Bologue’s eting with Gold was anything but pleasant; it was downright awful.
Seeing Gold for the first ti, Bologue felt an uncommon joy. After all, in this godforsaken place, eting a familiar face was a rarity, and what’s more, the other person was a Defender. Even though trapped within a painting and probably stripped of Extraordinary Power like himself, it was still a comfort.
He thought they could join forces and find a way to escape this damned ga together. But clearly, Gold’s fighting spirit was low.
"Gold, what exactly happened?"
In the Narrow Space’s carriage, Bologue sliced through the Demon’s neck with a single swing of his Blade, then thrust the Sharp Sword toward the carriage side, piercing the Demon hanging outside through the window.
Thanks to the advantage of the terrain, Bologue, despite being exhausted, still held the upper hand. Yet, he wasn’t complacent; instead, he was even more vigilant.
The Event Cards they encountered were just regular Demon attacks so far. In the previous tabletop ga, Bologue faced many elite and formidable enemy units. More crucially, in those previous gas, no matter how strong the opponents were, they were just pieces. But now, these pieces were turning into real monsters coming to kill.
This is a real ga, a story in the making.
"What exactly did the tenth group encounter? How did you end up here? What is the true nature of the original artifact?"
Even while slashing, Bologue did not forget to fire a barrage of questions at Gold. Gold did not imdiately answer Bologue; he seed beset by so nightmare, his ntal state highly unstable.
"Bologue... Bologue... I rember you, the Resurrection of Lazarus..."
Gold muttered to himself, then suddenly realizing sothing, asked in terror, "Why are you here? Does it an we failed? Did the Order Bureau get destroyed amidst conflict?"
The voice hoarse and trembling, he appeared like a tornted prisoner.
"What are you talking about?"
Bologue sensed that the Defender’s ntal state seed off, his rational mind twisted by so sinister power.
Within the card painting, Gold was silent for a mont, trying hard to control his crumbling consciousness, organizing coherent words.
While Gold was silent, Bologue recounted to him all that had happened, from the attack on the tenth group to the grand lee at Free Port, and now being drawn into the Joyful Garden. Bologue recited it all in detail.
As Bologue narrated, Gold looked incredulous. Bologue was focused on slashing Demons, with no ti to observe Gold’s reaction, but he felt the card on his chest trembling, like it was shivering alongside Gold’s body.
"You found , and along with the original artifact... How much ti has passed?"
Gold asked anxiously, "In... in the material world, how long has it been since I disappeared?"
"About half a month?"
Bologue had so trouble recalling too; the intense combat left him with no spare thoughts for these matters. The Dawn roared forward, tal and flesh collided endlessly, Demons smashed to pieces by the speeding train, fine blood mist blended into the wind, the nasal cavity filled with dense blood scent.
"Only... only half a month has passed?"
Gold was utterly shocked, eyes widened, fear etched at the bottom of them, then he began laughing maniacally.
Bologue thought Gold’s mind might truly be troubled, not knowing what the Defender had experienced in the Joyful Garden.
Bologue asked back, "How long do you think has passed?"
Gold was silent for a few seconds, striving to keep his voice steady.
"Ten years? Or twenty? My god, this void space distorts your sense of ti."
Bologue marveled at the warped sense of ti.
The carriage convulsed violently; it must be a new Event Card triggered. Bologue wasn’t sure what it was yet; he needed to go back and confirm. Turning to return to the chessboard carriage, he swung the door along the way. The door couldn’t hold the Demons for long, but as long as the chessboard carriage remained intact, they had the ability to win back.
Fierce gunfire ca from ahead. Bologue climbed onto the car roof, seeing tracer bullets interspersed in the bullet rain, weaving a line of fire sweeping across the night.
He vaguely heard Palr’s laughter; his firepower had doubled, surely due to drawing so favorable Event Card, acquiring supplies as aid.
"I rember participating in the original artifact’s contest. I found a way to distort the resilient tal, binding it to myself."
As Bologue charged forward against the wind, Gold’s voice ca from in front of his chest.
"We were attacked by the Zongge Orchestra. Their offensive was vigorous. To avoid unnecessary sacrifices, I separated from my teammates, taking the original artifact with on a solo escape."
Reflecting on his current predicant, Gold murmured softly, "It was a wise decision."
