Shortly after the Duke absorbed the Concept Core, he wasted no time and vanished from the spot, clearly intending to join the battle on the surface, something Evan witnessed firsthand through his own eyes the moment he appeared above the city.

He had felt a bad premonition from the very beginning of all this, and the longer it went on, the stronger that feeling grew.

As if to confirm it, the moment the Duke appeared above the city, the System spoke, its voice unusually urgent.

[Ding! The recent turn of events will result in a catastrophic outcome for the Host.]

’Eh? What do you mean catastrophic outcome? What’s about to happen?’

[Analyzing current situation...]

[Ding! An Emergency Mission has been generated for the Host.]

---

[Emergency Mission]

Rank: A

Description: Veylan Greymark has used unconventional methods to ascend to the next stage, and though he has succeeded, the repercussions of his actions are already beginning to surface.

You must interrupt his advancement ritual before he fully assimilates the energy of the cocoon.

WARNING: If cocoon energy assimilation reaches 30%, consider yourself cooked, Host.

Mission Status:

> Destroy the Cocoon: 0/1

Current Assimilation: 9%

---

Evan stared at the notification for a moment.

’Hey Bruce, what the hell do you mean if he reaches 30% I’m cooked? What exactly happens if he does?’

Before the System had a chance to answer, a notable shift occurred on the battlefield as the Bluehorn Earth Dragon roared toward the sky where the Duke was hovering, its intent unmistakably that of a challenge.

Evan had witnessed the beast’s arrival firsthand, along with the sheer volume of damage it had caused simply by being present on the battlefield. The other beasts had grown increasingly frenzied, it no longer seemed to matter to them whether they lost a limb or their life itself. They attacked without hesitation, without restraint.

Even he had to admit it had become somewhat problematic to deal with them in the middle of all this chaos.

But what followed was nothing short of a rapid succession of disasters. Elena was taken out in a single blow. Cedric failed to suppress the beast and found himself at a standstill. All of this while the rest of the adventurers were being gradually overwhelmed by the beasts around them, and even he was having difficulty fighting back now that a growing number of E and D-rank creatures had decided to make him their target.

As if that weren’t enough, the cherry on top was the Duke’s appearance and the Bluehorn Earth Dragon’s challenge, which seemed to have provoked whatever the Duke had become.

One strike. That was all it took to level an entire area a hundred meters in diameter. Evan, who had been close to the blast zone, was thrown backward by the explosive force alone.

The attack itself wasn’t explosive, if anything, it was disturbingly silent. It descended and simply claimed everything within its area of effect. But the wave of energy it generated was anything but gentle, so much so that he, along with everyone else nearby, ended up being struck by it.

He wasn’t hurt. But he felt the full weight of that attack, and it terrified him.

It didn’t matter how much strength he currently had, that attack alone would have erased him outright had he been caught within its range. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

As if to rub salt into the wound, the System chose that exact moment to answer his earlier question, now that he’d had a direct demonstration of the Duke’s power.

[What you just witnessed was a simple attack from an Overlord advancing toward the Mid Stage.]

[When I say you’re cooked the moment he reaches 30%, I mean it in every sense of the word. At that point, Veylan’s strength will have reached a level high enough to enter the next stage, and once that happens, it doesn’t matter how far you run, you would die without a shadow of a doubt.]

[You may as well kill yourself to avoid the suffering if that situation comes to pass.]

Evan had plenty to say about that last observation, but one thing in particular caught his attention.

’The next stage? You mean there’s something beyond Overlord? What rank is above S-rank?’

He asked because beings at Elite Stage already seemed capable of flattening mountains and cities.

And after witnessing Elena’s clash with the Earth Dragon and Cedric’s battle, that fact had become undeniable.

S-rank beings were on an entirely different level. As far as he knew, they were the true rulers of every kingdom. He had always suspected there was more beyond that, gods had existed in the past, and they were surely superior to a mere S-rank, but by how much? Were there other stages before divinity could be reached?

[Paragon. That is the next stage, equivalent to SS-rank. Beings of that level are the ones who currently govern the six human kingdoms. There is one further stage beyond that before divinity is reached, but there is no point in discussing any of this right now. You genuinely cannot afford to waste any more time. If I were you, I would start moving toward that cocoon before the percentage hits 30%.]

As Evan absorbed the information, those last words snapped him back to reality, and he noticed the percentage had already climbed from 9% to 10%.

’Sht. That thing definitely won’t be easy to destroy. I can’t count on Shadow alone for this,’ he thought, understanding that something so central to an advancement ritual of this scale couldn’t possibly be fragile enough to be broken with his current strength alone.

He needed something more.

But if the System had given him the mission, it meant destroying the cocoon wasn’t entirely impossible.

With that thought, Evan didn’t hesitate. He moved.

He had already used Shadow’s summons to map out an underground route leading straight to the underground laboratory. Going through the entrance and past the sealed door wasn’t an option, there was no time. It was faster to carve a path directly through from the base of the stump.

As he moved, he sent a command to Shadow.

’Clean up the place.’

The last thing he needed was to waste time dealing with everyone down there. Shadow would be more than enough to handle them.