Leveling was quite easy when your prey had no idea what was going on. Thalion spent the time until there was only one month left before the system event sitting inside a hidden red flower, killing ants. He had made great progress and was now on the brink of reaching level 165. Not getting a skill in almost twenty levels despite having four forms was a bit annoying.
By now, the experience gain had slowed down significantly, which was frankly a blight, and it would only get worse at the higher levels. After all the progress he had made, Thalion only wanted to gain this one last level before returning to the base. At this point, the ants had created multiple safety measures to protect their queens, and Thalion struggled greatly to keep up with his earlier experience gain.
But this dive would be an easy one. Just killing a few workers should be enough to push him over the edge, and then he could return to his base. One month should be enough to adapt to any form or upgrade he got in the meantime, plus fit in a bit of practice as a wyvern. He hadn't fought as a wyvern for quite a while, so making one short flyby to freshen up his instincts before going against the apex sounded like a pretty good idea.
During the last two months, Thalion had also practiced something else he hadn't really used much in the past. The skill Consecration of Holy Mana constantly infused his will and affinity into the mana surrounding him, turning it blood-red. Most of the time, Thalion had been suppressing the passive's range like most of his other passive skills, but over the last few months he had experimented a bit. The skill allowed him to easily form constructs like his former Mana Barrier or basically anything he could imagine.
Most things, of course, weren't really practical, which was why Thalion had tested many variants of barriers and possible attacks. His foremost goal was to create some sort of laser, but he simply lacked the power to accomplish that. Overall, it turned out that, so far, the most effective way to use the skill was, in fact, barriers. They were very sturdy and could be summoned at a moment's notice.
Shockwaves similar to his former Mana Wave were also very potent, if not as universal as the barriers, even if their power was quite something, especially with Thalion's bloodline empowering everything he did. He liked how everything had fallen into place. Before, his skills in human form had been quite a lot stronger than those of the Eclipsari, which hadn't been a big deal since the Eclipsari fought most of the time in close combat without relying on many long-range skills. Now, with everything in line, Thalion was confident that he could fight back against a D-grade Chosen.
How that would go might still depend on the matchup, but he was confident he would do well. He also had quite a number of options to secure a favorable matchup. In hindsight, one of the biggest issues might be the third system event and whatever the crazy elemental had been cooking up.
Regardless, it was time to level up and head back. Thalion let his consciousness slip back into the specter and dove downward into the hive. This time, he wanted to see where the true ruler of the hive was living. So far, he had avoided the deepest parts of the hive where the real powerhouses resided.
As Thalion ventured downward with the specter, the Bloodseed noticed that it had been quite some time since he had delivered any blood. The plant's gluttony really knew no bounds. Not that Thalion was much different, but the Bloodseed could spend its whole life consuming and strengthening itself with blood. Even for Thalion, that would get too boring at some point, though he would probably also be considered a maniac when it came to body tempering.
Thalion tried to calm the plant by telling it that he was going after some high-grade blood, which was why it was taking longer. Diving this deep accelerated his mana costs, but they were still more than manageable with his divine class. Thalion now moved past many of the stronger chambers, aiming for what should be the ruling queen's chamber, judging by how much blood was inside and how massive it was in the first place. Ten of the ants beside the queen looked incredibly powerful.
Thalion only let himself slip slightly out of the cave wall to get a better look, hopefully without being noticed.
That didn't work well, as all of the insects' black eyes immediately turned toward him the moment he appeared. The queen was fat and well over a hundred meters long. Most of her body consisted of the enormous abdomen, while the front was comically small. Beside the queen stood her personal guards, the elite of the elite when it came to the ant hive.
They were all over eight meters tall and looked rather humanoid. They had no wings, but instead six long tendrils grew from their backs, each ending in a long, nasty spike. Their aura was far beyond that of the black ants Thalion had fought before.
"Why are you attacking our home?" the queen asked. Her voice was filled with mana and definitely carried a powerful mental component. Thankfully, Thalion was quite resistant to such attacks and, with his mind inside the specter, more than safe.
For a moment, he wondered if he should answer. Nah, probably not a good idea. He had killed so many of the ants that words wouldn't change anything now.
Thalion opened his maw as if to speak, but instead of words unleashed Dirge of the Crimson Wraith. Power flooded the cave as a protective barrier instantly shot up around the queen, while all of the guards lunged forward to kill the specter that had so rudely invaded their home. This time, Thalion's attack did no damage to the stronger ants, and since the eggs were protected, they also survived. A few of the workers weren't as lucky and were ripped to pieces, which was enough to bring Thalion to level 165, and this time he received another skill for the Blooded Templar.
