Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic
Chapter 998 - 998: The Witches' Sacrifice

In fact, Miss Teresa didn't know what the "Child of the Invisible" was either. When the group was resting, the ground suddenly shook as if something had emerged from the underground. Subsequently, they were attacked by invisible enemies. Since there were too many enemies surrounding the camp at the time, Miss Violet led them to temporarily retreat.

But Miss Violet, after all, was a Thirteenth Rank Witch. After temporarily escaping the enemy's encirclement, she quickly detected the "nest" of these creatures. Therefore, she went with her personal maid to deal with the source of the "Child of the Invisible," while Miss Teresa and the other five maids blocked the pursuing enemies here to avoid direct contact with the truth of this attack.

"Over there."

Though she had only interacted with Shard for about an hour in total, the bespectacled witch still immediately discerned Shard's current thoughts:

"They went in that direction. I can't give the exact time they left, but it didn't feel too long. Mr. Hamilton, if you really intend to proceed, be very careful."

Shard glanced into the depths of the mist:

"You all be careful too, stay here and don't move."

After saying goodbye to Miss Teresa and the others, he continued forward following the increasingly indistinct footprints on the ground. Miss Violet and the Head Maid were not actually too far from Miss Teresa and the others. Shard walked only about twenty steps before he saw them, but in reality, before he clearly saw the two of them, their figures did not appear in the thick fog.

This island is even stranger than Shard imagined.

When Shard approached them, Miss Violet and the Twelfth Rank Maid were not fighting, but watching the surroundings like the six witches earlier. This was a clearing on the island without any thorn bushes. The "Night Watchman" was held in Miss Violet's hand, while the tall maid with brown long hair held a wooden hand crossbow, which was not a relic but an alchemical item.

"Long time no see, Shard."

Miss Violet greeted softly. She looked somewhat better than the last time, but the fatigue was still apparent.

"Are Teresa and the others okay now?"

She recognized the direction Shard came from.

"They're fine, I helped them eliminate those invisible enemies. What are you looking for?"

"The nest."

The tall maid answered for Miss Violet, her voice crisp:

"Her Majesty believes the nest of the 'Child of the Invisible' is the cause of the attack. If we don't destroy the nest quickly, more enemies will appear on the island. That nest should be within our visible range, but we haven't found it yet."

"The Treasure-Seeking Compass has given me some help, but the nest is even harder to sense than those monsters."

Miss Violet said, then noticed Shard looking above them. She blinked and immediately pulled her maid aside:

"Above us?"

"The only 'big thing' nearby is this. I can feel it; it's something shaped like a hive. But... I can hardly describe what it looks like, very strange."

The witches retreated next to Shard, and Miss Violet patted Shard's shoulder:

"Then don't try to sense it. Since you pointed out the location, I can also vaguely sense that there is indeed something there."

She placed the "Night Watchman" into Shard's hand and took the hand crossbow from her maid:

"Together."

"No problem."

Familiar with the long sword, Shard swung it a few times. The silver moonlight enveloped the blade, and the "Moonlight Greatsword" shrouded the "Night Watchman."

"Miss Violet, please be careful, one, two, three!"

The crossbow arrow and the silver arc flew into the sky, hitting an invisible object under the three's gaze, then disappeared together. There was no explosion, not even any sound, but Shard could feel the "nest" disappearing.

"What on earth is this? Is it a unique creature of Lost Lake?"

After confirming the trouble was resolved, Shard asked, and Miss Violet shook her head, signaling Shard and Miss Maid to follow her to regroup with the others:

"Child of the Invisible, a very rare bizarre creature. It is a subspecies of some Demons of the Third Era, a progeny of demons and evil objects. They usually exist in the form of nests in ancient ruins, tombs, and rarely explored dense forests, and can only be effectively attacked when sensed. Don't be fooled by how easily we won earlier, that's because Lost Lake is also suppressing their power."

Shard couldn't imagine what a hybrid between a demon and an evil object would look like:

"So what should be done if you encounter a fully operational 'Child of the Invisible' nest?"

"Escape. The Child of the Invisible will only operate around the nest and won't stray far. The size of this island is just about the limit of their operational range."

Violet gave a decisive answer, which made Shard think of the method left by the Witch Empress at the seal on the mountainside of Sicarl Mountain to handle the "Interstice"—one of the options was to "run."

"What if we must face it?"

