Endless Evolution: Last Star - Chapter 670

Chapter 670: One Phantom One Fighter

Slowly and casually, Adam opened his eyes. He was still there in Silvana’s apartment, standing in the middle of the hall, but he felt as if he were soaring above the ground.

He felt sublime as if he had become something else entirely in that short period. A few fragments were enough to change his perception of his future.

Then, Adam slowly lowered his head, about to meet his gaze with Silvana.

The sight presented made his eyes go wide for a moment.

Tremble. Tremble. Tremble.

Silvana’s legs were trembling and her face was pale as if her worst nightmare had come true, invading her mind. She struggled to keep from falling to the ground, her hands clutching her shoulders tightly, wanting warmth from the cold running down her back.

Her eyes were filled with nothing but wild terror and fear, her gaze directed at Adam, or rather at what surrounded him.

Realizing this, Adam turned around, watching the millions of black particles hovering around him. Unlike Silvana, he felt nothing from this energy but a strange desire to know where the trail led.

Turning his torso, Adam found that the black particles, like a stream of wind, occasionally made smooth ripples in the same direction, but without showing anything else.

Thump.

At the same moment, Silvana fell, her knees crashing into the cold floor and her head lowered.

She had felt powerful auras or pressure from pure energy more than a few times, after all, she was one of those who felt Kogen’s aura for a few seconds because of his uncontrollable emotions.

But… now she felt something completely different.

It wasn’t force or pressure, it was a prediction – if she followed the path, only an imminent and miserable doom awaited her.

‘How strange… This is definitely the first time I’ve seen such an effect, but why does it feel so familiar…?’ Adam inwardly muttered looking behind the path created by the First Wall.

Then, Adam nodded deeply.

‘In any case, I must prepare myself properly first. If I were in the Dead Lands, I would have followed the path right away… but… now I’m in the Citadel.’

As if agreeing with his conclusions, in the blink of an eye, all the black particles disappeared, as well as the eerie feeling pressing down on Silvana, showing how insignificant her life as an inferior weak being was.

Tap.

Adam bent down on one knee in front of Silvana, staring into her exhausted eyes.

“Are you alright? This may sound strange… but… Somehow deep down inside I’m not worried, even though you’ve obviously had a hard time these past few minutes, right?”

Biting her lip, Silvana took a deep breath.

“You’re wrong…”

“Hmm?” Adam raised an eyebrow.

“Not a few minutes, a few seconds, that was enough to get me to this state.”

Under the serene silence, Silvana stared intently at Adam, into his eyes that turned much darker, now they resembled not the colorful sea but the depths of an ancient ocean.

“What did you see? You have to tell me everything in detail and… thanks to this strange energy and your information I can find both the right monster and location.”

“How fast?” Adam asked calmly.

Silvana smirked confidently.

“Hah, it’s a matter of minutes. It won’t even be half an hour before we have all the information we can get.”

“Good.”

…

Seven hours later.

“FUCK! Where is that monster?!” Silvana exclaimed furiously pounding her fists on the table.

Strangely enough, Adam was completely calm. He was sitting not far from her and drinking sweet coffee, his legs crossed.

In all this time, Silvana still couldn’t reliably figure out where Adam’s target was. Moreover, Silvana was not complacent, so after an hour of unsuccessful attempts, she gritted her teeth and requested help from the military.

However, they couldn’t find anything concrete, they only had a few guesses.

It was all about Adam seeing different things in the fragments. Some of it sounded familiar, and Silvana quickly found territory and monsters that fit the description, but she couldn’t connect it to the other, creepier fragments.

Eventually, after another hour of discussion, Silvana and the military came to the following conclusion:

“Adam, we’ve identified one place that your First Wall has shown you exactly and we think it would be best for you to go there and then follow your energy.”

“I see… Hmm… It feels like there was another part of the First Wall at some point, it’s all too different…” A slight frown appeared on his face.

Then, Adam didn’t feel it, but his Evolution Tree trembled, not from excitement or fear but from its laughter.

[Hahaha… Your words are true… Not only that… You and the Two Walls evolved… Though… It shouldn’t have led to such consequences… You met too strong creatures along the way…]

Sip.

Taking one quick sip, Adam looked at Silvana.

