THE VILLAIN'S POV Chapter 741: The Peak of Shadow Adaptation
Previously on THE VILLAIN'S POV...
His palm shot forward at the Engineer's rear... yet Gehrman had prepared for it this round.
He barely sidestepped the assault.
"So... you managed to dodge."
However, merely avoiding the initial hit brought little relief.
Amon relentlessly advanced, closing in like a tightening loop.
Gehrman relied on his exceptional swiftness... combined with his perceptions stretched to the brink... just to slip away from Amon's onslaughts.
"Damn... I can't beat this foe with my present strength..."
Gehrman muttered to himself, fighting desperately to hold out longer.
One solid strike could finish him off, considering the frailty of his current form.
To stand any chance against such a rival, Gehrman would need to unleash his complete might.
Abraham Starlight attempted to step in multiple times... but failed each time.
"They're blurring so quickly that I can hardly keep pace with them..." Abraham confessed, stunned.
He hadn't anticipated seeing anyone who could rival Gehrman in velocity.
If the battle dragged on this way... disaster loomed ahead.
In another spot, Frey observed from afar.
"This is terrible... absolutely terrible..."
Having created sufficient separation from Ada and the fray, Frey remained near her, eyeing the confrontation.
"Amon is Crimson's little brother... and his strength marks him as a wild card even among the elite ranks. His actual prowess surpasses his official position by far."
Frey was aware of Amon's presence, though his full capabilities stayed a mystery to him.
Such a adversary was undoubtedly superior to both Wesker and Vayne.
"If it keeps going like this... the Engineer and my dad won't stand a chance."
Should that occur, Frey would get dragged off to Helmond against his will, and all his allies—like Ada and Abraham—would perish.
Frey was determined to prevent that outcome, whatever the sacrifice.
Without delay, he slipped Nameless's mask over his features once more.
"You're seeing this, right... Nameless?"
Instantly, Frey shut his eyes and slipped into that empty domain... the secure haven in his thoughts.
There, Nameless lingered, gazing toward the distant edge.
"Your troublesome underling is about to fall, and that'll reset everything to the start. I refuse to let it happen, no matter the toll," Frey declared resolutely while nearing the masked figure.
"I'm not demanding you battle for me. I won't bother debating this with you."
With that, Nameless shifted his gaze.
"Then what brings you here?"
In reply, Frey positioned himself directly before him.
"Show me... how to tap into this latent strength within."
"The higher levels of Shadow Adaptation... they're the expert phases, correct? Using them could let me handle that monster!"
Frey implored, yearning for the fifth and sixth phases of Shadow Adaptation to shift the balance.
Nameless paused in silence before responding.
"Pushing the advanced phases to their utmost might get you what you seek... but in your present condition, you couldn't handle the strain," Nameless answered in his typical icy manner, making Frey scowl without thinking.
"My shaky base is dragging me down once more..." Frey grumbled.
"If only... I had reached SSS-rank..."
This remained Frey Starlight's biggest flaw... his inferior cultivation compared to his rivals, and his deep dependence on skills and outside aids.
Yet Nameless cut him off, clarifying a vital point.
"Don't get it wrong, Frey Starlight. I meant not your cultivation... but a different matter altogether."
As Nameless continued, the surrounding emptiness slowly grew dimmer.
"What I'm getting at is... your psyche won't survive it."
"What on earth do you mean?" Frey questioned, bewildered.
"To even attempt combat—much less the fifth phase—you'd require the sixth phase's power."
"And that... no mortal psyche can bear."
Upon those words, Nameless revealed the way ahead for Frey.
The shadowy emptiness fractured... shifting to a deep red hue.
Frey's soles abruptly plunged into an odd substance... red, thick, repulsive, and corrupt.
"Is this... blood?" Frey exclaimed, horrified.
But that marked just the start.
Slowly, nightmarish forms started emerging from the bloody ocean...
Followed by the wails.
Wails that chilled Frey to the bone—cries of torment and fury, echoes from the depths... howls from entities beyond this realm.
Ghosts extended their grasp, seizing Frey with frantic fingers, latching on and denying release.
Frey attempted to wrench free right away... but in moments...
Countless... actually, innumerable cadavers surged from every side.
Warped, mangled remains that horrified Frey beyond his past ordeals.
Once encircled, Frey vaulted upward into the emptiness, seeking his sole escape... upward.
He ascended relentlessly, pushing toward the peak.
Yet when he glanced below, his dread intensified.
The bodies stacked upon each other, pursuing without mercy, building a massive peak that swelled every instant.
From his vantage, the truth dawned on Frey.
An infinite ocean of blood...
And bodies surfacing endlessly, all clawing toward him.
Charred, slaughtered, dismembered, distorted forms...
Visions ripped from the darkest dreams.
"Is this... hell?" Frey murmured, fixated on the horrifying sight.
Then the corpse mound overtook him.
Lifeless limbs slithered across his flesh.
Frey experienced sheer panic... and lashed out in resistance.
But resistance proved pointless.
He lacked the strength in this domain.
Left with no options, he scrambled upward once again, higher and higher... to no avail.
The dead were without number.
Within this gore-drenched inferno...
Nameless hovered over it, observing with his standard detached poise.
"Witness it yourself, Frey Starlight..."
"What the sixth phase of Shadow Adaptation really entails."
The phase Nameless had forged through rivers... endless rivers of blood.
"This phase follows the cycle of life and death..."
"And no human psyche can withstand it."
"So answer me..."
"Will you prove the outlier?"
Nameless inquired with intrigue...
But his words drowned in the clamor of the deceased...
And in Frey Starlight’s frantic resistance.