Captain Zhao quickly passed around the colorful, seemingly mundane packets. The City Guards, who had long been accustomed to the peculiar packaging of the Divine Convenience Store products, didn’t hesitate to take it. They tore the wrappers and popped the gummies into their mouths.

Instantly, a chorus of surprised grunts echoed through the clearing.

The physical transformation was rapid and visually comical.

Even though they all trained in their body, the City Guards saw their muscles bulge and strain against their armor. If not for those considered mortal-grade artifacts that could adjust to their body, they would’ve broken into pieces. Then, their skin took on a metallic sheen as the extreme physical density buff took hold. But seconds later, the color of their skin switched to the color of the gummies they ate.

Captain Zhao turned into a vibrant shade of cherry red. The guard to his left, Wang, took on the neon brilliance of a blue raspberry, while another shifted into a deep, artificial grape purple.

Somehow, the tense, oppressive atmosphere of the Viridescent Hollow was entirely shattered by the absurdity of the sight. It looked as if a squad of multi-colored, heavily armored statues had been dropped into the middle of a primeval jungle.

“Shopkeeper… what is the meaning of this?” Captain Zhao asked, looking at his bright red hands in horror. “Is this a side effect of corruption? A curse? We’ve taken the same gummies before, but it didn’t have this kind of effect.”

Lin Mo pinched the bridge of his nose, stifling a laugh that threatened to break his professional facade. Beside him, Liu Xiaoyu had no such restraint. She doubled over, clutching her stomach as she roared with laughter, her golden lightning sparking erratically alongside it.

“Pfft. Hahaha! Boss, they look like giant walking candies! Did Pan Ruo pack the new variant of the gummies with the kit?”

Wu Meiyu covered her mouth with a graceful hand, her shoulders trembling slightly. “A most… vibrant camouflage, Shopkeeper. Though I doubt it will help them blend into the greenery.”

“No. It’s not a curse. Look at the package of your gummies. It’s just food coloring. A harmless side effect of the artificial flavoring,” Lin Mo explained, clearing his throat to regain control of the situation. “That variant of [Ironhide Gummies] is more potent than the regular ones, with the downside being your skin temporarily adopting the flavor’s color.”

“A mere cosmetic inconvenience in exchange for a four hundred percent increase in muscle density, bone fortification, and raw strength output. You may think of it as a team uniform. And let’s see… shall we call you the Rainbow Vanguard?”

Captain Zhao stared at him, dumbfounded, before looking down at his cherry-red hands. Then, he glanced at his blue, yellow, green, orange, and purple subordinates.

He opened and closed his fists, feeling the terrifying physical power thrumming through his veins. He felt as though he could punch through a city wall with his bare knuckles.

“A… team uniform, Shopkeeper,” Captain Zhao muttered, a vein pulsing on his red forehead. He let out a heavy sigh as he resigned himself to his fate.

If it kept his men alive in a spiritual energy-draining place, he would gladly fight while looking like a walking candied apple.

“Very well. Rainbow Vanguards! Follow the Shopkeeper’s commands. Do not let a single wisp of spiritual energy leak out!”

“Yes, Captain!” The multi-colored squad roared in unison.

Seconds later, the welcoming party of the Viridescent Hollow Anchor finally arrived in front of them.

Liu Xiaoyu reeled in her laughter and jumped right away at the first figure that emerged from the corner.

Lifting her crude iron mace, the prodigious assistant didn’t bother exerting qi to enhance her strength. She simply relied on the terrifying synergy of her Nine Heavens Exquisite Body and the fifty percent buff from the [Greater Aura of Combat] radiating from the Store Beacon.

The creature that burst from the thick, glowing foliage was a Dyshanti Drone. It was a four-legged creature wrapped tightly in viridescent vines that seemed to glow with life force. The lower part of its legs took on a black hue, masking the bark-like substance that formed around them. Those barks served as both armor and muscle.

Lin Mo recalled the description of Dyshanti that he extracted from the Anchor. Unlike the dominant race of long-lived species, the Vyrnethi, the Dyshanti was a collective of different races and perhaps other creatures that had been enslaved by those viridescent vines wrapped around their bodies.

“Ugly piece of weed! Get back in the dirt!” Xiaoyu yelled.

It lunged at Xiaoyu with its maw open and vine-wrapped legs, seemingly trying to claw at her.

