Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 513 - Eternal Darkness

Carrying the metal box on his back, Shard boarded a carriage at Saint Delan Square and traveled to the southern edge of Tobesk, where he switched to a carriage that could take him out of the city. He paid a hefty sum to persuade the driver to head further into the southern countryside.

According to the map, though the "Dark Realm" had expanded significantly overnight, there was still a considerable distance to Tobesk Urban Area. After comparing it with the voice of the woman in his mind, Shard decided to first head to Bode Village in the Tobesk Southern Part.

It wasn't because the village was the closest to the disappearing area, rather, it was because the terrain indicated that moving further would lead them into the True God Church's checkpoints.

Due to the traits of the "Dark Realm" and the fact that the incident had only occurred that morning, the disappearance of such a large region had not yet attracted the attention or awareness of the locals.

Whether inside the city or out, everything indicated that it was a very peaceful Saturday morning. Before the darkness struck, ordinary people noticed nothing. Shard even chatted with the driver, who claimed to have lived in the southern city for thirty-two years and had no awareness of the changes in the terrain outside the city or the missing areas from his memory.

This shift in perception was terrifying.

The driver dropped Shard off at the entrance to Bode Village, and of course, the arrival of a stranger in this nondescript village sparked the curiosity and wariness of the villagers.

The village was unremarkable, with its low houses connected in continuous patches, forming a simple human settlement. The buildings, mostly made of earth, stone, and straw, seemed to turn back time to before the Steam Age, compared to the city just half an hour's drive away.

Yet, that wasn't entirely true because Shard still saw traces of steam pipes and gas pipelines. However, these two lines only distributed along the central axis of the village and did not penetrate deeply into it, indicating that only a very few among the village's thirty-odd residents could enjoy the conveniences of steam and gas.

There was a local sheriff in the village. Hearing of a stranger's arrival, he dutifully came to inquire about Shard's purpose here.

Shard initially wanted to fudge his identity and then leave the village on foot to the south. But, thinking that he would probably pass through this village while heading further south from Tobesk Urban Area, he introduced himself as the writer John Watson and then pretended to casually inquire from the big-bearded sheriff,

"My friend set off earlier and he might have passed through this village. Has any stranger come by here today?"

The sheriff, who was curious about the writer carrying a metal box, eagerly answered the city dweller's question,

"Sorry sir, no outsiders have passed through the village from this morning until now. However, around eight this morning, a small boy from the Ossus family saw a large carriage from the Peace Church passing by on the dirt road outside the village while he was urinating in the fields. Could your friend be with the people from the True God Church?"

This helped Shard understand that the "Dark Realm's" loss of control must have occurred around seven in the morning, as it took about an hour to travel from the city to this area. The presence of the True God Church's team meant that the uncontrolled Relic was still within manageable limits, thus there was no need to fret about the darkness swallowing Tobesk in a few hours.

"Seeing the last Godfall incident has its benefits, making the True God Church more vigilant," he mused.

After leaving Bode Village, Shard continued south, walking along the dirt road in the uninhabited wilderness with the metal box on his back. Although the area swallowed by darkness had vanished, it could be accessed through a specific method. Ordinary people who mistakenly entered it would almost find it impossible to leave. Luviya had already discovered the method to enter inside the Relic, but what Shard truly needed to worry about was being discovered by the Church.

Eighteen minutes after leaving Bode Village, he saw from a distance a small cavalry unit wearing Royal Army uniforms and riding horses. After skirting around them and continuing forward, he soon encountered a patrol of about fifteen infantrymen with long rifles walking along the dirt road.

He still managed to avoid them and learned through "Echo of the Past" that Tobesk City Hall, under the pretext of the Royal Army testing a new Steam Cannon, had closed off the nearby area, forbidding anyone from entering.

This once again showed that everything was still under control, and the momentary loss of control of the Relic was likely caused by the accidental occurrence triggered by the appearance of The Chosen One.

Shard was quite fortunate today. After the second encounter with the patrols, he continued for half a mile (~800m) and reached the edge of the "Dark Realm," finding only traces of a Divine Ritual without running into the True God Church's squadrons.

After all, with the perimeter of the disappeared area being so vast, the Church couldn't possibly defend every ten steps even if they abandoned the city defense for a full-scale deployment.

"It should be around here," Shard said to himself.

Away from the city, he was also far from the thin mist above the city's skies. The sunlight at late summer noon was equally bright. Shard reviewed the map in his hands, comparing the meanings of the Divine Ritual Runes on the ground, confirming that he hadn't taken the wrong path.

Standing on a rural road still marked with cow dung, he saw no darkness around him. But in reality, this path should have forked about five meters from where Shard stood, instead of being a straight road as it appeared now.

