<h4>Chapter 81: Only One</h4>


    Li Qi''s mother set the te of fruit down in front of him as he looked on with fearful eyes.


    Adam looked down to find that the pieces of fruit were riddled with maggots.


    "Why are there so many maggots?" Shae asked with a perplexed expression.


    "This is a sign that Li Qi detests this type of fruit."


    Adam pulled out his carving knife as he spoke while watching the unfolding scene.


    Sure enough, Li Qi didn''t want to eat the fruit.


    "I don''t want it," he refused as he pushed the te away.


    "This is all for your own good... This is all for your own good... THIS IS ALL FOR YOUR OWN GOOD!"


    .


    Li Qi''s mother immediately entered a deranged state upon hearing her son''s refusal, and she repeated the same thing over and over again as tentacles sprouted out of her body, binding Li Qi into ce.


    Adam didn''t hesitate any longer upon seeing this, and he immediately sliced the emotional aberration into two with his de.


    Wisps of anomalic power were emanating from the wound, clearly indicating that this was an emotional aberration that was already halfway to bing an anomaly.


    Seeing his own mother die before his eyes, Li Qi was ovee by a sense of fear and grief, but at the same time, there was also a strange feeling of relief and liberation. Unable to handle this wave of mixed emotions, he curled up into a ball and began to weep into his arms.


    "Don''t cry, it''s not your fault."


    "He''s right, it''s not your fault." Lina jumped down from Shae''s body and began to console Li Qi. "Don''t care about what other people think. You are the most important person right now."


    "Also, your sadness will only make that nun stronger, so you have to be strong for your own sake," Nie Yiyi said, then turned to Hook. "Where''s the anomaly right now?"


    "In there."


    Hook pointed at the entrance to an underground chamber as he spoke.


    That was most likely the entrance to the solitary confinement chamber, a ce where Li Qi had spent countless days and nights during his childhood.


    Adam approached the confinement chamber before smashing the door open with his carving knife, and he was greeted by the sight of a pitch-ck space so dark that it was impossible to see anything in it.


    He wanted to go in, but the voice of Li Qi''s mother suddenly rang out in his mind.


    "You are the only one who can enter the confinement chamber. No one else is allowed to go in."


    What''s that supposed to mean?


    Adam was rather perplexed, and after stepping in through the entrance, he arrived in a dark space.


    No floor or ceiling could be seen, nor was there any concept of space or time, only boundless darkness.


    "I can''t see anything!" Adam yelled. "Shae, Nie Yiyi, have youe in yet? Can I get some light?"


    No reply came from Shae or Nie Yiyi, but the anomaly responded to his call.


    As Adam was calling out to, a hole was punched into the back of his head by a sharp w, inflicting a severe injury upon him.


    He immediately rolled onto the ground while shing his carving knife erratically to force back the anomaly, then called out to hispanions again.


    "Are you in here?"


    There was still no response.


    There''s no way they still haven''te in after all this time!


    Perhaps Hook would run away from battle, and there was a slight possibility that Shae could do the same, but Nie Yiyi had always been very reliable, so it didn''t make sense that no one else had entered this space with him after all this time.


    After all, everyone was aware that this was where the anomaly was making its final stand, and once the anomaly was eradicated, the job would be done.


    With that in mind, Adam thought of the voice that he had heard in the instant before he entered the confinement chamber.


    "You are the only one who can enter the confinement chamber."


    That was most likely what Li Qi''s mother had said to him every time she put him into solitary confinement, and those cold and unforgiving words seemed to have been branded deep into his heart. Each time before he was forcibly subjected to the fear and the darkness, it was also emphasized to him that he was going to be all alone, that he was going to be the only one in the confinement chamber, and this had created a peculiar psychic restriction in his mind.


    Does that mean I want to defeat the anomaly in here, I''ll have to fight it on my own?


    A thought suddenly urred to him, and he yelled, "Hee-cho, don''t sever the connection. I want to give it a try."


    The entire area was enshrouded in darkness, so the projection being disyed to Kim Hee-cho was naturallypletely dark as well. Seeing as he had no idea what was happening, there was a chance that he could forcibly sever the connection to ensure Adam''s safety.


    After calling out to Kim Hee-cho, Adam tried to invoke Hellhound, and sure enough, in the instant that invoked the anomaly, it immediately returned to his side. Shae could borrow the anomaly, but ultimately, it was still his.


    With Hellhound''s arrival, the surrounding area was instantly illuminated by its mes.


    The darkness was still as thick as treacle, but at the very least, there was some degree of visibility now.


    In the instant that Adam''s surroundings were illuminated, he was immediately greeted by the sight of a gaping mouth that was releasing a torrent of sewage to contaminate his body.


    However, in his anomalic form, Adam didn''t have to fear attacks of this nature, and he forced back the nun anomaly with a swipe of his de. After focusing his gaze on the anomaly, he discovered that its entire body was still riddled with holes.


    This was a very reassuring sight for Adam. He didn''t have the power to take on a level three anomaly on his own, but it was an entirely different story if his opponent were already severely wounded.


    "Come! There''s no one around to help me this time, let''s settle this one-on-one."


    Adam provoked the nun before charging toward it with his carving knife raised.


    The nun anomaly kept Adam''s de at bay with its fingernails, then opened its cavernous mouth up even further. In the blink of an eye, it arrived beside Adam''s leg, tearing through his bandages with a single bite while also chomping away a chunk of flesh around the same size as a wash basin.


    Adam winced in pain as he turned to retaliate, but the anomaly used its superior agility to its advantage, swiveling around to evade Adam''s attack while shing its ws across his body, sending a trail of sparks flying. Not only were its ws able to slice through Adam''s bandages, they tore away anotherrge chunk of skin and flesh.


    Despite the fact that the nun was already severely wounded, Adam was still no match for it.


    However, he wasn''t agitated in the slightest as he continued to bide his time.


    Thankfully, while Adam was beingpletely overwhelmed by the nun anomaly, Hellhound entered the fray in a timely fashion to force back the anomaly, thereby affording Adam some breathing space.


    If he had been on his own, it wouldn''t have taken long before the nun sliced his body up into chunks.


    Having had a chance to catch his breath, Adam unleashed his Vampiric Halo once again, plunging his de into the ground to activate the ability. The attack impacted arge area, meaning that the nun was unable to evade it, and after being epassed within the halo, its body broke down even further, while Adam''s injuries disyed significant signs of recovery.


    However, that still wasn''t enough to bridge the gap in power between the two.


    The nun screeched as it rushed toward Adam once again, and if nothing changed, the oue of this sh wouldn''t be much different from that of thest one.


    Hence, Adam decided to alter his strategy. In the instant before the nun''s ws reached him, he unleashed his Bandage Proliferation ability in an attempt to ensnare his assant.


    The nun had already fallen prey to this attack before, and it wasn''t going to make the same mistake again. Thus, it let loose a terrifying shriek, and darkness enshrouded the entire area once again. Even the mes on Hellhound''s body werepletely snuffed out.


    Due to the darkness, Adam lost sight of his target, thereby failing to ensnare his opponent with his bandages, and immediately thereafter, he was struck by another burst of sharp pain in the waist.


    Now!


    In the same instant, Adam invoked his most powerful anomaly, Distortion.


    This was the perfect opportunity.


    Due to his close proximity to the nun, there was no way that Distortion would prioritize attacking Hellhound over the nun anomaly.


    Having just expended a great deal of power to restore the darkness, the nun was in a weakened state, and its evasive abilities were sure to be severelypromised.


    Furthermore, even though Adam''s Bandage Proliferation had failed to ensnare its target, it had cut off all avenues for retreat and evasion.


    As a result, the nun anomaly was essentially a caged bird with nowhere to run!