Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 515 Fierce Aerial Battle

Li Wei never imagined that he would be waging a sci-fi war in an era of advanced steam technology, a war that would only exist in games and movies in his own time.

One mech versus one monster?

It felt just like a boss battle.

In fact, Li Wei feels like he's fighting a boss right now.

The Night Raven constantly shifted its direction in the air, dodging the red beams fired from the angel's wings from behind, while simultaneously raising its mecha weapons and launching attacks at the angel when it had a spare moment. However, the mecha's weapons were not powerful enough, and they barely had any effect on the angel.

Although Li Wei couldn't see the BOSS's HP, he could guess that his current attacks were probably ineffective against this monster!

At the same time, a system notification sounded, and then a system notification appeared in front of Li Wei.

[The quest "Unsealing" has been activated]

[Mission Objective: Release the sealed soul]

A seal? What seal?
Li Wei maneuvered the mecha, dodging left and right, while a deep sense of doubt lingered within him. Judging from the system's mission, could this thing be a seal? How could he break it? Speaking of soul seals, the Holy Maiden had previously mentioned that her own soul was sealed.

Could it be that this angel is sealing the saintess's soul?
Forget it, let's fight first!
With the enemy right in front of him, Li Wei couldn't possibly give up just because he didn't understand the mission. Did he think he could just run away now?

With that thought in mind, Li Wei gripped the joystick again, looked at the enemy before him once more, and began to devise a strategy.

Hmm, it's tough, but not impossible. It seems to be mainly effective at ranged attacks; it's probably not very good at close combat. As for [Reality Anchoring], Li Wei decided to hold off for now. It looks incredibly difficult to use, and if it costs him a lot of lives, it wouldn't be worth it. He'll try whatever he can manage first, and only resort to [Reality Anchoring] if all else fails.

So……………

Li Wei glanced at Sister Elizabeth beside him; her eyes had rolled back, and she had fainted.

I don't know if it was from motion sickness or from being scared.

It's all the same anyway; Li Wei hadn't expected her to be of any help in the battle. It would be better if she just passed out; if she vomited all over him, the damage would be far greater than that from the monster outside.

"Katie? Is she alive?"

"I'm fine! Shall we start fighting, Mr. Levi?"

In comparison, Katie's voice was still as lively and energetic as ever. Levi really suspected that she seemed to be afraid of nothing except ghosts. He remembered the same thing when they encountered the Messenger of Disaster in the Dreamland. If Katie hadn't been shorter than the messenger's toes, she would have already pounced on him screaming.

It seems that for Katie, there's no such thing as being afraid to fight, only being unable to fight.

Except for ghosts.

"Um, I need your help with something."

Li Wei whispered a few instructions to Katie, then asked a question.

Do you understand what I mean?

"Understood, I know what to do!"

"Good, wait for my signal, then make your move."

"Leave it to me!"

After giving the order, Li Wei once again maneuvered the Night Raven mech to dodge another round of attacks from the angel. Then he stared intently at his opponent, his eyes narrowing.

At the same time, a skull pattern appeared on the back of Li Wei's hand.

[Core Endowment — Ghost Ship]!
The Night Raven suddenly lurched, and in the next moment a thick fog erupted from its body, instantly forming a vast cloud that completely enveloped everything around it.

The mutated angel's attack stopped.

Li Wei piloted the Night Raven, his gaze fixed on the distant red aura. He could lock onto it using [Soul Vision], but clearly, this mutated angel didn't seem to have a similar ability… Damn!
However, before Li Wei could even feel smug, he saw the red light suddenly rush towards him, followed by several more red beams piercing through the clouds and shooting towards the Night Raven. Faced with the angel's renewed attack, Li Wei quickly maneuvered the Night Raven to dodge in all directions, but he soon discovered that this time the angel's beam attacks were not as dense as before, but rather quite loose.

In other words, it can only know that it's in this direction, but it can't pinpoint its exact location? Then why...?

"Rumble rumble rumble—"

Li Wei's questions were quickly interrupted by the jet engines on the outside of the mecha, leaving him speechless. How loud were those things? They could be heard both in the sky and on the ground. At least this proved that the angel wasn't deaf.

There's no way around it; mechs are, after all, scientific creations. Unlike that damn angel, who can fly without even flapping its three pairs of wings—what's the principle behind that? Doesn't it worry about its wings getting tangled?!

