Chapter 2001: Chapter 2001

Jenkins hadn't expected Papa Oliver to answer so quickly. He paused for a moment before asking,

"Papa Oliver, did you know what I was going to ask?"

"Of course. You want to invite me to be a consultant? Oh, no. I have no interest in that sort of thing."

Jenkins dropped the subject. Papa Oliver returned his attention to the newspaper, Jenkins gently stroked his cat, and Chocolate settled in for a quiet morning nap.

But the carriage stopped again.

"What do you suppose it is this time?"

Papa Oliver asked, setting his newspaper aside with a rustle of pages.

"I don't care what it is," Jenkins declared. "I swear, nothing is going to stop me from getting to the church."

The two men opened their umbrellas and stepped out of the carriage again. The driver, knowing better than to stick around, promptly ducked into a nearby alley. From inside the carriage, Chocolate poked its head out to watch.

Yet the heavy summer rain didn't seem to soak her, nor did it smudge her makeup. She stood in the storm, yet her clothes remained pristine. In the dim light, she was so beautiful it was as if she were glowing from within.

Everything about the scene was unsettlingly unnatural, so Jenkins blinked.

"A Series B Extraordinary item."

he said. Papa Oliver nodded, then looked down in thought for a moment before identifying it:

"B-09-2-7083, The Crimson Dancer."

"That doesn't sound too dangerous."

"There's a rule in nature: the more brightly colored the creature, the more dangerous it is. That rule holds some truth for Numbered Items as well. I think we're in trouble."

"What kind of trouble? She's a dancer, isn't she? Don't tell me her special ability is killing people with her dancing?"

"No, no. This lady's ability isn't dangerous, but it's incredibly troublesome. To put it simply, once she picks a target, that person has to dance with her until she's satisfied. Otherwise, the unlucky target can't leave this spot. Not dangerous, no, but a massive waste of time."

Hearing this, Jenkins thought for a moment, then asked the critical question:

"How many targets does she choose at once?"

"Just one, of course."

"So, Papa Oliver... who do you think the unlucky one is? You or me?"

As he spoke, the two men tacitly stepped apart, moving to opposite sides of the muddy cobblestone street. The beautiful dancer, who had been standing motionless, turned to face Jenkins.

Papa Oliver stopped walking and smiled at Jenkins.

"There you have it, Jenkins. I knew your luck was worse."

Numbered Items weren't necessarily powerful, but they always possessed strange, abnormal properties. The dancer was a clear example. She wouldn't attack someone who refused to dance, nor would she transform into some unspeakable monster to destroy them. She would simply trap her chosen target within a specific area.

This was equivalent to The Crimson Dancer turning a normal space into a localized spatial anomaly, one that affected only a single person. The only way to escape this entanglement was to satisfy the dancer with a shared performance.

In truth, it wasn't that difficult. Even someone with no dance experience would surely improve after being forced to practice for days, or even months. Of course, that was assuming someone brought them food and water. The dancer certainly wouldn't be providing meals.

Unfortunately, Jenkins was precisely the type with no dance experience and no time to practice. Typically, at balls, it was the young ladies who led him through the dances. Whether it was Hathaway, Briny, or even Alexia and Dolores, they all had excellent technique and could maintain their composure as long as he didn't step on their feet.

The dancer before him was not lethal, and she only targeted one person at a time. For Jenkins to encounter her at this specific moment was too much of a coincidence. This had to be part of the cultists' plan.

Jenkins looked to Papa Oliver, hoping he might have an idea, but the old man just shrugged.

"Solve it yourself. I'm sure you'll find a way."

Of course, he had a way. The Crimson Dancer's spatial lock was a type of seal, and Jenkins's Key of the Gate specialized in dealing with such things. But he didn't know if she would just follow him again after he broke free. He wasn't even sure if using the key in front of Papa Oliver was a good idea, especially since the key to its evolution was on Papa Oliver himself.

"Let me remind you, we don't have much time. You need to figure out a way out of here, or we'll be late. Jenkins, while you're still my apprentice in name, everyone knows you're more than capable of handling things on your own now. So now, Jenkins, show me the wisdom and power you possess as the Church's Saint Son."

"Oh, thank you so much for the reminder, Papa Oliver... The way you say that makes me think this is some kind of test you've cooked up."

