CHAPTER 653: CHAPTER 437: BREEDING FOR EXCELLENCE

Beastification Man?

And not a Beastification Man catalyzed by my power and the Fallen Demon Egg?

In the frenzied attacks of the beastified knights and maidens, Eliphas dodged while pondering.

Just how did these people come to be?

Upon closer look, there are some differences.

The beastification of the knights and maidens is more pure, their bodies deform towards canine beasts, specifically showing mutations in limbs and skulls, and sporadic hair growth, overall resembling rabid canine beastmen.

But the Beastification Men catalyzed by Eliphas with the Fallen Demon Egg are varied, similar to Demon Clan, with the major benefit of retaining their rationality.

So these Beastification Men have nothing to do with me, nor with the Demon Clan, they must be...

"Ahhh!"

Ainz III let out a hysterical roar, meaningless to others but a signal to the knights and maidens. They swiftly changed formation, surrounding Eliphas from all sides and launched an attack together.

Ainz III can command them!

Eliphas showed a knowing look, so that’s how it is.

Though unsure how it’s done, clearly these Beastification Men are created by Ainz III, not only similar in appearance to the King’s beastification state but also obedient to him, akin to the relationship between a Vampire and its created Favored.

"King, you truly prepared a surprise for me."

As the Beastification Men’s attack was about to hit Eliphas, his silhouette suddenly blurred, and in the next moment, he appeared outside the encirclement, causing the Beastification Men to collide into each other.

The moment he appeared, he charged at Ainz III. Despite the Beastification Men’s power being like ants to him and their attack merely a tickle, the principle of capturing the king before the thief applies to any level of combat.

How were these knights and maidens transformed into Beastification Men?

Has the curse on Ainz III become transmissible? What is the means of transmission, is it through attack, body fluid, or was it just the roar? I had better block my ears, and for that matter, help the Princess block hers too.

Seeing danger approaching, Ainz III roared open-mouthed and spat out a filthy, foul-smelling liquid of various colors at Eliphas, who, always fond of cleanliness, even slightly compulsive, chose to dodge, slowing him down.

The Beastification Men regained their senses and lunged from behind. Such attacks surely would not harm the battle-hardened Light Eagle Group Captain, who caught the malformed skulls of two Beastification Men with iron claws, slammed them heavily onto the ground, causing the surface to crack.

With this blow, their skull bones must be crushed!

He rose to deal with the remaining Beastification Men; however, the Beastification Men slammed by him, barely gasping for air, suddenly rose with lightning speed, seized his legs, bit with their mouths, grabbed with their hands, employing every means to attack.

"Huh, none of my subordinates could possibly have such recovery capacity."

Eliphas glanced around, beckoned, a luxurious magic wand appeared in his hand—it was Selene’s magic wand!

The snatched magic wand made Selene’s heart tense, now completely unable to use Return to Hometown.

She had just drawn her magic wand, fortunately hadn’t attacked Eliphas yet, but the latter said at this moment, "Please wait, Princess, I will handle them now."

One after another, magic was unleashed by him, burning, freezing, lightning strikes... Various attribute magic attacks were hurled at the Beastification Men, and finally, found flames worked excellently against them.

He swung the magic wand again, chains of light appeared on the ground, binding all the Beastification Men, rendering them immobile.

"Alright, next is the King."

"Roar!"

Suddenly Ainz III let out a loud roar and turned around running towards... Selene.

Is he intending to attack his daughter?

Selene clenched her fists, convinced she could dodge with her present skill, but.

She didn’t sense aggression from him.

The next moment, pretending to be unable to evade in time, Ainz III grabbed her and held her in his arms, rushing towards the door; he intended to flee.

Seized in hand, Selene and Ainz III’s gaze met abruptly, seeming to glimpse some emotion in his eyes for a brief instant, yet that emotion was quickly overwhelmed by madness.

"It’s useless, King."

Eliphas’s somewhat mocking voice sounded behind.

"To prevent you from running out and injuring yourself, the Court Mages set up—"

As Ainz III dashed to the room’s entrance, magic of various colors lit up jointly blocking his advance.

Yellow Spirit Magic could soothe his spirit, slightly healing his agitated inner self, though it barely affects him now.

Blue Binding Magic could exert unseen pressure to hold his body, limiting his movements.

Green Defense Magic not only formed a protective shield at the door preventing his exit, but also created soft shields beneath him, preventing injury in case King falls from pressure.

Ainz III was pinned to the ground by these combined magic effects.

Eliphas walked with steady steps, each step felt like treading on people’s hearts.

Selene was supposedly "out of danger," but she felt she was plunged into a greater peril. Looking at Ainz III being suppressed by a heavy weight, a subtle feeling rose in her heart—a concern for her father rooted deeply in her bloodline.

She clenched her teeth and looked at Eliphas.

