Chapter 656: A Land of Blood and Poison

Lian remained in the sky for several seconds.

Below, Roderick had stood up from among the broken stones and was still laughing in an irregular voice.

A little farther away, the Nine-Venom Castellan stood motionless, and its gaze did not leave the young Vorhelm even for a moment.

But now that some of the steam around the Castellan had spread away, Lian could see its appearance more clearly.

The creature was nearly four meters tall.

The black armor covering its body did not look much like armor made by humans; its plates had grown directly from its body, and streams of dark liquid moved between them.

Its shoulders were covered with long, curved blades, and a worn cloak hung behind them.

A cloak that seemed to have once belonged to an ancient ruler, but now only kept the remains of its former glory.

Even so, the most frightening part of its appearance was its head.

Nine black, curved blades extended from the back of its skull and formed an uneven crown, and between every two blades, there was a small opening from which steam of a different color came out.

Its face was hidden behind a white, bone-like covering, a deep crack extended from its forehead to its chin, and several rows of thin, dark teeth could be seen through the opening.

But its two eyes... the Castellan’s eyes were nothing like those of a mindless creature.

They were calm.

Focused.

And they followed Lian’s movements with such patience that it seemed the creature was already examining the best way to kill him.

Lian used [True Sequence] to examine the mana structure around the Castellan.

Nine independent streams moved inside the creature’s body, and each of them was connected to one of the crown’s blades and carried different energy to its limbs.

These streams were the source of its nine types of poison; poisons that were not only different in color, but each destroyed a different part of the target’s body, mana, or abilities.

The Nine-Venom Castellan raised its head slightly, and three openings in its crown lit up.

Emerald green.

Dark purple.

And silver-gray.

The young Vorhelm narrowed his eyes.

It activated three at the same time?

At that moment, the steam around the creature began to move, but before it could reach him, loud laughter came from the west.

"Hahahaha!"

Roderick rushed toward him with white and golden mana.

[Tyrant’s Advance]

The first step.

The second step.

And with the third step, his body left the ground, and his right fist moved toward Lian, but this time, Lian did not even raise his hand to defend himself.

He only turned his head slightly.

[Core of the Fallen Star Activated]

At the moment Roderick was about to throw his punch, the gravity around his right shoulder increased for a fraction of a second.

His arm slowed down, and that short delay was enough, Lian moved out of the strike’s path with a step in the air and struck Roderick’s face with the back of his hand.

BAAANG!

The young Ashen was thrown toward the ground and rolled across the broken stones.

But Lian did not even follow his fall with his eyes.

Because the Nine-Venom Castellan had attacked, green steam moved toward his body, and at the same time, a purple stream approached from another angle.

He moved his wings and gained height, but gray steam came out from beneath the Castellan’s armor and spread through the area.

Unlike the previous two poisons, this one spread quickly, and after touching one of the nearby Withered, it stopped the creature’s leg muscles from working.

Paralyzing poison.

In just a few seconds, Lian had observed three different effects, the emerald poison damaged the body’s structure and hard materials.

The purple poison disrupted mana flow, and the gray poison affected nerves and muscles, but six more streams still remained.

"Nine different poisons, hmm?" The young Vorhelm gave a short smile.

He was not too worried about poison, the skill [Poison Foe] gave him considerable resistance to poison.

Even so, these poisons belonged to an Unholy creature, no matter what, he still needed to be careful and cautious.

The Castellan gave no answer and simply opened its right hand, the three-colored steam began gathering at one point.

Lian noticed the increase in mana density.

’I’d better not let it finish.’

He raised his hand.

[Thunder Calamity]

CRAAAACK!

Purple and blue lightning was released from in front of his hand and struck the Castellan’s chest armor directly, the creature moved several meters backward, but just as the electricity spread across its armor plates, one of the openings in its crown lit up.

Golden steam came out from within it.

Lian saw that the damaged parts of the Castellan’s armor were recovering more slowly than before, but a new mana flow settled over those same points and prevented the damage from spreading.

’Is this one used to counter damage that spreads over time?’

He still could not determine the exact nature of the fourth poison.

But what mattered was that the Castellan could not only poison its enemies, but also use some of its poison streams to change the condition of its own body.

At that moment, the sound of breaking stone came from the south.

Lian turned his head.

A larger group of Withered had reached the main path.

Some were Level 35.

Some were close to Level 45.

And among them, there were also stronger creatures whose levels reached fifty.

But their strength was not the only problem, their numbers were increasing every moment.

To the north, Rindo was still on Two’s back. The Eight-Disaster Wolf moved between the platforms with long jumps and pushed nearby attackers out of its path.

But even Two could not cover every path alone.

Lian examined the battlefield for a moment and then raised his right hand.

[Hive Dominion]

One’s huge body appeared among the streams of mana.

The giant ant crushed several stones with its heavy landing and immediately turned its head toward the attackers.

"One, hold the southern path, don’t let any of them reach Rindo."

The creature moved without delay.

[Six Hands of Ruin]

Six semi-real arms formed around One’s attacking limbs.

Each of these arms released part of its destructive force in a different direction and could create repeated strikes, chains of cracks, and the collapse of specific areas.

The first group of Withered was stopped by a heavy strike, and then the second arm struck the ground.

BOOOOM!

Part of the rocky path broke, and several attackers fell into the crack.

Rindo noticed One’s summoning from a distance.

He raised his spear.

"Lian! Leave the northern side to us!"

The young Vorhelm nodded, but this time, instead of returning directly to his two main enemies, he looked toward the groups of Withered.

Hundreds of creatures stood before him, and even more groups were still coming out from the depths.

Lian slowly breathed out.

’Then I should clear the battlefield first.’

He opened his black wings and then slowly lowered his right hand.

[Bloodborne Calamity Domain]

Red and dark streams appeared around his body, but this time, unlike Frost Dominion, no layer of ice formed on the ground.

Instead, blood-colored mist rose from the cracks in the stones and spread toward the groups of Withered.

This mist reacted with the blood and life flows of creatures inside its range and activated a destructive poison within their bodies.

Its main effect was not immediate destruction, but a severe weakening of muscles, physical resistance, and the control of mana flow.

Lian limited the mist’s range to the southern and central parts of the battlefield; where the attacking groups were located, Rindo’s platform and One’s defensive path remained outside its dense area.

The first Withered entered the mist... took a few more steps, and then its movement slowed down.

The creature tried to raise its right arm, but its muscles reacted with a delay.

Another Withered that was about to jump lost its balance in the middle of the movement and fell face-first onto the ground.

Several Level 45 creatures managed to resist more strongly, but even they noticed that their body control had become weaker.

Within a few seconds, the attacking groups’ advance slowed down greatly.

Lian looked down at them from above.

"Good."

Then he opened the fingers of his right hand, the golden sunlight was shining over the plain, and this was exactly what he needed right now.

[Corrupt Sun]

Thin threads of dark light formed along his fingers.

This light was sunlight corrupted with Eclipse Energy;

The threads spread in several directions and then struck dozens of targets.

But Lian had not completed the attack yet.

A limited amount of End Energy flowed along the corrupted paths.

He closed his hand, and the threads of light activated at that exact moment.

CRAAAACK!

Several Withered were damaged from within almost at the same time, their defensive layers collapsed, and their weakened bodies were destroyed under the pressure of the energy.

Another group tried to escape, but the blood-colored mist was still spread across the battlefield.