Divine Convenience Store-Chapter 589: Grafting

Seeing the spheres coming straight at him, Lin Mo clicked his tongue as he used his movement technique to get away.

Unfortunately for him, a few of the spheres still reached him.

Since he had prepared for every scenario where they had to fight for their lives, Lin Mo instantly deployed multiple Barriers from a pack of Basic Card Talismans. His domain followed suit while his starlight qi solidified in front of him to prevent them from hitting him squarely.

He then glanced to where Liu Xiaoyu was and sent another mental transmission, "Slow down in taking them out. I think I can probe this guy further. We need more information to pass to the Ancestors who will deal with them."

"Got it, Boss!" Liu Xiaoyu's reply was instant. It clearly showed that she wasn't even being challenged by the three Hunter-Killers. If anything, she was probably looking forward to dealing with Xylos herself.

Still, if they showed him her true capabilities, the loose-tongued Dreilling might retreat before he could squeeze more information from him.

The corrosive green spheres hit the first layer of his defense. The [Basic Card Talisman] barriers bubbled up violently and popped like soap bubbles. The corrosive property aggressively consumed the spiritual energy that formed the shields.

Next, the spheres struck the outer edge of his [Stellar Domain]. Here, they slowed down considerably as weeping acid was being hindered by the purifying nature of his starlight qi.

The spheres began to shrink, but it failed to completely stop them.

Finally, they slammed into the hexagonal wall of [Qi Solidification] Lin Mo had hastily erected.

Szzzt-pop!

The solidified starlight cracked under the intense spiritual reaction. Purple smoke billowed outward as it gradually melted.

Lin Mo slid backward to prevent himself from catching whatever was left.

He expected to be overwhelmed but thanks to the armor and the store products, he could still stand his ground against a being like Xylos. Unfortunately, that's all he could do. Even if he used the revolver, it'd be difficult to defeat him.

"Interesting. The corrosive properties are off the charts," Lin Mo said, lacing his tone with praise, "If that hits flesh, it won't even leave bones behind."

Xylos didn't pause to admire his handiwork. As the smoke cleared, he was already in motion. His massive modified legs propelled him forward in a zigzag pattern, making it difficult to track his center of mass.

"I don't need your praise, vermin. If this is all 'convenience' offers, then you're useless." Xylos taunted, "I expected more from the one who broke Zyrith's toys!"

"Oh? We offer a variety of services, dear customer. You just haven't browsed the full catalog yet," Lin Mo calmly replied while predicting Xylos's trajectory. He needed to keep the Dreilling talking, keep him arrogant, and keep his focus off Xiaoyu.

He raised his [Starlit Dragon Spear], adopting a defensive posture from the [Flowing Star Combat Style].

"Tell me, Xylos," Lin Mo called out as he dodged a sweeping strike from the Dreilling's bone-blade arm. The weapon whistled inches from his armored head. "You mentioned stealing power from the corpses of the strong. A fascinating, if somewhat unsanitary, method. But surely, there is a limit? You cannot just graft a dragon's heart into a pig and expect it to breathe fire without exploding. Am I correct?"

"Hah! You speak of limits because you are bound by them!" Xylos sneered, launching a flurry of rapid, horizontal slashes.

Lin Mo parried each one with the shaft of his spear, the impacts ringing like a blacksmith's anvil. His arms started to turn numb. He had to pop a [Fruity Healing Tablet] to offset it.

"The Path of the Apex recognizes no limits! We use the Highland Energy as a universal binder. It forces biological compliance! It dominates the foreign cells and forces them to submit to the host's will!" Xylos boasted, his pride in his twisted craft overriding his tactical sense. He thrust his blade forward, forcing Lin Mo to use [Crimson Flow Phantom Steps] to warp three meters to the left.

"A universal binder, you say?" Lin Mo mused, his mind recording every word. "So, the Highland Energy acts as a biological glue and a neural override. But what happens when that energy is disrupted? Say, by something that purifies corruption? Does your stitched-together anatomy start to reject itself?"

This was the way. He had to understand what makes them powerful, just like how an expert deals with their opponent's techniques.

Xylos's attacks faltered for a second, his mismatched, pupil-less eyes narrowing in mockery. "You think your paltry starlight can cleanse the Highland's gift? The High Emperor's power is absolute! Vespera's Convergence Engine will soon saturate this entire pocket dimension. Once the saturation reaches one hundred percent, your entire world's ambient energy will be overwritten. You will all mutate into our livestock, naturally and inevitably!"

