As "Loraine" touched Adam's body, a glimr of triumph flickered in her eyes.
Victory was within her grasp.
But the mont her fingers made contact, she felt... nothing.
No resistance, no response, and no effect.
Her authority and her power had done nothing!
A split second later, the Adam before her tilted his head, his lips curling into a smirk.
" too."
Loraine's eyes narrowed.
"What?"
"I was just waiting for this too."
Before she could process what he ant, the "Adam" before her shimred, then— vanished!
An illusion!
It was a deception crafted by Adam's [Surreal Creation].
Loraine's mind raced.
When Adam had used [Location Swapper] earlier, she had assud he had only moved twenty ters away.
But in truth, that was only part of the trick.
The real Adam had escaped much farther, leaving behind a flawlessly realistic illusion to fool her!
An A-tier ability like [Surreal Creation] wasn't sothing to be taken lightly.
And now, she realized her mistake far too late.
A wet sound echoed beneath her.
Loraine's gaze snapped downward.
A pool of crimson spread beneath her feet... Adam's blood!
Her body tensed.
Her instincts scread at her to move, to escape.
But Adam was faster.
His fingers clenched.
The blood surged.
From the pool at her feet, hundreds, no... thousands of razor-sharp crimson spikes erupted upwards, impaling her body in an instant.
Stab! Stab! Stab!
Loraine's figure was skewered in place, impaled from every angle.
She barely had ti to react before another wave of spikes tore into her.
Adam didn't stop there.
His hand shot forward, hurling pulse disruptors in her direction.
The small devices landed around her in a perfect circle, emitting a low hum as they activated.
A low vibration ran through the air as the mana in her body which allowed her to connect to Celestia was being cut off...
Loraine convulsed violently, her body twitching under the mana-disrupting force.
Adam waited, expecting a cry of pain, a scream, or sothing.
But what he heard instead was laughter.
Loraine chuckled.
Then, she spoke, her voice unnervingly calm despite the pain she should have been feeling.
"To be able to transform into a ghost body, to control blood, manipulate illusions, see through the future, and even swap locations... "
Her head lifted slightly, eyes gleaming with sothing between curiosity and amusent.
"You have far too many abilities for an Ember-ranked Stream Hunter who hasn't even ranked up yet."
Adam's fingers twitched.
His mind raced through possibilities as to what she was up to this ti.
Loraine interrupted his thoughts with a whisper that sent a chill down his spine.
"You are the third S-ranker."
Loraine's lips curled upward into a knowing smile.
"You are…"
She leaned forward, despite the spikes running through her body.
"The Omnipotence."
...
[Trespassed Corpse has been slain.]
[ 7330 Exp, 4 Basic Soul Core.]
[ 700 Gold]
[Level 38 → Level 39]
[Mana Circulation has been increased by 1%]
[E-tier Item has been found!]
[All-Purpose Key] : A one-ti use key that can open any doors and locks.
As Loraine's body turned lifeless, Adam remained still, his gaze locked onto the corpse.
Sothing about this didn't feel right. Even in death, she left behind more questions than answers.
He frowned, his mind replaying the last monts of their battle.
'It seems she had a misunderstanding...'
Celestia, or at least the consciousness controlling Loraine.believed him to be so kind of Stream Hunter with an ability called [Omnipotence],an S-ranker ability.
But that wasn't the truth.
She didn't seem to know about his [Temporary Copy] and [Permanent Copy] abilities, the ones he had acquired from another universe.
The abilities that allowed him to copy skills from his viewers.
If she had truly understood what he was capable of, she wouldn't have been so quick to assu he was so grand, hidden force within the Tower.
'If it weren't for the fact that I took extra caution, teleporting farther away and fooling her with an illusion, she definitely could've killed with that last ability of hers...'
Adam clenched his fist.
A close call like this served as a grim reminder... in the Tower of Yxthar, hesitation ant death.
'Never trust a villain when they start talking too much during a fight.'
His instructor had drilled that lesson into him, and tonight, it had saved his life.
His mind drifted to sothing else Celestia had ntioned...
The hidden floor.
A way to complete the Tower of Yxthar in a single step.
Was it a lie? A half-truth? Or was this sothing that had existed all along, hidden beyond the perception of even the strongest?
Adam exhaled slowly.
'I wish I had a lie-detecting ability like Evelyn from the first floor...'
For now, he had no way of confirming the truth.
What he did know, however, was that he had to be more cautious when dealing with anything related to Celestia in the future.
[Nalyd has donated 30 coins]
[Nalyd says this misunderstanding could be advantageous]
[Experienced Old Knight] : I agree, the more she is misinford about the strear, the better it is!
[WeaverOfStories has donated 15 coins]
[WeaverOfStories wants the strear to avoid Celestia as they find her a bit scary.]
[System_Sovereign has donated 15 coins]
[System Sovereign says he ships Celestia and the Strear!]
[JustJoeKing] : Ship? Where are you sending them?
A faint groan caught his attention.
He turned his gaze toward his unconscious teammates, who lay scattered across the battlefield. R
elief briefly washed over him... they were still alive!
But just as he took a step forward to help them, sothing unexpected happened.
Their bodies began to change.
Adam's eyes widened as his teammates' flesh twisted unnaturally, decomposing at an accelerated rate.
In re seconds, their skin ruptured, muscles contorted, and bones cracked apart as if sothing was tearing them apart from the inside.
He instinctively stepped back, his blood magic already forming defensive spikes around him.
'This isn't normal regeneration failure...'
His first thought was that they had been Celestia's puppets all along, and their connection had been severed due to the pulse disruptors.
But that theory didn't hold up.
If they had been under Celestia's control from the beginning, he would have noticed when he had deployed his disruptors earlier in the fight.
Then realization struck him like a hamr.
'It's the healing.'
His expression darkened.
Loraine had healed his teammates during the battle.
At the ti, it had seed like a simple act of ensuring they stayed alive for her own purposes.
But now, it was clear: the healing had been a trap all along.
She had placed sothing within them.
'That woman... Even when healing others, she was sowing death.'
Adam thought, secretly glad that he still relied on his own blood regeneration during the battle.
'If I hadn't been careful, I would have ended up the sa way.'
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