Endless Evolution: Last Star

Chapter 1892: The First Island and the Tree

Splash!

A torrent of water surged upward as Adam rushed through it, finding himself on the island. Behind him, he could see sea monsters, mostly fish-like creatures resembling the Night Barracudas that had attacked him earlier.

But Adam had no intention of fighting every single one of them. He realized that would take too much time and energy.

“If I fight every monster near every island, I’ll be stuck here for several weeks. And… it looks like my theory was right, doesn’t it?”

Adam looked back as the sea monsters showed no hurry to attack him on the island.

The surface was off-limits to them, or at least deadly dangerous.

Perhaps if Adam had been underwater, the sea monsters would have had a chance to defeat him, but on land, his territory, no monster fish would have been able to even scratch him.

Step.

Adam took a step forward as the sea monsters turned and headed toward the depths. They realized that Adam knew they wouldn’t follow him.

This was the first island Adam had come across, and oddly enough, it was quite empty.

Ahead of him was only one massive tree standing right in the center of the island, as well as some ruins to the right.

“Well, that’s not surprising, right? Most islands aren’t all that interesting, but still… I need to make sure that’s really the case.”

Step. Step. Step.

Without hurrying, he made his way toward the tree, since only it and the ruins held any interest. From time to time, Adam looked around and glanced at the Obsidian Compass.

It was still pointing north, so perhaps this island wasn’t his final destination.

“The passages… They could be anywhere, right? They could be in the water or beneath the island. After all, the Grand Abyss is a lower level of the Gray Sea.”

Adam’s gaze grew more intense.

He remembered how Laroza had thrown him into the lake next to her tower. Back then, he’d learned how to use his aura to protect himself in places like that. But now that he knew how to use the Soul Stance, he was in an even better position.

“Alright, with my aura, I’ll definitely be able to move around freely there, though it does make me uneasy that I’ll have to go to a place like that.”

Then, he looked up at a tree resembling a mighty oak. It was significantly larger than any tree a person might encounter at the Citadel. Not even a dozen people would be enough to encircle its trunk.

Its branches were bare of leaves, yet they were thick and had sharp tips.

“Hmm… Seriously? Nothing?”

Adam was disappointed, but soon his gaze caught on something.

“Wait, what’s that?”

He brushed the dust off the tree’s bark. A piece had been cut away at that spot, leaving a smooth, round surface. A number had been carved into it – “6.”

“Huh, so this is Island A6?”

But then Adam realized something else.

It wasn’t just the Citadel that assigned numbers to the Islands of the Gray Sea, monsters did too.

“And, apparently, these numbers match, right? Tsk, are you telling me that a long time ago, someone decided which number each island would get, and to do that, a Phantom met with a monster?”

Adam hadn’t been surprised for a long time by the fact that Phantoms and monsters could work together. He’d done it himself many times.

Aside from the Befallen Crown, with most factions and monsters, at least at first, it was possible to talk things out before tearing each other’s throats out. Well, that was only true if they were the Awakened Monsters.

As much as Adam might have wanted to, he couldn’t have convinced the Night Barracudas not to attack him. Words were useless here.

A few moments later, Adam nodded and headed toward the ruins. There, a passage leading downward awaited him, and it was clear that no one had passed through here in a long time. It wasn’t just the thick layer of dust, but the roots, leaves, and vines that had sprouted through the stone slabs.

Step. Step. Step.

Adam walked forward slowly, holding the Obsidian Compass in front of him. Its needle was still pointing ahead, so he wasn’t yet sure if this was the right path.

In fact, Adam wasn’t worried. He knew that on Island A6, nothing could threaten him. Most Elders of the K4-Phantoms would be able to defeat most opponents here.

“Damn.” Adam frowned as he reached the center of the cave.

At that very moment, the compass needle swung toward the west.

“So this wasn’t the right place after all. Well, I shouldn’t have expected it to be that easy, right?”

Adam took a deep breath and headed for the exit. He needed to move on to the next island.

Crack!

The ground cracked as a rumble echoed through the ruins.

“What the…?!”

Adam lost his balance as two massive dark claws, which had effortlessly pierced through a thick layer of rock and earth, appeared before his eyes.

Adam quickly realized this wasn’t just one opponent.

To his left, right, and behind him were more massive claws that were effortlessly tearing through the ground.

‘All this time, there were huge crabs right beneath me?!’ Adam exclaimed inwardly, unable to believe he’d fallen into a trap on his very first island.

Most of them were empty, just how unlucky could he be?

However, Adam quickly realized that the crabs weren’t in a hurry to attack him. They were using their claws to destroy the ground beneath him, and nothing more.

“Wait, do they want me to fall somewhere? Ha! Do they really think that’ll work?!”

Sure, if the floor gave way, Adam would have no choice but to fall into the pit, but that would only be the case if he were a regular person, not a K4-Phantom.

He didn’t need solid ground beneath his feet to stand. He could stand in mid-air in any situation.

Tap.

Adam created an energy platform beneath himself, watching the chunks of earth fall downward.

A satisfied smirk appeared on his face.

Whooooosh!

Suddenly, the blue aura wave swept upward, passing through Adam. It didn’t cause him any damage, but the energy platform holding him aloft collapsed.

Now, he would have to fall for real, and Adam had no way of knowing what awaited him beneath the island.