"What in the bloody hell is he doing here and why are you buffing him?" Ryan roared as flames exploded out from his body. He was D-grade like all the other Chosen and his aura was far stronger than what Thalion had experienced during the trials.
"He was a guard... Why? This makes no sense." Elara exclaimed, with both of them growing more furious by the second.
The boosting skill affecting Thalion subsided and weakness immediately washed over him, making him stumble forward. Good thing he had only been buffed for less than half a minute because otherwise the backlash would have been far more severe.
There was just one major problem. He was stuck between two sides and somehow needed to get back into the city to tell Kaldrek what had happened so they could finally leave.
"Why can’t you just appreciate that I was there helping you against all the elves? What would you have done without me, Elara?" Thalion shouted back, hoping to buy himself a little more time. He could already feel power flooding back into him through his connection with the outsider. Just a few more seconds and the backlash would be gone.
Ryan of course exploded with rage the moment he heard Thalion’s words.
"Because of you, bastard, I was kicked out of the first system event while you took all the glory for yourself. I returned to that stupid king and he simply banished me. Do you know why? Only because a certain shapeshifter didn’t return with the item like promised."
"Ryan, no one was talking to you so be quiet." Thalion grinned as most of his strength returned. He stood back up, Saranya in one hand and the seed in the other.
The assassin was almost free from the cluster of vines and the elven plant mage was still underground, probably channeling power into the plants trying to kill the assassin. Which meant neither of them currently had a clear view of Thalion.
So before anyone could react, he shifted into his Sirrokar form, grabbed the seed with his jaws, and shot away at full speed.
"You..." was all he heard from Ryan before Elara apparently ordered the man back because no pursuit followed.
Reaching the wall wasn’t easy at all and the number of Chosen fighting nearby definitely didn’t help.
Still, with his high stealth and speed, Thalion managed to reach a section of the wall where he quickly shifted back into human form. The emblem on the uniform allowed passage through the dome shield and right now he desperately needed it.
He sprinted up the wall as fast as he could and immediately contacted Kaldrek through the token the moment he was on the other side. The man sounded like he had been waiting for the message for ages.
"Thalion where have you been? We made contact with Athilrion but it will be difficult to break him out..."
Thalion interrupted him instantly since the location was the only thing he cared about.
"I’ve been exposed. The Chosen know I’m here. It’s time to leave. I’ll get the elf and you head for the ocean. We’ll meet there."
Kaldrek sent him several images showing Athilrion’s position. It looked like the elf was currently trapped within an attacking elven force trying to breach the west gate.
Since there was no longer any reason for secrecy and his title practically screamed danger at him, Thalion activated Scarlet Maelstrom at full power and shot across the wall toward Athilrion’s location. The others better move fast because after everything that had happened Thalion wanted to get out of here as quickly as possible.
He quickly spotted the elven force clashing with the human defenders and couldn’t help but grin when he saw Athilrion struggling to avoid making it obvious that he wasn’t truly fighting on the elven side. Good to see the elf hadn’t fallen behind either.
Thalion crashed directly into the middle of the battlefield with Scarlet Maelstrom forcing everyone nearby to retreat. Only Athilrion seemed to understand what was happening as he immediately backed away.
Without hesitation Thalion released multiple vines from his body that slaughtered the surrounding elves within moments. Only a few farther in the back survived long enough to witness it.
"The others know. Let’s leave," Thalion said to Athilrion who looked visibly relieved to finally see him.
"Finally. Gods I thought I would never get out of that group. There are still too many elves hidden in the forest though. We’ll need some sort of distraction. The others should arrive any moment now and then we can leave together."
Thalion didn’t share the elf’s excitement after everything that had happened.
At least he got the three seeds.
They should be valuable given how angry the plant Chosen was. With a quick pull on all the dead around him, Thalion absorbed their blood, making a certain bloodseed very happy.
"Eh what are you two doing?" one of the humans asked. They had just stepped back from the elves and watched how Thalion slaughtered the weaker group but now they finally seemed to regain their bearings. Probably because they had seen Thalion’s uniform.
"Run back to the wall and tell no one what happened here. You are lucky I let you live," Thalion threatened while also pushing a good amount of killing intent into his voice.
To make sure the plants weren’t damaged, Thalion shifted forms again and this time became the Heavenrent Wyvern. His breath toppled multiple trees and killed several elven archers preparing an ambush. Staying in wyvern form for too long would attract far too much attention which was why he immediately shifted into the Eclipsari next and shrouded both himself and Athilrion in darkness.
This should make it far harder for the elves to hit them and hopefully encourage them to focus on easier targets instead.
"Wow just how strong did you get?" Athilrion wondered aloud. "Man you gotta warn me if something is incoming. I can’t even see my own hand. How is it even possible to make darkness this thick?"
"You can worry about that after we get out of here," Thalion replied. Luckily in the middle of the war between humans and elves nobody paid much attention to the black cloud hanging between the trees. There hadn’t been any powerful elves nearby and those who were close enough to notice probably assumed it was some sort of trap.
They only had to wait around a minute, though in the middle of such a battle that felt incredibly long, until the others finally arrived and they could leave together.
Thalion shifted into the Sirrokar this time so he wouldn’t constantly bombard everyone with his passive fear aura. At this distance it would have been almost omnipresent and controlling his aura to such a degree wasn’t exactly something he had the focus for right now.
The fact that everyone seemed more or less fine was honestly a miracle. Sure some had injuries and a few deep cuts but nothing life-threatening. Apparently they had mostly stayed out of the actual battle.
