Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 680 - Devouring Demons

So, Shard cautiously approached. Since Shard didn’t have the power of demons himself, the longsword remained unresponsive even as he reached out his hand in front of the campfire that was sparking with embers.

“Doctor, I’m going to do it now!”

Shard shouted and then quickly grabbed the sword hilt and pulled upward forcefully, but the sword didn’t budge:

“It seems I can’t pull it out!”

“Put on the Demon Hunting Seal!”

Dr. Schneider reminded him, and by the sound of it, he was slowly getting closer.

So, Shard wore the seal ring on his right-hand finger, stood with his legs slightly apart in front of the campfire, and grasped the warm sword hilt with both hands. It seemed that because he was wearing the ring this time, some blurry images rapidly flashed before Shard’s eyes.

He saw the scene when the rope bridge before him had not yet broken, he saw the human Circle Sorcerer holding the longsword in the belly of the mountain, glowing red from the flames of a giant Evil Spirit Demon.

Just seeing the true form of the arsonist, Sophix, in these blurry images made Shard feel as though his skin was being scorched, the Ancient Evil Spirits were indeed not a joke:

“Is this a memory left by the previous owner of the sword? He wants to tell the successors what is sealed here. Unfortunately, I still have to pull the sword.”

He thought to himself, took a deep breath, and then his body’s center of gravity shifted downward. His hands exerted force, followed by his shoulders driving his arms which drove his wrists which drove his palms, increasing the power bit by bit. Extremely heavy, this sword was heavier than anything else Shard had ever tried to lift. But as he held his breath and lifted the sword, he clearly felt that it truly started to move.

More blurry images passed before his eyes, superimposing upon the great hollow in the mountain before him, except at that time the place was very bright, and the broken bridge was still intact.

A beautiful woman in a fiery-red long dress, Shard could almost be certain she was a witch, stood by the bridge looking over here:

“I am a Thirteenth Rank Witch, the ruler of Wydon, Violet Marshall. This sword was discovered in the mountains and was left behind by a past hero. It is key to solving the issue with the Interstice, and I leave it here for future use, but it must be returned timely when the Interstice runs into problems.”

The language of the Fifth Era reached his ears, and the vision faded. This seemed to be a message left by the Witch Empress of the Fifth Era, which also meant that the sword in his hand had another purpose, and Shard could not possess it for long.

“However, could it be that the passage in the middle of Interstice Mountain, is right here?”

Before Shard could figure it out, as the sword blade gradually rose from the campfire’s ashes, more and more sparks began to appear in the campfire, which was originally only flickering, and they connected into flames, licking at Shard’s trouser legs.

The temperature here grew hotter and hotter, but Shard wasn’t sure if this was just an illusion caused by his anxiety.

All he knew was that at this moment, his face was flushed red, and he dared not let out the breath he was holding. Otherwise, the sword that seemed to be wrestling with him would definitely fall back down immediately.

The bell rang abruptly in the hollow, signaling that the ritual Shard had set up in advance, ineffective against Dr. Schneider but effective against other demons, was working. This also meant that the Flame Demon, sealed by the Relic-grade longsword of a High Ring Sorcerer a century ago, was about to completely break free from its seal:

“Doctor, hurry, only forty seconds left!”

As he spoke, another series of images flashed before his eyes. The scenes were even more chaotic this time, frames of past owners of the longsword defeating their enemies. Shard even saw the old man he had encountered at the party, who had also once possessed the sword. But as a commoner, he likely hadn’t drawn much of the sword’s power.

“Detective, I may not be some ancient hero, but today, let me demonstrate a thirty-second Flame Demon kill! You better get out of the way!”

“Alright!”

The sword Shard had forcefully extracted with brute strength was only a fingernail’s distance away from completely leaving the reigniting ashes. And the campfire that was about to fully ignite Shard’s clothes was becoming increasingly fierce.

Holding his breath, he used his last ounce of strength to completely draw the longsword from his hand. Strangely, as soon as the blade fully left the campfire’s ashes, the sword’s weight returned to normal, causing Shard, who was not prepared to adjust his force in time, to stumble backward and fall.

