Tales of the Endless Empire

Chapter 395: Attack

The small city on the floating rock actually had a surprisingly strong military presence. Probably not that surprising—most inhabitants gained their experience by hunting anyway. The city lacked any kind of dome shield that would prevent Thalion or his bloodslaves from entering, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t fortified.Throughout the entire settlement, dozens of watchtowers stood tall, each equipped with magic circles designed to amplify strength and perception—two very important stats for archers. Aside from those towers, the city had no true defenses. The rock itself was barren, stripped of any vegetation, and packed full of small houses. Only a few buildings stood out due to their size.

The first was a tall structure resembling a cross between a church and a watchtower. Above its gate loomed the carved head of a roaring lion with six eyes—maybe more; Thalion couldn’t say for sure from his position. But it was obvious that the building honored Ratgul, the creator of this system event.

The second standout was the massive warehouse, a giant black cube. There had to be far more stored inside than just the antidotes, and Thalion intended to take everything.

Beyond that, a few larger houses were decorated with engravings and ornaments, likely marking the wealth or status of their owners. There were also several inns, shops, and similar buildings. Those would also need to be stripped clean of anything valuable.

Together with his spatial amulet, the Crimson Eidolon was the best tool Thalion could imagine. It could phase through the ground and store everything inside the spatial amulet. Even if someone destroyed the Eidolon, they’d get nothing from it, and Thalion could simply make a new one.

A horde of defenders was already assembled to protect their lives. It was the same mixture of lizardfolk and birdfolk as before. Now they had the watchtowers working in their favor. Each tower housed multiple archers, and some even held a few mages. The number of fighters gathering in the air was far greater than before.

So they're taking this threat seriously, Thalion thought, coming to a stop a hundred meters above the floating rock. He hadn’t flown over it yet—he still hovered at the edge, observing the growing swarm below. They were still in disarray, only now beginning to organize themselves.

At first, Thalion had planned to head straight for the treasure while Aris and Rakati handled the army. But now… he wasn’t sure they could win against such a concentrated force. Rakati and Aris were about thirty levels higher and likely had higher rarity and body tempering as well, but one lucky hit could end either of them.

Normally Thalion wouldn’t care, but these two were strong and incredibly useful for the upcoming stages. Not only for their combat strength, but also for their knowledge. If even one of the stages they described was accurate, Thalion would have a real chance at winning the entire trial.

He glanced back at the two elites hovering behind him.

“Can you deal with them alone, or do you need my help?”

The two looked confused at first, then narrowed their eyes as they studied the army more carefully.

“I think we’ll be fine. I’ll take the flying elites with strong blood; you go for the ones on the watchtowers?” Aris suggested with a shrug.

“Yeah. I’ll handle the towers,” Rakati said, his tone sinister as his aura began to rise.

Good. That worked perfectly for Thalion.

The fact that they could gauge their opponents by the strength of their blood was new to him. He could do the same, but it rarely mattered—he usually had to kill everyone anyway, and the order didn’t change the outcome. Besides, relying solely on blood to gauge strength wasn’t perfect. Depending on their path, some fighters’ power didn’t passively influence their blood.

Still, the two seemed confident, and Thalion would keep an eye on them regardless.

First, though, came the warehouse—and the treasures the city had offered to Ratgul.

Thalion shot forward and downward. He didn’t want to fly directly toward the warehouse; that was the easiest way to get blasted out of the air, and he didn’t want to recreate the Crimson Eidolon repeatedly.

Before diving into the rock, he memorized the warehouse’s location as precisely as possible. He didn’t want to resurface too early and reveal what he was after. Too many people depended on those antidotes to survive the stage—meaning they would defend them with everything they had.

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Thalion spotted several baffled expressions as he dove straight into the ground at full speed. They probably couldn’t believe their luck—that one of the attackers seemed about to eliminate himself for free.

Darkness swallowed him instantly as he plunged beneath the surface. Thalion redirected his flight through the stone toward the warehouse. Guessing the distance was difficult, and luck would definitely play a major role in whether he resurfaced unseen.

He wasn’t completely blind underground. When he looked upward, he could faintly see the red glow of blood from the fighters above—almost like heat vision. It gave him at least a rough indicator of how far he still needed to travel before reaching the warehouse.