Lin Mo's eyes narrowed but his expression remained a mask of polite curiosity.

Convergence Engine.

That was the intel he needed.

Just from its name alone, they're not just preparing for a simple invasion. The Dreillings were building a terraforming device in the Core Area. If it reached 100% saturation, the Anchor would forcefully overwrite the environmental laws around the Sunken Caverns.

"A Convergence Engine," Lin Mo repeated smoothly, committing the term to memory. "Sounds like a massive infrastructure project. Projects like that require a lot of maintenance and... uninterrupted focus. Is that why your esteemed leader, Vespera, hasn't bothered to greet us herself? She's stuck on engineering duty?"

The taunt landed perfectly. Xylos's face contorted into a mask of pure, ugly rage. The idea that his leader was performing 'maintenance' while he was doing the real fighting insulted his twisted sense of hierarchy.

"She oversees the grand design, insect! I am the executioner!" Xylos angrily roared.

"Heh. Somehow, I doubt it. Vespera may be stronger than both of you, but she can't be strong enough to create such an artifact. You're puffing out air to make it appear like a grand design, right?"

Suddenly, the flesh on Xylos's back split open. Four long, multi-jointed appendages erupted from his spine.

From what he could see, they looked like grafted arms of a gigantic creature.

They moved like tentacles and yet they're thick enough to hold the cavern ceiling if ever they crumbled.

"I tire of this conversation. I will dissect you alive and see what makes your core so resilient!"

With his new appendages, Xylos's strength doubled but his speed slowed down a bit.

The four back-arms unleashed a flurry of punches at Lin Mo from above, while his primary bone-blade swept in from the side.

It was an overwhelming, multi-directional assault.

"Boss! He grew extra arms! That's gross!" Xiaoyu's voice echoed across the cavern.

Lin Mo chanced a glance. Xiaoyu was currently juggling three of the Hunter-Killers. Literally. She had used her storm qi to create a localized cyclone, trapping the stealth-assassins in mid-air and casually punching them whenever they drifted too close to the edge of the funnel. She was yawning.

"Keep playing with your food, Xiaoyu! I'm wrapping up the interview here!" Lin Mo shouted back.

He couldn't dodge the multi-pronged attack. The cavern walls restricted his movement, and Xylos's reach was too vast.

"Alright. Customer feedback received. Your product is overly aggressive and aesthetically displeasing."

Lin Mo planted his feet and pushed the [Decanus Set] to its maximum output. The Aether Shard on the armor's chest started whining in protest.

[Ability Activated: Aetheric Bulwark]

[Mode: Focused Deflection]

Instead of a bubble, Lin Mo condensed the silver Aetheric shield into a slanted, angled plane directly above him.

And then, the Aetheric Link flew to Xiaoyu, connecting them and augmenting his physical capabilities to the absolute limit.

[Aetheric Link Established: Output 150%.]

A surge of golden, chaotic lightning flooded into Lin Mo's system.

It was like trying to swallow a live thundercloud but his Perfect Foundation absorbed the shock, refining the sliver of effect of Xiaoyu's Nine Heavens Exquisite Body and feeding it directly into his muscles and the armor.

The four massive, grafted appendages slammed down simultaneously.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

However, they failed to crush him.

The slanted angle of the [Aetheric Bulwark], reinforced by Xiaoyu's monstrous energy output, acted as a perfect deflector. The force of the blows slid off the translucent silver plane, redirecting the devastating impact into the cavern floor around Lin Mo.

The stone shattered, creating a massive crater, but Lin Mo remained standing at the epicenter, completely unharmed, his knees slightly bent to absorb the residual shock.

"What?!" Xylos's mismatched eyes bulged. His ultimate physical barrage had been brushed aside like rain off a slanted roof. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

"Something something physics, dear customer," Lin Mo said, acting nonchalant despite the strain in his body. "Force redirected is force negated."

He didn't give the Flesh-Shaper time to recover his balance. The massive grafted arms were overextended, their joints exposed and vulnerable.

"You said Highland Energy acts as a biological glue," Lin Mo muttered, his spear igniting with a blinding, amethyst-tinged silver light. "Let me test if my solvent can unglue these extra arms of yours. Free of charge."