Endless Debt

Amidst the constant dangers, Palmer initially thought that after reuniting, Bologue would realize the importance of having Palmer as a partner, embrace him with tears in his eyes, and say that without Palmer, he couldn't take a single step.

In reality, Bologue did seem to have tears in his eyes; at least, his emotions appeared quite intense.

"Where the hell have you been!"

Bologue punched and kicked Palmer with all his might, showing no mercy. Palmer narrowly escaped from Olivia's clutches, only to now face death at the hands of Bologue.

Bologue was angry, as he had always been extremely tolerant of Palmer.

"This unlucky guy, at least he's alive."

Bologue often muttered this to himself as a form of self-consolation. But this time, Palmer's disappearance was utterly ridiculous.

He had been fighting round after round in this cursed Beast Fighting Arena, with opponents changing multiple times, but Palmer was nowhere to be seen from beginning to end.

It seems he really needs a new partner, even an Undead shouldn't be bullied like this!

"Wait a minute! You think I was hiding?" Palmer's tone hardened.

"What else?" Bologue retorted.

"Who do you think brought these guys in? It was me! It was me! I blew open the door to the Void Realm to let these guys in."

Palmer was crying his heart out, acting as if he were the hero of the day.

"Then where's your Whistle?" Bologue asked clearly.

Before entering the venue, he had discussed with Palmer that no matter what happened, they should first use the Whistle to contact each other. Yet, Palmer never contacted him, and the channel remained silent.

"Oh, that, it broke."

As Palmer spoke, he pulled out the Whistle, broken in two, from his pocket.

"You see, there were too many people at the time, I was in such a hurry, I slipped and fell while going down the stairs, not only banging my head but also breaking this thing."

Palmer said as he rubbed his head, indicating that his head injury was self-inflicted.

Bologue was momentarily speechless; he really didn't know what to say, so he muttered low curses.

"Palmer, you bastard..."

Before he could finish cursing, a strong surge of Ether erupted, bright flames descended instantly above them, but Hart was even quicker than the flames. As the Giant Shield fell, the Ethereal Barrier activated, easily separating the sea of fire.

"How long are you two going to chat?"

Amidst the dancing flames, Hart turned his head and shouted at the two, "Do what you need to do."

Only then did they break free from their argument; the battle wasn't over, and the fight for the Immortal Heart was far from concluded.

"Okay! Sido!"

"Thanks! Sido!"

Bologue and Palmer synced perfectly, and as the flames subsided, they ran directly towards the passage where Jia Meng and others had come from.

Nade tried to stop them, but Yas gave him no such chance. While suppressing Nade, Yas stepped forward, continually closing the distance.

Slowly, he drew the Military Saber from his waist, and with the addition of Ether, the metallic blade completely transformed into pure Ether, seemingly capable of cutting through everything in the world.

Regrettably, Bologue had no chance to witness such a scene; he and Palmer ran into the dark corridor, sprinting with all their might.

Bologue knew why Yas had assigned him to the chase. With his extremely keen lifeline, when dealing with these troubles, Bologue was like a hunting dog with an incredibly sharp sense of smell.

Indeed, Bologue could sense a vague direction, and from that direction came a continuous, unsettling aura.

"Better be careful, this mission involves too many weirdos."

Palmer became serious, after a brief rest and medication, he was in much better shape than before, "When I was trying to destroy the Void Realm, I even encountered a Night Race member."

Upon hearing about the Night Race, Bologue immediately thought of Olivia.

"Did you fight her?"

"No."

Palmer shook his head nonchalantly, but no matter how carefree his actions seemed in Bologue's eyes, it was just a black hood wagging about.

"She was enchanted by my talents and charms, but unfortunately, I have a fiancée, so I had to reject her with tears."

While speaking, Palmer removed the black hood, the numerous battles had left it tattered.

He used it like a rag, vigorously wiping the dirt and blood off his face, then pulled another black stocking from his pocket and put it over his face, making two holes for his eyes.

"But don't worry, when she asked for a name, I gave yours."

Palmer raised his eyebrows at Bologue.

"Now you have a Night Race admirer, partner."

"You son of a—"

Listening to Palmer's nonsense, Bologue couldn't help but want to curse him again.

"Don't rush! Don't rush! I'm just doing this for your own good."

Palmer was animated, his expression was clearly visible despite the sheer stockings.

