Chapter 658: Dinner Is Served!

Roderick’s body was injured, and the Ascended Mana around his arms was unstable, but even now, his gaze was fixed only on Lian.

"Vorhelm!"

Then he charged toward him with all his strength.

Lian let out a short sigh.

"Are you really not finished yet?" He only raised his left hand.

[Core of the Fallen Star Activated]

Gravity increased along Roderick’s path, and he lost his balance for a moment. But unlike the previous times, instead of correcting his movement, he threw himself forward with all his strength.

Lian moved his head to the side.

The fist passed in front of his face, and then his right knee struck Roderick’s stomach.

BAAANG!

The young Ashen’s body bent backward, but before he could fall to the ground, Lian grabbed his neck with his left hand.

"I’ll tell you one more time."

His voice was calm.

"Get out of my way."

Roderick looked at him for a moment, blood was running down from the corner of his mouth.

Then...

"Ha... hahaha!"

Another loud laugh came from his throat.

"You... you think you can give me orders?!"

The young Vorhelm looked at his face for several seconds and then opened his hand.

But not to release Roderick, instead, he sent a direct strike toward his chest.

[Disaster Suppression Fist]

BOOOOOOM!

Roderick was thrown backward, and his body moved several meters through the air before finally striking the western stone wall, causing a large part of it to collapse.

But Lian did not even look at him anymore.

Because the Nine-Venom Castellan was now preparing its next attack, and at the same time, the situation on the northern platform had also changed.

A new group of Withered climbed out from the cracks and moved toward Rindo.

Two landed among them with a long jump and knocked several creatures out of the way, but the number of attackers was still high.

Rindo tightened his grip on his spear.

A Level 32 Withered attacked him.

He used the First Form to redirect the strike and then sent his spear toward the creature’s chest with a short movement.

The blade pierced its body, but before he could pull out his weapon, another Withered approached from the right.

He immediately spun his spear.

[Fourth Form: Azure Dragon Rends the Nine Heavens]

Azure mana spread along the weapon in a spiral movement, and Rindo rose from the ground along with his spear, allowing the attacker’s strike to pass beneath his feet.

Then he turned his body in the air and used the force of his fall to drive the spear’s tip into the creature’s shoulder.

The Withered fell to the ground.

Two immediately blocked its escape path with another strike.

Rindo found an opportunity to deliver the final blow.

SLASH!

The creature stopped moving.

Several experience messages appeared before Rindo, he looked at them for a moment, and then another window opened.

[Level Up!]

[Level: 29 → 30]

He let out a heavy breath.

Level thirty.

He smiled for a moment, but when his gaze fell on the central battlefield, his smile disappeared.

Lian was still fighting among several poisonous streams.

Despite his serious injuries, Roderick was still getting up from among the broken stones.

And the Nine-Venom Castellan... all nine blades of its crown were now glowing.

Rindo lowered his spear for a moment.

Is he really fighting both of them at the same time?

But the scene before him was different from what he had expected.

Lian was not retreating.

Even with hundreds of Withered and two powerful enemies around him, every time he changed his position, one of the attackers was killed or one of the Castellan’s attacks failed.

And the young Vorhelm was still calm.

Lian landed about twenty meters away from the Nine-Venom Castellan.

The ground beneath his feet was covered with a layer of ice, but even this ice was beginning to break down in the places where the emerald poison had struck it.

The Castellan lowered its head slightly and then held its right hand in front of its chest, the eighth opening in its crown lit up, and golden, ash-like steam came out from it and wrapped around the creature’s arm.

Lian watched carefully.

This time, the poison approached one of the injured Withered.

The creature tried to use its natural recovery ability, but the life energy flowing around its wound slowed down greatly.

This poison could disrupt the body’s healing process and mana regeneration, and when combined with the other poisons, even a relatively small wound could become a lasting injury.

Eight poisons.

Only one stream remained.

The almost colorless stream moving in the center of the Castellan’s crown.

Lian stared at it for a moment, and this last one is probably the most dangerous, but at that exact moment, the Castellan moved.

Its four-meter-tall body closed the distance with unexpected speed, and its right claw moved toward his neck.

