At this point, the Church still hadn't intervened to rescue Jenkins, which meant their assistance was a one-time offer. It was gone. In other words, the Church now had no idea what Jenkins was even doing.
The slick, slimy sensation was so nauseating that Jenkins almost retched. But he knew that in such a confined, enveloped space, the price of vomiting was swallowing it right back down.
At that thought, the urge to vomit grew even stronger.
He mentally sifted through the points of light representing his abilities. All of them were usable except for Soul Departure from Dream. But the question was, should he wait for the timer to run out and return automatically, or should he first find a way out of this fleshy prison?
As he mulled it over, a familiar female voice reached his ears.
"Mr. Zircon, are you still alive?"
It was Miss Alexandrite. He hadn't expected her to have escaped as well.
"Mr. Zircon, if you're dead, I'll pray for your soul. Just please don't come find me at night!"
She followed this with a very earnest, whispered prayer.
He wondered with a sense of helplessness. He wanted to open his mouth and shout that he was still alive, but he didn't want any of that flesh slithering into it.
"Inexhaustible Fire!"
He commanded silently in his mind. A crimson flame immediately streamed from his hands.
Through Miss Alexandrite's eyes, the dim, filthy, and cramped basement was covered in a moss-like carpet of pink flesh. In the very center stood a cocoon-like mass of meat.
Amidst her prayers, a faint crackling sound emerged from the cocoon. Then, directly facing her, a vertical fissure split open. Fire, representing light and heat, poured out. With a louder sizzle, the flames flowed along the cocoon's exterior, spreading until they had burned a massive opening.
A man in a black robe, hands stuffed in his pockets, stepped out of the cocoon. His black boots made a strange squelching sound as they trod on the fleshy carpet. The flames streamed down from the meaty chrysalis, enveloping the man's entire body without harming his clothes. Finally, the fire split into two streams and flowed back into his body through his eyes.
As darkness once again fell over Miss Alexandrite, she instinctively took a step back, nearly stumbling.
She exclaimed in astonishment.
"She found out I'm a pseudo-god?"
Jenkins thought in a panic.
"Don't be an idiot, Jenkins!"
He immediately realized it was just a natural exclamation and coughed to cover his embarrassment. As for why the flames had re-entered through his eyes—while inside the cocoon, he had tried to open them to see where he was, only to get some filth on his eyeballs. He was just trying to "wash his eyes." The latest_epɪ_sodes are on_the NoveIＦire.net
"What is going on here?"
Jenkins asked, glancing around. This wasn't the outdoors he had imagined. In the darkness, he could faintly make out walls and a row of shelves beside them. It was a completely sealed room, without even a door or windows.
Perhaps sensing the "power" of the strange Enchanter before her, Miss Alexandrite's voice carried a hint of awe as she replied:
"I was hiding here, and then you and all this flesh just fell from above."
Jenkins summoned two silvery orbs of starlight, which illuminated a hole in the flesh-covered ceiling. A blurry mass of blood and meat blocked the opening, and Mr. Constantine's face stared down at them.
"Guh-guh-guh-guh-guh~"
The moment their eyes met, he let out another strange, brief laugh.
"You're not afraid of its psychic attack anymore?"
This was what caught Jenkins's attention.
"This must be the castle's treasure room. I don't know how I got in here, but the things here are clearly useful."
She gestured to the side. Jenkins blinked. An entire shelf was filled with antiques, at least five of which emanated a powerful spiritual aura.
Miss Alexandrite took two steps forward and pointed to a carefully framed painting that had fallen to the floor. It was an oil painting with extremely high color contrast. The periphery depicted a chilling forest in shades of black and deep blue, the few brushstrokes masterfully creating a bizarre and sinister atmosphere. In the center, several men outlined in red lines were gathered around a bonfire.
"B-07-4-7711, 'Gathering in the Forest.' This is the special item Mr. Constantine used to convene the Gem Assembly. Its original property was that if no more than twenty Enchanters placed their hands on it simultaneously and infused it with their spirit, their souls would be pulled into the forest depicted in the painting. Even if they were complete strangers, they would have to hold a gathering before they could be released. Only the gods know what kind of ritual Mr. Constantine paired with it to give it its current function... But now that Mr. Constantine is dead, I'm afraid that's an answer no one will ever know."
Miss Alexandrite's youthful voice was tinged with regret as her hooded head turned toward Jenkins.
"Honorable sir, isn't this what you were after?"
Jenkins froze, only then remembering the excuse he had made earlier. He nodded, stepped forward, and gripped the metal frame of the painting. But Miss Alexandrite kept staring at him, as if she wanted to see how this high-level Enchanter would handle the painting.
"You certainly know a lot."
"I just happened to have read some materials on it."
She continued to watch him. Perhaps her face was filled with curiosity under the hood, or perhaps her brow was already furrowed.
"Alright, I guess this is the only way."
One lie often leads to more lies; that was the price of deceit. To maintain the dignity of "Mr. Zircon" and the authenticity of his identity, Jenkins closed his eyes, meditated on the image of the female Star Spirit, and whispered:
"Rakul, I ask for your help."
As a silver-and-blue radiance materialized from the air, the frame in Jenkins's hands remained still, but the canvas itself dissolved into motes of light and vanished from the space.
"I've placed it in the pocket on your chest. That's the only marker I have for you."
A soft whisper echoed by his ear. Jenkins nodded, silently thanking the Star Spirit in his heart.
The current situation was this: he didn't have to worry about his own safety, as he would be able to return soon. But Miss Alexandrite was still trapped here. Because of his earlier lie, she had already witnessed some of his secrets, like his ability to summon spheres of light.
She would be saved once the Orthodox Church arrived, but she would also recount what she had seen. Although the secrets he had revealed weren't critical, safety came first. If he could find a way, he should get Miss Alexandrite out of here before the Church arrived.