The girl was too slow to react, and Thalion carved a deep wound across her chest. The force behind the strike was immense, sending her crashing hard into the crystal.
Thalion could now push everything beyond its limits, completely ignoring the crystal’s oppressive aura. Whatever had happened to his body and his connection to darkness had made him significantly stronger, allowing him to disregard the searing energy entirely.
The girl wasn’t nearly as fortunate.
She hissed in pain as her body struck the crystal, her skin beginning to smoke on contact. Thalion appeared before her instantly, pressing her against the glowing surface with one hand while attempting to bite off her head.
But she was still D-grade.
Power erupted from her body, blasting Thalion backward and even cracking the crystal itself. In the next moment, she dissolved into darkness and reappeared over a hundred meters away—far enough to escape most of the crystal’s influence.
"You ruined everything!" she screamed, black tears streaming down her face.
Her power surged even further—but Thalion felt no fear anymore. Not now. Yes, she was stronger than him, but with his recent power-up, he was more than capable of handling her.
He activated Shadow Step and appeared right in front of her, striking down—only to run straight into a bolt of black lightning.
The energy crackled across his body, briefly immobilizing him… and then nothing.
No damage.
Not even dizziness.
Thalion simply began forming tendrils, sending them forward to tear her apart.
Unfortunately, unlike the other D-grade enemies he had faced, this girl was far more powerful—and far more skilled. She adapted quickly, unleashing a barrage of lightning while teleporting around the battlefield.
Thalion, however, didn’t even bother to dodge.
Not because he couldn’t—but because it wasn’t worth it. The attacks caused no real damage, and every strike only gave him more darkness to absorb.
Right now, he was like those cloud beasts from the first System Event—untouchable except by very specific means.
For the girl, this matchup was a nightmare.
All her power… meant nothing.
Her only real option was to run—but either her pride or her rage kept her from doing so. She continued attacking relentlessly.
Thalion adjusted his own approach, deliberately lowering the intensity of his offense, even playing the victim at times to keep her engaged.
It worked.
She unleashed more and more abilities, eventually shifting to black flames—which were even better for Thalion. The flames aligned perfectly with his affinity, making absorption effortless. Whether they had always been black or had changed under his influence, she didn’t seem to notice—but to Thalion, it was a feast.
Most of the energy was absorbed by the elemental, but he didn’t mind. It was clear that another mutation wouldn’t come anytime soon. That he had gained—a title, a divine skill, and a transcendence skill—was already absurd.
The girl kept fighting desperately, throwing out attacks that would have annihilated any of his other forms. The only real issue was the impact, which sent him flying around. To counter that, Thalion reduced his mass, allowing himself to be thrown farther while minimizing the pressure on his body.
Eventually, even she began to realize her mana was running low.
But by then, it was already too late.
Thalion closed the distance and grabbed her, his claws sinking deep into her side.
Mercy wasn’t something he believed in—especially not for someone who had brought ruin to entire kingdoms.
And besides he wanted to take his time.
He told himself it was curiosity—scientific interest—as he opened her body and examined her organs one by one. He even tested how they tasted, discovering that her heart wasn’t all that bad.
The elemental reveled in it, feeding on her emotions as they spiraled deeper into despair.
Even without mana, her regeneration was remarkable. Thalion noted how quickly her organs regrew, experimenting to see which recovered fastest. The heart took the longest—longer even than bones—which surprised both him and the elemental.
Still, after a while, it grew… boring.
So he ended it.
Multiple tendrils pierced her body, consuming her entirely.
When he turned around, Ricarda and Pikar were staring at him, mouths open, eyes wide.
"Jo… what’s wrong?" Thalion asked with a wide grin—one that only seemed to make things worse.
They just kept staring, speechless, before finally managing to stammer.
"No… everything’s good. Worked out well, hah."
Pikar seemed to have calmed down, but Ricarda still looked at Thalion as if he were evil incarnate.
"Perfect. Then did you check out the altar? There has to be a good treasure here, right?" Thalion said with a grin, still in his Eclipsari form. His heart was still filled with a lingering thrill from the pain and agony he had inflicted on the girl.
"Uh… I think the altar was a tool to condense the darkness below into some kind of powerful orb or crystal. Since you… kind of absorbed it, there probably isn’t any treasure left for us," Pikar said with a helpless shrug.
Well, that was a bit of a problem.
On the other hand, the skill he had gained might very well rival the reward of the entire System Event.
Thalion noticed Ricarda had a sharp comment on the tip of her tongue—but after what she had just witnessed, she said nothing.
Not bad.
In Thalion’s opinion, that was actually quite useful.
Maybe he should handle the next enemies the same way.
A few doubts flickered in the back of his mind—whether it was too much, too cruel—but the benefits were simply too good. It felt incredible, strengthened the elemental, enhanced his aura… and most importantly, it made the elf shut up.
