Chapter 357: Evolving Three Anomalies at Once

The pack of monstrous creatures stormed onto the scene, reaching Adam and Hellhound in the blink of an eye. One of them was a creature that was entirely comprised of a phlegm-like substance, and it enveloped Adam's entire body with its own to erode him from all directions.

Meanwhile, two other monstrous creatures were tearing at Hellhound, and none of these creatures were particularly powerful or destructive, but over time, as more and more damage accumulated, the situation was quickly beginning to spiral out of control.

The monster continued to secrete more and more corrosive fluid, stripping away one layer of Adam's stone body after another. What was even more damning was that the horse-faced anomaly was continuing to create more and more monsters with its brush, which certainly wasn't good news for Adam.

It didn't take long before Hellhound was in critical condition.

One of its hind legs had been torn off, while one of its heads had also been decapitated by another monster with saw-like arms. At this rate, it wasn't going to be long before it was killed, but Adam was unable to do anything.

Not only was he not able to do anything, he was in such a terrible emotional state that he wasn't even able to sense what was happening around him.

Thankfully, Adam had invoked more than just one anomaly prior to falling into the mural.

In order to search for Adam, all of the anomalies that he had invoked jumped into the mural as well.

The first one to arrive was Clown, and it immediately began attacking the horse-faced anomaly, which was continuing to conjure up more monstrous creations with its brush. The barrage of bullets from its gatling gun forced the physically frail anomaly to stop what it was doing and take evasive measures.

The next ones to arrive were Nun and Camera, which were both still level three anomalies at this point.

As soon as it arrived, Nun immediately unleashed its Lights Out ability to plunge the entire surrounding area into darkness. After that came Camera, which made short work of the monstrous creatures around Adam.

At this moment, Adam also returned to his senses somewhat, and while the Lights Out ability was still in effect, he inspected his surroundings to track down the horse-faced anomaly, following which he saw all of the despairing faces around him.

Right at this moment, those faces began inhaling in preparation to let loose the next wave of screeching.

Having already fallen prey to the devastating emotional attack once, Adam had no intention of allowing the same attack to be unleashed again, and he immediately instructed all of his anomalies to unleash their abilities at once.

Hellhound let loose its Infernal Howl that quickly revived it from a dire physical state, while also enhancing the speed and power of its allies.

Clown instantly conjured up the maximum number of clones that it was capable of, thereby significantly enhancing its firepower output.

Camera turned to face the horse-faced anomaly before quickly pressing down its shutter, stopping time for an instant amid a bright flash.

Distortion used its Shadow Strike ability to instantly close down the distance between itself and the horse-faced anomaly, emerging directly behind it from its shadow before taking advantage of Camera's Time Stop ability to plunge all of the hooks on its entire body into its target.

At this point, Distortion was already a level five anomaly, and it was Adam's most powerful anomaly, possessing individual combat prowess that far exceeded both Sludge and Hellhound.

As soon as all of its hooks had been plunged into the horse-faced anomaly's body, it immediately unleashed its signature Physical Shackles ability.

In the past, Distortion had relied on its enormous distortive power to crush the bones and internal organs of its target, but in its current form, things were different.

While it was unleashing its Physical Shackles ability, all of its hooks were vibrating at an extremely high frequency, and at the same time, its entire body was twisting rapidly from side to side.

It was as if it had become a living meat grinder, and Adam watched as the horse-faced anomaly was ground into mincemeat.

Its blood, flesh, and internal organs had all mixed together and spilled onto the ground, and it was as dead as dead could be.

In the instant that the horse-faced anomaly met its demise, all of the despairing faces on the mural screeched in anguish once again, but with the demise of the anomaly, it didn't take long before all of the vanished into thin air along with the entire mural, like ashes in the wake of a nuclear explosion before blown away by the wind.

In the end, the Lamenting Wall was able to outlive the artist that had created it, but only for a brief moment.

After the mural and all of the despairing faces had completely vanished, Adam and his anomalies emerged from the nested dream and returned to that city street from 30 years ago.

As soon as they did so, Distortion immediately went on a rampage, ferociously attacking its own allies. Thankfully, Clown's clones were the only casualties of its rampage, so none of Adam's anomalies were actually killed.

Upon witnessing its incredible power, Adam was tempted to continue prioritizing its growth.

This anomaly was very difficult to control, only reining in its chaotic nature when Adam's attention was focused on it, and any lapse in concentration from him would instantly result in Distortion reverting back to its true nature.

Let's bring it back in for now.

After withdrawing Distortion, Adam withdrew all of his other anomalies as well, and at the same time, the horse-faced anomaly's anomalic power emerged nearby.

After some consideration, Adam decided that it was best to continue enhancing Sludge.

This was not a decision that he was taking lightly, and it was one that he felt to be the best option following this battle against the horse-faced anomaly.

At the moment, he was situated in Darvaza Prison, so he couldn't implement the same safety measures that he had been able to during his previous psychotherapeutic treatments of mental illness sufferers. In those cases, he always had someone on the outside observing the scene unfolding within the psychic world, and that person would be able to sever the psychic connection at the first sign of danger.

Not only did he not have access to this safety net here, the amount of information that was available to him was also very limited.

He could only recall very general information on some of the inmates, and he had no idea just how deranged they were and just how powerful their anomalies could be.

As an example, this horse-faced anomaly seemed to be at the pinnacle of level six anomalies, but if it had been a level seven anomaly, Adam would've met his demise for sure.

Hence, the top priority for him was to continue elevating his own self-preservation abilities.

As long as he wasn't killed right away, he would be able to escape from the psychic world safely.

After making that decision, he split up from Sludge, and the massive anomaly immediately rushed at the cloud of anomalic power, quickly devouring the majority of it before beginning to undergo an evolution.

While it was evolving, Adam released two more anomalies, namely Nun and Camera, and those two devoured what little remained of the horse-faced anomaly's anomalic power before also beginning to evolve.

Both of them were evolving from level three anomalies into level four anomalies, and following its evolution, Nun had become even more terrifying in appearance. Its blue eyes looked as if they truly belonged to a hellish demon, striking the beholder with a sense of fear and unease.

As for Camera, its evolution hadn't brought on much of a change in its physical appearance, but its scythe-like arms seemed to be even sharper than before, and even a level six anomaly wouldn't be eager to cop a blow from those things.

However, its evolution seemed to have only made its characteristics even more skewed. Not only had it not become more physically durable, its body had become even slimmer than before, indicating that its physical defenses had decreased even further. In its current form, it seemed that even a stiff breeze could knock it over.