Chapter 410: Corpse Bomb

Calculating the time, there were probably about twenty minutes until dawn. Catching the traces of airflow, he discovered that the wind inside the church came from behind the stone wall where the three fat Fish-People were standing.

So Xia De took a steam bomb from his waist, and pulled out a Luo De Pai from his pocket:

"I'll show you that I learned 【Treasure】 not because it's convenient for playing cards."

Thinking this, he took a deep breath, his left hand reaching for the ring on his right hand. A faint golden glow lit up inside his robe's sleeve, and the sense of fullness made Xia De feel reassured.

He quickly pulled the pin on the steam bomb's surface, but no steam sprayed out, because steam bombs of this era all required a hard knock to detonate—this was to prevent accidents.

He wrapped the second corpse puppet and the bomb together with a handkerchief, then tied a dead knot.

Watching the timing, Xia De lightly tapped the handkerchief:

"Toy Making!"

Feeling the object inside the handkerchief rapidly expanding, the Luo De Pai, under the control of 【Treasure】, carried this bundle and flew swiftly toward the front of the church.

"What's that?"

Even with the assistance of the Witch's ring, something this large flying through the air was hard not to be noticed. A light flared from someone's hand, and then the swelling bundle crashed heavily into the aisle between the long rows of seats.

The sound of prayer was interrupted; people looked over curiously and saw the corpse with a blade wound at the heart lying face-up on the ground, with a faint hissing~ sound coming from beneath its body, though not very obvious.

"Oh, my god, isn't that little Feishenna?"

The priest standing beside the Fish-Person on the left cried out in alarm and hurried down to check the situation. The gray-robed Fish-People sitting around also shuffled over, and even the Ring Mages stood up with furrowed brows.

Xia De did not stand up; instead, he lay flat on the ground between the seats. Clasping his hands behind his head and lying completely prone, he began counting down the estimated time:

"Five."

The corpse was already surrounded by the Fish-People.

"Four."

"It's Feishenna! Quick, quick, see who's appeared here!"

"Three."

The Ring Mages came beside the corpse to conduct a more careful inspection.

"Two."

"Blasphemy, this is blasphemy!"

The old Fish-Person priest was shouting hysterically.

"Something's wrong, why is there white smoke under the corpse? No, that's not white smoke, it's steam mist—could the corpse be awakening into a Ring Ringed Ringed Shushi?"

Xia De, who was counting down, almost burst out laughing.

"One."

"Fools, get back, it's a steam bomb!"

Boom~

At that moment the ground truly shook. Besides a small amount of compressed gunpowder, the small steel balls, iron fragments, and other strange things buried inside the steam bomb shot out in all directions at a startling speed under the air pressure.

Even though Xia De lay there motionless, his left leg was still hit by something, but it was only a graze.

But the nearby Fish-People were terribly unlucky; Xia De even thought that after the explosion, he heard the sound of chunks of flesh and blood falling into puddles on the ground.

The stone ceiling above kept shedding dust downward because of the explosion. Xia De had actually worried whether the place might collapse from the steam bomb, but the Fish-People's buildings were quite sturdy. Besides, if a single steam bomb could bring this place down, the Church's Ring Ringed Ringed Shushi squad wouldn't have fought the Fish-People to a stalemate.

Screams, curses, and wails kept echoing through the dust after the explosion ended.

Xia De took this chance to crawl up, not bothering to dust himself off, and moved forward along the wall with his body low.

One steam bomb was still not quite enough; he had only taken a few steps when he heard someone shouting loudly that no one should move.

The sea wind was summoned to suppress the dust kicked up by the bomb's explosion, while two Ring Mages of the cult gathered together to treat the wounded and confirm exactly who was carrying out this unusual act.

Xia De certainly couldn't stop moving, because once discovered, he couldn't possibly deal with so many people at once. But moving made the chance of being discovered even greater.

Thinking that rather than passively exposing himself, he might as well take the initiative, he raised his right hand high, then slashed violently toward the center of the not-yet-dissipated dust. Brilliant silver moonlight flew in an arc toward the Ring Mages of the Crimson Cult.

Xia De didn't even think; the next moment his body vanished and reappeared ten meters ahead.

Screams and curses came from behind again, and the spot where Xia De had just been standing was bombarded by several spells he couldn't recognize at all.

That was enough; counting the distance Xia De had moved at the start of the explosion, he had now reached the very front of the damp little church.

"Hand it over!"

He snatched the leather-bound great book from the hands of the old Fish-Person priest standing there, and when the other tried to resist, the giant sword shimmering with silver light in his hand came slashing straight down.

Dirty red blood stained the front of the robe, and the fat Fish-Person whose book had been taken by Xia De died on the spot. But Xia De didn't go looking for trouble with the other fat priest; instead, he raised his sword forward to block an incoming arrow.

"Oh!"

With a grunt, that bone arrowhead actually shattered the blade of the Moonlight Great Sword. Even after shattering the Moonlight Great Sword, it kept coming forward. Xia De turned his head to dodge, and the arrowhead grazed his cheek, pierced through his hood, then shot into the stone wall beside the holy emblem behind him.

The arrowhead passed through the stone wall, adding another hole to the wall and letting Xia De feel even more of the sea wind.

"Nobody move!"

Tucking the book under his arm, he grabbed the other Fish-Person priest, and his right hand drew a pistol and pressed it against the opponent's temple.

The dust completely settled, and the destruction Xia De had just caused could now be seen.

The place where the steam bomb had exploded was covered in blood and gore everywhere; the Fish-People who died in the first wave of the explosion accounted for a third, and the rest had been saved by the Ring Mages.

And the silver-moon slash Xia De had thrown out amid the chaos afterward was what truly played the big role. Amplified by the Witch's ring, the moonlight he cleaved out across two rows of chairs was something even a Mid-Ring Ringed Ringed Shushi couldn't possibly block without special means.

Therefore, the corpses on the ground now neatly cleaved in two were all caused by that strike of Xia De's. Among them, only three Fish-People remained alive, and one Ring Ringed Ringed Shushi of the Crimson Cult had also died. That must have been bad luck—happening to be right in the path of the silver moonlight arc.

And the better news was that the old Fish-Person priest who had gone to inspect the corpse had also died; added to the one Xia De had cut down, the only Fish-Person priest still alive now was the one Xia De was pointing his gun at.

If the ritual here still had to proceed, the other side couldn't possibly not care about this old Fish-Person's life.

Being able to cause such a great impact was partly the ring's doing and partly Xia De taking advantage of the chaos to launch a sneak attack. But this was not without cost—Xia De was now surrounded by the remaining cultists.

Even with a hostage in hand, the situation Xia De faced was not good.