Jenkins and Mr. Bentz both turned to Captain Bincy. Of the three, he was the one in charge.
"After them! Leave a marker so that if anyone comes looking, they'll know where we went!"
After a dozen seconds of thought, Captain Bincy made the right call.
The mission had shifted from a search to a pursuit, so they all readied themselves for a fight. Even the cat nestled in Jenkins's arms stopped its intermittent squirming.
They followed the faint light from a distance, venturing deeper and deeper into the network of underground pipes. Half an hour later, Jenkins couldn't even tell where they were. But he wasn't worried; even if his companions lost their way, he was sure the cat in his arms could find its way home. The most update n0vels are published on N0v3l.Fiɾe.net
They weren't descending, but moving along a single horizontal plane. Finally, when Jenkins checked the time for the third time as requested and saw that it was already six in the evening, the target stopped.
Just a few minutes earlier, Jenkins had suddenly realized that he had been in this section of the pipes before. And when he saw the new aura appear in the distance, he knew the man's target was B-08-02-8214, the Equal Exchange Vending Machine.
"But Miss Audrey said this thing rarely stays in one place for more than three days. It's been two weeks since I last saw it!"
The screech of a metal drawer being pulled open was jarringly loud, followed by the sound of something large being shoved inside.
They could not allow B-08-02-8214 to be activated. There was no telling what would happen if A-12-02-3320 was placed inside.
The moment Captain Bincy gave the order, Mr. Bentz dove into the shadows cast by the candlelight as if plunging into water, while the captain snapped his fingers at the machine.
After a burst of flames and an explosion, the candle tumbled to the ground. Simultaneously, a hand shot out from the shadows, pinning the man to the floor.
Jenkins was the last to emerge, rushing straight to the machine to pull out the highly decomposed, maggot-infested corpse.
Captain Bincy shouted, knowing Jenkins possessed the ability to conjure flames out of thin air.
Roaring flames and a sickening stench assaulted their senses. As Jenkins held onto the corpse, he could almost feel the thing squirming in the fire. He glanced down at the body, only to be horrified to see that he was holding Hathaway, engulfed in flames.
"I hate being deceived more than anything!"
An even more furious torrent of fire completely consumed the corpse. A few minutes later, nothing remained on the ground but a pile of black ash.
"That's a special kind of fire, isn't it? Truly impressive."
Captain Bincy remarked as he hoisted the subdued man onto his shoulder. Mr. Bentz stood to the side, taking a magazine from his coat pocket. He ejected a single bullet and pressed it against the back of the man's exposed hand.
A sizzling sound and a puff of red smoke rose from the point of contact. That, combined with the man's lack of a shadow, confirmed he was one of the vampire-infected.
Whatever was happening, none of them wished to linger there any longer. Jenkins was dealing with the pile of ashes, and Captain Bincy was carrying the infected human. That left Mr. Bentz, with nothing else to do, to bend down and pick up the candle that had fallen to the ground.
By now, Jenkins's starlight sphere had long since gone out, leaving the candle as the only source of light in the crowded sewer pipe. The flame suddenly flickered, and then both Jenkins and Captain Bincy saw Rogers Bentz freeze in place.
A grotesque black figure emerged, growing larger and larger until it completely eclipsed the candlelight. The air grew thick with the cloying smell of blood.
Captain Bincy called out tentatively, but Mr. Bentz's body collapsed with a heavy thud. Dark blood gushed from a massive wound in his neck, soaking his clothes like a small stream. His eyes would never open again.
The man who seemed to have stepped out of the candlelight had unnaturally pale skin, jet-black hair, and long, narrow eyes. He was draped in a black cloak, wearing high leather boots adorned with pure gold ornaments.
His fingernails were painted a glossy red, each one long and slender. The tip of his right index finger still held a small piece of Mr. Bentz's flesh.
"That gentleman was right. We had to use B-06-4-5509, the Circus's Secret Candle, to hide ourselves so we could safely use the machine to get what we wanted."
His voice was cold and deep, yet possessed a strange charm. His terrifying eyes darted around, but he didn't see the crucial corpse he had been expecting.
"So, could you two tell me where my item has gone?"
Based on the color and number of light spots in his aura, this was undoubtedly the level-seven vampire who was supposed to have been gravely injured by Miss Bevanna and the demigod from the Church of the Storm Lord. And if "that gentleman" he mentioned was the all-knowing mirror, then tonight's events could be explained: this group was attempting to use machine B-08-02-8214 and corpse A-12-02-3320 to synthesize some kind of material to obtain the [Real Illusion].
But alas, that knowledge was limited. When it came to matters involving gods, errors were inevitable. For instance, the corpse had been destroyed.
"Jenkins, go now! Don't look back!"
With that sharp command, Captain Bincy charged the enemy without a moment's hesitation. But he was knocked unconscious in a single blow, before Jenkins even had a chance to escape.