Chương 120: Chapter 118: Difficult Choice

When Thalion approached, he saw a circle of hundreds of men and women surrounding Garrick, who was holding a younger woman by the neck. As Thalion flew closer, he noticed Garrick's supporters moving in, trying to clear a path for their leader by pushing others aside. The entire scene was pure chaos. He spotted Kaldrek and a few of his allies attempting to flank Garrick from above, but several of Garrick's men, mostly archers, had already taken positions on the rooftops.

The situation was at a stalemate with Garrick still holding the young woman hostage. Time for action, Thalion thought, as he shifted back into his human form and activated mistform. He reappeared two meter in front of Garrick and the captive woman, standing in the middle of the tense scene.

"Kill him!" Garrick yelled in panic, gripping the woman tighter and using her as a shield.

"Let her go!" A girl from the crowd cried out, tears streaming down her face.

"You can't kill me, and you know it," Thalion said, his voice steady and confident as he took a step forward.

"What are you waiting for? Shoot him!" Garrick shouted at the archers above.

"Anyone who attacks me will die," Thalion declared, his tone unwavering as he took another step forward. This was trickier than he had anticipated. He had hoped to simply manipulate the blood in Garrick's body to end the standoff, but Garrick was currently too strong for that. The archers remained frozen, their bows trained on him, unsure of their next move.

"Release the woman, and I'll give you a three-hour head start before I come for you," Thalion said coldly, his eyes fixed on Garrick.

"Sure—and what stops you from killing me as soon as I let her go?" Garrick sneered, tightening his grip on the woman's neck. Her face was turning blue; she wouldn't last much longer. Thalion hesitated. He didn't want to give Garrick any leverage, but letting him walk away unscathed felt like a concession he couldn't afford. Could the woman survive long enough for a healer to save her, even if Garrick snapped her neck?

The thought of sacrificing her life for his goal weighed heavily, but the consequences of breaking his word would be dire. If he broke his word now, would the others still believe that he was not going to take their credits next week?

"First, get your people off the rooftops," Thalion shouted, his frustration mounting.

"It's annoying having bows pointed at my head the entire time." Turning to the crowd, he addressed them with authority.

"Anyone who wishes to follow Garrick, leave with him now. If I see you again, you'll die." Perhaps Garrick would feel safer with his warriors around him. In the end, it wouldn't make much difference for him.

"I'll take this woman with me until I reach the jungle," Garrick sneered, his eyes burning with hatred.

"If you kill her, there will be no safe place in this tutorial for you," Thalion replied, his voice as cold as ice.

"Men, we're leaving," Garrick announced triumphantly, dragging the woman with him as his remaining followers began retreating toward the gate. Not everyone followed, though—more than half of his supporters stayed behind, a small victory for Thalion. Still, the dilemma remained: should he honor his word and let Garrick go, or break his promise and hunt him down? Thalion sighed inwardly as he watched Garrick and his lackeys disappear into the jungle. Moments later, the young woman emerged, injured but alive.

He landed in front of her and quickly used his blood to stabilize her wounds. Against his instincts, he decided to keep his word. As much as he wanted to chase Garrick down and eliminate him, he understood the importance of establishing trust with the people here. Breaking his promise on the first day would alienate them, and he needed their cooperation to build a future support system for his cultivation. The support system was crucial—he couldn't gather enough resources to upgrade all his forms on his own.

And while he cared for his fellow earthlings, that care wasn't selfless. He wasn't about to risk his life unless it served his greater goals. In the end, pragmatism won. Thalion clenched his fists, suppressing his frustration, and turned back to the people who now looked to him.

"Okay, I think it's time for you to know the truth," Thalion announced, leaping onto the gate and ascending slightly into the air so the thousands of survivors—now awake from the commotion—could see him. His voice, amplified with mana, rang clearly across the crowd.

