Endless Evolution: Last Star-Chapter 1046: Dark Sky (Part 1)

The main goal of both Adam and Heret, Vorx, and Risha was to hunt as well as the blood essences. Thanks to Rosana’s aggressive attack, Adam was surrounded by the blood essences, at the very bottom of the scarlet lake.

Rosana didn’t stand a chance before, and especially not after Adam regained his left arm. Yet, from the beginning, she had a way to escape because Adam was right: she didn’t belong here.

Tremble. Tremble. Tremble.

Two sparks, white and red, swirled around before colliding sharply. As the outcome of the battle, the white spark destroyed the red one, absorbing Rosana’s key spark.

The energy from the winner’s spark, traveled to the four red stars, filling everything inside the outline, gradually creating the Third Key.

Soon, sharp as a sword, a snow-white key with blood-red edges soared among Adam’s inner space.

It seemed that everything was ready, that Adam could dive into his inner space at any moment, grab the key, and open the last keyhole. This would take him to a new level - K4, as well as to the edge of the First Circle.

The difference between each K-Level was significant, but it was nothing compared to the Circles. No matter how strong the K4-Phantoms were, there was nothing they could do against a Second Rank Phantom.

But unfortunately for Adam, he wasn’t ready to move to the next level just yet, because the key was missing another detail.

The tiny shard-shaped cavity in the very center had to be filled.

With what?

Well, neither Adam nor Silvana nor anyone else needed to go looking for it, for he already had what he needed.

With a slight shudder, a thick darkness emerged from the Lock, from the last keyhole, it was very different from the darkness of the inner space, it was ancient and serene.

Before the Evolution Tree or Adam could realize it, the darkness had consumed the entire space, coming out into the real world.

Then, a black flash engulfed Adam, sending him off in a direction as unknown as Rosana’s disappearance.

It wasn’t certain that they would cross paths, but they were no longer at the blood pond or the Cave Grid, that much was obvious.

Crackle.

The Blood Crushers crumbled to the ground, their large bodies shaking but no longer able to regenerate, their strength running out.

The joy of victory didn’t last long, for they saw first Rosana disappear, then Adam.

"What..." Risha gulped, stumped.

She turned to Heret and Vorx, hoping to learn more from them, but their faces were as pale as sheets of paper.

What had happened to Adam reminded them of the Light Legion invasion. It was at the black flash that Arnoth and Kreyna arrived.

Then, the fall of their castle, their comrades, and the king and queen.

"Hey! Stop looking ahead like statues! Where did they disappear to?!" Risha exclaimed, waving her axe in front of them.

Heret was the first to find the strength to gather his senses.

"This..." he slowly turned to her. "Risha, I’m afraid no one can help Adam... I don’t know why it happened, but... the black flash, it took him."

Risha blinked a few times, puzzled.

"Hmm? Where?!"

Vorx gulped.

"At the Dark Shore."

...

Thump.

Adam collapsed to the ground, the water from the lake still dripping from the tips of his black hair.

For the first few seconds, he came to his senses, seeing nothing but cold, dark earth and the same walls of the gorge towering hundreds of meters up.

"Argh...!" Adam clutched his head, suffering from an unusually vivid, deep pain.

He was unaware of where he was and didn’t know how he ended up here. But, someone was always with him.

’Adam... What happened?’ Silvana muttered, her voice trembling.

"Fuck! I don’t know!" Adam irritably shouted as his fist slammed into the nearest wall.

However, instead of rumbling, he felt the pain of hitting something solid for a long time.

The last time he’d felt that way was when he’d crossed into the more dangerous region of the Dead Lands - to the Wild Lands. It was very different from the Pacific Lands for weak Phantoms, primarily because of the denser energy.

Adam’s eyes went wide looking at his hand. His skin was slightly reddened from the impact and there were only a few cracks in the wall.

"What the hell...?" ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm

Then, his eyes grew deeper as he saw dense streams of energy filling everything around him. Pale blue flows infused everything.

Adam had never seen anything like this before, not even when he was in the resistance caves, where, due to Radiant Mirage, had a high energy density.

