“Finally, finally!”
“I've finally broken free from these damn shackles!”
“As I thought, only the Forbidden Fire, also eternally imprisoned, could burn through these shackles of eternal imprisonment!”
The voice of Origami Mane, that monster merchant prisoner, echoed through the empty boss room filled with solidified lava.
Caiman stared in disbelief at the corpse of the Cinderguard as it rose once again.
Embedded in the very center of the Cinderguard's exoskeleton-like skull was the red gem.
At the same time, a pair of shattered shackles and chains fell to the ground.
There were gaps in the sturdy shackles and chains where they had been melted by high heat.
Those were clearly the marks of the Forbidden Fire.
“Origami, aren't you a monster merchant who committed the crime of theft?”
Caiman looked at the Cinderguard before him, still unable to believe his eyes.
“A monster merchant?”
“Only fools like you humans would fall for such a lie!”
“I did indeed commit the crime of theft, but it wasn't gems that I stole. It was...”
“The fire of sin, the Forbidden Fire!”
“That is exactly why I was sentenced to the sentence of eternal imprisonment.”
“But now, I am a free man.”
Origami gripped the Candelabra. Relying on the power of the Forbidden Fire, he began to reshape the body that originally belonged to the Cinderguard.
“A prisoner... A prisoner of the Well of Eternal Imprisonment... Do you think breaking your shackles means you can escape your punishment?”
Caiman was incoherent with shock.
His past experiences in clearing other dungeons felt as powerless as a child being slapped by an adult in the face of the Well of Eternal Imprisonment.
“And what of it?”
By now, the Cinderguard's body had been reshaped by the Forbidden Fire into the likeness of the monster merchant, Origami Mane.
Except now, a Forbidden Fire gem mark sat upon his forehead.
Holding the Candelabra, he looked toward Caiman.
Caiman, who had worked so hard to defeat the Cinderguard, now seemed to have gained absolutely nothing.
Should he take it?
Should he seize back the spoils that should have been his, and the Candelabra he had longed for, from Origami Mane's hands?
Looking at Origami, Caiman suppressed the thought.
The Forbidden Fire—with the Candelabra in hand, Origami now controlled the residual Forbidden Fire within the Cinderguard. After his bitter struggle, Caiman was no longer a match for him.
Furthermore, the issue was no longer whether he should strike.
It was whether Origami was willing to let him go.
Origami examined the Candelabra in his hand, then his gaze fell upon Caiman.
The atmosphere grew silent.
Caiman secretly tightened his grip on the Forgotten Hero, ready to fight at a moment's notice.
“An intruder from outside the Well of Eternal Imprisonment. How pitiful, how lamentable.”
“You crave the Forbidden Fire, yet you lack the capacity to contain it. In the end, your path leads either to eternal imprisonment or to becoming fuel for the madness of the fire.”
Origami suddenly began speaking in riddles.
This actually made Caiman breathe a sigh of relief; it seemed Origami had no intention of fighting.
Based on Manfred's previous battle, even with the Candelabra, the amount of Forbidden Fire one could contain was limited—it was a non-renewable consumable.
He didn't know if Origami intended to save the limited fire for something more important, or if he simply had no plan to attack him.
Monster merchants of the Well of Eternal Imprisonment usually didn't initiate combat with humans; they were the easiest monsters to communicate with in the dungeon.
But after seeing Origami reshape his body with the fire, Caiman wasn't sure if the being before him was truly a monster merchant.
“What do you mean by that?”
Caiman asked while cautiously backing away.
“Without the Forbidden Fire Blessing or a Forbidden Fire Container, what capacity do you have before the fire?”
“The fire of sin is filled with evil, madness, and destruction.”
“Without the capacity, approaching the fire will only turn you into fuel, burning you until not even dust remains.”
A look of reminiscence entered Origami's eyes.
Perhaps because Caiman had helped him burn through his shackles and gain a new life, he was willing to share some information.
Or, more likely, this cunning merchant felt Caiman still had value to be squeezed and could be used to achieve his own goals.
“Within the Well of Eternal Imprisonment, countless wicked and mad prisoners are held.”
“These prisoners are all sentenced to the sentence of eternal imprisonment. They struggle along the walls at the bottom of the well, vomiting up madness and rolling in their own deranged bile, eternally imprisoned and soaked in insanity.”
“Until madness and blood coat the walls, slick and sticky as they fester, growing into disgusting pustules.”
“For a prisoner under the sentence of eternal imprisonment, their only wish is to break their shackles. And to do that, only the fire of sin within the well—the Forbidden Fire—can melt them.”
“Countless prisoners crave the fire. They fight while wearing their chains, using them as weapons, crawling in search of the Forbidden Fire.”
Origami looked at Caiman as he spoke.
“And the only outcome for those who seek the fire? Every single prisoner, without exception, becomes a human torch.”
Listening to Origami's mad ramblings, Caiman found it difficult to understand.
“What are human torches?”
Origami waved the Candelabra.
“Eternal prisoners tainted by the Forbidden Fire, their entire bodies wreathed in flames, unable to live yet unable to die.”
“The madness within these prisoners' hearts has long since seeped into their very marrow through eternal confinement.”
“They are the perfect fuel for the fire. They crave it, only to be ignited by it, using the madness in their hearts as fuel to burn for eternity.”
“The punishment of eternal imprisonment has no end. Even after their flesh is incinerated, their bones will continue to burn, wandering the Well of Eternal Imprisonment for all eternity.”
Caiman felt a chill run down his spine. This was the fate of those who sought the Forbidden Fire.
To become a human torch, burning forever.
“So, craving the Forbidden Fire is destined to be a path of no return.”
“It is a road leading to destruction and madness.”
“Eternal prisoners pursue the fire one after another just to melt their chains, only to end up as human torches themselves.”
Origami's voice was grim as he stared straight at Caiman.
“So, will you become the next human torch, you seeker of fire without capacity?”
Caiman wasn't sure if Origami was trying to scare him into giving up his pursuit of the fire, or if he was using reverse psychology to goad him into seeking it, fulfilling some hidden agenda.
“I will never hand the Forbidden Fire over to anyone.”
“But what about your goal, Origami? Why did you steal the Forbidden Fire in the first place and end up eternally imprisoned?”
Origami let out a sinister laugh, and a flickering, unstable Forbidden Fire ignited on the Candelabra.
“My goal?”
“Are you sure you want to trust the words of a prisoner of the Well of Eternal Imprisonment again?”
“Or do you truly want to know the objective of a prisoner who crawled out of a well filled with madness?”
Origami put away the Candelabra, his body gradually vanishing from the spot.
“The lava of the Forbidden Fire is right before your eyes. As long as you seek the fire, you will naturally find me again.”
“I only hope that by then, you haven't turned into a pathetic torch.”
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