Immortal In A Death Game

Chapter 259: Fraud...?

"Die, little bitch ass green ass monster!"

While Adam was at the top of the Las Vegas Tower, the person who was previously ahead of him in the line but was ejected early due to someone clearing the Tower had once again entered it after him.

"How you guys like that? Huh? Huh?" He spun what seemed to be an iron ball on the tip of his finger, looking at the spherical drone flying in front of him. "I fucking killed all the monsters on the first floor in like three minutes, bitch! Huh? Who typed that shit?"

The man blinked several times, and the trickle of light on his irises became more noticeable.

"I’m gonna clear the tower sub-14, I guarantee you. I’ll be the first C-tier to go sub-14. Watch! Shit, I’m not wasting any more time talking to you fools."

The man rushed to the stairs, kicking the ball and letting it bounce up to the next floor before he even reached it.

Meanwhile, back at the very top of the Tower, Adam continued calling out into the void. Literally.

"Is this Leak created by your people?! This world?!"

He still had his arms spread wide open, too—as if openly inviting something to come for him. Slowly, he turned in place, eyes scanning the endless wall of darkness surrounding the Tower, ready to welcome anyone who emerged from it. Or anything.

But after several seconds of silence, he lowered his arms with a sigh of disappointment and turned his attention back toward the Goblin Magus.

...And the creature already had its palm aimed directly at him.

With a guttural whisper, lightning crackled between its fingers. Thin streams crawled outward before converging into a violent sphere of energy hovering above its palm. The sphere pulsed—then instantly split apart into several claw-like bolts that tore through the air toward Adam, threatening to rip him apart and burn whatever remained into ash.

Adam watched it happen... and did absolutely nothing.

The lightning claws slammed into him and wrapped around his body. His cloak instantly disintegrated into ash, revealing the black tactical suit beneath it, its surface lined with metallic plating hidden under the fabric.

The electricity seeped into him violently. His head tilted slightly on its own as sparks crawled into his pores, spilling from his eyes, nose, and mouth while his already bright green eyes glowed even harder.

But that was all.

Well... not entirely.

One of his eyebrows twitched, too. Whether it was from pain or simple amazement that the Goblin Magus could still attack despite being pinned to its throne, even Adam himself probably didn’t know.

The goblin’s grin slowly faded, however, when it realized Adam wasn’t falling. He even had the luxury of turning his head away from it entirely, glancing back toward the wall of void with another sigh while lightning still raged across his body.

The Goblin Magus tried to move, likely preparing another spell... but Adam suddenly appeared right in front of it.

And then, the goblin saw nothing.

Adam crushed its head in. Bone, flesh, and the throne beneath it exploded apart together, reduced into shattered fragments beneath his hand. The Crystal hidden inside the creature floated free for only a brief moment before Adam’s fingers pierced into it and crushed it barehanded.

He didn’t even blink afterward. Instead, before the light from the Crystal could start to flash, he immediately rushed toward the wall of void and slammed his head against it.

The impact sent ripples through the darkness. Adam narrowed his eyes as the void peeled away in waves, briefly revealing what lay beyond the Dome.

More Towers.

Dozens of them, scattered far apart across the horizon. And from what he could glimpse, other Combatant species were fighting at the tops of those Towers as well.

Adam didn’t look surprised by the sight. If anything, he just seemed mildly disappointed that all the reports were right.

And soon, the familiar white flash swallowed him from behind, ejecting him from the Leak entirely.

"Hm..."

And now, back outside, Adam placed a hand on his chin, partially covering his face as he sank deep into thought.

It’s the same as the other Persistent Leaks. Are they really just... pocket dimensions, unlike the other planets? Was Beatrice right with her theory? Adam. Sshh. Do you think you should go in again, Adam? Maybe the Boss Crystals of Persistent Leaks don’t actually explode? What do you think? I think you should look up. Hm?

Adam snapped out of his thoughts, only to see a crowd of people staring at him.

"Ain’t no way, bruh... Ain’t no way! Why am I outside again?!"

Adam blinked, glancing beside him and seeing the man from earlier clasping his black, coiled hair.

"Bro, man..." The man walked toward the nearest attendant. "What was even that? You guys be trippin’! Was there a glitch or somethin’? Rebate, man. I need a fucking rebate!"

None of the attendants was paying attention to him. Like the rest of the crowd there, all of their eyes were on Adam.

"Didn’t the Tower just reset like... thirty minutes ago?"

