The Curator
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Chapter 17: The Attack (Part 2)
🕑 Added 2024-10-10 16:00:48 +0000 UTC
Thalion sprinted as fast as he could toward the east gate, gulping down a mana potion that almost fully restored his energy. As he neared the gate, he saw the carnage of at least 50 orcs still battling, with over 40 already lying dead on the ground. The human front was in no better shape, with a contingent of around 30 light and medium warriors struggling against the orcs, and at least 50 of their comrades fallen.
Thalion quickly positioned himself beside Sylas on the wall, who was hurling fireballs and lightning bolts at the orcs with relentless fury. Thalion joined in, launching fireballs whenever he had the chance, all the while waiting eagerly for his teammates to appear. He couldn’t wait to jump into another melee and collect some orc corpses.
But where was Thorwald and his group of 19 men? Thalion couldn’t spot them anywhere, but he noticed eight massive orcs slaughtering humans left and right. Most of the light warriors were inexperienced and far less skilled than Kai or Kael. They often pressed their attacks when they shouldn’t have or misjudged the timing to dodge, resulting in severe injuries or instant death.
Thalion tried to help the unlucky souls who were attempting to keep the orc chieftains at bay by aiming fireballs at the orcs' heads. He managed to condense the fireballs, a feat he had attempted before but never succeeded at until now, perhaps due to his increased intelligence. These condensed fireballs hit harder, burned longer, and were hotter, though with a smaller explosion radius. He successfully blasted two orc chieftains in the head, sending them thrashing to the ground, their heads engulfed in flames. However, to his dismay, there were still six healers in the orc backline, much stronger than the ones they had faced earlier. In no time, the orc chieftains stood up and rejoined the fight.
After another round of fireball throwing, Thalion spotted his teammates, Kai and Kael, sneaking in from the sidelines, closing in on the healers. They needed a distraction. With a sigh, Thalion sprang from the wall and dashed along the left side of the battlefield, tossing occasional fireballs into the fray to draw attention. When a few orcs noticed him, he led them away, sprinting toward the healers. One of the large orcs bellowed, and four orcs began charging at him. Thalion quickly used his Telekinetic Dash to retreat, conserving his mana as best he could.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw one of the healers drop to the ground, an arrow piercing his eye. His distraction had worked! Thalion conjured a fireball and threw it in a wide arc at the healers, not to hit them, but to create further confusion for Kai and Kael. But now, he had four orcs to deal with. The fireball had given them enough time to close the distance. The first orc screamed and swung his hammer, but Thalion’s high agility allowed him to dodge easily. Another orc’s weapon began glowing red, growing in size as the orc swung his now massive axe at Thalion’s midsection. Thalion narrowly dodged with Telekinetic Dash and conjured a fireball, letting it grow before hurling it at the other two orcs who were closing in. The fireball distracted them just long enough for Thalion to retreat again using Telekinetic Dash. Suddenly, a giant lightning bolt struck the two orcs, sending them flying four meters away, twitching on the ground.
The remaining two orcs sped up considerably, forcing Thalion to fully focus on dodging, leaving him unable to conjure another fireball. In the backline, more and more orcs fell without the healers' support, who were now fleeing for their lives with Kael hot on their heels. It looked like they might actually win. For Thalion, today’s battles had gone well, he hadn’t been hit once and still had plenty of resources left. But for everyone else, it was a different story. They couldn’t withstand the heavy blows and were too slow to dodge continuously, reducing the melee fighters to mere distractions for the orcs, allowing the mages and archers to take them down with spells.
But now, with the healers dead, the tide had turned. Two of the big orcs had already fallen. Then, suddenly, one of the big orcs screamed and started running toward the forest, with the other orcs following close behind. The only downside was that Kael had to stop chasing the last healer, who had managed to survive thanks to numerous mana barriers. Thalion saw his chance and chased after the orcs, casually collecting at least 20 corpses into his spatial ring while throwing the occasional fireball. As he turned around, he noticed something flying through the air from the other side of the camp, it looked like a blood spear. Cheers erupted around him as the survivors began jumping for joy and hugging each other. Thalion sprinted to the wall, collecting another seven corpses, two of which were the big orcs he had hit with a fireball earlier.
He used Telekinetic Dash to jump onto the wall, where a jubilant Sylas screamed at him, "We made it, man!" Thalion pushed past him and activated his movement skill, heading toward where he had seen the blood spear originate. Shortly, he arrived at a scene where six medium warriors were fighting two vampires, with twelve warriors already dead on the ground while the vampires had minor injuries. One vampire somehow sensed something and jumped to the side, but the other wasn’t so lucky and got hit in the side, slamming into a wooden wall. The warriors seized their chance and stabbed the fallen vampire while the others pushed the second one back.
