Endless Evolution: Last Star

Chapter 1902: Grand Abyss and Fire Hill

The Gray Sea wasn’t the best place for Adam to fight because it was mostly water.

Sure, there were plenty of islands in the Gray Sea where Adam could feel comfortable, but the monsters there had shown that they could drag their opponents underwater to gain the upper hand.

For this reason, Adam was wary of the Grand Abyss.

He understood that if this place was located beneath the Gray Sea, then everything here would be underwater, and that wasn’t even the biggest problem. At such a depth, he would be constantly subjected to intense pressure, and a powerful aura would weigh down on him as well.

But… Perhaps Adam should reconsider his thoughts about the Grand Abyss.

As soon as he reached the end of the passage, he felt a breath of fresh air.

Below, he could see rocks and long rifts. They were filled to the brim with water, but the entire area above them was filled with air, not water.

Moreover, in the distance, Adam’s gaze was immediately drawn to a red glow.

“Agh…?”

Adam was caught off guard as he hurried to create an energy platform beneath himself so he wouldn’t fall down.

He soared into the air, looking around.

“What the hell…?”

In the distance, he saw mountains, massive stone trees towering upward, intricate mazes of elongated hills, and stone arches arching over forests of coral.

The landscape here wasn’t the same as on the surface. At least in this spot, Adam didn’t see any green forests or, for example, lakes among the fields.

“How strange. It’s like a combination of the surface and the ocean floor. There are corals here, but no monster creatures or water,” Adam muttered, still unable to believe that this was what the Grand Abyss actually looked like.

Then, his gaze drifted downward to the rifts, to the water filling them.

“I see. Is this a passage to an even lower level? Well, I hope I won’t have to go there. I’m sure to run into someone way too strong down there.”

Flash!

Once again, a red light flashed from the side, causing Adam to turn to his right.

On one of the hills, he saw dark vines enveloping its summit. Each vine bore numerous red flowers with bright petals.

Tremble!

With the next tremor, a stream of lava burst forth as drops of lava fell onto the petals. However, the flowers sustained no damage from this.

Instead, the red flowers absorbed the energy from the lava, and the vines trembled. A new vine sprouted from one of them, bearing another row of red flowers.

“Hmm? Is this a living organism? Does it grow by feeding on the lava from this hill?”

In fact, Adam didn’t need to waste time on this.

He had two tasks here, to find the Bottomless Void and, if possible, the Abyss Pearl for Prasyx.

But Adam had a problem: he didn’t know what either of them looked like.

“Well, maybe it wouldn’t be a bad idea to gather some information about this place?” Adam bit his lip, pondering.

In the end, he nodded and dashed forward, approaching the hill.

In just one minute, the stream of lava erupted once more, as if the hill were an underwater volcano. That wasn’t far from the truth.

Whooooosh!

Adam soared through the air, hovering above the hill as his eyes narrowed.

He saw the hollow in the hill. Its edges were covered with burning coals as the roots of the vines reached toward the hollow to draw even more energy.

“Either these flowers are just some kind of resource that has found a good spot to absorb energy, or it’s the opposite situation… ‘

Adam had enough experience to realize that there might be another explanation for what was happening.

Someone or something, perhaps some powerful monster, was now inside that hill.

‘If there really is someone in there and these lava eruptions are the result of its evolution, then I’d better get out of here, right?’

Still, Adam wasn’t sure about his decision.

He realized that if there were only vines and flowers here, he might witness the birth of a rare resource that could be useful to him.

“No, I shouldn’t be thinking about that.” Adam clenched his fists as a frown crossed his face. “My goal is to find the Bottomless Void!”

Adam had only one way to do this – to turn to the Path Construct.

He was about to close his eyes and activate his radar again. Adam hoped that now he would be able to see the direction to his goal.

Whoooooooooosh!

At that very moment, a bright flash erupted in the distance as streams of hot, almost scorching air rushed toward him.

Adam’s instincts kicked into high gear as he braced for battle. From the tremors in space, he sensed that the moving object possessed a menacing aura.

But, just a second later, Adam realized he wasn’t the target.

“Agh…?”

Adam’s eyes widened as he caught just three brief frames flashing before his eyes.

The monster, resembling a demon knight in stone armor, crashed down right in the center of the hill. In its hands was a heavy greatsword, and its stone wings, ablaze with fire, were spread wide.

Tremble! Tremble! Tremble!

A violent tremor spread out around them as a chill ran down Adam’s spine.

“Damn it!” he exclaimed, creating an energy barrier in front of him as he realized what was about to happen.

RUMBLE!

With the next, particularly powerful tremor, cracks ran across the hill as a bright light burst through them.

After that, a deafening explosion of flame and lava tore the enormous hill apart, along with the vines and red flowers that were scattered to the sides with the debris.

Crack! Crack!

Several stones slammed into Adam’s barrier as he crossed his arms in front of him.

He could have left, but he wanted to see the result of this clash.

It was a good opportunity to find out what might happen at the Grand Abyss and just how powerful the monsters there were.

Strangely enough, Adam achieved his goal.

Whoooooooosh!

A few moments after the explosion, two shadows shot upward, streaking through the streams of fire that continued to pour from the blown-up hill.

One of the shadows was the demon-knight, while the other was a middle-aged man in a red robe with a grim expression on his face.