Chapter 1426: Chapter 1426

Arriving shortly after hearing the commotion, Alexia saw Jenkins's soaked and disheveled state and asked with concern:

"What's wrong with Nolan this time? Did you fall into a river?"

"I almost fell into the sea."

Jenkins waved off Julia, who was about to fetch him a fresh set of clothes, and began drying himself with a conjured flame as he asked:

"Is Dolores home? I remember you saying the Stuart bloodline contains a power of extreme cold. That if activated through a ritual and combined with a specific ability, it can unleash strength far greater than one's own. Alexia, if I want to freeze an entire stretch of the sea, do you have a way?"

"Freeze an entire stretch of the sea?"

An interested expression appeared on Alexia's face.

"We have Dolores, and that ice fortress in the snowy mountains, so in principle, it's possible. But we still need to channel that power to Nolan, which requires a way to breach the spatial barrier for an extended period. And if you're going to freeze the ocean, the power of just the two of you won't be enough to spread the ice. You need a way to influence the ocean itself... That key, do you still have it on you?"

It meant the sea and Femishue's power had already encroached upon St. George Avenue, near the docklands. Jenkins had to act fast, or the consequences would be unthinkable.

With his and Alexia's plan in mind, Jenkins leaped directly from the second floor to the deserted street below. He summoned his unicorn into the rain and had it carry him toward the coast. ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ NoveI-Fire.ɴet

He flew low this time, and because of the downpour, very few people bothered to look up. No one noticed him until he was attacked by the tentacles.

The water near the shore was unnaturally murky, constantly battering the buildings on land.

The unicorn became a streak of white light, carrying Jenkins straight into the demigods' battlefield. His sword hacked away at the oncoming tentacles, and before anyone could react, he had reached the heart of the battle.

Compared to when he had left, the swarm of summoned tentacles was now far larger and more densely packed.

The tentacles piled on top of one another, not only forming a throne that enshrined the almost inhuman form of Femishue but also vaguely creating a single, writhing statue.

It was difficult to describe the shape depicted by the mass of tentacles. A single glance at its silhouette was enough to make Jenkins involuntarily recall the original owner's distant childhood—the countless terrifying legends of the sea he had heard from Robert and Mary.

In the abyss beneath the deepest sea, indescribable horrors lay dormant. This was an ancient myth passed down for generations among those who lived by the coast.

"The Believer of Lies!"

Someone was finally the first to spot the rapidly approaching Jenkins.

"Let me through! I'm not here to cause trouble!"

He shouted, his voice cutting powerfully through the rain to everyone's ears. As if his words held some strange magic, the people before him subconsciously parted, allowing the unicorn to break through their ranks unimpeded and reach Femishue.

Femishue's body had now swollen to at least twice its size, bloated like a drowned giant. A foul, yellowish sludge oozed from his skin, and his legs, now transformed into tentacles, slapped wetly against the tentacle throne beneath him.

A pair of small eyes, nearly swallowed by his facial muscles, looked up at Jenkins. With a guttural retching sound, a high-pressure jet of water shot from his mouth.

"Don't touch that water!"

Jenkins yelled a warning to his mount, raising a hand to gather the downpour into a large sheet of ice before them. The unicorn dodged swiftly but was nearly struck by the muddy water. The drops that splattered onto the ice shield began to rapidly corrode the solid surface.

"This water is tainted."

Someone shouted from behind him, the voice sounding like Miss Bevanna's. The demigods were fully engaged with the tentacles, and seeing the Believer of Lies charge to the front, they were content to let him bear the initial pressure.

He patted the unicorn as it flew onward. The small beast understood Jenkins's intent and decelerated sharply in mid-air, evading a cluster of tentacles that tried to net them. Then, it suddenly accelerated to its peak speed, carrying Jenkins directly before Femishue.

He yelled, leaping from the unicorn. Aided by momentum and gravity, he bravely thrust his right hand toward the center of Femishue's chest.

The latter roared, commanding his tentacles to swat Jenkins away, but the flames that erupted from Jenkins's body made them recoil.

His fingers touched something slimy, then pierced a freshly healed membrane of flesh, following the wound a scepter had made earlier and plunging into the creature's body.

A corrosive pain shot through his nerves and into his brain, but Jenkins ignored it, continuing to push his hand deeper.

"I am the King of the Myriad Seas! I am the Lord of the Ocean!"

Femishue's voice had become a gurgle, like that of the strange fish-men, and Jenkins could barely make out his words.

As he cried out, the writhing tentacles began to beat in a bizarre, unified rhythm. Against the backdrop of the murky yellow sea, even the crash of the waves seemed to follow the beat.

A strange dizziness assaulted Jenkins's mind, and in a trance, he glimpsed a bottomless abyss in the distant depths of the sea. He saw a colossal, terrifying creature coiled at the bottom. It seemed to notice his gaze, and its immense body stirred, threatening to reveal its full form.

He bit his tongue hard. The sharp pain ripped his consciousness from the deep sea and back into his own body.

As his physical senses returned, the first thing he felt was his right hand touching something hard inside Femishue's heart.

"The Heart of the Ocean!"

Femishue roared again. The tentacles around his body shot out like a spider's legs, reaching to embrace Jenkins, to envelop him completely.

Before Jenkins even had to resist, the demigods from the Church behind him began attacking the tentacles around Femishue. Knowing he had backup, Jenkins felt his courage surge. As his fingers made true contact with the half-cursed heart, he chose to accept it, to make it a part of himself.