Published at 17th of June 2026 5:57 am

Chapter 216: Questions And Answers

This chapter is updated by JustRead.pl

Chapter 216: Questions and Answers

Walking toward the source of the music, Seo-jin was busy going through his panel while Pain, Panic, and Snare compared their new bodies. Panic seemed especially taken with Snare's new gold horns and kept casting longing glances at Pain's chest. Meanwhile, Pain and Snare appeared to enjoy being lifted and tossed around by Panic's Flesh Restraints.

'How could you not know? That makes no sense. Did the rank get unlocked? Did it evolve or something?'

[I'm telling you, I don't know. I'm seriously just as shocked as you are.]

He'd gone back through the notification logs and found nothing. Only the notification from the Network. He couldn't help but wonder if his shard had been a King Shard the entire time or if he'd somehow unlocked the rank through an achievement or quest he didn't even know existed.

It was a question that demanded an answer, yet he didn't have the slightest clue where to begin looking.

'I'll have to see if there's any information on the Network forums. If this is something repeatable...'

He could already imagine the chaos he could unleash if he somehow found a way to mass-produce King Shards. Now that would be a system apocalypse he could truly get behind.

[I seriously doubt it's something you could repeat, but I admit, even a slim chance of it would make the effort worth it.]

Flipping back to his own profile, he pushed the King Shard question aside for now. Besides, his more pressing concern was the benefits, not the reason behind them.

[User Name // Wohan Seo-jin]

[User True-Name // Azakh-Tur]

[Entity // Imp Tyrant (Mawspawn Variant)]

[Class // Brood King]

[Kingdom // None]

[Status // Registered]

[Rank // B]

[Shard Rank // S+]

[Flag // Unrecognized Host Detected]

[Titles]

[Kinslayer]

[Broodfather]

[All For One]

[Level // 28]

[Exp // 27777/31555]

[HP // 1450/1450 (3300/3300)]

[SM // 100/100]

[ATTRIBUTES]

[STR // 53+10+5 // A]

[VIT // 49+10+15 // B]

[AGI // 52 // A]

[INT // 38 // C]

[FLH // 45 // B]

[WIL // 42 // B]

[AP // 9]

[Soul Integrity // 70%]

His soulmass has leapt to a hundred, and he'd gained three levels through the process. A slight sting accompanied the second part. He vaguely remembered pieces of what happened, and after reading through the notifications, he couldn't help but wonder how many levels he'd actually missed out on.

[Approximately six levels.]

He had to bite down on the inside of his cheek to stop himself from raging.

[It went to the brood, so it's your strength anyway. Not like it's a loss.]

'I know. It just shows I should've leveled the brood more before attempting the quest.'

[No way you could've known. Just take your wins.]

His lip curled at that, but he didn't argue. There were plenty of wins to help dull the ache.

[So what are you planning on doing about your slot? Gonna use it?]

His slot. The one notification that had been posed as a question rather than a statement. Swiping away his profile, he brought up the prompt.

[Mutation Source Aquired // Cradlebloom Demon Bloodline 1]

[Consume?]

[Yes/No]

It was the first bloodline he'd acquired that he could actually use himself. Since evolving into an Imp Tyrant, his Minor Shifting racial skill had unlocked two additional slots.

[MUTATIONS]

[Slot 1 // Twinback Serpents]

[Slot 2 // Wohan Seo-jin]

[Slot 3 // Empty]

[Slot 4 // Empty]

Staring at the word Empty, he felt a heavy sense of hesitation settle in his chest. The choice was permanent. He had no idea what he would gain from consuming the crab demon's bloodline.

'Analyzing what you saw, what do you think the possibilities are?'

The answer didn't come immediately, which at least made Seo-jin feel like the voice was taking the question seriously. After a few moments, it finally responded.

[Your skill is focused more on physical mutations than ability or skill absorption, so the chances of simply gaining a skill are slim. You already have the serpents, so my best estimate is either an eye for a head or possibly the lower body of the demon. Each would likely come with some form of ability, but I can't predict much beyond that.]

Thinking back to his fight with the Cradlebloom, the demon it created had been able to alter an enemy's senses, effectively becoming invisible while distorting their perception of time. Another ability had been the curse that caused vines to sprout from within a victim's body. Neither seemed tied to the demon's lower half, but imagining himself walking around with a giant eye for a head did nothing to increase his interest in the bloodline.

Honestly, anything associated with the Cradlebloom left a sour taste in his mouth.

