For a moment, the sound of a sword spread through the area, but Lian’s eyes fixed on Selina again.
The sound of swords hitting each other came from behind him, Seris pushed one of the Returned several meters back with King’s Breaker.
But he could almost no longer hear the battle, his mind was locked onto an old sentence.
Aurelia’s voice, a memory he had seen in the Legacy Dungeon.
"Someone among us allowed The Black Silence to enter."
Allowed it to enter, until now Lian had understood it like a normal phrase.
Someone opened a gate, someone helped the Calamity, but maybe Aurelia had been more precise than he had thought.
Allowed it to enter.
Now he felt that he finally understood what this sentence meant!
"To enter a World... an Anchor!" His eyes widened and everything suddenly made more sense.
Maybe the Calamity could not simply pass through a Rift.
Maybe to enter a new World, it needed something that belonged to that World.
A Body, a Soul, a living being whose existence was made from the laws of that World.
An Anchor!
In the past, how had Black Silence entered this Realm?
He did not know exactly how it had entered, but he knew that its first Vessel was the Primordial Root and it spread from there.
In the end, the leaders of the old civilizations destroyed the Primordial Root in order to suppress it, and imprisoned Black Silence inside the corrupted Titan.
Everything was connected to the same point.
But now? Black Silence no longer only wanted to remain in this Realm.
The Main Quest was clear, its next target was Earth and to enter Earth, it needed an Anchor from Earth.
Lian stared at Selina.
This girl had been chosen not because of her Talent, not because of her Class, and not because she was the most special human in Special Area.
But simply because she was from Earth.
"So that’s it." Almost the entire mystery changed shape in a single moment.
Selina might have even been chosen randomly.
Among the Humans who had gotten close enough to Forgotten Tree or a mechanism related to the Calamity, she was simply the first suitable Candidate.
It did not matter who the Vessel was, it only needed to belong to Earth.
That stupid Cindari leader, with all the nonsense he said, either wanted to fool them or simply believed the nonsense he was saying.
Either way, when the Gestation was complete, Black Silence would no longer have a local Vessel.
Its Vessel would be an Earthling, a living Anchor to Earth, and maybe that was enough to open the path.
Lian looked at Aren for a moment, the man was still lying on the ground several dozen meters away.
Another mystery was also solved at that moment, for twenty-five years, the Cindari had been searching for Aren for years, but their goal was not to kill him.
They had asked him about the Rift many times, they had tried many times to find out which World he came from, they had told him they were looking for a way out of the Realm.
Maelor had also claimed that the Cindari needed Humans so they might find a way to escape from their dying World.
But what if this whole story was only a cover? Not necessarily a lie that all Cindari knew about.
Most Cindari probably truly believed that their leaders were looking for a way to escape in order to save their civilization.
But the leaders? The generations that had access to the secret of Cindar and Black Silence? They had never been looking for a way out.
They were looking for a Human, an Anchor and a Vessel.
Aren was not supposed to find a way to his own World, Aren himself was supposed to be that path.
All this time they had only been looking for him so they could use him as a Vessel, but when they finally managed to capture him, that was also when new Humans entered this World.
And among those Humans, one of them was randomly chosen as the new Vessel and the process began.
And at that point they no longer needed Aren, so he was thrown away and the Cindari leader allowed the others to do whatever they wanted with him.
"So that’s why they kept you..." He then whispered.
"Damn it."
The whole story now had a new meaning, the leaders of every Cindari generation could control their people with one simple goal.
The World is dying, Forgotten Tree is becoming weaker and we must find a way to another World.
If we find a Human, keep them alive, ask them about their World, ask about the Rift, ask about the way back.
But the truth? They were only waiting for the right time to turn the Human into the next Anchor of the Calamity.
"Now everything makes sense together."
Suddenly, an explosion happened behind him, Lian turned his head for a moment, Seris had clashed with one of the Returned.
The ancient swordsman had brought his blade down and the girl had barely managed to redirect it with her own sword.
The Returned Mage sent several gray Projectiles from above her head.
Seris dropped to one knee, passed under the attack and filled the space between them with Thousand Petal Swordstorm.
But two more Returned had separated from the main Formation from the right.
However, the girl’s condition had become much worse, her entire body was covered in blood and she could no longer use one of her hands.
