Chapter 471: The Unborn Saint I

This sentence made Lian look at the egg for a second, then his eyes moved to the final path.

The central node.

If the three growth nodes were the main organs, this one was the decision-making brain of the womb, or perhaps something closer to a heart.

He did not know whether what the man had said was true or not, but either way he could not stop in the middle of what he was doing, not to mention that he was not going to let this madman complete a Calamity Seed.

There was already a Calamity responsible for everything that had happened in their world and he had no interest in letting something that had the potential to become another Calamity wander around in their world.

He moved.

"Wait!" Ezrak understood immediately and the color left his face even more.

Lian jumped over a dead vein, behind the Calamity Seed’s chamber, a huge organ could be seen.

Nearly five meters tall, a mix of white and black and its overall shape was similar to a heart, but it had several separate holes and hundreds of veins entered the walls of the egg from different parts of it.

True Sequence completed the information.

All vital messages, all regeneration commands and all growth cycles, everything passed through here.

The Birth Node.

"Found you." He quietly whispered.

"Don’t touch that!" Ezrak’s voice was so loud this time that even he froze for a moment.

"The more you tell me not to touch it, the more sure I become that I found the right place." Lian gave him a quick look.

"I’m not joking this time!"

"Neither am I."

Coldness was released from his palm.

[ Frost Dominion ]

Ice formed over the Birth Node like a new layer of skin but it did not only cover the surface, the cold went deep inside and the veins turned white one after another.

The black and golden liquid inside them froze, the huge organ tried to contract once.

It stopped halfway.

"Lian, listen! If—" The white-eyed man ran toward Lian.

An ice wall formed in front of him and he was forced to stop.

"Damn it!"

The young Vorhelm placed his palm on the frozen surface of the node, this time he did not want to create a ten-meter palm.

Size was important for beginners but density was what mattered.

Mana gathered inside his real palm, it became more compressed but a lot of it was still wasted, he was still far behind Aldric’s version.

But for the third time, it was better.

[ Suppressing Palm ]

Boom.

The sound of the impact was small, unlike what was expected, there was no huge explosion and no wall exploded.

Even the Birth Node remained almost completely intact.

Ezrak froze for a moment and Lian also lowered his hand and looked at it for a few seconds.

But then ... Crack.

The outer shell of the node cracked.

Crack... Crack... Crack...

More cracks appeared, the outer flesh still kept its shape, but everything inside had completely collapsed.

The flesh, veins and nerve paths inside it had turned into a crushed mass.

....The node had died from the inside..

"No..." The white-eyed man’s face became ugly and there was even a hint of fear in his eyes and ...the entire cave went silent.

There were no more pulses, the walls became still and the veins stopped.

The half-grown arms hanging from the ceiling remained still.

The creatures that were still moving in different parts of the womb fell to the ground at the same time.

The biological lights turned off one after another, silence covered the entire cave, as if the cave had really died.

Lian heard the real silence, he slowly breathed out, he had succeeded, at least it seemed so, but there was no notification to confirm it.

He looked around, Ezrak’s face confirmed that the womb had really died.

But the white-eyed man’s eyes were fixed directly on the egg.

Lian wanted to start talking again but suddenly something beyond both of their expectations happened.

Thump!

All the veins that should have been dead suddenly contracted, but not toward him and not to attack, instead all of them moved toward the Calamity Seed’s chamber.

The young Vorhelm narrowed his eyes and the remaining liquids throughout the womb began to move.

Blood.

Mana.

Nutrient fluids.

Stored tissues.

Even parts of the incomplete creatures that had fallen to the ground began to melt, their skin collapsed and their bones became soft.

Their bodies turned into a dark liquid and were pulled toward the chamber through the veins around them.

"This... I didn’t design this." Ezrak took one step back and his voice was so quiet that this calmness made the sentence much more frightening.

"What is happening?" Lian looked at him, from his reaction he could understand that this man was not lying.

It seemed that his decision to kill the womb had caused a chain of unexpected events that should not have happened normally.

"The womb is dying." Ezrak did not answer for several seconds, his eyes were still on the egg.

"I already understood that part."

"No."

"It has realized that the womb is dying."

The young Vorhelm became silent and Ezrak pressed his lips together.

"And if the womb can no longer keep its child alive... it is giving it everything that remains."

At that moment, the amount of liquid inside the egg began to go down.

Lian turned his eyes back, the creature inside the chamber was still unmoving but its white skin was absorbing the liquid and the liquid level was going lower every second.

One meter.

Two meters.

Golden and black veins under its skin lit up and suddenly one of its fingers moved ...

Very slightly but enough to make Ezrak freeze.

