Endless Debt-Chapter 985 - 70: Walking in the Narrow Space

In the dim corridor, the sound of hurried footsteps approached from afar. After disrupting the transfer of the Decay Plague and briefly clashing with Morrison, Church’s battle continued.

The Fog Abyss Fortress echoed with intense ether reactions. Church recognized those ether reactions; they were the powers of Bologue and Palmer. They, too, had joined the fight against the enemy. From the scene, it seemed to be the enemy’s main forces.

They shouldn’t be engaging the enemy in combat.

As this thought emerged, Church immediately realized why Bologue and Palmer were doing this—they were covering for him, attracting the enemy’s attention.

As a field staff with professional expertise, it wasn’t difficult to guess these things. Meanwhile, layers of expectation and pressure were placed upon Church.

Bologue and Palmer fought so desperately; with just the two of them, they stirred up a frenzied skirmish within the Fog Abyss Fortress. How could he possibly let their efforts go in vain?

With this in mind, Church sprinted swiftly. As he moved, his appearance transformed rapidly, becoming a completely different person within a few strides. His presence quickly diminished, like a shadowy blur.

Church could hear footsteps ahead, belonging to the soldiers leaving with the Decay Plague. Church knew he couldn’t destroy all of the Decay Plague, but he still aimed to destroy as much as he could.

For every canister of Decay Plague he neutralized, he saved unseen lives.

Saving others.

In this fragmented life, this was one of the few things that brought Church fulfillment and was also the purpose behind his profession.

Church recalled someone Palmer had once mentioned to him. That person often touted themselves as a noble one, but in reality, they just sought to gain others’ recognition for their noble behavior to satisfy their warped inner needs.

Noble individuals often agonize over whether they are pure... Church found this notion foolish. He valued practicality, judging solely by actions and ignoring thoughts. Thoughts are complex and meaningless, with countless ideas emerging in a moment, yet how many truly come to fruition?

In his brisk pursuit, Church had caught up with the tail end of the group. He spotted several soldiers pushing a cart without seeing Church’s figure or hearing his footsteps.

Under the cognitive distortion of Secret Energy, they perceived Church as a swarm of flies, with his footsteps merely a buzzing noise.

Like an earthquake, a violent vibration covered the entire Fog Abyss Fortress. The soldiers halted their steps to stabilize the cart and prevent the sealed canisters from falling.

In the dim light, a bright metallic sheen illuminated their panic-stricken faces.

Church’s silhouette briefly appeared, then twisted back into a swarm of flies. As he passed by, a series of deadly gashes erupted on the soldiers’ throats. As he sliced their throats, the flesh around the wound quickly rotted, and the blood turned a bizarre dark green.

After brief agony, the deadly poison paralyzed the soldiers’ nerves and then their muscles, causing them to fall one after another. Some died from massive bleeding, others from suffocation.

Church wiped his dagger with his sleeve, a dim green glow flowed over the metal blade.

Dishonorable Dagger.

Even Palmer didn’t know that the dagger Church carried was an Alchemy Armament. But then, Church rarely needed to bloody his hands before Palmer, who never actually witnessed him kill.

This dagger was crafted from special Alchemy Metal and appeared to come alive after Alchemy Matrix implantation, secreting toxins independently.

When injuring targets, it easily infiltrated the enemy’s body. The corrosive nature destroyed the wounded flesh, while its paralyzing ability could immobilize the body and even cause suffocation.

However, this toxin was still limited by tier, having limited effects on a High Tier Condenser, let alone Morrison, who possessed Etherealization as a Negative Power User.

After eliminating the soldiers, Church continued the pursuit. Keeping a safe distance from the cart, he pulled out a pistol and turned to shoot, detonating the sealed canister on the cart.

The Decay Plague slowly spread. A few seconds later, another explosion sounded, as another sealed canister was breached, leaking the Decay Plague, followed by a series of explosions. The highly concentrated Decay Plague filled the corridor, turning it into a dead zone.

The gas slowly spread outward. Without any external force, its spread was slow, unable to catch up with Church for now. Still, the high-speed air currents from the explosions swept past Church’s body, and the thin Decay Plague brushed against the ether-constructed barrier, producing a crackling sound.

A faint pain came from the body surface, making Church notice that his clothes were rapidly decaying into dust, and his skin began to blacken. Ultimately, a wisp of the Decay Plague penetrated the ether and, upon contact with flesh, killed a swath of vitality.

Church felt no fear; instead, his resolve strengthened.