Facing it head-on, the young woman swung the iron mace like a baseball bat aimed at a slow-moving pitch.

CRACK!

The sound was deafening as the heavy iron head of the mace slammed into the Dyshanti’s torso.

The vines wrapped around its body glowed and absorbed the impact but the creature still got sent backward, hitting the walls covered in thick vegetation. It crashed with a heavy thud, the impact shaking the immediate vicinity.

The Dyshanti Drone crumpled to the ground, but its vines twitched and writhed. It let out a whimper as it tried to push itself back up while the vines around its body seemed to tighten.

“Huh. These things are sturdy, Boss.” Xiaoyu muttered, resting the mace on her shoulder. “I thought that swing would’ve cut through those vines but this guy just took it and is already trying to stand up. Their lifeforce is so abundant, those old alchemists and pill masters would definitely want to get a sample of it to create longevity pills!”

“Mhm. Their durability seemed to be tied to the lifeforce contained within the vines. And the ambient energy of this place was supplementing it,” Lin Mo observed with his [Stillwater Perception]. However, he kept his spiritual energy tightly coiled within his dantian, heeding his own warning.

“The moment you struck it, the vines bulged up and absorbed the force of your attack. Keep at it. Hit it until it can’t recover anymore.”

“Got it, Boss! No magic, just smash!” Liu Xiaoyu grinned as her figure vanished from the spot.

When she reappeared, she was already pummeling the creature that was brimming with lifeforce.

And while that was happening, more figures came into view.

The ‘welcoming party’ was larger than anticipated.

Dozens of Dyshanti Drones poured into the clearing. They were an assortment of shapes and sizes, some vaguely humanoid, others resembling hulking beasts, but all were bound and driven by the same parasitic, viridescent vines.

And behind them was the Viridescent Lasher. At one look, Lin Mo could already tell it was a Vyrnethi.

This lasher’s appearance didn’t have that many differences from a human of the Realm of Nine Heavens. Just that, he had wings that looked like large verdant leaves. He wore dark cloaks around their bodies and their eyes were filled with intelligence.

Upon seeing Liu Xiaoyu taking down the Dyshanti Drone with ease, the Viridescent Lasher used its whip, which was similar to the vines around the Dyshanti Drones.

“Kill!”

The whip hit the ground but its effect made the other Dyshanti Drones writhe in agony as those vines around them tightened. Then, their attention shifted to Xiaoyu.

Seeing that, Lin Mo shouted a command, “Rainbow Vanguard, block them!”

Captain Zhao surged forward. His skin was a bright, slightly comical cherry red, but there was nothing funny about the speed and mass he brought to bear.

“Rainbow Vanguard, form the wall!” Zhao roared.

The eight City Guards moved like a vivid spectrum of vibrant colors, falling into a tight wedge formation behind him.

They unslung heavy, steel-banded tower shields from their backs and lowered their shoulders, ready to block the Dyshanti Drones and protect Xiaoyu behind them.

BOOM!

As they crashed into the shield wall, the Rainbow Vanguard didn’t budge an inch. The four-hundred percent increase in muscle density from the [Ironhide Gummies], combined with the flat 50% boost from the [Greater Aura of Combat], had turned these Spirit Condensation Stage guards into immovable objects.

“Hold!” Zhao commanded, bracing his own shield against a massive, bear-like Dyshanti that was clawing frantically at the metal, its vines seeking purchase. “Let them break their teeth on us!”

The drones, driven by the Lasher’s cruel whip, scrambled over each other as they tried to overwhelm the colorful defenders.

But without the use of spiritual energy to fuel explosive techniques, it became a pure contest of physics. Mass times acceleration. And at the moment, Vanguard simply had more mass.

“Now, push!” Captain Zhao barked.

The sound of bodies slamming against bodies echoed like thunderclaps. Following that, whimpers and groans echoed from those who were crushed beneath the heavy ones.

“Now, kill!”

Taking back the shields, they then wield their respective weapons, taking advantage of the current plight of the Dyshanti Drones.

From behind them, Liu Xiaoyu flew by and landed in front of the Viridescent Lasher.

As for the poor drone she was pummeling, it had long turned into motes of light. Despite the vines being filled with abundant lifeforce, it couldn’t hold for so long against her physique’s strength.

“Hey, is that whip an artifact? Can I control them with it?” Liu Xiaoyu mischievously asked the shocked Vyrnethi.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep