Chapter 590: Finished Interview

Contrary to his previous stances, Lin Mo took the initiative to lunge at Xylos.

With the 150% output from the Aetheric Link, his speed became genuinely terrifying as it left a trail of golden sparks and crimson afterimages.

Still, he kept a level head, ensuring he wouldn’t overestimate his current capabilities.

Within a split second, he successfully decided on the path he would take.

Instead of aiming for Xylos’s main body, which he was certain he wouldn’t be able to pierce, he turned his spear to the bulging, violet-veined seams where the four massive appendages were attached to the Dreilling’s spine.

[Flowing Star Combat Style: Star-Piercing Needle]!

Although it’s a technique that would probably be perceived as no different than a charging strike, it was a highly concentrated, single-point thrust designed to maximize the piercing quality of his starlight qi.

But he wasn’t aiming to execute it just once.

Shhk! Shhk! Shhk! Shhk!

Four rapid and precise thrusts.

The spear tip cut into the flesh and the [Psionic-Tempered Starlight Qi] did its job by actively purifying and disrupting the Highland Energy holding the genetic monstrosity together.

It was like pouring boiling water over a wax seal. The ’biological glue’ sizzled and gradually dissolved, separating the grafted parts from the Flesh-Shaper’s body.

Xylos let out a high-pitched scream that was eerily similar to the Decrint hybrids they defeated earlier.

Soon, the four massive, grafted arms seemed to tremble and stiffen as if control over them disappeared.

Then, disconnected from the energy that sustained them, the foreign flesh necrotized in seconds, detaching from Xylos’s back and dropping onto the cavern floor as heaps of rotting, gray sludge.

“My creations! My perfect grafts!” Xylos shrieked, stumbling backward and clutching his smoking back. The psychic backlash of his own severed nerves caused him to vomit a mouthful of glowing purple blood.

Lin Mo didn’t overstay his welcome within the Flesh-Shaper’s range. He immediately dashed away, evading the furious sweeping of Xylos’s bone-blade arm that melted the stone where he had just stood.

“It seems your warranty is voided, dear customer,” Lin Mo stated calmly despite the adrenaline pumping through him. He checked the status of the Aetheric Link. Xiaoyu’s energy was still flowing, a chaotic but reliable tempest that kept his armor humming. “Unauthorized modifications usually lead to catastrophic system failure.”

Xylos’s pupil-less eyes flared with an intensity that seemed to burn through the gloom of the cavern. The loss of his grafted limbs hadn’t just injured him physically. For a Flesh-Shaper like him, it also insulted the core of his being. To have his flesh unmade so easily was a blasphemy against his Dao.

“You… you insignificant pest!” Xylos roared, his voice seemed to vibrate as it contained traces of psychic dissonance that Dreilling probably possessed naturally. A crescent beam of green light cut through the air, aimed to dismember Lin Mo.”You think this is over? You think removing a few limbs stops the Apex?”

Lin Mo tipped his spear to the side, deflecting it. But even with his quick reaction, he was pushed back a few meters, his boots skidding into the ground.

Soon, the Highland Energy in the cavern surged as Xylos started drawing it in like a whirlpool. The violet veins on the cavern walls pulsed violently, feeding raw corruption into the Dreilling noble.

Stretching his arms forward, they morphed into a massive bone-blade that began to bubble and shift.

Somehow, Lin Mo couldn’t help but be reminded of those shapeshifting monsters that could turn their bodies into weapons. And this time, it didn’t look like a simple blade. It was a full-on buster sword that would probably cut through his defenses effortlessly.

“You uncouth insect. I will not kill you easily,” Xylos growled as his face turned even more hideous. “I will break you down to your base components and rebuild you as a sanitation unit for our spawning pools!”

Lin Mo’s expression remained impassive, though he internally noted the spike in threat level.

Xylos was consolidating his remaining mass, focusing on a singular, devastating strike rather than a multi-directional assault. It was a more conventional, but far more dangerous, approach.

He glanced over at Xiaoyu. The golden storm was still raging. She had already pulverized three of the six Hunter-Killers. But she made it look like the remaining three were still having an advantage with their use of optical camouflage. However, Lin Mo could tell that the little wolf cub was continuously emitting static bursts that kept highlighting them like neon signs in a dark room and slowly but surely burning them from the inside.

