Chapter 82: Steel Mummy

In battles where there wasn't much of a disparity in power between the combatants, it was often the case that superior strategy could prove to be pivotal, and this was a perfect example.

As soon as Adam invoked Distortion, the tide of the battle was immediately turned. Distortion instantly locked onto its target, clinging to the nun anomaly like a mad dog as it began to twist the nun's limbs.

The nun's agonized howls rang out within the dark space, and Adam was able to determine its location through his hearing before unleashing his Bandage Proliferation ability once again.

Even if the nun hadn't made any sound, Adam would've still been able to determine its approximate location based on the position of Distortion.

The bandages wound themselves around the nun, and in its state of agony, it was no longer able to maintain its darkness ability, thereby restoring some light and visibility to the surrounding area.

As a result, Adam was able to see that the nun anomaly had already been wrapped up in a cocoon. The outermost layer of the cocoon consisted of his bandages, while a black shadow was adhered to the nun's back. The shadow was twisting the nun anomaly's limbs, and that, in addition to the restriction from the bandages, rendered it completely immobilized.

"Hellhound, go!"

Adam immediately seized the opportunity to strike, wasting no time as he raised his carving knife before plunging it into the nun's abdomen.

Hellhound was also eager to cooperate, using its fiery claws to attack the exposed parts of the nun's body.

.

The nun anomaly had already suffered severe injuries, and in the face of the relentless attacks from Adam and his two anomalies, its body was finally unable to hold itself together any longer. A bloodcurdling howl rang out as it vanished on the spot amid a flash of black, leaving behind only a dense cloud of anomalic power.

Adam naturally wasn't going to pass up this massive feast, and he immediately absorbed all of the anomalic power lingering in the air.

𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

Due to the fact that this was the power of a level three anomaly, Adam immediately funneled all of it into Mummy's body without any hesitation. This was anomalic power of a higher caliber than what Mummy currently possessed, and with such an enormous influx of power, its body was quickly becoming stronger and stronger.

As a result, Adam was also growing in height. From a height of just over three meters, his body swelled all the way to around 3.5 meters in stature, upon which it seemed to have reached a certain threshold. After that, his power began to compress, and his body also began to rapidly shrink.

From 3.5 meters, he shrank all the way down to only around two meters in height.

"I've evolved!"

Adam looked down at his own body to find that he wasn't much taller than the average adult human. Not only had he become shorter, his rotund frame had also become much fitter and leaner.

If Adam's past form were to be likened to a bear, then his current form could be likened to a metal statue, with bulging muscles that were far more even and well-defined than before.

Most importantly, the bandages around his body had become slightly reflective like metal, and after slapping the bandages with his hand, he discovered that they had become even more resilient.

Similarly, his carving knife had also evolved. The blade had become inky-black in color, most likely due to the anomalic power of the nun that had just been absorbed. At the same time, it was giving off a faint vampiric red sheen, and its sharpness was on an entirely different level compared with before.

Adam casually swiped his blade through the air, and a sharp whistling instantly rang out, as if the very air were being sliced apart.

My speed, power, and offensive ability have all been enhanced!

Adam had never felt better than he did now, and he was confident that even if he were to face the nun anomaly again at the height of its powers, he would've been able to contend with it on his own and perhaps even gain the upper hand.

The only piece of bad news is that I don't seem to have acquired any of the nun anomaly's abilities. My attack, defense, and physical resistance are all exceptional, but I still don't have that many abilities.

Adam had thought that following this evolution triggered by the absorption of the nun's anomalic power, his abilities would've also been enhanced, but that was not the case.

Ultimately, Mummy was still just a tank, albeit an extremely exceptional one.

While Adam was examining his own body, the surrounding darkness began to slowly dissipate. This isolated space was about to collapse in the wake of the nun anomaly's demise, and in order to maintain secrecy, Adam split up from Mummy and reverted back to his original form.

Even after splitting up from Adam, Mummy still resembled a meticulously crafted metal statue, and after admiring Mummy's new form for a while longer, Adam withdrew all of his anomalies back into his own body. At the same time, the surrounding space shattered, and the light from outside immediately came filtering in through the cracks.

"Are you alright?" Shae was the first one to rush in, and she was very relieved to see that not only was Adam completely unscathed, he appeared to be brimming with energy. "None of us could go in there after you went in!"

"I know. I've already eradicated the anomaly."

"On your own?"

Nie Yiyi was the second one to arrive on the scene, and her brows furrowed ever so slightly after learning that Adam had slain the nun anomaly on his own. She was an extremely competitive person, and she had already been feeling very indignant back when she first witnessed the evolution of Adam's invoked entities. She felt like Adam had improved more in the span of just a few weeks than she had throughout all of her years of rigorous training.

However, back then, at least she could console herself with the knowledge that the psychic bodies of invocators were extremely frail, so if the two of them were to face each other in battle, then she could easily defeat him by bypassing his invoked entities and striking him down.

However, since then, not only had Adam developed the ability to fuse with his invoked entities, he was even able to kill that nun anomaly on his own. Given how powerful the nun anomaly had been, Nie Yiyi knew that it would've been a very troublesome opponent for her even in its severely wounded state. After all, her defenses were downright pitiful, and there was a very good chance that she would've been immediately defeated if the nun anomaly were to land even a single attack on her.

"Are you hiding something from us? I don't think you have what it takes to beat that anomaly as you currently are."

"That's right, I hid my true power from all of you," Adam said in a joking manner. "It's probably not very realistic for you to think about catching up to me. You still remember my ability, right? After killing this anomaly..."

Even though Adam didn't finish his sentence, Nie Yiyi had already realized what he was referring to, and her expression immediately darkened as she fell silent.

As time passed, the all-encompassing darkness completely faded, allowing Adam to see his surroundings.

The house that they were in had already completely collapsed, and Hook was looking after a pair of children outside.

"Did you guys demolish the house?"

"We did. We couldn't go in and we were worried that something would happen to you in there. First, we smashed the door down, but that didn't do anything, so we ended up demolishing the whole house, but that didn't do anything, either."

"What did the room I was in look like after you demolished the house?"

Adam was rather curious about the external form of that restricted psychic area.

"It was a ball of black light, like a black hole with nothing but darkness inside," Nie Yiyi recalled. "This is also my first time encountering a psychic restriction. What did it look like inside? Was it still the same room?"

"No, the area inside was an independent space, and it was far larger than the room. There was no sense of space or time inside. I'm guessing that's how Li Qi felt after being confined in there for long periods of time." Adam turned to Li Qi as he spoke, then called out to him from afar. "Are you feeling better now, little guy?"

"I am!" The anomaly that had plagued Li Qi for many years had been eradicated, and a smile finally lit up his frail features, replacing his perpetually glum and stiff expression. "Thank you!"

"No need to thank me," Adam chuckled as he beckoned to his companions. "Should we get out of here?"

"Let's go!"