covering the entire ceiling of the room due to the not high enough rock roof forcing the branches to bend.

Vines hung from the crown, these vines themselves glowing with a blue light, which illuminated the area but also made it look incredibly eerie.

"You have touched ’Whisper.’"

"Is this tree the relic?"

The tree itself showed no reaction to Shard’s presence, standing quietly in the relatively cramped underground space as if it had always been there from ancient times to the present.

Probably because of the tree’s presence, the musty smell in the ruins finally disappeared. But this meant that the tree was still "alive," and a thousand years had not starved it.

Looking deeper into the room, in a corner stood a podium with three steps. Above the podium on the wall hung a metal holy symbol, under which on the podium stood a faceless, robed divine statue, holding a box in its hands.

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Neither the statue nor the holy symbol seemed to possess any power, illuminated by the twinkling blue light from the vines. Even from a distance, Shard could see the cubic bronze box with intricate linear patterns spreading across its six sides, chaotic yet orderly like a circuit diagram.

Flashing multicolored gems were embedded at the junctions of these lines. An inexplicable urge made Shard want to cross the tree crown to touch that box, but he restrained himself.

"There are sorcerers nearby."

"Where?"

"Ahead, in the shadows on your left."

Narrowing his eyes toward the direction "she" had indicated, Shard indeed saw a figure standing under the tree in the dim light, motionlessly looking up at the canopy.

Judging from the build, it was a man, so it couldn’t be Miss Beyas or Miss Annette. Shard counted down the remaining 47 seconds and quickly walked up to the man. He didn’t dare come too close, worried that an unreasonable "Sixth Sense" might alert the other.

Holding his breath, the silver light of the moon shone in his palm, and as the candle extinguished, he struck at the man whose back was turned to Shard.

The moonlight made no sound in the air, silently appearing and hitting the stranger’s back with a clang as if striking a metal plate.

The cautious Shard had already used his candle to hide again, ready to perform a Spatial Leap at any moment. He saw liquid mercury flow from the wound on the stranger’s back, yet he remained motionless.

The bizarre situation made Shard step back a few paces and turn to look at the room’s exit, but unexpectedly, the person under the tree then stiffly turned around, those silver eyes shocking Shard:

"Are you the one who entered here?"

His voice was very hoarse and weak, his complexion as pale as a ghost’s.

The candle was still burning, but he directly looked into Shard’s eyes. Knowing he couldn’t hide any longer, Shard proactively snuffed out the candle:

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"Who are you?"

Reminding another part of me to be ready to burn divinity at any moment while clutching the talisman provided by Miss Beyas in my pocket, capable of resisting the "Greedy Silver" of the Demon Eye.

"’Silver-Eyed One’ Diak."

As his voice echoed, a rustling sound came from the treetop above. Some vines slowly descended, illuminating the two people standing opposite each other with a ghastly blue light.

Only then did Shard finally see that seven or eight thick, unglowing vines were dangling from the canopy, deeply embedded in the back of the Silver-Eyed One. Under the eerie blue light, the Silver-Eyed One, who was considered a great enemy by the three of them, now looked like a stooped and disheveled middle-aged man.

He seemed to be in a bad situation, with vines piercing his back, connecting him to the tree behind. The tree appeared to be "absorbing" him, literally.

He looked towards Shard, his dim eyes as if they had no soul:

"Who are you? True God Church? Or here solely for that Sage-Level Relic?"

The hoarse voice asked, and Shard shook his head:

"Neither."

"Whoever you are, it doesn’t matter; why not stay and keep me company?"

His mouth opened, and mercury shot out like an arrow from his mouth, heading straight for Shard’s face. But Shard, prepared, easily dodged to the side while a silver mist rose and enveloped him.

The Silver-Eyed One didn’t continue attacking; his throat continued to emit a hoarse voice:

"It’s useless; no one can escape."

The ghastly blue light shone on his face, making the whole person look terrifyingly spectral. It was only then that Shard in the silver mist noticed that the other party was barely touching the ground with his toes; in fact, he was entirely lifted by the tree vines.

Shard didn’t continue talking to his opponent. He held the golden necklace around his neck, constantly expanding the area of the Illusion Technique. He had to pass under the canopy to access the Divine Statue holding the box. It was difficult to ascertain the Silver-Eyed One’s current state, but there was definitely something wrong with this tree.

He wanted to expand the illusion sufficiently to then use "Lagre’s Leap", reaching the high platform where the Divine Statue was placed without alerting the "Corpse Tree".

"Do you know about the Blood Spirit School? Everyone thinks I’m a madman; they are the madmen. That fellow they sent activated this tree for the corpse of the ancient Circle Mage swallowed by the tree. Haha, no one can escape... And even if they did, what could it possibly change? The Evil God is about to descend, and you wouldn’t survive outside either."

"Do you think the True God Church hasn’t made any preparations?"

Shard, amidst the silver fog, retorted, but unexpectedly, the other party laughed, his silver eyes scanning the fog:

"Lawrence, the Church discovered that Lawrence is a Divine Descent Vessel. But that was the vessel we prepared for the cultists of the Lord of the Blood Feast, did you think those cultists didn’t have a backup plan?"

Shard controlling the illusion frowned:

"There’s a second mortal body ready for Divine Descent... Wait a minute."

His eyes slightly widened, all the clues connecting at this moment. The back of the doctor leaving the banquet seemed to appear before his eyes:

"Could it be the doctor’s two patients with gluttony?"

He shut his mouth and ignored the Silver-Eyed One, finally understanding the cause of his unease tonight. Now the Silver-Eyed One was wounded by the Relic, and the magicians of the Blood Spirit School were outside struggling with two ladies. His unease wasn’t due to the expedition to the ruins but because of the Evil God.

But having an extra Divine Descent Vessel didn’t mean that accidents would necessarily occur. After all, the Church was also controlling the banquet. Without the "Blood Feast" as the basis for the God Summoning Ritual, the Lord of the Blood Feast wouldn’t possibly make an appearance.

"I need to settle the matters underground quickly, and have Miss Beyas inform the Church to prevent complications from prolonged waiting."

Shard thought to himself, holding the golden necklace and continuously expanding the silver fog around him.

Under the ghastly blue light, both men stopped talking, and the Silver-Eyed One even voluntarily closed his eyes. Only the tree vines behind him were continuously writhing, as if sucking something from his body.

Several minutes later, the Silver-Eyed One reopened his eyes and looked towards the now larger mass of fog:

"I’ve figured it out."

Mercury’s luster floated on his skin and ultimately concentrated on his back. The silver eyes revealed a final glimpse of madness:

"The people of the Blood Spirit School, for that ancient Circle Mage’s corpse, fed me to this tree. I am going to die, then nobody here will live."

A mercury humanoid, exactly resembling the Silver-Eyed One, emerged from his body, and the tree vines’ ghastly blue light made its surface-floating mercury gleam.

The mercury humanoid looked towards the silver fog.

Thump~

A nearly spherical metal ball was thrown out from the silver fog, tumbling chaotically on the ground with steam hissing from it.

The Silver-Eyed One looked down at his feet.

Boom~

The steam bomb exploded right beneath the Silver-Eyed One and the mercury humanoid.