(Book 2 Complete!) Tales of the Endless Empire [LitRPG Apocalypse]

"Hey, can you stop making those faces?" Thalion shouted at his friends, who stood atop the wall looking less than thrilled to see him again. Okay, maybe that was understandable. They had never seen him use this skill before. They probably thought he had been killed by Ankhet. His voice, coming from the mouth of the Crimson Eidolon and laced with its eerie echo, likely didn't help matters either.

"Who are you, and what do you want? We're not just going to surrender our lives to you!" Kaldrek managed to stammer.

"Alright, seriously, calm down. This is just a new skill, and I could really use some help getting rid of these vampires. You know, killing this many alone takes way longer than I'd like," Thalion replied.
At this distance, maintaining the Crimson Eidolon was draining a significant amount of mana. Maybe he should've just said, "I'm Thalion" or something simple, but honestly, he was still riding the high of having survived the fight against Ankhet.

"Thalion, is that you?" Evelyn suddenly blurted out. The others turned to her, surprised.

Thalion noticed that apparently, none of them had expected him to survive a battle with Ankhet.

"Yes, it's me. By the way, is the Blood Witch still alive? I've got a few questions for her," Thalion said with a grin—though, with the sharp teeth of the Crimson Eidolon, it probably didn't look very friendly.

"Okay, that has to be Thalion. Only he would say that. But… did you really beat Ankhet?" Evelyn asked, her voice rising in disbelief. Just the thought that someone could defeat a being even gods feared seemed completely absurd to her.

"Yup. Ankhet's gone. I also dealt with Elias. If I'm right, most of the defenses are down too. So, how about giving me a hand? I'm nearly out of time and keeping this skill active at this range is burning through mana like crazy," Thalion said, now sounding a bit more stressed. His mana pool was already down to fifty percent, which was rare for him these days.

His friends exchanged glances, most of them still too shocked to react.

"Okay, never mind. Take your time. I'll be out here hunting vampires in the meantime. Just fill me in after we've taken the base," Thalion said, and before anyone could respond, he turned and shot off toward the undead base like a fighter jet on a bombing run.

They barely had time to regroup before he was already past the walls. The barriers didn't stop him. He could just dive underground. The shield didn't extend below the surface. That was something they'd definitely have to consider when building their base in the new world.
Who knew what horrors might come from beneath the ground there? Termites from stage three, for instance, were among the worst. He really wasn't looking forward to meeting those again. Sure, he had grown stronger, but he doubted those insects hadn't also evolved, especially considering how rapidly they'd improved back on stage three.

The new world would be a wild place. He just hoped no god's chosen one would spawn next to them. He wanted nothing to do with those people, at least not until he obtained his divine class. After that, things might be different. But that was still far off. For now, he needed to finish off these vampires for good.

He had no idea how much this would affect his next evolution, but every bit of effort mattered. Slacking now could cost him dearly if he couldn't rank high in a system event later.

The vampires were helpless against him.

He focused on those stationed on the walls and towers, wanting to make it easier for Kaldrek and the others to enter the base. They would likely need to blast open part of the wall or fly over using a scout vessel. Climbing the walls was definitely not recommended.

His screeches echoed through the night as Thalion slaughtered vampire after vampire. It felt like ages before the first fighters from his base finally joined the battle and swarmed the undead stronghold. From that point on, the vampires lost their will to fight and fled toward the jungle or deep into the dessert in desperation.

Fleeing vampires were notoriously hard to kill. Their speed made them almost impossible to chase.

It took a full hour before Thalion finally located the building crystal of the base and seized control of it. This stronghold would earn them a nice amount of credits when the tutorial ended. Hopefully he'd still be able to spend them by then.

With the vampires dead and the base conquered, he deactivated his skill and opened his eyes back in the chamber. He was sitting atop a wide-open red flower, more than ten meters above the ground. Apparently, the Sanguis Impera found it important to always grow a flower beneath him when his consciousness was still in the crimson Eidolon.

"Alright, pack your things. We're good to go," Thalion joked loudly to the Sanguis Impera.