He didn't need to think about it any longer. Without hesitation, he made his choice.

His claw tapped [No].

The prompt vanished from his vision, and he mentally filed the bloodline away for a future broodling. For himself, it simply wasn't appealing enough to occupy one of his mutation slots.

[Think that's a good choice. I'm sure you'll find stronger options in the future.]

Looking up briefly from his panel, he saw a surge of green light rise into the sky in the distance, followed by the dull boom of explosions and the faint roar of combat rolling across the ruined streets.

[Sounds like they're fighting.]

Heat and bloodlust prickled along his sides. Looking over at the three brothers, he found each of them staring at the horizon, shoulders tense and eyes fixed forward. All three were brimming with eagerness to test their new bodies.

"Go."

The ground cracked as the three eldest sprinted forward. Like bolts of crimson lightning, they tore across the landscape toward the sounds of battle.

"Master!"

Looking up, a genuine grin spread across Seo-jin's face.

Grimm was flying down to greet him.

"Knew it was you! Whoamaster, you feel... different. Bigger, kinda."

A small laugh escaped Seo-jin as he reached up and scratched beneath Grimm's chin, feeling the ghost's cold flames brush against his claws.

"I feel bigger. How did things go while I was gone?"

Grimm's smile froze. So did his floating. His blue flames dimmed, and the bones running along his spine began to tremble.

The reaction sent warning signals flaring through Seo-jin's body.

"What happened? Tell me now."

Unable to refuse the command, Grimm curled in on himself. The blue fire around him flickered unevenly as he began explaining everything that had happened while Seo-jin was away.

----

What had once been a crater that served as a camp had turned into a raging battlefield. Widow's webs hung torn throughout, and the entire area burned with clashing elements. Fires raged, sheets of ice covered the ground, winds howled through the crater, and the earth trembled beneath every impact.

Everywhere you looked was chaos.

Broodlings no more, the brood had finished evolving and, in doing so, inadvertently drawn the attention of a pack of elementals. Attacks and skills rained down from every direction. Cries and roars filled the air while explosions boomed loud enough to drown many of them out.

Not an overwhelming threat on their own, elementals came from the Fae Realm. They resembled lithe humanoids, but their bodies shone with an otherworldly light that hurt to look at directly. Some had wings, some extraarms. What might once have been mistaken for fairies could now only be seen for what they truly were: monsters wrapped in the elements.

Towering above the battlefield, Tomb stood unmoving, his massive body absorbing attack after attack while Sin repeatedly healed him. No longer the giant he had once been, Tomb now stood nearly sixty feet tall. His skin looked thicker, rougher, with jagged spikes jutting from his shoulders and elbows like crags of stone.

Anything with half a brain could tell he was preparing something, and luckily for the elementals, they were intelligent enough to notice. Not that it did them any good.

Whatever the giant was preparing, he was ready.

Tomb's aura spiked, bloodlight surging toward the heavens as a soul-stopping roar burst from his lungs and rolled across the battlefield.

He rose a foot, then stomped.

The instant his foot hit, the ground began to change. Soil and stone twisted into flesh as hundreds of boils and tumors swelled from the surface. Within a thirty-foot radius around the impact, the terrain transformed into a field of pulsing growths that quivered with sickening life.

Then they all exploded.

Screams and smoke rose from the battlefield. Acidic pus sprayed in every direction, splattering across elementals and dissolving them into piles of muck. The air filled with the smell of burning flesh and chemicals. Even bone melted.

In an instant, an entire section of the enemy force vanished beneath boiling streams of corrosive sludge.

Interrupting the carnage, Pain came down like a burning comet, his giant greatsword in hand. He landed in the middle of the battlefield where the enemy was thickest. The moment he hit, flames detonated outward and roars of triumph ripped from the broodspawn. The return of their eldest brother sent bloodlight surging from their auras, staining the sky crimson as the battle intensified.

Through it all, one broodspawn seemed to blink in and out of sight. A black shape that only seemed to exist when an elemental died. Falling from wounds most couldn't even see, they all died the same way.

Instantly.

A green elemental glided low on shimmering turquoise wings, pausing just long enough to raise its arms and summon a swirling mass of fire overhead. Then the flames guttered out faster than they had formed, the elemental dropping from the sky like a stone.

At the base of its skull sat a hole no larger than a pinprick.

