"I hate this new base!" Maike shouted loudly.
A moment later, Thalion heard something heavy crash against a wall.
"There is a horde of ants trying to eat us on one side, and on the other we've got spiders that apparently enjoy the taste of human flesh. Then we open two new bases farther away to give the weaker ones a chance to gain some levels, but no! Instead we find fish people who also love human flesh. Like... what is going on here? Since when did humans become such a delicacy?"
Thalion remained standing outside, seriously reconsidering whether this was really the right moment to enter.
"The good news is that the teleportation formation is online," Kaldrek's calm voice sounded from inside.
"The teleportation formation is stupid too!" Maike immediately snapped. "Oh sure, let's sacrifice a ridiculous amount of crystals just so we can unlock it, and then they tell us that one person has to clear twenty stupid dungeons in a row before anything actually happens. You know the best part? They only told us that one hour ago! Right now we've got over ten people running dungeons, and now we have to tell every single one of them that none of it counts unless they clear another nineteen."
Maike was really on a roll.
Something else shattered against the floor.
"Josh and Jack probably started competing the moment they heard," Kaldrek laughed. "I bet they're already trying to see who can be the first to clear dungeon number twenty-one."
Maike didn't share his enthusiasm.
Another loud crack echoed through the house.
"Wonderful. Two of our strongest fighters are wasting their time running stupid dungeons while we actually need them here."
After hearing enough, Thalion decided that perhaps speaking with Maike and Kaldrek wasn't the greatest idea at the moment.
Instead, he grabbed the first unfortunate elf he came across and asked him to let them know that he had returned but would immediately head out again.
The elf looked less than thrilled by his unexpected assignment.
Thalion even noticed him hesitating outside Maike and Kaldrek's house.
Probably waiting for her temper to cool down first.
Meanwhile, Thalion left the base with quick strides and headed straight back into the jungle.
His destination was once again the ant hive.
This time, however...
He had a completely different plan.
Instead of fighting the ants directly, he intended to finally test a skill he had barely used until now.
Specter of the Eternal Dream.
The former Crimson Eidolon had evolved into something entirely different, and now it was finally time to see what it could truly do.
Using it, Thalion could infiltrate the hive from a safe distance and, hopefully, level even faster while remaining completely out of harm's way.
Normally, leaving his body behind would be extremely dangerous.
Fortunately...
He possessed the Primordial Bloodseed.
Even though Ricarda insisted that the ants were particularly effective against plants, Thalion was convinced the Primordial Bloodseed would greatly appreciate any ant foolish enough to wander within its reach.
Switching into his Sirokkar form, Thalion sprinted through the jungle until he was roughly two kilometers away from the hive.
"Alright. While I'm sitting there completely defenseless, I need you to hide and protect me," Thalion explained to perhaps the most loyal ally he had gained since entering the System. "And don't grow another giant flower around me. We're far too close to the hive for that."
The Primordial Bloodseed huffed in obvious annoyance before slowly extending several vines from Thalion's body.
"Don't be so grumpy. I'll bring back plenty of blood."
Trying to improve the plant's mood, Thalion sat down and began channeling the skill.
The Specter of the Eternal Dream slowly emerged from his chest before immediately shooting into the distance.
It ignored every obstacle in its path.
Tree trunks...
Boulders...
Even solid earth.
Everything was simply phased through as the ghostly specter established a brand-new speed record.
The moment the first ants appeared within his Blood Vision, Thalion dove straight into the ground.
Solid matter offered absolutely no resistance.
He descended rapidly, orienting himself solely by the countless sources of blood surrounding him.
His Blood Vision didn't extend very far.
Yet even that limited range was enough to make him pause.
Every direction glowed crimson beneath the earth.
This hive...
Had to contain well over a hundred thousand ants.
Since the ants currently had no way of hurting him, this actually worked perfectly in Thalion's favor.
To him, especially in his current form, the entire hive looked like a field ready for harvest.
Hidden safely within the earth, Thalion calmly planned his assassinations while the ants remained completely unaware of his existence.
Not the slightest sound.
No vibrations.
Nothing gave away his presence.
He aimed for the first chamber containing what he assumed was one of the queens, accompanied by a few guards and countless larvae.
He wasn't particularly looking forward to killing the young.
Had they attacked him directly, he probably wouldn't have killed the larvae.
Unfortunately, he desperately needed the experience while also reducing the hive's future fighting force.
His first target would be one of the purple guards.
Instantly killing a D-grade opponent wasn't easy.
It would only work if the attack was fast enough to eliminate the ant before it had any chance to react.
The biggest disadvantage was that he couldn't charge an attack while inside solid earth.
He would have to burst from the ground and kill the guard with a single devastating strike.
After a brief moment of consideration, Thalion decided the easiest target was the ant's abdomen.
As for the attack...
He chose the Claws of the Blooded Templar.
The guard stood motionless, watching the endless stream of workers entering the chamber.
Without warning, Thalion erupted from beneath the ground.
His crimson claws sliced straight through the ant's midsection, tearing its body completely apart before it even had time to activate a defensive skill.
Even cut in half...
The ant wasn't dead.
It released a deafening screech while desperately activating every ability it possessed.
For Thalion, however, that hardly mattered.
With a simple motion of his claws, he drained every last drop of blood from the dying ant, finally ending its life.
Now the chamber lay completely exposed before him.
One enormous queen.
Countless eggs.
Hundreds of larvae.
A swarm of workers.
The chamber itself stretched well over a hundred meters across.
The queen was massive.