The entire jungle began to retract, absorbed by the Sanguis Impera within his body. It probably looked a bit ridiculous from an outside perspective. It all happened pretty quickly, too. After thirty seconds, the chamber was empty, except for Thalion and Elias, who was still bound tightly in vines.

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The guy didn't seem to feel any pain from the vines piercing through his body, or he was just extremely pain-tolerant. At the very least, he hadn't made a single sound of pain during the entire battle or in the aftermath.

Thalion exhaled in relief as he made his way back to the surface at a relaxed pace.
Now, he could finally upgrade properly. At least until the chaos of the new world caught up to him.
The female elf was still out there, but Thalion didn't view her as a massive challenge. The difficult part would be catching her alive. With escape tokens in play, it was extremely unlikely.

It sucked, but there wasn't much he could do about it.
Maybe he'd get lucky and bait her out with the life of her son, or some other wicked strategy he wasn't exactly proud of considering.
Then again, she and her son had tried to do far worse to him, so maybe it was worth a try if the opportunity presented itself.

And if not, he still had a lot of upgrades to chase.
The final two weeks of the tutorial had just begun, and he was determined to make the most of them. After the tutorial, things would likely become hell.

He wondered how his current power compared to a god's chosen in the tutorial. He had learned there was a big difference between them. Some gods only bestowed their divine blessings when their chosen were within their domain, where they could properly nurture and empower them.
Those chosen were far too powerful to be allowed into tutorial zones, even if they met the level requirements.

The system voice had once told him that at some point, it might be beneficial to leave the new universe entirely to participate in system events in older universes. Events that couldn't be hosted in the newly integrated space.
Why? Because most participants in those events wouldn't stand a chance against the powerhouses from the integrated space.
That meant any chosen he could encounter within the tutorial had to go through the same process he was going through.
Could they really be that much stronger than him?

He had defeated Ankhet.

Sure, it was a weakened Ankhet, one whose mind was still battling Amun-Ra for dominance, but still. It was more than anyone would have thought possible.

Even so, Thalion had his doubts.
The sheer amount of knowledge a god could pass to their chosen just by talking to them, like in the strange sessions Evelyn had mentioned, was insanely valuable.
Not to mention that time basically stood still during those sessions, which was also a massive advantage.

In the new world, gods were far less restricted and could talk with their chosen almost nonstop. Maybe they could even perceive a small area around them.

Thalion, on the one hand, wanted to test his skills against such a chosen. On the other hand, he really didn't want to meet one. They were probably incredibly annoying and judging by how Kael and Sylas had changed after receiving their blessings, he was probably right.

The vampire god was likely furious and would send his chosen, if he had one, after Thalion to retrieve the Sanguis Impera.
Yeah… the odds of that happening were probably pretty high.

And then there was the other planet that had been fused with Earth. A planet full of vampires.
What were the chances that Tenebrice's chosen was one of the vampires that had landed on New Earth?

With his luck?
High. Very high.

Still, at least he had good friends he could rely on to keep the ship afloat if he ever had to leave.
He'd rather leave them behind than draw a bunch of divine enemies to their doorstep.

There were probably a bunch of gods who would learn his identity once the tutorial ended and Thalion seriously doubted they'd be thrilled.

Maybe, if things really went to hell on New Earth, it would be best for him to leave and for Kaldrek and the others to join one of the divine factions.
It depended on what the gods asked of them.
But if all it meant was that their chosen got more prestige and didn't meddle too much, it might be better than constant war with neighboring factions.

Thalion was already grateful that so many people had joined his base and felt safe there.
Of course, that couldn't last forever.
Not that he'd give up on them easily, but it was an option to consider, if it meant everyone could benefit from it.

Speaking of those people...

A genuine smile crept onto his face, though it was probably hidden behind his mask, when he saw Jack, Josh, Kaldrek, Maike, Kargul, the massive flying turtle Vorlok, Evelyn, Annie, and Jakob waiting for him at the exit of the catacomb.

Even after all the hell he'd been through and all the terrible people he'd encountered, he had to admit:
He'd also had the honor of meeting some truly amazing folks.