Thousands of black threads shot out from the Black Brood Matriarch’s massive body.
They did not move like simple, straight whips.
Each thread split into several branches in the air, changed its path, passed by the ant corpses, and approached Lian from a new angle.
Some came down from above his head, some crawled on the ground, and another group came out from the cracks in the Queen’s living armor to block his retreat path.
Within seconds, the entire space in front of Lian was filled with a network of black veins.
The Queen did not intend to only kill him. She wanted him, his body, his heart, and everything hidden inside that human body.
The red light of the system panel trembled before Lian’s eyes.
[Warning! The Black Brood Matriarch has selected you as its Prime Host.]
[If Parasite Thread reaches your heart, assimilation will become irreversible.]
Upon seeing the panel, he frowned deeply, he did not expect to suddenly become the favorite target of a monster... how exactly did this happen?
What did that damn thing like about him? Unfortunately, now was not the time to complain.
Lian planted his feet firmly on the ground, and compressed lightning shone in the muscles of his shins.
[Thunder Step]
The world around him stretched for a moment.
The sound of thunder exploded at his standing point, and his body disappeared from among the threads.
A few Parasite Threads that had converged at his previous point burned in the electrical explosion.
The threads twisted, their surfaces cracked, and a black liquid spilled from inside them onto the frozen moss.
Lian appeared dozens of meters away, a second explosion formed beneath his feet.
A few half-paralyzed Workers that were trapped in the range of Bloodborne Calamity Domain were thrown into the air, and their shells broke against each other.
But before Lian could take the next step, new threads came down from both sides.
They knew his landing point because of the thousands of black eyes that followed his every move.
Hive Mind Dominion was still active, and the Queen did not look at him from the perspective of one creature.
She saw him from behind thousands of eyes, from above dozens of roots, from the cracks of mushrooms, and from beneath the ant corpses.
Wherever there was an ant, the Queen had an eye there, like an incredibly powerful and advanced surveillance system.
This surveillance system allowed the Queen to see and monitor thousands of different points at the same time.
Lian Dashed again, this time to the left, and thunder exploded among the ants, the black threads twisted at his landing point.
Third Dash.
Lightning, broken shells, red mist, and again.
Fourth Dash.
Lian bent his body before fully appearing, and one of the threads passed over his head.
Behind Nemi and Sera, with every time he disappeared, they held their breath. What they were seeing were scenes they could not even imagine in their wildest nightmares.
Their eyes darted between the lightning explosions, and every time Lian appeared a few moments later, their hearts ached with worry.
Their main fear was no longer the ants, but that one of those explosions would occur and Lian would not emerge from the light.
Sera placed her healthy palm on the golden surface of the shield.
The thin cracks on the dome had increased, and every time a few Workers hit it, the dome’s light would dim for a moment.
The shield’s time panel was floating.
[Estimated Duration: 01:08]
Sera bit her lip, her wounded shoulder was burning with pain, but her gaze did not leave the field.
Ravian, unlike the other two, said nothing. He had lowered his spear and was only examining the movement of the Queen’s massive body.
His eyes were on the armored arms, the joints, and the threads that reached from the center of the parasite’s body to the ant layers.
He could not compete with Lian in power, but maybe he could still see something that was hidden from Lian’s view in all that chaos.
Lian activated Thunder Step for the fifth time, lightning compressed in his legs.
The cracked skin on his shins split more, and warm blood ran down his ankles.
He disappeared, but this time one of the threads passed through the lightning explosion before the movement was complete.
Its surface burned, but it was not cut. The thread wrapped around Lian’s left wrist like a black snake.
He appeared at the landing point and immediately pulled his hand, but the thread slid on his hardened skin with strange force.
Diamond Skin was preventing its penetration, but the Parasite Thread did not intend to enter from that point.
It moved on his skin, following the blood, following the cracks, following one of the open wounds.
Two other threads stuck to his shin and shoulder. One passed through the crack in his shin’s skin, the other reached the wound on his shoulder.
"Fuck this shit." He felt a cold sensation enter his body.
[Parasite Thread has established contact.]
[Foreign neural signal detected.]
Lian’s left hand suddenly left his control, the muscles of his arm contracted without his will, and his fist turned back toward his own face instead of moving toward the Queen.
"Bastard, what kind of power is this?" Lian grabbed his left wrist with his right hand at the last moment.
The strike stopped a few centimeters before hitting his jaw.
The veins on his arm bulged, two different forces fought within one limb, his own will and a foreign command.
