Endless Evolution: Last Star - Chapter 682

Chapter 682: Live Sphere

Strangely enough, Adam used the energy shield in every possible way except for its direct use – to block attacks.

Step. Step. Step.

Adam approached the Dark Watcher, a massive shield sticking out of its throat, pouring still-warm blood onto the cold floor. Monsters had weaknesses too, and sometimes a single direct hit was enough to end the fight.

There was no decent fight against the Dark Watcher, so Adam just shrugged and bent down, going to raise the energy shield.

It crackled.

At the same moment, the pentagonal shield cracked, shattering into tiny shards and quickly disappearing into the void.

‘Looks like the shield ran out of energy, or it can’t be thrown so it won’t lose contact with you.’ Silvana commented.

Adam nodded slightly. It reminded him of the first version of his First Order.

“I had the needle, but it was different and… I couldn’t control it freely at long range because of the thread. That ability was much weaker than my current one, but… I still miss it.”

With a slight sigh, he scratched the back of his head awkwardly, not knowing what came over him.

‘Is it nostalgia?’

Silvana raised an eyebrow.

‘Hey, Adam, you’re too young for that sort of thing.’

A reply followed only a few seconds later, Adam raised his head looking at the calmly burning torches as his lips parted:

“Is it a matter of age? I think it’s a mistake to think so…”

Silvana was confused, everyone knew that usually only adults or old people were nostalgic.

“You’re nostalgic for past events, for important ones, and… naturally more things happen in years than in a couple of months, but nothing prevents you from being nostalgic for what you used to have and now you don’t, even if it was very recently.”

Adam seemed to confuse the concepts of missing something and nostalgia, but his voice, his deep tone, was influential enough to convince Silvana otherwise.

Step.

Several silhouettes, the Shadow Walkers reappeared in the courtyard, wandering slowly without purpose but with expectation, again lacking any aggression toward Adam.

This brought Adam out of his deep thoughts.

“Alright, it’s time to move on. Though I’ve learned quite a bit about runes, I still haven’t reached my goal. I still don’t even know who my target is… Who do I have to defeat to destroy the First Wall?”

With a confident stride, Adam headed onward, wandering among the winding passageways of the fortress, ascending and descending to different levels like a tourist lost in a castle more like a labyrinth.

Yet, he had a guide – the black particles showed him the way with pulses before quickly disappearing.

Thus, after a few minutes, Adam reached a spacious square, he was no longer surrounded by narrow passageways and high walls.

And… any square large enough could be a decent arena, all that was needed was two fighters and preferably rules.

Adam narrowed his eyes as he saw something unusual:

“What…? What is that?”

In the center of the square, above an unnaturally round stone slab, all the others were squares of equal size, hovered a purple sphere made of some kind of solid material.

Unfortunately, it was as much a mystery to Silvana as it was to him:

‘I don’t know, but I’m sure it has something to do with the External Artifact, the colors match and it’s connected to slabs. I don’t think it has anything to do with Irregular Energy or the fortress itself.’

Obviously, it wasn’t a monster either, yet the object had some purpose, the sphere hovered above the ground, bobbing up and down slightly as if under a current of dense air.

Step.

Adam stepped forward, there was no point in him being afraid because he came here to win and the black particles brought him here.

He was in no hurry, but he didn’t notice that at that very moment, he stepped over the line separating the square from the other parts of the fortress.

Whoooooooooosh.

A bright light rose up along the edges of the square like an invisible barrier: a light flame marking the boundaries where only a select few could set foot.

Tremble. Tremble. Tremble.

The purple sphere shuddered and turned sharply in Adam’s direction. A black line appeared on the sphere before it opened, revealing a massive eye with a purple pupil – it stared intently at Adam.

Adam flinched, he hadn’t expected the sphere to be alive. The first thing Adam thought of was that the sphere was a monster, but he quickly pushed those ideas aside.

In the meantime, Silvana was looking around carefully, using not only shared sight but also the cameras on Adam’s devices.

Before they could come to any conclusions, a beam of light came out of her eye, heading toward the two slabs in front of Adam.

Several runes floated above one of the slabs, there were a few that Adam hadn’t seen yet, their number changed from time to time, but it was obvious that if Adam chose this slab he would get his hands on powerful weapons, protection, and healing.

Well, he realized that it couldn’t be that simple, and before making a decision he had to find out what the sphere offered in return for the many mighty runes.

“Hmm? Really?”

Over the second slab floated the image of two crossed swords, nothing more, but it was enough for Adam to realize what he would get when choosing this slab.

‘A fight…?’ Silvana muttered in confusion, ‘This is kind of weird. Why pick a battle when you can get a few runes for nothing? The genes sure aren’t worth it…’

Adam stepped forward, staring intently at the two swords.

“Hmm… Silvana, I don’t think it’s about genes at all. If someone or something puts up a fight, then there’s a reward for the winner. It’s not just how duels between people work, it’s how duels work in general.”

Without hesitation, Adam stepped forward, stepping to the left slab, selecting two swords.

At the same moment, the eye blinked once, causing the second slab to extinguish – it was Adam’s only chance.

Whoooooooosh.

A powerful torrent of wind blew next to Adam, but his instincts told him that it didn’t happen naturally, something forced the wind to move.

Following his keen senses, Adam directed his gaze upwards – seeing a tall silhouette towering on the wall.

Two eyes with a blue light unusual for this place stared intently at Adam, while a tail covered in sharp armor flicked the air from side to side like a whip.