Published at 7th of January 2026 7:56 am

Chapter 1395: Adam’s Gambit

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Under the veil of concealment, the abomination continued to strike at Adam over and over again.

There was no urgency to the creature’s attack pattern, nor was there any strong emotion behind it.

The creature was cold, emotionless, and utterly indifferent. The only reason it continued to strike at Adam was that he had invaded its territory. It had deemed Adam as someone worthy of its notice.

As time passed, Adam slowly grew accustomed to the creature’s strength. Reducing the scope of the Sphere of Resonance and restricting it to the area just around him had proven to be quite useful.

And as more time passed, he began to define the creature’s vulnerabilities.

Firstly, the abomination placed great emphasis on keeping itself in a state of concealment.

Why did it choose to remain hidden?

Adam could only come to one possible conclusion: there was a high likelihood that the abomination would turn out to be fragile when revealed.

Secondly, the monster remained positioned in the same spot—at the center of the cavern. It did not move even an inch. Even when Adam invaded its territory, it did not advance to take care of him. It simply tried to deal with him with its many tentacles and tendrils.

So the question arose, why did it choose to remain in the same spot?

Adam believed that it was guarding something. As for what the subject of its protection was, he did not know. Not yet, anyway.

Thirdly, if the previous assumption were true, why was the abomination guarding whatever it was that lay in the center of the cavern?

Adam recalled the glowing, arched gate he had seen nestled in the center of the swirling mass of eyes and tentacles.

Although it remained to be confirmed if the gate was part of the abomination, or if it was, like he assumed, something it was guarding.

Lastly, where did the gate lead to?

Adam was quite certain of that answer.

The Beyond.

So far, every vulnerability he had identified matched his divination result. Everything except the river that flowed backward, which remained unaccounted for.

Adam deflected another blow from the abomination. The Staff of Calamity remained sturdy as ever, but by now, his arms had started tingling from the pain and numbness.

It took him a long time to identify the abomination’s weaknesses while defending against one strike after another.

A plan had already taken root in Adam’s mind, and while he was battling the abomination, he had already begun to perfect the plan as much as possible.

Phase one was to survive the abomination’s magical ability that allowed it to radiate the aura of dread. There was no way to fully counter it. Adam could only get used to it. And the way to do that was constant exposure to it.

If it were anyone else in his shoes, they would have most likely lost before the fight even began. After all, this aura of dread wasn’t just a simple sensation of fear.

It was ontological wrongness itself.

It induced paralysis. And if the Magus couldn’t get used to it in time, they would surely die. Not to mention, even before reaching this point, they would have already turned mad just from a mere glimpse of the abomination.

Adam was fortunate, however. Because of the lotus, half the battle was already won. His mind was calm and clear. So all he needed to do was overcome the dread. And that could only be possible by building confidence.

The more strikes he defended, the more confident he grew. And the more confident he grew, the less effect the aura of dread had on him.

Through sheer will alone, he defended one attack after another while building his confidence. He didn’t know how much time had passed, but after a certain point in time, Adam found that his legs weren’t shaking from fright anymore. Neither was his heart pounding wildly.

His body was bruised and bloodied. Several of his bones were cracked from the repeated onslaught of the abomination.

But he persevered.

Now it was time to counterattack!

Phase two of his plan was to break the creature’s concealment.

As long as the abomination remained hidden, Adam could only passively defend against its attacks. And if all he did was defend, he could never come out victorious. After all, he was never counting on depleting the opponent’s stamina and making it a battle of attrition.

Over the course of fighting the abomination, Adam had realised something very peculiar about its ability to hide itself.

This type of concealment was not invisibility, to be precise.

No. It was more of a conceptual exclusion.

Adam wasn’t certain about how to reveal its true figure. If he was being honest with himself, this part of the plan was a complete gamble. He didn’t know if it was going to work. But he had no other option but to try.

He expertly swung the staff around him, deflecting the avalanche of tendrils. Over time, the frequency of attacks had increased after the abomination noticed that he was adapting to it.

But despite it all, Adam could feel no change in emotions from the monster.

Just utter indifference.

It was as if the abomination didn’t care if Adam lived or died, or whether its attacks worked or not. Its singular purpose seemed to be guarding the gate.

Adam gritted his teeth as he realized something. For the next phase of the plan to work, he would have to cast a spell. And if he chose to cast a spell, then he would have to stop defending against the monster’s attacks.

And given that the abomination’s frequency of attacks was getting faster and more deadly, failing to defend against them would result in devastating consequences for Adam.

But he had to do it.

"Expand!" He roared at the top of his lungs and commanded the Staff of Calamity to transform into a long pillar.

Then he swung the staff in a broad arc, deflecting multiple tendrils in the process and buying himself a few seconds to cast his spell.

He had to act before the tentacles came raining down again. Time was of the essence, and if he failed, his momentum would be lost.

Adam put away the staff and prepared the magical components.

At last, just before the abomination’s attacks reached him, he cast his magic.

This was Adam’s gambit.

Rank 4 Spell: House of Mirrors!

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