Steampunk Era: Mad Abield
Chapter 737: Section 506: Wisdom is the Most Dangerous Weapon in Human Hands (Part Four)

Chapter 737: Section 506: Wisdom is the Most Dangerous Weapon in Human Hands (Part Four)

The next morning, at the Demon Hunter Guild’s equipment yard, while waiting for the sled, Malin listened to Niergen boast. According to this young man, in the fjords to the north of Copenhagen, there lay a vast city of the dead, filled with all manner of Spirits, different kind, and rogue Machine Souls, and of course, mostly the souls of the deceased scattered everywhere.

"Those poor souls are residents from the Great Destruction Era, only retaining memories from before their death. They’re harmless most of the time, but when they’re hit by a beam from a purple flashlight or a purple flare, they go into a rampage until they’re purified by the purple light, or the flashlight and flare are destroyed," Niergen claimed.

"What about a flash?" Malin, while arranging his magazine without looking back, asked.

"Flash?" The young Niergen didn’t understand.

So Malin had to give a simpler explanation, "It’s when the flashlight is turned on and off instantly."

"It causes unrest, but as long as it doesn’t last more than two seconds there won’t be a problem. If it does, those souls irreversibly turn into malevolent spirits, until the light source is destroyed or they are purified, and then they’ll gradually calm down."

"I understand," Malin said as he placed the loaded magazine back in the double-layered magazine pouch on his chest.

Residents of Northern Europe before the Great Destruction Era would never have believed they would have such a tragic day.

"That being said, it’s too dangerous over there. Only legendary Demon Hunters or Tech Hunters would consider going to take a look. It’s too cold, and the real treasures are often in the city itself, which is just too perilous," Niergen sighed as he said, "When I was very young, I thought I could become a Tech Hunter, but later I found out that I’m not sensitive enough to things from before the Great Destruction Era. In the test, I picked the most useless trash from a pile of Great Destruction Era items ten times out of ten."

Malin turned to look at this unlucky fellow. Geez, how could you be so cursed?

Wait a minute, the kid’s skin color... seemed a bit like that.

Luckily, at that moment the sled arrived, interrupting Malin’s slight curiosity about the kid’s luck and officially starting the team’s journey.

The first stop was to board a ship—crossing the wastelands and snowfields on land was anything but safe. For safety, they would take a ship around the coast, landing at Sim Port on the easternmost side, and then head north following the coastline to the location of the attack.

Circling around would take about half a day. They would arrive at the location of the attack at about two in the afternoon. They needed to act quickly, or it would be night soon.

When Malin heard this news, he felt it confirmed one fact—although this world was no longer the one he was familiar with, at least the equator was still the equator he knew.

Although it had been a long time since he had been on a ship, Malin had no adverse reactions. On the other hand, Niergen had been heaving over the ship’s side since they boarded, treating the entire sea as a basin, vomiting all the way from Copenhagen to Sim Port without stopping. After he had emptied his stomach, he started spewing bile.

Malin didn’t know whether to keep his distance or to feel pity for him.

In the end, it was Malin who led the young man off the ship, and seeing his pale face, Old Gaiate and his old friend Jack decided to leave him with the garrison at Sim Port—the commander of the garrison was an old friend of Jack’s, having dealt with a haunting in their old house, so they could be said to be old friends.

Niergen was arranged to rest in the Sentry Tower, where there was a stove and warm bedding. They let him drink some hot saltwater and hit him with a Sleep Spell, enough to let the lad get a good night’s sleep.

Although the mission had lost Niergen, Old Jack wasn’t concerned. In his eyes, his foster son, at best, could only be a bag carrier. If they really encountered the culprit on site, the two old men might not be as capable as Malin, so why worry? It’s better to say without the deadweight, their mission had fewer concerns.

When boarding the sled, Malin questioned why the ship could navigate freely along the way—in Carterburg, merchant fleets would move along prepared shipping routes, where the Sea Clan would be responsible for protecting the fleets and driving away ravenous sea monsters.

"It’s too cold here, not suitable for the Sea Clan to live. They prefer living on your side. We barely see them here, and even sea monsters are rare. As for why we don’t use a fixed route, it’s mostly because of that damned Pirate King Kay, with his spies on the seabed, an area we can’t clear out. His stronghold has always been unknown; we only know his pirate ships keep sailing underwater. If they ambush you, his ship will surface near yours," Jack said, and with a spread of his hands added, "Then you’re finished, no one can beat it at sea."

"So not using a fixed route is safer, at least it can avoid being ambushed by him, right?"

"Yeah, if you still run into him despite that, you just have to chalk it up to bad luck. However, this guy has one good point: he rarely operates near the coast. So most of the time, we try to stick close to the coastline, but nothing’s certain, carefulness makes the long voyage safe."