But as he fell backward, Shard’s figure disappeared in front of the campfire, causing the fiery, molten, obsidian-like giant hand that stretched out from the fire to miss its target.

“Doctor, it’s your turn, 36 seconds left.”

Shard, who had retreated to the entrance of the passageway using “Lagre’s Leap,” shouted, his sword not glowing any longer, but the runes on the blade that meant “My heart is clear, my sword slashes evil spirits” still emitted a bright yellow light in the dim firelight.

Without waiting for Dr. Schneider to respond, the thick arm that had just tried to grab Shard withdrew back into the reignited ashes. In the blink of an eye, the entire campfire had turned into a fierce torrent of flames, shooting up from the broken bridge at the edge of the stone platform and ultimately landing on the central platform in the vast hollow of the mountain.

“Roar~”

The startling roar made Shard feel as if the ground itself was vibrating. The fierce flames splattered in all directions, turning the entire cavernous hollow inside the mountain red with fire.

Amidst the roaring, the fire on the central platform slowly took shape, a roughly 20-foot (6.1m) tall two-armed humanoid figure gradually emerging from the flames. Shard’s ears immediately rang, and his entire body’s temperature rose as the ancient evil spirit truly appeared before his eyes.

“Doctor, 29 seconds, can you handle it?”

“No problem, this thing’s original height exceeded 100 feet, it’s now so weakened it can barely maintain its shape.”

The demon’s features were obscured by the flames, but as it let out a loud roar, it swung its right arm, casting a bright whip of fire through the air that illuminated the surroundings. Accompanied by a sonic boom, the fire whip struck at Dr. Schneider, who had just reached the edge of the stone platform where the campfire used to be.

From behind, Shard couldn’t see the doctor’s face at that moment. He could only see the doctor suddenly shoot up in height, and the now thickened right arm stretch forward to grab the end of the flame whip.

Sparks flew in all directions, some even reaching Shard. The firelight and heat wave almost made it impossible for him to open his eyes, and the roaring on the distant platform became even more terrifying.

The doctor facing the ancient evil spirit simply wrapped the flame whip around his arm, his voice utterly calm:

“Detective, I devoured an evil spirit known for its strength, the Brain-Eater Demon Bayengulens, during the winter of 1850.”

Wrestling with the demon’s body with a human stature, his standing surface on the stone platform showed spiderweb-like cracks, yet the doctor remained unmoved:

“Then, it was Human Pus that I devoured at the end of the summer of 1853.”

Bright streams of fire followed the whip into the doctor’s right hand. The doctor seemed to swell even larger, the flowing flames wrapping around him, making him appear incredibly ethereal.

“Plus the Terror Worm Juel Winter, which I encountered at a conference in Carsonrick in Nimnes City in early spring of 1847.”

Invisible currents swept around the doctor as the center, while the raging cries of the Flame Demon now carried a hint of fear.

In its left hand appeared a longsword fashioned from flames. Even just the length of the sword itself exceeded the doctor’s current height. The demon threw the fiery sword from its grip, hurling it toward the doctor who was absorbing its power.

Seeing this, Shard cast a bright arc of light towards the longsword, the Silvermoon Slash moving much faster than the fiery sword, colliding in front of the doctor. As the fragments of Silvermoon and sparks of fire scattered in all directions, almost completely annihilating each other. But while the fragments of Silvermoon were scattered, the sparks of fire all surged towards the doctor’s body.

Shard’s ability to break this sword certainly did not mean that he now had the strength to confront the Flame Demon head-on. Rather, the Evil Spirit Demon, already weakened by its longstanding seal, was close to being completely drained by the doctor’s absorption. The doctor at the Five-Ring Peak could directly contend with the Flame Demon not just because it was a suitable match but also because the opponent was truly weak.

Just a few seconds later, because of the doctor’s absorption, the flames on the Flame Demon’s body surface dimmed as if they were about to extinguish, and its size continued to shrink. Eventually, its roaring voice could only echo resentfully through the vast hollow.

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