Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 704 - : The Nun Pursuing Karmic Sin

“No, how can I feel like this when I’m running for my life? Right, it’s ‘Sloth’ affecting me.”

Fortunately, the fatigue was not strong, and Shard continued to run forward. After passing the stairwell, the twisted corridor ahead was more densely speckled with sparks on the blood-red carpet, and the temperature was also higher, clearly indicating that the Circle Sorcerer who manipulated fire had gone this way.

The long corridor was eerily empty of any living soul, while the heavy footsteps behind him followed persistently like the harbinger of death. The corner of the corridor was just ahead, but there was a reddish glow reflecting from around it.

Amidst the faint sound of burning, Shard also heard a noise as if a four-legged animal was rapidly scraping the ground, a sign that there was a new enemy ahead.

With pursuers behind, Shard had no choice. He held the Ever-Youth Leaf in his mouth and, sword in hand, hastened forward, only to encounter a flaming hound charging out from the adjacent corridor… or rather, a hound screaming in agony as it burned in flames.

Its appearance was terrifyingly abnormal, with a human face where the dog’s head should be, and its skin, black as charred wood, bristled with countless milky pustules sparking a primal sense of discomfort.

It shot out from the other end of the corridor, wailing madly as it lunged at Shard.

Once again, he felt the sword guiding his body; his left foot remained steady as he sidestepped to the left rear with his right foot, dodging the pouncing hound. Using the momentum of his sliding step, his body rotated, and when he realigned himself, his hands wielded the sword to harness the energy of the spin, striking the hound in mid-air.

The sword strike was precise and vicious; a whole burning hound charged at him, but two burning halves landed on the ground.

The ease of vanquishing the foe was not because Shard and his sword were overpowering, but because the hound had suffered even more severe wounds, and the one who wounded it was just around the corner.

Upon rounding the corner, Shard was met with a burning corridor. The ceiling, walls, and floor were ablaze, and with the heatwaves rolling in and the crackling sounds of flames, Shard almost believed he had left the confines of the eerie Sin Mansion.

The fly-sized corpse skewered on the longsword slipped to the ground as the blind nun in the grey nun’s robe slowly turned within the flames. Her ash-white hair, untouched by the fire, waved behind her with the wind.

The silver crown-like mask faced Shard, her left hand holding a black scythe, her right griping a grey longsword that appeared to be made of stone. Embers flickered on the hem of her robe and both weapons, signifying the power of the Fire of the Primordial the nun wielded.

The blaze made everything before his eyes hazy, and the uneven heat distorted the air, adding an unusual aura to the nun, who had always been silent and solemn.

She walked towards Shard, but in truth, she glided over the carpet. Passing by Shard in the light of the fire, the sparks from the scythe touched the back of his hand without burning it at all.

When Shard turned, the nun had already confronted the bearded man armed with dual blades at the corridor corner.

The longsword in her right hand traced a fiery red afterimage through the air, and with a sweeping forward strike, she severed the opponent’s left-hand long blade. As the man’s cleaver came chopping down with his right hand, she retreated backward as if drifting away, dodging the swing and then slashing down with the sickle in her left hand, leaving a deep wound across his chest.

“Fire.”

Shard heard the nun mutter softly, then the surface of the gray stone greatsword in her right hand began to crack. As firelight emerged from the cracks, the gray stone shell peeled away, revealing a longsword made entirely of flames.

The blade itself grew longer and wider until it resembled a greatsword that could be wielded by a giant.

The nun thrust the greatsword with one hand, hitting the wound recently made by the sickle with precision. Instead of piercing the enemy’s body, the blade used this light strike to send him flying backward, feet lifted off the ground.

Dancing with the sword in one hand, her movements were still like floating on air. With each step forward, a fiery red glimmer left an afterimage in the air. Even with Shard’s dynamic vision, he could hardly see how many strikes Sister Delphine had actually delivered. All he could see was the hairy-faced brute being hit by countless streaks of flame in midair.

By the time it finally crashed against the wall at the corner of the corridor, it was completely devoid of life.

Of course, such creatures possessed immortal nature and thus it would heal after a while, but for now, it was no longer a threat.

With the scythe in her left hand and the greatsword in her right slowly lowered, the flames on the blade contracted and gradually cooled until the gray stone shell once again enveloped the blade, with only a few sparks still visible on the sword.

She slowly turned around, and in the light of the raging fire around her, the silver crown-like eye-mask glittered. The intricate and complex patterns, which included symbols of vines wrapped around eyes and ancient runes mingling with the unfurling leaves at the edges of the crown, were now clearer than they had ever been. The eye-mask was truly a masterpiece of art.

Shard raised his hand intending to remove his mask to greet her, but he then realized that for Sister Delphine, whether or not he wore his mask made no difference:

“Good morning, Mr. Hamilton.”

It was the nun who greeted him first, and Shard breathed a sigh of relief:

“Good morning, Sister Delphine. I didn’t expect to meet you here. Shall we leave together? I’ve found that there’s an exit in the wine cellar downstairs.”

“I still have things to do. I came here for some Kindling Flame.”

She shook her head slightly and then asked:

“Do you know where the master of the manor is? They refuse to tell me.”

“On the third floor, but I advise you not to go there. If you are just looking for a trader to deal with, I would suggest you visit the second floor.”

He described the location of the room where he had encountered the Vampire Kind:

“Then I wish you luck. I’ll be leaving through the wine cellar downstairs. By the way, I have something I’d like to discuss with you later.”

He was referring to the issue with the boundary on the third floor of No. 6, Saint Delan Square.

“I’ll wait for you outside after leaving Sin Mansion.”

“Alright.”

The nun nodded and then walked in the direction Shard had come from. As she moved, flames once more ignited along the corridor that had already been extinguished, yet they had no effect on the nun who bore traces of embers on her.

And the reason Shard did not propose to accompany the nun was that this place wasn’t suitable for him to wander around. The danger of the Fishbone Pirate Ship lay in the choices made midway and the final cabin, but now Sin Mansion was fraught with peril everywhere.

“However, the gray stone greatsword in Sister Delphine’s hand, if I remember correctly, Granny Cassandra said its name is ‘Ashes,’ and like the ‘Night Watchman,’ it is of Angel-Level, and it seems that sword can be used together with the Nun’s ‘Fire of the Primordial.’ No wonder she has so many good things on her as the leader of a large organization,” he thought.

With that in mind, Shard hurried down the still-burning corridor from which the nun had come, heading towards the entrance to the wine cellar.