Chapter 60 New Item

"Come again!"

Luka beckoned to Dunshan with a hint of excitement in his eyes.

However, Dunshan merely took it as youthful stubbornness, an unwillingness to admit defeat.

Left with little choice, he had no option but to launch another attack, looking somewhat resigned.

"Young master, watch out!"

As he spoke, Dunshan threw a punch.

The rapidly thrusting fist and his sleeve frictioned against the air at high speed, actually stirring up a sharp, whistling wind.

Yet, while this blow looked merciless, given Dunshan's exquisite combat skills, he was entirely capable of ensuring it wouldn't harm Luka in the slightest.

Who could have expected, however, that before this heavy and powerful punch could even reach Luka's face,

it was abruptly and firmly intercepted by a hand that instantly shot up.

"Bang—!"

A dull, muffled thud echoed.

Luka's figure retreated half a step, but the mechanical arm on his right hand remained completely motionless.

Instead, it grabbed Dunshan's fist, squeezing it with such force that even this battle-hardened veteran couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth.

Yes, another characteristic of [Sweet Surrender] was that this mechanical arm possessed an extraordinarily high output.

Though in the original Devil May Cry universe, aside from its somewhat lackluster healing effect, this prosthetic arm seemed to exist purely for comedic relief,

that entirely depended on what it was compared against.

Its original owner, Nero, was a dedicated demon hunter who hunted demons exclusively.

Even though the prosthetic arm he used was not manufactured specifically for combat, its output and durability were fully capable of coping with the high-frequency combat and slaughter between him and demons.

Perhaps precisely because Nero himself possessed physical fitness far exceeding ordinary humans, however,

in the golden finger's judgment, this [Sweet Surrender] lacked any rule-based ability similar to the [Foot-Strengthening Shoes] that protected the wearer from sustaining self-inflicted harm.

In Luka's current state, his own physical fitness had conversely become a burden to this mechanical arm.

Aside from simple "clutching" and "punching,"

other actions that required coordination from his shoulders or even his entire body ran the risk of causing him to pull a muscle in his frail little frame if the mechanical arm was overused.

This was precisely why he set aside time every day to spar with combat experts like Dunshan.

In reality, it was simply to adapt to this somewhat hyper-spec armor of his.

Had it not been for the description of [Sweet Surrender] itself carrying the trait of "flexible manipulation," Luka would have even doubted whether he could truly master and use this arm proficiently.

Still, a combat master like Dunshan naturally wouldn't be subdued so easily.

Realizing he could not break free from the grip, Dunshan immediately raised a kick and lashed it toward Luka's side.

Faced with no other choice, Luka could only activate the mechanical arm to push hard, putting distance back between them.

Simultaneously, he raised his arm and took aim at a large tree nearby.

Immediately following that,

with a sharp 'swish—',

a grappling hook shot out at high speed from the elbow of Luka's white right arm.

Before Dunshan could charge back in front of him,

the grappling hook embedded itself into the tree trunk and immediately began to retract rapidly. A miniature electric motor spinning at Luka's elbow stirred up a wisp of sizzling white smoke.

His entire body was dragged directly toward the large tree by this immense force.

Only...

"Thud—!"

With a dull impact,

Luka, 'flying' at high speed, collided squarely and solidly against the trunk of the massive tree, immediately wincing as he clutched his head and gasped continuously.

"Hiss— stop, stop, stop, my arm is going to break..."

Dunshan, who had been about to press the attack, instantly halted his movements and looked at Luka with a helpless, bitter smile.

"Young master, you really shouldn't add these bizarre functions to your prosthetic limb. Dangerous maneuvers like the one you just pulled are far too likely to get you injured."

Before Dunshan could even finish speaking, however, Luka's mechanical prosthesis began to glow with a green light and vibrate once more.

The minor muscle strain caused just moments ago by the high-speed movement of the grappling hook was healed completely by this gentle energy in the blink of an eye.

Yes, the final function of [Sweet Surrender] was the grappling hook capability inherent to all of Nero's prosthetic arms.

This grappling hook skill could not only pull enemies or objects close to oneself for an attack,

but it also allowed Luka to move rapidly across structures using the hook.

However, just as with the arm's raw output which Luka's body couldn't withstand,

this tremendous pulling force was equally prone to causing him muscle strains.

At present, the most Luka could manage was simply using the hook to pull relatively lightweight objects directly toward himself.

Yet Luka believed that as his physical fitness gradually improved and his proficiency with [Sweet Surrender] grew, he would ultimately be able to achieve the level of swinging back and forth between skyscrapers much like Spider-Man.

'Probably...'

'Well, perhaps as soon as some body-enhancement item is synthesized...'

thought Luka, rubbing his arm, which had already been fully healed.

Just as Dunshan, standing before him, was about to offer further persuasion that there was no need to rig such dangerous functions onto his mechanical prosthesis,

the enthusiastic voice of Wrench drifted over from the front yard's main entrance.

"Young master Luka, young master Luka! The things you ordered earlier have arrived!"

Seeing Wrench running toward him full of enthusiasm while clutching a large box, Luka first waved at Dunshan to signal a pause in their combat practice, then quickly walked over to meet him.

"Young master Luka, this is..."

Before the chatterbox Wrench could even start explaining, Luka hurriedly interrupted to ask,

"Has the micrometer-level neural stimulation unit arrived?"

Hearing this, Wrench shook his head very decisively.

"No, it's those materials you mentioned yesterday, young master!"

"So fast?"

A look of delight crossed Luka's face as he immediately took the box from Wrench's hands.

Then, without waiting for Wrench to continue asking questions, he broke into a brisk jog, heading straight for the villa's basement.

"Hey, young master, wait for me! Just let me have a look this time!"

Yet before Wrench could even take a single step, the back of his neck was instantly grabbed by Dunshan from behind, leaving him to watch with eager, longing eyes as Luka descended the stairs.

Disregarding Wrench's somewhat aggrieved expression,

upon quickly entering the basement laboratory,

the first thing that caught Luka's sight was a fully automatic turret that was 'poking its head out and looking around in all directions.'

[H-28Q Apex Turret]

In truth, this item was far simpler than Luka had imagined.

Aside from its completely unreasonable targeting mechanism—which judged friend from foe purely based on Luka's subjective intuition—

and its energy core resembling a black box which caused all its attacks to be converted into magical lasers,

in every other aspect, including its morphological folding and its ability to sense Luka's approach, this turret itself didn't seem to possess many particularly special traits.

After all, though it was said to be foldable and retractable, in reality, the retracted turret remained a metal box roughly the size of a suitcase.

Therefore, under normal circumstances, Luka only brought it along when riding out in a vehicle, casually tossing it anywhere inside the villa at other times.

That way, even after falling asleep at night, the continuously operating turret would strike any incoming enemies.

However,

today's attention was not focused on this turret.

Temporarily setting the box in his hand aside, an utterly excited Luka hurried over to stand right in front of a glowing orange orb that emanated a faint, shimmering light.