Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic
Chapter 883 - 883: Knight and Wolf

After saying goodbye to the enthusiastic sheriff, Shard rode around Rutherford Lake, hoping to find that mysterious lake.

He still remembered the hint given by the professor, so he tried to forget the purpose of this trip. But the more he thought about it, thoughts about the "Lake Goddess" kept echoing in his mind.

This led to Shard not encountering the "Lake Goddess" that afternoon, nor did he meet talking Black Snakes, rabbits, or Ravens. However, as the sun sank westward and the evening glow appeared on the horizon, Shard, while thinking about whether to return to the city now, quickly noticed behind him a pack of wolves hunting in early winter, seemingly wanting to kill Shard and the pack of chestnut horses as reserve meat.

Already in a bad mood, Shard certainly wouldn't let them off easily. So he calmed the frightened steed and dismounted, wielding the "Night Watchman" as he charged towards the wolves.

Thus, by the intense sunset beside Rutherford Lake, the knight wielding a sword engaged in a battle with the wolf pack.

This wasn't a large wolf pack, with only eight or nine wild wolves. They initially dared to surround Shard, but as Shard swung his sword, he split the wolves attacking from both sides in half, then kicked the head wolf lunging at him from the front to death, finally picked up the tail-less wolf charging from behind, slammed it to the ground and turned it into mush, the remaining wild wolves promptly scattered and fled.

"Why did these wolves dare to attack me, even though I'm carrying a sword and a gun?"

Shard puzzled aloud.

"Perhaps they were too far away to observe as they approached you, and you acted before they could,"

"She" murmured softly in the wind, as Shard, driven by the intention to rid the local area of harm, chased the scattered wolf pack into the dead forest with only branches remaining by the lake.

This area was the local woodland, which in this season resembled more a wasteland. The wild wolves hunted by Shard fled aimlessly into the woods, but with several silver moonbeams sweeping through the gaps between the dead trees, the remaining wild wolves were sliced in half, leaving the fastest one escaping deeper into the woods:

"Why did you come to provoke me?"

Wielding his sword, Shard glanced back at the horse grazing on wild grass by the lake, then chased the fleeing wolf, vowing to dispose of it before going home.

Wolves with four legs generally run faster than humans with two, especially in woods with branches sprawling. But for Shard, no matter how fast the opponent ran, it wasn't a problem. He didn't even need the Power of Arcane Technique or Sorcery, relying solely on his strong physique and the silver sword in his hand that could cut through anything, he quickly cleared a path in the woods and caught up to the wolf.

The latter was terrified by the commotion behind it, and when the moonlight flying from behind slashed through the big tree in front of it, it got crushed under the tree's rear half, then howled helplessly, watching the human approach:

"Why did you come to provoke me?"

Shard asked once more, if it weren't late, he'd want to go home sooner, even thought of putting the Fish Training Ring on its paws to inquire why he was targeted.

Ignoring the wild wolf, he swung the sword intending to kill it. But on second thought, he stepped back then drew the revolver from his waist, the one provided by MI6.

Frankly, since acquiring the gun, Shard probably fired it less than five times. Seeing the wolf unable to resist, he prepared to test his marksmanship. After all, the bullets could be reimbursed—

BANG~

One shot rang out, startling countless Flying Birds in the woods that flew towards the sunset. But the wolf remained alive, only the tree crushing it exploded with a bullet hole, the dry tree bark and wood fibers flew chaotically.

Before the wolf that survived until the end could recover from the shock, a second gunshot echoed in the early winter sunset, successfully hitting its head.

"My marksmanship is indeed quite accurate,"

Satisfied, Shard blew on the gun barrel, then holstered the gun back at his waist. He fetched fabric from his pocket intending to turn the wolf pack's corpses into toys to bring back to Tobesk as souvenirs, but halted abruptly after a few steps in the muddy ground.

He hadn't ventured too deeply into the woods, and the edge of the woodland was exceptionally sparse due to autumn logging. Branches lacking leaves allowed the sunset to directly shine onto the ground, looking up, one could see a vast portion of the sky and clouds dyed red.

Yet now, Shard felt the visibility around him gradually decreasing, the piercingly cold wind through the woods became eerily chill. The "Night Watchman" in his hand suddenly vibrated rapidly, sensing evil before Shard did.

"What's approaching?"

He no longer paid attention to the wolf corpse crushed under the tree, holding the sword while scanning his surroundings in the forest.

"Outlander, you've encountered the Whisper."

