Divine Convenience Store-Chapter 586: Sudden Development

Even after all his progress in cultivation, Lin Mo still wouldn't claim himself to be on par with his prodigious assistant. Nonetheless, what he lacked in strength could always be supplemented by the versatility of the tools at his disposal.

Activating his [Stellar Domain] alongside the shield he conjured through his [Qi Solidification], the sonic lance was stopped just inches from his helmet.

The starlight qi he continued to provide acted as a dampener, slowing it down until the shockwave had been reduced to a heavy gust of wind.

Still, the impact rattled his teeth.

"Sonic attacks. Are you a Pokémon, too?" Lin Mo wryly smiled as he couldn't help but blurt that out.

The [Starlit Dragon Spear] appeared in his hand, and a [Spirit Embodiment Sticker Seal] on his other hand.

Slapping the sticker to his chest, the spiritual projection of a towering, silver-backed bear roared into existence around him.

Usually, he would favor the agility of a falcon or the balanced power of a tiger. But against an airborne enemy utilizing sonic attacks, he needed the raw, unyielding stability of the bear to anchor himself to the ground and weather the disruption.

The phantom bear's roar echoed through the cavern, surprisingly acting as a counter-frequency that momentarily ruffled the bat-hybrid's leathery wings, causing it to dip slightly in its flight path over the sludge lake. Following that, the projection merged with him, boosting his abilities.

"If you want to scream, let's see how well you sing when you're choking," Lin Mo muttered.

He wanted to leap at it but he decided to wait for a better chance. The creature was flying over a bubbling lake of toxic, Highland Energy-infused sludge. Engaging in aerial combat over an environmental hazard was a fool's errand, especially when the enemy had the advantage of natural flight.

Instead, Lin Mo dropped into a low stance, the Aether Shard in his chest whining as it fed power into the Bear-enhanced [Decanus Set]. He gripped his spear and began to rapidly spin it in front of him.

"[Flowing Star Combat Style: Celestial Millstone]!"

The starlight qi flared, creating a grinding disc of energy. But this time, he didn't use it as a static shield. He angled it towards the lake.

As the millstone spun, it acted like a massive industrial fan. The rotational force created a vortex that sucked up the sludge from the lake's surface, pulling it into the spinning starlight.

Lin Mo's lips twitched. He only thought to try it if it was possible. But it worked!

The bat-hybrid screeched again, preparing another sonic lance, oblivious to the physics experiment happening below.

"Alright. Take this delivery!" Lin Mo shouted.

He snapped his wrists, stopping the rotation instantly and thrusting the spear upward. The centrifugal force, suddenly released and guided by his thrust, launched a massive, high-pressure spray of the churning, toxic sludge directly at the hovering creature.

It wasn't so much a precision strike but a shotgun blast of environmental hazard.

Of course, he accounted for the fact that the creature was harnessing Highland Energy. However, there was always the concept of 'having too much of something is harmful'.

The creature's sonic lance fired, but it hit the wall of ascending sludge. The soundwave dispersed the liquid slightly, but it couldn't stop the sheer volume of it.

SPLAT.

The bat-hybrid was doused in corrosive violet, shrieking as it tried to absorb whatever nutrients it had for him.

However, it didn't take long for the highly concentrated Highland Energy mixed with whatever biological rot was in the lake to begin sizzling against the creature's modified flesh.

More importantly, it weighed down its wings.

The creature flailed, its balance completely ruined. It dropped like a stone, splashing heavily into the shallows of the lake, struggling to keep its head above the bubbling surface.

"How efficient. Now, stay down."

Without hesitation, Lin Mo pulled the [Starfall Judgement Revolver] with his left hand while keeping the spear ready in his right.

Instead of a standard [Stardust Shot], he channeled his [Psionic-Tempered Starlight Qi] directly into the cylinder. He wanted to test if the 'Soul Shock' effect could disrupt its biological functions further.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Three quick shots rang out. The silver bullets, tinged with amethyst, punched through the creature's body.

The physical damage was moderate, but the secondary effect was immediate. The bat-hybrid convulsed wildly, its screeches turning into gurgling spasms.

The 'Soul Shock' scrambled its already frantic attempts to coordinate its spliced nervous system. It thrashed blindly in the shallows, unable to form a coherent thought, let alone an attack.

