Endless Evolution: Last Star

Dayra was in darkness, confused and lost. All she could feel was Adam's aura, which rapidly changed its strength depending on the situation.

She couldn't see anything, although she understood where she was and what the situation was. Unfortunately for her, without a serious loss of strength, she could not escape from this stone cage.

'Tsk, this orb has always been problematic! I hope Adam understands what needs to be done quickly enough, otherwise his words will come true... and by the time we reach Lyrod, he will have only a small fraction of his peak power left.'

At the same time, Adam was preparing to face his first problem from the guard, which was very different from the previous three.

"Adam! Quickly move to the other slab!" Silvana's voice rang out.

"Yeah, I know, but it's not as easy as you think!"

In a normal situation, Adam would have jumped to the side or reached the eye orb in one leap to destroy it, but the gravity from the External Artifact was putting a lot of pressure on him.

Step. Step. Step.

After a few long steps that made his legs tremble, Adam found himself on the neighboring slab before the flames could reach him. He managed to do it in the last seconds.

BOOOM!!!

A deafening explosion erupted behind him, sending up a red table of fire. However, neither shards nor fragments of the slab flew off to the side, which meant that it was neither destroyed nor even damaged.

On the contrary, now it was also part of Adam's trial.

"What the hell…?"

Adam gaped at the gray slab that had now turned red. A seal was reflected on its surface, showing that it was better not to step on it, because the power of fire remained on its borders as a forbidden zone.

"Hmm, so if I step on it, will I explode or something like that happen?"

Silvana also analyzed the situation so that they could come up with a plan of action, but unlike Adam, she was interested in something else.

"Hey, what about the pressure? You stepped on the next slab. Did it get stronger?"

Adam nodded deeply, staring intently at the eye orb.

"Yes, not very much, but considering that this thing is right in the center, I can hardly lift my foot in the heaviest area. I think I'll use the second needle, but... what if this orb dodges? I'll have to spend several swings, if not dozens, to grab it."

The eye orb was about to launch the next line of fire, but it stopped because for some reason a smirk appeared on Adam's face.

"Oh, so that's what you're thinking?" Adam said, responding to Silvana's idea. "Well, let's see how much that has to do with reality!"

Crack.

Without hesitation, Adam stomped on the ground, but he aimed not at the center of the slab, but at its edge.

And... the slab started moving, turning over with Adam as he ended up on the other side, where the eye orb had originally come from.

Adam saw the same scene, except for a few very important changes.

First, everything was upside down, but that wasn't a big problem for him. The arena was simple, just a flat platform, and there was only one target.

Second, the red slab was no longer red; it had turned white.

Third, Adam no longer felt any pressure.

On the contrary, his eyes widened in disbelief at the new, light sensations.

Whoooooosh.

He waved his hand, watching the fabric of his sleeve slowly sway from side to side as if he were underwater.

"Wow, this... I feel so light here." He jumped slightly to test it. "Hah, the gravity here is much weaker than usual!"

Were there any drawbacks or hidden dangers on the other side?

Sure, four streams of white fire were already moving in his direction, and unlike the red fire, all the slabs touched along the line turned white as well, not just the final slab where the explosion occurred.

However, even if the entire platform turned into flames, it was no longer a problem for Adam, as he was almost as fast here as he was on the first floor.

Adam bent down like a runner, preparing to make a powerful, single dash straight to the eye orb.

Silvana gave him some advice while she had a moment:

"Most likely, it can change its location, but it seems that only you can change sides."

Adam chuckled viciously as his legs trembled.

"Good to hear."

Then, his frame trembled as he rushed forward at tremendous speed, not allowing the streams of fire to reach him.

He ran straight through one of them, reaching out his hand directly to the eye orb, which seemed not to expect such speed from Adam.

But, it was one of the guards, and it wasn't going to give up too soon!

Tremble.

The eye orb trembled as it flew to the neighboring slab, to which Adam only shook his head with a sly grin.

Flashes of flame erupted behind him as he disappeared again, this time ending up directly behind the eye orb.

Clutch.

Before the guard could react, Adam grabbed it tightly, not intending to let go until he destroyed it.

The guard's single eye trembled in panic as it tried to send all the flames it had at Adam.

"Hahaha, just as I thought, you're completely helpless on your own. Well, you should have thought about your own defense instead of locking Dayra up in some hole!"

With a dangerous gleam in his eyes, Adam's veins bulged as he smashed the eye orb. Bloody fragments with pieces of flesh flew in all directions, revealing that it was a monster and not a complex mechanism.

With the death of the eye orb, the trial stopped, as did the flames.

Whooooosh.

The slab flipped over, returning Adam to the other side where he was supposed to be.

Clap. Clap. Clap.

Adam clapped his hands, shaking off the dust.

"Well, it turned out pretty well, don't you think?"

While Silvana answered and discussed the next steps with Adam, the wall finally moved, freeing Dayra from captivity.

"Tsk, that took you quite a while."

Adam shrugged carelessly.

"I did what I could. It's not every day you get to play such puzzles to move forward, you know?"

She nodded as they exchanged glances.

"Shall we move on?"

"Sure!"