Steampunk Era: Mad Abield
Chapter 295: Section 206: Foreign Malevolent Guest (Part 3)

Chapter 295: Section 206: Foreign Malevolent Guest (Part 3)

The vehicle was moving slowly, and it wasn’t Jiaxi’s fault. The recent collision might have scratched something underneath the car—Malin could feel the vehicle ’shuddering’. Ultimately, the car gave out halfway through exiting the alley.

Malin and the girls hopped out on the spot, using the car and the entrance of the alley as a barricade to exchange fire with the Skeletons across from them, while also assessing the situation on the street—they were protecting the Church forces from being flanked by the Skeletons, as the Punishers behind them were covering the main force’s flank.

Jiaxi glanced underneath the car and said the axle was broken—it was completely done for. Malin knew staying there was not an option, so he had the girls assist the Punishers on the street side in fighting the Skeletons while he took Jiaxi back to the central defense line.

Malin hadn’t gone far when Faye spotted a problem: "They’ve lost control!"

Lost control? Clovis pulled her ears aside and poked her head out to see—she noticed that these Skeletons were no longer forming ranks. The shield-bearing Skeletons, who had been covering the Archers, charged over, facing an array of Spell Formations, Flame Bursts, and Fireballs, Divine Rays and Holy Missiles, with complete disregard for themselves and the shooters behind them.

"The one controlling them ran off!" Clovis retracted her head and spoke—being a Mage, she knew about Skeleton Undead, which were opportunists and bandits from the Undead dimension. They loved to set coordinates on some exotic items, and after these had circulated for a while, they would act, reaping souls from the worlds of the living.

They didn’t care at all about the outcome of the battle, breaking even was the baseline for these scum.

Clearly, the one who had fled was in no way associated with the word ’loss’.

The mood behind the car was somewhat subdued until Lillim came up with a question: "It seems like Mister Malin is going to make a wasted trip."

... Malin ran back to the street with Jiaxi, only to find it filled with people, and the bones of the Undead Skeletons scattered on the ground.

"What the hell?" Jiaxi gave Malin a look: "Did we miss something?"

Malin’s face was equally embarrassed. After locating Instructor Amet-Selk, he finally learned what had happened—shortly after their car had broken through the street and killed that massive Ghoul, these Skeleton different kinds had lost control and started fighting each other. Without formation, their side had managed to annihilate them at the cost of only a few injuries.

Since the fighting was over, Malin had no choice but to prepare to go back and pick up the girls; the Church of the War God’s mess was left for them to solve.

"Malin, what do you think was the situation with these Skeleton different kinds?" After Malin was ready to leave and had chosen to meet up with her course leader, Jiaxi asked him this question.

"It’s all too normal. That massive thing is called a Ghoul, and it definitely has intelligence. It and other intelligent Undead different kinds come from the Undead dimension. They use the souls of living beings as currency and as a source of troops, just like carrion creatures, they appear wherever there’s an opportunity. If they are strong enough, the highest-ranked among them can even assemble a vast legion for an interdimensional invasion," Malin shared the knowledge from his memory.

"How do you know all this?" Jiaxi seemed curious.

Malin just smiled at that: "My bloodline told me."

Jiaxi’s eyes widened, and then she nodded: "I understand. Thank you for your explanation. Goodbye."

"Goodbye." Malin turned and left, also saying goodbye to Instructor Amet-Selk and telling him that he would take the girls back to the Benevolent Church.

"This matter here is done, we’ll continue our journey tomorrow," the Instructor looked somewhat tired; Malin understood this feeling well—after encountering such trouble these past few days, even Malin was feeling a bit worn out.

"By the way, you’ve come back safe and sound; it looks like you have recovered that magic carpet scroll," Instructor Amet-Selk suddenly asked again just as Malin was leaving.

Malin nodded: "I took care of the thing that came out of the picture as well, and I’ve given Faye its head as a present."

"You’re pretty good to your girls," Instructor Amet-Selk sighed with a laugh: "Go on, don’t keep them waiting."

Malin returned to the other side, took the head from the car, secured it with a rope, and had Fio and Lorrin drag it along, while he and the girls followed behind them.

Speaking of Malin’s bloodline knowledge, Clovis and Faye showed great interest—naturally, the two Mage girls wanted to know this information they were unfamiliar with, so Malin decided to write it down in a small handbook for them to read to their heart’s content after he got back.

.........