Fat.
Hideous.
Judging from her appearance, she probably existed for one purpose alone.
Producing endless cannon fodder.
Since the hive had undoubtedly already been alerted by the guard's scream, there was no longer any reason to remain particularly stealthy.
Kill everything.
Disappear underground.
Leave no witnesses behind.
Fortunately...
He possessed the perfect skill for exactly that.
One he had barely tested until now.
The chamber's excellent acoustics only made it better.
Floating into the center of the cavern while every ant stared at him in stunned disbelief, Thalion slowly inhaled.
Then he activated Dirge of the Crimson Wraith.
A haunting wail erupted from his maw.
The sound exploded outward like a devastating shockwave.
The ants closest to him simply ceased to exist.
Their bodies were torn apart instantly.
Those farther away survived for only a fraction of a second longer, allowing Thalion to witness the horrifying effects of the skill in detail.
Their chitin split open first and every blood vessel inside their bodies burst simultaneously.
The ants appeared to explode from within, their bodies violently rupturing away from Thalion as though an invisible force had detonated inside each of them.
Thalion had intentionally poured an enormous amount of power into the skill to ensure nothing inside the chamber survived.
Even so...
He hadn't expected such utter devastation.
Divine-rarity skills truly existed on an entirely different level.
Not wasting another second, Thalion immediately dove back into the earth and began searching for the next chamber containing another queen.
Although the queens themselves weren't particularly powerful, they rewarded an astonishing amount of experience.
That single massacre had granted him almost as much experience as killing the two black D-grade elite ants.
For only a few seconds of combat...
That was an incredible return.
If he could continue finding these breeding chambers, his leveling speed would increase dramatically.
Locating them proved surprisingly difficult, however.
Using only Blood Vision, nearly every ant looked identical, while the hive itself consisted of an endless maze of interconnected tunnels and chambers.
Eventually, Thalion decided the best strategy was simply to investigate chamber after chamber while making sure never to attack neighboring rooms.
The more unpredictable his movements became, the harder it would be for the hive to anticipate his next strike.
Continuing deeper underground, Thalion immediately noticed the blood signatures growing stronger.
That could only mean one thing.
The harvest below would be even greater.
Soon he discovered another chamber.
It was considerably larger than the previous one and radiated an even denser concentration of mana.
After circling it once, Thalion estimated there were at least eight D-grade guards inside, another queen, and countless workers.
There was no point wasting any more time.
He attacked.
This time, however, the purple guard stationed near the entrance was simply too large.
His opening strike failed to kill it instantly.
The enormous ant reacted with surprising speed.
Thalion hadn't expected something that massive to move so quickly.
Rather than wasting precious seconds finishing the guard, he ignored it completely.
Instead, he shot directly toward the center of the chamber.
Once again, he unleashed Dirge of the Crimson Wraith.
Just like before, almost everything inside the chamber died.
The only exceptions were the purple D-grade guards.
Even they didn't escape unharmed.
The devastating sonic wave blasted every one of them into the cavern walls while translucent blood seeped from the countless fractures spreading across their chitin armor.
Thalion immediately followed up with Phalanx of the Blooded Templar, targeting two ants standing close to one another.
One managed to throw itself to the side at the last possible moment.
The other ended up looking like a porcupine, impaled by countless crimson spears and pinned helplessly against the cavern wall.
Leaving survivors wasn't ideal.
Unfortunately, there simply wasn't enough time to finish every wounded D-grade ant before reinforcements arrived.
He needed to keep moving.
With a single thought, Thalion activated Sacrament of the Blooded Templar, draining every drop of blood from the chamber before disappearing back into the earth.
He even managed to steal a few drops from the injured D-grade guards.
Now that news of the attacks was undoubtedly spreading throughout the hive, Thalion increased his pace considerably.
Over the next four chambers, he abandoned any attempt to kill the guards altogether.
Instead, he focused solely on the queens, the larvae, and the workers.
He burst from the ground, released Dirge of the Crimson Wraith and absorbed every drop of blood...
Then immediately vanished beneath the earth once more.
The D-grade guards simply required too much time to kill.
Only if one happened to be severely wounded by his opening attack did Thalion bother finishing it off.
There was another major advantage to this strategy.
Not only did it consume far less experience but it also allowed him to gather vastly greater amounts of blood.
Even if most of it consisted of the ants' strange translucent blood.
The hive desperately tried to respond.
As the hours passed, however, there was very little they could actually do against Thalion.
He completely ignored their strongest fighters.
Instead, he relentlessly slaughtered the vulnerable queens, newborn larvae, and countless workers hidden deep within the hive.
Even when the Specter of the Eternal Dream was eventually destroyed, the backlash barely affected him.
The only things he lost were a little mana and occasionally a small amount of blood.
The Primordial Bloodseed, meanwhile, seemed absolutely delighted.
Every massacre supplied it with yet another enormous shipment of blood to strengthen and refine.
While the Primordial Bloodseed remained completely occupied processing its steadily growing reserves, Thalion continued his endless campaign, systematically reducing the ant hive's population one chamber at a time.
"I'll tell you what..." Thalion said excitedly. "If this keeps up, we might actually get really close to level 180 before the Third System Event."
The Primordial Bloodseed remained completely focused on processing the blood.
It didn't even acknowledge him.
"...Right."
Thalion chuckled.
"Back to work."
With a grin spreading across his face, he summoned the Specter of the Eternal Dream once more.
The ghostly figure immediately plunged back into the earth...
In search of even more helpless ants.