The Curator
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Chapter 88: The Chase
🕑 Added 2024-11-03 19:11:29 +0000 UTCIt had taken quite some time until help arrived to bring them back to the base. What Maike didn't expect was that before they could all get on board, Kael, Kai, and Sylas arrived in an even smaller ship. The ship had a very luxurious design with golden runes all over it.
"Kaldrek, what has happened here?" Kael asked while landing on the ground before their feet.
"We found Thalion fighting and killing another survivor. We tried to get him, but he was too fast," Kaldrek stammered, "but he is injured, maybe you can catch up."
"Thank you, Kaldrek; you have done all right," Kael said in a warm tone. "How did you find him in the first place?"
"Uh, I found him with one of my tracking skills," Maike murmured while looking down.
"I can help you find him if you need a tracker," Maike said with a wide smile.
"No need. We found some of the shapeshifters on the way. He already found Thalion's track," Kael said with a grin.
"Finally, we can end this. Tomorrow we will celebrate that the bastard is finally gone," Kael announced, even raising his arm in the air. Then he jumped up to the ship that was hovering thirty meters above the ground.
They all looked at each other. Kael was very strong, and with Kai and Sylas, it should be impossible for Thalion to survive. They watched as the golden ship disappeared into the sky with incredible speed.
"How far is he?" Kai asked one of the shapeshifters after they had traveled for half an hour.
"I can't say for sure, but in an hour, we should be able to see him," the shapeshifter said with confidence.
"I've been waiting for a rematch for so long," Sylas said with a grin.
<--
Thalion had a lot of fun. It wouldn't take long until he would arrive at the ocean. What place was better for mass murder, and there was no better form for this task than his nuclear weapon. He flew many circles to finally finish the last stage of his wind body tempering. Therefore, he summoned whirlwind after whirlwind.
Those had nothing to do with the skill he got when he first transformed into eagly. The power of the wind was strong enough to temper his body. He thought back on what had happened that day. He had defeated some crazy dude and now would help the other survivors create a new base. In conclusion, it had been a very good day.
The freedom he had up here in the sky felt amazing. The last weeks he was pretty stressed out, but since the fight with Sylas, he felt truly free. At the moment, he was doing what he liked the most, which was pursuing his dream of reaching immortality.
He wondered what he could find out about the scroll he had taken from the crazy man, or more likely, the possessed man. Did that guy infuse himself with a so-called outsider? How else would you get such a class? Most classes you got by your actions, which meant that the guy had tortured people early in the tutorial. Nonetheless, integrating such a being into his forms would make him very powerful.
Hopefully, it could even make up for the difference in level. He needed to hunt high-level beasts to get a notable amount of experience. He had no problems killing beasts around level sixty with his powerful attacks. The question was what would happen in a few weeks. Could he keep the pace?
At level 80, the E grade would start, and from there, every level would give a bit more than double the stats of an F-grade cultivator. Then life would get very difficult. Today was a very hard and close fight. If people of that power became common, he would be in trouble. At least he had his title that warned him of danger and in general, gave many advantages. So or so, the risks he had to take for leveling would skyrocket with time.
By the way, what was that feeling of doom behind him? Thalion looked back. At first, he saw nothing, but then he sighted a small golden ship coming at him with incredible speed and on it were Sylas, Kael, and Kai.
In response, Thalion activated feather glide and sped up. How had they found him here? He must have been gone for hours before they arrived at the place where he killed the crazy guy.
They were still coming closer, but he could already see the ocean in the distance. The planet the tutorial was held on must be much bigger than Earth, which allowed him to see further into the distance.
It would be some time until he could start swimming. Thalion was confident that as long as he could manage to dive into the ocean, he was safe. The question was, would he manage to arrive there with his head still on his body? It was time to speed up. He also activated Tempest Shroud, and he sped up even more. Now it was clear, with the shroud active, they must have spotted him. He could only hope that Kael was not in range with his bow.
"He is speeding up, can't we go faster?" Kael shouted to the guard at the steering wheel.
"No, sir, this is the maximum," the guard answered while working on the sails.
"If we can only get a bit closer, I should be able to reach him with my wind form," Sylas said with anticipation.
"We could try to infuse the runes with mana," Kai said, looking at the golden runes that covered the ship, "but if we overload them too much, it might explode."
"Doesn't matter. We need to catch Thalion and this is our only chance." Kael said while walking to the back of the ship.
"I can't help you. I need all my mana for the fight," Sylas said with determination.
"That's fine," Kael said. "Come on, Kai, let's see how fast we can make the golden duck, which was the name of the ship."
"How are they this fast?" Thalion thought while flying at full speed. This would be more than close, but he still had his mist form in his human form; but then there was the risk that he had no mana as tidecaller serpent, which could also mean death.
So far, the body tempering, the title, and the little bit of soul cultivation he had done as eagly were enough to keep the mana loss at a minimum. He should easily be able to reach the ocean with most resources before they could catch up.