Falling back into shadow just as quickly as he had emerged, Fang came to a sudden stop. His skin was black as oil, stretched over sleek, streamlined muscle. His horns now lay tight along the sides of his head, giving him an almost aerodynamic profile. Behind him, a tail longer than seemed natural cut through the air, corded with dense muscle and ending in a single black blade as thin as a rapier. Fully exposed, his hands trembled as he slowly turned his head.

Blood sprayed across his face as something blurred past, eviscerating everything in its path into a fine red mist.

"Beautiful..."

Letting his head fall back as warm blood rained down around him, Fang reveled in the fact that Panic had returnedand that he had grown. The sounds of his brother's art filled him with a feeling he could barely put into words.

Standing at the edge of the battlefield, two glowing eyes watched. Slamming the base of his staff into the ground, Snare sent a massive shadow spreading from his feet until it blanketed the entire battlefield. The range of his influence had increased drastically.

As enemies slowed and the brood surged forward, the carnage shifted into a higher gear.

Snare's eyes tracked a moving mass near the center of the battle. They glowed faintly as he marked the enemy his younger brother was facing.

Back covered in spikes and nearly as large as Pain, Bile swiped a blood-covered claw through the marked elemental's spine, ripping it free and whipping another across the face with it before following up with his spiked tail.

Crushing the enemy into a puddle, he roared as his bloodmask swirled across his face, then charged his next target. Just before reaching it, the mask shifted. What had once been monstrous and jagged became sleek and smooth. Along with it, his body slimmed, his limbs lengthened, and his speed increased dramatically.

Four elementals died in a blur of claws and blood before they could even take flight.

Just as Bile turned to dive into another group, a purple bolt of lightning struck him square in the chest. Not in his tank form, he rocketed backward and slammed into the ground hard enough to crack the earth beneath him. Smoke curled from the wound as blood poured down his torso.

The instant he hit, bloodlight surged over his body. The crimson glow gathered around the wound, then flowed inward and sealed the damaged flesh with visible speed.

Watching his work take effect, Sin's expression remained calm as he walked through the battle. He moved untouched through flying debris, elemental attacks, and blood-soaked ground, his pace completely unhurried. That was mostly, if not entirely, because of his sister.

Standing behind her brother while he healed the brood, Widow had undergone the greatest transformation of them all.

Just over five feet tall, her skin was pale and smooth like polished ivory, her hair black as pitch. She stood completely nude, looking human at first glance. Only the twitching tips of the legs hidden within the slit running along her back betrayed the truth. They flexed and scraped against one another as if desperate to tear free, and aside from them, she looked almost identical to Lilith in her human form.

A male elemental, a warrior with pale yellow skin and eyes that shone like rubies, charged into the fray. Wind swirled around him like armor, the blades forming in his hands with a sharp whistle. The moment he saw Widow, his attack faltered, and the wind blades stalled.

That hesitation cost him his life. A single spider leg burst from her back and pierced straight through his chest.

One hand caressed a breast while the other rested on the warmth between her thighs. She smiled brightly as she watched the life fade from his eyes

Chains snapped forward and sank into the elemental's corpse, causing Widow to jump slightly.

Torn free screaming, the elemental's soul flew backward toward Pain and vanished into his burning realm, condemned to an eternity of torture.

Both of Widow's hands moved to between her thighs as she watched.

Something Panic couldn't ignore.

Tossing the three elementals trapped in his restraints into the air, he shredded them into confetti before taking a step forward.

Still watching him, Fang noticed something had changed in his idol. Panic looked serious. It was an expression Fang had only seen on his brother's face once before. Before he could figure out why, though, he felt something else.

So did everyone else.

Elemental and brood alike.

Across that field of blood, fire, and torn flesh, not a single soul moved. From the bravest elemental to every member of the brood, all of them felt the same certainty. If they moved even an inch, they would die before their foot touched the ground.

A killing intent had washed over the battlefield, dense, foul, and crushing. The air turned hot and heavy in the lungs, and thin streams of smoke began rising from the ground. Sounds that resembled the cries of a thousand souls drifted through the air, setting teeth on edge.

Unable to control themselves, the broodspawn dropped to their knees. Even Tomb buckled, the impact sending a tremor through the battlefield.

The only ones still standing turned their heads as slowly as they dared. Every instinct screamed at them not to look, yet the need to see the source was impossible to resist.

They regretted looking the moment their eyes found it. Walkin slowly onto the battlefield, what looked like the living embodiment of death filled their vision.

A demon of pure black, surrounded by surging waves of rising bloodlight.

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