Divine Convenience Store-Chapter 585: Hybrids

Five out of six areas of the Sunken Caverns Anchor were already mapped. After all, the Stormhowl Tribe and the cultivators had already managed to clear up to Area 5. It was in Area 6 that they discovered the existence of the long-eared entity.

If not for that, this Anchor would’ve already reset.

Nevertheless, Lin Mo and Liu Xiaoyu pressed on even more cautiously because of the changes the Dreilling brought to the Anchor.

They had to press forward with as few encounters as possible and find

out what awaited them at the end.

The tunnels connecting the areas had changed. The damp, rocky walls of the Sunken Caverns were now coated in a thick, resinous substance that resembled dried mucus. Pulsing veins of violet light ran beneath this layer, acting as a nervous system for the Highland Energy that seemed to root itself in this pocket space, giving them entry to the Realm of Nine Heavens.

"Boss, I don’t know. But this place is disgusting," Xiaoyu whispered, her nose wrinkling. She kept her [Stardust Repeater] raised, sweeping the corners. "It feels... alive. Like we’re walking down the throat of a giant beast. It’s far from the cleaner aesthetic of our store!" 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

"Apt description. The Dreilling are rewriting the natural laws to fit the Highland Realm. If this continues, the entire mountain range will become a biological nightmare just like what was happening at the Southern Wilderness." Lin Mo replied.

His [Stillwater Perception] was working overtime, filtering out the ambient psychic static that never stopped trying to pierce through the barrier of the [Harmonic Resonance Instrument]. The silver tuning fork at his belt hummed constantly, a reassuring anchor in the madness.

They passed through Area 2 with relative speed. The ambush points and the places where the Decrint Tribe used to gather that the raid force had previously cleared were deserted. They avoided engagement where possible.

However, seeing that there were still barbarians and cultivators alive, Lin Mo and Liu Xiaoyu acted to release them from the control.

Liu Xiaoyu would knock them out, then Lin Mo would sever the link that’s feeding them orders.

After that, they would send them out of the Anchor using the [Emergency Escape Talismans]. Elder Liu Jingshan and Chieftain Borok should be receiving them out there.

Still, with the mind-controlled cultivators’ presence in the area, Lin Mo understood that there would be another fleshy heart acting as a control tower. And like before, it was likely guarded by something worse than a standard Decrint.

Soon enough, they reached the end of the era. The path leading to the next one. It was a wide cavern with a lake turned into a pool of simmering, violet sludge.

In the center, rising from an island of rock, was the second fleshy heart, larger and more erratic than the first.

However, it wasn’t the heart that made them stop. It was the guardians.

Three figures stood around the pool.

They were humanoid, but their silhouettes were wrong.

As Lin Mo and Xiaoyu approached, the figures turned.

"More Amalgamations? No... These were different from Subject Alpha. They don’t have a core." His eyes narrowed as he tried to sense the energy radiating off of them.

The first one seemed to be a fusion of a Decrint and a [Shadow-Stalker], a beast known for its invisibility and speed. Its skin was sleek like it would be slippery to grasp. Its limbs seemed to still have the characteristic of the Decrint but its hand was replaced by sharp blades. It flickered in and out of sight, its presence a blur in the spiritual sense.

The second appeared to be fused with a [Venom-Spine Porcupine]. Its back was covered in quills that dripped with glowing green acid. The Decrint was hunched as it started crawling on all fours.

The third was the most disturbing. It was fused with a [Screeching Bat]. Its mouth was a vertical slit filled with rows of needle teeth, and massive, leathery wings sprouted from its back. Its throat pulsed with a visible buildup of sonic energy.

"Three of them, Boss." Liu Xiaoyu said but rather than concern, she sounded enthused at the challenge before her, "There’s the heart too. Are they controlled like those we encountered?"

"I don’t think so. They are different from that Amalgamation. It feels like they’ve been created by someone else."

"That’s what I thought too, Boss. They don’t look like they’re in a berserk state. Look. They’re staring at us as if wary of our strength. Hehe. Leave those three to me, Boss. You figure out how to destroy that disgusting mound." Liu Xiaoyu confidently smirked as the cube once again appeared in her hand. "Let’s go, Sparky!"