Or should he just trigger mistform when he was in range? When one of them had bought an item or learned a skill that interrupted his movement skill, he would be screwed. The only one that should be able to reach him should be Sylas, and as eagly, all wind and lightning skills were useless against him. If they kept their current speed, Sylas most likely would be in range before he could reach the safety of the water.
"Do we have a water mage here?" Kael shouted at the three guards.
"No, but maybe the shapeshifters, sir," one of the guards answered.
"Do you have a water form in case he reaches the ocean?" Kael shouted at the four shapeshifters while empowering the runes of the ship. So far, only one of them has been useful in tracking Thalion.
"Yes, sir; we all have one, but there might be a problem," one of the shapeshifters said, looking to the ground.
"What problem can there possibly be?" Kael shouted back.
"We got our form in a lake. The saltwater could kill us," the man said with worry in his eyes.
"We all have superpowers since the tutorial. I don't think that saltwater will have an effect on you," Kael answered, not really caring. He needed Thalion dead to transmute the sanguine thorn before binding it to him, which was so important. It was not his fault that Thalion had no potential at all.
"He is using another movement skill. I am going in, or he will reach the ocean," Sylas shouted from the front after an hour had passed.
Thalion was using skydive to get the last meters to the ocean. It wasn't long until... and he felt how a powerful presence rushed by and materialized out of the wind; it was Sylas.
Sylas immediately started attacking him, and wind blades shot at him. The ocean was only a few hundred meters behind Sylas and a kilometer down. This was truly unlucky, and the wind blades held such power that he didn't want to fly through. He turned to the side, dodging the blade, and transformed into his human form to use mistform. On seeing him turning human, Sylas raised his staff, which glowed in a deep green, and the next moment, the air started to cut like it had transformed into a razor blade.
"You gotta be kidding me," Thalion thought while transforming back to eagly. He would die the moment he used mistform in that environment. As eagly, he activated every single skill he had to drive Sylas back.
Sylas shouldn't have that much mana left, and maybe a strong attack could lower his guard long enough for him to slip through. Sylas, sadly, cast an improved version of the windshield he had used the last time that radiated power and blocked all the lightning bolts coming at him with ease. Maybe another tactic was needed, he thought, and shot to the right and down to the ocean with wind and lightning skills active.
This should make it hard for Sylas to contain him. Thalion was right, and he just had to circle back a few times before diving down again because Sylas shot spell after spell at him. He was making great progress and was already close to the water. He just needed to get another four hundred meters down. Time was almost out. The sky ship with Kael and the others was almost here. Moments later, an arrow flew at him, and Thalion could only dodge it due to the danger sense he got from his title.
Shit, time was over, and Kai was already on the way, as were four other people who transformed into two wasps and two grasshoppers. So, they had brought the shapeshifter along to give them his form... awesome. He transformed back to his human form and unleashed multiple blood thorns in all directions before charging at Sylas. Sylas stepped back a bit, which gave Thalion the room he needed to dash down with telekinetic dash.
Then Kai was on him. He tried to deflect his swing and counter with a stab, but the man was too fast and too good. He spun to the side while almost cutting Thalion's right arm off.
Another arrow flew at him, which he blocked with a mana barrier, but the arrow was too strong. It shattered the barrier and hit him hard in the shoulder, throwing him back.
He needed to do something to escape, or it was over. He tried to grab Kai with vines, but the man was too fast and cut the vines apart that came close. It gave Thalion the space he needed, and he unleashed an empowered Mana Wave and a red slash downward. Then he transformed into mistform and followed the red slash, which ripped through Sylas' wind domain. The first meters went without issue, but then the sides of his mistform were heavily damaged by the wind. He deactivated the skill close over the surface.
His whole body was bloody, and most of his skin was ripped off. The pain was bad and Thalion transformed into the serpent and dove down as fast as he could. He saw how many skills hit the surface, but they didn't manage to go further than a few meters underwater. This was bad, his wounds would attract sharks or other marine life.
At fifty meters deep, he transformed back to his human form and drew all the blood back into his body and started to heal his wounds with the blood provided by the sanguine thorn. It took him over 50 liters worth of blood to fully repair his body. Then he was back in his nuclear weapon... the tidecaller serpent.
"Fast! Go after him. He is badly injured!" Kael yelled at the shapeshifters who jumped into the water, transforming into four-meter-long pikes and dove down with incredible speed.
"How unlucky; if he had traveled anywhere else, we would have gotten him," Sylas exclaimed, frustrated.
"He is badly injured. It should be enough for the four shapeshifters to finish him off," Kai said calmly.
Ah, shit. Thalion thought as he saw how the four pikes were diving at him with incredible speed.
Pike Level 56
Pike Level 57
Pike Level 62
Pike Level 54
Thalion was confident he could handle those four with his nuclear weapon. Why not get some information out of them? And if they decided not to kill him... what stops them from lying to Kael and the others?
"Why are you attacking me?" Thalion said to the approaching fish.
