Chapter 2116: Chapter 2116
Jenkins knocked first, and only after receiving no response did he push the door open. The room, like most abandoned spaces, was cold and damp. The floor was coated in a yellowish-brown film—whether it was dust or some other grime, he couldn't tell.
He held Leoni Silf back, then gestured toward the bed on the left side of the room. It was a four-poster bed draped with curtains. Though it looked ancient, it at least appeared to be in a usable condition.
The elf couldn't perceive spiritual auras, but Jenkins could clearly see a figure lying on the bed.
"I've come to kill you. May I?"
There was still no response. He exchanged a look with Leoni; she was just as baffled by the situation. So, Jenkins swung his sword, effortlessly cleaving the figure on the bed in two. Concerned that damaging the furniture might trigger unforeseen consequences, he made sure the bed itself remained unscathed.
Jenkins muttered in surprise, telling the elf to stay put. He cautiously approached the bed, pulled back the curtains and the blanket, and looked down at the corpse he had just bisected.
"Damn it, so that's what this is..."
A wave of drowsiness washed over him. He realized that the previous young swordsman who had accepted this mission must have assassinated the old woman, only to collapse into a permanent slumber right here in this very room.
But Jenkins was far stronger than that swordsman from some unknown era. He forced himself to turn and stumble away from the bed.
he yelled to Leoni. She reached out, grabbing his hand to drag him from the room. But the moment their skin touched, the elf felt the same lethargy creep over her.
she exclaimed. Before collapsing, she used the last of her strength to fling Jenkins toward the doorway. His mind fogged by the encroaching sleep, Jenkins offered no resistance. He flew through the air and slammed hard against the doorframe, a large lump immediately swelling on his head.
The violent impact sent him recoiling to the floor, where he rolled twice on the rug just outside the room. The jolt of pain shocked his mind into a brief moment of clarity. But his body was already succumbing, weak and aching. While his consciousness was awake, his physical form could no longer fight the slumber. Every part of him, save for his soul, screamed for sleep, and his mental control over his body had clearly reached its limit.
In a panic, he slipped the leaf the World Tree's consciousness had given him into his mouth. A refreshing coolness spread from his tongue throughout his entire body, finally restoring a bit of his strength.
He slammed his palm against the floor, launching himself fully out of the room, only to slam his head hard against the opposite wall of the corridor. It took him a long moment to recover before he could get to his feet. Using a hook and rope, he managed to drag the sleeping elf out of the room. He snagged her clothes in the process, but thankfully, he was able to mend them before she woke up.
They both leaned against the corridor wall, needing a good while to completely shake off the lingering effects.
"I think this target was more dangerous than the first three,"
Jenkins quipped, still in the mood for a joke.
"Yes. The first three only required strength. With this one, a single moment of carelessness would have been the end of us."
Leoni hadn't yet recovered her usual composure; otherwise, she would never have used such a colloquialism with Jenkins.
Although this fourth challenge in the Mysterious Realm had seemed straightforward, it was, in reality, easily one of the two most difficult they had faced. This one was a comprehensive test of strength, intellect, and luck—not unlike the possibility-type realm he had experienced with Jessica and Magic Miss a short while ago.
Jenkins had only succeeded because he was thoroughly prepared and his circumstances were unique. Anyone else would have likely shared Leoni's fate. One needed enough strength to handle the castle's monsters, enough wit to navigate its sudden trials, and enough luck to avoid encountering its even more dangerous inhabitants.
After all, both he and Leoni knew perfectly well that the four monsters they were tasked with eliminating were by no means the most dangerous things lurking within these walls.
"Perhaps the difficulty of a Mysterious Realm is related to the scale of its setting,"
he mused as he and Leoni ascended the main staircase to the castle's highest floor.
Reaching the top floor required no secret passages or puzzles; one simply had to follow the main staircase. For some unknown reason, the grand stairwell was completely devoid of danger from the ground floor to the top. As long as they were careful not to touch the broken banisters, the climb was an entirely physical one.
The layout of the highest floor was different from the others. As they reached the top of the stairs, they found themselves in a vast hall carpeted in red. More unusually, the space was dotted with lit braziers, their flames barely managing to illuminate the central area.
The numerous braziers were arranged in a spiral, at the center of which a sword was thrust into the floor. Compared to Jenkins's own White Bone Holy Sword, this blade was utterly unremarkable. It bore no ornamentation, and its hilt was engraved only with a simple pattern for grip. It was, in every other respect, just a sword.
