Hunter of Immortals

Chapter 31: Band of Hitmen

After leaving the strange estate, Adam arrived on the street outside to face the world on his own.

In the instant that he stepped out of the estate, he was no longer under Sadou's protection.

Adam focused his attention, putting what he had learned into practice, using his five senses and telegnosis to assess his surroundings.

He didn't encounter any danger on the first street that he walked past.

However, after arriving on the next street, he suddenly sensed something and cast his gaze upward, upon which he caught sight of a mechanical killer bee.

They're using a physical attack first up?

Adam had braced himself to face eight adapters in the psychic world, but to his surprise, the first attack directed at him was coming from the real world.

Thankfully, Adam had already achieved a basic mastery of telegnosis, and in the instant that he sensed the killer bee, he immediately dropped to the ground, rolling forward to evade the attack. At the same time, a bullet shot out the killer bee's stinger, only to strike the ground and miss its target.

The sound of the gunfire alerted all of the nearby pedestrians, and many of them screamed as they ran for their lives.

Of course, the pedestrians weren't the only ones alerted by the gunshot.

Attempted murder with a firearm in public was a serious crime, and in the instant that the shot was fired, all of the cameras on the entire street instantly turned toward the site of the incident. At the same time, the address of the location was transmitted to the Mechguard officers that were patrolling nearby.

Soon, two hulking officers of iron and steel rushed to the scene, armed with heavy weaponry. First, they shot down the mechanical killer bee in the sky with unerring accuracy, and immediately thereafter, wireless surveillance devices popped out of their shoulders, allowing them to instantly track down the location of the operator.

After that, they bulldozed their way through the wall of a nearby shop, arresting a girl who appeared to have only just reached adulthood before executing her on the spot.

The officers of Mechguard possessed the most rigid and inflexible law enforcement rights, and according to their programming, attempted murder by firearm in public is a crime punishable by execution on the spot.

Adam was among the chaotic throngs of people fleeing for their lives, and he caught sight of this scene as he looked back afar. He finally understood why most hitmen were adapters. Mechguard officers had no persona programming, nor did they possess psychic worlds, so they were powerless to apprehend psychic hitmen.

The girl operating the killer bee was perhaps only an amateur hitman who had been drawn in by the massive reward being offered on the dark web. Perhaps she was only here to try her luck, but in any case, she had paid for her decision with her life.

There are still seven left.

Adam couldn't bring himself to work up any sympathy for someone who was trying to kill him, and he continued to advance with the chaotic crowd. He had decided that he was going to set an example on this day.

Sadou's right. If I don't put my foot down and stand my ground here, even the most low-level hitmen would dare to come after me. There would be no end to my troubles then!

With that in mind, Adam rushed through another street, then rode the elevator to a smart carpark.

There were very few people here, but many obstacles around, making it a perfect place for him to maximize his abilities.

"Come on in then!" After entering the carpark, Adam fired the transmitter on his arm, releasing a thick steel needle that plunged straight into the wall up ahead.

After piercing into the wall, the steel needle began to change shape, with its head opening up to form a radar, and the electronic components inside also began to operate. The mechanical electrical synapse signals were linked up, and the entirety of the massive carpark was dragged into his psychic world, along with all of the people in the carpark.

He was seizing the initiative. Seeing as he couldn't avoid the confrontation, he was lashing out on his own terms.

All of the hitmen who were after him would have to face him in his psychic world.

After entering the psychic world, Adam was instilled with a great deal of confidence, and he immediately established a connection with his three anomalies while invocating two of them.

Boom!

Two enormous figures emerged in the carpark. As a safety precaution, Adam fused with Mummy right away, a decision that was immediately vindicated.

Not long after he fused with Mummy and his body swelled to close to three meters in height, he was struck by a blow to the back of the head.

A dull thump rang out, and Adam could feel sparks flying from the back of his head. He turned around to find that he had just been shot by a hitman holding a spear gun.

