Endless Debt-Chapter 808 - 264: Interweaving Reality and Illusion (Part 2)
"It’s nothing, it’s just that the characters who disappeared long ago have returned to the story."
This kind of anomaly had been anticipated by Bologue, but he hadn’t expected it to happen so quickly. Palmer became a bit anxious. No matter how much he braced himself, the terrible experience was still incredibly painful.
The crimson flag in the distance was getting closer. That was the limit of what the third group could escort. Beyond the flag, the suppression of the Ether would become more severe. Coupled with endless demons, even the third group would face the risk of casualties.
"This tier level is not very effective here, and this reality-shattering event treats everyone equally."
Lynch murmured. He had dealt with many reality-shattering disasters, but none was as troublesome as this one. In this maddening narrative, Lynch couldn’t find any pattern.
"It’s okay, we’re used to this."
Bologue stepped over the corpses of demons, and besides the blood spilling out, there were also black particles rising from their bodies, then blending into the darkness.
The umbilical cord throbbed violently, like nerves transmitting pain. Bologue’s perception of this disaster was far deeper than that of others. Bologue could clearly sense that his connection with the Devil was getting closer.
Right before his eyes.
Bologue’s vision went black, and a bloodthirsty roar echoed in his ears. The ground began to sink and collapse, and a gaping maw closed like a trap, swallowing Bologue whole. But before it could chew with its sharp teeth, cold silver swords protruded from beneath the flesh.
The blades twisted and turned, shattering the grotesque demon, turning it into countless fragments. Bologue’s pace was unaffected, continuing forward.
"A similar plot appeared in the novel."
Palmer caught up, "But in the novel, the Hunter couldn’t escape the trap."
"Ewen wrote down some of his experiences," Bologue tried hard to recall Ewen’s drafts, "How do you think he will end the story?"
Bologue realized that to solve this disaster, he needed to start from Ewen’s story.
Looking up at this bizarre dark world, Bologue and the others not only walked into a disaster but also into Ewen’s story.
"At the end of Ewen’s story, he probably wished for us to leave, and then he encountered Asmodeus. Under the influence of Asmodeus’s power, his story started becoming reality..."
Bologue thought of another thing, and he said to Palmer.
"Do you think we are now already appearing in Ewen’s writing?"
Bologue’s words stumped Palmer. This simple-minded fellow had never thought about these complicated matters; he only thought about playing his role and slaughtering.
Young people like Palmer often have such fantasies, dreaming of entering a story... Palmer was not escaping reality, he was just simply not very bright.
"If that’s the case, then Ewen should be seeing us, right?" Aimou said in a deep tone, sounding like he was telling a story, "The familiar hunters have once again arrived outside Daisy Castle..."
Aimou’s story was not yet finished when the scattered black particles in the air suddenly turned together, outlining the trajectory of the wind. Countless black lines, like strokes of slashes being swung, cut on everyone.
"Danger!"
Lynch warned, and a roaring Ether rose from his body, but before it could spread, it was brutally suppressed. Yet even after being weakened layer by layer, some extraordinary power took effect.
A dark wave rose without any warning, carrying countless demons, like a collapsing high wall, crashing heavily towards everyone.
Lynch’s figure began to twist, becoming ethereal. Explosive booms echoed continuously in the air, and almost in an instant, Lynch flung a few team members beside him. They shot out like cannonballs, quickly leaving the wave’s range, and then Lynch reached for the nearest Bologue within the range, but this time, he couldn’t keep up.
The outstretched arm was infinitely close to Bologue’s body, but the dark wave arrived first, crashing down, engulfing everyone, washing over like a tidal wave on the ground.
Lynch was hit so hard that his blood and energy surged. In the constantly dimming and brightening vision, demons roared and lunged at him. The ear-piercing sword hums sounded, and the strikes, difficult to see with the naked eye, easily shattered them.
His feet steadied firmly on the ground. Lynch drew twin blades, swinging them rapidly, they were like rapidly spinning rotors, easily dispersing anything approaching, along with the wave.
The pressure piled up on Lynch relentlessly, he tried searching for Bologue, but all he saw was layered darkness.
The suppression from the shattered reality drained Lynch of his last bit of strength, his twin blades slipped from his grasp. Lynch, with weary arms, was swept over by the wave, continuing to be carried backward until it completely ceased.
A limitless nightmare emerged in front of Lynch, his mind felt as if it had been savaged by a wild beast, unspeakable emotions churned inside his chest.
When he regained consciousness and was pulled up by a team member, the black wave had disappeared, and Bologue and the others had vanished from sight entirely. Lynch didn’t know if they had gone missing or had delved deeper into the darkness.
...
Ewen felt he was gradually losing his sense of time. He no longer knew how long he’d been typing at the workstation, like a machine on the brink of collapse, his eyes were bloodshot, accompanied by murmurs, saliva dripping from the corner of his mouth.
Not satisfied... Not satisfied! Not satisfied!
Every line Ewen wrote, he tore off the page violently, throwing it aside. Now darkness had descended, Ewen needed to continue the story, but no matter how he tried to proceed, he couldn’t think of an ending that wasn’t so dark.
The story was stuck, but the darkness continued to spread, the time left to Ewen was running out. As an author, Ewen was used to the state of being unable to write a story, but now such a state seemed so deadly.
In extreme agony, Ewen even thought that dying like this would be nothing, since he had long stopped caring about these things, let alone his own life.
The shotgun was right beside him, Ewen could end his own life at any moment... if Asmodeus was willing to let him go.
But in the end, Ewen abandoned the thought of suicide, a thought held him up. As an author, he needed to finish the story, and in this long struggle, Ewen unexpectedly discovered a few rules about writing reality.
Logic.
A story has its logic; Ewen couldn’t write a story that surpassed logic, just like he couldn’t write a deus ex machina scenario, like a sudden explosion killing Asmodeus.
Ewen couldn’t do that, even if he wrote it, the words wouldn’t transform into reality. Ewen felt it was a kind of subjective power. Only if he sincerely believed and adhered to logic could the story continue.
Immense pain tormented Ewen, and he clawed at his own head forcefully, his hands stained with blood and gray-white hair. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢
In the deathly silent grand library, the crisp sound of keys clacking suddenly echoed. Ewen lifted his head, staring dazedly at the paper. Clearly, he hadn’t pressed any keys, yet the typewriter autonomously began writing the story.
A line of text appeared, written from Ewen’s first-person perspective.
"The hunters finally received my letter; they came to rescue me... to step into this dreadful hell."
Reality and illusion corresponded with and influenced each other.
Bologue struggled to stand from the muddy ground. Palmer and Aimou were right beside him. Miraculously, they hadn’t been separated. Then, raising his head, Bologue saw vast fields of daisies, and beyond the flower sea lay the castle symbolizing the end of all things.
"Is it really like this?"
Bologue murmured to himself, his uniform vanished, replaced by the hunters’ attire. This damned role-playing game was still not over, but fortunately, Bologue once again grasped it.
Raising the slender blade in his hand, the dark resentment seemed to want to devour all light.
The hunters came, to start this final battle, to end this dark story.
