Steampunk Era: Mad Abield
Chapter 175 - 131: Boiling Point (III)

Chapter 175: Chapter 131: Boiling Point (III)

Malin looked toward the southeast of the city, where a column of smoke stretched skyward. Ever since that explosion, the spiritual energy fluctuations in the array had been unstable.

As the Mage reconnaissance force confirmed, there was a large hole leading to the underground passage. What exactly had happened there, and why had there been an explosion, remained a mystery.

But that place was definitely the center of the summoning array, and without hesitation, the Church Union forces started advancing toward it.

The Chaotic Believers began to assemble along the way, forming a defensive line seeking to block the advance of the Union forces.

And at this moment, the City Guards and armed civilians joined in as well.

After learning about the Church Union forces’ route and destination, they decided to help the Union forces open a passage.

So, old Hoffman sent Malin over as support.

......

Malin charged through the door with his shoulder, finding the long-dead household owner and his family in the living room. Observing the swellings on their bodies, Malin led the Half-human Punishers around the corpses and up to the rooftop.

This area had turned into a battleground, with the City Guards and armed civilians making a breakthrough on the street to the south. After confirming that the summoning array might call forth beings of different kind, the masters of Pamir City were filled with a strong sense of honor and duty, their initial fear and dread forgotten.

Malin leaned over the edge of the rooftop and glanced at the distant street fortress. The Chaos forces were using that fortress to block the City Guards and armed citizens. Without needing an explanation, Malin’s Flame Burst Fireball was cast, traveling on a direct trajectory. Without needing to aim, the fortress and the Chaos within it were obliterated into dust after three seconds.

The City Guards and armed citizens roared as they rushed out from cover. The cricket bats, favorites among the middle class, were now makeshift weapons with nails driven through them; heavy marble balustrades became the most lethal close-combat weapons in the hands of giant Half-bloods; and the revolvers distributed by the weapon shop owner made sure there was one in every civilian’s hand. The armed citizens closed in on the Chaotic Believers and, after a round of firing, clashed with them.

The cricket bats were stained with blood, the marble balustrades coated with an unidentifiable white viscous fluid, and the revolvers, with their impressive stopping power and penetration far below that of rifles, took the upper hand in the melee. Even the Chaos warriors couldn’t withstand the nearly point-blank shots.

Malin ordered the Half-humans to open fire, then he leaped off the rooftop.

The small branch became a spiked poleaxe in this moment, and to avoid overpenetration, he switched to a short-barrelled .44 revolver.

Moving past a City Guard who was grappling with a Chaotic Believer, Malin’s axe struck the neck of the Chaotic Believer, pulling him off the Guard. His left hand held the .44 revolver inverted, thoughtfully handing it to the struggling armed civilian who took it and fired at the Chaotic Believer who was wrestling with him.

After pushing the incapacitated Chaos member aside, the armed civilian stood up, returning the revolver to Malin, and then picked up his beloved cricket bat, greeting the head of another Chaotic Believer—who was entangled with a comrade—with the nail-studded side.

Malin, meanwhile, fired the gun at a Chaos warrior who had just slashed a City Guard’s throat. The .44 hit its skull, entered through the eye socket, and left a gaping exit wound.

From the angle of entry and trajectory, it was more likely to hit a bird than another unfortunate soul.

The small branch had already flown out, whistling through the air, over the heads of City Guards extracting bayonettes from the bodies of Chaotic Believers, whizzing by the Half-blood using a marble balustrade to crack a Chaos warrior’s skull, finally landing on the face of a Chaotic Sorcerer.

The latter was in the midst of preparing a spell formation, and the hit not only killed him instantly but also caused the uncontrolled spell to engulf both the sorcerer and the Chaos warriors nearby in flames.

Malin turned around and caught the metal whip being swung at him, and as the Chaotic Believer looked on in stunned disbelief, the left hand’s .44 revolver greeted the area beneath his captor’s groin.

Thus, the Chaotic Believer’s scream abruptly went off pitch.

The small branch, now an Elemental Avatar, had emerged from the flames and entered the street. The next second, it leaped from the ground beside Malin and transformed into a studded baseball bat in his grasp.

His left hand’s .44 revolver was fired, hitting the nose bridge of a Chaotic Believer swinging a long sword at a City Guard; the revolver ricocheted and landed in the Guard’s hand, who then turned the tables and dispatched both him and another Chaos nearby.

With the baseball bat in both hands, Malin struck the jaw of the Chaos member clutching his groin, sending him flying with teeth spraying from his mouth.

