Chapter 26: 70,000,000 Reward

There's a third anomaly?

Oni no Hanzou had seen the black light and the enormous figure flying out of it, but he still didn't think much of it.

Once again, having battled countless adapters in the past, he had a very thorough understanding of the invocator class. The power of the invoked entities was directly tied to the invocator themself. Given how weak Adam's psychic body was, under normal circumstances, there was no way that he would've been able to invoke anything that would pose a threat to Oni no Hanzou.

Thus, he proceeded as normal, slashing his blades through the air without taking any additional precautionary measures.

However, as soon as his blades clashed with a hook that was attached to the third anomaly's arm, he immediately realized that something was wrong. The anomaly was far more powerful than him, and not only did it possess incredible strength, the black light that was glowing from the hook was imbued with a type of strange energy that was also extremely powerful.

The anomaly had unleashed an all-out attack, whereas Oni no Hanzou had been complacent and lashed out in a rather lackadaisical manner. In addition to that, there was a massive disparity in absolute power between the two, and as a result, Oni no Hanzou's blades were immediately wrenched out of his grasp by the force of the impact. In addition to that, his hands were also bleeding profusely.

However, the anomaly had no intention of letting him off the hook. Right as he was rushing back in retreat and was about to make a hand seal to unleash another jutsu, a ghastly shriek of terror rang out, dazing him momentarily and delaying the release of his jutsu. Immediately thereafter, he was struck by a dark green laser beam.

The devastating corrosive energy struck him squarely on the chest, inflicting a wound that ran bone-deep.

However, Oni no Hanzou was a very tough man, and he didn't utter even a single sound despite the immense agony. After recovering from the effects of the shriek of terror, he immediately made a hand seal to summon a wooden stump, which took his place and withstood the rest of the attack. He then quickly transformed into his Aka Oni state.

In reality, transforming here wasn't a part of his plan. What he had envisioned was that even if the anomalies that stood between him and his target were quite powerful, it would've still been an easy task for him to bypass them using his jutsus. After that, all he would have to do would be to target the invocator's vulnerable psychic body.

However, the injuries that he had sustained were too severe, and his life was under threat if he didn't transform.

As an assassin-class hitman, Oni no Hanzou's defensive capabilities were very limited, and in the wake of the heavy blows he had received from the scarecrow, the only way that he could continue to fight in this battle was by resorting to his transformation jutsu.

Oni no Hanzou let loose a furious roar as he turned to face the oncoming laser beams, and his body began to expand, following which he blocked the laser beams with his mace.

Only now did the debris and black light fade, allowing him to catch a clear glimpse of his opponent. This was a scarecrow with a similar stature to Aka Oni, standing at over six meters tall with a metal hook attached to the end of one of its arms, and its entire body was giving off a fearsome aura.

No wonder there's such a hefty reward on his head. It seems that aside from his ties with the pawn shop, there's something special about the target himself.

Aka Oni took a glance at the anomaly of fear, then cast his gaze toward Mummy, which was rushing toward Adam from a distance, and he decided to unleash his Aka Oni Flames in that direction. He still hadn't given up on his strategy of targeting the psychic body of the invocator, but in this situation, he was no longer free to do as he pleased.

As soon as he summoned his Aka Oni Flames, the scarecrow's metal hook was swung at him with devastating force, and he had no choice but to oppose it with his mace.

A ferocious clash between the two giants ensued, and both of them were extremely tough with immense offensive power. As a result, their battle was extremely destructive, and all of the buildings in their wake collapsed like houses of cards, while cars were sent flying in all directions.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Adam was being pursued by the Aka Oni Flames, and he leaped straight into Mummy's arms, following which Mummy enveloped his body in its bandages before withstanding the fiery attack for him with its back.

Rumble!

The Aka Oni Flames possessed a tracking function, but it was still forced to detonate on the spot. Following the explosion of flames, countless miniature red oni flew out of all of the wisps of fire that the original fireball had exploded into.

A fierce battle then ensued between the miniature red oni, and Mummy and Hellhound, the latter of which had just arrived on the scene.

By the time Cowboy arrived, there was not even a single brick on the entire street that was still left undamaged.

"Looks like the target is more powerful than expected," Cowboy remarked to himself as he watched the unfolding battle from above atop his fiery steed, and he was clearly quite impressed. "I thought I'd have to go through some trouble to steal back the target, but it looks like my concerns were unnecessary."

"Hey!"

