Chapter 1285: Chapter 1285
The item with the brilliant purple spiritual aura finally appeared, but not as the headline attraction. The auctioneers likely had no idea of its true value.
The bronze mirror, only a third of which remained, was nestled inside a stone casket. All six sides of the casket were carved with different patterns, and Jenkins could tell at a glance that this was no human creation from the current epoch. It was more akin to the decorative style of the dwarves, who had vanished from the material world long ago.
"So that's it," Jenkins mused. "The casket is what's concealing the aura..."
With a sense of understanding, Jenkins listened as the man beside the casket recounted a poignant love story about a pair of tomb raiders. He wasn't lying, either—he told the ladies outright that it was a burial good from an ancient tomb. Because of this, Jenkins faced little competition. After his third bid, no one else was willing to challenge him.
Ten minutes later, Jenkins reappeared in the auction hall, having paid for his prize. He now held the stone casket and the shattered bronze mirror it contained.
"That was almost too easy," he thought. "And just as an antique, this casket alone is worth far more than what I paid... Has fate smiled upon me again?"
He was reveling in his good fortune, wondering if he should strike up a conversation with Briny before the auction ended, when he saw the middle-aged accountant who had just given him the receipt approaching, a worried expression on his face. The man leaned in and whispered:
"Excuse me, miss. There's... a problem regarding this item. Could you please come with me to the office over there?"
Jenkins gave him a puzzled look, then glanced toward the office. He saw two Enchanters standing inside the room. Their auras were strange—not like human Enchanters at all. They reminded him of the vampire-type Benefactors he had encountered not long ago.
He hesitated only a moment before agreeing. There were far too many ordinary people here; a more secluded spot would be better.
When he re-entered the office where he had paid, three people were already waiting. The middle-aged accountant introduced them. Standing behind the desk was a Mr. Dubai, the owner of the tower and the host of the auction. The other two, dressed in black formal wear, were clients who also wanted to purchase the stone casket. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ novel~fire~net
They reeked of a strong, cheap perfume that almost made Jenkins and the cat on his shoulder choke the moment they walked through the door.
"Ma'am, our target today was actually this stone casket," the taller man said in a heavily accented voice. "Unfortunately, we were a step too late. Name your price. We can accept anything under one hundred pounds."
Jenkins couldn't place the accent, but the words were incredibly stiff, as if the man had no proper control over his own mouth.
"Sorry," Jenkins replied coolly. "I'm quite fond of this item myself, and I don't need the money."
Observing them up close, Jenkins was now certain that both men were non-human creatures in humanoid form, though he couldn't yet identify their species.
"Apologies," the shorter man said suddenly. "Let me rephrase. I wish to purchase the item you are holding for the price of one penny. Is that acceptable?"
As he spoke, he waved his hand, and an invisible spiritual aura swept through the room. Mr. Dubai and the accountant, who were meant to be mediating, closed their eyes without realizing it, remaining on their feet in a hypnotized state.
Jenkins also closed his eyes but opened them again instantly. For him, it was just a blink. He shook his head at the men's astonished expressions.
"And let me repeat myself: I will not sell it."
"A human Enchanter? Damn it, we've been exposed!"
Pale with shock, the two overly serious men in black suits took a step back. One of them instinctively reached for Jenkins. Long, gray fingernails pierced through the tips of his glove, revealing shriveled, gray fingers that looked like cured meat.
"So you use perfume to cover the stench of death... You're ghouls!"
Their identities revealed, the two creatures abandoned all pretense and lunged at Jenkins. Ghouls and humans were eternal enemies; once discovered, ghouls were hunted down without mercy. It was no surprise, then, that they so quickly resolved to kill him.
Already prepared, Jenkins held his ground. He took a deep breath and spat a brilliant ball of fire.
The two ghouls were hit head-on, but a faint, shimmering ripple of water appeared over their bodies, warding off Jenkins's enchanted flames. Ghouls despised fire; rituals for protection against it were quite common among their kind.
But this was no ordinary fire. As Jenkins stepped back, the ghouls closed in. The flames had already burned through the outermost layer of shimmering water and were now incinerating their specially treated clothes, reducing them to charred scraps.
Jenkins's enemies again recognized the strange power of the flames. Forgetting their attack, they retreated in unison to the window. They tore off their still-burning clothes to keep the fire from reaching their skin.
