Endless Evolution: Last Star - Chapter 714

Chapter 714: The Real Coward

During the Eclipse, the monsters did not appear at once, it was a gradual process that took some time.

This allowed the Phantoms standing in defense of the Citadel or Bastions to prepare themselves for the coming battle.

The Phantoms saw their allies, knew what awaited them, and watched as the first wave of desperate monsters slowly appeared.

However, during a sudden Eclipse, not everyone had that opportunity, certainly not the Phantoms running towards the fortress.

The second squad, the other Phantoms, and Katrin realized this.

‘The only way we can get through the gate is to kill Blinding Sylphyre. I will do that and lead these people to victory.’

Not long before the battle began, Alan reported everything he knew about the Blinding Sylphyre, so Katrin immediately went to all weapons.

Crackle.

With a distinct clang, Katrin drew her black sword from her back, striding confidently toward the middle of the bridge.

At the same moment, the surface of the water ring shuddered as the Blinding Sylphyre rose majestically above Katrin and the rest of the Phantoms.

It was the second time that day that someone tried to cross the bridge, now, the Blinding Sylphyre was ready to fight at full strength.

Katrin frowned heavily scrutinizing her opponent. She quickly noticed that the Blinding Sylphyre was injured, especially in the head area.

‘Tsk. That Phantom… It didn’t even finish its job and just stunned the monster instead of killing it.”

The more Katrin thought about this Phantom, the more anger bubbled up inside her.

“Fine…”

Katrin took a deep breath as active darkness appeared inside her eyes instead of the usual flash of light like other Phantoms.

“I’ll deal with you first, then I’ll find this Phantom and make him regret his selfishness.”

Whooooooosh.

Under the gazes of her fellows, Katrin reached her left hand forward activating her First Order.

A dark mist, more like a cloud of darkness quickly traveled along her arm, launching into a rapidly spinning projectile.

The Blinding Sylphyre bent sharply to dodge, but the projectile followed the monster like a swarm of wild wasps, smashing into the right side of its head, near its neck.

ROOOOOOOAR!!!

A bright pain raced through the silver body of the monster, leaving black spots on the scales, but it seemed that it wasn’t enough.

For Katrin, it was no barrier.

Whooooooosh.

With a sweep of her hand, she created three more whirlwinds around her, hovering above her hand like a wild swarm.

“You have a tough hide, though that’s to be expected of a bridge protector. Yet, I no longer need to rely on others to handle such a problem.”

At her will, the whirlwinds headed forward, going to intensify the plague’s effect on the impacted section.

The Blinding Sylphyre realized this, so she quickly ducked under the water, hiding behind the bridge. It wasn’t an escape attempt like Adam’s, but a good way to dodge Katrin’s complex attack.

Splash.

The tip of its tail disappeared into the murky water, raising a high splash of water. A second later, three plague swirls arrived there, but they just hovered above the surface like bees unable to dive into the water.

Katrin bit her lip as she clenched her fist tightly. Even though she knew everything about the Blinding Sylphyre, while the monster knew nothing about her, it still found a way to evade her attack.

Whooooooooooooosh.

Realizing that it was impossible to achieve its goal, the three swirls shuddered, dispersing into energy particles.

The Blinding Sylphyre watched carefully from the depths and immediately jumped out when he realized that Katrin’s ability was useless against the water.

Alan, who was watching the fight, thought that Katrin was unlucky.

‘Hm… If they were in the Pacific Lands, water with low energy saturation wouldn’t be a barrier to her First Order, but… it’s different in the Wild Lands, she’s not used to it yet.’

For the moment, Alan’s green eyes grew darker, he knew Katrin better than anyone and so he realized that not everything that was supposed to change actually did.

‘Agh… Katrin…’

Alan inwardly muttered watching as she pointed her sword forward and the darkness in her eyes revolved again.

‘You got the kind of power you wanted, and that power turned out to be great. You are long past support, but you cannot achieve what you desire without facing creatures capable of killing you for real.’

Tremble. Tremble. Tremble.

Katrin’s aura increased several times, sending shivers down the backs of the nearest Phantoms. Hardly any of them had encountered the Plague Reaper on their way, but they could feel that terrifying energy lurking within Katrin’s Evolution Tree.

“We don’t have much time, so I’ll deal with you quickly.”

With a cold whisper, Katrin grabbed her right wrist as the dark mist traveled from one hand to the other, filling her sword with energy.

The black blade shuddered as the momentum zipped along the edge, shooting a black projectile through the tip.