“Alright then, let’s just consider this one big mission. Where do I have to go and who do I have to fight first?”

Though it didn’t go as they expected, his words brought an excited smile to Silvana’s face. They were finally returning to the Dead Lands and something great was ahead of them.

“Come here, I’ll show you everything.” Silvana waved her hand turning in her chair towards the large screens.

Before she could say anything, Adam was already standing behind her like a ghost, holding a large cup of coffee in his hand.

Click.

Silvana clicked the mouse, showing Adam a large 3D model of a massive area on the far side of the Dead Lands.

“Adam.” Silvana said seriously, not hiding her inner joy, “You’re going to the Fortress of the Lone Serpent.”

…

Step. Step. Step.

Adam walked slowly up the tall iron stairs, his every step echoing against the thick concrete walls – the insides of the Citadel’s main defense against monsters.

He was wearing the long coat that Franz had prepared for him before Osana’s wedding, his gauntlets covered his arms tightly and his aura was calm and powerful.

Crackle.

The door opened, blasting Adam with a powerful gust of cold wind, a frequent guest on the high walls that overlooked the entire Citadel, all of the Three Rings as well as the vast slums.

Ahead, a fighter was already waiting for him on the takeoff pad, it wasn’t a special one, the XH-01 that Refesa had created, but it wasn’t the usual SH-01 fighter that most Phantoms used either.

It was a modernized version of the SH-01 called the SH-L01.

It was a code name so it couldn’t be very long and colorful, but there was a clear meaning to the L – Lonely.

The idea was simple – only one Phantom could fit in such a fighter, as its seat was behind the pilot.

There was no cargo bay inside the SH-L01, as it was not designed for that purpose.

The SH-L01 had only one job – to get the Phantom to the right place as quickly as possible, allowing this particular strong Phantom to destroy monsters in bunches. Then, to take the Phantom home, leaving mountains of corpses for Harvesters and the military.

To do this, the SH-L01 had a few extra powerful engines, as well as very expensive fuel partially made from the fluids of special monsters, most often monsters with lightning attributes.

The speed of the SH-L01 was impressive, as was how quickly it was subject to wear and tear and required repairs. Because of this, ordinary Phantoms were never allocated to the SH-L01, even for very important missions.

For the military to grant the Operator’s request, they had to be sure that this particular Phantom’s mission would have a high chance of being completed successfully, and that this Phantom would kill many, many monsters along the way.

Naturally, the military could not make such decisions without knowing the history of the Phantom, but in Adam’s case, this was not a problem.

Step.

Adam stepped up onto the platform, as he approached the fighter he met the eyes of a military officer – a middle-aged woman with short blonde hair, it was obvious from her uniform that she was no ordinary private.

Beside her stood several silent, menacing-looking men, but their rank was lower, they weren’t going to act or say anything without orders.

“Adam Vinter, we hope your mission ends successfully! Please destroy as many monsters as possible in the Fortress of the Lone Serpent!”

Feeling the pleasant chill of the evening, Adam narrowed his eyes.

“Why?”

“Please ask a more concrete question.” The woman answered instantly, holding one hand behind her back.

“I doubt all K2W0-Phantoms get this kind of… service… when they decide to go on a mission.”

“Mr. Adam, you are not an average Phantom, you do few missions, fewer than other Phantoms on average, but…”

Then, her eyes grew darker and even she – a seasoned military person stammered.

“Every time you find yourself in the Dead Lands, the monster nests look like another monster came to them, but… there’s another reason.”

“Hmm?” Adam lifted his chin slightly, slight interest in his gaze.

“At the Fortress of the Lone Serpent, a lot of Phantoms taking missions on monsters in that area have died already. It’s one of the Red Zones.”

“Red Zone…?”

Adam had never heard the term before, not from Silvana or the military.

The woman nodded deeply.

“It marks areas where, for various reasons, the mission completion rate is not only very low, but the death rate is higher than most other areas.”

She clenched her fists tightly, trying to maintain her stern expression.

“That means that most of the squads that go to the Red Zone are probably going to die.”

“But…”

She exhaled a cold vapor, uncertainly raising her gaze to Adam.

“This only applies to regular Phantoms, not those who killed the Top-2 and Top-1 monsters of their rank.”