"I played the part of a ruthless killer a week ago when I arrived here, and again today when I took all your credits," Thalion continued, his voice steady and sincere. Now hovering ten meters above the ground, he surveyed the crowd. Many of them still glared at him in anger, but others had begun to exchange their anger for curiosity as he spoke.

"Everything I've done has been to ensure my survival, as you've witnessed today. It's not just Garrick or Michael I have to contend with, but also my former comrades—Kael, Sylas, and Kai." A murmur rippled through the crowd at these names. Many had heard of Thalion's battles against the orcs and knew of how he had once saved Kael, Sylas, and Kai when Thorwald ambushed them.

"I've acquired special natural treasures—treasures that have slowed my progression despite their power," Thalion explained, bending the truth slightly. He wasn't about to reveal the existence of his title or the outsider connection. That knowledge was staying with him.

"Because of this, Kael and the others are hunting me. Their god has given them insights that lead them to believe they can take those treasures from me." The murmuring grew louder, but Thalion pressed on.

"This is why I lied to you about buying a weapon to kill Ankhet. In truth, it was to give me the power to survive another day." The crowd's reactions were mixed. While many were still visibly upset over the loss of their credits, some expressions softened as they realized the situation's complexity. The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"Your credits have guaranteed my survival for now," Thalion said, his tone resolute.

"Let me repay the favor. Most of the credits I took will be invested into upgrading this base into a fortress—one strong enough to ensure your safety, even during the fifth stage when the undead arrive." His words caused a ripple of intrigue among the onlookers.

"I want all of you to become as powerful as possible. To do that, we need to hunt and gather as many natural treasures as we can. I have tasks to attend to tonight, but tomorrow morning, we will meet here, and I'll present the next steps." Thalion concluded with a slight bow to the crowd, then activated mistform and flew back to his tower. Back at his tower, Thalion got to work clearing out the corpses left behind.

Being both a blood cultivator and the umbral predator had its advantages, and the task, though unpleasant, was manageable. He then sent messages to Maike, Kaldrek, and Lucan, inviting them to a meeting at his tower. There was much to discuss, and important plans needed to be set in motion. It was time to begin building his base—or, more accurately, his support system. <--"Jack, we shouldn't be hunting at night," Josh said, his voice uneasy as he followed Jack through the tall grass.

"No way, Josh. We need to keep going if we want to progress faster," Jack replied enthusiastically, striding forward with a big smile.

"Jack, there could be vampires on this stage," Josh stammered, struggling to keep up.

"Then I'll kill them all!" Jack declared with eerie cheerfulness.

"You want to become one of the strongest insects there is, don't you? We need to rack up credits to make that happen." Josh couldn't help but feel unsettled by Jack's excitement. They were walking beneath a colossal tree—over 50 meters tall—standing alone in the middle of the savanna. Josh had difficulty seeing in the dark, but Jack moved with ease, his vision enhanced by his mutated eye, which now gleamed with an unnatural hue. Jack's new class was mythical and powerful, though highly specialized.

It wouldn't take much effort to evolve it further, but the downside was its narrow progression path—it seemed tied entirely to the form of a squid. Jack didn't mind that at all. He relished the raw strength his new abilities gave him and was relieved he didn't have to manage multiple forms, which was both draining and complicated. Still, his squid form wasn't without its challenges. Moving all the tentacles properly and flying in the right direction remained a struggle.

Josh hadn't noticed, but some of Jack's successful captures of beasts were pure accidents. Thankfully, his telekinetic skills compensated for these shortcomings, allowing him to blast enemies away or lift them into the air where he could strike them down with ease. Most beasts, no matter their level or rarity, couldn't withstand Jack's sheer size and power. The real challenge was ensuring Josh got the final blow, which was necessary for his credits.

Jack often held back, dropping the nearly-dead beasts so Josh could finish them off with his strange, mutated grasshopper form. Jack still felt guilty about what had happened to them in the ocean—and after, as slaves. This guilt drove him to help Josh as much as possible, even though they'd known each other only since the system's arrival. But more than guilt, Jack genuinely liked Josh and wanted the best for him. Well, that—and Jack couldn't wait to see Josh fully transform into a giant grasshopper.