Shard asked again, and Miss Violet pondered for a moment:

"What a strange question... The power of any demon can effectively attack them in the absence of the Child of the Invisible. Oh, if you ever really encounter this thing, never sign a contract with a demon to gain power. In fact, many well-known relics contain demonic powers. I have one called the [Spitfire Demon Head], but I didn't bring it on this adventure; it's just too ugly."

At this point, it had been a full twelve minutes since Shard arrived at Lost Lake, which meant that half of the half-hour time had already passed. Fortunately, the location of the Child of the Invisible's nest was very close to the Obsidian Tower at the center of Heart Lake Island. After meeting up with Miss Teresa and five other maids, Miss Violet checked the now-healed injuries of the young maid, and the group of eight directly set off to the tower without returning to the camp.

"How much time do you have left?"

After entering the safe zone without mist under the tower, Miss Violet asked Shard, knowing he had a fixed stay time:

"Over ten minutes, we must hurry. However, I've already found the sacrifice."

Shard patted the water pouch strapped to his chest. Although the [Father of the Infinite Tree] did not allow special items to be brought into the past, task items were an exception.

"We also found some things, but we're unsure if they are useful... You only have such a short time? Actually, even if you don't come to find us, you can still complete the god's trial."

Miss Violet reminded, but Shard shook his head. Although directly telling the Deity, "my wish is to help Miss Violet know Eternal Beauty," was also an option, he could not abandon his companions in the adventure:

"I promised to help you, how could I climb the tower alone?"

The witches smiled.

Based on Shard's last departure prediction, the trial set by The Great One temporarily residing in the Obsidian Tower must have a solution. This not only meant that Shard could find a solution but also that Miss Violet and her party could find a way on Heart Lake Island.

Before Shard appeared, the group of witches indeed worked hard to analyze and speculate on possible sacrifices on the island. Miss Violet even ventured deep into the island's mist, touching upon more taboos of the island. Although Shard thought the Witch Empress's personality had issues, she was genuinely a Thirteenth Rank Witch, a formal member of the [Witch Council] of this era.

She was far stronger than Shard imagined. Prior to the "Child of the Invisible" incident, Violet Marshall had ventured into the depths of Lost Lake's Heart Island dozens of times alone with the [Night Watchman], ultimately discovering a cube buried deep in the soil on the other side of the island.

"Yes, the Keeper of Secrets Level Relic [Water Cube], I remember it was lost 300 years ago, and here it is in such a place."

That small blue cube is now kept by Miss Teresa. The group of witches does not know the relation of this cube to the sacrifice. Before the encounter with the Child of the Invisible forced them to retreat, they even speculated about activating the [Water Cube] to gain water, but that would require a sacrifice of at least 1,000 living humans to close the perpetual water source.

Fortunately, Shard brought good news that soaking the relic in water was enough, which relieved Miss Violet.

The water in the pouch soaked the Water Cube, and then the water that could be used as a sacrifice re-entered the pouch. Miss Violet gestured to her maid to hand the pouch to Shard. It's an ordinary water container, not very large:

"If I had known you could find the sacrifice too, I wouldn't have taken such a risk. Although additional sacrifices mean extra blessings, we shouldn't be so greedy, right?"

She said regretfully to Shard, the sentiment genuine. This cautious Thirteenth Rank Witch really disliked taking risks more than the extra blessings.

Returning to the base of the Obsidian Tower for the third time, Shard and Miss Teresa both felt emotional. Miss Violet instructed her maids to wait at the base of the tower, then patted Miss Teresa on the shoulder, removing her pointed hat while asking:

"Schultz, I'll ask one last time, are you sure you want to enter with us? This tower has three levels, and it gets more dangerous as you go up. Last time you barely made it."

She glanced at Shard, who was looking up at the tower and nodded:

"The Deity is now on the top level, that's the final destination."

Miss Violet then looked at her distant niece, who was hanging the relic [Token of Faith] around her neck:

"I am ready to face any situation."

The Grand Witch shook her head, instructing her maids once more before signaling Shard to proceed.

Shard plunged the [Night Watchman] into the soil, observing no water flowing out, knowing that although the battle experience passed through the sword's inheritance could appear in this era, the new traits granted by the "Lake Goddess" had yet to emerge.

He was about to push open the tower door but hesitated, turning to look at the silver sword. Recalling the dangerous trial in Huntington City not long ago, realizing he now had no "arrow," he reached to pull the [Night Watchman] out again:

"Let's go."

"Why take the weapon?"

Miss Teresa asked nervously, and Shard pressed his lips, tentatively saying:

"Is it possible... that after offering the sacrifice and completing the second trial, the final trial content is that we must work together to defeat the Deity?"