Lian held the Egg in front of the Cocoon.
"One..."
A weak light appeared on the surface of the Egg.
"Two..."
The space around it started to bend.
"Three..."
Vorhelm’s eyes locked onto the Cocoon.
"Now."
The Egg’s energy was released immediately, a strange color between dark gold and black that seemed to pull the light into itself.
The space in front of the Cocoon changed shape for a moment and a small circle appeared on the shell.
Then... that part disappeared!
It did not break, burn, or melt, not even a Fragment fell onto the ground, instead, part of the Cocoon was removed so cleanly that it was as if it had never existed in the first place.
A circular hole appeared on the surface of the Cocoon, large enough for Lian to pass his hand and then his body through it.
But what really stopped him was how precise the result was.
The Root Strands, completely unharmed.
The black veins? Untouched.
The energy membrane inside the Cocoon? Still stable.
Even the Mana flow had not stopped for even a moment.
The System confirmed it.
[Localized Devouring Complete.]
[Gestation Structure Integrity: Stable.]
Lian looked at the Egg, and he was actually a little impressed.
"Not bad."
The Egg immediately started shaking with pride.
"Be proud later."
Then he picked up the Demon-Rank Core and immediately took it through the hole inside the Cocoon.
At first, nothing happened, the Core was placed a short distance away from Selina’s body.
Lian waited.
One second.
Two seconds.
Then—
THUMP!
The entire Cocoon shook.
The black veins that had been spread across Selina’s body and the Root Strands until that moment stopped at the same time.
Then their direction changed!
Like a group of snakes that had suddenly smelled fresh prey, the black veins moved back toward the Demon Core.
It was not that they immediately separated from Selina’s body, but the flow of energy had clearly changed.
[Foreign Energy Container Detected.]
[Calamity Gestation Pattern Altering.]
[Temporary Vessel Candidate Detected.]
Lian’s eyes lit up.
"I got you."
His guess had been correct, the Core was not a complete Vessel in the eyes of Black Silence.
It had no Soul, it had no proper connection to a World, but on an instinctive level it had something Selina did not.
Empty space, a capacity ready to accept energy, and also the Core of a Demon! An extremely powerful and high-level being that was more valuable than Selina from every point of view.
For a few moments, that was enough for the Calamity to move its attention away from the main Host, the black veins on the girl’s neck started moving back.
Lian acted immediately, he put his right hand through the hole.
[Glacial Reaper Claw.]
Ice formed over his fingers and palm, but this time he did not intend to Freeze Black Silence.
This layer was only for protection, a barrier between his skin and the Root Strands he had to cut.
The first strand was wrapped around Selina’s wrist, he grabbed it and closed the ice claw.
Cut.
At that moment, a strong pain spread through his fingers.
"Damn! What is this?" Lian frowned, the skin under the Ice started smoking, at first he thought it was heat.
But it was not, his skin was being destroyed from the inside! It was as if something was turning the structure of his cells into liquid.
[Warning.]
[Calamity Rejection Mechanism Activated.]
[Foreign Interference Detected.]
"Of course it’s not easy." Lian clenched his teeth.
He grabbed the second strand and cut it, the black effect moved from his fingertips to his palm.
A small part of his skin cracked and the tissue underneath became visible, he strengthened Glacial Reaper and Ice formed over the wound again.
But even the Ice started turning black, Black Silence was not destroying it immediately, instead, it was slowly spreading through the structure of the Ice like decay.
And Selina was not safe either, when the third strand was cut, her unconscious body suddenly shook and the black veins on her neck became brighter.
Not pure black but red and black! The skin around them started turning red and then a very small amount of steam rose from it!
The System immediately gave a warning.
[Host Separation Detected.]
[Gestation Preservation Mechanism Activated.]
Lian’s expression became cold, this mechanism existed to prevent exactly this situation.
If someone tried to separate the Host during Gestation, the process would destroy both the Host and the one interfering with it.
Or it would cause enough damage to force them to stop, but this time Black Silence had another problem.
The Demon Core.
Every moment, more of the Calamity’s existence was being pulled toward it, the surface of the Core started turning black from the inside.
