Blood clots fell into the lava lake, vaporizing in hot streams of air. The massive monster, the Inferno Serpent, was breathing heavily from exhaustion and sheer anger caused by a single human.
Perhaps the Inferno Serpent had ways to regain his right eye, to heal his cruel wound, but that was not his main concern right now.
"Adam Vinter..." the Inferno Serpent wheezed, trying to regain his breath. "You struck ... You managed to wound , but that is not enough for to tell you the nature of my invitation..."
Tremble. Tremble. Tremble.
The Inferno Serpent's aura intensified, causing the lava around it to bubble. At the sa ti, flaming swirls appeared in the air, condensing into fierce projectiles.
"But you managed to make angry, very much so. So, either keep fighting and make retreat, or die, right here and now!"
A multitude of flaming orbs hailed along the cave, about to rain down on Adam, who lay amongst the debris.
As if losing the will to fight, Adam stared blankly at his tightly clenched fist while the blood from his torn back continued to fill the puddle beneath him.
Risha jerked her head up. She wanted to help Adam, but she didn't know how.
'Fuck! I don't have any defenses! Should I just run and destroy the orbs? No... I'm not fast enough. Shit! I'm just useless!'
It seed that instead of internally complaining, Risha should have rushed to Adam's aid.
Well, she wanted to do that.
Inner fear and Glen stopped her. Risha's Operator was doing the right thing, trying to do her job despite their still complicated and unstable relationship.
'Calm down. I'm sure Adam will evade at the last minute or sothing,' Glen said calmly, he was trying to keep his tone normal.
'What if he doesn't? The Inferno Serpent turned out to be a lot stronger than we thought! Glen, I saw the way Adam fights. Most S4 monsters would crash to the ground by now!'
She bit her lip, clenching her fists tightly.
'And... His last attack. What was that even? I couldn't see anything, he just disappeared, then reappeared and all in blood.'
At the sa ti, under the bright light of the flaming orbs, Adam closed his eyes. There was no fear or panic on his face, just a slight smile.
News of the changes in his Evolution Tree reached him.
It was ti for the master of the small world to intervene.
Adam opened his eyes and saw two figures in front of him, Lone Blaze and Moira.
"Oh, what a fun company. Did you want sothing?" he scoffed. "At the mont, in the real world, I have a small problem that needs imdiate attention, or..."
Adam turned around with a sweep of his hand covering his Inner Space.
"This place will burn to naless embers, as will you along with ."
Lone Blaze snorted, crossing his arms over his chest. "We know. But that's not the reason you ca here."
"Ughum!" Moira nodded vigorously, as always hovering behind Lone Blaze.
Then, Adam directed his gaze upward.
Sothing strange was happening with his artifact and the Elental Root. The Horn of Fallen Thunder was shaking vigorously while the energy from the Evolution Tree enveloped it from all sides, causing it to slowly approach the gravitational root.
Over a long ti, the Elental Root developed, ceasing to be a simple root at the base of the Evolution Tree and moving closer upward to the two main branches containing Adam's orders.
Moreover, the Elental Root perford a strange action for itself, it was like a vine slowly moving away from the Evolution Tree, wanting to make contact with the artifact.
Adam was baffled.
Before sinking into his inner space, he sensed that sothing was happening here, but he didn't understand what it was.
He needed the power, he was ready to use his Power Gene or even once more the path if necessary.
Slowly, a slight smile reflected on Adam's face as he turned around, staring at the Crystal Gates and the trembling third lesser gates.
"Well, well..." Adam humd, approaching the majestic gates. "So I get to the next stage right now? Isn't that a little convenient?"
[Not exactly...]
The Evolution Tree's powerful voice echoed through the vast space.
"Hmm?"
[I think you could have done that while practicing with Reinz Alderran... and Erik Wurhen... But, it would delay your descent at the Lower Ring even more...]
"Pffft," Adam snorted. "I'm not buying it. There must be another reason besides worrying about whether I'm spending my ti effectively. When I was under the influence of Queen Elisa's space, I had a lot of ti on my hands."
[Well... That ti distortion worked exclusively for you. Even I had no way to contact you... The Queen's influence was beyond my reach...]
Adam nodded weakly. Even here, he could feel the heat coming from outside. He had so free ti, thanks to the inner space, but it wouldn't be long before the fiery orbs descended upon him.
[Anyway... You're right, it's hard to hide it from you... I guess you've already guessed that the third lesser gates imply a complete fusion between your Artifact and Elental Root. However, I wasn't sure you were ready for that before.]
With an ironic smile, Adam shrugged. "Co on, this isn't the first ti I've had to lose abilities or go through a change. You know, over my Phantom journey I've beco used to it. Many of my past abilities would be too weak to help in battle.
"Moreover, it's not just the power of an individual ability that matters, it's its uniqueness and flexibility. The higher the Phantom's level, the more he can influence the course of his battle."
[Sure... You are certainly right... Even you learned from dozens of battles...]
Adam frowned. "What do you an, even ?!"
[We'll argue later, there's no ti for that now, neither for you nor for ...]
"What?" he raised an eyebrow, puzzled.
[The point is, the energy around the artifact and elental root doesn't bring them closer together, instead, I keep them from colliding. Otherwise, you'll get a random Foundation Artifact.]
Adam's eyes went wide.
[I want to give you a chance to create what you need... So... Be ready...]
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