I Can Devour Monsters' SSS Talents

”How? How is that man alive?” Seris asked in disbelief.

”I don’t know either, at first I thought all of this was a plan for his resurrection, but it seems I was wrong, this bastard and the others are probably some kind of undead, their goal is to protect their plan, which is the Cocoon.” Lian thought for a moment and answered.

At first, he thought the founder was definitely behind everything and his goal was his own resurrection, but now he understood that he had been wrong.

The real goal of the resurrection had been Black Silence’s resurrection all along.

”So this is the Cocoon’s final layer of protection, huh?” the young Pendragon whispered.

For several seconds, even the sound of the wind could not be heard in the Dead Zone.

Lian kept his head raised and looked at the beings floating in the gray sky above them.

Five figures, five Cindari who normally should not be there.

Some of them had probably lived hundreds of years ago based on the appearance of their clothes and armor, and some others, if what Lian had seen in the First Archive was correct, had even come from the time when Rootcrown was founded.

But none of them spoke, even Cindar Vael, the man whose name had cast a shadow over almost all of Cindari history, was standing in the air at the center of the group and showed no reaction.

Not to Caelus’s corpse that was still lying on the ground.

Not to Lian, not even to Seris and her dried eye, his eyes were only fixed on the Cocoon and the others had almost the same behavior, they did not look like living beings watching something.

They looked more like guards who had started moving again after centuries of sleep, only to carry out an order.

Seris also looked at the same group.

Her sword was still in her hand, but unlike the previous battles, there was no sign of wanting to attack on her face.

The Potions had returned a small part of her strength, but her condition was still terrible.

Her left eye was gone, her right thigh had only just started to close and her Mana was at the lowest level Lian had seen since he met her.

One was still lying beside the huge root of the Forgotten Tree and could not even stand up.

Aren was also on the ground with both arms cut off and remained conscious only with the help of a Healing Potion and the pressure of the stones against his wounds.

”We have no chance of winning this battle.” The young Pendragon finally said.

Lian gave her a short look.

If he had heard this sentence from anyone else, it would not have been strange, but Seris? The girl who a few minutes ago, with one eye, a pierced leg and almost no Mana, had still decided to destroy the Cocoon herself?

If she said they had no chance of winning, it meant the situation was really this bad.

The young Vorhelm looked at the undead again.

Several Level 35 or higher, one Level 38 and the problem here was that this was not the peak of their power, when they were truly alive they were probably much stronger.

But after spending so many years between life and death, it was clear that their strength had greatly decreased.

”I know, but we have no choice.” He then nodded, he could also see that there was no way to win, but could they really do anything else?

At that moment, a deep sound came from behind them.

THUMP.

The roots of the Cocoon contracted at the same time and the black light inside its veins became stronger for a moment and a new panel appeared in front of the two.

[Calamity Gestation Progress: 99.1%]

”Whatever you’re going to do to replace her, now is the time.” Seris gave the man beside her a serious look and said.

Lian opened his mouth, but before he could speak, the girl raised her sword.

”I’ll hold them back, as long as I can.” Both of them knew what this sentence meant.

In her current condition, Seris could not last for long even against one of them.

Three?

Four?

This was no longer a battle, it was buying time with her own life.

The young Vorhelm looked at her for several seconds, if the situation were normal, he would not allow it, if they even had a few extra minutes, maybe he could find another way.

But the number 99.1% was in front of their eyes, and behind that number was their own world.

The Main Quest had clearly said that if they failed, Black Silence would gain access to their world, there was no room for discussion, not for this girl and not for himself.

”Be careful, I won’t take long.” He finally only said.

”Better not.” Seris answered without looking at him.

Then she walked past him, her first few steps were a little unstable, but with every step, her body position changed again.

Shoulders lowered, sword at a proper angle, the remaining Mana gathered inside the Blade and the undead finally reacted in front of her.

Not all of them but three separated from the Formation, the first was a man with very old armor and a long sword, the second wore a gray robe and floated in the air without any Staff or Weapon.

The third was almost two meters tall and white Root-like strands came out of his dry arms like veins.

None of them spoke, none of them even changed their expressions, it seemed that in their current state they could not speak and they only started coming down.

[Moonless Severance.]

No wave came out of the blade, the undead swordsman came directly toward her but a moment later, an invisible line opened in the space between them.

The creature raised its sword, the compressed Mana slash hit its metal and the force pushed it several meters back.

The other two Cindari entered at the same time from two directions and Seris turned her body.

[Thousand Petal Swordstorm.]

Dozens of thin Slashes like petals of light appeared around her.

Of course, not to kill but to build a wall and block their path, to force them to defend.

The first undead raised its hand and formed a Barrier of gray Mana, the second sent white roots out of its arm and dozens of Sword Auras hit them.

Seris threw herself between them without waiting for the result.

She was not supposed to win, she only needed to keep them busy long enough for Lian to finish his work.

Although before she had a chance to breathe, four more undead attacked the young Vorhelm at high speed.

”Watch out!”

But before they could reach him, a huge ant blocked their path with its body, gave a huge roar and showed its jaws.

The warning was clear, even if it died, it would not let them get close to its master!

The undead showed no reaction and attacked One, Seris frowned and increased her attacks.

Lian only looked behind him once, three undead were fighting Seris and two others were fighting One.

He took his eyes away from the battle, he could no longer help Seris or One, if he lost even thirty seconds on that battle, there might be nothing left to protect.

He stood in front of the Cocoon.

[Calamity Gestation Progress: 99.1%]

The plan he had told that girl a few minutes ago looked very simple at that moment.

”I’ll become the Vessel myself.”

But now that he was actually standing in front of the Cocoon, the problem became clear.

How?

He could not enter a System Panel and change the Host.

He could not order Black Silence to release Selina and choose him.

The process was almost complete, thousands of Root Strands had entered Selina’s body from the Cocoon.

Black veins were moving under her skin and the Calamity’s Signature had almost become one with her body.

”First, I need to understand why you were chosen in the first place.” He looked at Selina’s unconscious face.

This was the most important question.

Why Selina? Among all the humans who had entered the Special Area, why her?

Lian did not remember anything special about her Talent, she did not have an extraordinary Class that made her different from the others.

There was also no unknown Bloodline, at least as far as they knew.

She was an Awakener, stronger than some and weaker than others, but there was nothing that could explain why an ancient Calamity would choose her as its Vessel.

So maybe the question was wrong, maybe Selina had not been chosen because of something she had, maybe she had been chosen because of what she was.

Lian put himself in Black Silence’s position for a moment.

If it were an entity without a body, an entity that needed a Vessel to remain in the material world.

What kind of body would it want? First, something that could endure its power, second, something that was easy to control.

And third, a body that would not become a new prison for it, a body that would not limit its freedom.

”Freedom...” He became still for a moment and his eyes narrowed slightly.

”Freedom to move between places?”

A spark appeared in his mind and he immediately opened the Main Quest.

[...]

[Failure: The Black Silence Gains Access to Earth.]

Lian had seen this line many times, he had read it many times, but until this moment he had never asked himself exactly how.

Black Silence was in this Realm.

Earth was another World.

If the Calamity could go from one world to another whenever it wanted, why had it not done that until now?

Why had it not gone to another world thousands of years ago, when its power was greater and the Forgotten Tree still did not have its current form?

Why had it limited itself to this Realm?

Did it not want to? That was illogical.. Or maybe it simply could not.