Hunter of Immortals

Chapter 147: Decline of a Psychic Body

Prior to being defeated, one would instinctively try to struggle.

Prior to having one's confidence completely crushed, one would fall into a deranged state of denial.

This was exactly the state of mind that Iron Man had fallen into. He desperately wanted to prove something to himself as he let loose a guttural roar and charged at Adam once again. "Let me see just how long you can keep up this damage reflection ability for!"

He swung his fist through the air as he spoke, striking the side of Adam's face to send him flying back with tremendous force.

Adam crashed into a metal post after being sent flying, and the post was instantly bent over to resemble a huge horseshoe.

Iron Man refused to let up as he struck Adam with a few more punches, but the more hits he landed, the more painful his hands became. It was as if he were using a wooden mallet to strike a tank, and more and more indentations were appearing on his fists.

In the end, he was forced to cease in his attacks due to the unbearable pain, and he turned to rip a steel post out of the ground, then raised it like a spear, plunging it viciously down over and over again.

Trails of sparks were sent flying with every single blow, but even after the jagged tip of the "spear" had been worn smooth, Adam still remained completely unscathed.

"I already told you. Why won't you believe me?"

Looking into Iron Man's deranged eyes, Adam retaliated for the first time in his "new" for. First, he sliced the steel post in half with his carving knife, then kicked Iron Man aside with ease.

After that, he threw his arms around Iron Man's waist and pushed him toward the nearest steel furnace.

"If you still don't believe me, then let's run an experiment."

Adam carried Iron Man like an oversized child and barreled his way straight into the steel furnace.

Iron Man struggled frantically within the scorching hot molten steel, and the deranged look in his eyes quickly turned into fear.

He could feel his own body beginning to burn red hot, and it was already showing signs of softening as scorching pain began to surge through his body.

He wasn't afraid of being doused briefly in molten steel, but bathing in molten steel like this was an entirely different story. His seemingly indestructible body was beginning to soften and even melt.

However, that wasn't what alarmed and terrified Iron Man the most. Instead, it was his opponent.

.

In contrast with his own body, which was slowly turning bright red, Mummy's bandages had only changed slightly in color, and it was very clear that his opponent had far superior heat resistance than he did.

He began to panic.

In that instant, he finally believed that Adam's face was truly harder than his own fists.

"Spare m..."

Iron Man wanted to beg for his life, but he wasn't even able to fully articulate a sentence before molten steel gushed into his mouth, causing him even more pain.

Thankfully for him, Adam had crashed his way straight into the steel furnace, so the molten steel inside had been gushing out of the opening this entire time. After a few minutes, only a thin layer of the molten steel was left inside the furnace, and that wasn't enough time for Iron Man to burn to death.

After that, Adam tossed Iron Man out of the furnace so that he was laying on the ground, which was completely covered in molten steel.

At this point, Iron Man resembled a pile of formless mud, and he was only just barely clinging onto life.

Adam waded through the molten steel as he splashed his way toward the Iron Man like a deity of death coming to harvest his life, and Iron Man couldn't help but tremble uncontrollably in fear.

His confidence had already been completely demolished.

What was most distressing to him was that he had declared that he was going to kill his opponent, so there was a very good chance that his opponent was going to do the same thing to him, now that the roles of hunter and prey had been reversed.

The host most certainly wasn't going to call off the match at such a crucial juncture. This had always been one of the major selling points of these arena matches in Shadow City.

Combatants dying in the ring was a far too common sight here.

With his life hanging in the balance, many thoughts sprang into Iron Man's mind. He thought of his 11 wives at home. He thought of the millions in savings that he had still yet to spend. He thought of the fact that he was still only in his twenties...

He couldn't bear to lose those things, and the thought of having to part with them was only further fueling his fear of death. In the face of such crippling fear, he had no time to think and instinctively began to beg for his life.

"Please don't kill me. I surrender. I apologize for being so cocky. If you kill me, you'll have to pay a large fine, it's just not worth it... Please spare me!"

As Iron Man desperately begged for his life, Adam noticed that his body was shrinking, and cracks were beginning to appear on the parts of his body that had originally already cooled down.

Is this what happens to a psychic body after one's confidence is crushed?

Adam had witnessed adapters developing in the past, but this was the first time that he had witnessed an adapter's decline.

An adapter's psychic power came from many sources, including confidence, decisiveness, and courage, and all of those factors contributed to making a psychic body more powerful.

However, after losing those things, one's psychic power would begin to decline.

Humans were capable of changing, both for the better and for the worse.

Iron Man was beginning to decline. His psychic body was becoming weaker and weaker, and his defensive prowess was also beginning to regress.

He had become fearful, vulnerable, and devoid of confidence.

"You're right. It's not worth having to pay a fine to kill you." At this point, Adam felt no need to continue beating an already defeated opponent, and he looked up at the sky before spinning around to try and find the right "camera angle".

"Hey, what's the host doing? It's about time you declared the outcome of the match, isn't it? Unless you feel like there's a need for this match to continue."

"What a truly spectacular battle that was! The outcome has clearly already been decided." Outside in the real world, the host was naturally able to hear Adam's voice, and he immediately declared, "I'm sure no one will have any objections when I say that this match is over. Iron Man has already lost the ability to continue, and Mr. Lean Mean Killing Machine has scored an easy victory while also treating us to a visual spectacle that was no less enthralling than an S tier match. Fuck the other Iron Man, Mr. Lean Mean Killing Machine is the real Iron Man! What an unstoppable juggernaut he is! Everyone, please give him a warm round of applause!"

"What did I tell you? I told you Iron Man is no match for him." Below the ring, Shae had already finished her ice cream, and she tucked the cone down Hailey's collar as she chuckled, "Mr. Killer is stronger than you think!"

"Shut the hell up! Are you the manager or am I the manager? Why are you keeping all of this information from me?" Hailey pulled out the cone with an enraged expression before throwing it against the ground with all her might. "You're all disrespecting me! Stop treating me like a child, do you hear me?"

"Loud and clear!"

"What else are you keeping from me?"

Shae was momentarily stumped by this question, and as she thought back to her recent experiences, she replied, "To be honest, I don't really know. He's always had a ton of secrets."

There were many things that she didn't know about Adam, and also many things that Adam didn't even know about himself.

In any case, the victory had been secured.

After watching such a spectacular match, even the spectators who had lost money betting on Iron Man were very satisfied. Hence, even though the stands were very rowdy, there were very few people who were upset at the outcome.

They had just witnessed the rise of another A tier combatant, one that was very likely going to become an S tier combatant in the future.

At the same time, they had witnessed the fall of another B tier combatant who had been a hot favorite for promotion to the A tier.

For the residents of Shadow City, witnessing these monumental moments was more important than money.

The people in Shadow City valued money just as much as those in the civilized world, but they valued their own feelings even more than money.

As long as they could have a good time, everything was fine and dandy.