This vortex was much thicker and denser, unlike the particles of darkness swirling like a swarm of wasps.

The Blinding Sylphyre’s eyes narrowed, he jerked his body sharply downward hoping that the blob of darkness would crash into the wall behind him, but…

Wheeezzzz.

As if under control, the black clot changed its trajectory at a right angle, crashing right into the spot where Katrin’s first attack had hit.

At the same moment, a satisfied smirk appeared on Katrin’s face.

‘Unfortunately, I didn’t get the same ability as the Plague Reaper, I can’t kill everyone with just my breath, but… corrosive darkness, like the plague, is under my control, to a greater extent.’

The clot crashed into the monster and covered half of the Blinding Sylphyre’s head and part of its neck with a thick, black mass that continued to grow like a deadly plant covering everything with its poisonous roots.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

One silver scale after another began to fall from the Blinding Sylphyre’s neck, soon the same fate would befall the head, then all other parts of the body.

Several of the Phantoms, and especially their Operators from the second squad, could clearly see the hide beneath the scales slowly disappearing like torn cloth, soon the darkness would reach flesh and blood.

A predatory glint passed among Katrin’s dark eye with a slight sadistic pleasure.

“Hah, I was going to fight against the Dorman Lord, so an overgrown fish like you won’t be a problem for me.”

Katrin was hardly wrong.

Soon, the flesh would begin to rot, and by then it wouldn’t matter if the same thing happened to the organs, because the Blinding Sylphyre’s life would already be over.

Did the Blinding Sylphyre realize this? Not right away. He didn’t understand what kind of power it was, or what was happening to him, but… upon staring into Katrin’s eyes, the Blinding Sylphyre understood everything.

ROOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAARRRR!!!

With a furious roar, the Blinding Sylphyre shook, causing several stone slabs on the bridge to shine brightly.

Burst. Burst. Burst.

This had not been necessary for the battle against Adam, but now the Blinding Sylphyre was forced to use his trump card, a tool given to him by the External Artifact of the fortress itself.

Four streams of flame reflected in Katrin’s eyes, puzzlement covering her face.

Unlike Adam, she knew what it was, for while Adam was in the fortress, Silvana was updating information about this Red Zone.

However, Katrin, like all the other Phantoms, was seeing the runes appear for the first time and didn’t know exactly how it would work. Any information was always theory when it came to the battlefield, practice was necessary for maximum effect.

Three runes were the four-pointed ones, the last one was three-pointed.

Whooooooooooooosh.

Using his last seconds, the Blinding Sylphyre drew four streams of flame towards him, absorbing all the runes at once.

Several waves of healing ran through his body as well as a stream of dense energy giving him strength beyond his capabilities.

Alan hurriedly shouted:

‘Katrin! Hurry up and hide somewhere! Get into a protective stance! Most likely the Blinding Sylphyre is preparing for its last attack before it dies!’

The corners of her lips turned upwards, forming a satisfied smirk.

“Hah, he realizes he’s dying and wants to take me with him? Like I’m going to fucking let him!”

Soon, the arrogant expression disappeared from her face, replaced by a lost one.

Each of the hundreds of remaining scales on the Blinding Sylphyre’s long body filled with light before shining brightly like vibrant stars.

The light was blinding, so much so that after half a second, Katrin had to squeeze her eyes shut or her eyes would burn out.

Yet, even that didn’t completely help, as she covered her closed eyes with her hands and black coat, escaping the blazing light.

The Blinding Sylphyre’s flash was visible even to those Phantoms that hadn’t yet crossed the border of a few kilometers, seeing the white glow across the hilltops.

The thick, corrosive darkness ignited like embers, disintegrating into tiny pieces until it was completely gone from the Blinding Sylphyre’s body.

There was no trace of the wounds thanks to the healing runes, but that was the Blinding Sylphyre’s only trump card.

Splash.

While the light was still in effect, keeping Phantoms and Katrin in place, the Blinding Sylphyre quickly dove into the water, disappearing beneath the murky surface as deep as he could, sinking to the cold bottom.

Only a few seconds later, with great difficulty, Katrin opened her eyes.

“Agh…?”

Shock covered her face, the bridge was the same as before, only a slight ripple passed over the water from the massive shadow floating below.

Then, the realization came to Katrin as her lips quivered in disbelief.

“That monster got away…? Again…? Didn’t the same thing happen to that coward Phantom? Although, which one of them is a real coward now?”