Malin and his group’s hauling of the head sparked a great commotion, with the elderly Bishops declaring they had never seen such a thing before, presumably a new type of different kind. Upon hearing that it was a bioweapon from a science fiction novel crafted by Malin’s imagination, they immediately demanded that Malin maintain a distance of at least ten kilometers from that cursed Magic Carpet.

Malin, of course, did not want to get too close to that carpet. After all, his head was filled with far too many things. In comparison, this weakened variant of the different kind was rather manageable.

Therefore, he asked the Bishop to send a messenger to discuss the matter with the head of the investigation department of The Capital. Meanwhile, Malin and the girls went to the only operational bathhouse in the entire city to take a bath.

As for the report on the skeleton different kind, Malin had seen it by the afternoon of the same day. Even without Malin’s detailed explanation, the Bishops had confirmed a general idea through previous battles—first and foremost, these skeleton different kind possessed brains, not physiologically, but in the sense that someone was controlling them, like chess pieces on a board.

Several well-versed Punishers confirmed that among these different kind there were at least three special targets. The first was the giant Ghoul-like different kind; according to Church records, this was a type of extraplanar different kind, scientifically known as an ogre, which matched the knowledge Malin obtained from his bloodline. The second was the bone Lich which, although it died quickly, managed to catch a silver-infused heavy bullet with its skull and thus met a fitting end.

There was another bone Lich as well, but it had set up a defensive Spell Formation for itself and was adept at positioning, skillfully using the ruins and a large number of troops to obstruct the vision. Their Archers never found an opportunity from start to finish.

In the end, this Lich chose to flee. However, considering the deaths of its two companions and its own survival, the Bishops noted in the report that this Lich likely obtained a portion of its deceased allies’ relics. Therefore, saying it fled might be better described as a retreat.

Malin thought they were not wrong at all.

In the Undead plane, the smarter a bone Lich was, the stronger it became. Although he did not see it at first, the oppression it and the giant ogre brought him was virtually the same, if not more intense. And the reason the arrows hit the ogre... it was so large, Malin could hit its head even with his eyes closed.

Given the detailed nature of the report, Malin simply wrote an extra copy of his notes and handed it over to his mentor Aemeth Selkirk. As for whom his mentor decided to share the knowledge with, Malin did not care, nor did he wish to. If he wanted to share it, he could copy it by hand.

The next day, when boarding the train, Malin noticed the head was gone. After asking Faye, it turned out that the girl had offered it as a sacrifice—only the Lord of Justice in this world would accept a different kind’s head. It was said that the God was very pleased, awarding the girl 600 grams of Mithril and about 100 grams of Electrum, along with a Knighthood Certificate of a Paladin—meaning, if Faye wished, the certificate could allow someone to directly become a Paladin.

Of course, there was a prerequisite—the lucky one had to pass an alignment test; otherwise, the knighting would be a life-threatening choice.

Eventually, Faye made a small exchange with the Bishop of the local Church of Justice—the title would be given as Faye’s gift to a suitable candidate chosen by the local Church, and in return, Faye received a reward of 2,000 gold pieces.

Though it seemed to bear a resemblance to a transaction of power for money, the candidate chosen by the Church of Justice was an Honor Apprentice. His family had served the Church for four generations, and he was the fifth. Unable to pass the physical for a Paladin due to a health condition, Faye’s knighting eradicated the disease in his body, instantly making him a Paladin. This way, to Malin, 2,000 gold pieces seemed not too expensive, even somewhat of a friendly price.

Why?

Because, please, this wasn’t some Noble title. Serving as a Paladin in the Church of Justice was a high-risk job that required one to stake their life on the line.

Now that the girls had dealt with the head, Malin was more than happy to have one less object cluttering the carriage. Bill, Jack, and Rose, the three children, continued to accompany Malin and the others. Although Aemeth Selkirk’s older brother was keen to take the three children as his Apprentices, Malin said he would recommend them to his own mentor.

So, the old man had no other thoughts.

Jiaxi and her superior faced a dilemma but ultimately chose to board the train of the Benevolent Church heading to The Capital—although the train of the Church of the Harvest Goddess, which Malin belonged to, departed first, they felt that having a unique individual like Malin on board was too much of a scare for them.

After collecting the heads of those different kinds, they also received quite a reward from the Lord of Justice. This made both feel even less inclined to deal with Malin—if even offsprings could trade for such high rewards, what about the source itself?

And then they thought, as an Author, just one story from him cast such a terrifying shadow, who knew what other spine-chilling entities resided in his mind.

So, it was better to keep a respectful distance.

Malin also very much agreed with this—better to forgo mutual insults and instead become strangers across the rivers and lakes.