Endless Evolution: Last Star

Adam jumped forward, dodging the stone sphere flying at him, and found himself right in front of the Prismatic Elemental.

He had already entered another area where he was about to undergo the next challenge, but all his attention was focused only on the Prismatic Elemental.

Bam.

Adam attacked with all his might, using his heightened senses. He acted more calmly, was more attentive, and also operated clearly. Slightly, but it increased the effectiveness of his every action, including his strikes.

Sometimes, a few small steps could equal or even replace the progress of a burst. The key was to find a way to take those small steps without straying from the general path.

From the collision of Adam's fist with the Prismatic Elemental, light vibrations traveled across the stone slab on the monster's chest. Blood flowed from Adam's knuckles, but... The Prismatic Elemental wasn't injured.

"Hah, possess strong armor, right? Well, I can easily deal with it!" Adam vigorously uttered as he extended his arm in his usual motion.

However, at the last moment, he stopped as his eyes went wide.

The Stone Elemental's massive arm, crashed into Adam, swiping him aside.

'Adam!' Silvana exclaimed alarmed. She didn't understand why Adam stopped and didn't react to the monster's attack.

The Stone Elemental was strong but slow, Adam had enough time to dodge.

Bam.

Adam crashed into the rock, slowly rising with a dust cloud. He held his head with a slight frown while trickles of blood poured from his forehead.

"Don't yell like that, it makes my head hurt even worse." Adam sighed heavily as he glanced at his hand.

"I wanted to summon the needle. I'm too used to the fact that if the enemy's armor is strong, the needle can easily handle it. However... While I can, I plan to follow Beth's advice. I think I'm slowly beginning to see the point of making it harder on myself this way." Adam uttered as he got into a fighting stance, keeping his fists clenched.

Fighting using only the strength of his body was something new to Adam, but it was better to understand his limits.

After all, neither needles, gloves, nor silver claws increased his physique or reaction speed. It was a weapon whose effectiveness depended on the initial performance of the owner.

The Stone Elemental stepped forward, then around their arena, towered several dozen shadows as large as the Stone Elemental.

Adam gulped. He realized that without using his abilities, he wouldn't be able to handle them all.

'Shit... Am I really going to have to break Beth's advice? Moreover, I still have to figure out how to get Stone Sprout...' Adam pondered, looking around.

Soon, he noticed that the other Stone Elementals did not move. Instead, they raised their massive legs, collapsing to the ground in a certain rhythm.

Tremble. Tremble. Tremble.

The shaking caused powerful vibrations, making Adam lose his balance and crack the stone slabs of the arena.

"'What the fuck...?!' Adam inwardly exclaimed, trying to keep his balance and not fall over.

Bam.

While Adam was distracted, the Stone Elemental had already reached him, plunging its fist into Adam's stomach and tossing him aside.

'Adam! Are you okay?' Silvana asked, realizing that the monster's blow was powerful. She could clearly hear Adam's bones crunching, perhaps his lower ribs cracked.

"Yeah... For I seem to have figured out what is required of me." Adam smirked, touching his fingers to the ground.

He felt a shiver, it was constant and seemed natural. All Adam had to do was adapt to keep his balance.

"Alright, let's see how long it takes me!" Adam exclaimed excitedly, preparing for battle.

...

Five hours later, Adam spat out a clot of blood while everything in front of his eyes was blurred.

The Stone Elemental was badly wounded, Adam's hundreds of blows had almost shattered the monster's armor, but that didn't mean Adam was close to victory.

With each passing hour, he felt worse, as the constant shaking he couldn't escape from made him dizzy and gagging.

It seemed the Stone Elementals weren't going to help their brother, only one of them had to leave here alive.

'Fuck... A little more, and I won't be able to stand up straight...' Adam muttered internally, swaying from side to side.

Then, his eyes went wide when he realized he didn't want to stand anymore.

"Hah... I tried to catch the rhythm like Wind Elemental, but that's a different challenge, isn't it? To understand the land, you have to get closer to it!"

Whoooooooooooooooooosh.

At the same moment, the Prismatic Elemental threw a stone sphere with sharp spikes at Adam. Normally, he would have chosen to dodge or repel the attack, but this time... Adam simply fell to the ground.

The sphere flew over him, but that was the last thing on his mind because, for the first time in a long time, he didn't have a headache. All he felt was a slight vibration going through his entire body, like a massage, rather than a hard shaking that was absolutely unbearable.

"Fine, what's next?" Adam smiled bitterly, realizing that he was trapped, for he could not stand up.

The Stone Elemental was closing in on him, about to finish off his opponent.

Then, a fire lit up in Adam's eyes, and a devious smirk appeared on his face.

'Right, if I can't adapt, then I should just change the location to suit me!'

The Stone Elemental attacked, unleashing its massive fist that could surely blow Adam's head off.

Adam somersaulted forward, whizzing underneath the Stone Elemental and pouncing on the monster's leg. His physical strength was enough for the Stone Elemental to lose its balance and gradually fall to the ground with its broad back. A cloud of dust rose upwards, covering the two silhouettes.

"Hah, that actually worked. Standing on you, I can practically feel no shaking at all! Well, in that case, let's get started!" Adam smirked before attacking, driving his fist into the Stone Elemental's head.

Adam didn't notice it, but after a few hundred blows, he began to beat with a certain frequency, like a metronome. In fact, he was naturally accustomed to the stomping of Stone Elementals when he started doing something similar himself.

Yeah... stomping on the ground and hitting the monster's head was not the same thing, but there was something similar because Adam was returning some of the energy into the ground, through the monster.

At the same time, a new fourth elemental sprout with a triangular stone leaf and a zigzag shape began to grow in his inner space.

[You have received your fourth Elemental Sprout!]

Adam took a deep breath as he looked at the Stone Elementals around him. Gradually, each of them stopped stomping, as they recognized that Adam was no longer affected by it.

Then, the monsters knelt on one knee as a sign of sorrow for their fallen mate and as a sign of respect for Adam, who won in a fair fight, before turning around and walking away, leaving Adam alone.

'Congratulations, it looks like you almost made it through Elemental Circle, much faster than I expected.' Silvana praised him.

'Hmm? Almost? I mean, four out of seven is more than half, but there's still a long way to go.'

'Well... Look to the east, and you'll figure it out. That's your next zone.

Adam did as she said, and his eyes went wide.

In the distance, there was a zone where menacing purple lightning raged along with the flaming streams, and Prismatic Elementals fought each other.