However, a wave of drowsiness surged through her, and she fell asleep instantly.

Seeing Selene asleep on the ground, Ainz III’s roar became even more violent for a moment. At this moment, his body suddenly floated in the air, seized by several mage’s hands with claws like eagle talons, facing Eliphas’s gaze directly.

"Don’t worry, Your Majesty, I am protecting the Princess,"

He controlled the mage’s hands to gently place Selene in the corner, allowing her to sleep against the wall, thoughtfully adjusting her position.

"After all, what happens next is not something she should see; it could be a bit scary."

Ainz III’s response was another jet of acidic liquid, but Eliphas was prepared, waving a hand to magically lock Ainz III’s mouth shut.

Including Ainz III and the knight maid, seven Beastmen were captured in total.

Eliphas looked at the Beastmen before him, a sense of eager anticipation in his eyes. Why eager anticipation, you ask? Because he saw a possibility in Ainz III.

But first, he needed to understand why there was an increase in Beastmen and whether there were any other Beastmen in the Royal Palace.

The method of transmission couldn’t be sound, as he had already heard the other’s roar; if it were sound-based, he would already be affected.

Then, try another method.

Eliphas strengthened the binding magic, went outside briefly, and returned with a couple of guards already in slumber. Of course, these two guards were arranged by the Light Eagle Group and hadn’t undergone the catalysis by the Fallen Demon Egg.

He used Ainz III on these individuals for experiments. After a brief attempt, when he injected Ainz III’s blood into the guards’ bodies, they successfully manifested Beastman forms.

"I see, it’s blood transmission."

Further experiments showed that the blood of Beastmen could also transmit beastification, but the incubation period was longer and would not manifest unless stimulated.

Eliphas gave an interested smile. He couldn’t dare imagine how many Beastmen were possibly lurking within the castle now, or perhaps the beastification symptoms had already spread city-wide but were still in the incubation period?

No, in fact, that was not the case.

The Beastification Symptom couldn’t leave the Royal Palace because the daily menu at the palace invariably included a type of egg that brought happiness and joy to everyone.

Moreover, a genius had developed a perfume using Happiness Egg as the main ingredient. Inhaling it could induce a gentle, fitting sense of happiness and joy. Inhaling these gases was equivalent to ingesting a small dose of Happiness Egg, directly eliminating early-stage Beastification Symptoms and suppressing deeply infected ones.

"Beastmen caused by the King will lose rationality, but their physical functions and recovery abilities greatly increase, especially the recovery ability, maintaining the appearance of dog-like Beastmen."

"The soldiers created by me using the Fallen Demon Egg and unique talents will have heightened body functions. Beastman forms will randomly manifest characteristics of various creatures, mostly stronger than the King’s Beastmen, but their appearance is unstable and might result in defects. Additionally, not everyone can withstand the transformation; many die halfway through."

"The most crucial point is, although their recovery ability is strong, it’s not as good as the King’s Beastmen."

"Is there a way to combine the advantages of both?"

Create a legion of Beastmen absolutely loyal to Eliphas, yet powerful!

Thinking about it, Eliphas attempted to inject a small amount of Ainz III’s blood into a normal attendant, waking him up before transformation, harshly invoking deep negative emotions using his unique talent, and placing the red Fallen Demon Egg into his hand.

What kind of miracle would happen if both transformation methods took effect at once?

In the shadow of the night, the attendant’s body continuously mutated, the shadow cast on the wall gradually transformed into a hunched, deformed figure.

"Not bad!"

Eliphas opened the door to a new world.

Meanwhile, in the Sain Dungeon.

"[Eldritch Flesh]... Such a peculiar reward for failing a challenge. Truly in bad taste."

The Hasavi Team was currently sitting around a bonfire, throwing several wriggling, black lumps of flesh into the fire to burn them away.

Sometimes, during battles with the Elderly, pieces of flesh would fall off that were said to function as independent entities, capable of biting enemies when thrown out, somehow qualified as a kind of tool.

This thing was so distasteful that no one wanted it.

"Uh, Fingerley, the Transmission Device oddly started sending Princess’s side footage over again."

At this moment, Matilda suddenly spoke, face a bit embarrassed.

"Why again? Maybe next time we visit the Princess, we should retrieve it under the pretense of repairs. How can we spy on others’ privacies... "

Fingerley took over, about to shut down the device, but just then, a gut feeling made him glance at the footage being sent over by the Transmission Device, abruptly halting his words.

He saw Eliphas, saw the deformed figure, saw the bizarre operations unfolding, seemingly unusual, far outside normalcy.

However, one thing he saw clearly.

And that was the malformed monster beside Eliphas, the one transformed from an ordinary human through some unknown means by him.

It gradually overlapped with the silhouettes of Beastmen from his hometown many years ago.