Chapter 342: Devouring

A resounding thump rang out as Adam's massive arm slammed onto the ground, completely shattering the marble floor. The attack was extremely powerful, but it didn't even come close to grazing the anomaly.

After that failed attack, Adam continued to listen for the anomaly, and in the next instant, he turned around to force the sound of the wind into a corner, cutting off all avenues for escape with his enormous body.

Immediately thereafter, he pounced forward violently, trying to crush the anomaly to death.

However, that attack also failed to strike its target, with Adam crashing through the wall in futility, leaving a massive hole behind.

How did I miss? I clearly heard the anomaly in this direction!

The first time, Adam still wasn't very certain in his conviction, but the second time, he was 100% certain that he had heard the anomaly in this direction.

"Don't bother, you're completely missing the mark. The anomaly has been in another direction this entire time. It's behind you now."

As soon as Thilan's voice trailed off, Adam was struck by a heavy blow to the back.

Judging from the power of that attack, he determined that this was roughly a level five anomaly, so it wasn't all that powerful.

Even so, it was still quite a difficult opponent for Adam to deal with.

It was capable of self-concealment and shapeshifting, and it could also manipulate the sound of the wind to throw its opponents off its trail. Adam could certainly defeat it in a direct battle, but aside from Thilan, no one could see it.

If Adam were to face the anomaly on his own, it would've most likely taken a long and drawn-out battle lasting several hours before he could grind down the anomaly and kill it.

"You're not just here to watch the battle, right?"

Adam made a swipe behind himself, but just as he expected, the anomaly had already fled, so his attack struck nothing but empty air.

Thankfully, this was only a normal situation where the deranged nature of the anomaly had devoured its host's intelligence. Otherwise, if this anomaly were as intelligent as Raven and the vampire from last time, then it was going to be even more difficult to deal with.

"That's right. My main objective is to gauge your potential. I've made a rough estimate of your practical combat prowess, and it seems that I was pretty much right on the mark."

Thilan was a smart man, so he could naturally read between the lines and see what Adam was implying.

"You want me to help you, right? That's not a problem, I want this battle to end as quickly as possible as well. The anomaly is situated in front of you to your left. That's right, it's over there. Now, it's up in the sky. Scratch that, it's come back down..."

Under Thilan's instructions, Adam was finally able to land a blow on the anomaly.

However, Adam could feel that it was only a glancing blow, and at this rate, it was still going to take him a very long time to make any significant progress.

"Don't you have any other abilities? Just yelling instructions at me isn't helping very much."

"You're talking to me like we're actual allies," Thilan chuckled. "Fine. Seeing as there's a chance we could become collaborative partners, I'll give you a hand."

Thilan raised his arm as he spoke, and some insubstantial threads flew out of his palm before latching onto Adam's body, immediately following which Thilan's eyes began to glow with a sharp and piercing gleam.

In the next instant, Adam suddenly felt like his surroundings had become countless times brighter, clearer, and more vibrant.

He had never seen such a dazzling and vibrant world before, and it was as his telegnosis had been elevated to a whole new plane.

Is he sharing his vision with me?

While Adam was still reeling from this turn of events, he was struck by another claw attack, and he turned around to find a transparent shadow. It was none other than the anomaly.

At this moment, the anomaly resembled a jellyfish in his eyes. It was still transparent, but it was unable to hide from him any longer.

Thanks to his newfound visual prowess, nothing could escape Adam's vision.

With this enhanced vision, Adam pounced directly toward the anomaly, and the anomaly seemed to have been caught off guard by the accuracy of his attack.

As a result, Adam was able to grab onto it, and it struggled violently, but there was simply far too massive a disparity in strength between them.

Generally speaking, at a certain level, the more powerful an anomaly's abilities were, the weaker they would be physically. If an anomaly were to possess both powerful abilities and formidable physical traits, then they would be an anomaly of a higher level.

Given its array of useful abilities, the harpy anomaly was inevitably going to be more physically frail, and could barely struggle at all after being caught in Adam's grasp.

However, Adam knew better than to grow complacent in battle, and as a safety precaution, he invoked Distortion to help him control the anomaly. After that, he stomped onto it with a massive foot, pinning it down while tearing at its body forcefully in opposite directions.

The anomaly's body was no match for Sludge's enormous strength, and in the end, its entire body was torn in half like a piece of cloth amid a blood-curdling shriek.

However, there was still no anomalic power in the air, so Adam continued to stomp violently down onto the two halves of the anomaly's body. By the time the entire corridor was riddled with craters, the anomaly finally perished, and a large cloud of anomalic power emerged.

At the same time, Thilan saw something that he had never seen before, thanks to his shared vision with Adam.

What's this? Is that psychic power? I've never heard of a psychic entity releasing psychic power after its demise!

Thilan was quite a knowledgeable and experienced adapter, and he had also never heard of anything capable of releasing psychic power upon its death.

How is this happening? Is Adam making the anomaly release this psychic power?

This was already quite a perplexing scene in Thilan's eyes, but what happened next made him even more astonished.

He watched as the semi-transparent anomaly invoked by Adam began to greedily devour the psychic power in the air, and as it did so, Thilan could clearly sense that it was becoming more powerful.

By the time all of the energy had been devoured, the anomaly became even more warped and twisted, and a series of transparent hooks had emerged on its body. These sharp hooks, combined with its Physical Shackles ability, would undoubtedly allow it to instantly inflict death by 1,000 cuts upon anyone that it decided to turn on.

"It... It became stronger just like that? Is this a joke?"

Thilan was utterly astonished as he began to make his way toward the anomaly.

"Stay away! This anomaly can't distinguish between friend and foe."

"Did it really become more powerful just like that?" Thilan was still in complete disbelief. "Surely this isn't possible!"

Having witnessed all types of adapters in the past, Thilan simply couldn't bring himself to believe that someone could become more powerful so easily.

Training for adapters was very difficult, and aptitude played a primary role.

Some people were naturally brave, or violent, or cunning, or bright, or twisted... Generally speaking, only people with extreme personality traits could become powerful adapters. These people possessed mental attributes that were far removed from the average person, and even if they weren't adapters, there was still a very good chance that they would go on to achieve great things or become heinous villains as a normal person.

Of course, talent was one factor, and training was another part of the equation.

Through things like psychic battles and visualization, an adapter could continue to hone their powers over time.

However, Adam was somehow capable of directly devouring someone's psychic power, and that was completely unheard of to Thilan.