And since he was running on a clock, he aimed the muzzle at its head next, ending its agony.

BANG!

The sliver of Highland Energy dispersed from the creature's body and got absorbed by him, pushing his progress by a minuscule amount.

Then, as he was about to jump over where the heart was, Liu Xiaoyu's voice came from behind.

"Boss! I'm almost done here! Why are you not blasting that away like before?"

Lin Mo glanced over his shoulder at the chaotic light show happening on the other side of the cavern.

"Because blowing up a highly pressurized pump sitting in the middle of a toxic sludge lake is a great way to turn this entire cavern into a sealed pressure cooker of poison gas!" Lin Mo shouted back, sounding a little exasperated. But that's how he saw it. It was different from the one they saw at Area 1 last time. It was bigger, and it seemed to be more volatile like Subject Alpha. "Remember, we have three more areas to go if no Dreilling shows up to greet us."

"Oh! Right! Good point, Boss!" Xiaoyu laughed, parrying a vicious swipe from the Shadow-Stalker hybrid.

She wasn't struggling, but the two remaining creatures were proving to be a highly annoying combination. The [Venom-Spine Porcupine] hybrid had crawled up the cavern wall, clinging to the stalactites like a grotesque insect. From its vantage point, it was acting like an artillery, raining down glowing green quills that hissed and melted craters into the stone floor.

Meanwhile, the Shadow-Stalker hybrid utilized the distraction perfectly, phasing in and out of the dim light, its bone-blades aiming for Xiaoyu's blind spots.

However, Xiaoyu wasn't phased at all. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

"Sparky! Flush the sniper out!" She commanded.

The lightning wolf cub didn't hesitate. It ran up the curved cavern wall with gravity-defying agility, its paws leaving scorched paw prints on the stone. Then, when it reached a certain range, it let out a concentrated [Thunder Howl] directly into the face of the Porcupine hybrid.

The sound blast, infused with golden lightning, disoriented the creature, causing its grip to fail. It plummeted toward the ground, screeching in panic.

"Nice one! Now, for you!" Liu Xiaoyu grinned, turning her full attention to the flickering Shadow-Stalker.

Instead of chasing the elusive creature, she planted her boots firmly on the ground and crossed her armored gauntlets. She didn't need to see it to hit it. She just needed to make the environment lethal.

"[Nine Heavens Storm: Thunderclap Grid]!"

She slammed her fists into the rocky floor.

CRASH! CRACK!

A web of brilliant golden lightning spiderwebbed outward in every direction, turning a thirty-meter radius of the cavern floor into a highly charged electrified grid.

The Shadow-Stalker, which was trying to use its ability to go in stealth again, was caught in the grid. The golden lightning instantly latched onto it, running across its entire body and grounding it violently.

The creature spasmed, its optical camouflage seemed to short-circuit in a burst of static, rendering it completely visible and momentarily paralyzed.

"Heh… I see you." Xiaoyu didn't use a flashy named technique this time.

She simply relied on the brute augmentation of her [Legionary Set] and her Heavenly Physique.

She closed the distance in a single leap and her gauntlet-covered fist buried itself deep into the creature's chest cavity with a sickening crunch.

The force exploded out of the creature's back, shattering its spine.

It dissolved into motes of light and a sliver of energy before it even hit the floor.

Simultaneously, the Porcupine hybrid that Sparky had dislodged finally hit the ground with a heavy thud. Before it could recover, Sparky descended like a falling star, its jaws clamping down on the creature's neck, discharging a lethal dose of raw electricity straight into its brain stem.

"All clear, Boss!" Liu Xiaoyu cheered, dusting off her hands as Sparky trotted back to her side, wagging a tail made of plasma. "So, how do we turn off the giant ugly heart without making it explode?"

Lin Mo could only shake his head. All of those occurred in mere seconds.

He was just about to leap and Liu Xiaoyu who was facing two hybrids, ended it just like that. The little cub was also ruthless, it's making him think of getting one for himself. Alas, the item that she used for it was something rare.

"It's like a heart, right? It's living. It can be killed. And if we sever all its connections, it'll be useless as a relay node. It won't be able to draw energy from the leylines of the cavern to sustain the mind-control network anymore. And if I cut the roots..."

He didn't get to finish his sentence.

The massive, fleshy heart in the center of the lake suddenly convulsed.