Elara, the Chosen of Isis, landed right behind Thalion as the two descended onto the battlefield. Thalion’s heart was beating like a maniac, which was actually good since it granted him quite the power-up, and he hadn’t realized before that sheer panic was enough to activate his passive skill.
The fact that the human Chosen had decided to fight alongside him was insane. Like what even were the chances? Thalion was still surprised that she hadn’t seen through his illusion, especially after conjuring several spells the moment they landed on the grass before the wall. Against most fighters, Thalion had been confident that he could avoid getting hit, but against two Chosen? Hell no. That was impossible. One of the random shockwaves from their skills would hit him sooner or later anyway, and then what?
The Chosen should have been in contact with the others through their tokens. Would someone like Ethan abandon his fight just to fly over and kill Thalion? Another massively annoying problem was that he wasn’t getting any response from Kaldrek ever since leaving the wall. If communication was blocked, then maybe the healer wouldn’t be able to call for help or reveal information either. On the other hand, Thalion also had to worry about the elves. They desperately wanted him dead as well, so if his identity was exposed they might come running too.
Thalion honestly struggled to imagine a single outcome of this battle ending well for him. He should have tried to argue before jumping down, but the ice in the Chosen’s gaze had made it crystal clear that she wouldn’t accept no for an answer.
"Who is going to support us? Those are two Chosen and I’m not exactly good at fighting." Thalion tried to downplay his abilities. Maybe the stupid Chosen would reconsider and decide it was smarter to retreat behind the walls.
"Ryan, the Chosen of the Cinder Lord, but he will need some time since he is currently stalling a few other Chosen before we can regroup," Elara answered.
Thalion already didn’t have a particularly good relationship with most Chosen in general, but Ryan was something special. He had honestly hoped to never see that stupid brat again, especially after what happened during the first system event. Even if Elara wouldn’t recognize him, Ryan definitely would, and then Thalion would end up with enemies on both sides.
So he decided to take a little risk since things already were falling apart anyway.
"That idiot is coming here? The guy is probably one of the stupidest people I have ever met. Last time almost everyone in the party died because of him. If he finds out that I’m still alive he will kill me, and honestly I really don’t need to fight those elven Chosen who are already much stronger than me while also dealing with my own reinforcements." Thalion shouted at the healer, hoping the manipulation would at least plant a small seed of doubt.
He had no idea how close the other Chosen already were, but if Ryan tried to expose him maybe this would at least delay things a little.
Luckily it looked like Elara herself didn’t have a particularly high opinion of Ryan either, but she still intended to win this fight.
"Communication is cut outside the walls so I can’t change anything even if I wanted to. Also I’m a Chosen and you follow my orders without question. That’s very important especially in a fight against those two. Don’t worry about power. I will buff you. Now activate all your boosting skills and go after the assassin," she ordered in a stern voice.
"I don’t have a boosting skill," Thalion said, which was only partly true. His heart could technically be considered a boosting skill but nothing like the normal enhancement abilities. It didn’t power him up that much but also didn’t come with a backlash once it ran out. In Thalion’s opinion it was the best of both worlds.
Also communication outside the walls being cut? Just fucking fantastic. Now he had to return inside the city to find out whether the others had managed to contact Athilrion.
"What? Who the fuck doesn’t have a boosting skill? Dammit this is all going horribly wrong and we even knew this would happen. Now go, don’t waste more time." Elara shouted, though most of it sounded directed at herself.
It was always refreshing when the higher-ups had no hope of winning the fight but still sent you to the frontlines anyway.
Thalion paused for a second and listened to his title, which currently screamed of danger coming from the elves but not from Elara. After her last statement he had briefly suspected she had seen through his illusion all along and simply wanted to use the elves to get rid of him but that clearly wasn’t the case.
Thalion sighed and decided that instead of chasing after that absurdly fast assassin he would rather try his luck against the plant Chosen. After cutting apart the black plant and spending so much time with Ricarda during the trial he knew exactly where the seeds of a plant like the one before him would be located. If he could bring a batch of them back to Ricarda it should help her greatly, right?
"Not her! Does she look like an assassin to you for gods sake?" Elara cursed the moment she realized Thalion was sprinting toward the giant plant.
In the end she still cast some sort of crazy buff on him and Thalion could only hope she couldn’t do anything fancy with it because he had no way to dodge or prevent her from empowering him. He honestly had no clue where to even begin dealing with that possibility.
Right now it didn’t matter much as he leapt onto one of the plants and drew Saranya. There was no need to hold back anymore and with a single slash he severed the plants head clean off. The translucent arc of energy continued onward and even tore through several elven mages standing farther behind.
Thalion wasted no time and immediately searched through the remains of the plant for the seeds. The plant probably wasn’t truly dead and the Chosen could likely regrow it but losing the seeds should still be a massive blow.