The young Vorhelm lowered his head, the claw passed above him and cut through part of the stone behind him.

But the Castellan continued its attack, and its left hand moved upward from below while purple poison spread along its fingers.

Lian placed his forearm in front of the strike.

BAAANG!

The impact occurred, but the purple poison immediately tried to enter through the mana flow around his hand.

Before the effect could spread, Lian briefly limited the mana connection in that area and moved away from the Castellan with a quick turn.

Smart.

Unlike ordinary Withered, this creature combined physical strikes with different poisons and changed its attack method as soon as it observed its opponent’s reaction.

The young Vorhelm looked at his left hand for a moment, part of the mana around it was still unstable, but he had not suffered any serious damage.

"Alright."

He raised his head.

"Now it’s my turn."

His body moved.

BOOM!

The stone beneath his feet broke, and in a short moment, the distance between him and the Castellan disappeared, the creature tried to raise its right arm.

But Lian reached it first, and his left fist struck the Castellan’s side.

BAAANG!

The black armor cracked, and the creature moved several meters backward, but before it could lose its balance, Lian had already prepared his second strike.

[Disaster Suppression Fist]

Mana gathered in several compressed layers along his right fist, and the strike hit the Castellan’s chest.

CRACK!

The first layer of force was released, part of the armor split open, but he had not pulled his fist back yet, and the second layer was released.

BAAANG!

A new wave of pressure entered the creature’s body through the same point, the Castellan was thrown backward with great force and struck a large stone pillar.

The pillar cracked.

But just as the creature tried to get up from the ground, another wave of pressure activated at the damaged point.

BOOOOM!

The outer part of its chest armor was destroyed.

A rough sound came from the Castellan’s throat, not a roar of anger, but something closer to the sound of a creature that had realized the enemy before it was more dangerous than it had first expected.

Lian lowered his hand.

The monster slowly stood up from among the broken stones, but this time, its movements were more careful.

It looked at the human for several seconds and then lowered its head slightly, the nine poisonous streams began moving around its body again.

The young Vorhelm noticed that the almost colorless stream was becoming denser.

"Are you finally going to use the last one too?"

But just before it activated, a Level 49 Withered approached the Castellan from behind.

The Unholy creature did not even look at it and simply turned its left hand, sending a green stream toward the Withered.

In less than a second, a large part of its body broke down, and then the same dark green threads returned from the place where the creature had been destroyed toward the Castellan.

The ninth poison.

This almost colorless stream activated after the victim’s death and transferred part of its remaining life force to the Castellan.

The absorbed streams entered the crown.

Several cracks in the Castellan’s chest armor closed, and some of its lost mana was restored.

Lian watched the scene for a moment.

"So that’s how you heal yourself."

But he also reached a more important conclusion.

As long as hundreds of Withered remained nearby, the Castellan could recover from some of its injuries by killing weaker creatures.

And considering that all its attention was focused on Lian, it probably intended to use this method to continue the battle.

The young Vorhelm looked at the bodies scattered across the battlefield and then gave a faint smile.

"Unfortunately, I have plans for them too."

At that moment, the southern part of the plain was covered in thick layers of smoke and steam.

Molten lava had risen from the new cracks, and the hot air currents spread gray smoke across a wide area.

Lian examined the situation from above the battlefield.

Rindo and Two were still fighting a group of attackers to the north, One had also taken a defensive position in the southern passage and was still preventing the Withered from passing through the main path.

Both Two and One had leveled up after killing the Withered.

But that was not important right now, what mattered was that everyone was currently busy and no one was paying attention to this area.

A good opportunity.

He slowly descended toward a part of the plain where dozens and hundreds of monster bodies he had killed using Eclipse Energy and Bloodborne Calamity were lying.

He picked up around seven or eight bodies and placed them in his storage space, he wanted to give them to Miranda after leaving this place.

Miranda had previously helped him obtain equipment and some treasures, selling rare Withered specimens could not only bring him income, but also expand their business relationship.

But he had another plan for the remaining bodies.

Smoke and dust covered everything, and now was the best time, especially since he could also make sure the monster would no longer be able to heal itself this way.

Lian opened his hand and took something out of his storage space.

The Devourer Egg.