Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic

Shard summoned the [Moonlight Greatsword] and followed Mr. Benhart forward. Since the temperature here was still chillingly cold, the Wraith Spirit shouldn’t have gone far. Therefore, Shard initially thought they would soon find the opponent, but unexpectedly, they wandered around the sewers and ended up back at the secret tunnel connecting the riverside and the bathhouse.

Although the two were suspicious, suspecting a trap, they continued to follow the scent of the Wraith Spirit, turning into another branch they had yet to investigate. After progressing for more than ten minutes, Mr. Benhart stopped before a wall in the middle of the pipeline:

"If I didn’t smell wrong..."

He spoke with an uncertain tone, as the Wraith Spirit seemed to be leading them in circles:

"The other side went behind this wall."

Ignoring the dirty appearance of the wall, he placed his hand on it and turned to Shard:

"It’s hollow behind here."

"Enhanced Spatial Awareness" also indicated an emptiness behind it. Shard had already noticed this area in the morning, but the gap between the map and reality was significant, so until seeing it, he couldn’t determine whether it was an unmarked branch or something else.

"There should be a hidden door."

Mr. Benhart said, stepping back to let Shard forward, watching as he turned to crash into the wall, the sound deafening as he smashed it to pieces. With bricks falling, Mr. Benhart also saw the long stone blocking the path, splintered wood, and bent metal rods behind the wall.

Shard merely shook his arm:

"A hidden door sealed from the inside by human hand, it seems we’ve finally found it."

Not far inside the hidden door lay a suicide’s corpse. Attempts at necromancy yielded nothing, but the hand marks on the corpse indicated he sealed the passage from within. As they walked deeper along the passageway, the remaining blood traces grew clearer, and simultaneously, Shard recognized the place matching Herman Wood’s memory scenes:

"Be careful, this time we’ve truly found the right place. But what’s with the Wraith Spirit? Did it deliberately lead us here?"

"Even if it’s luring us into a trap, shouldn’t it wait until we find this place to appear? Actively exposing a carefully hidden passage, is this something a sane person would do?"

Mr. Benhart was equally puzzled, and he was now ready for battle. He didn’t take out his customary black and white dual guns. Instead, his face shriveled and wrinkled as his hands grew larger into claw-like forms.

This was the Vampire Kind’s true form, the originally handsome middle-aged noble appearance merely a disguise through blood manipulation. Although Shard had known Mr. Benhart for a long time, this was the first time he saw him like this. Seeing Shard’s curious look, the Vampire Viscount explained:

"The Church will sooner or later investigate here too. I’m using Vampire powers to fight possible dangers ahead, letting the Church know that Vampires are also investigating the culprit. Don’t think I rarely fight in this form, actually I’m stronger this way. Previously, it was either because the opponent wasn’t strong enough or too strong."

The Wraith Spirit continued to attract the two forward, and soon the place resembling a prison cell linked to the passage appeared before them. The summoned Light Orb flew in all directions for illumination, at this time all metal bars were open, as if there were no living creatures here.

"Let’s split up and look around."

Mr. Benhart suggested, turning and bending into the cell on the left, while Shard continued forward, cautiously looking left and right.

The silver Light Orb followed him, but in the darkness unlit by it, something was writhing unnaturally.

When Shard’s attention was attracted by a stone underfoot, as he bent down to check, that crawling thing on the wall lunged at him instantly.

But the strike was a complete miss, and before the thing could adjust after landing, Shard, using "Lagre’s Leap" to evade, slashed out a streak of moonlight from behind it.

The moonlight pierced through the creature’s body in the darkness, it screeched as its body shattered into pieces, countless small bats flying in all directions before regrouping into the creature’s form.

Shard was very familiar with this use of Transformation Spell for evasion, so when the bats appeared, he had already thrown his Thunder Spear with his left hand.

The congregated bat swarm, just restored to the creature, took the full hit from Shard’s Thunder Spear. It emitted a blood mist, transformed into a blood shadow, and charged at Shard, colliding head-on. In the clash of pure strength and body resilience, Shard finally saw clearly the creature resembling a bat with dragon horns but no wings.

The blood mist corroded his clothes, but even in that collision, Shard’s strength still prevailed:

"Ha!"

As the creature was bounced off by the reaction force, it immediately turned into a mass of blood mist fleeing into the distance, but Mr. Benhart, with his naturally downed giant claws, was already there waiting for it.

