NOVEL NEXT Chapter 203: Episode 203
"Should I bring you Tylenol?" Adam asked, worrying about her.
"No, no, I think I'm fine," Elesch suggested, as the visions crept up on her.
In her visions, she saw herself drinking caffeine more than she thought she could handle, since she wasn't able to drink. Then, Adam dragged her back to the apartment, as she was extremely high, having drunk 1,600 milligrams in about a minute.
After Adam took her to the apartment, she pushed him onto the couch, suggestively on top of him, and he was in the mood, but he realized that she was high on caffeine, but he wasn't, but even if he was, it wouldn't matter, since he felt as if he was just taking advantage of Elesch. So, instead, he put her to sleep, and immediately to sleep, and went back to his house, after her and the cats were asleep.
"We almost had sex, didn't we?" Elesch said. Adam was taken aback, but nodded. "Wait, wait, wait, why did you stop? I wasn't that high, I was pretty sober."
"You were higher than the Mt. Everest. Let's cut our conversation short and focus on the task ahead." Adam said, feeling slightly confused and uncomfortable.
"Yeah... you're right, I'm sorry," Elesch said, realizing what she was saying.
She nodded her head to wake her up, as Adam chuckled slightly, having a faint smile tugging at his lips. She was confused why Adam was chuckling. She tilted her head as she saw his smile, falling in love with him again.
"Why are you chuckling?" She inquired.
"Nothing, don't worry about it," he responded.
"No, tell me, I want to know."
"It's nothing, let's focus."
"No, I won't, unless and until you tell me," Elesch demanded, her arms crossed.
"Fine," Adam said, then leaning in for a kiss, and gently grabbing Elesch to bring her closer, and she already was. He whispered, "I wanted to have sex with you, be one with you, but I couldn't because of the state you were in. But I really wanted to have sex."
He kissed her again before she could react or say anything, then grabbed her hand, grabbed the litter box, which he gave to Marcus, and headed towards the helicopter. He dragged her to the aircraft, being the last person to board it, and then closed the gate.
After another ten minutes of flying through the air, soaring at speeds that the group didn't even know aircraft could fly to, cutting the air like a samurai cutting a piece of wood.
After a couple of more minutes, they realized at Tokyo, seeing the city crumble beneath their feet. Adventurers were trying to defend themselves, but since the average demon was at least an evolved F-rank monster, they weren't able to.
The team jumped from their aircraft and fell to the ground with bright smiles on their faces. After they landed, creating a crater upon the collision, they immediately went into action. Rhea, Viktor, and Selene darted towards where most of the demons were, as Zane and Michael split from Elesch and Adam, getting people to safety.
Elesch and Adam stood for a moment longer, as a person was carved from the inside out by a demon behind them. When Elesch accidentally glanced back, she realized that they needed to focus. Adam also shook his head, waking up and fighting off the demons.
Elesch enlarged her rapier, holding it firmly in her hands, as Adam's fingers turned into brutally sharp claws that were sharper than a tungsten needle. Adam lunged towards one of the demons, the same one who carved the woman from the inside out.
"Adaptive Hide: Chimera Shell," Adam growled like a wolf.
The air around him vibrated, a deep hum pulsing through the battlefield as his body began to change. The veins beneath his skin glowed faintly gold, then darkened into streaks of black obsidian.
His flesh hardened, sprouting layers of overlapping scales that shimmered like tempered steel. From his shoulders erupted jagged, organic plates, smooth yet edged, alive with motion. His eyes, once human, now burned amber with primal focus.
The demon before him snarled, a grotesque mass of twisted muscle and bone, its teeth curving inward like scythes. It lunged, claws cleaving through the air with enough force to shatter concrete.
Adam moved, blurring forward. The ground cracked beneath each step as he intercepted the demon's strike, catching its clawed arm mid-swing. Sparks erupted when claw met armored hide.
The demon roared in frustration and swung with its other arm, but Adam's adaptive body responded instantly.
His skin rippled, stone merged with sinew, and his forearm turned into an unyielding barrier. The blow deflected, sending shockwaves through the ruined street.
Adam countered. His claws, longer, sharper now, slashed across the demon's chest. Black ichor sprayed into the air as the creature staggered back, shrieking.
But it wasn't over. The demon inhaled, its body inflating grotesquely before it expelled a blast of acidic mist. Adam leapt back, but not fast enough; the acid splattered across his shoulder. Smoke rose. Flesh sizzled.
The scales along his shoulder shifted hue, darkening to a reflective sheen. The corrosion stopped. His body remembered the pain and reinforced itself.
Adam's expression hardened. "You're not the only one who evolves."
He surged forward again, this time, his claws glowing faintly, the edges lined with an energy that cut through the air itself. The demon met him head-on, screeching, their clash sending ripples through the ground.
Adam ducked beneath a wild swing, drove his knee into the demon's gut, and followed with an uppercut that shattered its jaw.
As it reeled, he slammed both hands into the earth. The armor along his arms thickened into jagged spikes. He lunged upward, driving his claws through the demon's ribcage.
"Adaptive Hide: hybrid form," he said. His scales merged seamlessly with his muscles, combining predatory speed with defensive power.
He tore his arms outward, splitting the demon clean in half. The monster's body collapsed with a wet thud, dissolving into black ash that scattered in the wind.
For a moment, silence. Then, Adam exhaled, steam curling from his body, his armor slowly retracting back into flesh.
Elesch approached from behind, her rapier still gleaming from battle. "That was terrifying," she said, half in awe, half in concern.
Adam turned slightly, the faintest smirk crossing his face. "It's called adaptation." He glanced at the fallen demon, then back at the chaos erupting across Tokyo. "Let's make sure we're the ones who keep evolving."
He extended a clawed hand, which softened back to normal as she took it. Then, together, they charged toward the next wave.