Chapter 1071: Mushroom Eel

Whooooooosh.

Two dark blades swept through, cutting across the wind currents. The blades reflected the blue light of the mushrooms filling the caverns.

With a sharp leap to the side, Adam hid behind a pillar as he peered out the other side.

Oddly enough, neither the team of three wing monsters nor Lexa got to Adam first. They were trying to figure out which cave was the right one by their own methods, but the others had just gotten lucky.

The caves were connected by dozens of passageways inside, from narrow to wide, surpassing the squares.

“Hah! I can’t believe our luck!” The man exclaimed as the darkness in his hand turned into a long spear.

The girl who created six blades clasped between her fingers frowned.

“Don’t relax. If Mr. Saegar arranged this trial in the first place, that means he has a chance against us. They may be small, but they’re definitely higher than zero. That only shows that he’s dangerous.”

Step. Step. Step.

Adam slowly stepped out from behind the pillar, a lone white needle resting in his left hand. He used no other abilities, not even energy rippling around him.

Without a doubt in his gaze, he turned around, staring intently into their eyes.

“Hey, you two. How did you find me?”

The man gulped. “This…”

They had nothing to reply, as they were just lucky. Initially, they chose the wrong cave, but after a few turns, they found themselves where they needed to be. Thanks to their wings and haste, they were able to catch up with Adam, who wasn’t familiar with the area.

“I see. Well, considering there are twenty of you and one of me, it was bound to happen sooner or later, wasn’t it?”

Slash.

Without warning, Adam swung the needle.

Step.

His next step ended behind the back of the man who was still smiling awkwardly at Adam’s past question.

A stream of blood rushed from the man’s chest as he collapsed face down on the ground. His wings shook in spasms as if trying to carry him to safety, but it was already too late.

“FUCK!”

The girl exclaimed as she bounced back, creating sharp streams of wind.

Adam defended himself with energy, the white barrier absorbed anything that could harm him.

“You know, I should probably thank your leader,” Adam muttered, looking at his needle. “If he hadn’t let me kill you, then… Hah, I just couldn’t object.”

Step.

He stepped towards the girl, forcing her to step back closer to the wall.

“I mean, as a K3-Phantom, I can only accept conditions from the Lord. Luckily for me, it’s turned out to be pretty fair.”

“Shut up!” she exclaimed as darkness filled her wings. “Mr. Saegar simply believes in our power. He knows we can handle a piece of shit like you… You! Human! You shouldn’t even be here!”

Whoosh.

In a sharp jerk, Adam found himself in front of her. His needle remained inactive as his right fist plunged into the girl’s stomach.

“GHA!!!!”

She gasped in vivid pain when a cracking sound resounded behind her.

Under the pressure of Adam’s punch and her strong back, cracks went down the wall. The cracks got bigger and bigger until the hollow wall shattered into splinters.

Before she knew it, they were in the middle of falling into a hidden chamber in the cave system.

Sure, there were many other passageways to here, but the wisps of darkness led Adam down the shortest path.

If he could break the wall to shorten his path, the dark route would show him the place.

“What the…?!” The girl turned back to see a bright, shimmering lake deep below.

A long shadow came into motion beneath the layer of water, the owner of this place sensed the new guests, and… he would only let one of them leave alive.

Panicked, the girl’s wings began to flap rapidly, she tried to get out of Adam’s grip. She didn’t know what kind of monster lurked in the shining lake, but all her instincts, tempered by years of battles, screamed for her to run away.

“Let me go! We… That thing will eat us both!”

However, no emotion appeared on Adam’s calm face.

Did he know what was down there?

As a matter of fact, yes.

He wasn’t aware that there was a lake and some unknown water monster waiting for them below, but thanks to the gene field, he knew there was a monster, and a pretty strong one at that.

“Just like Saegar said. If you die, you have only yourselves to blame. He’s not wrong about that.”

Splash.

With a splash of water, up came a huge creature covered in shining scales and tiny mushrooms of blue and pink hues. By its body structure, elongated head, sparse fins, and deep-set eyes, it resembled an eel.

A similar monster was one of the first Adam had faced in his fight for the first artifact, but it was impossible to compare the two. They were on completely different levels.

Tap.

Adam let go of the girl as he lightly pushed her on the shoulder.

In the next heartbeat, a great shadow passed through her as the jaw of the mushroom eel closed, snapping the girl’s frail body in two.

With the crunch of her bones and streams of blood spurting from the eel’s teeth, a few black feathers fell, passing in front of Adam’s eyes.

‘Well, even though everything went smoothly, I must always remember this…’

His eyes went upwards as the mushroom eel swallowed the girl.

‘It doesn’t matter how many times I’ve won before. It doesn’t matter what hardships I’ve gone through to get where I am. There’s always a bigger fish. There’s always one that just might open its jaw and swallow you.’

Adam’s feet touched the surface as the eel returned to its lake. The great water monster was satisfied with his short snack.

‘The important thing is not to get in front of a jaw you can’t stop.’

Then, his eyes darted behind wisps of darkness as he headed towards an archway full of crystals and quivering yellow mushrooms.

He descended lower and lower, as well as the wing monsters that gradually realized where he might be.

Strangely enough, it was good for them. The lower they were, the safer they were.