Liu Xiaoyu was more than fine. No, he just needed to hold the line here. Or better yet, finish his fishing expedition.

“A sanitation unit?” Lin Mo mused, leveling his spear. “I’m afraid I’m overqualified, dear customer.”

Pretending to look at a wristwatch, he scratched his cheek and said, “Ah. Looks like it’s time. I believe our interview will have to end here, dear customer. It was enlightening. We’ll call you if we deem you qualified for the position.”

Not understanding what he was saying, Xylos screamed, abandoning all pretense of aristocratic superiority.

“Die!”

The concentration of Highland Energy propelled the Flesh-Shaper forward with a force that shattered the sound barrier within the cavern.

The massive, bone-forged buster sword cleaved downwards, leaving a trail of weeping, acidic green light in its wake. It was a strike meant to obliterate not just Lin Mo, but the entire area he was standing in.

But Lin Mo, having understood that he would not be able to block him completely, had already deployed his countermeasure.

His Celestial Field spread under his feet before grabbing at three Celestial Duel Cards from the five that were drawn upon activation.

Three Level 3 Units of the [Celestial Beasts] deck were summoned to his field. Then, the remaining two cards were luckily drawn as spell cards that buffed his units’ defenses.

He couldn’t help but smile inwardly, thanking the Celestial Providence that Taihao bestowed on him, influencing his draw.

That was the ultimate convenience. Or so he wanted to reject that framing.

In any case, as the three Level 3 Celestial Beast units blocked the advance of Xylos, he tapped the ground lightly with the butt of his spear, pushing a burst of starlight qi downward, which immediately sent him backward.

Simultaneously, he reached into his inventory and called out to Xiaoyu.

“It’s time to clock out, Xiaoyu. Bring one of them with you. Tear its limbs first to prevent any accident.”

“Oh! Got it, Boss!” Liu Xiaoyu grinned in delight as her sluggish movements instantly turned sharp, exploding one of the remaining Hunter-Killers and beheading another.

Xylos, who had been so focused on Lin Mo and was frustratingly going berserk at the blockade of summoned units, paused as he sensed five of the six Hunter-Killers he had painstakingly crafted had been eradicated in the blink of an eye.

His mismatched eyes snapped toward the golden blur darting across the cavern.

The final Hunter-Killer, seeing its kin vaporized, attempted to trigger its optical camouflage and retreat towards the opened door to the next area.

“Oh no, you don’t!” Liu Xiaoyu delightfully chirped, kicking off the cavern wall.

She caught the creature by its ankle. Then, with a sharp tug that defied the laws of momentum, she slammed it back down onto the stone floor. Before the creature could even shriek, her foot pinned its back.

“Boss said no limbs!”

With a terrifyingly casual display of her Nine Heavens Exquisite Body’s raw physical strength, augmented by the [Legionary Set], she grabbed its right arm and pulled.

SCREEECH!

The sound of tearing and snapping bone echoed through the cavern as the arm came off in a spray of violet fluid. She didn’t stop there. In a series of motions that looked more like a master chef preparing ingredients than a cultivator in a life-or-death battle, she methodically dismembered the creature’s remaining limbs.

The Hunter-Killer, now reduced to a writhing, screaming torso and head, tried to spit corrosive acid at her.

“Sparky, muzzle it!”

The lightning wolf cub happily obliged, clamping its jaws shut around the creature’s mouth and delivering a localized shock that paralyzed its jaw muscles and fried whatever acid glands it had.

Liu Xiaoyu then casually grabbed the creature by the scruff of its neck, hefting it like a sack of potatoes.

“Got the souvenir, Boss!”

Xylos watched this display of casual brutality with utter disbelief. His creations, infused with the DNA of the most lethal predators in the Highland Realm, were being treated like cheap toys.

“You… you dare!” Xylos roared, his fury finally overwhelming his shock.

He swung his massive bone-blade, releasing a torrential wave of acidic green energy that instantly melted the three Level 3 [Celestial Beast] units Lin Mo had summoned.

The poor spiritual projections didn’t even have the chance to launch an attack before they were dissolved into useless motes of light.

Xylos didn’t slow down. He charged directly at Lin Mo, the cavern shaking with every step. “I will mount your skulls on the Convergence Engine!”

Lin Mo didn’t flinch and simply smiled. He had already crushed the [Emergency Escape Talisman] in his palm.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep