Hunter of Immortals

Chapter 476: The Mysterious Key

As this declaration rang out, the images in the air reorganized themselves before expanding, with some of them playing in a first-person perspective, some unfolding from a third-person perspective, and even some memories that came directly from the elderly people that Adam had helped.

The final type of images definitely shouldn't have appeared as only Adam had been present on those occasions, while the memories of those elderly people should've died with them.

Adam immediately felt a chill run down his spine, but a reasonable explanation for this then occurred to him.

The psychic worlds of those elderly people had been invaded in the past, and there could've been some things left behind in there that had captured their memories and were now displaying them in this mysterious space.

Something similar had already happened once back when Adam entered Liu Shouyi's psychic world, so it was no surprise that it was happening again.

However, in order to accomplish this, an astonishing amount of internet resources were required, as well as exceptional mastery over psychic techniques. The only person that Adam could think of that could possess both those things was the mysterious figure that had been helping him from the shadows, and he couldn't help but wonder whether this vast angel was a manifestation of that mysterious figure or an anomaly.

Adam had no idea what the answer was, and the angel wasn't explaining anything to him. After all of those images were displayed, they disintegrated into parts that flowed into the angel's wings to form even more feathers.

The sound of the angelic choir grew louder, striking the listener with a sense of awe and veneration, and a sense of genuine joy also welled up in Adam's heart.

I've brought peace to so many people, even if I had to kill them to do so. At the very least, I've upheld my morality, so I should be rewarded. What is my reward going to be?

The giant claymore in the angel's hands disappeared, while thousands of feathers detached themselves from its wings before disintegrating into particles that came together to form an antiquated golden key in its hands.

With a wave of its hand, the key slowly descended, and Adam reflexively caught it to find that it felt no different from a normal metal key.

Upon closer inspection, he discovered that its surface was completely flawless, making it resemble a product of peak manufacturing, and the extremely complex and concentrated patterns on its surface would've been enough to fill an entire basketball court.

It appeared that some type of spatial compression technique had been used to repeatedly stack up layers of two-dimensional code on top of one another to form a three-dimensional key that encompassed an unfathomably enormous amount of data.

Adam couldn't help but draw a sharp breath upon seeing this. Could this have been the ultimate secret of this fortress? But he felt as if he had obtained it without even doing anything!

He was rather suspicious of this situation, but there was no one here to answer his questions. The light in the massive space quickly dimmed as if the light source had been switched off, and his surroundings changed once again as he returned to the same place as before.

There were still the same rolling mountains in the distance, but the gates of the building had swung shut, and Adam looked down to find that he was still holding the key, which was giving off a faint golden glow.

At the same, his image reappeared on the giant screen in the Metaverse.

"He's come out!"

"What's he holding in his hand?"

"We've detected an enormous amount of data transference, and unknown changes have taken place in the core algorithm!"

"We seem to have made a breakthrough in Project X."

"That key is our target!" Madam Tree sprang to her feet as she pointed at the screen with her staff and loudly yelled, "We have to take that key off him at all costs!"

The important figures seated beside her also became extremely excited. This was very much a pleasant surprise. They had only done this to take a gamble, and never had the thought that they would get what they wanted so quickly. Despite her immense mental fortitude, even Madam Tree was feeling overcome by excitement.

Victory was theirs!

Adam attempted to take another step forward, but this time, he wasn't able to enter the same space as before. No matter how many steps he took forward, the mountains and that building remained the same distance away from him.

It looks like it's not letting me in anymore.

With that in mind, Adam began to make his way back the other way, but he had only just turned around when a giant demonic figure that was over 10 meters tall appeared before him out of nowhere.

The demonic being had sharp spikes all over its body, and it spread a hand open as it commanded in a thunderous voice, "Hand over the key!"

It was clear that they were trying to take the key from him by force, and Adam immediately invoked Sludge before fusing as one with it, then stuck the key into his own body as he goaded, "Come and get it."

The demonic being swung its blade down toward Adam's head at a very high speed, but Adam wasn't slow, either, and he raised an arm to ward off the attack. A loud clang rang out as sparks flew everywhere alongside large rock fragments, but a large dent had also appeared in the demonic being's blade.

Sludge remained completely unmoved as it took a large stride forward while simultaneously swinging its right fist through the air, unleashing such a powerful punch that the air up ahead was compressed before exploding, sending violent tremors running through the ground in a radius of several hundred meters.

The demonic being didn't back down, retaliating with its left fist, and powerful shockwaves erupted from the clash of fists, smashing a crescent-shaped crater that was several meters deep into the ground.

The demonic being was lacking in stature compared with Sludge, but it was incredibly strong, and it shattered Sludge's entire arm with a single punch. However, all of the scales and bone spikes on the left half of its body were also destroyed, causing some type of toxic sludge to flow out from within.

The two combatants each stumbled back several dozen meters before coming to a stop, leaving a pair of long trenches in their wake.

Who on earth is this?

Adam had never heard of an adapter with this profile, but it was clear that it was on the side of Madam Tree or the Gaia Organization.

With that in mind, Adam immediately invoked Hellhound and Mummy, and they began unleashing their most powerful attacks as soon as they appeared.

.

Mummy wrapped its bandages around the demonic being's body, but instead of pulling the demonic being toward itself, it launched itself at the demonic being instead before plunging its carving knife toward the demonic being's crotch, while Hellhound provided assistance from the side with its Explosive Fireballs.

The demonic being reacted extremely quickly, parrying Mummy's attack with its blade while completely ignoring the fireballs as it guffawed, "You're in no position to be using fire against me, boy!"

It then opened its mouth up wide to release a burst of scorching white flames that were even hotter and more condensed than the Explosive Fireballs. The burst of fire struck one of Hellhound's heads with tremendous force, inflicting severe injuries upon it.

Looks like Hellhound is beginning to struggle to keep up.

This was a rather sobering realization as Hellhound was his very first anomaly, and it was now beginning to fall behind the rest of the pack.

He instructed Hellhound to let loose an Infernal Howl to heal everyone with one of its other heads. Meanwhile, Mummy continued to lash out with its carving knife, but wasn't able to land any blows.

It was clear that the demonic being was trained in using blades, and it was far more proficient with bladed weapons than Mummy.

However, Adam had far more tricks up his sleeve. For example, Camera had been discreetly invoked, and it pounced on an opportunity to strike, severing the demonic being's blade-wielding arm with just a single blow.

Right as it was about to decapitate the demonic being, a burst of light shot forth like lightning, striking Sludge directly on the chest.