Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic

Chapter 1932: The Disappeared Companions

"It’s alright, this is part of the plan. Hevy’s niece is still on the first floor, she’s a Witch Apprentice, as long as she’s there, the ritual on the first floor won’t fail."

Miss Sylvia grabbed Shard’s arm, and Shard nodded lightly:

"Seven forty-one, only seven minutes left."

"Hm?"

Priest Augustus standing in the corridor suddenly looked in the direction of Dorothy’s room window:

"Detective, I feel a familiar power... an Edge of Life and Death is unfolding nearby."

"Edge of Life and Death?"

"Very close, exceptionally close, it’s an exit opened by unstable space. No, I must go handle it, or the area will get larger and larger. Once it gets out of control, the problem will definitely not be small."

"Priest, I’ll go with you."

Dr. Schneider also spoke, both nodding to Shard before jumping out the window. Although this was the third floor, it had little impact on the Priest and Doctor.

"How could it be such a coincidence..."

The three Relics supported by the Witch Council, Keeper of Secrets Level [Hide-and-Seek Wardrobe], Sage Level [Invisibility Cloak of Escape from Death], Keeper of Secrets Level [Concord Sword], had all been brought into Dorothy’s room at this moment.

The wardrobe was placed in the corner; if not for someone pointing it out, Shard almost didn’t notice it.

Everyone else, except for Dorothy, Lecia, and Angelina, temporarily entered the corridor. Shard and Megan stood in front of the wardrobe in the corner, the girls looking at Shard with some worry, but Shard shook his head slightly:

"Five minutes left."

He lightly embraced Megan, then realized that the seemingly composed witch was actually trembling slightly.

Giving Megan a smile, he donned the silver Invisibility Cloak, then entered the wardrobe without closing the door for the time being. Megan stood at the wardrobe’s entrance with the [Concord Sword], ready to face what was about to happen.

Miss Sylvia stood sideways at the room’s entrance, also nervously watching inside. Mia, held by Angelina, widened her eyes, quite puzzled as to why Shard was the one entering the wardrobe this time:

"Meow~"

A gentle cat’s meow coincidentally sounded just as only three minutes remained. After the meow ended, Miss Sylvia furrowed her brows again, looking upward:

"There’s something on the roof, no, more than one."

Even knowing it’s best not to leave now, she still summoned her two High Ring followers when the ceiling began to vibrate and dust continued to fall, then disappeared into the corridor with a step. Subsequently, even Shard in the wardrobe heard the noises coming from the roof of the Green Lake Hotel.

This hotel doesn’t have an attic; above the third floor is the roof, which naturally wouldn’t be neglected by witches to set up defenses and reconnaissance rituals.

It’s hard to imagine what formidable enemy they encountered for Miss Sylvia to burst out such astounding combat power in an instant. But this undoubtedly meant that the Ten Rings Grand Witch really ran into a thorny adversary.

In the wardrobe, Shard took a deep breath, gave Megan an eye gesture, then hooked Megan’s pinky with his finger. A red thread entwined their fingers, which then turned into a golden thread before disappearing. This was an Arcane Technique she used before, allowing them to sense each other’s location at any time and even share vision when close.

The witch closed the wardrobe door, then pressed her hand on the wardrobe’s side. At the same time, her brown short hair began to grow wildly, completely enveloping the wardrobe within seconds.

Angelina, holding the cat, appeared rather envious of this ability.

Dorothy pursed her lips, clutching Lecia’s hand, filled with unease. Except for Angelina and the cat, everyone present was a Circle Sorcerer, allowing them to clearly count down the remaining time:

"Sixty seconds."

In the wardrobe, Shard only felt darkness, ready to use "Tranquil Stance" to turn himself into stone and prepared to rush out of the wardrobe, letting Megan pierce both their bodies with the [Concord Sword]. Contemplating all plans in the darkness and silence, he asked himself:

"Have I really thought of all possible outcomes?"

"Thirty seconds."

Megan Edwards was definitely not as calm as she appeared; the Audrey within her remained silent, just like she was at that moment. She had imagined what it would be like when this day came, and now, all her friends were fighting for her, and her chosen lover waited in the darkness. She was already satisfied with that, not knowing what the future held, but at least believed that her current life was fulfilled, aside from the tiny regret of being rejected by Shard last night.

"Fifteen seconds."