"Whisper?"

Listening closely, indeed from an unknown time, indistinct whispers that were very hard to detect had begun. The sunset had dyed Shard's shoulders red, but the murmurs of women's howls, cries, and screams chilled Shard's heart.

This evening's sunset was so intense, yet the atmosphere clashed with that sunset. Gazing around, due to the emergence of a High Level Relic, dizziness appeared before his eyes. Shard struggled to maintain his focus, carefully turning in place, observing every detail around until about halfway through, upon turning his head, he saw a pale-faced woman with hair draped over her shoulders peeking from behind a nearby dead tree trunk, staring at her with black eyes.

Shard was startled, it was the woman he saw in Professor Drake's cursed photograph:

"A Sage-Level Relic [Swamp Witch]? She actually appeared so close to the city?"

The Humanoid Relic peeked out her head and equally pale shoulders, as if she had been hiding behind the tree, peeping at the man in front all along.

Shard merely glanced at her, and saw the woodland illuminated by the sunset, countless dreadfully slain Evil Spirits bursting out from the densely packed trees, rushing towards him.

[Illusion, don't move.]

The voice in his ear made Shard's mind clear up a bit, and he gritted his teeth, standing still. As expected, the Evil Spirits passed through him like phantoms and then vanished into the light of the sunset.

But then, the black shadows of the dead trees standing under the sunset began to wriggle like tentacles. Following that, the black shadows crept along the ground towards Shard like snakes; this was a scene that would likely appear in a horror story.

[Still an illusion, don't move.]

Shard trusted "her" judgment and remained motionless. The wriggling shadows indeed vanished into the glow of the sunset after reaching his feet.

Yet the strange phenomena around did not cease; Shard heard a rustling sound behind him, but he was fully focused on watching the movements of the woman peeking from behind the tree, not daring to move at all. Thankfully, "her" vision was not affected by eyes:

[The wolf you shot dead has crawled out from under the tree.]

"Another illusion?"

[No, this time it's real.]

Shard was taken aback, instinctively blinking his eyes. The blink was less than half a second, but within the brief closing and opening of the eyes, it was as if the painting in front was whisked away and replaced with another; the woman peeking from behind the tree had disappeared:

"What?"

He quickly turned around to check behind him and indeed saw the completely dead wolf crawling out from under the tree, eyeing Shard with a limp leg, but it didn't attack him. Instead, it turned and walked deeper into the forest.

"Have the Whisper Elements around changed?"

[The elements on that wolf are the densest.]

"So it is a Living Corpse manipulated by the [Swamp Witch]... but how did the [Swamp Witch]'s real body leave? Isn't it filled with Malice towards any male?"

The limping wolf walked a distance into the depths of the woodland, suddenly stopping to look back at Shard. Shard suspiciously examined his surroundings and behind, finding it hard to believe:

"Does it want me to follow it? I must be crazy to follow it."

Though he thought this, Shard did not immediately turn around and leave, but recalled the traits of the Sage-Level Relic [Swamp Witch]:

"It guides lost kind-hearted women out of the swamp and might even protect them. But it curses the soul of impure-hearted women and any men."

Shard was quite certain he hadn't encountered a curse, and that wolf indeed seemed to be guiding him in a certain direction.

The problem was, however, that Shard was not a "kind-hearted woman", and the direction to leave the forest was not the direction where the wolf was currently heading either.

"Strange, didn't encounter any talking animals, yet ran into such oddities."

The real body of the [Swamp Witch] undoubtedly had left, but since this wolf under its control still existed, it indicated that dreadful Humanoid Relic was still observing Shard.

The Living Corpse wolf, stopped there looking at Shard, didn't wait indefinitely and soon continued towards the depths of the woodland. Shard thought for a moment and said to the wolf:

"Please wait for me, I'll fetch my horse, and then follow you."

To prevent the relic and the wolf from not understanding, he specially used the Casenric Language.

Upon finishing speaking, he turned back without hesitation along the pathway beside the lake, found his horse nibbling on some wild grass. It obediently followed, led by the reins in Shard's hand, back to the woodland. Passing over the bodies of those wolves, he once more saw the felled tree by the "Moonlight Slash" and, not far away, the wolf waiting.

"I was thinking, if you hadn't waited for me, I'd just leave here and go home for dinner. But since you're still here..."

This time without hesitation, Shard led the horse to follow. The wolf, crouching like a dog, stood up as well, meandering deeper into the woodland.

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