Endless Debt

As an Undead, one of the most fortunate things is that Olivia has a long enough time to learn whatever she wants to learn, making her not only a powerful Condenser but also having deep skills in various arts.

For example, the study of the Void Realm.

To escape the surveillance of the Order Bureau and lead her people to live in this land, she needs them to remain hidden and also requires a sufficiently safe Void Realm to shield from all prying eyes.

For this reason, Olivia spent long periods studying the Void Realm. The Void Realm covering the venue is strong but not without its vulnerabilities.

As an expert in this field, Olivia searches for potential breakthrough points based on her experience.

The venue space is extensive; merchants have almost dug through the entire underground area. Apart from the bloody Beast Fighting Arena, countless corridors extend downwards, with Olivia descending along the dark steps.

The recent explosion has urged her. Someone used an explosion to destroy the Central Courtyard, cutting off everyone's retreat, and the explosion also affected the Void Realm.

After brief contemplation, Olivia guessed it was the Order Bureau's doing. Now, there might be a team of Field Staff eagerly waiting outside the Void Realm, ready to charge inside the moment it collapses and kill everyone present.

Olivia suddenly halted her steps, her gaze solemnly fixing on one side of the wall. The gaps in the wall slightly widened, as if something was growing inside, soon followed by crimson sprouts stretching out, growing wildly like moss.

The spread of the corruption roots was faster than she anticipated. The madmen of the Crimson Sect are consistently like this; when they go to war, they'd often plant these corruption roots, staining the earth with crimson flesh.

They believe the places where flesh touches are the lands of the Crimson Queen. They fight for their mother and are protected by her.

The Tyrant's response to this was to grant his power within the Great Rift to everyone fighting for the Gray Trade Association.

To fight for the Gray Trade Association is to generate value for the Tyrant; generating value leads to receiving the Tyrant's power. This is the rule of the Tyrant's power and the basis for maintaining the wandering crossroads.

Most importantly, the Tyrant has awakened the most evil desires in everyone's hearts.

Greed.

Even without looking, Olivia could imagine that at this moment, blood should be flowing like rivers within the Beast Fighting Arena. Not everyone can resist the temptation of the Fantasy Fruit as she does.

The desire for their wishes fuels their greedy pursuits.

People think they are rational, but from the beginning, they are caught in the Devil's designs, even Olivia is not exempt.

The only resistance she can make is to leave as quickly as possible, avoiding any entanglements.

Olivia quickened her pace, the further she descended, the more she could clearly feel the suppression of the Void Realm weakening.

The Void Realm is a closed, self-circulating space, but it can't achieve absolute closure; there must be a channel to communicate with the outside, and that channel is the Void Realm's most fragile "door". Destroying the door can open a path to the outside.

The darkness gradually engulfed Olivia, silence slowly surrounding her, bringing calmness to Olivia's heart as she stepped into a safe zone.

Yet, she gradually discovered the increasing presence of rubble on the ground, more pieces appearing with each step, until she saw a large door blown open, stepping through it, the haunting singing became faintly audible.

"No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun."

As she approached, Olivia gradually heard the song more clearly and noticed the figure busy in front of yet a more magnificent door.

Olivia remained silent, hiding herself in the darkness, while the fellow, wearing a black hood, looked like a bandit who stumbled in, placing items Olivia couldn't understand one by one on the door.

"So you run and run to catch up with the sun, but it's sinking."

The bandit hummed his song, indifferent to the sounds of explosion overhead. Dust poured down as he sang even louder to complement the collapsing atmosphere.

Singing with passion, the fellow simply put aside his work and began to sing and dance.

Olivia's expression was somewhat odd; she'd encountered enough eccentrics today, and yet another appeared at this moment.

However... the counterpart seemed to share the same goal as her, preparing to destroy the Void Realm, opening a passage.

But Olivia didn't believe someone could have prepared these things in advance; this fellow seemed more like an inside collaborator with someone.

Yet, regardless, these elements combined to form a scene Olivia found hard to accept.

"Breathing hard! One day closer to death!"

The bandit sang cheerily, twirling, then suddenly felt a cold sensation spreading from his neck. He steadied himself, only to find a sharp Short Dagger pressed against his throat, held by Olivia emerging from the darkness.

"Spare me!"

Without the slightest hesitation, the bandit raised both hands immediately.

"Who are you? What are you doing?"

