Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 701 - : Undefeated

He moved swiftly towards the door, reaching out to grasp the doorknob, but at that moment, a knocking sound came.

There was only the sound of knocking, no voice. Shard’s left hand hesitated for a moment and then quickly retracted. He took a step back and raised his longsword.

The knocking lasted for more than ten seconds before stopping, but then, black sewage began to flow in from under the door.

The sewage collected into a pool in front of the door, and then out of the black water emerged a bald human head. The water forming the head continued to flow, appearing particularly eerie under the dim lighting.

“Are you Sin Mansion’s trader?” asked Shard.

“No, I’ve come to take you to see the master.”

This reply made Shard frown. Normally, one would leave Sin Mansion by increasing their load of sin as a trade for the opportunity to depart. And if someone was influenced by the powers here and made too many trades of sin, they would become a guest of honor and be led to meet the master of the mansion. But past records had never mentioned any information about the mansion’s master.

Therefore, meeting the master could almost be equated with death.

“Sorry, but I haven’t made any trades,” Shard pointed out.

“There’s no need for trades now. You can go directly to see the master.”

“No, I would rather stick to the rules.”

“No, the rules have changed.”

“No, I believe that since rules exist…”

“Give me three periods of perfect Gluttony sins, and I’ll let you out.”

The head in the black water suddenly made an offer. Shard was startled, then shook his head:

“Impossible.”

If he traded away three periods of Gluttony, it would severely damage the power of the Gluttony Spirit Rune, and Shard could not afford to trade it even if he wanted to.

“Then I wish you luck.”

The head retracted back into the black water, which then flowed out from under the door again. Shard waited a while to ensure it wasn’t a trap meant to draw him closer to the door. Then he searched for his mask, put it on his face, prepared his Spellcasting Materials, and only after that, he reached out to grasp the doorknob and managed to open the door with difficulty.

The corridor seemed to have changed since the time he had entered. The previously straight hallway had become twisted; there were even undulations on the floor. The portraits on the walls, which depicted blood-drinking, beheadings, and even more horrifying images, now lacked their subjects, leaving backgrounds that were even more terrifying than the portraits themselves.

“Gluttony…”

On the wall opposite the door, a painting depicted a long dining table in a pile of trash. The table, filled with goldware and silverware, brimmed with fresh human organs dripping with blood.

“This is bad.”

Stepping out of the room onto a blood-soaked carpet, Shard looked around and decided to head back to the courtyard to see if the Key of the Door could open the sealed gate. He walked briskly towards the staircase, the silence and suppression intensifying the effects of the Whisper Element on Shard.

“If I find out who caused the explosion on the second floor…”

The third floor was the highest level of the building. At the entrance to the staircase on both sides, there were two suits of metal armor holding long spears. Such decorations were common in noble manors, and even with the onset of the Steam Age, estates like Miss Galina’s still harbored similar adornments, valued more than dozens of Mias.

As Shard approached the staircase, the armors stirred to life on their own. They did not attack him but crossed their spears to block the staircase and then said in a dull voice together:

“You cannot leave.”

“I’m going downstairs to meet the master of the mansion,” Shard replied casually.

“The master is on the third floor.”

“Hm?”

Shard immediately looked around, ensuring there was no one in the corridors on either side, before speaking softly,

“I’ll give you some sin, let me leave, how about that? The price is negotiable.”

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“No need for bribes, answer one question, and you may leave from the third floor.”

“Please ask.”

“What do you think your Great Sin is?”

It was a question that went straight to the heart. Shard hesitated for a moment,

“I… want everything I desire, but I’m unwilling to lose anything.”

The two longspears parted automatically, making way for Shard, but he did not descend the stairs immediately,

“Why ask me such a question?”

“Guest, you need the courage to acknowledge your sin.”

“What do you mean?”

But he received no answer.

From the third to the second floor, the situation on the second floor was even stranger than the third. The third floor just had twisted corridors and oil paintings that had lost their figures, but the second floor was splattered with fresh blood everywhere, and there were claw marks on the walls as if a pack of frenzied wolves had attacked the place.

