The Swordmaster came forward and she raised her sword, but Cindar passed by her and went directly toward the Cocoon.
The other four Undead saw Seris as an enemy.
Cindar did not, in his eyes Seris was not even an enemy, just an obstacle, something that needed to be removed from his path.
She pushed herself off the ground, no matter what it took, she would not let this bastard reach the Cocoon!
[Moonless Severance.]
Cindar turned his head slightly and at that moment the Slash landed on his cheek.
A deeper line appeared than before, he stopped and for the second time his eyes looked directly at the Human girl.
"You’re not going anywhere." Seris said coldly and very directly.
The Founder raised his hand, the invisible pressure was much stronger this time and the young Pendragon held her sword with both hands in front of her body.
The force came down on the Blade, the ground under her feet cracked and her knees bent.
Her injured thigh almost gave out, her other leg was also shaking but she did not move back, not even one centimeter.
"Hold on!" There was only one sentence in her mind.
The pressure became stronger and fresh blood came down from Seris’s nose, the muscles in her arms were almost torn apart.
"Not even one step, I won’t let you go toward the Cocoon!" The veins in her hands tore one after another and her muscles were crushed.
She could feel the terrible pain caused by the pressure crushing her bones.
And at that exact moment, the ground shook, at first she thought it was another Skill from Cindar, but the pressure suddenly stopped.
Cindar lowered his hand.
Seris looked in surprise, the other four Undead had also stopped at the same time.
The Swordmaster had lowered its Blade, the other one had stopped the Roots, the Mage had left its Spell unfinished.
They were all looking in the same direction.
The Cocoon.
Then the second shake came and this time the entire Forgotten Tree shook, the huge branches hundreds of meters above made loud sounds.
The ground around the Roots cracked open, the fog from the lower Dead Zone was pushed away.
The young Pendragon looked at the Cocoon, the surface of the Cocoon was now completely closed, there was no sign left of the opening Lian had entered through.
Selina was lying unconscious several meters away.
So Lian had managed to get her out, but he was inside the Cocoon!
All the Root Strands started to pulse.
Golden.
Black.
Then the black became stronger.
THUMP.
The vibration moved from the Cocoon into the ground.
Seris felt it not only under her, but inside her bones.
The Mana in the environment started to change direction, not only the Mana around the Forgotten Tree, something from far away was also being pulled in.
As if the Realm itself was feeding the Cocoon.
The five Undead slowly changed their positions, not to attack but to stand in a half-circle in front of the Cocoon.
None of them knelt, but their Formation looked like something similar to a Guard of Honor.
Seris looked at them for several seconds.
Then she understood, they had not come to kill Lian, at least not at this moment, they had not come to stop something either.
The opposite.
They had come to protect the Birth, to welcome it and that was what caused the worry and fear.
Because of what Lian had done inside it.
Selina was outside, which meant the first part of his plan had succeeded, but Lian himself had entered, and now the entire Forgotten Tree was shaking.
Mana from a World was being pulled toward that point.
And five creatures that should have been dead for centuries were standing in front of the Cocoon like ancient guards.
"Lian..." She said his name very quietly in her mind.
This time there was no sarcasm with it, no fake anger, only worry.
"What the hell did you do?" A few seconds later, she frowned.
The ground was shaking so hard that it was clear there was a power capable of shaking the entire World.
God knew what exactly was happening inside that Cocoon that was causing such terrible earthquakes.
Were these just normal effects of the Calamity’s Birth? Or were they the effects of something else? Like a battle between Lian’s consciousness and the Calamity?
She did not know, she was not sure, but she trusted that crazy Vorhelm, whatever was happening... it was definitely not a bad sign, right?
[Warning.]
[Calamity Is Manifesting.]
[Host Replacement Confirmed.]
[Gestation Reconstruction In Progress.]
Seris’s expression changed and a number appeared.
[Gestation Reconstruction: 97.4%]
That meant Lian had really become the Vessel and worse, the Birth had not stopped.
[97.8%]
[98.2%]
[98.7%]
She held her sword tighter, her mind went to the worst possibility for a moment.
What if Lian had failed? What if he had not been able to control Black Silence? What if the Calamity was doing the same thing to him that it was supposed to do to Selina?
What if when the Cocoon opened, what came out was no longer Lian?
Seris stopped the thought immediately, not because it was impossible, but because thinking about it now would not help.
"Stay alive first." She said under her breath and it was unclear whether she was talking to herself or Lian.
"But if you really turn into a Calamity, what should I do?" She had no idea, she did not know how she was supposed to complete that damn Quest in this situation.
The same Evolution Quest, the same thing that when she had first seen it, she had thought the System was really making fun of her.
If even that man became the Vessel of the Calamity...would she still have to do it? But if she did not do it...she would never be able to go beyond the First Evolution.
[Calamity Entity Detected.]
[Quest Target Is Within Range.]
Seris’s eyes slowly moved from the panel back to the Cocoon, for the first time the meaning of the Quest truly felt heavy.
Black Silence was inside the Cocoon, but it was not only Black Silence, Lian was inside it too.
If the Birth was completed, the Calamity would be born from Lian’s body.
"What a damn joke...."
[98.9%]
The Undead continued to stand in silence.
One was lying on the ground behind Seris, with no clear movement, only its antenna shook once every few seconds.
Selina was still unconscious.
Aren was lying on the ground farther away.
And her? Almost her entire body was covered in blood, but she was still standing, at least for now she had no other choice.
[99.0%]
Seris slowly breathed out.
THUMP.
The entire Dead Zone shook.
[99.2%]
More Mana was pulled toward the Cocoon, the branches of the Forgotten Tree above them made loud sounds.
[99.5%]
[99.7%]
Why had the Quest hidden itself from Lian? Because it was strange? Because it did not want to worry him?
Maybe.
She had not told him at that time because it looked insane.
But now she had another thought.
Some Quests only become truly scary when the Target is no longer a meaningless name.
[99.8%]
Seris locked her only healthy eye on the Cocoon, black light leaked through the Roots and the ground under her feet shook with every pulse.
THUMP.
[99.9%]
Her heart seemed to match that same beat for a moment.
No.
She could not make a decision that she did not need to make yet.
Lian was supposed to come out, the same Lian as always.
Then Seris could blame him for this stupid plan until he regretted coming out of the Cocoon!
She did not want to do that... if he really came out himself... she could not force herself to actually complete her Evolution Quest...
But if, if something else came out...if Black Silence had taken his body...if there was no Lian left behind those eyes...
"If something other than you comes out of there..." Seris’s hand tightened around the sword hilt and her voice was so low that only she could hear it.
She raised the blood-covered blade a few centimeters.
"I’ll kill it myself."
The System showed its final message at that exact moment.
[Warning.]
[Calamity Birth Imminent.]
And directly below it, her Quest, which no longer looked funny at all, but instead looked like something she might have no choice but to complete....
[Evolution Quest: Kill The Calamity: Black Silence.]