Endless Evolution: Last Star

Chapter 1705: He is ready

Usually, after completing his missions, Adam would return to the Citadel. This was the standard route for every Phantom who repeatedly ventured into distant lands to grow stronger.

But... Now, Adam was so far away that he didn’t even have the option of returning to the Citadel.

He had another option - the Blade Pillar, or Kaerno’s Pillar.

Only the Fingers had the right to possess the pillars. They possessed power unmatched even among the Lords.

In fact, Adam was lucky that Kaerno had taken him into his home. Nothing prevented Kaerno from being hostile or even killing Adam with a single wave of his hand.

However, the chances of that were negligible. Monsters like Kaerno were hungry for any interesting situation, since their long lives were mostly boring and monotonous. That was one of the downsides of possessing immense power, and the closer the world got to the next World Wipe, the fewer events occurred.

Step. Step. Step.

A short while after they left the Pit, Adam and Sarka approached the blade pillar.

"Hah," Adam smirked, looking up. "This thing really is huge."

It was just as majestic as before. The only thing that had changed was the Gray Watchers. There were significantly more of them now, flying through the spires and the tower at the pillar’s top.

"Hmm? Is something important happening?" Adam glanced at Sarka.

"Who knows?" Sarka shrugged. "Most likely they’re hungry. Master Kaerno, like any owner of the blade pillar, has to deal with far more Gray Watchers than the dome pillars. So, he’ll have to do something about it."

Adam raised an eyebrow.

"Like what?"

Instead of answering, Sarka pointed ahead, at the gray clouds covering the dark sky of the Hollow Lands.

Adam was confused, but soon he sensed something. Something was moving toward them, or rather, toward the blade pillar.

Whoooooooooosh!

Suddenly, a massive figure swept through the layer of clouds, scattering them with powerful gusts of wind trailing behind it.

Adam’s eyes widened as he stared at the giant serpent, its body covered in blue and black scales.

The serpent could easily have encircled the golden clock from the Pit or the top floor of the blade pillar.

But soon, Adam noticed one detail: the serpent’s eyes were empty, devoid of the light of life.

’Is that serpent dead?’

At that moment, Adam noticed something else, a small black dot beneath the serpent that was actually Kaerno, who was holding this great monster down.

"He... Was he hunting?"

Sarka nodded and crossed her arms over her chest. "Ughum, usually Master Kaerno handles this personally.

Sometimes he delegates these duties to our Thorns, but that doesn’t happen very often. I think it helps him unwind."

"Wait, are you saying that Kaerno keeps the Gray Watchers as pets? Like humans keep dogs and cats? Even if that’s the case... Isn’t this serpent a bit too big?"

As if answering his question, Kaerno leapt sideways through the air and grabbed the serpent firmly by its tail.

Adam didn’t know what level this monster was, but judging solely by its aura, he sensed it was a weak Lord Level. This serpent was definitely not at the Black Threat Level.

’Hell, when will I have enough strength? What path did this serpent take to reach this level of power? No...’ Adam shook his head inwardly. ’Even if it was born at roughly this level, it’s still impressive. And a creature of such power would become... food for weaker monsters?’

Whooooooosh!

Using his power, Kaerno hurled the giant serpent forward, causing more than fifty of the Gray Watchers to freeze in their tracks.

With their large amber eyes, they watched the body flying over them as their appetite only grew stronger.

In an instant, all the Gray Watchers surged forward.

Then, Adam realized something.

"Wait, they don’t have jaws. How are they going to eat it?"

"Pfffft!" Sarka snorted. "What makes you think they need a jaw? They have another way of doing it."

The Gray Watchers’ flesh quivered as four arms each emerged from their sides, bearing long, sharp claws resembling syringe needles.

Thrust. Thrust. Thrust.

The Gray Watchers, like a swarm of piranhas, plunged their claws straight into the serpent’s massive body.

Sure, they didn’t have enough strength to tear such a huge monster apart, but that’s exactly why Kaerno was there.

He waved his hand as several invisible blades appeared in the air, slicing the serpent into hundreds of meat cubes.

Whooosh. Whoooosh. Whoooosh.

The Gray Watchers moved faster, trying to grab as many chunks as possible with their arms, driving their needles into the meat chunks.

They wasted no time, and while they hunted, their needles were already sucking the blood and life force out of the chunks, drying out the flesh, which quickly shrank.

Then, they twitched their arms, dropped the dried-out chunks, and flew after the next ones. The amount of blood they could consume was enormous, despite their small size compared to that serpent.

All that fell to the ground were dark pieces and scales, as well as the serpent’s head. The Gray Watchers did not want to eat it.

Kaerno, meanwhile, stood at the edge of his pillar, a slight smile on his face, his hands behind his back. He watched the scene as if he were an ordinary human who had decided to feed his fish in an aquarium.

In less than five minutes, almost nothing remained of the giant serpent, and every Gray Watcher had grown several times in size. Their bodies were swollen from all the blood they had consumed.

"Unbelievable... Where did they get such an appetite?" Adam muttered in disbelief.

After that, Kaerno looked in their direction and took a step forward.

Whooooooosh!

With gusts of wind, he appeared right in front of them.

"Well, well, Adam. It looks like you’re one of us now, don’t you think?"

Kaerno saw the changes in Adam’s aura, which meant he was ready to return to the Hail Passage.