Thump!

But this sound did not come from outside ... Vorhelm placed his hand on his chest, this heartbeat had come from him.

But not from his normal heart, something deeper that was hidden deep inside his soul....the Ruined Heart.

It was only one beat but it had appeared suddenly for no reason, as if something had managed to get its attention.

Lian’s eyes opened slightly, this heartbeat was not a good sign.

"What happened?" Ezrak noticed his movement.

He did not answer because at that moment ....Thump!

This time the heartbeat came from outside and a beat came from inside the egg and this time the white-eyed man heard it too and both of them became still.

One beat from the Ruined Heart.

One beat from the creature.

Then again ....Thump!

Again this was the beat that came from inside Lian, a beat that belonged to the Ruined Heart.

Thump....!

And once again, another beat came from inside the egg.

"What is this...?" Ezrak moved his eyes between Lian and the chamber.

The young Vorhelm had no answer either and before he even had a chance to think, suddenly ....Crack!

A thin line appeared on the surface of the egg.

"No, no, no..." Ezrak took one step back.

A second crack.

A third.

A fourth.

The shell began to break and a white hand from inside was placed on the transparent surface, the first thing that could be seen was its long fingers, far too long.

Crack.

The shell broke and the hand came through it, dark liquid poured onto the ground like a waterfall.

"I... didn’t wake you...you shouldn’t wake up now..." Ezrak whispered in a low voice.

Krrrrrrk!

The shell opened from the middle and the complete creature came out.

Head.

Shoulders.

Chest.

A body nearly six meters tall, far too long, but not weak and dense muscles like white ropes could be seen under its half-transparent skin.

Golden and black veins covered its entire body.

The face had no mouth, there was no complete nose either and there was only a vertical slit from the forehead to the middle of the face.

Six long and curved bones came out from behind its head, like a holy halo or a crown that had been made from bone by mistake.

Five branches were complete and the sixth had only grown halfway, white strands of tendon, nerves and bone hung from behind its shoulders.

Like wings, but without feathers and without natural beauty, like someone who had heard about angels, had never seen one and then tried to make something similar using flesh and bone.

And finally a notification appeared.

[ Unborn Saint. ]

[ Rank: Mutated - Calamity Seed ]

[ Level : 40 ( 65 ) ]

[ Growth Stage: Incomplete. ]

[ Current Growth: 68%. ]

The Unborn Saint took one step out, the ground under its foot cracked and the slit on its face slowly opened.

And behind it was a black eye that had neither an iris nor white, only complete darkness.

The eye first stopped on Lian and another notification appeared.

[ Unknown source related to Calamity detected. ]

[ Absorption priority changed. ]

[ First absorption target: Lian Vorhelm. ]

But one second later the black eye moved and stopped on Ezrak and he froze for a moment.

A new notification appeared.

[ Breeder source detected. ]

[ Biological value: Extremely high. ]

[ Second absorption target: Ezrak Vahr. ]

"What?" As its creator, he did not need to see a screen to understand that the creature he had created wanted to eat him!

The Unborn Saint tilted its head slightly for the first time.

"No..." Ezrak took one step back.

"I think your child really likes you." Lian gave him a quick look.

"Shut up!" Fear could be heard behind his voice.

"I shouldn’t be a target!"

"I think it has a different opinion." The young Vorhelm raised an eyebrow.

"I’m its creator! I should be able to control it!" he said while pointing at the creature.

The Unborn Saint showed no reaction, one of the five complete branches of its halo slowly lowered and sank into the dead floor of the womb.

Black veins on the bone lit up.

"No—" and the white-eyed man suddenly froze.

Lian felt something at that moment, a very powerful pressure that did not appear over the entire cave but around his own body.

The weight of his body became several times heavier.

Crack!

The ground under his feet broke and his knees bent for a moment, Predator’s Instincts screamed.

The Unborn Saint moved and took one step, but its six-meter body strangely swallowed the distance of dozens of meters.

In one moment it was in front of him and its raised hand came forward and its open fingers reached the center of his chest.

Lian immediately activated Thunder Step.

Boom!

But the pressure of the weight slowed his movement and instead of an explosive jump, he only moved a few meters to the side and the Saint’s fingers passed over his chest.

His clothes were torn and four thin lines appeared on his skin....the contact lasted less than one second but it was enough.

Thump!

The Ruined Heart beat and the Calamity Seed stopped at that exact moment and its black eye opened completely, the sixth incomplete branch behind its head ....

Crack.

It grew one centimeter.

"No..." Ezrak saw it and his fear became several times greater.

[ Emergency Quest ]

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( Scene visualization )