Hunter of Immortals

Adam had already seen the key before, so he only took a glance at it before turning his attention to the enemies in the hall.

However, everyone else had their attention drawn involuntarily to the key, and fierce looks of greed and yearning appeared in their eyes. It was as if the key were intentionally releasing an alluring light that made it impossible for them to look away from it.

The key represented limitless power and the possibility of immortality, and anyone who obtained it could become the king of the world.

This was a temptation that the vast majority of people were unable to stave off, and that included Adam's companions and temporary allies.

He could see May's hands unconsciously clenching up into tight fists, while Cowboy was holding tightly onto his revolvers to resist the urge to reach out to grab the key, even though he was way too far from it anyway.

Adam didn't even have to look at everyone else to know that their reactions would've only been even more vehement.

This is very abnormal.

If A were the one orchestrating everything, then there was no way that it would've made the key appear so alluring, so it was much more likely that the Gaia Organization was behind this.

They were trying to sow dissension among enemy ranks, and Adam's brows furrowed slightly as he arrived at this realization.

He immediately warned his companions of this through psychic communication, and Diana was immediately able to tear her gaze away from the key, while Shae was completely unable to resist its temptation, so she could only lower her head and do her best to think about something else.

May, Cowboy, and the others possessed tremendous self-control, and they were able to force themselves to direct their attention away from the key.

However, it was a different story for the adapters from the Shadow City. They were accustomed to doing whatever they pleased, and most of them were psychic mutants. Around a dozen of them instantly lost their capacity for rational thought in the face of the key's allure, and they sprang up into the air to pounce at the key without any regard for consequences.

"Look out!"

Adam called out to try and stop them, but it was already too late, and even Raven was among the group of Shadow City adapters flying up toward the key.

At the foot of the giant tower, Madam Tree raised her staff as she began to chant an incanation that seemed to have activated some type of special mechanism. A storm of lightning was abruptly released from the top of the tower, filling the entire space with dazzling light and rumbling thunderclaps. 𝗯𝗲𝐝𝐧𝗼𝘃𝗲𝐥．𝗰𝗼𝐦

The terrifying eruption of energy created a doomsday-like scene, and all of the people rushing at the forefront were completely inundated by lightning in the blink of an eye.

Adam could clearly see them completely stiffen in mid-air before they were instantly incinerated into ashes, then broken down even further into the tiniest of particles that flew toward the tower, adhering to its surface and becoming a part of it.

Raven was able to stop himself in his tracks right before he entered the range of eruption of lightning, and he quickly rushed back in retreat as a grim look finally appeared on his face. The enemy was very cunning, and it was clear that this was not going to be an easy battle.

"We can't afford to wait. The more time we waste here, the more dire our situation will be."

Adam instructed Diana to rise up into the air and focus on defense, while he fused with Mummy and extended his runed bandages toward Madam Tree.

His actions seemed to have defused the situation, and everyone heaved a collective sigh of relief as they pounced toward the enemy that was closest to them.

Whether they would be able to defeat their opponent was one thing, but at the very least, they didn't have to suffer from the torment of the key's allure.

All of a sudden, Madam Tree raised her staff once again before pointing it forward, and the entire area was shattered into countless pieces like a panel of broken glass. Each fractured piece formed a large independent space to separate the pairs of opposing combatants.

In the instant that Adam was dragged into one of those spaces, he latched onto Diana and Shae through their psychic connection, but he was unable to look out for anyone else.

The space that they had entered resembled a primitive forest with tall trees that stretched as far as the eyes could see in all directions.

Upon closer inspection, Adam was stunned to discover that he was actually standing on an unfathomably massive tree, and all of the perceived trees around him were actually just branches of the tree that he was standing on.

Is this Madam Tree's psychic body?

Adam was astonished to see this. If Madam Tree truly possessed such a formidable psychic body, then there was no point in even trying to fight her. Instead, he may as well surrender or commit suicide.

There was no way that he could contend against an opponent the size of a planet! However, as soon as these thoughts crossed his mind, he realized that he was mistaken.

This was most likely the digital projection of the Metaverse itself, with the trunk of the tree representing the original framework, while the branches and leaves were all of the derivative functions, softwares, and data clusters.

Madam Tree had clearly chosen this setting as the battlefield as it was very easy for her to conceal herself here. She knew Adam extremely well, and she had always been responsible for psychic interference, cleansing, and modification, so she very rarely appeared in battle. As a result, no one knew the true extent of her combat prowess.

In any case, she was definitely going to be a very troublesome opponent to deal with.

I have to find her as quickly as possible.

Time was of the essence, so Adam had to work fast.

He invoked Clown and instructed it to conjure up its army of clones, which dispersed in all directions to search for any abnormalities.

Additionally, Adam also invoked Scarecrow, and its cloak split up into countless bats that also began to scour through the surrounding area.

Meanwhile, Diana adopted her giant dragon form and swelled to her limit of 200 meters in length, then unleashed her draconic technomancy to send countless balls of black light raining down onto the forest while also blasting her draconic flames in all directions.

Hellhound was also being put to work, blasting Explosive Fireballs into the distance with the aim of causing as much destruction as possible.

Finally, there was Sludge. Under the unique laws of the digital world, it had already managed to make a full recovery, and it swelled to its maximal size of 30 meters in height before raising its fists and pounding them viciously into the ground, digging downward with tremendous power.

In the blink of an eye, everything in a radius of several kilometers was razed to the ground.

However, that still wasn't enough for Adam. After Sludge had blasted a crater the size of a football field into the ground, Adam invoked Nun to let loose its Fountain of Contamination, sending corrosive sewage seeping into the crater.

All of the sudden, the entire area was plunged into complete chaos, with explosions and gunfire ringing out incessantly, as well as scorching flames and countless bats terrorizing the landscape.

Thanks to his connection to the key, Adam was able to sense some deep-level data fluctuations, and it appeared that he was only causing destruction for the sake of destruction, but in reality, there was some method to his madness.

Finally, after a huge forest was destroyed by the collective flames of Diana and Hellhound, an enormous tree was revealed with countless lantern-like balls of light hanging from its branches.

Adam was astonished to find that every single one of the balls of light contained a person!