The sound of the battle had gotten closer.
Seris was no longer holding back only three undead.
Five of them were around her, she was almost completely on the defensive, Moonless Severance blocked the path of one.
One of the Cindari caught her sword with his blade, the ancient Mage sent a wave of Mana from above.
The young Pendragon moved aside, the wave hit the ground and exploded the dirt, many wounds could be seen all over her body.
In fact, there was almost nothing else on her body except wounds, her entire skin had become covered in blood, her only remaining eye was lifeless and it was clear that she had reached her limit.
The only reason she had been able to last this long was the trump cards she had received from her family and they were all gone.
But she was still standing, her healthy eye moved toward Lian for a moment.
She saw Selina, outside the Cocoon, alive and a little of the pressure left her face.
But Lian did not give her time to look any longer, he placed Selina in a safer place, behind one of the thick Roots.
Then he returned to the Cocoon, the hole created by the Devourer Egg was closing.
The white Roots were moving from the edges toward the center.
[Temporary Vessel Integrity: 9%]
He let out a short sigh and opened the Quest.
[Evolution Quest]
[Current Evolution: Dormant Monster]
[Next Evolution: Fallen Monster]
[Devour The Black Silence.]
His eyes moved between the Quest and the Cocoon.
"If it wasn’t for this damn Quest, I would just destroy this whole thing right now."
Unfortunately, right now he had no choice except to devour this Calamity so he could evolve, but if this stupid Evolution Quest did not exist, he could simply destroy the Cocoon.
Selina had been saved and there was no need to worry about her, so the only problem was the Cocoon and maybe everything would be solved by destroying it.
But after thinking about it again, he shook his head, even that did not guarantee that the problem would be solved.
If he exploded the Cocoon and the Demon Core also broke, where would Black Silence go?
Into the surroundings? To Titan? Or would it return directly to Selina?
He did not know, the only thing he had was a path, a very dangerous and stupid path but it was a path anyway.
Lian looked at the crack in the Cocoon.
[Temporary Vessel Integrity: 6%]
He had no time, he looked at Seris one more time.
She was kneeling in front of one of the Cindari, the enemy’s sword passed over her head, the young girl turned her body, appeared behind him and struck the back of his Armor with King’s Breaker.
But the undead only moved two steps back, two others came closer, suddenly One attacked them with its tentacles to take their attention away from the young Pendragon.
Then he entered the Cocoon.
[Temporary Vessel Integrity: 4%]
First one leg, then his shoulder and then his entire body, the inside of the Cocoon was warmer than he expected.
Of course, it was not the heat of fire but the heat of something alive, the released Root Strands were moving around him.
The black material inside the Demon Core was spinning like a living liquid.
Lian fully entered and at that moment--
CRACK!
The Core broke.
There was no large explosion, the shell of the Demon-Rank Core cracked from the inside.
Then it broke into pieces and the black material trapped inside it was released into the space of the Cocoon, like a cloud of dark liquid, or a shadow that had taken a physical form.
The hole behind Vorhelm closed at the same moment, the Roots came together, the shell became complete again and the light from outside disappeared.
Lian was left alone inside the Cocoon.
For a moment, Black Silence did not move, the dark existence was floating in front of him, for the first time he was able to look at a Calamity.
It felt strange, he felt like he was looking at something higher than and beyond the understanding of humans and all mankind, something that was above every concept and form of life.
But it was evil, dark and dangerous, something whose only goal was destruction, killing and chaos.
Without eyes, without a face, without a fixed form.
But Lian felt that he was being seen, of course, not with eyes but with something much deeper, as if his Soul, existence and deepest parts were being looked at.
[Calamity Entity Has Detected a New Vessel Candidate.]
[Compatibility Analysis Initiated.]
"Whatever you’re going to do, do it quickly."
[Compatibility Exceeds Previous Host.]
[Compatibility Exceeds Temporary Vessel.]
It was natural, the Demon Core was only a Container, but the next panels were no longer normal.
[Abnormal Potential Detected.]
[Abnormal Soul Structure Detected.]
[Monster Class Detected.]
[Unknown Devouring Attribute Detected.]
[Unknown Artifact Detected Deep Within the Entity.]
Lian stopped for a moment at the last line.
Glutton.
Black Silence had sensed something inside his Class, but it could not identify exactly what it was and then a larger panel appeared.
[The Black Silence Has Shown Extreme Interest in You.]
"...Seriously?" Lian looked at it for a few seconds, well, he did not expect to suddenly become the Calamity’s favorite ... he only hoped it was not something bad.
Its answer came immediately and all the black material moved at once.
Not slowly, not like when it had moved into the Demon Core and not like a wave when it had moved into Selina, but as if something that had only been curious until that moment had suddenly found much better food.
All of Black Silence rushed toward Lian, he did not even have time to breathe, the first strand entered the skin of his hand, the second entered his neck.
Then dozens.
Hundreds.
The pain was immediate, but it was not the pain of a wound, something entered his Mana Channels, something else entered his Bloodstream.
A cold pressure hit his Soul, the pain was deep inside his existence, a pain that shook his entire existence, a pain that wanted to tear his Soul apart!
Lian pressed his teeth together, a black strand entered his chest and then another, his vision became dark for a moment.
[Calamity Energy Has Entered the Host.]
[Foreign Conceptual Contamination Detected.]
[Mana Channels Under Attack.]
[Soul Contamination Detected.]
[Resistance Activated.]
The pain became stronger, much stronger! Stronger than what a human could endure! Black Silence was not only taking over his body.
It was touching every part that made Lian "Lian".
Blood, Mana, Soul, Class, consciousness and even something deep inside his mind, but before his consciousness completely broke down, he understood one more thing.
Selina was the first choice because she came from Earth, she was a suitable Anchor.
But when several Candidates were available to Black Silence, the Calamity was not satisfied with the first Vessel.
It chose the best one.
The Demon Core was more attractive than Selina as a Container.
But Lian?
More Power.
More Potential.
An abnormal Soul Structure.
Monster Class.
And something inside him that even the Calamity could not identify and that he himself did not know about.
"My guess was right ... so whoever has more potential..."
A very weak smile appeared on Lian’s face.
Black veins moved from his neck toward his face and his vision became almost completely black.
"...is more attractive to you."
[Calamity Vessel Replacement Initiated.]
[Previous Host: Selina]
[New Host: Lian Vorhelm]
[Anchor Compatibility Confirmed.]
[Gestation Process Reconstructing...]
And then .... Lian’s consciousness went dark.