Chapter 1332: Chapter 1332

Jenkins truly felt he was in grave danger. He had just passed through the morgue drawer into the mine shaft behind it and had easily found the ritual markings carved into the tunnel walls. Following the lines inward, he discovered a massive, bottomless subterranean abyss at the very end of the shaft.

Just as he was pondering what might lie at the bottom of the abyss, a colossal eye snapped open, startling him. A moment later, he was struck by the Titan's sweeping arm and sent flying, crashing straight through the soft earth layer weakened by mining and bursting out from underground.

If it weren't for his [Undying Man] ability, Jenkins would have been killed instantly.

"It's actually a Titan!"

The Star Spirit had mentioned this ancient race just a moment ago. Jenkins had braced himself, but coming face-to-face with one still made him wonder for a few seconds if he was dreaming.

When he scrambled to his feet to run, he didn't leave the hospital grounds. Instead, he hid among the building's ruins near the explorers to observe. It was only when he noticed the four of them still standing there in a daze, rather than fleeing, that he realized something might be wrong with the game.

"Dammit, I don't have any divinity on me. How am I supposed to fight this thing?" The source of this content ɪs NoveI~Fire.net

The original plan was simple: he knew the Titan couldn't leave the hospital's perimeter, so all he had to do was hold it here and wait for the Church to clean up the mess. The Church had probably already traced the source of the city's torrential rain and earthquakes to this location. Even with a slow response, Jenkins would only need to stall it for twenty minutes at most.

But the four explorers from the game being unable to leave was the one variable he hadn't anticipated. So, his plan to hide had to change to a direct assault, but the attack seemed utterly useless.

Jenkins's attack had no effect. The Titan roared, reached its hand toward the clouds, and then, grasping a ball of lightning, hurled it at the ground. With a deafening crack, lightning exploded directly above Jenkins's head, forcing him into a desperate roll to evade it. But his reflexes were no match for the speed of lightning. His back was struck, and after the roll, he couldn't get back up, his body twitching uncontrollably on the ground from the paralyzing shock.

"You have to be kidding me. I'm supposed to fight something ?"

After managing to recover a bit of strength, he immediately leaped away just as the Titan's fist smashed a deep crater into the spot where he had been lying. If not for the creature's immense size slowing its movements, Jenkins would have died on the spot.

"There's no other way. I have to try."

He let out a sharp whistle, summoning his unicorn, and rode it into the sky. Lightning crackled incessantly around them. The Titan on the ground could control the storm, but Jenkins couldn't worry about that now.

He opened the pack on his back. Inside was a square, hard block wrapped in gauze—a highly compressed brick of bone powder collected by Dolores. It was the only contingency Jenkins had to prevent disaster.

He forcefully rubbed the white block in his hands a few times before tossing it toward the ground. To maximize his ability's power, he even unsheathed the White Bone Holy Sword, holding it with the blade pointed skyward. Under the thunderous, rainy sky, he chanted the incantation:

"There is an order to life and death; all that lives must die. I salute you, Death! Let bone be my body, and let the living be my enemy!"

A gray, decaying aura flowed from the hand gripping the sword, making the unicorn beneath him shift uncomfortably. After being thrown, the packet of bone powder drifted down, scattering in the air. Then, under the influence of Jenkins's power, it sculpted a complete bone giant, from its feet to its head.

But the giant was of limited size, not even a quarter as tall as the Titan, looking like a mere child in its presence. The moment the bone giant appeared, the Titan smashed a fist into its chest. Being an undead creature, the giant was largely unharmed, but over the next thirty seconds, the Titan still tore it to pieces.

In a daze, Jenkins, still riding his unicorn, heard the faint sound of a cat. His vision blurred, and when he looked up again, the enormous, bright yellow moon filled his sight.

"How can this be... To enter the Doomsday Illusion at a time ... Wait, isn't the illusion only accessible within Nolan's city limits? This abandoned hospital shouldn't be in range..."

Looking down, he saw the unmistakable cityscape of Nolan in its apocalyptic state. Before he could make sense of it, both he and his unicorn began to fall from the sky, victims of this world's rule prohibiting flight.

The buildings below were tall, so they didn't suffer much damage from the fall. But it confirmed for Jenkins that this was indeed the Doomsday Illusion; it was the only place he had ever encountered a no-fly rule.

"What does this mean? How did I get here?"

The noise of the unicorn and Jenkins crashing down had already attracted a horde of monsters. He was forced to raise his sword to defend himself, and only then did he notice that the entire city was littered with withered bones.

(Finney is praying...)

The [Story within a Story] was still in progress. The figurine representing Candle Mr had vanished from the table, but the Titan had also failed to kill the explorers. This was because the white cat, Vanilla, had tapped its paw on Briny's character card and let out a soft "Meow~". Immediately, the wooden carving of the writer's cat on Briny's shoulder flew into the air as if seized by an invisible force.

The Corpse Gentleman had not declared the cat to be under mind control, so the move was perfectly valid.

Vanilla, still on the table, tilted its head back and howled like a wolf. But because it was so small, the sound lacked any of a wolf's desolate sorrow. Yet, as Vanilla cried out, the wooden carving of Chocolate began to flicker with an indistinct shadow. Soon after, vast swaths of shadow materialized in the hospital backdrop, instantly enveloping the explorers.

Though it failed to pull them into the Shadow Realm, the Titan could at least no longer harm them.

"What does that mean?"

Hooded Man asked, failing to grasp the situation.

"Candle Mr's cat is likely the same breed as the writer's. It was able to use its own power, through their shared bloodline, to influence the writer's cat and thus indirectly affect the hospital itself. It's truly remarkable. I've only heard of a few exotic species capable of such a thing. I must ask Candle Mr what breed that cat is next time."

Magic Miss exclaimed in admiration, providing a plausible explanation for Vanilla's actions.