Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 745 - : Priest, Truth Society, and Roder Card

Chapter 745 -745: Priest, Truth Society, and Roder Card

After bidding farewell to Iluna on the water’s surface and agreeing to meet again on Thursday to share information, Shard took Mia and started heading back home through the dense forest.

The fog still enveloped the woods, and the traces of the Divine Ritual on the ground no longer glowed, indicating that the distant battle had likely concluded.

Although there had been some unexpected events, the kiss under the moonlight on the water had left Shard in quite a good mood.

But he had barely taken two steps into the forest when he stopped, frowning:

“Who’s there?”

“It’s me.”

With that voice, moonlight filtered through the branches onto the ground, casting large, somewhat sinister shadows of the trees in the night. Emerging from those shadows was Priest Augustus, wearing a gray Cleric Robe. His face bore an embarrassed expression; he definitely wouldn’t have come out if Shard hadn’t spotted him.

“Priest?”

Shard sighed with relief:

“What are you doing here so late… When did you get here?”

“Don’t worry, I didn’t see anything just now.”

The Priest quickly shook his head and gestured for Shard to walk and talk with him:

“After we get back to Tobesk, I won’t say a thing.”

He emphasized again as if afraid Shard wouldn’t believe him. But then he hesitated and added in a low voice:

“I understand young people chasing pretty members of the opposite sex, but you should maintain a sense of propriety and… quantity.”

“Priest, you’ve been here all along!”

Mia who popped her head out from Shard’s arms also chimed in with a “meow~,” seeming to find the situation amusing.

“I arrived when you dashed out of the woods. You hid quite well; if you hadn’t come out of the dense forest, I might not have even noticed you.”

The Priest said with a smile, hurrying through the foggy woods alongside Shard. Despite often joking about his advanced age and limitations, the Old Cleric still moved briskly through the nighttime woods.

“I came here looking for something, that madman who summoned the Scythe of the Grim Reaper had something I need on him.”

“You knew that was the ‘Scythe of the Grim Reaper’?”

The battle at the center of the lake was far from the woodland; the Priest shouldn’t have heard Joey Barton’s voice.

Priest Augustus hummed and said with a hint of smugness:

“As for powers related to death, I can understand most of them at a glance. The power that man wielded was odd, but as soon as I saw it, I knew what it was.”

This must be related to the power of the Death Angel:

“That’s a true deathblow, using the concepts of death and termination to shatter any entity, corporeal or not, that one wishes to destroy.”

“So, does it have any weaknesses?”

Shard asked earnestly.

“Of course, as powerful as that technique is, it’s still used by a Circle Sorcerer. The user himself seems to be Low Ring? Killing him before he uses that move, or after dodging it to kill him, isn’t that easy?”

The Priest explained, and Shard immediately nodded. Compared to Daknis’s Talent for manipulating darkness, Joey Barton’s Talent for death, although seemingly daunting, was less comprehensive in effect than the Dark Vortex. All things considered, it was even less useful than Iluna’s Talent for forcibly reducing the Level of enemy Circle Sorcerers.

“What are you looking for, then?”

Shard asked, thinking over the items in Joey Barton’s possession:

“The Roder Card ‘Genesis: Death’?”

“You know I always keep my distance from games like the Roder Cards.”

The Priest shook his head and nimbly jumped over a fallen tree trunk:

“I’m not sure what I’m looking for, but it’s definitely on that man. Shard, who exactly is that guy? I knew the Church had found someone resurrected from death and used that as a trap to lure the Truth Society, but was that guy also a member of the Truth Society?”

So, on the rest of the way back, Shard briefed the Priest on the life story of ‘The Man Who Defied Death’ Joey Barton. Of course, to avoid involving the Priest in the deadly affairs of ‘The Chosen One’ and ‘Whispering Verses,’ Shard only mentioned that the man was very important and every faction was looking for him, without bringing up the saga of the Sixth Era.

“So that’s it, defying death…”

On the path back to the city, the Priest reflected:

“This type of person is unheard of even for me; by his appearance, he must have an unusual ability to control the Power of Death… second only to me.”

Shard remained silent, his face straight.

“Shard, it seems you want to find that man too. Why don’t we do this: if you get a lead on him, why not call me to join you in the search?”

“Of course, that’s no problem.”

The Priest, while only a Second Ring, could be of much help, especially in the Interstice.

“You need to be wary of that man; his understanding of death will make him more powerful in the ‘Interstice of Life and Death.’ The nature of death also makes it harder for him to die than anyone else. He’s a very troublesome enemy.”

Priest Augustus reminded again, and Shard nodded cautiously, sighing internally at how unique and unreasonable the powers of The Chosen Ones were.

It was late, and Shard wouldn’t enter the city, so he planned to part with the priest outside the city walls. While he had the time, Shard briefly updated the priest on the recent events; Priest knew of the “four nails” matter but only had a rough idea. After listening to Shard’s detailed explanation, he laughed and said,

“To be resurrected from the Interstice, yet unaware of one’s own resurrection? Oh, I do have a way to pinpoint the area where the target might be, but I can’t do a detailed search.”

