Hunter of Immortals

Chapter 148: S Tier

Following this match, Adam's reputation received a massive boost, and his performance naturally caught the attention of some other S tier combatants as well.

There was no set number of S tier combatants, but generally speaking, only around a dozen were alive at a time. All of them were constantly plotting against one another both openly and in secret, and many factions were formed between them as well.

These factions had primarily been formed in anticipation for the battle royale. The prize for winning the battle royale was simply too alluring to pass up. Here in Shadow City, receiving a wish from the director was essentially a one-way ticket to anything that anyone could want.

Of course, there were also S tier combatants who weren't locals of Shadow City at all. All of them wanted to approach the lord of Shadow City for one reason or another, or simply wanted to use his power.

The higher one climbed up the ranks, the more aware they would become of just how powerful the lord of Shadow City was. As a self-proclaimed philosopher, it was very difficult to recruit his services using any materialistic compensation. The only way to reliably make him do one's bidding was to come out on top in this battle royale.

Hence, all of the S tier combatants could roughly be split up into three factions.

The first faction was the local faction, which was quite self-explanatory. The local residents of Shadow City were deranged and lawless, but they also harbored a strange sense of belonging, and that was what brought these people together.

Shadow City had a resident population of several million, and the city had an extraordinarily high birth rate. In addition to that, power was revered above all else in this city, and it was only to be expected that some powerful psychic combatants would emerge from such an environment.

The second faction consisted of the outsiders, such as Adam and Oni no Hanzou, all of whom were participating in these matches for their own private reasons.

The third faction was the strongest of the three. They had no particular objectives, and they were all adapters who had flocked to Shadow City from all over the world for training purposes. Their only goal was to become more powerful, and even though they were generally against the idea of teaming up, all of them were extremely formidable individually. Otherwise, they wouldn't have survived to this point.

These three factions all had different objectives, but every once in a while, they would gather together to discuss battle techniques or to exchange information.

On this day, they were all gathered in a conference hall, and the topic of discussion was related to Adam.

"A few newbies who're worthy of attention have recently popped up."

There was a very sexy and voluptuous woman among the S tier combatants gathered in the room. She seemed to have a very bubbly and outgoing personality, and she was always the first one to speak during these meetings.

"You're looking as fine as ever, Medusa. Did you just say several newbies worthy of attention have popped up at once? That's quite rare," a midget quipped as he took a sip of wine. "How could so many strong newbies have popped in such a short time?"

"I'm keeping tabs on a total of five newbies. The first one is this young girl."

Medusa pressed a button on the remote in her hand, and the projector immediately released a 3D image of Nie Yiyi. The image depicted one of her battles against another adapter, and her weapons were sweeping up fierce gusts of wind in all directions.

"Trash!" the midget scoffed. "How is she worthy of any attention?"

"There's something special about her. She possesses the tenacity and self-belief required to do great things. Of course, she's not the most prominent of the five. The second one is this man, Fighter Li."

The image transitioned into one of Fighter Li's battles, and this time, several people sat up straighter to pay closer attention to the image.

"He's very weak, but he's extremely technically proficient, no less so than any of us. What a pity..."

"Indeed. No matter how technically adept he is, his shortcomings are too severe."

"Any of us could easily crush him with absolute power."

After everyone had made their comments on Fighter Li, Medusa paused the image, then said, "This was his first match. Next, I'll be showing you his seventh match, then his 12th and 19th matches."

She pressed the resume button, and only the highlights of each battle were shown, but all of the S tier combatants in the room were still extremely intrigued.

"He's developing at an astonishing rate!"

"He's growing stronger with every single battle!"

"How confident is this guy?"

"It's a good thing that he's a cripple! Otherwise, he would definitely develop into a formidable foe."

"Artificial adapters simply don't live long enough to make anything out of themselves. Each time they're stimulated by that machine, it causes way too much damage to their brains and bodies. In their limited lifespans, there's no way they can climb to the top."

"What a pity. Who are the others? You mentioned five in total, didn't you?"

After everyone had finished discussing what they had just seen, Medusa continued, "The third one is a very strange combatant. Initially, he appeared as an assassin with a diverse range of abilities, but he was somehow able to transform into a tank mid-match. According to analysis from professional personnel, he's either an adapter who's capable of undergoing multiple different mutations, or an invocator capable of fusing as one with his invoked entities."

The footage of Adam's match began to play.

This was his match against Iron Man, and by transforming from Nun into Mummy, he was able to completely turn the tables in an instant, beating Iron Man at his own game and completely crushing his confidence.

Even some of the S tier combatants present couldn't help but be impressed as they watched Adam carry Iron Man straight into the steel furnace.

"He's got some impressive defenses, that's for sure."

"Even in the S tier, I'd say his defenses are up there with the best."

"What do you think, Diamond?"

Diamond was a man with tattoos all over his body, and he was standing in a corner of the room. He was Iron Man's brother. It was quite common to see multiple adapters in the same family, and not only was he eight years older than Iron Man, he was a far more formidable adapter as well.

"He's nothing but cannon fodder! Aside from his defenses, he possesses no other attributes worthy of being in the S tier. Next!"

"The combatants that I've shown thus far are only just barely at the S tier in terms of power, or only have the potential to be promoted to the S tier in the future if they continue to develop, but the next two will be sure to make some big waves even in the S tier matches."

The image continued to play, displaying footage of Oni no Hanzou and Oni no Miko's matches.

They were still as powerful as ever, dispatching virtually all of their opponents in seconds, so they didn't reveal much at all, but that only made them appear even more powerful.

"These two are really strong!" The midget rose to his feet for the first time, but he was actually shorter standing than he was seated. "In a one-on-one battle, not many of us here would be able to defeat them. Where did they suddenly pop up from?"

"I recognize those two." There was a man in ninja attire in a corner of the room, and he was staring intently at the projected image of Oni no Hanzou. "They're both top assassins from the Oni Organization. I presume they came here to fight in these matches because they want the director's help with something."

"The Oni Organization? If I recall correctly, that was the organization that killed your father, wasn't it, Ikkaku?" a shriveled-up old man chuckled, and his voice was as unpleasant to listen to as the sound of rats gnawing on wood. "Surely you wouldn't want to pass up such a great opportunity for revenge."

"I know what you're trying to do, you old fart!" Ikkaku said in a cold voice. "There's no need to try and instigate conflict. The fact that they've appeared here means that I must face them directly. Cowering now would be an admission of fear, and an admission of fear is an admission of weakness."

Powerful adapters like them had to do everything in their power to ensure that their mental state was sharp at all times, and emotions like fear would directly impact their powers.

"In the civilized world, perhaps I wouldn't be able to do anything to them, but here in Shadow City, they're asking to be taken out!"