Tales of the Endless Empire

Chapter 383: Poisonous Swamp

This time Thalion was teleported to the next stage instead of everything around him changing, which was probably good since otherwise all the water above him would have flooded the area.The new stage was a massive swamp with thick green clouds hanging low over the ground. Thalion guessed they were poisonous.

There were still 1.9 million trialtakers left in the system event, meaning more than a million had already died or quit. Apparently, that still wasn’t enough for the developers of this event, especially after the next message appeared.

Welcome to Stage Four

By entering this swamp, you have been poisoned

On your status screen, you will now find a timer ticking down

You have 24 hours to find the antidote or you will die

You cannot heal this poison or save yourself through other means

When the timer reaches zero, you will simply perish

Your only way to survive is to find the antidote

The antidotes are hidden in dungeons or sometimes carried by incredibly strong beasts

For every unused antidote at the end of the stage, you will be rewarded 10,000 points

Good luck

This was quite the extreme stage, and Thalion could only hope there were more antidotes than reefs in the last one—otherwise, he’d be in serious trouble.

Now, how could he find those antidotes as fast as possible? He could use his title to maybe sense a direction, but that would require meditation, and even then, there was no guarantee it would work.

At least he didn’t need to worry about his health dropping right away. It seemed that the poison only activated once the timer hit zero. For now, he wasn’t taking any damage, and with his healing abilities, he should have noticed even a split-second change if it had started.

So far, he was standing in an area where the mist didn’t reach him. The question was whether the timer would tick down faster if he breathed it in or if he’d just inhale a different poison.

Thalion decided to share the same fate as everyone else and refused to breathe. Better to suffer the urge for air than to have his body eaten from within. In his human form or as the Crippled Eclipsari, the poison probably wouldn’t do much, but there was no reason to take chances. It could still enter through his pores, and there was nothing he could do about that anyway.

The green clouds seemed to grow denser about thirty meters above the ground, so flying wasn’t a good idea either. Thalion concluded that the best form for this stage would be the Crippled Eclipsari. His darkness should annihilate any poison that touched his skin.

The dim light filtering through the green haze was instantly swallowed as he transformed. Now he could breathe again—there was no way this poison could harm him while wrapped in darkness.

Four tendrils shot from his back, latching onto two crooked, half-dead trees. With a powerful pull, Thalion catapulted himself forward, flying over a fifty-meter-wide swamp pool and landing on a patch of wet, tangled grass.

The water below was muddy, and Thalion was certain something big was lurking in it. He didn’t want to find out what. A fight here would just waste precious time and until he found an antidote, that was the one thing he couldn’t afford.

It also turned out that the green mist wasn’t only poisonous but some kind of acid. Without his darkness, it would have burned deep into his skin. Thalion had to admit that it was a really dangerous design. There probably weren’t that many antidotes, and you needed to travel far and wide to find one. Additionally, when time was running out, you were forced to move through the mist, which could destroy your body if you didn’t have a shield or immunity like Thalion. Most participants would be exhausted simply from traversing it.

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Then there were the monsters hiding inside the ponds, creatures that even gave Thalion a feeling of threat through his title. If the last stage had already wiped out the weak ones, this would be the end for most of the rest. Any weaker group without a healer or enough health potions was probably done for if they lacked high vitality or resistance to poison. That meant the next stage would likely be where the real struggle began—with only the strongest elites still in the race.

The top leaderboard hadn’t changed much. A few new faces, a rearranged order—but considering the last stage, it might have been pure luck that some of them had found a few reefs.

Thalion shifted his attention to the pond before him and the threat lurking beneath the surface. The message had said that strong beasts could carry antidotes. Should he test whether this one counted as strong enough? It would be a waste of time if it didn’t have one, but if it did, he could start collecting antidotes efficiently. His title allowed him to sense danger—if the beast carried an antidote, he could simply circle the edges of the pond and let the danger level guide him. It seemed like a very effective way to gather antidotes and leaderboard points.

Thalion decided to try it out. If it worked, this stage might turn into a treasure trove. If it failed, he’d lose only a few minutes—nothing serious, considering he still had a full day to find an antidote.

“Now, how do I get you out of there?” Thalion muttered, circling around the pond on a patch of wet grass between the pools.

He thought for a moment. The last thing he wanted was to be dragged under by whatever was in there—the water stank worse than a public toilet at a train station. He also had no clue what kind of beast it could be. Maybe some kind of crocodile? Those were stupid and reacted to the smallest vibrations on the surface.

Since he had no better idea, Thalion picked up a twig from the mossy ground and began tapping the surface of the pond, trying to flush the predator out.

At first, nothing happened. After a few seconds, impatience got the better of him, and he started tapping faster and faster. Just as he was about to start hammering on the water in frustration, the pond erupted.

A massive creature burst forth—probably the ugliest thing Thalion had ever seen. It looked like a huge bullfolk covered in dripping green weeds. The monster stood over eight meters tall, though Thalion couldn’t tell how long it was since half its body remained submerged. Its mouth was packed with long, jagged teeth that gave it a savage expression, and worse, teeth also sprouted across its entire body in uneven patches.

The beast opened its gaping maw like a black hole and lunged forward, trying to swallow Thalion whole.

That wasn’t going to happen. Warned by his danger sense and the Eclipsar’s Intuition, Thalion dodged smoothly while preparing a counterattack. Muddy green water splashed everywhere as the overgrown frog crashed down where Thalion had stood a heartbeat ago.

Dark power rippled around him and condensed into two six-meter-long spikes that shot forward, piercing deep into the creature’s side. The beast reared back, bellowing so loudly it sounded like a deep fire siren echoing across the swamp.

Thalion didn’t want to draw more of them in, so he activated Umbral Spire a second time. From the shadow beneath the frog, a massive spike rose and impaled it straight through the belly.

The monster thrashed violently, its legs lashing out as it tried to tear itself free. It didn’t help. After being lifted three meters into the air, the sheer weight of the creature caused the top of the spire to burst through its back with a wet crack.

The beast slid down the spike, flailing wildly. Suddenly, its long tongue shot out, covered in rows of teeth, aiming to grab and devour Thalion.

Unfortunately for it, Thalion was already prepared. He had another spike ready, and his reflexes—sharpened by the Eclipsar’s Intuition—were too fast to be caught off guard. The seven-meter spike launched from behind him, spearing the tongue mid-lash and continuing straight into the creature’s mouth. It tore through the inside of its skull, passing through the brain before finally stopping halfway through its body.

That was enough. The monster twitched three more times before going limp, and a system notification confirmed the kill.

Poisonous Swampdweller – Level 112

Thalion quickly checked the form of the Swampdweller, but it only had a few poisonous abilities that weren’t particularly useful to him. One allowed it to spit a wet ball of venom, and the other made its skin toxic to the touch. Neither skill would help him much.

Each of Thalion’s forms already had its own elemental traits and natural defenses. Any poison effect would likely just be vaporized instantly. And as for spitting? He already had far better options—Lightning Beam, Umbral Miasma—and in his human form, he certainly wasn’t looking to start vomiting on his enemies.

The rarity wasn’t impressive either, merely Epic.

With a sigh of annoyance, Thalion stored the frog’s corpse in his spatial amulet. In the end, it had been a waste of time. Not much time, since the creature had died quickly but still disappointing. He’d had high hopes for this pond.

Three more tendrils shot out from his body, launching him forward through the swamp as he continued his search for an antidote.