Tales of the Endless Empire

Chapter 378: A Thread to Follow

Thalion moved for half an hour before he found the next clue: a strong current moving slightly downward. With no other indicators in the endless blue, he simply followed it. For other trialtakers, the current might have been strong enough to drag them under, but Thalion pressed on.His initial excitement about this stage had long faded. He had hoped to find many of those mysterious crystals, but after shooting through the water like a torpedo for half an hour, he hadn’t encountered a single one. Even the giant fish he’d met at the start now felt like a stroke of luck. Still, that didn’t stop him from training his water control. It was nowhere near the level of his blood control yet, but it was getting easier by the minute.

That wasn’t the only thing Thalion was working on as he swam through the clear seawater. Now, as Tidecaller Serpent, it was quite easy to redirect the energy of the crystal that constantly flooded his body. The crystal no longer caused him pain, even as its torrent of power surged through him. He used that torrent to accelerate even further, shooting into the depths below.

It was strange. The light only dimmed slightly as he descended, nowhere near as dark as it should have been. Soon, he felt faint ripples in the water rising from below — from the exact direction the current was leading him. Sensing opportunity, Thalion increased his speed. He couldn’t afford to let anything fall into the hands of other trialtakers. He needed everything: kills, leaderboard points, items, and any natural treasures that could strengthen him.

Before long, a floating reef came into view. It wasn’t large, perhaps two hundred meters wide and a hundred long, but it wasn’t just a simple flat disk. It resembled an underwater iceberg, layered with tunnels and ledges. Corals and seaweed glowed with bioluminescent light, and marine life teemed all around. Crabs and lobsters fought over small blue pearls. Tiny, colorful fish darted around the reef or hid among the seaweed, not just for fun but to stay out of reach of larger predators — sharks, and stranger creatures Thalion had never seen before.

These new predators looked like a cross between barracudas and squids: long, sleek bodies with barracuda teeth and a cluster of tentacles around their heads. Two of the tentacles were longer and far faster than the others, shooting forward to snatch up any small fish that ventured too far from the safety of the reef. Back on Earth, or at least during his time at university — Thalion had studied fish a little. His best guess was that these creatures were some sort of hybrid predator, adapted for both open water and reef hunting. Their tentacles were perfect for pulling prey from hiding, while their streamlined bodies made them deadly in short, explosive bursts. Perhaps they were a result of evolution, or a species from another planet altogether.

That thought led Thalion down a familiar path of curiosity. How exactly did evolution work here? Was it similar to how he evolved his own forms? Theoretically, it should be — yet after seeing a fish transform into a woman, doubt had begun to creep in. Maybe becoming human wasn’t an option for him because he was already a shapeshifter. Maybe he couldn’t take the form of another human. Whatever the case, he had to admit, those fish had made clever evolutionary choices. It was odd, though, that so many of them shared the same form. Perhaps his theory was nonsense.

These fish weren’t apex predators either. A number of sharks swam nearby — not too different from the ones Thalion knew — though they didn’t need to move constantly to stay afloat or breathe through their gills. They varied in color and size; some had extra fins, while others had almost none, giving them an eerily serpentine look. Out of the corner of his eye, Thalion spotted an octopus slipping out of a hole where two crabs were battling over a pearl. The current brushed over the top of the reef, making the long strands of seaweed sway in the torrent.

But the marine life wasn’t what caught Thalion’s attention most — it was the altar at the center of the reef. A white crystal rested upon it, protected by a shimmering shield. Around the shield were three engraved symbols. Judging by the setup, Thalion guessed he’d need to place something into those symbols to deactivate the barrier. Perhaps the pearls the crabs were fighting over could serve that purpose — there was nothing else of apparent value nearby.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from NovelFire. Please report it.

And of course, there were the other trialtakers — three groups of humans locked in battle around the altar. One group looked almost religious: bare-chested, their bodies covered in angelic imagery and crosses. They fought with staves, and their skills radiated with white light. The second group looked more like bandits, clad in tattered robes and the last group looked like ordinary adventurers.

They had everything from heavily armored warriors to light fighters, mages, and healers. Fighting underwater was clearly something none of them were used to. What puzzled Thalion was that the heavy warrior wasn’t sinking like a stone. Then he noticed a set of glowing runes on the man’s armored boots — lucky enchantments, Thalion had to admit.

The sharks nearby weren’t particularly interested in the fighting, but they kept circling, watching. If anyone got badly injured, they would certainly move in for the kill. To Thalion, all of them — humans and sharks alike — were just prey waiting to be taken. He couldn’t imagine any of them posing a real threat to him.

If he hadn’t been under so much pressure to perform well in this system event, he would have gone straight to the altar to study the shield and its mechanism. Unfortunately, he needed every bit of experience he could get. Even though he was already maxed out, he had no idea how much killing others would still reward him. Whatever the amount, it was worth taking. What if he ended up outside the top twenty? Maybe enough kills, progress in body tempering, and a few upgraded skills would earn him a divine race. That was his last hope if everything else failed.

Right now, he had to become the slayer of everything.

He approached slowly, his tail gliding through the water in quiet, powerful strokes, while he charged up an Aqua Lance. None of the adventurers noticed his approach. Thalion wanted to kill as many as possible with his first strike — and follow it up immediately with a Tsunami Breaker to finish the rest. As he closed in, one of the archers suddenly spotted him. Thalion released the Aqua Lance instantly before she could fire — underwater, arrows didn’t lose much power.

The archer never got the chance. The lance tore through her and nine others, their bodies split apart in an instant. Still, it wasn’t close enough to make Tsunami Breaker finish the rest. Thalion unleashed it anyway. A massive shockwave exploded outward, killing ten more and injuring several others.

The survivors immediately turned their focus to him. A bolt of lightning struck him from one of the mages, sending painful spasms through his body — but no follow-up came before he raised a Water Barrier. An arrow struck the barrier and slid off harmlessly while Thalion began charging a second Tsunami Breaker. The warriors likely assumed he couldn’t use it again so soon and rushed forward to break his shield.

Underwater, the humans were far too slow.

One warrior with a saber swung down at his barrier and grinned as it shattered — but his smile froze as the Tsunami Breaker tore through him and his comrades, leaving nothing behind. Only one mage survived, blocking the blast with a Mana Shield that cracked and flickered before collapsing entirely. The mage raised his staff to retaliate, but Thalion was faster. A Water Slash sliced cleanly through his head.

When the battle was over, Thalion began looting. He stored everything in his spatial amulet, then shifted to his human form to gather the blood swirling in the water and let the amulet absorb the souls of the dead before they could disperse. A moment later, he reverted to the form of the Tidecaller Serpent and shot toward the floating reef before more trialtakers could arrive.

He didn’t waste time studying the altar’s formation in detail. If the pearls weren’t the key, he had no idea what else could deactivate the shield. It took a bit of effort to kill a few lobsters and crabs clinging to the glowing blue pearls, but soon he had three. Placing one pearl on one of the engraved spots sent a brief blue pulse across the shield — and it vanished.

Thalion quickly stored the white crystal in his amulet, then turned his attention to the reef itself. He killed every beast on or near it, looting everything of value. Even the octopus that had eaten the crab and lobster wasn’t spared — Thalion dragged it out of its hole and slew it. He checked the available forms afterward but found nothing useful; no skills worth absorbing.

With everything finished, Thalion swam away once more, opening the leaderboard to check where the top ten currently stood.