Chapter 599: Chapter 599 - Taming the Swarm - 14

The roots pulsed beneath Ren’s skin with a rhythm that didn’t match his heartbeat. It felt like the life of something separate, an ancient being yet still strangely familiar. Ren felt as if he were synchronized with the very heartbeat of the earth itself.

He had lost total control of his energy fluctuations, and his emotions were so fierce that he had entered a strange emotional shock. He couldn’t feel them the right way... They were just energy now.

Pure, raw, overwhelming energy that threatened to consume his very sense of self.

The seed in his chest had broken even further. The crack that had formed during his confrontation with corruption was no longer a single fracture line. It was now a perfect X, identical to the way the world itself might have been divided by ancestral forces.

"I understand now," he murmured, finally comprehending the true nature of what he carried within himself.

While looking at the scorpion-creature that observed him with that disturbing familiarity, he began to understand that what he was experiencing wasn’t simply a reaction to corruption.

It was a mutual connection with a being of similar energy trying to integrate him into its network.

The energy he had absorbed that day hadn’t been one force, but two. Two crossed pulses, separated by nature as far as possible from each other but touching at two points on his seed.

The pure energy fired by Dragarion, mixed and fused during the moment of the King’s sacrifice. And the explosion that had crystallized thousands of corrupted creatures, had created something in Ren’s seed, something hybrid like these creatures.

It was no longer ’purity against corruption’. It was something completely different.

Something unprecedented.

And through the new connections that had formed in his system, Ren could feel the energetic network that connected not just this creature, but all the abominations that had appeared during the crisis. It was like an invisible spider web extending across a space as vast as his fungal network and the corruption, pulsing with information that flowed from one node to another.

The creatures they were facing weren’t simply corrupted. They were a new evolution, something that hadn’t been planned in the original development of either of the two opposing forces.

Life had found a way, creating something unexpected at the intersection of conflict.

Through the energetic network, Ren could sense the abominations’ true intention. It wasn’t the city they sought. They were searching for something, something specific that would allow them to complete their transformation.

The artifacts’ full fusion.

"Ten," he murmured, information flowing through the network like water through channels in his mind. "There are ten in total."

Eight were active on the battlefield, heading toward convergence points at the castles where they could also fuse together. But the center of the cities was where two more were hidden, the last ones, buried deeply beneath structures that Ren recognized with a chill of understanding.

The castles.

Under the main castle where Larissa and the princes lived, and under the second castle of Yino where Dragarion’s statue now rested, lay the two remaining artifacts. And all of them, all ten, were prepared to become a single entity.

The Crystal Tower again.

"Of course," Ren whispered, the puzzle pieces fitting together in his mind with crystalline clarity. "It’s always been about the tower."

But there was a problem the creatures seemed not to understand. The tower was sealed, protected by barriers that required something specific to be breached. The seven elemental rings from each side of the kingdoms, fourteen in total, necessary to unlock the secrets that lay at the heart of the ancient structure.

It was impressive that the artifacts could even detect the tower’s presence through all the pure energy barriers that guarded it. But perhaps that same capacity was a disadvantage. Their hybrid nature allowed them now to perceive through the pure energy that ancient corruption couldn’t, but it also compelled them to seek something that remained beyond their reach.

Unless they had another way...

Ren frowned, exploring more deeply into the energetic network. He found no evidence of any alternative plan. The beasts and artifacts in the network seemed to be guided by instinct, not conscious strategy.

Which meant they would head there regardless of whether they could access it or not.

And that would take them directly through the two cities populated by defenseless civilians. Perhaps upon realizing this, they would generate even more chaos.

Seeing that Ren wasn’t reacting positively to the hybrid network and wasn’t releasing information or helping to reach the objective... The pseudo-scorpion shrieked louder.

Despite the attacks from the tamers around them, they still couldn’t stop it at all.

The black marks under Ren’s skin began pulsing more intensely. His mind seemed close to being breached... But he could feel the power accumulating in his seed, waiting for direction, a decision on how to use it before its container shattered completely.

Yet he could still resist it. He still had options.

He could try to communicate with the creatures, use the connection he had established and allow them to access the information in his head. So they would understand that the tower was sealed, that their search was futile. Maybe he could find a way to redirect their instincts toward something less destructive.

But was it safe to let them access his internal network?

The thought of opening his mind completely to these hybrid entities made his stomach churn. What if they didn’t just take the information about the tower? What if they absorbed everything? His memories, his relationships, his very identity?

Or he could use this accumulated power to try to fight, to attempt to destroy them.

The hybrid energy flowing through his roots was of a different magnitude than anything he had experienced before. It felt like holding lightning in his bare hands, like channeling the fury of a storm through his fragile human form.

But would his body withstand it? Would he have enough time?

He wasn’t just facing this creature.

Through the network, he could sense how the eight active artifacts were beginning to converge. Here in the south of the wall, the three-part scorpion-creature waited for the arrival of the fourth artifact from the northern sector. In the east, Victor was desperately fighting an abomination that had fused two artifacts and was seeking to unite with two others.

The power signatures were overwhelming. Each fusion made the entities exponentially stronger, and if all ten artifacts came together...

The resulting creature would be beyond anything the kingdom had ever faced.

Time to decide was running out.

The scorpion-creature’s multiple eyes fixed on him with increasing intensity, and Ren could feel the network pressing against his consciousness like a tide trying to sweep him away. His friends, his family, the entire kingdom... everything depended on the choice he made in the next few moments.

And he still didn’t know which path would lead to salvation rather than destruction.