The battle above erupted, scattering fighters through the sky. Rakati and Aris stood out immediately—their blood signatures were absurdly bright compared to everyone else. From down here, it almost looked like Pac-Man, with two massive blobs devouring smaller dots one after another.

Thalion continued his journey, slowing down so he wouldn’t overshoot the target. He also noticed that most of the houses above him were empty. Their owners were likely out hunting or part of the defending army. Those still inside must have been smiths, alchemists, or other craftsmen.

A craftsman who could help rebuild his armor would be useful. Thalion had his own crafting experience, but a dedicated smith—especially one who could work with blood—would be invaluable. Recreating the armor was likely a long shot, but maybe the smith could make something else that would help Thalion.

An alchemist could also be useful—maybe they could even create extremely potent blood.

At least, that was Thalion’s theory.

After the battle, he might consider turning one or two more people into bloodslaves. Not too many—losing control over a large group was a real danger—but a skilled craftsman could be worthwhile. The issue was whether they could do anything without their workshop or equipment.

And what would happen in the next stage?

Thalion planned to fly straight up to the seed at top speed, and someone who had dedicated their life to crafting wasn’t fast enough to stay close.

It would also depend on whether Thalion attacked one of the bigger cities higher above. From what he understood, Aris and Rakati came from one of those. Otherwise, there would have been no reason to teleport them down here in the first place.

When Thalion estimated he had reached the correct location, he angled upward. His head broke through a paved road—directly in front of the warehouse gate. He quickly scanned the surroundings, but no one had noticed him. The citizens were either fighting in the sky or hiding in their homes.

Seeing the enchantments engraved into the gate, Thalion chose to dive beneath it rather than risk triggering an alarm. It made complete sense for the warehouse to be heavily fortified—many lizardfolk and birdfolk who failed to find an antidote or kill enough trialtakers would be desperate enough to steal one before the stage ended.

Against Thalion, however, the fortifications were meaningless.

He passed under them effortlessly and emerged inside the warehouse.

It was simply a massive open space with shelves along the walls, filled with all kinds of elixirs and treasures. What drew most of Thalion’s attention was a cube made of antidotes in the middle of the warehouse. They weren’t just thrown on the ground; every antidote was carefully arranged and placed on top of the others. Thalion’s heart began to beat faster.

This could easily be more than a hundred, he thought while rushing over and beginning to place them all in his spatial amulet. This wasn’t the end, and Thalion rushed through the warehouse on the ultimate shopping trip, throwing everything into his amulet. He didn’t even bother to properly check the items before taking them. At some point during this treasure hunt, he would have enough time to go through all the items.

At the moment, it was important that he got everything and quickly made his way to Ratgul’s offering in the next building. Thalion couldn’t use the items as the Crimson Eidolon anyway. He would need to shift his consciousness back to his human form and then take the items out of his spatial amulet. There were so many items that it took over five minutes to place everything inside his spatial amulet. Through one of the windows, he could see the tower with the offerings.

The gate under the weird lion head was wide open—or maybe there wasn’t even one. If it hadn’t been open to the inside, there really might be none. It didn’t matter to Thalion. He simply dove inside and quickly passed through the levels to get up to the good stuff. On the fifth level, a massive altar was built, depicting a beastkin with the head of a lion.

The statue was golden and roughly three meters tall. Under it were piles and piles of all kinds of items. There were weapons, elixirs, potions, materials, and so on. Most surprising was that three warriors of the lizardfolk were kneeling before it. Their city was under attack, and they decided this was the right time to pray to their god?

If Thalion ever needed to defend a city, he would check the local church and put everyone who behaved like these three lizardfolk directly in the frontline. Thalion ended their lives quickly when he unleashed five crimson arcs with one swing of the Claw of the Blooded Templar. The warriors didn’t even know what hit them as their bodies were torn apart. Thalion even had the time to aim his attack so that none of the offerings were destroyed.

Next, he placed everything in his spatial amulet and even drained the corpses of blood before storing them inside as well. Thalion even stole the golden statue. Maybe the god would give him extra leaderboard points for it. He would take everything out later to see how many points he got. Next, his gaze wandered outside.

Through a window, he could see the distraction taking place. Rakati and Aris really didn’t have many problems with the army. Five of the towers were destroyed, and easily half of the army had been killed. With them having such a good time, Thalion decided to take a little tour through the city. Maybe he could find a talented craftsman before getting out of here.