"That hurt. I have to admit, that's a pretty powerful weapon." After catching sight of the hitman, Adam massaged the back of his own bandaged head, and he finally got to have a taste of what it felt like to be able to exert dominance over an opponent. "Unfortunately for you, that's not going to help you here. How is it that you have the courage to take on a mission like this when you're so weak?"

As soon as his voice trailed off, he immediately charged toward the hitman, while the hitman turned around and fled as quickly as he could.

With each step that Adam took, the ground trembled violently. Even though his absolute speed far exceeded that of the hitman, his bulky body was not very suited to running through an environment like this.

The cars obstructed him at every turn, and the passageways were too narrow. There were many points where he was forced to push some cards aside before he could advance, so it was very inconvenient. As the gap between the two was beginning to widen further and further, a burst of fire erupted out of the darkness to the side, and the hitman's head was caught between the fangs of one of Hellhound's two heads.

In contrast with the heavy and clumsy Mummy, Hellhound had always been far superior when it came to agility and speed.

It seems like this form isn't suited for this setting.

Just as Adam was wondering whether he should fuse with Hellhound instead, a small mecha descended from the entrance of the carpark.

.

The mecha was a little crude, but it possessed impressive firepower. One of its arms was equipped with a gatling gun, and as soon as it arrived in the carpark, it began to spray a barrage of bullets at Adam.

The bullets struck his body amid a string of loud clangs, and the concentrated barrage quickly tore through the defenses provided by his bandages, causing him some actual harm.

Looks like I'll have to hold off from switching for now.

Adam grabbed a nearby car with one hand, using it as a shield as he began to advance.

"Hellhound, attack with your fire!"

He issued that instruction to Hellhound as he was approaching the mecha, and the fruits of his training began to show. At this point, his connection with his invoked entities was already extremely strong, and he was able to use them as if they were parts of his body.

At the same time, he hurled the car in his hand through the air. At this point, the car was already riddled with holes, and right as it was approaching the mecha, a fireball flew toward it from behind.

The timing was perfect, and the fireball detonated the car, causing a massive explosion that instantly destroyed the frontal section of the mecha.

Immediately thereafter, Adam arrived on the scene, plunging his massive meat cleaver directly into the gaps in the mecha. With his enormous strength in this new form, he was able to tear open the mecha from the inside, and thus, the second hitman was also slain.

There are still five left!

Adam's telegnosis was fully activated as he carefully assessed his surroundings.

The second hitman was clearly far more powerful than the first one, which told him that there was a great deal of variation in the level of ability of the hitmen who were coming after him. Thus, there was a possibility that there were more powerful enemies to come.

Adam could sense that two more people were making their way into the carpark, and they seemed to be a couple. The man was holding a rose, while the woman was wearing a princess dress.

As soon as the two arrived, the woman began to chant an incantation, while the man blew a gust of air at the rose before him, upon which a floral scent immediately filled the entire carpark.

Adam tried to hold his breath, but the aroma was able to seep into his body through all of his orifices, making it impossible to keep out.

As soon as the scent entered his body, he was immediately struck by a sense of drowsiness and feebleness.

He pushed through the feeble sensation, raising his carving knife as he trudged toward the two hitmen, but before he had even made it halfway there, the woman completed her incantation. Her ability seemed to be related to cyberhexes, and following the completion of her incantation, the feebleness that Adam and Hellhound were experiencing became even more crushing. At the same time, their bodies began to slowly rot away, with sores and ulcers quickly arising on their skin.

"You two form a strong pair, but your abilities overlap a little too much!" Given his immense physical resistance in this new form, Adam was able to fight back the pain and discomfort to plunge his carving knife straight into the ground.

The Hypertoxic Halo was instantly released, and as the green light passed over the two hitmen, their bodies immediately began to wilt. The man was the more resilient one of the two, able to last a few seconds before he fell to the ground with blood pouring out of all of his orifices. In contrast, the woman instantly perished after throwing up a mouthful of blood as soon as the Hypertoxic Halo made contact with her body.

I knew their defenses were going to be awful!

That attack would've perhaps been next to useless on the mecha that Adam had just dismantled, but it was ideal for taking care of a pair of cyberhex casters.