Even before Lin Mo could answer, the golden armor suit already covered her body as she charged along with her small wolf cub.

—

Back in Area 6, the Flesh-Shaper Xylos’s eyebrows furrowed as he sensed his connection to the Amalgamation ceasing to exist.

"Oh? My toy has been destroyed. Hey, trash. Open up the passages. I’ll go and check. These rats of yours are capable of breaking my work. I want to see them bleed."

Zyrith sneered, "You are simple, Xylos. I told you to send your Hunter-Killers to Area 2. Yet you didn’t."

"I don’t take orders from you, trash." Xylos snarled in response. Perhaps if not for the presence of the woman meditating near the core, they would’ve been at each other’s throats already.

"Tch. Forget it. Your simplicity has its uses. Go. Use that teleportation array provided by this Anchor. It can send you straight to Area 3. Do not kill those rats. I want to peel their minds apart layer by layer."

"Hmph. If there is anything left of them after I’m done."

Xylos waved his clawed hand dismissively and stood up. His figure gradually shifted as organic plates slid over his skin, forming a natural armor far superior to anything the Decrints wore.

With a heavy stride that shook the chamber, the Flesh-Shaper marched towards the array, his anticipation for violence rolling off him. Then, the Hunter-Killers he was proud of followed right after.

—

Back in Area 2, the battle had erupted with Xiaoyu’s charge, sending the [Shadow-Stalker] hybrid to the wall.

Her golden-hued Argentum armor left a trail of afterimages and Sparky, the storm-soul wolf, leaped from her shoulder, turning into a ball of lightning that aimed straight for the crawling decrint.

"Hey, ugly! Eyes on me!" Liu Xiaoyu roared as she punched the air, unleashing another one of her self-created techniques [Nine Heavens Storm: Wind Cannon].

A compressed sphere of air and lightning shot towards the [Venom-Spine Porcupine] hybrid that the wolf cub was trying to pin down.

The creature, however, moved with frightening agility for something so hunched. It scuttled sideways, its spines rattling ominously. As the wind cannon passed, the creature arched its back and fired.

THWIP! THWIP! THWIP!

Dozens of needle-like quills, dripping with glowing green acid, shot towards her and the wolf cub.

A silver energy shield flared from Liu Xiaoyu’s chest plate, blocking the quills.

It started sizzling as the acid ate into the Aetheric energy.

Luckily for her, the shield held, but the sheer volume of the barrage pushed Xiaoyu back, her boots carving grooves into the stone floor.

"Acid... Boss! This one spits nasty stuff! It’s trying to melt my armor!"

"My prodigious assistant, don’t tell me you’re going to ask for my help?

Lin Mo replied as he too equipped his armor suit and charged in the direction of the pulsating heart in the center of the lake.

"Of course not! I’m just telling you, so you know how strong your assistant is. Even this type of opponent is nothing to me!"

Lin Mo smilingly shook his head. She’s confident, alright. And he knew she could back that confidence up.

She would only be defeated if she faced someone with a strength far above her current cultivation stage.

Maybe a Spirit Severing Stage equivalent or higher. As for those Nascent Soul Stage equivalents, she could survive easily even if she couldn’t defeat one.

Weaving through the battlefield with his [Crimson Flow Phantom Steps], Lin Mo reached the edge of the lake.

However, the third hybrid ignored Liu Xiaoyu and flew towards him.

The creature hovered above the sludge lake, its leathery wings beating a rhythm that sent ripples through the violet liquid.

With the ugly mug of a decrint, its throat seemed to expand like a sac and glowed with a harsh light.

SCREEEEEEEEE!

A sonic lance, visible as a distortion in the air, fired directly at Lin Mo.

The attack was fast, moving at the speed of sound.

Lin Mo’s instinct warned him a split second before it fired, but dodging sound was nearly impossible at the current range.

So instead of dodging, he braced for impact while pouring the starlight qi into his armor, mixing it with the Aether Energy from the shard.

"I should demand more reward from Taihao once this is over." Lin Mo muttered as his vision turned white.