Endless Evolution: Last Star - Chapter 918

Chapter 918: The Red Axe
A bald young man, a muscular one, and a man with a short black beard and a predatory look. They didn’t even glance at the fact that on Adam’s wrist was the same black NEP as theirs.

It was simply impossible for them to think that someone truly powerful was willing to use a literal trash pipe to get at the Lower Ring.

Moreover, the Lower Ring Phantoms treated their fellows from above with obvious hostility. Most of the Dark Phantoms were convinced that the so-called Light Phantoms were weaker and softer, and… more often than not, this was true.

Step.

Adam stepped forward, standing confidently in front of the three Dark Phantoms surrounding him like hungry hyenas.

The three thugs expected him to try to stop and dissuade them, but instead, Adam pointed at Silvana.

“Hey, what are you going to do with her?” he asked nonchalantly.

The men glanced over, then the bearded one narrowed his eyes.

“Tsk. Isn’t it obvious? A beautiful girl from the Upper Ring is all but a treasure at the Lower Ring, she…” the man gestured at Silvana. “A valuable and unique commodity.”

“Hahaha!” the bald one laughed insidiously. “You see that? He’s already trying to dump her to save his own skin! Though, what else would you expect from cowards from the Upper Ring.”

The muscular man’s eyes ran from Adam to Silvana until he noticed the NEP on Adam’s wrist.

“Wait… Guys, he’s a Phantom!”

For a moment, all three of them froze, their eyes wide open. They weren’t scared, on the contrary, sly smirks showed up on their faces.

“Hah… Now that’s what I call luck,” the bold one gulped, staring intently at Silvana. “If he’s a Phantom, then she…”

The bearded man nodded deeply. “She’s an Operator. Hah… Looks like we didn’t just get lucky, our expectations paid off because a fortune fell right into our hands!”

Silvana stood quietly behind Adam. She understood what Adam was trying to do – he wanted to get as much information as possible. Naturally, as an Operator, she approved of this approach, it was pragmatic.

However, she was a human, not a robot. The words of the three thugs failed to hit her to the core, but she was uncomfortable being spoken of as a commodity rather than a human being.

‘Looks like Mr. Erik was right.’ Silvana looked around. ‘At the Upper Ring, Operators are the number two of the pair, but… Phantoms and Operators are important partners that value each other. Some may be more dominant, some more submissive, but it’s a union between two people who respect each other.’

At the same time, Adam’s eyes grew deeper.

“Hey. If I give you my Operator. Would you let me go? I don’t want to die, you know?”

The three men glanced over, seeming to ponder his offer. It could avoid them fighting and bloodshed.

Then…

“HAHAHAHAHAHA!”

They simultaneously laughed an evil laugh, looking at Adam like a naive idiot.

“Damn… I haven’t laughed like that in a while,” the bald one took a deep breath.

The bearded man shook his head. “Yeah, that’s not surprising. He thinks anyone in their right mind would spare a loner with no protection.”

“Well, he’s from the Upper Ring. I’m sure for them the murders are a noteworthy event,” the muscular man shrugged. “Anyway, let’s get started.”

“Agreed.”

Adam raised an eyebrow in confusion.

‘Shall we begin? Are they going to attack me without Nexuses? Or… do they have Nexuses like me?’ he glanced at his rings, then at the three thugs. ‘But… I don’t see any jewelry on them. Do they all use short daggers? That’s weird.’

Then, the three thugs simultaneously pulled out strange black rings from their pockets. The edges of the rings were cracked as if they were made of a very strong metal that was difficult to process. In the center was a shimmering crystal the size of a fingernail, energy lines like threads running from the crystal clinging to the inner edges of the ring.

Adam and Silvana were alert. Neither of them knew what this strange, unknown thing was.

Simultaneously, they clutched the rings tightly, shattering them into shards. Then, out came a stream of energy, quickly taking a unique form for each thug.

The bald one held a massive hammer, the bearded man had a spear with a thin tip, and the muscular man received a rather short sword that contrasted with his large body.

‘Wait… Did they summon their Nexuses with those strange rings?’ Adam internally muttered. ‘Holy shit, that’s incredibly convenient! Why don’t we use something like this?’

At the same moment, the three thugs glanced over and rushed forward with a gust of wind.