"Cause you sided with the undead, of course," one of the fish answered in a matter of fact.
"Actually, I haven't sided with any undead, or have you seen any in this stage I could join?"
Thalion asked the pike while keeping his distance. In fact, he was even faster than the fish, and with his health fully recovered, he didn't fear the fish. His mana was already close to full again, so he should be fine.
"He got a point there," one of the other fish said after they had been silent for a while.
"Don't be stupid; the moment you let down your guard, he will kill us like those hunters," the fish from before answered.
"That was Sylas, not me," Thalion answered a bit annoyed now.
"Kael said you would try something like that," the pike answered quickly.
"Okay, then another thing, to spike your brain activity. I am fully healed and all my resources are almost fully recovered. You are pikes, while I am a legendary creature," Thalion said, seriously. "What is up with you people? Do you even have a skill to attack me?"
"Well, Josh, you got ot admit, he has another point there," the fish from before said.
"Jack, keep quiet. I don't believe that guy. He is a mindless killer," Josh spat at the other pike.
"On that note, I haven't attacked or killed you yet," Thalion retorted. He was now hovering 200 meters underwater while the pikes were twenty meters above him.
"Josh, you got to admit... oh, shut up already," Josh interrupted the other fish.
"When you are so smart, why don't you talk to him?" Josh continued, yelling at the other fish.
"Gladly. Hello, Thalion. I am Jack. How was your day so far?" Jack asked him in a very pleasant tone.
"Ahh, this is not really happening," Josh exclaimed while swimming in circles like he was in pain. The other two pikes shook their heads.
"Kael, can you see something?" Sylas eagerly asked.
They hovered with the boat directly over the water, and Kael was looking with one of his ranger skills at the fight that should unfold soon.
"They are too far down. I only see the pikes... oh no, one of them is moving like it was wounded," Kael said in concentration, "but I can't see any blood or wounds."
"It could be a mental attack," Kai offered his assistance.
"Hello, Jack, I am Thalion, and my day was okay so far, I would say. How was your day?" Thalion asked while using all his self-control to hold a laughter back.
"Oh, you know, first I woke up, but then there was no food. This is a real downer in the tutorial. I know we don't have to eat, but I do miss it. Then I met Dory. I said, 'Hi, what's up, Dory? Nice hair. She had dyed her hair pink yesterday and loves when I complement her," Jack said in a very relaxed mood.
"AAAAAAHHHHH! You must be kidding me!" Josh screamed while thrashing in the water. The other pikes, although groaned and moved around.
"Oh no, it looks like all of them got hit by a strong mental attack. They are all in pain," Kael exclaimed worriedly. "How is this possible?"
"Seems you like that woman," Thalion commented with a grin.
"Oh yes, I like her so much, but she is always with other guys, never really noticing me," Jack said sadly.
"Okay, we gotta stop this right here," the pike to Jack's right spoke in a female voice. "What are we doing next?"
"Well, we have multiple options where everyone lives, which would be preferable for everyone, I guess," Thalion shrugged, finding the situation very amusing.
"What will happen to us when we refuse Kael's order? I don't think he is the type who kills us, but I also don't want to find out," the female pike said worriedly.
"This is Chloe; she is really smart," Jack happily introduced her.
"Shut up, Jack!" Every pike shouted in unison.
"I still think we should kill him," Josh said. "Look at his level. Even if he got a high variant, we are almost twenty levels above him."
"Either way, we should dive down a bit more. They are maybe listening," Thalion argued while seeing the ship close to the surface.
"That's acceptable," Chloe said after a moment, and soon later they were two hundred meters deeper.
"They are diving down again," Kael reported. "God, they are giving everything for us."
"Can't you send them a message?" Sylas asked loudly from behind. "We can't lose such loyal followers."
"No, they are in their beast form. You need a special token or crystal for it to work."
"I trust them, especially Jack. He is a nice guy," Sylas said with confidence.
"I think we should abandon Kael and the others," Jack said. "I don't trust them anymore, especially Sylas. I could swear that he is only playing the nice guy."
"Hmm, looks like you can read people even better than me. „I never suspected anything," Thalion said with a sad smile as far as it was possible in his current form.
"AAHH! Not again! I can't take this anymore," Josh exclaimed while swimming in circles.
"Concentrate, boys. What are our options here? Eddie, you haven't said anything. What do you think?" Chloe said exhausted.
"I have no idea. That's why I said nothing," Eddie shrugged, as good as a fish could.
"Ahh, why is it always so difficult with you? No, this beast is not good enough... better take that one... no, I would like to go there... ahh!" Chloe screamed swimming fast from side to side.
"Before you completely lose it, do you know that there are over eight giant squids behind you?" Thalion asked the confused group.
Comments
Exaiter
Hahahaha damn i love comedic setting
Johannes Röhrl
Thanks fixed it
Wartech
"Before you completely lose it, do you know that there are over eight giant squids behind you?" Kael asked the confused group. Shouldnt it be Thalion
