Chapter 663: The Four

"Well"

There was a moment of silence, and then he continued.

"I think you finally understand who’s stronger."

A large part of its natural armor broke,

The monster raised its head slightly, its glowing eyes were still staring at him with anger, but unlike at the beginning of the battle, it made no further movement.

He gave a faint smile.

"You’re smart, so make the right choice."

He raised his left hand.

[Hive Dominion]

Familiar mana flows formed around his body.

Lian had previously closed the colony summoning network to save Three, but the permanent bonds of its members were still active.

Now, by activating Hive Dominion again, he could create a new connection for a special member.

Of course, only if the living and defeated creature accepted the bond.

The Nine-Venom Castellan looked at the mana flows for a moment and then slowly lowered its head, placing one of its claws on the stone.

And it completely knelt before Lian.

A window appeared in front of the young Vorhelm.

[Colony Sovereign]

[Special Colony Recruitment Available]

[Target: Nine-Venom Castellan]

[Rank: Unholy]

[Level: 25]

Lian smiled, even so, he had not expected the monster to accept so easily, to some extent, he had even expected that he would have to use other methods.

But why did he feel that this Castellan actually wanted to join his colony?

"Anyway."

Then he gave the command to form the bond.

[New Special Member Registered]

[Special Colony Members: 4/5]

[Please Choose a Name]

He looked at the creature’s nine-bladed crown for a moment and then answered without hesitation.

"Four."

The colony’s mana flows formed around the Castellan’s body, but unlike the judgment of the Hollow Sun, these flows did not mean destruction.

They created a permanent bond between the Colony Sovereign and the new member.

Through the new connection, Lian felt the creature’s presence.

Its Unholy power, its poisonous reserves, and the nine different streams that were now slowly moving inside its injured body.

He nodded and looked at the Castellan.

"From today onward, you’re part of my colony too."

The Nine-Venom Castellan lowered its head, this time, the movement was no longer a sign of weakness, but acceptance.

With the main battle over, the battlefield became calmer, although there were still Withered in the more distant areas, and the ground shook every few minutes.

But most of the nearby attackers had been destroyed.

Lian looked across the plain for several seconds, corpses were scattered throughout the area, and parts of the ground were covered in ice.

In other areas, stones had collapsed because of poison and End Energy, and in the west, the huge crack where Roderick had fallen was still releasing hot steam.

He slowly breathed out.

Then he opened the system windows.

Dozens of EXP messages and notifications about extracted skills were waiting for him.

But what caught his attention was a new message.

[Level Up!]

[Level: 32 → 33]

[Level Up!]

[Level: 33 → 34]

He looked at the new number for a moment.

Level 34.

In only a few days, his level had increased from 30 to 34.

[Fragments Acquired: 207]

Lian gave a faint smile.

Not bad.

Two hundred and seven new fragments, along with two new skill selection opportunities, he briefly looked at the skills he could copy and finally selected two options.

[Gravebreaker Pulse]

[Rank: Common (+)]

[Bone Spear Tempest]

[Rank: Common (+)]

Gravebreaker Pulse and Bone Spear Tempest.

Both could be useful in future battles, especially when Lian wanted to target several enemies without getting close to them.

But there was still one more thing left.

He looked toward the smoke-covered area, the same place where he had left the Devourer Egg.

Rindo was still on the northern platform, checking the damage to his spear.

He saw this as a good opportunity and moved his wings to leave the ground, then descended into the thick smoke.

A few moments later, he landed beside the Devourer Egg, but the scene was different from what he had expected.

All the nearby corpses had disappeared, the black threads were still moving across the ground and transferring the remains of the last creatures into the egg.

Its dark shell now had a faint glow.

Lian looked at it for a moment and then placed his hand on the egg’s surface.

A window appeared.

[Devourer Egg]

[Completion: 84%]

"Eighty-four percent?" He raised an eyebrow, considering that it had devoured the corpses of dozens and hundreds of Level 30 and 40 monsters, and even some Level 50 monsters, it seemed reasonable.

He looked at the number for several seconds and then gave a short laugh.

"Looks like you really enjoyed yourself."

The egg’s shell trembled slightly, but there was still no sign of it breaking or the creature inside coming out.

He nodded, only sixteen percent remained, and then he could finally see what was inside.

When he was sure the current feeding had ended, he returned the egg to his storage space.

He finally came out of the smoke, but just as he looked toward the battlefield again, he noticed two new presences approaching from the north.

Lian turned his head slightly.

Oh?

Farther away, two human figures were approaching through the broken pillars.

One of them was a smiling young man who was carefully examining the condition of the plain.

Noah.

And beside him walked a young woman with tied golden hair, white armor, and a blue cloak.

A long sword rested at her waist, and her calm gaze moved across the corpses and huge cracks without the slightest sign of panic.

They had reached the battlefield from one of the relatively stable paths, but when the scene in front of them became clear, both stopped for a moment.

Hundreds of Withered corpses lay on the ground, stone pillars had been destroyed, and parts of the plain had turned into huge craters.

And signs of ice, lightning, poison, and pressure attacks could be seen across almost the entire area.

But the strangest scene was a little farther away.

The Nine-Venom Castellan, an Unholy creature with a nine-bladed crown and broken armor, was now kneeling on one knee.

And in front of it stood a tall figure wearing black armor and huge wings.

Dust was still moving around him, and the glowing lines on the World-Devourer Bastion armor were slowly shining.

They kept their eyes on the figure for a moment, then looked at the corpses around him and the kneeling creature.

She slowly placed her hand on the handle of her sword, but did not draw it.

Noah also said nothing for several seconds, his gaze moved from the huge craters to the remains of the pillars and then to the Nine-Venom Castellan.

Judging by the destruction, he could easily guess how intense the battle in this area had been.

But the result of that battle was not what he had expected, and at that moment, the direction of the wind changed, and the thick dust around Lian slowly moved away.

Noah looked at the scene for a moment, and then the corner of his mouth rose slightly.

"Looks like we’re a little late."

———-

( A/N : Well, first of all, I guess a lot of you are worried about the naming system, but don’t worry. After the second evolution, the Colony talent will evolve, and its members will be able to receive something called a Title based on their powers and personalities.

And those titles will be the names shown to others.

If you have any special titles in mind for them, feel free to share your ideas in the comments.

Thank you in advance )

( Castellan Visualization )