Endless Debt

Chapter 1242 - 59: Explosion! Explosion!

The neat gunfire rang out, a dense rain of bullets whistling towards him. Bologue didn’t have time to complain about why his private storage was like an armory. The Rhombus Shield spun at high speed around him, the sound of collisions and the dazzling sparks never-ending.Under Bologue’s command, the Rhombus Shield was not just a high-speed rotating defense array; as Bologue approached, it shredded the approaching enemies into pieces like a meat grinder or millstone.

"The intruders have broken through our encirclement."

A hoarse, distorted voice rang out again. Bologue looked towards the voice, and this time it wasn’t the previous monster speaking, but another one.

It was half-kneeling behind a fallen desk, using it as cover, holding an iron pencil case, and muttering to it.

An unspeakable eeriness arose again. Bologue realized that these monsters seemed to be mimicking the Field Staff, wearing crisp uniforms, their movements coordinated and well-trained.

Before Bologue caught their attention, they imitated human work, buried in their tasks at workstations. Even when encountering Bologue, they pretended to act like humans, calling for reinforcements with a communicator—that wasn’t even a communicator.

These monsters were mimicking everything that once was here, imitating those staff who had long since died or left. Bologue even suspected that within this high-chaos Ruins District, there was always some kind of "order."

The monsters mimicked the order of past illusions.

But they were only mimicking empty shells.

Bologue felt as if his perception was being forcefully twisted. After hacking through a large number of monsters again, he pushed forward with effort. He temporarily disregarded the patterns of these monster actions, only eager to escape this place quickly.

Hoarse dialogues rose and fell, devoid of any emotion, as cold as machinery.

"Stop him, stop him."

"How long until Field Operations Department reinforcements arrive."

These monsters even repeated the action procedure, exchanging information that was utterly meaningless.

"Report to the Decision Room."

Suddenly, one of the monsters said.

Bologue was momentarily stunned. Due to the Decision Room’s uniqueness, Bologue couldn’t help but give the monster an extra glance, only to see it raise its hand to its head, making a gesture like a six, as if answering a phone, and it continued speaking.

"The Decision Room has received the message."

It turned its head towards Bologue, and Bologue felt as if a pair of eyes were staring at him on that blank, eerily strange face.

"Reinforcements have arrived."

At the moment the monster’s words fell, the ground began to squirm and deform. Cubes rapidly disintegrated, space shifted and overlapped, and several large doors abruptly rose from the ground.

Bologue had praised the convenience of the Cultivation Room many times; with sufficient authority, reaching any location was a matter of an instant. But now, this convenient ability struck back at him like a boomerang, as this frenzied Ruins District could summon reinforcements anytime, anywhere.

Many figures emerged from the doors, striding forward, wearing the Field Operations Department uniforms Bologue was familiar with. The moment they saw Bologue, these monsters assumed a combat stance.

Their bodies began to swell and deform, resembling grotesque creations piled with weapons. Dense blades burst through their bodies, and both their limbs and heads transformed into endless blades, or perhaps hundreds of gun barrels protruded, the barrels bound together to replace arms, with a massive muzzle occupying their entire head.

They were like incarnations of weapons.

"Open fire."

A calm, emotionless voice sounded, immediately drowned by thunderous gunfire.

The gunner staff’s hands behaved like machine guns, spewing bullets at high speed, while the giant cannon in its head fired slowly. Its ammunition seemed infinite. Bologue only saw boundless flashes, then was engulfed by a steel torrent composed of countless warheads.

The Rhombus Shield quickly constructed an iron wall in front of him, but it was shattered in seconds by this terrifying firepower. Even though Bologue continuously commanded the fragments to regroup, the material of the Deceitful Snake Scale Liquid had reached its limit.

In the high-speed impacts, the metal heated rapidly, the shattered edges glowing like burning red, scorching and dazzling.

A whistling symphony came from above. Bologue looked up, seeing countless blades flashing before him. This scene reminded Bologue of his first battle with the Blade-Biting Wolf—yet that Domination Object vaguely had a human shape, while the Sword and Shield Staff appearing before him now was more like a porcupine clad entirely in blades.

