Hunter of Immortals

Chapter 33: Revenge

The first sensation that Adam was struck by after completing the fusion was pain.

The injuries sustained by Hellhound were passed onto him, and not only was there a wound on his abdomen, he had also lost all feeling in one of his heads.

However, he had no time to worry about that right now as he had to get himself out of this predicament first.

He immediately unleashed his Hyperspeed ability, rushing in the direction where the arrows had been fired from. However, after taking only a few steps, he abruptly turned around and fled with all his might in the opposite direction.

Neither of the two hitmen lurking in the shadows anticipated this, so their ice technomancy and arrow both struck nothing by empty air.

I have a few seconds to escape!

Through his prior observation, Adam discovered that the two hitmen in the shadows were rather lackluster when it came to their attack frequency.

One of them needed time to prepare their technomancy, while the other was unable to fire off consecutive arrows. This cooldown time between their abilities presented a golden opportunity for him to escape.

With his Hyperspeed ability fully activated, Adam blasted an Explosive Fireball toward the ceiling diagonally above him. The flames blew up the ceiling overhead, and he leaped up through the hole to escape from the carpark.

Following that brief battle, he already knew that there was no way he would be a match for the trio of hitmen.

The three of them complemented one another perfectly, complete with a melee tank, a ranged offensive powerhouse, and a technomancer capable of controlling the entire battlefield. They were like the textbook DPS, tank, healer iron triangle, a commonly adopted team makeup in games that had a stifling effect on the opposition. Even someone far more powerful than them wouldn't necessarily be able to come out on top against this combination, let alone Adam, whose powers were certainly nothing to write home about.

Thankfully, Hellhound was very fast, making it very useful in this situation where Adam had to run for his life.

After leaping out of the underground carpark, Adam rushed onto the street, using his senses to determine a direction before rushing in that direction as quickly as he could. As a result, the three hitmen were left to stare at one another in bemusement.

"What the hell? How did we let him get away?" In the underground carpark, the armored warrior was still wrestling with Mummy, but his heart clearly wasn't in it. "Hurry up and go after him! I'll take care of this mummy on my own!"

"Let's kill it first to avoid any potential trouble!"

As usual, the other two were still extremely cautious. An archer wearing a black cloak emerged from the darkness, drawing his bow before firing one arrow after another at Mummy's vital regions.

Only after a total of 11 arrows had been fired was Mummy well and truly killed.

"That thing's defenses were even harder to break through than yours!" the archer exclaimed while gulping down lungfuls of air. He had exerted himself immensely as every single arrow that he fired was instilled with his power.

"That's impossible! I can withstand 20 arrows at the very least!" The armored warrior was still as bragadocious as ever, and while talking himself up, he cast his gaze toward the man in the technomancer robe, who had emerged on the other side. "Has he left the psychic world?"

"No. Should we go after him? It's going to be a little risky considering this is his psychic world."?The technomancer seemed to possess some type of sensory ability, and he was a little hesitant after determining the direction that Adam had fled in. "Perhaps he's capable of calling on reinforcements in his own psychic world."

"There's nothing to be scared of! He's a blank slate, isn't he? He has no family, and the amount of help that other people can offer him is very limited. Usually, the most powerful people in someone's psychic world are their loved ones, and even if he does have family, I don't think we need to be scared of them anyway."

"But..."

"We're hitmen, so every job that we take on will inevitably carry some degree of risk. Think about it: even if the risk we're taking is higher than normal, it's not higher by much, yet the reward on offer is 10 times what we normally get from a mission, which means we need to do 10 missions to earn the same amount of money from completing this single mission! Do we not take risks in the other missions that we take on? The combined risk from 10 missions is definitely larger than the risk incurred by this mission alone. It works out mathematically and statistically!" the armored warrior urged.

"He's right." The technomancer was the first one to be swayed. "The cumulative risk from doing 10 missions is definitely higher than this."

"But... even Oni no Hanzou failed..." Black Archer remained unconvinced.

"We agreed to leave difficult decisions down to votes, and at the moment, it's two to one."

"Fine, then let's go!"

……

After leaving the carpark, Adam didn't get very far before a massive wave of feebleness washed over his entire body. Through his tight connection with his two anomalies, he knew that Mummy had perished, and this was a source of immense grief for him.

According to what he had learned in Layton Academy, invoked entities were just like human psychic bodies in that they couldn't be revived after meeting their demise. They were a part of one's personality to begin with, and once they were destroyed, that was the end. In order to nurture a new one, time would be required.

I'll get them back for this!

Adam greatly cherished his two anomalies, not just because they were the embodiment of his powers, but also because he was emotionally invested in them.

I won't let a single one of you get away!

After rushing through a few more streets, Adam finally caught sight of the throngs of people fleeing in panic and the massive figure in the distance. "You're finally here!"

The giant scarecrow wasn't an invoked entity of his, nor was it a part of his personality, so it naturally couldn't be summoned to his side whenever he pleased.

However, a connection had been established between the two, and it had been dwelling in Adam's psychic world this entire time. Adam had called upon it as soon as he realized just how much danger he was in, and at the time, the scarecrow had been elsewhere. After registering Adam's call for help, it immediately rushed over, and the two of them had finally met up.

"Kill those three for me!"

The scarecrow threw its head back and shrieked to the heavens as an aura of terror permeated through the air.

……

After the Golden Iron Triangle took care of Mummy, they began to pursue Adam, and under the guidance of the technomancer, they passed through several streets before arriving at the entrance of a sewer.

"There's definitely an enclosed space inside. What the hell is that kid thinking?" the armored warrior mused as he peered into the dark entrance with a perplexed expression. "Has he not just cornered himself?"

"Could it be that he's trying to use the darkness and terrain advantage to pick off Black Archer first?" The technomancer was also quite befuddled. "Perhaps as a werewolf, he possesses night vision, or perhaps in that form, the darkness can enhance his powers in some way?"

"Do we have to go in?" Black Archer asked as he peered into the dark entrance. "I have a bad feeling about this."

"Stop being so pessimistic. We already made a decision through a vote, so let's not waste any time. I'll go in first to test the waters." In order to deny his companions the opportunity to talk themselves out of the mission, the armored warrior stepped in through the dark entrance first.

As a major metropolis with a population in the hundreds of millions, the sewage system beneath Sandrise City was very advanced.

After entering the sewer, the trio found themselves in an area that was very spacious, but also extremely dark.

"Should I generate some light with my technomancy?" The technomancer was feeling a little unnerved by the darkness.

"Don't do that. Just adjust to the darkness so we don't fall prey to a sneak attack." Black Archer had also entered the sewer, and he immediately concealed himself upon entry. "That guy has flames all over his body, so he'll be very easy to spot. Use your tracking technomancy now."

"Alright." The technomancer guided his companions forward using the faint light that was emanating from his staff. The trio traversed through the sewage system for a while, taking a number of turns that led them into a blind spot, upon which the three were finally greeted by the sight of light up ahead.

"He's over there!"

Right as the three of them caught sight of Adam, the sewage system behind them suddenly collapsed, and an enormous shadow emerged. The technomancer turned around and was alarmed and horrified to see a terrifying scarecrow standing at over six meters in height.

Black light gathered at the scarecrow's arm, and it swung its hook at the technomancer with crushing might.