Slowly, he held out his hand, making the energy shake slightly like water.

He couldn’t feel the energy physically, but all his instincts screamed that he was in the center of the treasure.

But a smile was in no hurry to appear on his face.

"Wait, if it feels like there’s so much energy here... And, it’s not like a hideout of the External Artifact, then..."

Silvana’s voice broke, ’This place is not for you.’

Adam gulped.

With a slight nod, he stood up from the ground, glancing around.

For some reason, he found himself in the middle of a gorge that seemed to have no end. Instead of clouds and sunlight, a dark sky and a bright white disk loomed above him as if there was a permanent eclipse.

It was the only source of light, at least no other Adam could see.

A chill ran down his spine, not from the wind rushing over the sharp rocks, but from the realization that he didn’t belong here.

There was only one explanation for why the energy around him seemed so dense - this area was far above his level.

Right now, he felt like a K1 or a K2 Phantom who, for some reason, found himself at the Wild Lands where the Yellow and Red Threat Level monsters clashed.

However, if a White or Green Threat monster came into these territories, they would feel even more pressure.

The main problem wasn’t that Adam was having a hard time to breathe and his fist couldn’t break the stone wall.

The major threat was the fact that he was at the bottom of the food chain of this place.

The realization of that made him frown heavily and grow wary as he slowly leaned against the wall.

’Silvana, did I end up at the Dark Shore?’ Adam suggested. Of the many ideas that filled his mind, this was the most plausible.

’Unfortunately, I think you are. You’re almost a K4-Phantom. Even in the farthest reaches of the Wild Lands, you wouldn’t feel pain if you hit a simple wall. It’s not some vault or castle, it’s just a gorge...’

Adam nodded deeply.

This sort of thing happened to him a few times. It was always the spatial anomalies that were to blame, but not now.

"Rosana...? Did she do this?" She gritted her teeth. "No. If she could move me to the Dark Shore, she’d be somewhere nearby and I’d be in a trap, not here."

Then, Adam realized that he was here for some other reason. It made him close his eyes, finding himself in his inner space.

Oddly enough, everything looked normal, except for the thickening darkness in the center of his Third Key.

"Argh?" Adam clenched his fists. "Wasn’t I supposed to finish creating the key?"

[Conditions for creating the Third Key:

1) Collect four essences of any type: 4/4

2) Receive the key spark 1/1

3) Receive a shard of the ???]

The only one who could help Adam was his Evolution Tree.

[Don’t look at me...]

Its first words were not what Adam was hoping for.

[As I said earlier... I didn’t know any more about the Third Key than you did... This isn’t a case of me hiding something from you so you wouldn’t stop yourself from accomplishing your goal...]

"But..." Adam stammered, looking around. "What am I supposed to do? I don’t know if I can get out of the Dark Shore anytime soon, but I’ll have a better chance if I become a K4-Phantom!"

[The only thing I can say is... That as soon as you came here, the darkness around the key came into motion...]

After a few moments, Adam nodded weakly as he approached the key, extending his hand.

The darkness answered his call, a small portion of it in a sudden rush plunging into his left eye like a malicious swarm. The rest of the darkness stayed close to the key.

"GHA!" Adam grabbed his throat in the real world as if trying to spit out a poisonous apple that he shouldn’t swallow.

For a split second, his left eye changed its color from blue to black, with no pupil or sclera.

With the next deep breath, he felt much better as he looked ahead.

Now, amidst the dense pale blue energy, he could see wisps of black mist. It wasn’t a straight line, but it was definitely pointing him in a direction.

"Do you see it?" Adam asked.

’Yes.’ Silvana nodded. ’The Two Walls were guiding you, too, weren’t they? Maybe it’s something similar?’

Adam snorted. "Tsk. I hope not. I don’t know what monsters inhabit this part of the Dark Shore, but I doubt I could defeat anyone particularly strong."

Crackle. Crackle. Crackle.

At the same moment, a creature emerged from the gorge wall above - a stone, carnivorous flower with long, tentacle-like vines.

Putting forward its trembling petals, it slowly turned toward Adam.

Then, Adam had to do something he hadn’t done in a long time.

Run.