Endless Evolution: Last Star

Chapter 728: Trouble at the top

The Sacrificial Holders were about to attack, but they stopped, but not because of Adam attacking or the hot flames, the reason was his scream absorbed in agony.

”FUCK! Stop it! You stupid bitch!”

Adam grabbed at his head, trying to ease the pain at least a little, but it only made things more difficult.

Once again, he felt like there was something wrong with this pain. It hurt, but not physically or mentally as well, it was vivid and unknown to him before.

Trying to escape the fiery agony, Adam found himself in his inner space. Here, amidst the darkness he fell to his knees as nothing changed, but soon something else caught his attention. For a few seconds, it made him forget about the pain.

Tremble. Tremble. Tremble.

The Evolution Tree was actively trembling, but it wasnʼt as if it was holding back its laughter or anything.

Right now, the Evolution Tree looked like a man trying with all his might not to scream in extreme pain.

”Wait... Do you feel it too?”

Adam blinked several times with his eyes wide open.

In response, he heard intermittent laughter:

[Ha... Ha... Ha... Of course, I am! Do you think... that I would scream in pain like a child like you...?]

”But...” Adam was lost.

”ARGHHHHH!!!”

”This pain is special! It doesnʼt hurt my flesh, it goes all the way down!”

[Yes... and so what?]

The Evolution Tree continued to shake like Adam was in agony, but unlike Adam, it tried to maintain its normal tone.

[The pain wonʼt stop until you get all the information that Lona Blaze wants to give you... You see... Iʼm in the same situation as you, even though itʼs because of you...]

For a short period, Adam was silent, looking at Evolution Tree with a baffled expression.

[No one likes pain... but... a hundred times better to endure it steadfastly than to scream. Perhaps... someday such endurance will save your life...]

The Evolution Treeʼs words were true, though quite trivial, and they managed to change Adamʼs attitude, his view changed.

There was no more screaming from Adam, both in inner space and in the real world.

Step.

With trembling knees, Adam struggled to get up from the ground gazing intently at the Sacrificial Holders. The long vines from the flowers wanted to rush into battle, but they were too cautious, not knowing what was happening to their opponent.

Adamʼs pupils flickered from time to time, the bright pain hadnʼt gone anywhere since Lone Blaze hadnʼt finished the process yet, but Adam wasnʼt going to just endure and wait any longer.

Step.

With a menacing aura beating in powerful currents, Adam stepped forward, shaking the ground with his mighty stomp.

”Bastards, why are you standing there wasting my time!”

Strangely enough, the flames on the needle became more active, following his emotions. Red flaming particles swept before his eyes.

The Sacrificial Holders flinched at his exclamation. They felt stronger but were also afraid to get too close to Adam.

After a few steps, Adam stopped glaring at even walls, without cracks or gaps.

”My temporary partner... no sparing me at all...”

Crackle.

Adam adopted a fighting stance, pulling the needle forward, his torso tilted slightly forward.

”But, I canʼt deny that...” his facial muscles contorted in sudden pain, but he continued, ”That flame has destructive power...”

Whooooooooooooosh.

At the same moment, Adam dashed forward, thrusting the needle forward.

That simple movement gave the flame a sudden momentum, all it needed to burst forth with all its power.

A destructive torrent of fire filled the passage, only the top of the ceiling was left untouched by the all-consuming inferno.

The Sacrificial Holdersʼ eyes went wide, they bounced sideways as the long vines swept in front of them becoming their shield.

But...

As the flames reached the vines, they turned them into handfuls of ash falling to the ground in a thick black mass.

Then, the flames reached the broad layers of flesh covering the Sacrificial Holders, burning through the top layer.

”RRRRRRRRGGGGGHHH!!!”

The Sacrificial Holders roared in agony, their pain intensifying while Adamʼs slowly decreased, Lone Blazeʼs information transfer almost coming to an end.

[You can feel it... Thatʼs my power when I have a vessel...]

Adamʼs eyebrow twitched, a final flash of pain spreading across his face before it finally ended.

He didnʼt answer anything, but Lone Blazeʼs words brought him to his senses:

ʼWait, Lone Blaze said a vessel? Hmm... Apparently, the External Artifacts can interact with both Phantoms and monsters. Well, thatʼs not surprising after all, the situation is exactly the same with ordinary artifacts.ʼ

Phantoms and Artificial and Natural ones could absorb artifacts, monsters had the same ability, albeit with some complications. Such monsters would then become the Essence Type.

Step. Step. Step.

Adam walked forward looking at the Sacrificial Holders burning. There was no need to attack them, the flames were turning them to ash rapidly.

With the energy effect, their wounds were trying to regenerate, the bloody ribbons were partially saving the monsters from the gruesome burns, but the speed was too slow.

”Pffft, even if you were Regenerative Monsters, it wouldnʼt be enough to survive!”

[You seem to feel much better after winning, donʼt you?]

Adamʼs corners of his lips went up as he shrugged nonchalantly.

”Yeah, but it looks like there are some limitations to your abilities after all.”

His gaze flickered downward, the flame on the needle didnʼt disappear, but it became much slower and didnʼt shine as brightly.

[Thatʼs not a problem... Unlike you or monsters, Iʼm not a living creature, I can quickly recover my powers just by absorbing energy from the environment.]

At the same moment, the wind currents slightly distorted, the crimson mist headed towards the silver needle gently passing next to the sharp blades.

Slowly, the flames regained their former power.

Adam waved his hand, feeling the energy density around him drop dramatically, all headed towards the fire.

”Damn, thatʼs pretty convenient.”

[Yes, but we must hurry... I have a bad feeling about this. You must fulfill the terms of the pact.]

In a heartbeat, Adamʼs expression grew more serious as he saw in the distance the descent, the great stair leading up to the bright crimson lights.

”Sure, our goals are the same, so we will be allies until we achieve what we want. Then... things may change.”

...

Experience tales at

In the depths of the fortress, time felt very different from the upper levels. It took Adam over twenty minutes to fight against the three monsters, the Phantoms trying to survive the Eclipse.

Most of the Phantoms already run into the fortress, the number reached into the hundreds, but there were laggards and the monsters in comparison were many times more.

Slash.

Katrin slashed another monster standing in front of the bridge along with several other of the strongest Phantoms from the squads.

Viron and Gnash took their positions inside the fortress.

”Fuck, there are more and more of them, Alan, how many more Phantoms are running towards the fortress?”

She looked around, in the last few minutes a veritable mountain of monster corpses formed in front of the bridge, dying one by one.

ʼAbout seventy, twelve more small squads to be exact.ʼ

”I see.”

Katrin nodded deeply about to return to the battle as something caught her eye.

Green flames erupted in the northern part of the dark lands, soon a massive shadow rose from beyond the hills, while hundreds of silhouettes followed their leader.

”Here comes the first serious trouble...”

Katrin gulped.

”Well, it was to be expected, but Iʼm afraid he wonʼt be the first and last...”