Just a few words, and Rosana’s goal had changed. Now she wanted to kill Adam, not to gain energy and further her evolution, but to prove that she was capable of defeating a strong opponent.
Obviously, Adam wasn’t going to lose.
It was out of the question. However, Rosana wanted to believe that it was possible. That’s why she gathered all her strength for a single attack.
Fangs from her jaws mixed with blood taking the shape of a great lance, her crimson eyes shining brightly, covering the dark water at the bottom with a faint light.
Right before the attack, Adam smiled slightly as his fra shuddered.
The energy burst shattered the jaws digging into his flesh, allowing him to move freely in the water.
’No!’ Rosana inwardly exclaid as she thrust her lance forward.
But, Adam was too fast. He headed for the first blood essence, effortlessly breaking its crystal shell.
Before Rosana could do anything, Adam had absorbed the essence. Just like last ti, it went straight to creating his Third Key.
A second red star appeared to the left and just below the first - half of the sword or strange cross was ready, or rather its outline.
Adam shook his head, looking at the bleeding dots scattered all over his body. He hoped that at least so of the energy would be directed to his wounds, but it wasn’t.
’What the...? What the hell is he doing?’ Rosana’s eyes went wide, baffled.
Then, her gaze filled with aning. She realized, despite its nature, the energy of the blood essence was being channeled sowhere other than the wounds.
This was both good and bad news at the sa ti.
’Right, I must hurry! If he gathers the right amount of energy, then I don’t stand a chance!’ she internally exclaid as she rushed after Adam.
Neither of them had much experience in underwater combat, but it wasn’t a big problem for either Adam or Rosana.
Their movents were a little stiff because of the dense water, but that was the only thing that could sohow affect the fight. Ordinary humans couldn’t hold their breath for too long, and the situation was generally the sa for weak monsters.
However, for a monster and Phantom of their level, half an hour or more was an easy matter.
Whooooooosh.
Rosana attacked, trying to grab Adam by his shoulders and legs, but he just created a dense barrier of energy in front of him.
A second later, bloody claws tore through the white wall, but Adam was already facing the next blood essence.
The energy was quickly absorbed into him. Now, he only needed one star to complete the first condition to create the Third Key.
Rosana sensed that Adam was ready to finish. She was running out of ti, and... she didn’t know what she was supposed to do.
With each of her failures, she felt more and more what a big difference in strength there was between them.
’What is it?’ Rosana muttered, seeing a dark aura emanating from Adam.
At that mont, Adam was focused on getting to the last essence. Rosana herself was the reason for seeing Adam’s dark aura.
Unlike the Blood Hunter, who ran away in fear, she had enough will to endure it, but she couldn’t protect herself from the shivers running through her body.
At the sa mont, a third bright flash illuminated the bottom of the lake as Adam closed his eyes.
He took just one second to make sure he did the right thing.
"Good."
He nodded deeply, looking at the four stars connected by a red energy line, shaped like a sword, as if for a simple blueprint: hilt, guard, and long blade.
[Conditions for creating the Third Key:
1) Collect four essences of any type: 4/4
2) Receive the key spark 0/0. Challenge accepted.]
Adam’s lips turned upward. He hadn’t planned on being able to do so much in one descent at the Cave Grid, but not that he complaining.
’From the third gate to the creation of the Third Key?’ he raised an eyebrow. ’Not bad, not bad at all.’
Slowly, a sense of anticipation filled his chest along with joy.
It was clear to him that all he had left to do was to obtain the last blood essence to heal his arm and defeat Rosana to obtain the key spark.
Would he have a problem with that?
Barely.
Whoosh.
As soon as Adam opened his eyes, Rosana swept in front of him. With a slight movent of his hand, he tossed her aside as the crimson wave ran through his body again.
His leap shook the lake, causing the scarlet surface to tremble as he found himself in front of the last blood essence.
There were many more sources of pure, dense energy around. However, Adam did not need them.
Crackle.
He shattered the last essence, finally accessing the energy directly.
At Adam’s next heartbeat, all the wounds on his body from Rosana’s claws disappeared, and then a stream of blood burst from his left shoulder.
Rosana watched this from afar, realizing that she was too late. When Adam regained his second hand, she wouldn’t stand a chance, and running was useless. She has already accepted the challenge.
A shadow fell over Adam - Rosana’s eyes narrowed in a desperate attempt to use her last chance.
Yet, Adam didn’t even turn around. He stretched his left arm forward, watching as bones, nerves, muscles, and then skin ford from blood streams.
The final touch was the scars on his hand, for this regeneration was putting the old back in place, not creating sothing new. Sotis, that was the important detail.
SPLASH!
Rosana flew out of the lake like a cannon shell, crashing into the tree behind with a thunderous crash.
In a white flash, Adam stepped out of the lake, walking slowly towards Rosana. Her blood covered the roots and shattered tree trunk, but there were no wounds on her.
"Well, I probably shouldn’t expect much more," Adam muttered as he kneaded his left arm.
Then, his cold gaze fell on Rosana.
"It’s a sha you’ll be my last enemy as a K3-Phantom. Arnoth deserved it much more."
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