The old butler stood beside the sword, hunched over and wringing his hands as he awaited their arrival.
"What are you doing here?"
Jenkins asked, glancing at the sword beside the old butler, but the man didn't answer.
"Do you want this sword?"
the old butler asked, ignoring Jenkins's question to pose one of his own.
"And if I said yes? What then?"
Jenkins countered. The elf had already tightened her grip on her longbow, and Jenkins himself was ready to draw his sword at a moment's notice.
"I knew it," the butler finally stopped wringing his hands. He straightened his back, looking at Jenkins and the elf. The expression on his face—half normal flesh, half brass-colored metal—was unnervingly placid. "I knew some of the pests in this castle would tell you about this sword."
"Do you intend to kill me?" Thɪs chapter is updated by NoveIＦire.net
"No," Jenkins said firmly. "We just want to leave. We've completed all the tasks you set for us. According to the rules of this realm, we should be allowed to depart. I'm taking my companion with me, and then our business will be concluded."
"Do you understand the meaning of the trials you just endured?"
the old butler asked.
"I'm not obligated to answer you. Tell me where the exit is. Are you planning to defy the fundamental rules of this realm?"
"Do you have any idea how long I have been trapped in this place?"
"As I said, I have no obligation to answer you,"
Jenkins repeated, his tone sharp.
"Even I can no longer say for sure how many years it has been," he said, ignoring Jenkins. "For so long, I have waited to return to my homeland, or even just to enter the material world. But my lord never recalled this castle, and the adventurers who stumbled in here never gave me the chance to leave. An ordinary Mysterious Realm collapses if it isn't cleared within a certain time, allowing creatures like me to spill into the physical world. But this place is special. It will never collapse, for this is my lord's castle."
He spoke as if to himself, rambling about things that held no interest for Jenkins or Leoni, but Jenkins had already grasped his meaning.
"You're trying to say the Difference Engine gave you a chance? An opportunity to enter the material world?"
"Difference Engine? Its name is Great Wisdom."
The old butler pulled the sword from the floorboards. The blade's own power clashed with the butler's essence, but the hand he used to grip it was the mechanical arm granted to him by the Difference Engine, allowing him to touch it.
"This sword is also from my lord's collection—it is the most valuable item he left in this castle. The residents here call it the 'Heart Light Sword.' It draws its power from the strength of one's spirit, which makes it useful even to me."
The butler pointed the sword toward the ceiling.
"Savior. Savior of the Eighteenth Epoch. We have no quarrel, you and I. I had no desire to provoke a fortunate child of destiny like yourself. But I want freedom. I want to leave this place. I want to see a new world."
Dark light began to converge on the sword—part of it was the power of shadow, and the rest was the very power from the six tasks Jenkins had just completed.
"Pride, Envy, Wrath, Sloth, Gluttony, and Lust. That was the truth behind your missions. What did you think a 'real illusion' was? A mere shadow? No! The truest illusion is the reflection of the human heart! It is these very powers. You have helped me gather the six powers of this castle. Now, it is time for the seventh. Do you know of Greed? A greed so great it can devour all things, absorb their power as its own—a calamity that once devoured the very moon?"
The old butler cackled.
"You are destined never to leave this castle! Oh, ancient moonlight, answer the call of Greed! Descend! Descend now!"
"Greed? I would have thought it'd be Gluttony..."
Jenkins muttered something no one could understand as he reached into his pack and drew out a flute. It was one he had prepared himself, the only way to play the melody of the Dragon-Calling Flute.
"Think carefully. Do you really want to help the Difference Engine?"
"It is the end of the Epoch in the material world. As long as you don't kill me, I will face no punishment for my actions. I am involving myself in the Savior's quest for the sole purpose of shattering this cursed fate!"
The light converged on the sword in the old butler's hand. A pillar of energy shot upward, blasting straight through the ceiling and conveniently giving all three of them a clear view of the bright yellow moon overhead.
The moon should have been on the horizon, but now it seemed pressed right against the castle's roof. The stone gargoyles on the rooftop were already crumbling to ash under the power of the primordial moon. It was sinking lower. Jenkins and Leoni could both see the magnificent, rugged surface of the yellow celestial body, see the blemishes that marred its face, and see the giant black cat sleeping within its core.
Jenkins raised the flute to his lips and began to play.