Well, to be fair, Ricarda hadn’t been that bad so far.
Still… there would be other elves.
To Thalion, that sounded like a perfectly reasonable justification to thoroughly torture the next D-grade enemy. He even found himself hoping for something like an elven uprising within the new faction. Making an example would be… satisfying.
And, of course, beneficial for his elemental.
"Good. Then let’s see if we can find anything valuable—just to be safe—and move on," Thalion said cheerfully, clapping his hands together.
Wasn’t this a splendid day?
He moved through the ruins around the altar, still in high spirits. His demeanor earned him a few puzzled looks from Pikar, while Ricarda’s wide-eyed stare never left him. The way she moved, the way she reacted… she almost looked afraid.
They found another egg and four seeds from the dark plants. Not bad. That pushed their total to over five hundred thousand points. Even better, they didn’t need to store them in the spatial ring, meaning their wealth wouldn’t be revealed.
Oh yes—this was a good day.
The only issue was that they still didn’t know where to go next, but that problem was quickly solved when Pikar discovered a small book, clearly written by the girl.
For a brief moment, Thalion felt a flicker of regret. Maybe he should have asked more questions before killing her.
Too late now.
Then something hit him.
It felt like an Identify—only far stronger.
Your current location has been revealed
Well… that sucked.
He had just been having such a good time, and now one of those annoying hunters was tracking him.
"Is something wrong?" Pikar asked, looking up from the book as Thalion suddenly stopped moving.
"Yeah. My location’s been revealed," Thalion replied, unsure how to proceed.
The problem was… the hunters would still have to reach this place.
Did they even know how deep he was?
They probably did. Otherwise, there’d be no point in revealing his position.
"Dammit," Pikar swore. "Those must be elite hunters. They probably noticed you held first place earlier—even if only for a few seconds. That means they believe you’re the strongest target in this hunt. And if they reacted that quickly, they must have multiple hunters working together—at least one constantly watching the leaderboard."
Thalion had to agree.
Elite hunters.
Earlier, it had been mentioned that hunters had to pay to reveal a target’s location. That meant they weren’t just organized—they were efficient. They had already killed enough trial takers to afford it.
"Not the best outcome after everything we’ve done to stay incognito," Thalion muttered. "What does the book say? Any clue where the next fifth floor is?"
"Hmm… she had two older brothers, and there’s a rough direction mentioned. Definitely worth checking out." Pikar paused mid-sentence and glanced toward Ricarda. "Everything okay?"
Thalion followed his gaze—and had to admit, she didn’t look good at all.
Her face was pale, her hands trembling violently as if she were freezing.
"No, no… everything’s fine. I… I’m looking forward to… to… what happens next."
"Alright," Pikar said skeptically. "We need to move now. Is that okay for you, or do you need a break?"
"Yes, yes… please. I am very eager," Ricarda replied, carefully avoiding Thalion’s gaze.
This was getting a bit awkward, and Thalion had no intention of wasting time. They had treasures to find and a Wild Hunt to evade. Time was running out—only fifteen days remained. There was no reason to slow down just because the elf was having a minor crisis.
Together, they returned to the chamber with the many gates and opened another one. It led to a former kingdom on the third floor, from where they would descend further toward the next fifth floor. The distance this time was far greater than before, and more than a day passed before they reached the next kingdom.
Along the way, Thalion’s location was revealed three more times—which didn’t help. Ricarda’s location was exposed twelve times, likely because she had briefly held first place and currently had the big crystal.
"Are you sure it’s smart not to store more in our rings? They’re clearly hunting us. Maybe it would cost them more to track us if we stayed in first place," Thalion suggested.
"Good idea," Pikar admitted, "but the problem is that it might attract even more hunters. Right now, we’re likely being tracked by one or two elite parties. If we draw more attention, we could make things much worse. We simply don’t have enough information to make that call safely."
That was fair.
It really sucked not knowing how many hunters were out there. Most of the trial takers were already dead—only about a quarter remained.
"Anyway, let’s clear this one quickly, grab the treasure, and move on. I already know where we need to go next," Pikar said, gesturing for Thalion to take the lead.
This kingdom seemed to revolve around fire, judging by the murals lining the walls. The descent through the massive tower felt eerily similar to the previous one, and Thalion found himself looking forward to the next fight.
Since this would likely involve fire affinity, he shifted into his human form.
As they moved deeper, the heat intensified, and the sharp clang of steel striking steel echoed through the structure.
Thalion’s eyes narrowed slightly.
Could there already be another group of trial takers down here?
A slow grin spread across his face as anticipation rose.
Well… that would be very unfortunate for them.
Because right now, he wasn’t in the mood to share.