The Vampire Viscount also emitted a mist of blood all over his body, charging headlong at the creature entangled in the blood mist. The clash of their claws produced a metallic clang, and then the two mists of blood exploded on the spot. They reassembled five meters away, where the two figures emerged from the blood mist and clashed claws again.

The flickering mist of blood chased and collided at high speed. Shard stood motionless, frowning as he watched Mr. Benhart’s battle with the opponent. Finally, in the reassembled mist of blood, the creature and Mr. Benhart engaged again. The Vampire Viscount’s right claw pinned the creature’s claws to the ground, and then his left hand swiftly sliced off the creature’s head as a conclusion.

But the fallen corpse immediately started to tremble, and then blood mist began to seep out of every pore of the creature. The body swelled, and the flickering blood mist glowed with a dangerously bright red light, but before the body could explode, Mr. Benhart’s right claw pierced its chest and pulled out the scaly heart.

The explosion of the corpse was halted, but the head that had originally rolled into the shadows suddenly flew up, with a hateful expression, trying to bite Mr. Benhart’s neck, only to be sliced in half by Shard’s sword.

"Mongrel!"

The usually civilized Vampire Viscount cursed:

"This is a monster raised using humans as the host, mixed with Vampire Kind’s blood and Dragon Blood. Its self-destruction would have been impossible to handle without a pureblood Vampire Kind Circle Sorcerer like me present. This is the ’gift’ those people left for the Church."

He looked visibly angry, but Shard also understood. Vampires were very proud of their pure bloodline and therefore despised any Vampire Race other than themselves. The "God of the Vampire Race," who had considerable ties with Shard, protected all Vampire Races, including humanoid vampires, but people like Mr. Benhart and Mr. Ptolemy Albert would often consider themselves as holders of the noblest bloodline among all vampire groups.

Indeed, given the collective power and wisdom level of the Vampire Race, this perspective isn’t flawed. Thus, experimenting with vampire blood and creating such a hybrid monster would certainly anger Mr. Benhart.

"Although this corpse isn’t enough to prove that the female corpse isn’t related to your group, at least it tells the Church that it’s related to the [Dragon Feast Cult]."

Shard said consolingly on the side. Mr. Benhart nodded, looking down disdainfully at the corpse:

"Let’s leave this thing here. Although the Church is distracted by the investigation of the dock incident, they should find this place in a day or two."

Shard turned his attention to the surrounding environment:

"I think conventional means won’t yield any clues. Let’s use our special methods to investigate this place. But of course, there’s one more thing we need to resolve before that."

He and Mr. Benhart turned simultaneously, red and silver Light Orbs illuminating the presence that had been standing behind them.

It wasn’t a monster, but a small black cat, sitting on the ground, looking up at them. The seemingly normal cat appeared semi-transparent, and a chilling aura continuously seeped out from it, affecting the surroundings. It was the soul of this cat that had led the two of them here earlier.

"An almost corporeal Wraith Spirit..."

Mr. Benhart murmured, raising his claws ready for battle once more, but Shard stopped him.

Eyeing the cat spirit with suspicion, despite it being a strong Wraith Spirit, almost comparable to those he initially encountered in Midshire Fort, he sensed no malice from it.

The cat continued to look up at them, showing no intention of fleeing, while its transparent tail swayed behind it. It softly meowed under Shard’s scrutinizing gaze, causing even the wary Mr. Benhart to relax. The blood and flesh on his face filled in, transforming back into the visage of a handsome middle-aged man, and his claws reverted to hands:

"What’s it saying?"

He asked Shard, and Shard, surprised, retorted:

"Why do you assume I understand cat language?"

"Because you seem like someone who really understands cats."

"Is that so?"

But Shard didn’t know cat language; ensuring the cat spirit didn’t intend to attack them, he tried crouching and clapping his hands towards it, and the cat compliantly walked over. The chilling soul brushed against Shard’s hand, allowing him to pick it up.

Mr. Benhart, on the side, wore an expression that seemed to say, "See, I told you so." Shard pulled out the "Fish Training Ring" from his pocket, but then he realized that, as a cat’s spirit, it couldn’t use the ring in his hand to speak human language.

"Hello."

Then the black cat in Shard’s arms, licking its fur... the spirit fur, spoke. It ignored Shard and Mr. Benhart’s surprise at its proactive speech:

"Aren’t you looking for this place? I helped you find it, so you have to help me next. Isn’t that how humans operate?"