Beneath their clothes were hideously bloated bodies. Every muscle looked like a malignant tumor, and their decaying gray skin immediately brought to mind plague and death. These were the aberrant ghouls, the same strange creatures Mr. White Cat had mentioned at the last gathering.
They continued to speak in their awkward tongue, but instead of attacking Jenkins again, they split up, each lunging for one of the hypnotized men—Mr. Dubai and the accountant.
Jenkins immediately threw the swordsman chess piece in his hand toward the more distant Mr. Dubai. At the same time, he leaped into the air, bringing his sword down on the ghoul beside the accountant.
Both ghouls were high-level Enchanters, level six. The one Jenkins struck completely ignored its wound, even using the gash in its chest to clamp down on the blade before swiping a claw at his head.
"How foolish of me," he thought, "to try and stab a ghoul in the heart."
With that thought, he repeated his earlier tactic and spat another burst of fire. Unexpectedly, his opponent was agile. It dropped to the floor, dodging the enchanted flames, then rolled to Jenkins's side. As it sprang up, its claws slammed violently into his back.
The sudden blow sent Jenkins stumbling into the wall. Seeing his opponent relentlessly pressing the attack, he had no time to heal himself. Instead, he found his footing, leaped upward again, and slammed his open palm against the wall. The power of ice froze his hand to the surface, leaving him suspended in the air.
The enemy below froze for a second, then crouched, preparing to jump. But that brief delay was all Jenkins needed to use [Blasphemous Creation].
Just as the ghoul leaped, three aggressive, snake-like vines descended from above, plunging directly into its temples and leaving it dangling in the air.
Wrenching his sword from the first ghoul's chest, he infused it with spirit and flicked it through the air. A blade of white light shot out, striking the second ghoul squarely in the back as it battled the swordsman piece.
But it had no effect. The moment the light hit, Jenkins heard the clang of metal on stone. The ghoul's torso remained still, but its neck twisted a full one hundred and eighty degrees. Seeing its companion defeated, it took a blow from the swordsman's ice blade, then lashed out with a leg, kicking the chess piece into the wall.
It turned and ran for the wall, then threw itself forward, smashing straight through the three-layered wooden partition and plummeting from the third floor to the ground outside.
A monster that could survive having its heart shredded by a blade certainly wasn't going to die from a fall. Its sudden appearance, however, caused panic among the people in the encampment below.
By some stroke of luck—for whom, it was hard to say—it landed right on a stall selling cheap clothes. The ghoul immediately grabbed some garments to cover its grotesque skin and face. Jenkins didn't get a clear look at what it threw next, but flames instantly erupted, engulfing the tower as if it were built not of wood, but of oil-soaked timber.
Jenkins, still disguised as a young woman, stood before the gaping hole, his clothes fluttering in the afternoon breeze. With his back to the sun, the onlookers below couldn't see his face.
He instinctively reached out, about to use [Ice Solidification] to stop the fire, but the flames were spreading with astonishing speed. By the time the ghoul was fleeing through the crowd that had gathered to watch the blaze, the fire was already growing uncontrollable.
Using his powers in this situation would undoubtedly attract massive attention. Although the Church had protocols for handling supernatural exposure to ordinary people, hundreds were watching from below. Jenkins didn't want to cause more trouble for the Nolan church; they already had enough.
He turned away from the hole, giving up on chasing the ghoul. After waking Mr. Dubai and the accountant, the three of them hurried back to the main auction hall.
By now, the young women in the hall were also aware of the fire. Thick black smoke billowed up through the seams of the wooden floorboards, and the crackling of the blaze grew steadily closer.
It was obvious the building had no fireproofing. The combination of dry timber and a gentle breeze meant the fire had almost instantly reached the second floor and was now spreading out from the tower into the surrounding encampment.
Running upstairs was out of the question. If the load-bearing beams below burned through, the chance of falling to their deaths was only slightly less than that of burning alive.
"We have to go down, before the fire completely consumes the third floor!"
Jenkins shouted from the top of the stairs, but no one responded. He glanced back at the terrified Briny, who stood huddled with her friends. Then, clutching the stone casket in one arm and his cat in the other, he charged into the inferno on the second floor. A moment later, the sound of his heavy footsteps faded into the roar of the flames below.