Well everyone except Kargul and Vorlok who had apparently charged into the elves like complete maniacs.
The forest was still filled with elves but all the truly dangerous ones were currently attacking the stronghold and those left behind weren’t difficult to deal with. Thalion probably could have wiped them out alone if necessary.
The only thing genuinely dangerous among their own group were the explosives Lucan was carrying while wearing armor that reminded Thalion of Iron Man just with massive chainsaws mounted at the ends.
Once they reached the ocean they quickly realized most of them couldn’t sustain flight for long distances and they also lacked any sort of ship. Only three among them could fly quickly over long periods of time and that was Jack in squid form, Vorlok, and Thalion as a wyvern.
The problem was that Vorlok couldn’t carry many people and Thalion couldn’t carry anyone at all since his scales were freezing cold and constantly crackling with electricity. Even when toned down it still wouldn’t make for a pleasant ride.
Thankfully Jack saved the day for everyone else.
With his gigantic squid form he could fly effortlessly and at ridiculous speed while grabbing the others with his tentacles and dragging them along. Since Jack’s tentacle control still wasn’t exactly refined, most decided to fly under their own power for as long as possible and only let themselves get carried once their mana or stamina started running low depending on what movement skill they used.
After several hours of travel it became obvious that no Chosen were coming after them and only then did the questioning truly begin.
Back at the stronghold they had mostly talked about defenses and war preparations but Thalion had never properly explained how he ended up with the new faction.
"Wait a moment. There is an elven Chosen and a bunch of former top-tier elven gods and we can actually travel through the portal so they train us? That was something only the Chosen were allowed to do. Even Eric said normal people might only be permitted in the future." Maike exclaimed excitedly.
"Yes that’s the deal but I would stay cautious. Those gods can do whatever they want with you. Sure it would technically break the contract but there would be no chance for any of us to get you out. So it’s probably best if only one person travels to the other side at a time. This is an alliance, not friendship or anything like that. I don’t know those gods and they might sell us out the moment it becomes more beneficial than the alliance itself. See it more as demanding as many resources as possible before our paths split because that is very likely to happen eventually," Thalion explained honestly.
So far things had gone extremely well and the benefits were massive but he doubted it would last forever. They were still elves after all and Thalion had no intention of taking unnecessary risks.
The journey back took longer mostly because Thalion couldn’t travel at full speed. Surprisingly not because of the squid but because of Vorlok. The flying turtle simply lacked top speed.
Jack had offered to just carry the turtle with his tentacles like everyone else when stamina or mana became an issue but Vorlok was firmly against the idea.
Not that it mattered much since the journey only took a single day longer before they finally arrived at the outpost now protected by Seraphina and it was time for a proper inspection.
The walls had been rebuilt and were even slightly larger than before. There were also far more ships in the harbor alongside noticeably larger piles of treasure filling the courtyard.
"Oh man there is still a very long way to go, isn’t there?" Kaldrek muttered. Compared to the fortress Eric controlled this place was obviously nothing.
"Well in their defense this used to be the home of an incursion and the city got slightly destroyed when Seraphina and I closed it."
"Hugh, the same Seraphina from the tutorial or a different one?" Maike exclaimed in surprise.
"Wasn’t the princess the one who tortured us?" Josh muttered with visible disdain.
"No Josh, that was someone else. The princess was the one who freed us but I’m happy you acknowledge that we were both tortured," Jack mumbled through his tentacles.
"There is something far more important than defenses or the state of our new faction. How does the food supply look?" Kargul asked while his stomach rumbled loudly and even the Sky Turtle whipped its head around to stare expectantly at Thalion.
"Well I haven’t really tested the food situation much but we do have a portal to Integrated Space so we should be able to get basically whatever we want," Thalion admitted since he honestly had no idea how the culinary situation currently looked like.
There was the slight issue that elves were absurdly practical and didn’t really bother with things like restaurants or bars which was why Thalion doubted any had suddenly appeared while he was gone. Right now their priority was gathering crystals and pearls to power the walls since those couldn’t be transported through the portal.
Thinking about the portal and food made Thalion suddenly realize something else.
There were restrictions regarding what could pass through the portal but couldn’t that limitation be abused to send him all sorts of forms with powerful skills? Even if a beast possessed such high rarity that it couldn’t pass through entirely, killing it first and transporting only parts of the body should still work.
The fact that he hadn’t considered that earlier annoyed him immediately.
"Okay Kargul you know what? The food point was actually brilliant. Why don’t we skip the inspection and head straight to the capital of our faction instead? Let’s see what the strongest elven gods have to offer when it comes to food." Thalion offered.
"Yeah now that sounds more like it." Kargul cheered while the others quickly joined in.
Something good to eat after everything that had happened sounded perfect to calm everyone down. It was honestly good to have the entire group back together again. Being trapped inside trials for so long had gotten incredibly intense and simply having people around to talk to felt strangely comforting.
Thalion also wondered what Solan and the other top gods would say once he returned because from his perspective this entire mission had been a massive success.
It turned out Solan wasn’t nearly as enthusiastic about Thalion casually flying away while leaving their new faction on Earth almost completely defenseless.
This chapter is a bit early because I need to prepare a league starter for PoE 2 and, after not playing the game for over half a year, it's going to be wild.
What class am I going to play? Well, I'm glad you asked. I'm going to try and make a Spirit Walker minion build work with the shark and worm. Also, don't worry about my sanity—I am completely fine. I just really need this weekend. XD
See you again on Monday with a heartwarming reunion and something very special and mysterious.
P.S. I think you could praise me a bit more in the comments.