Li Wei inwardly grumbled, but still hurriedly maneuvered the Night Raven to create distance again. His plan to completely conceal himself seemed to have failed. Although the angel couldn't see where he was, the engine's loud noise was impossible to hide. But even so, it was better than nothing. After all, this angel's ray attack was truly troublesome. If Li Wei hadn't had experience playing bullet hell games and the [Death Eye] ability to slow down time, he probably would have been riddled with holes long ago.

So what should we do next...? I've got it!
The Night Raven resumed its operation, accelerating towards the side of the angel once more. Then, it spread its arms—and within the thick fog, several small pieces of paper could be seen flying out, transforming into missiles that roared towards the angel from all directions!

"———————!"

Soon, the red light flashed again, beams of light scattered in all directions, and then several bursts of fire were seen erupting in the clouds before disappearing.

Almost at the same time, Li Wei felt a chill run down his spine as the Night Raven suddenly accelerated and ascended!

"boom-------!"

A massive beam of light tore through the clouds, swept past beneath the Night Raven, ripped a rift in the mist, and then vanished.

Ugh, what a hassle!
Because of the engine noise, the angel could always pinpoint its location. It seems we must find a way to finish this quickly… I've got it!
Li Wei's eyes lit up, and then the Night Raven quickly turned around and rushed forward.

Behind him, Li Wei also saw the red aura speeding up and chasing after him.

"Whoosh—!"

A beam of light shot from behind, but Levi, piloting his mech, dodged the attack once again. However…

I'd like to see just how unscientific your thing can be!
Thinking of this, Li Wei suddenly pulled down the control lever.

The next moment, the Night Raven rapidly ascended, while the angel, caught off guard, continued its original speed forward, flying beneath the Night Raven. The Night Raven then performed a somersault in mid-air, firmly gripping the angel's tail!
Thank goodness, science does work! Long live inertia!
Immediately afterwards, four missiles appeared out of thin air and roared toward the target!
Sensing the missiles approaching from behind, the angel darted to the side. However, the four missiles relentlessly pursued it, following closely behind. This seemed to enrage the angel further; it accelerated again, then abruptly turned and spread its wings.

A bright red beam of light shot out instantly!
"boom-----!"

The missiles that followed exploded amidst the crisscrossing beams of light, turning into bursts of flame. Yet, within these flames, a massive shadow silently appeared!

"Die!"

With a roar from Li Wei, the Night Raven burst forth from the flames, raised its left hand, and punched the eye of all knowledge standing upright in the center of the angel!

"Pfft—!"

As a large amount of steam gushed out of the vent, the pile hammer, which had been raised high, suddenly slammed down with force!

"boom-------!!!"

The hard, conical hammer, carrying immense force, roared forward, crashing heavily into the eye and shattering its outer shell instantly! "Whoosh—!"

A agonizing scream, like a sharp bird's cry, emerged from the angel's body. Its trembling wings were raised high, and its crimson eyes, covering its entire body, opened wide, staring intently at the Night Raven before it.

Just then, the cockpit at the bow of the Night Raven suddenly opened, and Katie leaped out carrying a huge shell!

"Take this! Aa ...

Katie shouted, grabbing the cannonball, which was bigger than her, with both her little hands and throwing it hard at the angel in front of her!
"call-----!"

The cannonball flew from Katie's hand, instantly whistling through the air and crashing into the shattered outer shell of the angel's all-knowing eye. With a deafening roar, the outer shell of the all-knowing eye was completely blasted into pieces!

But then, something unexpected happened.

Just as the All-Knowing Eye shattered completely, a golden light instantly emerged from it and flew towards the sky!

Grab it!
The passage of time slowed down instantly. However, to Li Wei's surprise, the golden light was completely unaffected by the time slowing effect of the [Eye of Death] and disappeared into the sky in the blink of an eye.

“……………………………”

What the heck?

Li Wei turned around and saw that the monster with three pairs of wings had begun to gradually collapse, and then... it completely decomposed into something like sand in front of Li Wei and disappeared without a trace.

Then, the system notification appeared before Li Wei again.

[Mission "Seal Released" Completed]

[Time consumed: s]

Survey efficiency: S

[Impact/Effect: S]

Overall Rating: SSS

[Lifespan +800, additional +400]

There are quite a few more this time, so this monster is indeed difficult to deal with. Fortunately, Li Wei has a mecha; otherwise, he probably wouldn't be able to fight this thing alone or even with the Eye of the Sky.