Most of the girls in the corridor, High Ring and Inner Ring alike, quietly counted down. Following their Grand Witch to Green Lake, participating in this unpredictable adventure and battle, the moment had come for the final countdown, with fifteen seconds potentially leading to unforeseen death or worse outcomes. Some regretted, some were eager to try, some had regrets, and some yearned for things they pursued but hadn’t received even until this moment.

"Eight seconds."

The cat lazily yawned.

"Three seconds."

Tifa stood beside the two princesses and the blonde writer. At this moment, there was no omen at all. But more accurately, apart from Mia suddenly leaping up, placing her front paws on Angelina’s shoulder to "stand" up, and meowing a few times, there was no omen at all.

Miss Writer suddenly realized something:

"The last time Mia suddenly meowed like this, seemed to be when it and I encountered spatial transfer."

Common Era Calendar 1854, Rain-Prayer Moon, Wednesday, the 21st, night, seven forty-eight minutes and zero seconds.

In another earthquake that hit the Green Lake region, Miss Aphrola, flying in the air with her High Ring followers and coordinating with the church’s Thirteen-Ring Sorcerers to confront the enemy, suddenly realized something in her mind as if struck by lightning:

"Why did I leave the inn at this moment?"

Meanwhile, on the Green Lake Hotel rooftop, Miss Sylvia, fighting with two entirely invisible, double-bladed enemies alongside two followers who also had spatial abilities, suddenly widened her eyes:

"It’s seven forty-eight, why did I leave the inn?"

Miss Aphrola abruptly lowered her altitude and moved away from the battlefield in the night rain. The Circle Sorcerers of the church were surprised, but since the Witch Council came to help for no reason, they were not very surprised. Besides, the battle was about to end.

Miss Aphrola didn’t even use powerful spiritual power to avoid the rain, she fell onto the inn rooftop as a beam of light. Her rain-soaked brown long hair, twisting together, swung into a thin, long light whip with a head shake. This weapon, sharper than any blade, cut through the rain and, together with Miss Sylvia, defeated two monsters that could transform from reality to illusion at will and were unseen.

The cut cards, after the monster’s death, floated down in the wind and rain but were later caught by Miss Sylvia. She saw the card face showed the phantom of two back-to-back monsters:

"The Alchemical Card that Shard mentioned, from that diviner."

Miss Sylvia said, then grabbed Miss Aphrola’s shoulder, and with her two followers, instantly returned to the third floor. Although the white fog could obstruct spatial ability, apparently the fog here was not thick enough.

The ladies appeared on the third floor together. After the seven forty-eight earthquake, the inn became silent. The two witches hurried back didn’t see any girls in the hallway and found no one in Dorothy’s room either.

The white fog had occupied every corner of the inn, Shard’s bonfire disappeared, and all living beings in the inn vanished.

Miss Aphrola’s face was very unpleasant, but the Space Grand Witch had a different opinion:

"Apart from everyone and Shard’s fire being gone, did you notice even the [Hide-and-Seek Wardrobe] in the corner is gone?"

"What does that mean?"

Miss Aphrola slightly frowned.

"Go to the basement."

Miss Sylvia brushed the rainwater from her short hair:

"If I’m not mistaken, Megan has probably already entered that island. But things might not be as bad as we think. That diviner, quite the method they have."

She walked to the window at the end of the third floor hallway, easily removed the wooden board. Behind the board was a rainy night in the fog, not the scenery of the deep sea:

"As expected, the relic [Seaview Window] here also disappeared."

The ladies walked down the stairs to the second floor, which remained in complete darkness. Then they came to the first floor. It was no surprise that the first floor was also filled with fog, only the gas lamps on the walls illuminated the nighttime inn. Everyone expected to be here, and Shard’s bonfire, all vanished just like on the third floor.

"Indeed..."

Miss Sylvia murmured, leading the group further down to the basement.

The basement, of course, was also empty, but what concerned the Space Grand Witch was not this. She arranged for the others to check the ritual with her, then discovered the ritual itself was intact, only the relics aiding the ritual were all missing.

She then summoned the Ring of Fate and let the Spirit Rune illuminate the walls. The hidden passage appeared, the circular space behind with the Ancient God Statue still existed:

"It seems this place is not considered part of this inn."

"Emma, what did you guess?"

Miss Aphrola still couldn’t reach a conclusion.

"Not everyone was spatially transferred all at once."

The black-haired Space Grand Witch spoke with certainty, she looked around, slightly frowning:

"Such a clever method, but the island’s diviner is still wary of Shard, or else they wouldn’t have used this method. Hevy, do you know who decided the location for this place? Was it really Maria Edwards who decided the inn’s location back then?"