Chapter 657: The Nine Deadly Poisons

The Withered’s muscles had slowed down, and their mana flows were unstable.

And Lian was still standing in the sky, he turned his gaze toward the next group.

"Next."

New threads of dark light appeared, and the slaughter continued.

Dozens of system messages appeared before him.

[You have killed a Level 42 Withered]

[You have killed a Level 48 Withered]

[You have killed a Level 44 Withered]

But the young Vorhelm ignored most of them.

He did not even need to move around to kill each creature.

The Bloodborne Calamity Domain had already weakened the enemies’ resistance, and the combination of Corrupt Sun and End Energy targeted the weak points in their defensive structures.

Even so, Lian was not attacking the entire battlefield equally.

At that moment, a Level 52 creature managed to pass through the blood-colored mist.

Its body was more than four meters tall, and several thick layers of bone had formed over its chest.

The domain’s poison had slowed its movements, but it still had enough strength to destroy part of the southern passage with a single strike.

One stood in front of it, the giant ant’s six semi-real arms moved, and repeated strikes hit the Withered’s body.

But despite its injuries, the creature did not retreat.

It raised its heavy arm and brought it down toward the ant’s head, but before the impact, an unusual pressure settled on the Withered’s body.

[Core of the Fallen Star]

Gravity increased only around the attacking arm, slowing its movement for a moment.

One used the opportunity, and three arms of destruction struck the creature’s chest at the same time.

BAAANG!

The bone layers broke, and at that same moment, a thin beam of dark light came down from the sky.

Lian.

The beam reached the crack created in the Withered’s chest, and End Energy broke the connection within the damaged structure.

The creature’s body bent backward, and a few moments later, it fell to the ground.

[You have killed a Level 52 Withered]

He turned his gaze toward the other attackers.

There are still too many of them.

But this time, something appeared before him.

[Level Up!]

[Level: 31 → 32]

The young Vorhelm looked at the message for a moment and then closed the window without any special reaction.

It still wasn’t enough, he needed to kill more, he needed to level up more, he had to reach at least Level 40, the fact that he could not increase his stats was starting to annoy him.

Lian looked at the battlefield again.

To the north, Rindo and Two were fighting a group of Withered between Level 28 and Level 33.

The huge wolf had pushed several stronger creatures out of the way, and now Rindo had the chance to fight enemies closer to his own level.

The first Withered jumped toward him.

Rindo turned his spear.

[First Form: Stillpoint]

The creature’s strike was redirected from its original path, and then the spear’s blade moved directly into the weak point of its chest.

[Second Form: Piercing Meridian]

The Withered fell to the ground, but two more creatures approached from different directions, he took a step back and raised his spear with a spinning movement.

[Third Form: Threefold Return]

Three connected strikes were performed from different angles.

The first strike pushed aside the right creature’s hand, the second changed the path of the left creature’s attack, and the third struck the injured Withered’s neck.

Rindo pulled out the blade, and at that moment, a system message appeared before him.

[Level Up!]

[Level: 28 → 29]

He paused for a moment and then let out a short breath.

"Finally."

But he had no more time to examine his panel, because another Withered appeared from behind one of the rocks.

Two immediately turned its head, and a deep roar came from its throat, while a wave of mana pressure spread across the rocky platform.

[Skyless Howl]

The pressure from the howl caused several nearby attackers to lose their balance for a moment and gave Rindo time to change his position.

He tightened his grip on his spear.

"Good. Then let’s continue."

Lian watched this scene from a distance.

The corner of his mouth rose slightly.

Not bad.

But just as he was about to begin his next attack, a wave of mana reached him from the east.

The Nine-Venom Castellan was still standing motionless, but this time, all nine blades of its crown were glowing.

Lian narrowed his eyes.

"Are you finally going to get serious?"

Around the Castellan, nine poisonous streams slowly formed.

Emerald, purple, gray, red, dark blue, golden, black, white, and an almost colorless stream that could only be detected through changes in mana pressure.

Each of these poisons had a different effect.

The emerald poison damaged the body and armor, the purple poison disrupted mana flow, and the gray poison stopped nerves and muscles from working.

But when the red stream struck one of the injured Withered, Lian noticed a new effect.

The drops of blood on the creature’s wound began to change shape, and then thin lines of the same color spread across its body.

It spreads through wounds?

After entering the blood, the red poison moved through the blood vessels and could carry the effects of other poisons to more parts of the body.

At that same moment, the dark blue stream also spread across the battlefield.

For a moment, Lian felt that the Castellan’s distance from his actual position had changed, but after examining the mana flow, he realized that the creature itself had not moved.

Sensory disruption.

The dark blue poison affected the target’s senses and made it harder to understand distance, direction, and the enemy’s position.

Five poisons.

The young Vorhelm looked toward the four remaining streams, but the Castellan gave him no more time to examine them, it opened its hands, and all nine poisonous streams began moving at the same time.

This time, the steam did not move in a straight path.

Instead, it spread around the Castellan’s armored body in the form of nine huge rings, and for a moment, the scene looked like a huge crown made of nine rivers of poison.

The ground beneath it began to change color, the stones cracked, and even the ancient white roots that had emerged from the walls turned black where they touched the emerald stream.

Lian carefully watched the scene.

"Now I understand why they call it the Nine-Venom Castellan."

The Unholy creature lowered its right hand, and the rings of poison separated, all of them moving toward him.

But this time, the young Vorhelm did not retreat, he opened his two black wings and then raised his right hand.

[Frost Dominion]

Intense cold spread around him.

The moisture in the air turned into ice crystals, and some of the poisonous streams turned into frozen drops when they entered the cold area.

Of course, not all the poisons disappeared, some streams had mana-based structures and remained active even among the ice crystals.

Lian knew this.

So with another movement, he created several ice walls in the path of the attacks to separate the streams from each other.

The emerald ring struck the first wall, and the ice began to break down, but before the wall was completely destroyed, Lian changed his position.

He passed through an opening he had intentionally created in his defense and rushed toward the Castellan at high speed.

The Unholy creature noticed his movement, and its glowing eyes became fixed on him, then a white stream came out from its crown.

The young Vorhelm narrowed his eyes for a moment.

The white steam reached his left forearm, and at that exact moment, the defensive mana layer around his hand began to become unstable.

The white poison did not directly destroy the body; instead, it weakened defensive energy layers and reduced their resistance against later attacks.

But before its effect could spread, Lian cut off the mana flow in that area and moved out of the steam’s path.

"Interesting, this one is for breaking defenses."

Then he clenched his right fist.

[Disaster Suppression Fist]

Mana moved in compressed layers along his arm, but just before the impact, the Nine-Venom Castellan quickly moved backward.

This time, unlike what Lian expected from a large monster, the creature’s speed was extremely high.

Its long claw moved toward Lian’s side, the young Vorhelm turned his body, and the claw passed beside his clothes.

But at that exact moment, black steam came out from the Castellan’s fingertips.

Lian immediately moved away, and the steam struck one of the stones behind him, the stone surface turned white and then cracked and collapsed, but its effect was not like the emerald poison.

"Does this one change temperature and sensation?"

With [True Sequence], Lian noticed that the black poison affected heat transfer and the target’s nerve reactions.

After contact, it could make parts of the body numb and even reduce the muscles’ ability to react.

Seven poisons.

And two more streams still remained.

The Castellan stood about ten meters away for a moment, then slowly tilted its head, and its gaze remained fixed on him.

But just as the young Vorhelm was about to attack again, loud laughter came from the west.

"Hahahaha!"

Roderick had appeared from among the broken stones again.