"Well then, the adventure officially begins now,"

Shard grasped the straps on his shoulders, the Ring of Fate slowly emerging behind him. The "Space-Time" Core Spirit Rune shone brightly:

"Spatial Stabilization Aura!"

Invisible ripples radiated outwards from Shard, maximizing the effects of the Arcane Technique, now fully manifested with the Ring of Fate.

As the Spirit within him flowed and the elements fluctuated, Shard's vision gradually filled with ripples, like reflections in water blurred by disturbances.

Some black mist was finally detected; Shard knew that forcibly interfering with the Angel-Level Relic was his limit, so he refrained from using more Arcane Techniques to drive away the unstable space. Instead, he dashed forward and leaped side-on—

Crack!

He felt as if he had smashed through an invisible mirror, then suddenly jumped from beneath the sun into a storage filled with ice blocks.

But worse was the darkness that surged up, covering all the scenery before him. Having lost his sight, Shard couldn't immediately sense the ground below and felt as if he had jumped into an abyss. He lost his balance and fell to the ground.

First sensing the ground through touch, and as the silver glow on his body slowly dispersed, it barely lit the solid earth beneath him. The bone-chilling cold also slowly spread throughout his body.

This was a power bestowed upon Shard by Professor Augustus. Although still unclear about the source of the Priest's power, the chill inside him indeed expelled the even colder sensation from the environment and dispelled the almost uncontrollable drowsiness and intense mental pressure brought by the deep darkness after entering.

However, this miraculous power still couldn't fully resist the negative effects of the Angel-Level Relic. Shard felt his stamina and body temperature rapidly depleting, even standing still, and his Spirit's recovery rate was at least twice as slow as in normal areas. The feelings of headache, nausea, and numbness throughout his body became clearer and more intense. This space obviously harbored intense malice towards Shard, a being capable of emitting his own light.

Having been protected by Priest Augustus, he felt much better than when he first intruded into the Fishbone Pirate Ship. The absence of any outer manifestation of "Divine Afterglow" also indicated that the Angel-Level Relic "Dark Realm" had no connection to the Old God.

"This is the best news so far."

The surroundings were extremely quiet, but as Shard got up, he clearly felt something in the opaque darkness peering at him. It might have been a small creature, or perhaps a giant lurking ahead, massive as a giant.

He squinted into the darkness, powerless to see through to what lay beyond. He could only suspect in his mind that he was locking gazes with something, the eerie feeling growing stronger.

Suddenly shivering, Shard closed his eyes and took several deep breaths, adapting to the strange environment around him.

Once he had steadied his mood, he softly called to Silvermoon, but the moonlight that bloomed from his fingertips failed to light up his surroundings, covering a mere fingernail-sized area. Even as the ice-cold chill invaded his eyes helping Shard to barely make out a small area around him, the surroundings still seemed enveloped in thick black mist, slightly better than the state of "not seeing the hand in front of one's face."

"Angel-Level Relics are truly extraordinary, but thankfully I came prepared," he said.

He rummaged through his pocket to find a thick yellow oil-like potion prescribed by an eye doctor and carefully dripped it into his eyes. After blinking, the darkness before him gradually cleared, and his vision extended as if in the deepest night.

Although he was still not completely comfortable moving around, it eliminated any problems for close combat.

He checked his belongings to ensure he had not lost anything during the fall. Then he looked back—the heavy box was of course still there, albeit emitting a faint golden light.

The glow was not strong, but seeing a stable light source other than himself in the darkness still made Shard quite happy.

Other than those like Shard who had additional powers of protection or amulets provided by the Church, ordinary people entering the "Dark Realm" would fall into a deep sleep, gradually being assimilated in the darkness and melting into an unknown corner.

If one carefully observed the surrounding air, it was possible to see hard-to-detect shadows moving back and forth. These were the last traces of those who had melted into the "Dark Realm," essentially the dark recording the history of old marks.

The core of the "Dark Realm", which was likely the place where Ivan Daknis might conduct the Chosen One Ceremony, was actually known to Shard. As long as he knew the specific topography of the disappearing area, he just needed to find the spatial center.

But he couldn't charge directly to the core of the Relic, not just because the multiple demons in the dark were too much for him alone, but also because without the "balanced" Chosen One, Iluna, Shard knew he was no match for Daknis.

"First, here," he said.

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He took out his notebook, looking at the simple map he had drawn. The place illuminated by his finger was Forest Town. This town itself was not peculiar, but before the expanse of the Dark Realm this morning, many Prophets from the Prophet's Society had been stationed here; Luviya's last letter mentioned she had made contact with Iluna who ventured deeper into the front lines from this town.

"I'll regroup with Luviya and plan further from there."

Pondering his next moves, he put away the notebook and walked deeper into the darkness.