"It’s not the time for emotions." Seris’s tone was calm, but it was more serious than something that could be ignored.
"If she really is turning into a Calamity Vessel, every second she stays alive is dangerous."
Lian said nothing, and the girl continued.
"63.7%, we don’t even know how fast it is increasing, it might take a day, it might take an hour, and if it reaches one hundred percent and something comes out of that Cocoon, we may not be able to stop it anymore." Her sword rose slightly.
"We can end it now, before it is born."
Aren looked between the two of them, even without knowing Selina, he could not deny Seris’s logic.
If a creature connected to The Black Silence was being born, then from a logical point of view, destroying it before birth was the most reasonable decision.
"I told you I won’t let you kill her." But Lian did not move, his gaze became colder, his tone left no room for arguing or refusing.
Seris’s eyes also became cold for a moment, and the air between them became heavy.
Not because Seris really wanted to fight Lian, but because both of them knew that the wrong decision could cost much more than Selina’s life.
But Lian’s reason for refusing was not only their friendship, and it was not even only the possibility of saving Selina.
[Evolution Quest: Devour The Black Silence.]
He looked at the Cocoon again, if his guess was correct, The Black Silence was gathering inside Selina for some reason.
Maybe she was the next Vessel, maybe the Calamity was being transferred from the Titan into her body.
Maybe the Forgotten Tree was trying to gather the main part of The Black Silence inside a new Vessel.
Lian did not know... but he knew one thing.
If Seris destroyed the Cocoon now, several things could happen.
The Black Silence could be released.
It could return to the Titan.
It could spread through the area.
Or maybe it could be destroyed together with Selina.
That last possibility was not acceptable to Lian, he needed the Calamity, for Devouring it, and his Evolution was impossible without Devouring one of the Five Calamities.
If The Black Silence was destroyed right now, the only Calamity available to him might disappear forever.
"We still don’t know what will happen if we destroy the Cocoon." He finally said.
"And we don’t know what will happen if we leave it alive." Seris answered.
"That’s true, but if we break the Cocoon, whatever is inside might be released, The Black Silence might return to the Titan and the condition of the Forgotten Tree might become worse." He paused for a moment.
"And there may still be a way to save Selina."
Seris looked at him for a few seconds, it was clear that she felt Lian had not told her his whole reason.
But her own argument was also not complete.
Killing Selina without understanding how the Cocoon worked could be just as dangerous as keeping her alive.
In the end, the blade lowered, and she put the sword back into its sheath.
"Fine, but only for now." Her tone was still cold.
Lian said nothing, but he nodded slightly to show his thanks.
"So what are you going to do now?" Seris continued.
"I’ll find a way, but before that, I need to understand exactly what happened."
Aren put his hand on his chin, he said nothing for a while and then suddenly spoke.
"Rootcrown."
"What?" Lian looked at him.
"What you are looking for might be in the First Archive." He pointed toward the place where Rootcrown was located behind the dead forest.
"If there is any information left about the Forgotten Tree, Calamity Vessels, Cindar Vael or even this Cocoon, it will be there."
Lian thought for a few seconds, earlier he had intentionally avoided Rootcrown, they did not have the time, every encounter with the Guards, every time they had to hide and every fight could take several hours from them.
But now, without information, he could do almost nothing.
He could not destroy the Cocoon, he could not pull Selina out and he could not Devour The Black Silence.
And he did not even know what role the Forgotten Tree had in all of this.
The First Archive might be their only hope, the only place where they could find the information they needed.
"Looks like there is no other choice, I’ll go to Rootcrown."
"Should we come too?" Seris immediately asked.
"No, you stay here, if the Gestation Progress changes, if the Cocoon reacts or if more Monsters come close, someone needs to stay here." He then looked at One.
"One stays too."
The huge ant moved its antennae, a short feeling of displeasure came through the Hive Link.
Lian put his hand on its head.
"I’ll get there faster alone." He nodded.
Of course, the only reason he wanted to go alone was not this, his goal was not to fight all the Cindari in that city just to reach the Archive.
Doing that would waste too much time and could be dangerous, so he planned to use Abyss Veil.
He turned around and then started moving without saying anything.
[Fallen Wolf Speed.]
Mana gathered in his leg muscles, making his body lighter.
It had been a long time since he had used this skill, naturally, this was because with his current natural speed, he did not need speed-boosting skills.
But now it could help him again.
Lian started running, within a few seconds he moved away from the Cocoon, the Dead Zone moved backward under his feet.
At places where large cracks or dead roots blocked the path, he activated Thunder Step.
Blue light appeared among the gray land for a moment, then disappeared again.
The several-hour path that One had carefully traveled was now being crossed much faster under Lian’s Speed of more than 500 and the combination of Fallen Wolf Speed and Thunder Step.
The gray area ended, and the dead trees changed into the half-alive Emberroot.
Color returned to the forest.
First dark gray, then brown and then the red lines of Ember Crystal.
Finally, the towers of Rootcrown appeared between the branches.
Lian slowed down before reaching the city’s area, the Guards could be seen on the towers.
He stopped behind one of the huge roots and controlled his breathing.
[Abyss Veil.]
The change started from that moment, and it did not take long before his entire presence disappeared from sight, no visible trace of him remained and he had practically disappeared from everyone’s eyes.
He moved, the northern gate of Rootcrown was in front of him.
Six Guards stood on both sides, one of them turned his head toward Lian for a moment.
The Guard looked for a few seconds, his eyes passed directly over the place where Lian was standing and then he looked back at the other path.
He passed them without making a sound, and when he entered Rootcrown, the difference from Vhalaris felt much greater than it had from far away.
Old inscriptions could be seen on the walls, and even parts of them had been worn down by thousands of years.
In the small squares, there were Statues of ancient figures.
But one face appeared more often than the others.
A tall man wearing a simple robe, holding a sword in one hand and a golden root in the other.
Cindar Vael.
In most parts of the city, instead of the red Ember Flame of Vhalaris, calm white flames burned inside the lanterns.
Rootcrown felt less like a living capital and more like a huge temple for the past of the Cindari.
Lian did not slow down, he opened the World Memory Map in his mind and the main path went directly toward the center of the city.
The First Archive was located beneath a building that the map listed as.
[Lord’s Root Palace]
The home and ruling center of the ruler of Rootcrown, and naturally, one of the most protected places in the city.
Lian chose the side paths.
Abyss Veil allowed him to pass most of the Guards.
But when he reached the inner ring of the Palace, another problem appeared, there was a protective gate that seemed to be opened only by certain people.
He tried to pass through it, but it was impossible and he had to wait for a while until one of the people who seemed to have the right to open the gate finally appeared.
At the same time as that Cindari opened the gate, Lian entered the Palace.
From there, the path went downward.
Stairs, circular hallways, and the deeper he went, the fewer but stronger the Guards became.
And finally, he reached a huge door.