At the moment, Josh was adding even more body parts to his beast form. He now had fur growing on his shell and bat wings positioned just behind his insect wings. The weak mandibles had been replaced by lion teeth, which looked strange, almost comical. In hindsight, he thought, maybe Josh should've kept the lion form.

"See? Over there's our next target," Jack whispered, pointing into the distance where a massive creature—some kind of elephant—stood tall above the grass.

"Okay, but you know I can't see much in the dark," Josh replied uncertainly, though he trusted Jack's judgment. Despite everything happening almost by accident so far, their chaotic hunts had worked out surprisingly well. He followed Jack, who was floating in front of him, in his human form. The power Jack wielded was something else entirely. Before this evolution, Jack's human form had been nearly useless. Now, it seemed almost overpowered—even though he was missing half his skills.

It was crazy how effectively he handled such massive prey. Josh squinted at the creature as they approached, noticing it was quite different from the last elephant Jack had killed. When he used his identification ability, a name and level popped up: Sonaphant, Level 71.

"Oh, shit, Jack! Watch out!" Josh shouted, his voice rising in panic as he saw Jack shift into his massive squid form, now hovering directly above the Sonaphant. Things got worse as the sonaphant noticed Jack—and then two more heads rose from the tall grass nearby. The other two must have been sleeping before. Jack wasted no time, latching onto one of the sonaphants with his enormous tentacles and hoisting the twelve-meter-high beast into the air. The remaining two, however, didn't take kindly to the attack.

Power began to radiate around them, their bodies glowing faintly with energy. This was bad. He couldn't let them hit Jack with whatever attack they were preparing. Desperate, Josh flapped his insect and bat wings as hard as he could, propelling himself toward the two sonaphants. His wings, however, beat out of sync, making him slower and clumsier than he expected. Thinking back, maybe adding bat wings wasn't the smartest idea.

He crashed headlong into one of the Sonaphants, biting down with his new lion teeth and clawing at it with his additional cheetah-derived front legs. To his horror, the creatures didn't unleash a sound beam at Jack as he had anticipated. Instead, they released a powerful shockwave of sound directly at him. The impact was brutal. Josh was flung over two hundred meters, his shell cracked in multiple places. His head rang like a bell, and before long, his vision faded to black.

"Josh, wake up!" Jack's voice pierced through the fog, though Josh could barely comprehend it. His friend was shaking him vigorously and even slapping him in an attempt to revive him. Josh groaned as his eyes fluttered open, only to see Jack's face looming over him. Pain exploded anew when Jack slapped him again. Josh's hearing was gone, replaced entirely by an incessant ringing.

"Jack, I can't hear you! Stop screaming and punching me!" Josh yelled—or at least, he thought he was yelling, unable to hear his own voice. Jack paused, then began gesturing wildly with his hands, trying to form letters or symbols. Josh, still groggy, couldn't make sense of it.

"Dude, just wait until the healing kicks in," Josh muttered, exhausted from watching Jack's frantic attempts at communication. He transformed back into his human form and tried to stand, but the world spun around him like a storm. His legs buckled, and he collapsed back onto the ground, his sense of balance completely gone. Jack, realizing what had happened, quickly helped Josh to his feet, supporting him as he swayed unsteadily.

It took time for Josh to regain some semblance of control over his legs, and even then, his hearing was still out of the question. If their stash of healing potions hadn't been stolen by those damn blue-robed thieves, Josh knew he'd have been fine by now. As it stood, it would take some time for him to recover fully. But what could possibly happen? They'd just lie low and take it easy for a while.

Josh allowed himself to relax a little, imagining a peaceful sunbath in the heat of the savanna, the tall grass swaying rhythmically in the gentle breeze. Not bad, not bad at all, he thought, letting himself drift into a calm reverie. Unbeknownst to him, Jack had different plans with him.