Endless Evolution: Last Star

Chapter 309: Midnight Crystal (Part 34)

Katrin looked off into the distance at the sun receding over the horizon line. Just a little longer, about fifteen minutes, and evening would begin to turn to night.

Even given their strength, they couldn’t afford to stay in Black Cinder Forest at night. It simply didn’t make any sense.

If Scarlet Pyromancer didn’t show up now, the best solution was to retreat and come back another time. Moreover, the missions department couldn’t determine the new location of this monster, which was a strange but possible case.

”Shit! Shit! Shit!” Katrin exclaimed furiously kicking the ground with her foot. Her face filled with more and more rage with each passing second, as she realized that the worst of all possibilities had happened.

”Fuck! Why did this have to happen to me!” Katrin shouted bringing her staff down on the black tree next to where Adam was standing.

Crack. Crackle. Crackle.

Dark splinters flew off to the sides with the few bursts of lava that were inside the massive tree.

Katrin was clearly not holding back her strength and attacked at full power.

”Agh... Agh... Agh...” Katrin was breathing heavily, holding tightly onto her staff and trying to somehow release her anger that was actively burning inside her.

Adam only looked at the aftermath of the blow and the Golden Light Squad.

Erla, Lero, and Osana were standing off to the side, not far from Oskar and their SH-01 fighter.

They occasionally cast glances at the amber sun in the distance, which was gradually getting smaller and smaller disappearing behind the ground. There was a look of anxiety on their faces.

With the SH-01, they could fly out at the last minute before nightfall and would be safe. But, if they failed to do so in time, they would all be in deadly danger.

Right now, this area was empty because they had killed all the monsters here, but once night fell, everything would change drastically and lots of Giant Rogoes would seem like weak opponents.

”Katrin, we have 13 minutes and 43 seconds left.” Oskar said seriously while looking at her intently.

”I’m giving you five minutes to make a decision or we’re flying out of here without you.” Oskar said confidently before turning around and heading towards his squad.

Strangely enough, a slight uneasiness began to be felt by Adam as well. It was strange for him because he wasn’t afraid of the night, he was sure that they could survive if they didn’t get into a more dangerous area than Black Cinder Forest.

’Hmm... Then why is this anxiety getting stronger by the minute?’ Adam internally muttered glancing around.

There was nothing and no one here but them.

Adam couldn’t sense anyone else’s auras, nor were there any anomalies or any natural phenomena. It was a damn quiet area where only currents of wind appeared from time to time.

A light wind moved dark ash from one patch of land to another, hitting the bones of the monsters and carefully covering the bloodstains.

Time and nature working together could get rid of any trace of the destruction that scarred the surface.

However, if the scar was too massive, it became part of nature, as if nature itself recognized its significance and preserved the memory of the great battle, forever.

Exactly five minutes later, in fact, it had been a little longer since it was only 8 minutes until nightfall, Oskar approached them again.

”So, what’s your decision? The pilot is already warming up the engine. There won’t be another chance to leave. I’m completely serious.”

Oskar looked intently at Adam and Katrin, realizing that it was up to her to make the final decision.

Katrin couldn’t give an answer right away, it was obvious how hard it was for her to accept the inevitable. She frowned heavily, her fists were clenched tightly and she gritted her teeth so that it seemed sparks might come out of them.

”Fuck... How unlucky I am. It’s always been like this, from the beginning, from my Initial Gene until now...” Katrin growled through her strength before looking at Oskar.

She let out a heavy sigh and said:

”Fine, let’s go. We’ll take off five minutes before nightfall and we can get home safely. You don’t have to die because of my misfortune.” Katrin said with a stare full of regret before stepping forward.

Oskar nodded. He wanted to smile, but he didn’t, because Katrin looked as if she had just died, inside.

Katrin stepped forward as though she were walking not to the rescue plane, but to the scaffold to make her inner death physical.

Adam shook his head and followed her with a slight sigh. He understood why Katrin had acted this way, but he had nothing to say.

She was really badly out of luck.

But... maybe this time bad luck had decided to expand its domain and change everyone’s fate?

Clap.

Oskar clapped his palms drawing the attention of the others.

”Alright, we’re going back to the Citadel, all of us together!”

Erla and Lero smiled widely. They were glad that Katrin had finally been able to make the difficult but correct decision.

Osana only tilted her head looking at a dejected Katrin with Adam walking behind her.

’Well, looks like the two of them are going to have to go on another mission. Maybe I should get involved? It would be a good networking solution.’ Osana pondered before turning around and heading towards the fighter that was already ready to take off.

She and Lero were closest to the fighter.

At the same moment, a bright flash comparable to the light of the real sun appeared in the dark sky.

”What the hell?!” Erla exclaimed in confusion.

”Is this an anomaly? Right here and now?” Lero exclaimed, not believing what was happening. He raised his head looking at the flames in the sky that were getting bigger and bigger.

Anomalies could appear anywhere at any time, but Lero just couldn’t believe it was happening now. However, the anomalies weren’t dangerous for Lero to be afraid of them, there was more surprise than fear in his gaze.

”Wait... Something’s not right here...” Erla muttered, her fingers trembling. For some reason, it seemed to her that the anomaly was moving, though it couldn’t be happening that fast!

Whoooooooooooooosh.

Adam’s eyes went wide as electric shocks ran through his body. Without wasting a single moment, whizzing by Katrin and knocking her to the ground, Adam lunged forward leaving an electric trail behind him.

All his muscles were tense, and his legs felt as if they had to withstand the power of a rocket engine instead of a single young man.

While Osana and Lero were still looking up trying to figure out what the flames were, while their pupils slowly grew wider as they realized what was going on, Adam appeared beside them.

Adam grabbed Osana and Lero, throwing them on his shoulders and leaving the place as fast as he could.

The only thing Osana and Lero saw was a rising wave of dark ash, black particles passing before their eyes.

Then, followed by blue electrical discharges emanating from Adam’s body, while the fighter grew smaller and smaller as they moved away from the place at a tremendous speed.

Bam.

A massive blob of flame as large as the fighter rained down on SH-01, causing an explosion of colossal magnitude with rapidly spreading waves of fire.

Katrin, Oskar, and Erla couldn’t believe what they were seeing.

The explosion instantly destroyed the fighter along with the pilot and dozens of meters of ground around it.

Katrin was the first to see something behind the streams of flames - it was massive wings, but not like a bird’s but like an armored beetle’s.

But... something was wrong. There were some silhouettes around the huge beetle as if they were the reason why this monster had collapsed to the ground in an active fight for its life.