It seemed like they were crazy to decide to attack K3-Phantom when they were at the K2-Level, but they just didn’t know that Adam was at the K3-Level.

As soon as the chamber descended into the center of the junkyard, Adam put all his efforts into containing his aura. He didn’t know who or what might be waiting for them at the end of the path. He didn’t want to attract attention, so his aura was at its lowest point.

If his opponent was a K3-Phantom equal to him in strength or someone a level higher like a K4-Phantom, this trick wouldn’t work.

‘But…’ Adam’s gaze turned cold. ‘Against three K2-Phantoms, I shouldn’t even use abilities.’

He could suppress them with the power of his aura, it would be fast and effective, but not safe.

Whoooooooosh.

Adam leaped forward, finding himself in front of a bearded man and a muscular one. Under their shocked faces, he plunged his fists deep into their stomachs.

He didn’t use any energy, the Global Gene, or even the Energy Control for this attack, just pure physical strength. All to prevent his aura from getting out of control.

“Argh!”

A bright pain reflected on the faces of the two. Incomprehension filled their eyes.

‘How? Why is he so strong?’

‘Wait… Is he not a K1-Phantom? But, his aura is too weak!’

The bald one was as shocked as his mates, but this was not the first difficult situation he had faced at the Lower Ring.

With a determined expression, the bald one clutched his hammer tightly, electric shocks traveled along the massive weapon.

“Bastard! Don’t think you’re better than us if you’re from the Upper Ring!”

Bam.

The hammer came down directly on Adam, accompanied by a lightning blast. Pieces of debris flew apart, yellow electrical discharges covered the bare ground in black patches, jets of cinders shot upwards.

But…

“What…?” the bold one gasped in a daze.

Adam wasn’t at the strike site.

Bam.

As soon as the bald one turned, Adam’s foot slammed into his jaw, throwing him into the nearest pile of debris. His upper body was buried under the junk, only his legs and hammer remaining outside.

Struggling, the bold one climbed out, rolling slowly across the ground. His mates, the muscular guy, and the bearded man, were holding their stomachs, grimacing in pain. They tried to get up, but in their condition, it was an impossible task.

Strangely enough, the only one who had the strength to do so was the bald one. He didn’t bother to raise his hammer, favoring his tightly clenched fists.

“Fuck… So you’re a lot stronger than you tried to seem… Sneaky bastard…” the bald one spat out a clot of blood.

“Well,” Adam’s calm voice broke out. “I wasn’t trying to trick you. You attacked me without even considering it odd that my aura was almost nonexistent. If I’d been in your shoes, it would have alerted me, at least.”

“Anyway,” he waved his hand. “I have no point or desire to waste time on you. Just answer a few of my questions and don’t ever appear on my radar again.”

The three thugs looked at each other, their eyes twitching. They couldn’t believe that after what they did, Adam would actually let them live.

‘Right… He’s from the Upper Ring,’ the bald one gulped. ‘Shit… We ended up unlucky again, but anything is better than death!’

“Sure!” the bald one stepped back. “Ask your questions, a Light Phantom.”

Adam ran his gaze over the three of them, he thought they were up to something.

“You three,” he grunted. “Are you from the Red Bears?”

From the conversation between Erik and the commander, he knew that the Lower Ring ruled four organizations, and he only knew of one of them, or… two?

The men looked at each other, then the bald one laughed.

“Hahaha… Stop joking around. We and the Red Bears? Even if we tried to join them, those savages would rather skin us alive than accept us into their ranks.”

‘Hmm… Sounds pretty threatening,’ Adam rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

Then, Adam glanced at the bald one about to ask his next question.

Whoooooooooooooosh.

Cutting through the wind, a scarlet disk swept between the mounds of debris in the distance.

A massive double-bladed axe came down on the bald one, cleaving him in half.

The faces of the two men turned pale as they looked at the red aura enveloping the axe. It was obvious to them – no one else would leave here alive.

Adam raised his eyes – seeing a short figure sitting on the tip of the axe’s hilt.

A young girl with spiky crimson hair and a wide, sly grin looked up at Adam, her eyes filled with bloodlust and a desire to fight.

Her NEP was black like all the Dark Phantoms, but unlike the three thugs or Adam, her NEP was engraved with the fierce red bear, jaw wide open and clawed paws held up.