"Then what!"
Bologue loudly interrogated, Gold’s words regaining logic and reason, a good sign.
"I got caught up in the Joyful Garden."
Even now, ntioning Joyful Garden, Gold’s words still carried deep shock and fear. For Gold, this rry park was no different from cruel Hell, even more terrifying than Hell itself.
"And then you turned into this?"
Bologue kicked over a demon trying to climb onto the car roof, watching it crushed into blood foam under the heavy wheels.
"The Joyous Desire Witch, I faced her," Gold recalled his experience, "She played a ga with ."
Bologue asked, "Is it the sa kind of ga as now?"
If Gold was playing ’Journey Through the Endless Night’ alone, it would truly be challenging, embarking on this mad journey solo.
"No, just a simple ga of contest. I won, but also lost."
In the picture fra, Gold fell into silence. To Bologue’s perspective, Gold was trapped in the card, but from Gold’s view, he was amidst void darkness with only a narrow, card-sized hole connecting him to the outside world.
Bologue roughly understood Gold’s ordeal, "Your physical body left the Joyful Garden with the original essence, but your consciousness is trapped here."
"She praised my will and collected , tested ."
Gold’s eyes were bloodshot, as if he hadn’t slept for several days and nights.
"I understand her intention, she likes to collect those with intense emotions, then watch them destroy, numb themselves."
She is a monster, a creature who feeds on others’ emotions!"
Gold cursed the Joyous Desire Witch, then his body shook violently, not out of fear but due to unending tornt ingrained into his body’s instinct, erupting uncontrollably.
"To you, it’s only half a month, but to , it felt like decades spent in this darkness, enduring that relentless tornt.
She was always waiting for my collapse. Only when I completely break down would she deem played out and toss aside.
But if I utterly collapse, losing myself, it signifies my failure..."
"Like a painful cycle," Bologue narrated, "The more you persist, the more pain you endure, the more pleasure she gets from you, but if you give up..."
Bologue didn’t continue, instead encouraging Gold, "You’ve endured, Gold, you still maintain self-awareness."
Gold sighed, "A tornted, passive, and despairing self-awareness?"
"You don’t understand, Bologue, even among devils, she is absolute evil," Gold sneered ntioning them, "Other devils rely want your value, your soul, or to achieve so evil goal."
"But she is different. She simply finds amusent in you, stirring the most fervent emotions in the cruelest manner, and when those are exhausted, leaving only aningless emptiness, she discards you."
Gold blinked forcefully, uttering a series of aningless repeated phrases, as if his language functions were impaired.
From the first encounter with Belphegor, Bologue realized that the devils’ void realm was not only capable of distorting space but also to an extent twisted the perception of ti, unimaginable what Gold went through in the infinitely extending ti.
"We cannot win... cannot win... Devils are always like this, winning over and over, never failing."
Gold pressed his hands hard against his face, contorting his features, horrifically twisted.
Bologue found it unimaginable, "What has she done to you?"
"You don’t want to know."
Gold shook his head, then nodded again, "You will experience it; everyone will experience it, that’s precisely where her pleasure lies."
Bologue casually threw the Flying Knife, piercing through several leaping demons, their bodies fell from the sky, landing sprawled across the vast wilderness.
He faked composure, "Looks like a brutal surprise awaits ."
"No, you don’t understand."
"There’s nothing not to understand! Gold!"
Bologue’s voice suddenly turned harsh, "Don’t you get this simplest of truths?"
Crossed blades tore open another demon’s body, Bologue left a trail of corpses behind, coupled with Dawn’s swift progress, the wind dragged the bodies into the darkness.
Bologue picked up the card, angrily reprimanding Gold, "Either we die here or live on, leave this damned place! All other words are just aningless complaints!"
Flipping into the carriage board, everyone else was in position, dice placed on the exquisite playing board, Bologue grabbed them, rolled hard, smashing into Bai Ou’s face, bouncing back onto the board again.
"I refuse to die, so we are left with only one choice."
Others rolled the dice in turn, a new round of event distribution, Bologue did not finish his speech but leaned on the long sword, standing still, his blood, monster blood mingling together, flowing along the cold tal covering the ground.
Dawn continued onward, it proceeded forward.
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