Hunter of Immortals

Chapter 17: Transformation

"Yes! That's it!"

Deranged Pig slammed his fist into his palm in the real world in triumph upon hearing the decision that he made in the psychic world.

"Looks like deep down, your daughter still believes in her fat slob of a father, after all!" Red Spider raised her laser-etched eyebrows, and it was clear that she was also quite pleased. "With that, half the mission has been completed, but the situation on the other side seems to be quite dire!"

……

After securing Deranged Pig's agreement in the psychic world, Adam immediately traveled back to the mansion with him as fast as he could, but even so, the situation at the mansion was still extremely terrible upon his arrival.

Not only had the scarecrow gotten there before them, half of the mansion had already been razed to the ground, and it was locked in an intense battle with Nie Yiyi.

Blade projections were flashing through the air, but they were still no match for the scarecrow's black energy.

"So there really is someone trying to hurt my daughter!"

A furious look appeared on Deranged Pig's face upon seeing this, and the muscles on his huge arms immediately began to bulge.

"Don't just sit there! Get out of the car and beat that thing!"

Adam also rushed out of the car after kicking the door open.

It was unclear how long Nie Yiyi had already been locked in this battle, and he had to provide her with reinforcements.

Hellhound and Mummy were the first to enter the fray, with the former blasting fire at the scarecrow, while the latter latched tightly onto one of the scarecrow's legs before stabbing it viciously with its carving knife.

In the safe zone, it was clear that the scarecrow's defensive capabilities had suffered a severe drop. At its full power, it had taken everything Nie Yiyi had to inflict a wound upon the scarecrow, but due to its weakened defenses, the two anomalies were also able to harm it. Mummy's carving knife was able to pierce into the giant scarecrow's legs, while Hellhound's flames were also causing considerable burns.

However, the scarecrow was still too powerful, and it immediately began to retaliate. Green laser beams shot out of its eyes to force Hellhound back into retreat, following which it stomped down onto the Mummy before gathering black light around its metal hook and sending it crashing down from above.

Thump!?

With just a single strike, the bandages around the chest of the seemingly indestructible Mummy were completely torn apart, and its entire chest cavity also caved in from the blow.

In the wake of the brutal blow that had been inflicted upon Mummy, Adam immediately burst into a violent fit of coughing.

There was still far too massive a disparity in power. Mummy was only around the size of a normal human, while the scarecrow was as tall as a two-story building. The two of them belonged to completely different weight classes, so there was no way that Mummy would be able to oppose it in a direct clash.

The scarecrow seemed to be rather surprised by the fact that Mummy hadn't perished after taking that all-out attack, and right as it began to gather black light around its metal hook again in preparation for a second blow, a humanoid figure suddenly appeared in front of it, then threw a devastating punch into its straw-filled face!

"So you're the one trying to hurt my daughter?"

Deranged Pig's body was glowing with golden radiance as he flew up into the sky, and he really was like a superhero, able to knock back the anomaly with a single blow.

"How dare you hurt my daughter?"

Deranged Pig sprang up once again, and on this occasion, he straddled onto the scarecrow's neck before unleashing a barrage of punches into its face.

With Deranged Pig keeping the scarecrow occupied, Nie Yiyi was finally given a window of respite, and she descended from above.

"Your injuries have worsened even further!"

Adam cast his gaze toward her to find that not only was her entire body riddled with wounds, one of her arms was twisted at an unnatural angle, clearly having been broken.

Nie Yiyi was panting heavily as she said, "I would be dead if you came any later than you did."

"That would've never happened. In the worst-case scenario, the connection would've been severed. Having said that, it did take longer than expected to convince Deranged Pig to come with me. Take a rest and do your best to recover. Deranged Pig is even more powerful than I imagined, so he should be able to last a while."

"Alright." n0ve(l)bi(n.)co/m

Nie Yiyi wasn't one to hesitate in a situation like this, and she immediately sat down on the spot with her legs crossed. The same green cyberglyphs appeared over her body, and she entered recovery mode.

Adam remained by her side to ensure her safety while calling out to the female celebrity, whom he still didn't even know the name of.

"Hey, come over here."

"This is awesome! I didn't think I'd get to see something like this!"

The woman seemed to have quite a childish and excitable personality. Not only was she not horrified by the battle that she was witnessing, she was watching eagerly with excitement in her eyes.

I guess only people with personalities like hers are able to console children suffering from PTSD...?

"What is it?"

"Come over here, I have something to tell you..." Adam whispered Kim's location into the woman's ear, then urged, "Go and console her, she's absolutely terrified of this anomaly."

"I see..." The woman took a final, reluctant glance at the epic battle unfolding before her. "Alright, I'll go find her. It's a pity I won't get to watch something so exciting."

She departed while mumbling to herself in disappointment.

After that, Adam began to search for Hook.

"Hook! Hook!"

"Don't bother calling for him, he's gone into hiding!" Nie Yiyi said. "During the battle earlier, he was struck by an attack from the anomaly, and half his body almost fell apart. After that, he tossed out a smoke bomb and disappeared."

"Where did he go?"

"Who knows? He's useless in a fight, but he sure does have a lot of strange tricks up his sleeve."

"It looks like the anomaly is on the back foot. Deranged Pig should be able to win even without our help."

They weren't expecting Hook to be able to contribute in the battle department anyway, so it was a good thing that he had gone into hiding.

As Adam was speaking, he looked up into the sky, where Deranged Pig and the scarecrow were locked in a fierce battle. With the assistance of the two anomalies, he was even able to gain an upper hand over the scarecrow.

"The problem is that it still has another form..."

As Nie Yiyi was speaking, the scarecrow was struck by another punch before being tackled to the ground by Deranged Pig.

In order to protect his daughter, Deranged Pig really did look as if he had gone mad, even going as far as to bite the scarecrow and plunge his fat fingers into the scarecrow's eye sockets with the intention of tearing its head apart.

The scarecrow retaliated amid a fit of pain and fury, shooting green laser beams out of its eyes, but they had a very minimal effect on Deranged Pig.

In Kim's psychic world, not only was Deranged Pig's strength on a superhuman level, his defenses were also comparable to those of a superhero. Large sections of his clothes were quickly eaten away by the corrosive laser beams, thereby revealing his golden body inside. As the corrosive green light made contact with his body, all it was able to achieve was slightly char his skin, resulting in entirely negligible damage.

However, the place where the green and golden light were making contact with one another was sizzling while releasing steam and fire, much like water being poured onto hot oil.

"It's about to transform!"

The scarecrow had been on the back foot this entire time, and it had finally had enough. After letting loose a sharp screech to force back Deranged Pig with powerful soundwaves, it sprang up before hovering in mid-air.

At the same time, dark clouds began to tumble and churn in the sky, and a massive number of bats converged from all directions, fusing into the giant scarecrow's body along with the dark clouds that had gathered up above.

As the black light flowed into its body, the scarecrow began to transform.

Its cumbersome feet vanished, turning into the hem of a drifting cloak, while the metal hook attached to its left arm began to transform into a massive scythe.

The black energy around it became denser and denser, as did the pressure stemming from its power of fear.

The battle had finally reached the second stage.