Chương 425: Chapter 396: Cleanup and Minor Tests

"Oh, come on. Don't look at me like that. Calm down and try again. If it works, I won't kill you," Thalion said with a wide grin, exposing the many teeth of the Crimson Eidolon. He was in the second shop that still had a survivor—this time an alchemist. More accurately: a fat lizardman who brewed potions from human body parts. Thalion had decided to give him one chance to prove his concoctions were actually useful. The first attempt had ended disastrously, with the reagent vial exploding into shards.

Thalion, ever merciful—especially after seeing the dozens of human heads displayed on the wall behind the alchemist—allowed the trembling lizardman to try again.

"I–I c-c-can try, but I'm not sure it will work…" the alchemist stammered, trying to pour a yellow liquid into a larger vial that contained a pickled pinky finger, its skin peeled off with disturbing precision. Thalion had no idea what this potion was supposed to do, but the alchemist had promised a miracle, and Thalion was absolutely in the mood to witness one. If not, the alchemist would lose some essential body parts, and Thalion would return to helping Aris and Rakati clean up the remainder of the army.

He had already visited several different shops, and so far not a single owner had survived their "job interview."

"S-k-kirship lurumptack…" the fat lizardman chanted, circling a shaking finger above the vial where the pinky drifted in the ugly mixture. Thalion watched for a few seconds. Nothing happened. So he began channeling his blood claw. Naturally, the alchemist panicked.

"Please don't kill me! I can take the heads down from the wall! I have so man—" His pleading ended abruptly as Thalion's claw bisected him at the waist. Thalion didn't spare him a second glance. He shot upward and through the roof in a single motion. He was done checking the shops—so far it had been nothing but a waste of time, and he wasn't in the mood to kill every craftsman personally. They would likely die at the end of the stage anyway, since Thalion had collected all their antidotes.

He was finished with this floating rock. Time to visit the higher cities and steal their antidotes. There were still a few fighters in the air desperately trying to fight Rakati and Aris—both now looking like wrathful blood gods, red auras radiating from them. They had gained several levels from the massacre, and the blood had clearly done wonders. Every watchtower was destroyed, reduced to broken ruins. Thalion had to give the defenders credit: they weren't giving up.

None tried to flee—even though at this point, they didn't have the slightest chance. Earlier, a charged arrow might have injured Aris or possibly even Rakati, but now the soldiers didn't even have the opportunity to fire a shot. Thalion didn't hesitate to join the slaughter. He shot upward, claws of the Blooded Templar already active. He suppressed his bloodline flames and aura just enough to ambush the fighters instead of incinerating everything outright.

Controlling the flames was mostly practice—he didn't care in the slightest if the city burned to ash. You were either the hunter or the hunted. And the heads in that alchemist's shop certainly hadn't asked to die either. Not that Thalion needed justification. Power ruled all, and he would win this treasure hunt—no matter what. He carved through the surviving fighters, none of them even seeing him coming.

After tearing two warriors apart, he arced through the sky and unleashed Sacrament of the Blooded Templar, draining blood from every enemy he passed. Not all became empty husks, but all lost enough blood to collapse, unable to fight or dodge. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it. The slaughter lasted only a few minutes before the last soldier fell.

Aris and Rakati turned their attention toward those still hiding inside the shops below—but Thalion intervened.

"Ey, stop it. We're done here. Back to the skyship." Thalion didn't give them a moment to object before deactivating the skill and returning to his real body. When he opened his eyes, the Sanguis Impera was already retracting its vines and opening the cocoon that had protected him until now. It didn't take long for Aris and Rakati to arrive—they appeared like blood-red comets shooting down from the city and landed right in front of him. They didn't say anything. They simply stared. Thalion had to take a moment.

Rakati and Aris were drenched in blood from head to toe. For Thalion, that was never a problem thanks to the Sanguis Impera absorbing everything, but it still took him a second to steady himself and focus on what mattered.

"Good job up there. We're traveling higher next. I'd like to visit one of the larger cities." Rakati and Aris exchanged a quick look before Aris spoke up.

"Uh, I would not advise attacking one of those cities. The message that we attacked is already spreading, and they will be preparing for retaliation. What you just destroyed was merely an outpost compared to the ones higher up. They also have a teleportation network that lets them send countless elite fighters—people like me and Rakati—directly into the city. Even if we got lucky and found one where most of the forces are gone, we would still have no chance. The risk is far too great."

Rakati nodded along, fully agreeing. A teleportation system… that was a big problem, Thalion thought as he slowly paced back and forth. That meant the cities on the higher rocks were off-limits. But what about the ones on this level? The issue was that Thalion hadn't seen any with Eagly. On the positive side, they had a skyship now, so finding one should be possible, right?

"Are there more of these outposts we can visit? Time on this stage is running out," Thalion asked after thinking through all the options. What were the chances of someone finding these floating rocks anyway? The prince would have no trouble moving through the mist, but would he even try? If Thalion was lucky, he could end this stage in first place. Would he manage to keep it? Probably not—the later stages awarded more and more points. There could easily be a treasure worth twenty thousand points in the next one.

Still, if Thalion could gather over three hundred antidotes, it would be a massive boost, and it would make it far harder for anyone to catch up. Especially with Thalion knowing about the next grand treasure—assuming the next stage really was the tree level. And he had a skyship now, which should allow him to kill even the larger beasts with a single blast from the big lasers. All in all, it looked like Thalion had a real chance to reach his goal and dominate this treasure hunt.

His thoughts were interrupted when Rakati finally answered his question.

"I think there should be one roughly twelve hours in this direction." Rakati pointed past Thalion with one blood-soaked claw. Perfect. A new direction and a new target. Distance could be a problem—if the next outpost wasn't close, they might run out of time. Still, Thalion grinned widely. Before they set off, there was one thing he wanted to test, and now was the perfect moment.

"Good. But before we head there, I want to test something." With those words, Thalion shifted into the Crippled Eclipsari. This time he didn't hold back his aura. An evil presence exploded outward, and the surroundings darkened. Thalion wanted to test whether Rakati and Aris would still follow him in this form. He had chosen the Crippled Eclipsari because it was the only form immune to his bloodcurse. The darkness in his skin and the elemental energy dissolved anything that touched him.

The Crippled Eclipsari didn't have blood—if it ever had. When injured, only dark smoke escaped before the wound closed. When the injury was deeper, a strange liquid dripped from it—darkness incarnate. Thalion had named it "liquid darkness," and it should dissolve any curse or poison on contact. As a Crippled Eclipsari, Thalion had no fear that he would be too weak to survive if the two attacked him. If they weren't careful, he might even kill them.

Worst case, he could switch back to his human form—ending any fight instantly. Speaking of the two: their eyes were wide, and both took a step back.

"An Eclipsari… here? How is this possible? How did you get that form?" Rakati stammered, disbelief shaking his voice. His right hand trembled. At least they didn't seem eager to attack him. But were they holding back because of the race?

"There's no time for my life story. Do you feel the curse urging you to kill me, or is it the same feeling you have when I'm in human form?" Thalion asked curiously. It was surprising how many people knew about the Crippled Eclipsari.

"We cannot feel your blood anymore," Aris replied, "but we also do not feel the need to kill you like with the others. The calling is still there, but weaker. In my early days, I was bitten by a werewolf—when I look at you in your human form, it feels like standing under a full moon. But now, it's like a cloud is covering it." That explanation was good enough. Thalion shifted back into his human form, ending the test. Still… how had Aris become a werewolf? And was he still one?