"Just an unlucky and forgotten wretch, I'm trying to blast this door open; once opened, everyone can escape."

The bandit shouted, and Olivia was stunned; everything was going unexpectedly smoothly.

Ruby-like eyes were reflected in the bandit's gaze, causing him to squint. Amid panic, he seemed to be thinking of something else, and suddenly he shouted in terror.

"Behind you!"

"Are you joking?" Olivia laughed, "This trick is too ridiculous."

"But there really is something behind you."

The bandit didn't care about the short dagger at his throat, raised both hands, and turned his head to indicate something behind Olivia.

In the moment of Olivia's hesitation, a nauseous scent accompanied by a gust of wind blew past her nose.

She turned and swung the dagger almost instantly, shattering a scarlet tendril extending from the darkness into countless pieces of flesh, which fell to the ground like rain. But instead of dying, they rooted themselves in the earth and continued to grow actively.

Olivia's movement didn't end; the dagger drew a pale arc, slicing through the tendril and then slashing towards the bandit. If he stayed motionless, the dagger would hover above his head, but if he tried anything else, it would sever his arm.

However, at this moment, a flying knife flew through the air, as if thrown from the darkness, colliding with Olivia's short dagger. Amid the sparks flying, the bandit, taking advantage of the blockade, rolled and crawled to the door.

"Phew, that was dangerous!"

Palmer murmured a complaint. He had already sensed Olivia's presence through the changing air currents when she approached.

He couldn't determine the strength of the newcomer, or even if it was human. There wasn't any space to hide here, so he had to keep up the pretense and brace himself for the opponent's arrival.

Anyone else might have been trapped and killed by Palmer, but clearly, Olivia was far stronger than him.

Although Palmer always felt luck favored him at critical moments, he hadn't willingly put his neck under Olivia's dagger; he was simply unable to react fast enough—everything happened too quickly.

Raising his head, Olivia was watching him, her eyes brightened scarlet with the burst of Ether.

Around her, decayed roots and sprouts had penetrated here, prying open the soil and squeezing forcefully, filling the cracks in the walls with scarlet moss.

"Wait a minute, we don't have any deep-seated hatred, right?"

Palmer shouted repeatedly.

Olivia acted as if she hadn't heard, grasped her short dagger, her figure scattering into a puff of black smoke. When she reformed, she stepped out ghost-like from Palmer's shadow, slashing the dagger towards his neck.

Palmer sensed the sharpness of the blade, and the worst part was Olivia's speed was too fast for him to dodge.

"Are you going to breach the contract?"

In such a dire moment, Palmer dropped his act and shouted.

Olivia's movement slowed for a second, and from the void, countless blurred chains extended out, layer upon layer, binding her arm and the short dagger, dragging down her motion.

Those delays granted Palmer the chance to unleash Secret Energy—the fierce wind lifted his body, and in the face of mortal peril, he couldn't even control the direction, bouncing high and landing heavily not far away.

"Ah..."

Palmer groaned on the ground, while Olivia, a complex look in her eyes, watched him, getting dizzy from this absurd world.

The short dagger had blood stains on it; without these constraints slowing her down, Palmer would have been a corpse by now.

Her fingers brushed over the dagger's bloodstains, and just by scent, Olivia could detect the nauseating smell of the blood.

"The Clarks' blood..."

Her ruby-like eyes filled with intense killing intent, Olivia gripped the dagger tightly.

"Although I don't know why the Night Race would leave the Land of Eternal Night... but it seems the Dawn Oath still affects you."

Palmer touched the back of his neck, a shallow scratch remained there, with the wound emitting a fierce chill.

"I can still break the Dawn Oath and kill you." Olivia's tone was icy.

"Seriously? You really want to risk it all in this inexplicable place?" Palmer's tone was light but his gaze remained wary, "That's too foolish, isn't it? Can we just pretend we never met?"

Olivia hesitated for a moment; this indeed was a terrible place, with flesh continuously oozing—hard to imagine what the Beast Fighting Arena had become.

The worst was that Olivia didn't expect to encounter someone from the Clarks.

After anger subsided, Olivia regained clarity. The Clark, rather than staying dutifully at Wind Source Highlands, appeared here, in the Great Rift, so his identity was obvious.

"So, this is the Order Bureau's trap?"

Olivia questioned.

"Probably... anyway, it's not aimed at you."

Palmer replied sincerely, eager to quickly send away this member of the Night Race.