The old purple veins went out one after another and were replaced by dark matter.
At the same time, the burning lines on Selina’s body became a little weaker.
Lian understood, the more Black Silence focused on the temporary Vessel, the weaker the mechanism protecting the Host became.
"Then I have to be faster."
The next strand, cut, and the burning pain reached his wrist.
The fifth strand was cut and another part of the Ice melted.
The sixth strand was cut and the skin on two of his fingers was almost completely destroyed.
Resistance 725 made the damage reach the deeper tissue more slowly, but it did not stop it.
Lian continued without stopping and Selina suddenly convulsed inside the Cocoon for a moment, her head moved backward and the Black Veins on her chest became bright again.
"Hold on! There is no other way!"
He did not know if she could hear him or not, probably not, but it did not matter.
One of the thicker Root Strands had entered through the back of her shoulder, Lian grabbed it with Glacial Reaper, this one resisted.
Ice formed over it but the Root contracted and the Black Energy moved back into Lian’s hand, causing the skin on his wrist to immediately start melting.
Vorhelm frowned and put more Power into the claw!
CRACK!
The strand broke and Selina took a very short breath, the first clear sign of a living reaction.
Lian cut the next strand, and then the next.
The number of Root Strands connected to her body became smaller and at the same time the Demon Core became more and more black.
The veins on Selina also became fewer and the last strand was passing through the back of her neck.
He put his injured hand over it, the pain had moved from his fingers to his elbow and Glacial Reaper activated again.
Ice closed around the Root.
"The last one."
He pushed and the Root resisted for a moment.
Then—
It broke!
At that moment, almost all of the Black Veins on Selina’s body disappeared and Lian wrapped his healthier arm around her waist.
He pulled her, the Cocoon resisted for a moment, the cut Root Strands moved toward her body like living strings.
Lian pushed them away with Glacial Reaper, pulled again, and the girl came out of the inside of the Cocoon.
Both of them lost their balance and fell onto the ground, he ignored the pain in his hands and immediately put two relatively healthy fingers on Selina’s neck.
One second.
A heartbeat.
Then again.
Regular.
Weak, but regular, thankfully the girl was completely alive, he was not sure if she was unharmed but at least she was alive.
"Good." Lian let out a breath of relief, if he could get her away from the Cocoon now, the remaining injuries could probably be treated later.
But a sharp sound came from inside the Cocoon.
CRACK.
Lian immediately turned his head.
The Demon-Rank Core.
A crack had appeared on its surface, then a second crack, the black veins had almost filled the entire inside of the Core.
[Warning.]
[Temporary Vessel Integrity: 31%]
The number immediately dropped.
[24%]
[17%]
Lian frowned, he had expected the Core to last longer.
But when he thought about it, it made sense, Monster Cores did not have unlimited capacity, the reason some powerful Monsters created several Cores after Evolution was exactly this.
One Core could store a huge amount of Mana or Elemental Energy.
But after reaching a certain limit, the structure would break, higher-Rank Monsters sometimes increased their number instead of making one Core too large.
Two.
Four.
And more...
Each Core carried part of the body’s energy load, the Demon-Rank Core in front of him was one of the best Containers Lian had access to until now.
But Black Silence was not a normal Monster, it was a Calamity!
Even this Core had only been able to withstand part of its existence for a few dozen seconds, if the Core had been a lower Rank? It probably would have exploded at the very first moment.
Lian looked at Selina, then at his own hands, the skin on several fingers was completely damaged.
Black spots had reached his wrist, although Glacial Reaper and Resistance had stopped them from spreading further.
"If I had pulled you out directly..."
He did not finish the sentence, there was no need, both of them would probably have died before he could separate half of the Root Strands.
A movement in his other hand caught his attention, the Devourer Egg was still there.
"That was a good help."
The Egg immediately shook with clear pride.
"Don’t get too excited."
Lian opened his Inventory, before putting the Egg back inside, he paused for a moment.
"Thank you."
The Egg suddenly became silent, it did not move for one or two seconds and then gave a small shake, and Lian put it inside the Inventory.
He had never thought that one day he would thank an Egg...
Anyway, it was time to enter the Cocoon!