Chapter 283: Prerequisites
As Adam observed the spider anomaly, a battle simulation was unfolding in his mind.
He knew that when fighting an opponent of this caliber, the best and only feasible strategy was to aim for a one-shot kill. It didn't matter what happened prior to that final attack, what was vital was that the final attack had to deal the killing blow, so it was essentially a make-or-break strike.
There was most likely only going to be a single opportunity. If they couldn't strike down the anomaly with that ultimate attack, then they wouldn't have any further chances once the anomaly recovered.
Hence, in order to ensure that his plan was followed correctly, he began to verbally issue his instructions.
"Attack! We can't let it rest. We have the numbers advantage, so let's wear down its psychic power!"
Sludge was the first one to charge at the anomaly at Adam's behest, and it was followed closely by the three psychic mutants and Shae.
Meanwhile, Adam was using his long-range weapons to wear down the anomaly from afar.
Even though their opponent was extremely formidable, they had the numbers advantage, and Adam's plan was to wear down the opponent until it became desperate and impatient, and that would present the opening required for them to land the killing blow.
Thus, the battle resumed, and the cavern was transformed into a violent battleground, with countless stalactites being snapped by the second, and dust and chunks of rocks flying in all directions.
Even though Adam's team had the numbers advantage, they weren't able to gain the upper hand at all over the anomaly. During the battle, everyone was constantly sustaining injuries, and if it weren't for the remarkable regenerative abilities of the psychic mutants, one or more of them would've already perished at this point.
Five minutes later...
"I can't keep this up! I'm about to die!"
Having been sent flying once again, Rabbit laid sprawled out next to Adam in an exhausted manner. At this point, her body was already riddled with over 100 wounds, and all of these gashes were filled with venom, which was simultaneously disrupting her regeneration while also eating away at her flesh.
As a result, her regeneration was completely disabled, leaving her with festering flesh all over her entire body, and due to the fact that she had remained in her ultimate form for so long, her psychic power was also significantly depleted.
"Don't give up!"
"I can't do it! I'm done!"
"Should we retreat then?" Adam asked. "We can leave the psychic world at any time. As long as you're willing to give up on avenging all of the animals that this man has killed, I'm ready to leave right now."
Rabbit gritted her teeth in fury as Adam reminded her of the animals, and she slammed her fist down onto the ground before dragging her severely ravaged body back into battle.
As soon as she re-entered the fray, the spider anomaly immediately focused the entirety of its attention on her.
It had always wanted to eliminate this potent threat, and in its eyes, it was already on the cusp of victory. All it had to do was to kill the severely wounded Rabbit, and no one else would be able to pose a threat to it.
With that in mind, the spider anomaly immediately sprang into action, letting loose a terrifying shriek. At the same time, the hexagram on its body glowed brightly to force back all of its opponents, following which it rushed directly at Rabbit, moving so quickly that it resembled a blurry shadow.
This time, the anomaly was determined to completely dismember Rabbit.
Looks like this is it for me.
Rabbit knew that there was no chance that she could survive this attack, and she immediately prepared to detonate all of the soul power in her body.
However, right in the same instant, the space within the cavern suddenly turned pitch-black. The environment was already quite dim to begin within, but what little light there was in the cavern had been completely devoured, and even the radiance glowing from the hexagram on the anomaly's back had been completely smothered.
At the same time, Rabbit felt as if time had fallen completely still around her. Thankfully, this effect wasn't very potent, and she was able to struggle free from it with very little effort.
Immediately thereafter, a string of dull thumps rang out within the darkness.
By the time the darkness faded and she was able to see again, she was greeted by a very peculiar sight. Sludge had fused together with the spider anomaly!
"What just happened?"
At this point, Sludge had completely enveloped the anomaly with its enormous body. The parts where their two bodies were connected had the consistency of silt and sludge, but the rest of Sludge's body was still as hard as ever.
"Don't just stand there! We have to strike now before it frees itself!"
Adam's clones were already converging toward Sludge as he was speaking.
While Sludge had enveloped the anomaly's entire body, it had intentionally left the anomaly's seven heads exposed.
Everyone immediately returned to their senses upon hearing this and sprang into action.
The sequence of Lights Out, Time Stop, and envelopment from Sludge was the strategy that Adam had devised on the way here.
Seeing as Sludge was able to envelop his body to shield him from attacks, it should've also been able to envelop the bodies of enemies to restrict them.
Of course, given the massive speed disparity between the two, it was virtually impossible for Sludge to catch the anomaly. The spider anomaly's speed was comparable to Mole's, so several prerequisites had to be satisfied for this plan to work.
Firstly, the battle couldn't take place in an open area.
Secondly, a large chunk of the anomaly's psychic power had to have already been worn down.
Thirdly, the anomaly had to have its attention focused entirely on a single target.
Only with all of those prerequisites satisfied would the combination of Time Stop and Lights Out be able to disrupt it sufficiently for Sludge to make its move.
As was the case for adapters, the telegnosis of an anomaly would be significantly impacted if they were stripped of their sense of sight.
Thankfully, the plan was successfully executed, and Adam finally managed to catch the spider anomaly.
"Knock off all its heads! Hurry!"
Rabbit immediately injected the soul power that she was preparing to use for self-detonation into her arms before smashing one of the spider anomaly's heads.
At the same time, Mole rushed onto the scene before blasting the anomaly's heads repeatedly with bursts of lightning.
Adam's clones were vigorously slicing at the anomaly's heads with chainsaws, and Shae and the recently invoked Nun and Camera were also participating in the collective effort.
Finally, under everyone's tireless efforts, the anomaly's heads were shattered one after another, and it was finally forced to turn to self-detonation again.
Thanks to their prior experience, Adam knew what to look for this time, and as soon as the anomaly's body began to glow, Adam immediately withdrew Nun and Camera, then concealed himself among his clones.
Almost immediately thereafter, an earth-shattering explosion ensued.
Due to the fact that the spider anomaly's entire body was enveloped by Sludge, the majority of the force of the explosion was smothered once again.
Sludge's enormous body was blown up into countless rock fragments, but even so, the residual shockwaves from the explosion were still sufficiently powerful to make the entire cavern collapse. Massive rocks came crashing down from above, and everyone was scrambling to protect themselves from the fallout.
Finally, after about 20 seconds had passed, the entire cavern was completely filled.
Stuck between a pair of massive rocks, Adam yelled, "Armadillo, find all of its heads and the fragments of its body, and make sure it doesn't recover!"
Just as Adam anticipated, the fragments of the anomaly's body were slowly squirming through the rocks like worms. Even though its body had been completely blown apart, it was still very much alive.
These chunks of flesh slowly fused together before sprouting tentacles as they began to slowly crawl through the cavern, and finally, they were able to track down its first head.
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