"You thought it would be that easy?" Lian clenched his teeth.
He was not going to lose to this bitch Queen.
Lightning formed inside his body, directly in his mana channels, between his muscles and bones.
[Thunder Calamity]
Lightning transferred from his shoulder to his arm and then to the threads attached to his body.
The Parasite Threads began to tremble, their black surfaces split, and the smell of burnt flesh spread in the air.
But the lightning did not only burn them, it also passed through Lian’s wounds, his muscles contracted violently.
"Ughhhhhh" His jaw locked, blood sprayed from the wounds, and for a moment, his heart lost its rhythm.
Then it beat again with a heavier strike, the threads burned one after another and separated from his body, but the pain from the lightning and internal damage awakened another flame inside him.
[Self-inflicted damage detected.]
[Warrior’s Madness has strengthened.]
[Power increased.]
[Speed increased.]
[Mental Corruption: 24%]
Lian’s heartbeat grew louder, the sounds around him became muffled, the smell of blood and burning became stronger in his nostrils.
Something inside his mind wanted to go straight into the mass of threads instead of retreating and tear everything apart with bare hands.
Madness!
Madness!
Madness!
This was the madness that was taking over the warrior’s mind!
Lian took a deep breath, he was still in control, but Warrior’s Madness was no longer just power, it was moving like a hungry creature behind his thoughts.
He charged toward the Queen again, his first fist hit the living armor of Brood Carapace.
Dozens of shells broke under the strike, a few Soldiers were crushed, and their dark blood splashed on Lian’s face.
But before his second fist could hit the same point, fresh ants came up from all sides and filled the gap.
Lian sank his elbow into the new layer, again dozens of bodies were crushed.
But the armor regenerated, the Queen was literally covering herself with the flesh of her army.
’One of the most annoying defensive skills I’ve ever seen, as a Queen, she has no shame in using her soldiers as victims and living shields.’ Lian jumped back.
He had fought many monsters, but this one undoubtedly had the strongest defense, a defense that practically had no way to penetrate.
And this was considering that his offensive skills had penetration power.
Bloodborne Calamity Domain was still active, the red mist was swirling around the field and consuming more of his mana every second.
[Current Mana: 241/815]
The ants inside the domain were being paralyzed and falling one after another, but the Queen was still pulling the healthier corpses onto her body.
Lian attacked the armor again.
Punch.
Elbow.
Knee.
Every strike destroyed several ants, but none reached the main body.
[Current Mana: 211/815]
He could not destroy Brood Carapace layer by layer.
Not before his mana ran out, not before the companions’ shield collapsed, and not before Assimilation was completed.
Behind the golden dome, Ravian suddenly saw something. The Queen raised one of her large armored arms to catch Lian from the side.
When the joint bent, the ants at the connection point separated for a moment. In the gap between them, thick black threads could be seen.
Not the thin Parasite Threads, but a main bundle, like nerves that transmitted movement commands to the entire arm.
"Lian!" Ravian stepped closer to the shield’s surface.
He might have finally found a way to help Lian.
Although his voice was lost under the roar of the colony.
The Queen lowered her arm, Lian dodged with Thunder Step, and the massive arm slammed into the ground.
The impact wave threw corpses and moss into the air.
"Under the left arm! When it moves, the armor opens!" Ravian shouted with all his might this time.
Lian turned his head toward him for a moment.
"The main threads enter the ants’ bodies from there!" Ravian pointed at the joint with his spear.
Lian turned his gaze back to the point Ravian was indicating. The Queen was folding her arm again, the ants shifted.
The gap opened only for a moment, but it was enough.
His eyes sparkled! He understood the structure.
The outer ants were only armor, the black neural threads held them together, and the parasite’s main body was hidden in the center of that structure.
If the main threads were cut, part of Brood Carapace could no longer maintain its shape.
He looked at the remaining shield time.
[Estimated Duration: 00:47]
Golden cracks had spread across the dome’s surface.
"Whatever you’re going to do, do it quickly." Sera said briefly and tensely. The dome that was protecting them was also approaching its end moment by moment!
Lian fixed his gaze on the Queen’s right leg. He withdrew Bloodborne Calamity Domain from its wide state.
The red mist around the field pulled back. Instead of covering several hundred meters, all the poison concentrated in a narrow area around the Queen’s right leg.
The air’s color changed from light red to dark, thick crimson. The ants forming the leg began to tremble.
Their legs locked on top of each other, a few Soldiers fell.
And finally, the massive structure’s balance was disrupted for a moment!