[Attack against Divinity +1%]

“……………………………”

Special attack on divinity?
Li Wei was stunned for a moment when he saw this unexpected number.

What does this mean?
I can understand this word, but... how do I say it...?
You're not going to tell me that freakish thing that looks like it's been infected with chicken plague is actually an angel, are you?

However, adding only 1% is really too little. Does this mean that this thing is not a real angel?
Looking at this ability, Li Wei had a bad feeling. After all, every attribute in the game is useful. With this [Special Attack Against Divinity] ability... I'm not going to have to fight with gods anymore, am I?

This is really upsetting. Li Wei doesn't want to be like those protagonists in novels, constantly slaughtering gods and Buddhas. It's too tiring... But thinking about the Goddess of the Night and the so-called Holy Lord worshipped at the church headquarters here, Li Wei sighed silently.

I have a feeling the future is bleak. Can't these gods just go somewhere peaceful and die somewhere else? Stop coming to cause us trouble. Extraterrestrial beings are already difficult enough, and now these ancient gods and such have to interfere. Where can we even begin to reason with them?
[Special Skill +1]

Needless to say, Li Wei decisively added those skill points to [Witcher] and upgraded it to [LV4].

[Witcher LV4]

[Gain skill — Death Mark (You can apply a Death Mark to a target. The mark will not disappear unless the target dies. All attributes of the target with the mark are reduced by 5%)]

Hey, this is great, I like this!
Upon seeing this skill, Li Wei's eyes lit up!
He had previously complained that the only problem with using [Soul Vision] to view the ground from high above was that he could only see a large amount of soul light, but he couldn't keep an eye on a specific person. Now, however, this [Death Mark] is like locking onto a target in a shooting game; once you lock onto an enemy, you can see them no matter where you are!

Furthermore, it inflicts a -5% debuff on all attributes. Don't underestimate this 5%; although it seems small, it might have a surprising effect. After all, not everyone is a well-rounded individual; everyone has strengths and weaknesses. Leaving aside the numerical values ​​of strengths, if the numerical values ​​of weaknesses are also reduced by 5%...

That would be very interesting.

"Mr. Levi, the monster has disappeared. What should we do now?"

Katie's voice brought Levi back to his senses.

"Let's go back to the Sky Eye first."

Li Wei put away the core of the Ghost Ship, then glanced at the ground. The entire Flower City was now in chaos.

Meanwhile, in the Flower City below, the Krant army was in complete chaos.

"What happened? What on earth happened? How was the church destroyed?"

The Krant officers stared blankly at the Holy Bishop's headquarters, utterly at a loss for words. They had just assumed the Empire was launching an attack on the City of Lights, never expecting that it was the Holy Bishop's headquarters that had been bombed. But... why would anyone want to bomb the Holy Bishop's headquarters?

Also, what is this big hole?
Officer Krant frowned and cautiously approached the ruins of the church. He could see a large, dark hole that remained completely dark and bottomless even in the sunlight.

This doesn't seem like something that just exploded; it's more like something that's always been here... Hmm?

Suddenly, Officer Krant saw the shadow in the cave tremble. Before he could react, black mist began to billow out from the huge, dark cave.

"Damn it, what is this thing? Everyone, step back immediately and prepare your gas masks... Ugh..."

The officer, Krant, retreated in a panic, but before he could take more than a few steps, he felt as if something was pulling his legs, and he fell headfirst to the ground. He then saw the surrounding smoke immediately enter his body through his wide-open mouth, nostrils, and ears.

"Ah ah ah ah ah!!!"

The officer screamed in agony before being completely engulfed by the black mist.

He didn't see that the black mist had already poured out of the hole and spread in all directions.

"what happened?"

Seeing this, Li Wei, who was in the sky, stared in astonishment. Under the [Soul Vision], he could see countless crimson souls, as if they were formed from some kind of monster, surging out of the underground cave. They grabbed the Krant soldiers, and in just a moment, the white glow on those soldiers turned crimson.

"Mr. Li Wei, what's happening down there? What are those black mists?"

Katie had clearly seen the scene in the city below as well, and now she looked equally puzzled.

"Something has gone wrong. Let's go back to the Holy Maiden first. Perhaps she can give us an answer."

After saying this, Li Wei steered the Night Raven around and quickly flew towards the Eye of the Sky.

Now it seems that things are getting worse.

(End of this chapter)