"Are you trying to steal my plant human?" the plant Chosen shouted at him. Her face was red with fury which mirrored the aura exploding outward from her body.
At the same moment Thalion found the seeds. He grabbed two while destroying the rest.
"Ahhh you didn’t!" the Chosen screeched as four more plants erupted from her sleeves and lunged toward Thalion while an absolute monstrosity rapidly grew behind her until it reached the size of a tower.
The first plants resembled gigantic snake-like venus flytraps but the latter creation was something entirely different. It possessed no maw but instead countless flowers and vines growing across its massive body.
Thalion immediately decided that obtaining the seeds of that thing would probably be worthwhile too.
He shoved the seeds into his pockets, each one roughly the size of a purse, and dashed sideways to evade the first strike of the flytraps.
The assassin Chosen was already upon him as well, now clearly trying to aid his fellow Chosen. The assassin was absurdly fast but with Elara’s buff enhancing him to ridiculous levels Thalion could still keep up. He was also physically stronger than the assassin and even though the elf possessed good technique it was nothing compared to Thalion. On top of that curved shortswords simply weren’t a good matchup against a templar blade like Saranya.
Still Thalion didn’t see any realistic chance of actually killing the assassin. Matching him for a while was possible but landing a decisive blow was completely out of the question.
What worried him far more was what would happen once Elara’s boosting skill ran out. Could he die from the backlash? Probably not but the recoil alone might knock him unconscious.
He definitely couldn’t afford to stay here too long.
Thalion only clashed with the assassin when necessary and used every opening to move closer to the massive plant. Meanwhile Elara buffed over twenty other humans as well, giving them a huge advantage over the elves, and with both enemy Chosen distracted the tide of the battle slowly began to turn.
To Elara’s dismay, Thalion more or less ignored the assassin and only crossed blades when absolutely necessary while continuing toward the gigantic plant tower. He had no idea what exactly the thing was doing, but the pressure radiating from it definitely screamed high rarity.
The closer he got to his target, the harder it became to move. Thankfully this also affected the assassin. The plant suddenly began firing thorns and white laser beams at him, which Thalion had little trouble dodging thanks to his title, but the assassin was having a much harder time. Every time the elf got close, Thalion deliberately positioned himself between the assassin and the giant plant so the elf couldn’t properly see what was coming.
The assassin barely managed to evade one of the white beams at the last second before it burned a hole straight through his chest.
The other Chosen clearly didn’t like what was happening either and manipulated the grass below to grow into long vines that lashed out toward Thalion’s ankles.
Thalion decided it was time to take to the air. He activated Telekinetic Dash and launched himself upward. With both his bloodline and Elara’s absurd boosting skill enhancing him, the jump carried him far higher than intended. Originally he had only wanted to land atop one of the flytraps, but instead he shot past it entirely and after a quick midair adjustment flew directly toward the massive plant tower.
"Stop him!" the elven Chosen screeched while summoning even more plants as claws slowly formed around her fingers much like Ricarda’s had during their fight.
Before she could close the distance, Elara conjured a translucent barrier above the distracted mage and slammed it downward, driving the entire elf into the ground like a nail hammered into wood.
Getting smashed into the earth probably wasn’t the best way to protect one of your most valuable plants.
Thalion kicked the assassin directly into a cluster of vines rushing toward him. The plants apparently didn’t recognize that the elf wasn’t an enemy, and with the Chosen currently buried underground there was nobody left to control them.
While the assassin cursed and desperately hacked at the vines wrapping around him tighter and tighter, Thalion unleashed another slash that cleanly severed the gigantic flower blooming atop the towering plant.
The thing possessed so much resistance that Thalion had to swing three times before the over hundred-meter-tall plant finally crumbled apart.
From below he heard an enraged roar erupt from the earth while even Elara shouted at him.
"What the fuck are you doing? Stop stealing her plants and kill them!"
Well that was easier said than done. Even though the elves currently occupied an unfavorable position, they were still far from helpless, and Thalion really didn’t want to kill either. It was simply too risky. He would have to go all out and reveal far too much, which could easily result in serious injuries he absolutely couldn’t afford right now.
"Hey who are you?" Elara suddenly demanded with a frown.
That was when Thalion noticed the crack running through the middle of his mask. One of the impacts must have partially dispelled the illusion.
At that exact moment Ryan entered the battlefield like a burning comet, crashing straight into the elven lines while completely ignoring the enemy Chosen because apparently fighting them first wasn’t important. Not that Thalion had expected good tactical decisions from the idiot anyway.
Since time was running out, he focused on what actually mattered. The seeds.
There was only one left, and it was nearly half the size of a melon, which made carrying it incredibly awkward.
Not that he planned on staying any longer regardless. This situation had spiraled completely out of control, and he needed to disappear fast.
Elara waved her hand and a translucent pulse swept across the battlefield faster than anyone could react, shattering what remained of the mask’s illusion along with the mask itself.