Cowboy raised his voice as he called out, then fired a warning shot with his gun up at the sky, alerting everyone to his presence.

"What are you doing here, Cowboy?"?Oni no Hanzou was still locked in a fierce battle against the scarecrow, and upon catching sight of Cowboy, he immediately withstood a blow from his opponent before retreating to a safe distance away. "You promised that you would leave the mission target to me! Are you going back on your word?"

"Initially, I really was planning to hand him over to you, but after seeing that human farm, I've changed my mind. That kid holds some secrets that I really want to know more about, and so, I decided to come after him again," Cowboy replied with a nonchalant shrug.

"You want to steal him from me?"

"That's right. If I'm not mistaken, it looks to me like your injured, and you've expended a great deal of energy, so you're definitely no match for me in your current state," Cowboy said as he aimed a gun at Oni no Hanzou, but instead of pulling the trigger, his intention was to negotiate. "However, at the same time, I don't want to make an enemy out of the Oni Organization. How about this? Give me the details for one of your black market accounts, and when the job's done, I get to keep the target, but I'll split you half the reward."

Oni no Hanzou took a glance at the gun that was aimed at him from afar, then turned to look at the oncoming anomaly of fear, and after weighing up his options for a brief moment, he nodded in agreement with Cowboy's proposal.

"You got here at just the right time! I'm getting really sick of dealing with this thing," Oni no Hanzou said as he raised his mace to ward off the scarecrow's attack, then immediately unleashed his Shadowbind Jutsu to freeze the shadow beneath the scarecrow's feet into place, temporarily immobilizing it.

Immediately thereafter, his body rapidly shrank until he returned to his original form, and he pulled out a kunai knife, quickly scribbling a few numbers onto it before tossing it at Cowboy.

"I want 70% of the reward!"

After making that final demand, Oni no Hanzou fell into his own shadow and completely vanished on the spot, vacating the site for Cowboy and Adam.

"Alright, it's time for us to have a chat." Cowboy aimed his gun at Adam, who was strapped to Mummy's chest, and holy light began to gather at the gun's muzzle. "How about a collaboration?"

"What do you want?" Adam asked, continuing to hide within the bandages without revealing himself.

"Give me all of the information you have on that human farm, and I'll spare your life. Actually, perhaps we can even work together on a deeper level."

Cowboy suddenly turned his gun away from Adam as he spoke, then fired a shot at the scarecrow in the distance. The holy light stuck the scarecrow on the arm, and the golden holy light clashed violently with the black light emanating from the scarecrow's body, but neither side seemed to be able to vanquish the other.

"That's a very powerful invoked entity. Can I interest you in a more extensive collaboration? We just so happen to be recruiting powerful adapters right now."

Adam offered no response, pondering the proposal in silence instead. He was feeling quite apprehensive as the man before him had just been speaking about his own agenda this entire time, and up to this point, Adam still didn't know this man's identity, nor what his objective was. There was no way that he would just blindly agree to a collaboration.

"Oh, by the way, seeing as I'm trying to recruit you, it's only right that I give you the respect you deserve. Allow me to introduce myself: I am an amateur hitman, and my registered nickname in the black market is 'Cowboy'. I..."

"So you're a hitman just like that ninja. Have you both come after me for the reward on my head? Who's the one offering the reward?"

"Someone's offering a reward on the black market for 50,000,000 for your body, and an additional 20,000,000 if we can deliver your psychic body as well. So essentially, the person offering the reward wants both your physical and psychic body, but if that's not achievable, then just your physical body alone is also fine."

"So the total reward on my head is 70,000,000?"

70,000,000 was an enormous sum, one that was far too high to be justifiable as a reward for an ordinary blank slate.

"That's right. There would be people willing to take on the job for this price even if I were the target instead of you. Your invoked entities are not bad, but your psychic body is very vulnerable, so any low-level hitman could potentially take you out. You're not worth very much, but the information that you have is very valuable."

Cowboy paused here momentarily to calculate the time that he had already spent in the psychic world.

"It's about time that I left. If you stand for too long on the side of the street, you'll attract the attention of the Mechguard officers. I'll give you an address, and you can think about my proposal. If you want to accept my offer, then come and find me. You've messed with some people that you can't afford to mess with, and that tells me that you want to accomplish some things that are beyond your current abilities, so you're most likely in greater need of allies than I am."

After that, Cowboy left Adam with an address before departing.

Following his departure, the constraints in the surrounding space suddenly waned, allowing Adam to leave his own psychic world and return to his physical body.