Endless Evolution: Last Star Chapter 1532 1532: Part One

Once, Alexia displayed this power directly in Adam's presence. He'd witnessed the devastating effects of her absolute zero back then, yet that happened ages ago. From that point on, Alexia had grown far more formidable, and her powers had transformed in profound ways.

Still, regardless of how far a Phantom advanced along their journey, the core elements tended to stay unchanged.

Adam served as a prime illustration of this principle, retaining his needle and threads despite everything. Of course, those threads and the needle itself had evolved through numerous stages he'd endured, yet they remained key components of his toolkit.

Alexia faced a comparable circumstance. In the past, her Nexus allowed her to form the ice orb and encase her surroundings in frost.

These days, that same ability persisted, but with a crucial twist: she could sustain it without interruption.

Whoooooooosh.

Chilly torrents surged outward from Alexia in every direction, encasing whatever they touched in solid ice.

The lake's surface, which had barely coped with the dropping chill before, now solidified into a massive sheet of frost in an instant.

Adam glanced over his shoulder, his eyes sharpening. Though they fought as allies alongside Alexia, that alliance offered no shield against her freezing assault.

To shield himself from the oncoming barrage of ice, he thrust his staff ahead and concentrated power at its end.

Thus, as Alexia's icy surge arrived, he simply swung his staff, slicing it apart cleanly.

Whooooosh.

Arctic winds laden with shimmering ice particles rushed by Adam on both sides, all while he watched with steady composure.

Over a dozen ghost spiders prowling near him, poised to strike, froze solid into immobile chunks.

'Well, well...' Adam surveyed the landscape, now nothing but a vast expanse of ground gripped by intense frost.

From the lake's top to the jagged stone formations, all had succumbed to the ice.

Clearly, locating every golden spider would pose no challenge for Adam anymore. Plus, with Alexia maintaining her power, fresh bursts of frost would pulse from the orb every few moments.

Yet this challenge wasn't so straightforward that a mere Phantom could conquer it solely through frozen might.

Tremble. Tremble. Tremble.

The spiral crystals quivered, unleashing a surge of energy that swept over the entire area, affecting every ghost and golden spider alike.

Within moments, the frozen casings around their forms cracked and burst, liberating them all. Seizing the opportunity, the ghost spiders lunged straight at Adam, while the golden ones dashed away to widen the gap.

Adam paid them no heed, however, his attention locked on Alexia and the frost orb cradled in her hands.

Tremble.

The orb shook, and in short order, the whole scene froze over once more.

A small fleck of ice formed at the end of one of Adam's hair strands. But his immediate action dislodged it, sending it to shatter against the earth.

Tap.

Adam struck his staff against the ground, propelling himself dozens of meters forward. He dashed at maximum velocity.

With each strike of his staff—whether on the ground or through the air—he executed a blistering spatial leap, swiftly closing in on the golden spiders. He bypassed or obliterated any others purely through his blistering pace.

This pattern persisted for five full minutes, and unlike their previous run where Adam and Alexia had only gathered around 15-17 Glowing Tips in that span, things unfolded entirely differently this time.

Forty-nine amber orbs floated along their limbs, with thirty adorning Adam's arms—fifteen per side—and nineteen more orbiting Alexia's.

Alexia refrained from slaying any foes, focusing instead on unleashing wave after wave of chill. The effort drained her stamina heavily, but she could endure right up to the end without issue.

"Come on, Adam!" Alexia shouted, flinging her arms once more. "Only 11 left! We can do this much faster than the timer will run out! We have to make up for our past failures!"

Adam felt far less certain, however, even as a golden spider came into view far off. That one promised to be their fiftieth.

'Something's wrong,' Adam mused while aiming his staff ahead. 'Until we hit the 30 glowing tips mark, all the spiders were speeding up or powering up. But after the 30th tip, they stopped improving. Could we really finish this trial in the next minute?'

Ripple.

A ripple spread through the atmosphere, akin to ripples on water, as Adam channeled his energy to the staff's point. He targeted a spider as though hurling a javelin, though truly, his own body served as the deadly projectile.

Adam's body jolted as he traversed half the lake, trailing shattered ice in his wake.

The golden spider recoiled, detecting the looming danger, yet it stood powerless against it.

The dark staff smashed through it, causing the golden tip to drift freely in the air.

Adam snatched it up, securing their fiftieth.

"Hell yeah! Ten more to go and we still have four minutes!" Alexia cried out in delight. Her support position didn't bother her in the least. Victory thrilled her, whether in the dead lands, at the casino, or anywhere else.

Before Adam had a chance to reply, the spiral crystals shook, and a robotic voice resounded throughout the cavern.

[You have collected 50 Glowing Tips.]

[The trial is entering its final stage.]

[To test your abilities, the trial will show its full potential.]

The Ancient Voice delivered its words in an enigmatic, often vague manner, but Adam and Alexia required no further clarification.

The instant after, the truth unfolded right before them.

Tremble. Tremble. Tremble.

The ghost spiders quaked before detonating all at once, dissolving into swirling energy clusters that flowed back toward the spiral crystals.

Next, the last ten golden spiders materialized beside the stone peaks. No longer did they conceal themselves; they understood Adam could no longer reach them.

But why?

"What the..."

Adam's words echoed as the golden spiders raced around the lake, hitting velocities so extreme that to him, they blurred into a mere golden loop.

He struggled to discern their shapes at all, yet somehow he had to capture them.