Chapter 15: Energy Absorption

In order to find this almighty superhero and completely eradicate the anomaly, Adam made a set of three arrangements.

The first order of business was for Hook to clean up as many of those surveillant aberrations as possible.

They seemed to be harmless, but there was a chance that they could become hostile puppets that would attack once the anomaly arrived. Furthermore, these things were also one of the sources of Kim's fear, so eradicating them could only have positive outcomes.

After that, he found a relatively safe place for Nie Yiyi to rest and recuperate, and he left Kim with her as well. This was a secret base for Kim in the real world, so it was considered to be a safe zone within a safe zone inside her psychic world, thereby making it extremely secure.

The third and most important thing to do was to track down Kim's superhero father, and he left that task to himself.

According to Kim, her father was rarely ever home. He was either at the company or the recording booth, or preparing for an upcoming concert.

Thus, the two of them didn't spend much time together at all.

Indeed, Adam was unable to track down Deranged Pig even after searching through the entire mansion, so it was true that he wasn't home.

Hence, Adam had no choice but to leave the safe zone to visit the places that Kim had mentioned.

According to the coordinates on his electronic map, the closest of the candidate locations was the company. As soon as he left the mansion, he immediately invoked his two anomaly guardians, Mummy and Hellhound. He still couldn't verbally communicate with the two anomalies at the moment, but the most basic emotional communication was still achievable.

For example, the emotion of fear would translate to a desire to be protected, while the emotion of anger would equate to an instruction to attack.

After invoking the two anomalies to protect him from the front and the rear, he departed from Deranged Pig's mansion.

During his departure, he had already made a conscious effort to avoid the giant bats lingering around the mansion, but only after leaving the courtyard did he realize that these creatures were also present on the streets outside.

He had only just made his way past two streets when a pair of bats appeared up ahead. These aberrations that were invoked by the scarecrow seemed to have inherited a part of their?will. When Adam first spotted them, they were in the process of attacking passersby on the street, but as soon as they caught sight of Adam, they immediately identified him as their enemy and turned to fly toward him.

"Kill them!"

In the face of the oncoming bats, Adam picked up the broken bracket of a billboard from the ground to use as a club, then faced the bats together with his two anomalies.

A battle immediately ensued. Hellhound and Mummy were both far faster than Adam, so it stood to reason that they would be the first ones to clash with the bats. However, the bats possessed a certain level of intelligence, and they made use of their aerial advantage to avoid the attacks from the two anomalies before directly attacking Adam from above.

Thump!

Adam was able to force back one of the bats with a swing of his club, but he was too late in avoiding the other one, and his shoulder was wounded by its fangs.

The bat was half the size of a human, and with a single chomp, it was able to tear a large chunk of flesh out of Adam's shoulder. Adam could only fight through the pain as he turned around and stuffed his metal club into the bat's oral cavity, thereby keeping its sharp fangs at bay.

𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

The bite force of the giant bat was so ferocious that indentations of its fangs were left on the club, and it was extremely fierce. Even with the metal club stuck in its mouth, it was still charging forward without any regard for its own safety, trying to use its claws to scratch at Adam's body.

My body is too weak! I can't gain any advantage in a tussle like this!

Adam was only able to keep the bat at bay for a few seconds before his wrists began to go numb, and he was struggling to resist for much longer. Thankfully, Hellhound swooped in to save the day, leaping up into the air before barreling into the bat and sending it flying.

The other bat was also intercepted by Mummy.

That brief exchange was enough for Adam to understand just how weak he was, and instead of joining in on the attack, he raised his club and focused solely on defense instead.

I'm an invoker, so it's only right that I stay at the back and leave the fighting to others!

At least, that was what he was telling himself as consolation.

Thankfully, the two anomalies were quite formidable, and even against the giant bats that were able to mangle metal brackets with ease, Hellhound and Mummy were able to demonstrate a crushing advantage in power.

There was the virtually indestructible anomaly of pain, Mummy, which made no effort to avoid the attacks from the bat's fangs and claws. It merely allowed the bat's attacks to strike its body amid flurries of sparks, and aside from some negligible damage inflicted upon its bandages, the bat wasn't able to leave so much as a single scratch on it. In contrast, it was able to use its strength advantage to completely crush the bat, grabbing onto the bat's wings with one hand before hacking and stabbing violently with its carving knife in a gory scene that was not suitable for younger audiences.

Meanwhile, Hellhound was exercising its speed advantage to avoid the bat's attacks, then roasted the bat alive with the flames blasting out of its mouth.

The two bats didn’t have anywhere near enough numbers to pose a threat to the two anomalies, and the battle was over in short order.

"Good job! Let's keep go... Hmm?"

Seeing as the battle had concluded, Adam turned to depart, only to notice that the two emotional anomalies were acting rather strange after slaying their opponents.

Following the demise of the two giant bats, the anomalies held onto their carcasses while inhaling vigorously through their nostrils. Shortly thereafter, black energy began to seep out of the carcasses of the two bats, and the energy flowed into the seven orifices of the two anomalies' bodies. It didn't take long before both of the bats were exhausted of all of their black energy, following which their bodies disintegrated into black dust that trickled down onto the ground.

"What kind of ability is that?"

Not only was Adam quite taken aback by this scene, even the vastly experienced Red Spider was looking on with shock in her eyes.

She had seen many expert adapters in the past, and as high-level employees of the pawn shop, she had even worked extensively with many of them, but never had she seen such a peculiar ability.

This is definitely no ordinary kid. He must've undergone some strange modifications before we found him. I wonder what absorbing that black energy does. Will it help his recovery?

She could see through the 3D projection that the wound that Adam had sustained on his shoulder was slowly healing at a rate that was discernible even to the naked eye.

However, for Adam in the psychic world, what he was feeling went far beyond just that.

I can feel my strength increasing and my bodily constitution becoming stronger. Both my speed and offensive and defensive abilities have also been improved!

Adam clenched his own fist in an experimental fashion, and he could sense that his grip strength had clearly improved.

The two anomalies seem to have experienced even greater enhancements than I have.

The two anomalies were born from his emotions, so they were directly tied to his psychic body, and that allowed him to sense their growth in power.

This was a massively pleasant surprise for Adam.

What he needed the most right now was power. Only with more power could he unravel the mysteries around his own past and become a truly complete person.

The mysterious flower pots had already provided him with a rapid boost in power, and now, he was even able to absorb the power of the enemy for himself. In addition to his excitement, a possibility occurred to him.

If I can beat that powerful anomaly of fear and absorb its energy...

Adam didn't even dare to imagine how thrilling an experience it would be to suck that giant anomaly dry.

With that in mind, he was filled with vigor and motivation, and he immediately called out to his two anomaly lackeys.

"Let's go! The sooner we track down Kim's father, the sooner we'll be able to complete this mission!"