The fallen vampire quickly recovered and, with inhuman speed, got to his feet, hurling a blood spear that hit one warrior in the leg. Then, he grabbed another warrior by the arm before getting hit by another fireball, sending him flying to the ground again, now badly wounded as it took him longer to rise.
"We’ll take our leave now," the other vampire said while skillfully dodging swords, even more adept than Kai or Kael. Then, both vampires blurred into motion, sprinted to the wall, and jumped over it. Thalion wouldn’t let them get away, he saw their strength and craved to feast on them with his Devour skill. One vampire was wounded, the other was strong, but it was a risk he was willing to take.
"Thank you," one of the warriors began to say, "without your help we." He didn’t get to finish as Thalion jumped off the wall, chasing after the vampires. As soon as he hit the ground, he quickly scanned the area, spotting no one except the two vampires, who weren’t even looking back. He transformed into shadowstalker. The last time he had used shadowstalker, he had put all his free points into strength, now at 97, and agility at 90, with speed surpassing even the vampires. He chased them silently, not making a sound.
He could even smell the vampire blood, it had a very distinct scent, making it easy to track them. The vampires had turned slightly to the left; Thalion spotted them in the distance, seeing as clearly as day with his night vision. With full speed, he reached the vampires. One of them reacted fast enough, but Thalion wasn’t targeting him. He went for the other one, biting off his head. The speed and silence of his approach were too much for the already heavily injured vampire. By the time he heard Thalion, it was already too late, and Thalion’s jaws closed around his throat.
The other vampire didn’t waste time, he exploded with power and speed, shooting some kind of blood thorn from his arm that hit Thalion’s hind leg. The pain was severe. It felt alive, draining his blood. Thalion responded by speeding up and lunging at the vampire, blood dripping from his fangs. But the vampire was smart and shot a blood spear at his face, forcing him to dodge to the side. Not fast enough, though—Thalion was hit in the side, the force strong enough to completely penetrate his body.
With his health low, Thalion changed tactics. As the vampire drew his sword, Thalion transformed into glowhorn.
"What?" the vampire exclaimed, surprised. Thalion used the moment to activate tectonic slam. The vampire nearly avoided the spell by jumping, but he wasn’t fast enough and lost his footing, falling to the ground. Thalion quickly cast a weak mana wave, knowing he didn’t have time to charge a strong one. The vampire was thrown away, landing 15 meters away. As he looked up, he saw a massive fireball heading straight for his face.
"What the fuck," the vampire cursed, the fireball slightly off to the right. He easily dodged to the side, but then frowned. Where was that beast? Out of the darkness, shadowstalker emerged with speed surpassing his own. The vampire tried to jump aside, but Thalion’s jaws still managed to close around his leg. Thalion had known he couldn’t take down the vampire normally, so he had changed form again, intentionally throwing a fireball to keep the vampire distracted and push him in the right direction. It worked, the vampire had dodged into him. Instead of dying instantly, he managed to jump to the right, but Thalion still got his leg. This was bad for the vampire. Thalion activated Savage Bite and bit through the entire leg, flesh, bones, everything.
The vampire screamed in pain, trying desperately to escape, but Thalion leaped on him, sinking his fangs into the vampire's face and killing him. Thalion was about to activate Devourer’s Feast when the vampire's corpse began to dissolve, turning into red dust that was absorbed by a small, red bud located under his heart.
"What just happened?" Thalion thought as he transformed back into his human form. He quickly used Identify.
Bud of the Sanguine Thorn (Ancient): A symbiotic plant personally cultivated by the Vampire God Tenebrice for his most favored followers, making it exceedingly rare. This dark, crimson vine lives within the body of a vampire, enhancing strength, speed, and senses. As it feeds on blood, the Sanguine Thorn bestows its host with heightened regenerative abilities and a deeper connection to blood magic. Occasionally, its blood-red thorns will pierce through the skin, serving as deadly weapons.
Moreover, the Sanguine Thorn unlocks a unique skill set tailored to its use, allowing the vampire to masterfully wield its deadly thorns in combat and fully harness the plant’s enhancements, making the host a formidable force on the battlefield.
"Wait, a vampire god?" Thalion exclaimed, good that the earlier fight had already exhausted them, or he would be the one lying dead on the ground.
