Looking at Merlin's departing silhouette, Curator Heroult's lips quirked into a meaningful smile. He said loudly, "Master Leon, maybe we'll meet again. If you happen to be in Holy Dragon City, you can find me at Brews Castle…"

Curator Heroult's words resounded in Merlin's ear. Merlin left the Fossil Museum without looking back.

"Master Leon, what happened inside?"

The knights who were standing guard around the carriage outside asked panickily.

"Nothing. Go back to the manor."

Merlin replied, and headed into the carriage. He urgently needed to adapt to the changes in his body as well as study the details of parasitism.

…

Below the sprawling city walls, it was dark and dense, filled with crowds of people. Some of them had already begun to shift, and were roaring and snarling wildly. The city walls would not be able to stop them.

"Marshal Kerry's line of defense cannot hold on anymore. With the addition of the barbarians, the situation has become more complicated…"

Commander Hanson said impassively. He had been at the front line for a very long time to observe the battle situation. Now that the Blackbat Militia had engaged the barbarian tribe, he knew that Commander Kerry's line of defense would not last long.

"Hanson, gather the knights and return to Boulder City. We're giving up this territory…"

Count Stanwin's tone was slightly doleful. This territory had been acquired, little by little, through his hard work. Naturally, he was unwilling to hand it over to another person. However, the situation left him with no choice. The joint forces of the Blackbat Militia and the barbarian tribe could not be stopped by Boulder City alone.

"Boom."

Just as Count Stanwin was preparing to leave, a massive Roc spanning hundreds of meters appeared on top of the city wall. The Roc gently spread out its wings and flapped, which stirred up a hurricane. The hurricane killed a portion of the barbarians.

"Marshal Kerry has acted. He's a mid-tier top-level almighty beast bloodline, the Red-tailed Roc!

Hanson remarked in amazement. This was a full-shifter existence. Besides being an outstanding commander, Marshal Kerry's ability was also very impressive. He had achieved the rare fifth-form, which was a remarkable full-shifter.

Looking at the fearsome Roc in the sky, Count Stanwin appeared shocked too. Nonetheless, he said regrettably, "If even Marshal Kerry has acted personally, the situation must be unsalvageable."

As he spoke, from the other side of the battlefield, a black bat with a terrifying aura emerged. It was the leader of the Blackbat Militia. He had also achieved the fifth form of full-shifter.

The two full-shifter existences collided fiercely in the sky. The resulting impact spread in all directions. All the soldiers below them who were hit by the aftershocks were immediately killed or grievously injured.

Upon achieving the fifth-form, these terrifying existences were no longer human. They had begun to wield the terrifying power of the ancient almighty beasts.

"Haha, Kerry, you're not worthy to be my opponent!"

A burst of laughter echoed in the sky. Following that, the gigantic bat emitted an invisible vibration from its mouth. The red Roc appeared to be hit and spiraled downward rapidly. At the final moment, it somehow made its way onto the city wall but seemed like it was severely injured.

"Even Marshal Kerry has been defeated. Honorable Count, it seems like we've truly underestimated the Blackbat Militia!"

Commander Hanson's face turned grim. Previously, all of them assumed that the Blackbat Militia was just the same as the other rebels in the Holy Dragon Empire, and that Marshal Kerry would be able to stop them easily.

However, now it seemed like there was more than met the eye. Moreover, the Blackbat Militia was able to engage the barbarian tribe. If the barbarian tribe were so easily persuaded, they would not have been called barbarians.

The fact that they were able to rope in the barbarians meant that the Blackbat Militia was very resourceful. Additionally, this mysterious leader of the Blackbat Militia had demonstrated such powerful abilities in his first confrontation, to the extent that Marshal Kerry was defeated.

"The odds of Holy Dragon Empire are looking dismal. Let's leave now, away from the territory. The only safe place left for now is Holy Dragon City!"

Count Stanwin sighed. As the master of the territory, he certainly would not give up on his territory easily. However, seeing the abilities of the Blackbat Militia, he knew that he did not stand a chance. He could only give up.

Under the heavy escort of guards, Count Stanwin hurried back to Boulder City.

…

In a spacious room, Merlin was sensing the blood flow in his body. He carefully felt the Two-headed Pterolycus' will and its effect on his body.

Under Merlin's Mind Power observation, everything was laid bare. There were some effects, and they were quite major. It appeared that the almighty beasts' will from this world was able to affect the blood circulation system, causing one's blood to gradually possess the will and strength of the almighty beast. Nonetheless, this was a very long, drawn-out process.

Based on this progress speed, Merlin would need at least ten years to accumulate enough strength in his blood to level-up to become a second-form shifter.

Therefore, it seemed like the Nourishment Pond formula was very important.

"I wonder if Father has the formula of the Nourishment Pond? However, Heroult said that the Nourishment Pond formula is every Host's most guarded secret, and wouldn't be easily passed on to others."

Merlin was not sure whether Count Stanwin had the Nourishment Pond formula. If he did not, then it would be troublesome. After all, he chose the parasitism path, and many people who had succeeded. Currently, Merlin was a mere first-form shifter, so it was completely unrealistic for him to force someone to hand over their Nourishment Pond formula.

"Forget it. Let's look at the recovery progress of the Illusory World instead."

Merlin's foremost concern was on parasitism but without the Nourishment Pond formula, he had no way to improve his ability. Although he used to be an existence capable of challenging an entire Latitude Cosmos, currently, his Illusory World had been crushed and was only held by a thin thread of natural order. He could not even use its power, so how could he possibly improve himself?

When Merlin immersed his consciousness in the Illusory World, he realized that the Illusory World was still chaotic. There was only an empty structure left, it could not even be called a "world".

"Merlin, according to this rate of recovery, I wonder how long it will take for the Illusory World to recover?"

Titus appeared beside Merlin. Even though the Illusory World had been shattered into smithereens and the Illusory Tribe civilization had been completely wiped out, Titus was a transcendental existence in the Illusory World. Therefore, he did not suffer any harm.

Merlin nodded. The Illusory World was not yet stable. It still needed a lot of attention.

"Hmm? What happened? The Illusory World seems to have stabilized a lot more out of a sudden?"

Upon dipping his consciousness into the Illusory World, Merlin immediately felt a subtle change.