Chapter 1259: Black Root (Part 2)

Every time after a great battle, Adam would wait for a break and return to the Citadel.

This time, everything was different. He had achieved victory and earned his rest, but it was still too early to return to the Citadel. He couldn’t do that until he obtained the Connected Heart, and to do that, he needed to reach the Forgotten Mills.

Traveling at such a high level proved to be more difficult than Adam had thought. Even teleports could no longer take him directly where he needed to go.

If he had the abilities of the Second Rank Phantoms, there would be no such problem, but to reach that level, he first had to overcome all the difficulties in his path.

Step. Step. Step.

At the first rays of the sun, well-rested and well-slept, Adam set off for the western part of the dark forest. Garrah was with him, but the Dark Blobs and Thorn Hunter followed behind as well.

They noticed Adam and Garrah leaving and couldn’t let it pass, especially the Dark Blobs.

“He’s leaving!”

“No… Adam, stay!”

“Yes! Who will feed us? Don’t go!”

Adam’s eyebrow twitched.

All last night, the Dark Blobs had annoyed him as much as they could. He thought he had dumped them on the Thorn Hunter, but for some reason, the Dark Blobs were quite calm around him.

Well, after all, they had worked together for a long time and were capable of some amazing things. Their attack against the Red Bloom’s main barrier was one of them, but not the only one.

“Shit! Why are you here? What are you even doing in this forest?!” Adam exclaimed, pointing at the Dark Blobs.

Tremble. Tremble. Tremble.

The Dark Blobs jumped on top of each other, turning into one big slime with thin arms and plaintive eyes.

“He’s hurting us!”

“Bad! He’s bad!”

“But still, don’t leave!”

Adam stamped his foot on the ground and quickened his pace. The faster he left the dark forest, the faster he would forget about the Dark Blobs.

Soon, they reached the border—the very place where Adam had tried to destroy the Red Bloom’s barrier for the first time.

A row of red flowers remained on the ground, marking the edge of the forest and the path to new territory.

“So, is that it?” Adam asked with a deep look.

Garrah shrugged. “Well, if you want, you can stay as long as you need, but your goal lies far ahead, doesn’t it?”

“Yes.” Adam nodded. “And… Considering what you told me yesterday. I hope the Glass Bridge won’t be another test for me. I can’t waste energy at every turn anymore.”

For a moment, a glint flashed across Garrah’s eyes, but he said nothing.

The Thorn Hunter and the Dark Blobs approached them as their eyes met.

“Good luck.” The Thorn Hunter placed his palm on his chest. “What you did… You think it’s a coincidence, but I think it was fate that you ended up here right now. This world needs more Phantoms like you.”

Adam smiled bitterly. “Hah, if there were many like me, the total number of Phantoms would be several times smaller.”

For a moment, the Thorn Hunter looked puzzled, but soon he understood what Adam was talking about.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

Whooooosh.

Before Adam could react, the Dark Blobs pounced on him, knocking him to the ground.

He wanted to yell at them, but instead of the usual chaos of little children, now there was only sadness in their eyes.

“Come back!”

“Yes, you must come here again!”

“Come back to the forest before the World Wipe!”

Adam raised an eyebrow.

“Until the next World Wipe? That’s seven years… Hah, from my point of view, that’s practically forever. Alright, I’ll come back here, I guess.”

“NO! Promise! Promise! Promise!”

Adam shook them off. “Alright! I promise, happy?!”

The Dark Blobs nodded and rolled back to the Thorn Hunter. He didn’t react at all. Long gone were the days when he had any reaction to their antics.

Tap.

Adam was about to leave, but Garrah’s hand fell on his shoulder.

“Hmm?” Adam turned around. “Is there something else?”

Garrah nodded as he handed him a small, palm-sized, curved black root. It looked like an ordinary root from any tree, but as soon as an amber pulse ran through it, Adam felt more energy in the space between them.

“This will be useful on the bridge. I can’t guarantee that everything will go smoothly, but I’m almost certain of it. For me and any other monster, it would definitely be enough.”

“I see…” Adam carefully took the root as if it were a treasure, which it was.

As a human, he couldn’t absorb energy directly from the root, but for any monster, it was a valuable resource, especially for monsters from forest areas.

Adam clenched his fist tightly and took one last look at the dark forest and the three monsters who had become his allies on this short journey, which would soon become part of something bigger.

“It was nice, but I have to move on. At the beginning of my journey, I couldn’t have imagined that I would be working together with monsters, let alone receiving treats and gifts from them.”

His gaze became more serious.

“However, I appreciate it.”

Strangely enough, this made Garrah laugh loudly.

“Hahahahaha! Adam, you are indeed very young, both as a human and as a Phantom, and even as a K4-Phantom. Although it would be more accurate to say a creature on the border of the First Circle.”

Garrah waved his hand, wanting to show the whole world with this gesture.

“When you get a little older, you’ll understand that you can’t always divide all living things into monsters and people. We are all inhabitants of this world.”

After a few moments, Adam nodded.

“Yes. I think I’m starting to understand that now.”

Garrah smiled.

“Good.”

Then, they said goodbye, and Adam was left alone, slowly heading straight for the Glass Bridge.

Two figures in the middle of the bridge were already waiting for him, and Garrah’s gift would prove its worth when Adam got there.