Just as he was about to continue pursuing, a terrifying ether reaction erupted from behind the Decay Plague-filled corridor. Etheric brilliance burst forth in the darkness.

Church froze, unable to comprehend how he had been caught up with, but the facts were undeniable. The raging ether stirred up a fierce wind, and the dormant Decay Plague, affected by the air currents, roared towards Church as if they were ghostly phantoms wielding swords and spears.

There’s no escape.

The gale, laden with the decline epidemic, instantly engulfed Church’s body. The glow of ether flickered on Church’s surface, and a large amount of ether was rapidly consumed by the decline epidemic. Like a light with a damaged circuit, the glow began to dim and flicker until the ether’s defense was completely eroded and pierced through.

Church watched helplessly as his sleeve turned to dust, the skin on his entire arm starting to blacken, fester, and disintegrate into filthy powder, revealing raw, crimson flesh.

Amidst the hurricane of death, Morrison’s figure gradually emerged. He bore light-forged wings, and it was these very wings that stirred the gale, dispersing the decline epidemic and, at the same time, inflicting severe wounds on Church.

The airstream, heavy with the decline epidemic, surged into the depths of the corridor. Church barely managed to endure, but at the cost of his ether rapidly depleting, leaving him covered in wounds.

Church gasped in agony as strands of the decline epidemic poured into his mouth and nose, filling his nasal cavity and throat with bloody filth. Blood flowed uncontrollably, his lungs sending waves of knife-twisting pain and a series of drowning-like suffocation sensations.

Without the protection of ether, Church was no different from an ordinary person, experiencing the agony of confronting the decline epidemic.

Church struggled to lift his head, unable to comprehend how Morrison found him; given his level of cognitive distortion, Morrison should have forgotten about him.

A hint of silver light entered Church’s eyes. At some point, a thin, weightless silver-white chain had entwined around his arm, stretching towards the end of the corridor, merging into Morrison’s blade.

"Found you, damned thief."

Rage filled Morrison’s words as he raised the secret sword, the chain coiling around it in circles. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

Church swung the Dishonorable Dagger, trying to sever the chain. The metal easily passed through it, as if cleaving through an illusory phantom.

His gaze traced the chain back to the secret sword, realizing it was the sword’s ability that prevented his Secret Energy from completely distorting Morrison’s perception, allowing him to detect Church’s presence.

The wings vibrated, and countless feathers shot towards Church like arrows. He summoned his strength through sheer will, sprinting towards the end of the corridor as the feathers grazed his body, slicing open wounds, with some embedding deeply.

These feathers were forged of ether, weightless yet deadly.

Morrison clenched the secret sword, the illusorical chain vibrating as the feathers that missed Church reversed direction, like a thousand intertwined blades, sworn to cut Church into mince.

With no choice but to increase his speed, Church, bearing injuries and dwindling ether, could barely muster any more strength. Yet the feathers seemed guided, precisely tracking him regardless of which direction he fled, slicing open his flesh.

The illusory chain firmly linked Church to the secret sword.

Morrison briskly followed behind Church, unable to sense his presence, but locating him through the chain, the power of the secret sword.

The Chasing Sword.

After the blade drank an enemy’s blood, it forged a tracking chain, able to locate the enemy’s position and guide attacks, granting Morrison’s assaults precision, ensuring "unerring" strikes. Combined with the dense light feathers, few could withstand a volley from Morrison.

Church realized this too, the deadly feathered blades drawing ever closer. He doubted he could survive this assault; he would likely perish under the light feathers.

He couldn’t die yet!

The only way to escape this mortal peril was to sever the tracking chain. Church didn’t think he could achieve this, but he could make the chain lose its target.

Completely detach from this world.

Riding the glow-stirred storm, Church’s presence rapidly diminished, his visible form quickly thinning. A hazy aura filled his vision, and as it completely engulfed the world...

Secret Energy·Walking in the Narrow Space.

Church’s existence began to withdraw, stepping into the seams between worlds, becoming an unknown Ghost Walker, vanishing without a trace.

He disappeared.

The chain, as if losing its target, fell and vanished. The tempest of wings chaotically pinned to the walls, densely packed.

Morrison stood at the corridor’s end, his expression shifting from fury to calm, then filling with confusion. He couldn’t recall why he was here or why he had drawn his secret sword.

He vaguely remembered fighting someone, but all details about the person and the battle were completely forgotten. He stood like a statue until the spreading decline epidemic reached him, bringing faint pain, jogging some memories.

But those were just fragmented pieces, and the walker of the narrow space had long escaped.