She was using her trump cards and had somehow managed to survive until now.
Time was running out and Lian looked at the Cocoon again, understanding why Selina had been chosen was only half of the problem.
"Now how do I replace myself with her without killing you?"
The progress was 99.1%.
The process was at a stage where even the smallest disturbance could complete it.
Or release Black Silence, or kill Selina.
"I need to trick it for a few seconds." He thought for a few seconds and then an idea came to his mind.
His hand went into his Inventory and he took something out.
A Core, heavier and larger than normal Cores, but unlike active Cores, it was almost empty inside.
An aura came from it that felt like it wanted to destroy and ruin everything.
[Demon-Rank Core]
The same Core he had taken from Vorhelm a long time ago.
At that time he had no immediate use for it, he was not even sure why he had kept it, but his instincts had told him that one day it would be useful.
Maybe that day had finally come.
Monster Cores were not only sources of Mana, they were Containers.
Natural structures that a Monster’s body created to store energy.
Mana.
Elemental Energy.
Bloodline Energy.
Corruption.
And in very powerful creatures, even more complex energies, Monsters had one Core before their first Evolution, but as their Rank and Evolution became higher, their body structure became more complex.
After Evolution, they increased the number of their Cores, because of the limit of their capacity, no matter how strong one Core was, it was not infinite.
And the Core in front of Lian was Demon Rank, empty and ready to receive energy.
And unlike Selina, there was still no living Structure inside it that could resist the Calamity.
"It isn’t enough for a permanent Vessel, but maybe it will work for a few seconds."
That was all he needed, just a few seconds, divert Black Silence from Selina to the Core, then take Selina out and enter himself.
Then he would let the Core be destroyed, at that moment, he would be the only Candidate left.
There was only one problem.
How could he enter the Cocoon? The surface of the Cocoon was completely closed.
If he made a hole in it with Thunder Calamity, the Structure might collapse.
Glacial Reaper Claw might also Freeze the Root Strands inside it.
Cataclysm Pulse would be even worse.
"Now I need to enter this thing without damaging it."
At that moment something moved inside the Inventory.
Again.
Tap.
Tap.
His eyebrows came together.
"What?"
The System reacted.
[Devourer Egg Is Reacting.]
[Devourer Egg Wishes to Assist.]
Lian looked at the panel for several seconds, then put his hand into the Inventory and took the Egg out.
The strange Egg rested in his palm, its surface was the same as always, but almost immediately after coming out it started shaking.
"You?"
The Egg gave a strong shake and Lian raised it slightly.
"Can you really help?"
Another shake, and this time it was even more certain.
"I don’t trust you."
The Egg immediately became completely still.
"Don’t tell me you want to devour the whole Cocoon?"
The Egg suddenly started shaking violently, so clearly that even without a language, its protest could be understood.
"Yeah, yeah. Completely trustworthy." Lian said sarcastically.
At that moment, the sound of a heavy impact came from behind him, one of the Returned slammed Seris into the ground.
The girl rolled away and moved aside before the next blade came down, then used Moonless Severance almost from the ground.
A Slash appeared on the enemy’s chest after a delay and pushed him back.
One’s condition was also not good at all, two of his arms had been torn off and more holes had appeared in his body.
If Seris had not also been protecting him, even that Ant would already be dead.
Lian looked at the Egg again, there was no time for jokes and unfortunately, it seemed there was no other choice.
"Listen, I only need an entrance." He pointed at the Cocoon with his free hand.
"Create an entrance between the outside and the inside, you don’t cut anything, you don’t eat any of those black veins and you don’t touch the Calamity." Then he looked directly at the Egg.
"And if you eat even one hair of Selina..."
"Even if it is the last thing I do in my life, I will make fried eggs out of you."
The Egg became completely still, then gave a very small shake.
If Lian had to translate it, it was probably something like, "I understand."
"Good." He pointed at the surface of the Cocoon.
"Only the shell."
The Egg moved back and forth.
The young Vorhelm took a short breath and looked at the battle.
This time Seris had kept four Returned at a relatively close distance from herself, how she was still standing was another question.
But this could not continue like this, even that girl had a limit.
It was time for the replacement to begin.
"Now, start your job!" He then said to the Devourer Egg!