Crimson Caress (Divine)
The specter sacrifices every remaining drop of blood and every fragment of mana to unleash a single overwhelming slash. All remaining blood and mana are instantly converted into pure destructive force before being released in one colossal crimson arc that tears through everything before it. The range, speed, and destructive power of the attack scale directly with the amount of blood and mana sacrificed. Upon releasing the attack, the specter's body completely disintegrates, leaving nothing behind.
Thalion couldn't help but smile when he read the description. This was a skill that could only be used by the Specter of the Eternal Dream, and it looked pretty neat. The specter currently had no blood since Thalion had immediately transferred it all to the Bloodseed. It wouldn't be difficult to transfer some blood back, but for the moment he didn't want to test the Bloodseed's patience.
The mana alone should be enough for a grand exit. He doubted he could kill any of the big fellows charging directly toward him. Without further ado, Thalion activated the skill, which did exactly what the description promised. The specter disappeared, and in its place a colossal crimson arc surged forward in a slashing motion.
There was one negative aspect, though. Despite its offensive power being extremely overpowered and perhaps even enough to injure one of the guards who had gotten too close, he couldn't see the outcome. His consciousness was pulled back into his real body the moment most of his energy was poured into the attack. The only reason he had seen that much was because Thalion had reinforced the specter with a large amount of mana beforehand.
Well, that was definitely a nice last skill. He doubted he would manage to gain many more levels before the third system event. Maybe another three or five at most, but much more was unlikely unless another nest appeared where he could kill hundreds of queens without much effort.
Reabsorbing the vines and flowers of the Primordial Bloodseed that had hidden his body, Thalion shifted into the Heavenrend Wyvern of the Rime Tempest and launched himself into the air. Returning to the base, Thalion almost couldn't recognize it. The walls were now over sixty meters high, and multiple towers had been built even higher.
The base no longer had just a single wall but several layers of fortifications. They definitely would be able to defend themselves for quite a while. This time, the guards on the walls also didn't have a heart attack when they spotted him flying toward the base. Instead, they looked almost excited as one of the guards stationed on the wall took off running toward the center with a movement skill. Wasn't that where Maike and Kaldrek lived?
Thalion watched as the guard who had just entered was almost blasted back outside again when Maike stormed out, her face slightly red. Thalion frowned as she immediately took to the air. She now seemed to surf on the sword Thalion had given her back in the tutorial. Judging by the expression on her face, he suspected he was in deep trouble. Good thing that, in his wyvern form, he should be practically invincible to any attack she could throw at him.
"Thalion!" He had never heard her call his name like that before, especially with that pronunciation. Good lord, what had he done? Sure, he had spent a few months hunting, but it wasn't like they were in a bad position at the moment.
He had also greatly thinned out the ant population, so what could she possibly want from him?
"Just what were you thinking, disappearing and only sending that elf to tell us that you were leveling? Not how long you'd be gone, not where we could find you. Do you have any idea what has happened in the meantime?"
Thalion indeed had no idea what had happened, but judging by the tone Maike was using, he decided not to comment on that.
"The gods asked me every day for the last two weeks whether you had returned. There is so much to do, and why aren't you saying anything!"
Yes, why wasn't he saying anything...? Just how was he supposed to explain it to Maike?
"Well, at first I also didn't know how long I would be gone, and since leveling was going so well, I didn't want to stop. What happened? The base looks pretty good from up here." Thalion tried to calm the storm of rage flying beside him.
"Arghh! Of course the base looks good, but there are so many problems. Those stupid spiders still want to kill us, and entering their domain is incredibly dangerous. I simply can't stand those stupid webs. They freak me out. No, the real issue comes from Integrated Space. We've already helped a few factions, but they simply ignored the bargain. Even worse, it seems that some of them are only doing this to find out the location of our base. Then there are the gods, who aren't just constantly pressuring me but are also losing more influence over the lower grades with every passing day."
Maike wasn't happy, but overall this still didn't sound that bad.
"Okay, good. Eh, I mean, not good," Thalion quickly corrected himself when he saw her glare. "I'm going to speak with the gods, but I still don't think this is too bad."
With that assessment, he seemed to be very wrong.
"No, no, no. There are big problems, which is why I need your help in exactly seven hours, twenty-three minutes, and four seconds. We tried to help one faction, but instead of appreciating it, Kaldrek, Jakob, Evelyn, and Kargul were captured. Now they want to renegotiate their release, which includes taking over our faction and probably much more," Maike shouted, tears now welling up in her eyes.
"What!" Thalion exclaimed. "This is the worst. How could it even come to this in the first place?"
Rage began to boil inside Thalion. How could the gods not have known that the faction was this antagonistic?
"Okay, don't tell me now. I will meet up with the gods, and then we'll have a talk," Thalion quickly followed up. There was no time to waste. He had no idea what was going on in Integrated Space, but that faction would pay dearly for this transgression.