"Think about it, Bologue, as an Undead, you can't stay single forever, right? The other party is also an Undead, why not give it a try?" Palmer's voice suddenly rose, "Although you're not very respectful to me, as a member of the Clarks, I possess the necessary tolerance."

Bologue looked at Palmer in disbelief, starting to think Palmer was truly crazy.

Aimou listened to their conversation from the side, thinking both of them were insane. In such a perilous situation, they were chatting away while on the move, and their topic was so random.

"Of course, the Night Race isn't important in this operation. She seems to be just a simple buyer, unexpectedly caught up in this conflict."

"Our real target is the one who escaped and his associates," Palmer suddenly became serious again, "The King's Shield Guard... I never imagined things would turn out like this."

"King's Shield Guard?"

Bologue couldn't figure out what Palmer was talking about; it sounded like a name of some organization, the one Nade and Jia Meng belong to.

"This matter is quite a long story."

For a moment, Palmer didn't know how to explain it to Bologue.

"Long story short."

"Well... In brief, a division occurred within the King's Secret Sword, and the part that broke away is called the King's Shield Guard, which is the group you just encountered. They support a figure known as the Shadow King."

Palmer explained to Bologue, "The confidentiality level of this information is very high. It was only when I encountered Yas that I was informed of all this."

Hearing this, Bologue suddenly had an epiphany.

"That means..."

"Yes, the real target of this mission was not the Gray Trade Association or the Corrupt Sect. As for Teda? No one cares about him; the real target is the King's Shield Guard."

Saying this, Palmer couldn't help but feel a chill.

"It's a trap, a trap that deceives everyone involved... all just to eliminate these King's Shield Guard."

Before Bologue could say anything, Palmer loudly complained again.

"Damn, these bastards don't treat people like humans at all; they didn't even tell me about the dangers of this mission," Palmer shouted at Bologue, "To bridge you with that Night Race, I almost got killed by her!"

Palmer's shouting left Bologue bewildered; he could clearly sense that Palmer's words were nonsense, yet he found himself unable to keep up with Palmer's train of thought to refute him.

In the art of nonsense, Palmer had a certain skill more refined.

The two continued to rush through the narrow corridor, vast as a maze, bewildered why the Gray Trade Association would construct such a place.

But if viewed as a blood-stained ritual site, Bologue felt it made some sense. He imagined the Tyrant must be hidden somewhere, high above, admiring the foolish antics of others.

En route to chasing Jia Meng, Bologue spotted numerous fallen bodies, their deaths were tragic as if their bodies were crushed by some mighty force in an instant.

This was certainly not Jia Meng's doing. Bologue grew cautious; it seemed there was another Hunter making their way through this vast maze.

Teda Yazhede.

The current situation was perfect for Teda. What he needed was complete chaos, and now various forces were entangled with each other, the injured Jia Meng fleeing alone.

Bologue couldn't think of a better opportunity to strike, and Teda's power was also hard to discern.

Teda's path was one of pure, classic Illusion Creation. Under his Secret Energy, all Teda's thoughts and ideas became reality, meaning his power was ever-changing, with no basis for judgment.

Also a Negative Power User, Nade gave Bologue an impression of brutal aggression like the blazing sun, while Teda felt eerie and cold like a venomous snake.

"Aimou, we might face Teda next. What do you think?" Bologue suddenly asked, "If you don't want to, you can leave."

"Is the teacher going to do something terrible?"

"Probably? This guy Teda doesn't talk to anyone; who knows what he's thinking."

In Bologue's view, Teda lacked the steadiness of an elder, and instead resembled a turbulent young man with extreme stubbornness, keeping all his thoughts to himself, not communicating with others.

Aimou fell silent, not responding.

Bologue shook his head helplessly, thinking it might be too difficult to let Aimou make such a decision.

Teda didn't love his child, but the child still loved her father; this was understandable yet unfortunate.

"And you, Palmer," Bologue suddenly turned to his partner beside him, "If you still want to maintain your image in my mind, you better be reliable from now on."

"Heavens! I actually still have an image in your mind, I thought it had already crumbled to pieces."

Palmer looked astonished.

"What?"

Bologue was so taken aback, he lifted his hand ready to draw his saber against Palmer.

"Just kidding, just kidding."

Palmer repeatedly shouted, glancing at the gradually collapsing corridor, countless crimson tentacles emerging from the walls, trailing after them.

"In times like this, I think it's appropriate to crack a few jokes to lighten the mood... don't you think so, Bologue?"