A Chaos warrior charged at Malin, but while still some distance away, Malin pointed a finger and a Divine Ray hit the creature, igniting it and unleashing a sacred ring that swept across all around him, healing wounds on all City Guards and armed citizens while their adversaries trembled in the holy aura; two of them combusted in agonizing screams as divine flames consumed them.

"Thank you!" said a City Guard, reloading Malin’s revolver and handing it back.

"You’re welcome," Malin replied, before kicking the head of a Chaos who had just grown legs to flee, knocking him out and pocketing 500 for the effort—then directing the unconscious head toward a young Half-blood who was busy daggering a Chaotic Believer: "Hold this for me."

"Who do you think you are!" The brat looked up at Malin, retorting instantly.

On this side, Malin broke the approaching Chaos warrior’s right leg with a stick, knocked out his front teeth as he kneeled, stepped back to dodge his grasp, then with one swing, smashed the warrior’s brain out of his skull.

Chunks of brain rolled to Malin’s feet; he kicked it toward the brat’s feet, then smiled at the youth, "Now tell me who I am."

"You’re the boss," the half-grown kid said with a sycophantic smile, picking up the head, noticing it seemed to have a semblance of consciousness, so he smashed it a few more times on the ground.

Pulling a sheathed dagger from the belt of the kneeling Chaos warrior, Malin purified it with Spiritual Energy and tossed it to the kid, "Here, for your troubles, a Chaos warrior’s dagger, it’ll make a fine auction piece."

"No, Your Excellency, it’s now a bread knife for an orphan in Pamir City," the youth shoved the dagger into his waistband.

Malin chuckled, then walked forward. Having cleared the area of Chaos, the surviving City Guards and armed citizens first rallied, then parted like the sea before Malin to open a pathway for him to move through.

Malin reached the front, kicked the kneeling, deceased Chaos warrior to the ground, then turned to address the City Guards and armed citizens, "Masters of Pamir City, good evening."

"Good evening, little Priest," someone replied.

"Salute to you, Your Excellency!" An armed citizen who had received help saluted after removing his helmet.

"Your Excellency, what do we do next?" A representative of the City Guards stepped forward to Malin.

"The Church Union forces are fighting a bloody battle in the streets to our north! Our city is being sacrificed to a deranged Evil God! If they complete the ritual, every one of us is doomed!" Watching these people, among them fathers, sons, mothers, and wives, but today, each of them was nothing more than a survivor with lost loved ones and a claim for vengeance, "I won’t ask you to charge in! All I’m saying is, follow me!"

After speaking, Malin turned to face the Chaos throng appearing at the end of the street and cast a group Heroism Spell on them. It was a fifth-tier Spell Formation that made the recipients immune to being shaken, scared, or controlled.

Perhaps upon seeing Malin, the Chaotic Believers started to scream and run.

Malin raised his hand, halting the restless City Guards and armed citizens, "Wait!"

The Chaotic Believers, seeing their adversaries not rushing to meet them, began to accelerate, feeling the fear of their opponents, it seemed.

That moment, small twigs transformed into an exquisite tiara adorning Malin’s head, as he plunged his hands into the ground. When the Chaos was still forty yards away, Malin pushed hard with both hands and started overturning the ’table’.

The next second, the ground erupted with a wave-like movement of stone spikes, piercing through the bodies of Chaos, then vanishing, only to reappear and continue. The waves of spikes tore through the entire Chaotic formation, finally turning the buildings at the end of the line into rubble.

Malin stood up, not looking back, he could also hear the sound of sharp intakes of breath behind him.

Awesome, I’d give myself a 9.8 for that performance, and it doesn’t matter how I use the Spell Formations.

With this thought, the inwardly pleased Malin stepped forward.

Dense footsteps followed him.

The footsteps were not uniform, but they were filled with confidence.

......

"Is it really okay to send Malin out there?" Colin asked his mentor.

"I think it’s fine; the pressure should be much lighter on their side," looking at the Chaos fortresses far away, old Hoffman watched his subordinate launch smoke grenades to cover the charge.

"But he’s still just a kid." As soon as Colin finished his sentence, he saw the Chaos on the southern streets lift like a wave and then crash down as if hit by something.

"Stone Spike Wave, a sixth-tier Spell Formation," Hoffman sighed after speaking, he turned away, then looked at Colin, "Kid, remind me, when we get back, you and I will go beat up that damn squirrel."

"Mr. Minsk is innocent too, he hasn’t been teaching Malin Spell Formations for a long time," Colin said.

"That little bastard lied to me! He told me he hadn’t taught any sixth-tier Spell Formations; how then does Malin know his signature move!" Hoffman grumbled fiercely at the mention of this.