Chapter 32: The Annoying Golden Iron Triangle

Ever since developing telegnosis through the special meditation method taught to him by Sadou, Adam's understanding of his two anomalies was improving by the day. In particular, after fusing with them, he had developed a far more in-depth understanding of their abilities.

Aside from basic attributes such as superior speed and physical resistance, both of the anomalies had their own unique abilities, and Adam had named these abilities based on their effects.

Mummy had two special abilities, one of which was Bandage Proliferation, while the other one was Hypertoxic Halo, which Adam was using at this very moment.

The first one was a control-system ability, while the second one inflicted damage upon multiple targets.

Mummy was an exceptionally powerful anomaly with outstanding physical resistance, but it was relatively slow and possessed a heavy and maladroit body.

Hellhound had three special abilities, namely Explosive Fireball, Pyroclaws, and Hyperspeed.

It was very clear that the abilities of these anomalies were capable of evolving. Prior to devouring the scarecrow's anomalic power, Hellhound's fireballs were incapable of exploding, and they were also nowhere near as powerful as they currently were. At the time, it had also never displayed the two other aforementioned abilities, so it was clear that those abilities had been developed from subsequent evolution.

Only by having a clear understanding of his own anomalies' abilities could he use those abilities to perfectly target different types of enemies.

That leaves only three left.

Adam had been unable to shake off this nagging sense of foreboding this entire time. His telegnosis was able to detect a vague sense of peril, but he was unable to pinpoint exactly where the source of the peril was. In fact, he couldn't even sense the general direction of where the feeling was coming from, which meant that the remaining three hitmen were clearly far more powerful than the previous five.

"I thought you were going to be tough to beat, but I've been watching all this time, and you're not that powerful at all!" The wall on one side of the carpark was suddenly smashed open, and a warrior clad in a suit of heavy army burst in with a huge shield in his hand. "How did Oni no Hanzou slip up against a target this week? You must've received reinforcements from the pawn shop! Quit hiding, you two! Let's end this quickly!"

He was yelling at his two allies, who were hiding behind him, but neither of them answered.

It was clear that they were far more cautious than he was. One's image in the psychic world was a manifestation of their personality, so in this world, certain personality traits were magnified.

"Alright, fine, you little cowards. I can take care of this weakling on my own!"

The armored warrior wasted no further time with words as he raised his shield and swung a bola through the air with his other hand as he charged toward Adam.

The warrior was a very burly man, and even though he still wasn't as physically intimidating as Adam in his current form, he still posed a very intimidating sight as he barreled through the carpark.

Adam wanted to test the warrior's powers, and he was also wary of the man's hidden allies, so for this first clash, he chose to passively defend.

Thump!

After a short charge, the armored warrior crashed into Adam's body, and even though he was already prepared, he was still sent stumbling back. He was only able to stabilize himself after taking two backward steps, and his carving knife was kept at bay by his opponent's shield.

"See? I told you this kid ain't got nothing on us!" the warrior taunted while swinging his bola into Adam's abdomen, and the metal bola struck the resilient bandages with a dull thud.

After taking this attack with his body, Adam came to the conclusion that this warrior was clearly someone who excelled far more in defense than attack. Essentially, he was a tank, and if someone like him wanted to complete a high-level hit job, he would have to partner up with hitmen that excelled in offense.

With that in mind, Adam focused all of his attention and telegnosis on looking out for long-range attacks.

It was a good thing that he was able to make these decisions so quickly, because as soon as he focused his attention, a hazy sense of peril immediately began to develop from the back of his head, and he hurriedly took evasive action, but he still suffered a cut to the face from a passing black arrowhead.

The arrow was flying too fast for Adam to track with the naked eye, and not only had it torn through the bandages around his face, it had also sliced a large gash into his cheek. Just the wind that was swept up by the passing arrow alone tore away a large chunk of skin and flesh from his face.

In his current state, defense was also his forte over attack, so in order to inflict so much damage from just a glancing blow, that arrow had to have been as powerful as an all-out attack from Oni no Hanzou. If he hadn't dodged in time, the arrow would've punched through his head for sure.

I have to take that archer out of the equation first!

Adam was very much spooked by that close call, but thankfully, that attack had also exposed the archer's position, so he immediately instructed Hellhound to hunt the archer down.

"Didn't I say that I had two little cowards with me?" Even though he could see the direction that Hellhound was moving in, the armored warriors remained completely unflustered and continued to mock Adam, almost as if mocking the target were one of his obligations. "That dog of yours isn't going to be jumping around for much longer!"

After that, he swung his bola into Adam's body again, and on this occasion, he had aimed for Adam's knee, sending him falling to the ground.

However, Adam wasn't worried about himself. Instead, he cast his gaze toward Hellhound, which was rapidly approaching its prey, but it didn't make it very far before a blue technomantic array appeared beneath its paws.

First, countless blades of ice emerged within the technomantic array to slow down its advance, and that was followed by a violent snowstorm that abruptly descended to snuff out the flames on its body.

Even though the array wasn't very destructive, it had managed to trap Hellhound within its bounds.

Once Hellhound's movement had been slowed significantly by the array, an arrow shot out of the darkness, piercing through one of its heads.

Adam immediately rose to his feet with the intention of rescuing Hellhound upon seeing this, but the armored warriors refused to go away, raising his shield to black Adam's path.

.

"Where do you think you're going, boy?"

"Fuck!" Adam swore out lout as he swung his carving knife viciously through the air, only for it to be blocked by his opponent's shield. He pressed the blade down forcefully while unleashing his Hypertoxic Halo, but white light began to emanate from the shield to thwart the ability.

"You can't hurt me!" The armored warrior continued to taunt Adam as he forced back Adam with his shield, and the two became entangled once again.

After a few exchanges, Adam discovered that his opponent was like an ironclad turtle. His entire suit of armor was completely devoid of any gaps, and there were no weak points on his body, so it was very difficult to crush him directly with brute force. Furthermore, all of his attacks were extremely effective in pestering and harassing the opponent. If it weren't for the fact that he was lacking in offensive firepower, he would've been a high-level hitman.

It quickly became apparent to Adam that he would require at least 10 minutes to dispatch his opponent, but 10 minutes was already enough time for the trio to kill him many times over.

All of a sudden, Hellhound let loose an agonized howl from the other side of the battle. On this occasion, the arrow missed its vital regions, but it had still pierced through its abdomen.

In this dire situation, Adam made a decision.

He couldn't afford to let Hellhound die. If Hellhound were to die, then he would be next.

With this armored tank standing in his way, ice technomancy that could restrict his movements, and a formidable archer lurking in the shadows, he would fall to his demise very quickly if he were on his own.

With that in mind, Adam threw himself at the armored warrior with all his might. His opponent was led into thinking that Adam was making a desperate final effort, and he wrapped the chain of his bola around Adam's ankle, trying to stall him to the very end.

However, right as the two clashed, Adam reversed his fusion with Mummy, then dove toward Hellhound on the other side.

Hellhound knew what he wanted, and in the same instant, it used up all of its remaining energy to struggle free from the technomantic array before also flying toward Adam.

As soon as the two came into contact with each other in mid-air, they immediately fused as one, giving rise to a twin-headed werewolf in the underground carpark.