The gas lamp’s light was dimming even further, to the point that Shard wouldn’t be surprised if an Evil Ghost suddenly crawled out from the edges of the dim yellow light.

Of course, whatever had happened on the second floor had nothing to do with him. He turned to continue down the stairs, but then he heard a loud rumble from below, followed by a wave of heat surging up, turning the underside of the banister crimson, before it returned to normal.

“What’s going on down there? A gas explosion?”

Walking down the stairs, he indeed encountered an enemy. It was a one-eyed, fat man with black hair all over his face, wearing an apron and holding a sharp weapon in each hand, a long watermelon knife in the left and an ordinary kitchen knife in the right. His body emitted an extremely foul smell, and both of his arms looked as if they had been scorched by something, with the edges of the apron also showing burn marks.

Clearly, he had been injured downstairs.

“Give me five ticks of your Gluttony, or stay here,”

After seeing Shard, the man’s first words were these. Shard shook his head,

“Make it cheaper, I…”

The kitchen knife was thrown at Shard’s head, and his first reaction was to step back, evading the attack using Lagre’s Leap. But as he abruptly moved up three flights on the stairs, the knife also maintained the same interval from him and similarly moved upwards three flights:

“This knife has a Space Lock function!”

With no time for further thought, his longsword was raised.

Clang!

Under the enormous force, Shard was hurled away. He tumbled back to the entrance of the second-floor staircase and rolled several times before propping himself up off the ground to stand.

Blood leaked from the corner of his mouth. Although he hadn’t lost grip on his longsword, his right palm was also bleeding. Not only that, he could feel that the bones in his right wrist were damaged due to the impact. The increasing pain almost prevented him from holding the longsword, clearly indicating not just internal damage, but that his right wrist was broken.

“I don’t seem to have the ability to heal broken bones.”

Barely holding onto the sword, he retreated, his left hand drawing a cross in the air before body-checking forward. The crossing moonlight flew towards the staircase below, and the fat man, taking heavy steps up the stairs, raised his left hand with the watermelon knife and slashed forward, actually shattering Shard’s Slash of Moonlight.

It was the first time someone had dealt with Shard’s move head-on.

“The opponent is too strong and his defense is exceptional. Even if I threw Iluna’s Sunlight Gun, I’m not sure I’d be his match. It’s terrifying, to still have such strength even when injured.”

Shard realized he couldn’t beat the opponent, but luckily, the enemy’s movement was quite slow. He wanted to first escape to the second floor, but at that moment, the man with the black hair on his face called back the kitchen knife and threw it at Shard again.

“Spatial Stabilization Aura!”

With his mind highly focused, Shard, watching the flying weapon, almost perceived every afterimage it left in the air. After the sharp kitchen knife entered the influence range of the Spatial Stabilization Aura:

“Lagre’s Leap!”

In the next second, his body appeared to the left, and while the Spatial Stabilization Aura didn’t completely work on the knife, it at least caused it to move off target from Shard.

The knife flew in an arc through the air, aiming again at Shard’s head. But because it had already been diverted once, Shard, concentrating hard, ducked his head at the last moment. There was a muffled sound above, and the knife actually embedded itself firmly into the wall.

“Run!”

Thinking hurriedly, he hurried along the corridor towards the left. Rows of rooms seemed like possible hiding spots, and the footsteps at the staircase continued to sound heavy and oppressive.

At that moment, a door in front opened, revealing a familiar face behind it. Mr. Armand Bernhardt, with a small bat symbol floating above his head, waved to the masked stranger:

“Come in!”

With no better options at the moment, Shard activated his Arcane Technique again and took a step forward, appearing behind the Vampire Kind. The latter was clearly surprised by Shard’s disappearance but soon realized he had already entered the room.

He immediately closed the door. Then Shard and Mr. Armand Bernhardt both held their breath, listening to the footsteps that grew ever closer.