Chapter 319: Time Reversal
What the hell's happening?
Adam was greatly alarmed to see this. It was clear that he wasn't being forced back by the dagger. Instead, time was going back in reverse for his body.
It wasn't much of a problem for him to be forced back, but if time were to continue to go back in reverse, then he would eventually be split apart from Sludge, and that lethal wound to the neck would also return.
What an annoying opponent!
Adam had encountered more than his fair share of powerful adversaries in the past, but none of them had been quite so annoying to deal with.
He definitely couldn't allow himself to be split apart from Sludge.
.
Thankfully, even as his body was being afflicted by the effects of Herman's time reversal ability, his thoughts were still functioning as normal.
As he continued to shrink, Sludge was slowly taking shape beside him once again. Right at this moment, Adam instructed Distortion to attack the enemy.
Given the disparity in speed, Distortion was naturally unable to physically catch up to Herman, but its Shadow Strike ability allowed it to disregard space and appear directly behind him.
Thus, a transparent shadow suddenly appeared behind Herman before attempting to control him.
Distortion was unable to use its Spiritual Shackles ability consecutively in a short time, but it was able to use its Physical Shackles ability without any restrictions.
While Herman was manipulating the flow of time, the transparent shadow had already crept onto his ankles, and it was constantly climbing upward. Distortion possessed tremendous power, and as it continued to creep upward, Herman's body was being subjected to tremendous strain, making him feel as if he had been thrown into a mincer.
First, the bones in his foot were broken, following which his ankles were twisted like a pair of towels to inflict comminuted fractures. After that came his tibias, followed by his kneecaps.
As an assassin who specialized in time manipulation, Herman's physical defenses were quite lackluster, and it was completely powerless to resist Distortion's Physical Shackles.
However, he didn't care. He was only going to lose his legs, but Adam was in a far worse situation than he was.
At this point, Adam had shrunk back down to less than three meters in height, and his stone skin was also slowly fading away. It wouldn't be long before he was completely separated from Sludge, thereby exposing him to that grievous injury again.
As someone who excelled in time-based calculations, he knew that time was on his side here.
According to his calculations, Distortion would only be able to destroy his legs before Adam fell to his demise.
Adam had clearly also arrived at the same realization, and he had begun invoking his other anomalies while he was reverting back to his original form.
Four streaks of light flew out of his body at once, forming the outlines of a three-headed dog, a clown, a praying-mantis-like creature with a camera for a head, and a nun.
Adam had invoked virtually all of his anomalies that were still fit for battle.
Due to the differences in the characteristics of his anomalies, there was a disparity in the amount of time it took to invoke them, and this was something that Adam was only just discovering now.
In the past, he had felt like all of his anomaly invocations had taken place instantly, with each anomaly taking shape amid a flash of light.
However, with time slowed down so significantly here, he was able to see that the smaller the anomaly was, the quicker it was to take shape.
Out of the four anomalies that he had just invoked, Camera was the most diminutive in stature, and it was clearly the first one to have taken shape, emerging in the psychic world right as Adam completely split up from Sludge and blood began to pour out of the wound on his neck.
Adam immediately instructed Camera to give Herman a taste of his own medicine by using its Time Stop ability on him.
It was downright absurd to think that a time-based ability would work on a master of time manipulation, but as the saying went, the ones who drowned were always the strong swimmers. Never had Herman even considered that he would fall prey to a time-based ability someday.
Due to the reappearance of the wound on his neck, Adam was beginning to experience an intensifying sense of asphyxiation, and his consciousness was fading at an alarming rate. Thankfully, he remained conscious long enough to issue an instruction to Camera, and the anomaly quickly pressed down the shutter on its head.
As a result, the time around Herman drew to a standstill. Even though it was only for an instant, the connection between the hourglass and the dagger was severed during that instant of time, and the specks of light that had seeped out of Adam's body returned to him, healing the wound on his neck and allowing him to grow a thin layer of stone skin.
By the time Herman returned to his senses, it was already too late.
This brief moment of respite allowed Adam to gain the upper hand, and according to Herman's calculations, the tables had been turned. At this rate, Distortion was going to be able to destroy his heart and abdominal cavity before Adam met his demise.
Thus, Herman had no choice but to use his time stop ability once again. As a result, the amount of sand in the hourglass was whittled down even further. As time stood still, the connection between the hourglass and the dagger was also severed, but at the same time, he was able to extricate himself from Distortion's control.
At this point, Herman was already beginning to regret his decision.
According to the information that he had received, Adam wasn't supposed to be anywhere near as powerful as he was at the moment.
In particular, that annoying anomaly behind him wasn't supposed to have this many abilities, nor was it supposed to be this powerful. In the face of the anomaly's immense distortive powers, he felt as if his own body were like a fragile piece of chinaware that could be shattered at any moment, and his plan had been thrown into complete disarray.
As a result, he was stuck between a rock and a hard place.
The amount of sand in his hourglass was continuing to decrease, and Herman only dared to open up a small distance between himself and Distortion before allowing time to flow once again.
Of course, time was still crawling along at a snail's pace in this world, and due to the fact that he was forced to abandon his time reversal ability, the connection between his dagger and his hourglass had been completely severed, and Adam's body began to slowly regenerate.
In the face of the moving fortress that was Sludge, Herman was struck by a sense of despair.
If the battle were to continue, he didn't know what the final outcome was going to be, but he had completely lost all confidence in his ability to end the battle within three minutes, even if time were flowing at a far slower rate than it was in the outside world.
Hence, his top priority now was to leave the psychic world as quickly as possible. Otherwise, once three minutes passed, the nearby Mechguard units were going to strike him down.
With that in mind, Herman immediately sprang into action without any hesitation.
What he was going to do next was going to incur a massive cost for him, but it had to be done.
All of a sudden, a flash of light erupted from Adam's body, and he found himself already fused as one with Sludge. He raised his arm in surprise to find that the flow to time had returned to its normal speed.
"What's going on? Have you given up?" Adam asked.
This was a very formidable opponent, so he didn't dare to get complacent.
Right as he was hesitating about how to proceed, Herman began to move.
He pulled out a strange, green seed-like object out of a pocket, then pressed it forcefully against his own forehead.
Adam was struck by a sense of familiarity at the sight of the seed, as if he had seen it somewhere before, and in the next instant, he realized what it was.
"That's a seed from Madam Tree!"
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