"Twenty-four. Twenty-four minutes."

"Twen—what...? Maybe something killed the Boss?"

"Yes. Him."

"Who...? That gay-ass looking kid with the long—wait a minute."

"Isn’t that..."

And unlike the small party with Selene, someone from this big crowd quickly recognizing who he was... was inevitable. His cloak burning into ash didn’t help.

"It’s the Endless!"

"Endless...? The X-tier Hero?!"

And with just those two shouts, everyone realized they were looking at the real deal.

"It’s Adam the Endless! Adam the Endless is here!"

"No fucking way, bro! No fucking way!"

And in less than a second, the hundreds of drones hovering in the air coalesced right at the center of the plaza.

"Oh..." Adam muttered, blinking as he looked up at all the cameras pointed at him before quickly dropping his head down. He quickly pulled out his phone, calling Beatrice. "Pick up... pick up. I need an extraction."

So, he said... but Beatrice wasn’t answering the call at all. The crowd was about to move closer, but fortunately for Adam, the space behind him cracked—the Leak persisted once more, like it had done hundreds of times.

Unfortunately for Adam, however, that didn’t deter the crowd for long, and they once again moved closer. Even the drones hovering above doubled as the news of his being there spread like wildfire.

He stepped back, contemplating whether he should go back inside the Leak—but he quickly erased that notion when he realized some of these people might follow him inside.

And so, instead, he readied to just leap away from there... but it was too late.

The crowd was almost within arm’s reach, and jumping with the force he needed to escape from the would risk injuring them.

"People!" he raised his voice, putting up his arms. "Please! There’s no need to push! You’ll hurt—"

Decades, and Adam still underestimated just how abnormally popular he’d become. Crowds were already gathering around him before, but now... it was just... insane.

It’s the hair, stupid. Cut your hair, and at least people would need a second glance before they realize it was your stupid, handsome face they were looking at. Shut up. You’re not helping. Think.

Adam could really only stare at everyone’s faces, most of them screaming and roaring for him to look at them. If there was any consolation here, it was that there was a high chance that all of the people here were Heroes, so none of them would actually be crushed to death in case of a stampede.

If he just waited it out, this crowd would die down soon enough.

Maybe it’s time to move to another country—Beatrice might be right, there’s nothing left for you to do here. Ask Katherine again to retire. Move to a tropical country and—

Before Adam’s thoughts could drift somewhere better, a hand suddenly clamped over his entire face and lifted him straight into the air.

The crowd pressing toward him recoiled instantly, gasps rippling through them as they tried to figure out who was brazen enough to do something like that.

Adam, however, recognized him immediately.

General John. Secretary of Defense.

"...We seem to be meeting a lot lately, General." Even with his face completely covered, Adam’s muffled voice remained strangely casual. "Do you mind putting me down?"

"I knew you were going to create problems sooner or later, Mr. Adam Adams," John muttered, staring directly into his eyes through the gaps of his fingers.

"You’ve been following me, General?" Adam sighed. "Why?"

"Because beings like you can’t coexist with the rest of us."

John glanced around them, taking in the hundreds of people crowding closer despite their fear. Cameras pointed toward them from every angle.

"Look at them," John said quietly. "See the way they stare at you? See the chaos you created in less than a minute?"

His grip tightened slightly.

"An hour from now, the entirety of Las Vegas will be here just to catch a glimpse of you. It happened before. It will happen again."

"If you’re asking me to live inside a Leak like the other X-tier Heroes, that’s not going to happen."

"I don’t care about the other X-tier Heroes, Mr. Adam Adams. They’re not American." John’s eyes narrowed slightly. "I also don’t care about your rank. And lastly..."

Blue sparks began crackling around his body, faint at first before rapidly intensifying.

"...I don’t think you’re stronger than me."

"Seriously, what do you want fro—"

Adam never finished the sentence. In a single blur of blue light, John moved.

The air exploded around them as he slammed Adam headfirst into one of the giant gates. The towering structure shattered on impact, steel and stone breaking apart like brittle glass as debris rained down around them.

The sound alone silenced the entire area.

Chunks of the ruined gate crashed onto the ground while smaller pieces bounced across the street, sparks and dust filling the air around the two of them.

John kept Adam pinned there by the face.

"I will prove it to you, Endless..." he whispered as fragments continued falling around them.

"...Today, I’ll show these people, and the entire world, what you truly are."