He grumbled, his fingers closing around the Sin Coins in his pocket. He was down to one Blasphemy Seed and one Gem of Ages. The last time he'd gone to the underground, Alexia had paid the fare herself. He had planned to save these two coins for the next time he needed that carriage, but it seemed he wouldn't be able to.

As he thought, he approached the dancer, his umbrella held high. Up close, she was indeed a beautiful woman. She remained silent, her right hand raised high and her left extended forward, beckoning Jenkins to take it. At this proximity, Jenkins confirmed that the dancer was literally glowing. The light accentuated her form perfectly while somehow blending seamlessly with the dismal slum street that served as her backdrop.

If she were on a stage, she would be the undisputed star, for the spotlight was on her at all times.

His fingers had already pinched the Blasphemy Seed, ready to place it in the woman's outstretched hand. He wasn't sure one would be enough, so he decided to test it. As his heart ached at the thought of having only one Sin Coin left, he also wondered if he should prepare a large stash of coins in advance, just in case the final battle took place in a Mysterious Realm.

Chocolate's cry was faint in the rain, so faint that even Papa Oliver, standing not far from the carriage, didn't notice.

The cat, peering out from the carriage, was now very displeased. It had danced with Jenkins once in human form, one of the rare opportunities the cat had to be with him that way.

When the other girls in the house danced with Jenkins, Chocolate could dismiss it as the immature boy playing with his toys. But for some strange creature to suddenly appear and demand a dance with Jenkins—that, Chocolate could not accept.

It knew it couldn't go too far right now; its "perfect" disguise couldn't be blown here. So, with a flick of its little head, it cautiously checked that no one was watching before carefully shrinking back into the carriage.

Beneath a sky shrouded in dark clouds and gray mist, shadows lingered everywhere. The dim light and the chaotic patter of raindrops made it impossible to scrutinize every shadow for inconsistencies or anomalies.

And so, it was only when the shadows around the carriage—and indeed, in the entire area centered on it—began to writhe unnaturally that Papa Oliver, who had been watching Jenkins, suddenly became alert.

"The power of the Shadow Realm? How can the Shadow Realm..."

Every shifting shadow seemed to become a curtain separating the material world from the Shadow Realm. Behind those curtains lay the world of shadows, a realm clinging to the physical plane. As the two intimately connected worlds were breached, winds and shades not bound by the rules of the material world began to seep through the shadowy veils.

Papa Oliver had only managed to shout that one warning before a pitch-black hand shot out from the shadow of a nearby wall and seized his ankle. Jenkins, who had just been about to produce the Sin Coin, was startled by the cry. He spun around to see Papa Oliver in danger and, without hesitation, raised his hand to fling an ice crystal and sever the shadowy arm.

But he, too, was standing in shadow. Even without moving, he suddenly felt the ground give way beneath him as if he'd stepped into a bottomless abyss. The last thing he saw was that the darkness of his own shadow was now a void. He had stepped wrong and was now plummeting into it.

Jenkins had briefly entered the Shadow Realm once before. It was after he'd been turned into a mouse from eating candy in the underground. After Chocolate rescued him, the cat had used one of the three golden hairs behind its ear to perform a Shadow Jaunt, a power a cat should not possess. This time was similar. His stay in the Shadow Realm was fleeting. One second he was falling into it, with no time to even perceive its strange spirit, and the next he was flying out of a shadow behind Papa Oliver, crashing into the old man and sending them both tumbling to the ground.

The two scrambled up from the muddy ground, only to find themselves surrounded by monsters emerging from the curtains of shadow. The overlapping shadows distorted their vision and the light, twisting their surroundings into a bizarre, grotesque landscape. But this fantastical scenery also signaled immense danger.

"You go on ahead. I'll handle this." The latest_epɪ_sodes are on_the NoveI[F]ire.net

This was no longer a situation an ordinary person could handle. The shadow monsters poured out like a tide, and the sky itself seemed to turn pitch-black, stained by the encroaching darkness.

"To dare open a Shadow Realm passage of this magnitude in the material world... they're completely insane!"

Papa Oliver cursed under his breath, reaching for the key. He had once mentioned that he relied on that key to perfectly suppress his power to its current level. If it could suppress, it could also release.

"Jenkins, I don't know what's about to happen, so I need to tell you the most basic, simple way to use this key now. That way, if something happens to me, its secrets won't be lost."