“No problem, I’ll handle the detailed search,” Shard affirmed, patting his right shoulder where the Red Butterfly given to him by Grace and Helen resided; it could find the remaining two targets within a small range. Now that the Red Butterfly seeking the Jester had dissipated, two remained.

“Alright, tomorrow is Wednesday… I need a day to prepare. Let’s meet up on Thursday and see if we can find those nails in a day’s time,” Priest Augustus spoke with casual tone, as if they were merely going to hunt some unremarkable wild rabbits in the woods rather than a Bimia.

“No need to worry about their power. I saw that Jester just now. These should-have-been-dead undead, I fear them least. What we need to worry about is not finding the other party,” he added.

“Then, Priest, let’s meet at Oak Street on Thursday noon,” Shard said in agreement.

“What do you have to do on Thursday morning?” Priest Augustus curiously asked, knowing that with Shard’s personality, he would not postpone till the afternoon without a good reason.

“I’ve arranged to meet Iluna Beath in the morning.”

At this answer, Priest Augustus’ mouth twitched, and he turned to look toward a forest beside them,

“If one day Annette or Luisa stabs you to death, don’t expect me to help.”

Of course, he didn’t say this out loud, but he truly felt it was a possibility.

The affairs of Midshire Fort wouldn’t come to a halt because of Shard’s departure. Beyond his sight, the Church also put in a great deal of effort.

The follow-up after the Truth Society’s roundup was something Shard heard about from Miss Aphrola on Wednesday morning, and the Witches were also concerned about it.

By and large, the Church learned from the events of Tobesk and Coldwater Port. They believe allowing these seemingly harmless yet unpredictable madmen to roam around a city brimming with impending events would wreak severe havoc on the material world’s harmony and stability.

Therefore, the Midshire Fort Parish of the Church of Nature applied to the Papacy and joined forces with other True God Churches to root out the most active members of the Truth Society in Milestone before the sealing ritual began next week.

“The Church is quite determined this time; they even sent a Thirteen-Ring Sorcerer from the local area into battle yesterday,” Shard remarked as he rode in a carriage with Miss Aphrola towards Cassandra Auction House, returning the golden ring he had acquired.

And from the Witch’s tone, she was also near the battleground last night,

“Truth Society really brought a surprise, having an Angel-Level Relic ‘Star Summoning Magic Stone’ at their disposal.”

Fearing that Shard might not know what that was, the Witch further explained,

“The Angel-Level Relic ‘Star Summoning Magic Stone’ is related to the evil entities sleeping in the starry sky. Using the magic stone, one can summon a meteorite filled with curses, plague, and mental corruption, crashing it into the region where the magic stone is located. As for side effects, every use of the magic stone has a ten percent chance of awakening the evil entity from the starry sky to project its shadow directly into the physical world along with the meteorite. Among all known Angel-Level Relics, this one is the most dangerous, nearing the threshold of an Angel-Level measure.”

Correspondingly, Shard’s ‘Night Watchman’ longsword was likely one of the least dangerous among Angel-Level Relics.

“The Church of Nature is quite fortunate to have recovered such a useful Relic,” the brown-haired Witch clicked her tongue, and the carriage jolted at the same time, bringing Shard momentarily out of his memory of last night:

“Were all the Circle Sorcerers sent by the Truth Society to this area annihilated or captured?”

“Of course not, two managed to escape, but it’s of no consequence. The important significance of the Church’s action this time is to deter those Circle Sorcerers who have come in pursuit of The Chosen One, advising them not to act rashly for the time being. Speaking of which, Granny Cassandra received news that the Church confirmed who The Chosen One was yesterday, but the person has run into the Interstice, and I heard it’s a man, also a madman.”

She shook her head,

“Using ‘nails’ as bait, the Church didn’t expect to catch The Chosen One, and to let him slip away at that, is quite laughable. Since it’s a man, the mission the Council has charged me with here has become simpler. Find him, and if I can’t maintain complete control, then eliminate him. Since he’s unwilling to submit to the True God Church, he’s likely no good at all.”

But Shard believed Joey Barton couldn’t be considered entirely bad either.

“If the chance arises, would you kill him?” A whispering voice inquired softly in his ear, and Shard turned to look out the window,

“I’ll ask if he’s given up resurrecting the dead. If he has, I’ll chop off one of his arms as recompense for him moving against Iluna. If not, then let him meet his death. After all, he’s not the only candidate we have.”

“Are you sure, this isn’t because of that ‘Genesis: Death’?”

Her laughter echoed in the wind, and the city outside the window remained enveloped in that strange fog.

“Don’t falsely accuse me…”

Shard’s expression remained unchanged,

“But if it really comes to a situation where I have to kill Joey Barton, that ‘Genesis: Death’ – I will certainly claim it.”

Shard never hid his desires, especially not from “her.”