A thousand blades slashed down, the pitch-black Blade-Biting Wolf angrily slashing upward.

The thin blade seemed so insignificant, yet in the next moment, a thousand blades shattered, collapsing into pieces.

Under the massive Ethereal Amplification, the Blade-Biting Wolf moved like a streak of black lightning, cutting through a series of blades, forcibly shaving off a piece from this sharp porcupine before plunging into the core of a myriad of Sharp Swords.

No blood, no flesh.

Bologue realized why he felt so suffocated; these monsters struck without any tactile feedback, as if confronting a group of phantoms.

"Get lost!"

Blades rapidly proliferated like a thicket of thorns, grinding against each other with a shrill noise, but before they could reach Bologue, he detonated Ether, a strong Ethereal Shock driving the Sword and Shield Staff back, the shattered Rhombus Shield pressed against it, forcing it to retreat.

Having dealt with this hindrance, Bologue briskly advanced through the dense barrage of gunfire. As he neared, the artillery staff unleashed even fiercer firepower. Suddenly, Bologue made a sharp turn, abandoning the assault on the artillery staff and instead diving into the office layer.

The green sign not far off grew increasingly clear; all along, Bologue’s target had been this safety passage.

"Catch him."

The monsters communicated with each other, more and more Field Staff emerged from the doors, like the Sword and Shield Staff and artillery staff, their bodies rapidly expanding, twisting into pure weaponized forms.

Bologue looked at the hideous scene and decisively manipulated the remaining Rhombus Shield to merge into a terrifying Giant Sword, spots of crimson emerging on the metallic surface until the blade was mostly covered in red.

"Don’t get in the way!"

Bologue roared, launching the Giant Sword like a cruise missile, shooting explosively towards the gathering monsters, sparks igniting upon it, leading to complete combustion.

Blazing Scale Burst!

A thunderous explosion erupted, a blinding light flashing, illuminating everything around. Intense air currents surged up from the ground, forming a swirling storm that rapidly spread, twisting the air with immense power, like a beast unleashed.

Accompanied by roars and rumbling, the shockwave of the explosion spread rapidly outward, first affecting the ground. With the detonation point vibrating, the earth began to tremble, stones scattering, then the air, where the fierce airflow from the explosion engulfed everything, including office desks, storage cabinets, and fearless monsters, knocking them to the ground.

The scorching shockwave brought high temperatures and fierce flames, like a wave burning all in its path, ravaging the explosion area, igniting everything combustible, triggering a series of explosive sounds and roaring fires.

When all was over, only shattered scenes and billowing smoke and dust remained from the explosion, the ground filled with dents and cracks, charred marks strewn in the air, with burned smells and smoke pervading.

The monsters slowly rose; this formidable attack couldn’t stop them, but when they tried to find Bologue, he was nowhere to be seen, and the flashing green sign had dimmed.

...

Bologue carefully closed the safety door, and as the door sealed shut, all the noisy sounds vanished, the pressure in Bologue’s heart greatly eased.

Bologue couldn’t help but take a deep breath; against Bologue’s current enemies, the Blazing Scale Burst was no longer lethal, but the massive explosion was perfect for masking his movements.

"It’s finally over."

Bologue muttered to himself. It seemed he had truly shaken off those monsters, yet he remained vigilant, surveying the scene behind the safety door.

An even more troubling sight unfolded.

Bologue appeared to be in a void; there were no walls, only stairs extending endlessly beneath his feet.

These stairs intertwined with another set, coiling and crisscrossing at various angles, some spiraling upward, others stretching downward into the deep underground, forming a complex network.

Green safety passage signs were everywhere, like green clues guiding those who dared to venture here.

Each staircase ended with a safety door, each door representing a mysterious destination. Some doors were tightly shut, emanating an aura of mystery and sanctity. Others were slightly ajar, hinting at the secrets within.

Bologue stood in a daze for a long time, feeling like he had fallen into a bizarre dream, yet he resolutely stepped forward.