EFB Chapter 453: Tricky Situation
Chapter 453: Tricky Situation
Scarlet Robe of the Blood Anointed (Mythic)Identifying items was useless most of the time, and so far Thalion had only gotten a good description when he created the item or bought it in the system shop. Still, for this robe, he didn’t need a description.
He wasn’t the only one who had firmly fallen in love with the clothing. Like Thalion, this robe was like a symphony of blood played only for the two of them.
Vines shot out from Thalion’s hand and grabbed the robe. The Sanguis Impera moved it over and let it dance before Thalion to make sure that he wouldn’t miss it. Thalion put it in the spatial amulet and unequipped his current robe before equipping the good shit.
This robe felt even better than the suit he had been wearing the last two stages, and that had been very comfortable. The robe constantly made slight movements around him, and seeing himself in the mirror, it looked like some super evil version of the thing Doctor Strange was wearing—with Darth Sidious personally working out the design.
Just by wearing the robe, he already felt more alive, and it wasn’t the only thing in this beauty of a shop. There was armor, weapons—but far more important, masks and rings.
Time was of the essence, and Thalion quickly equipped the first mask. The mask he had been wearing so far was just for the looks. The next one not only felt like he had just brushed his face with the softest and lightest silk pillow in existence—no, he could see how his vision expanded outward.
At the moment, Thalion was too stressed with the approaching danger to start experimenting with all its effects. By how the runes of the mask moved around his eyes, he wouldn’t be surprised if it empowered his Crimson Gaze—which would be a first, and stupid Thalion that he hadn’t had that idea earlier.
Sadly, there were only three rings, and every single one looked like it had taken years to make. The elegant design, the many intricate runes, and the rubies integrated into the material made it clear that they were beyond anything Thalion had crafted so far.
It was a bit weird since the rarity of his self-built armor and blade had been so far up compared to these things.
Thalion wasn’t sure what it was in the end. Hopefully, he would have more time after this system event.
There was one problem with the rings. Besides one that looked like something an evil sacrificial mage would wear, the others were far too big or too small. One he couldn’t get onto his finger, while the other one would be lost immediately.
In this moment, Thalion was a hair’s breadth away from using them as earrings—but since he didn’t know if that would work, and he wasn’t keen on puncturing his ear, especially with his quick healing… yeah, no. Making a hole wouldn’t be enough either. The rings were already complete, which meant he would have to cut his ear…
Yeah, best to take the losses and keep going.
Thalion decided to free his head from getting caught up in the marvel of these items. With a new robe, ring, and mask equipped, Thalion sent out more vines and began to empty the store, putting everything into his spatial amulet.
Turning into red mist, Thalion shot down the corridor. The danger sense of his title was throbbing loudly, which wasn’t at all what Thalion wanted to hear—which was why he threw away all caution for speed.
The corridor widened further and further. More ornaments and details were worked into the sides, and the stench of blood intensified with every meter.
Thalion only halted when he saw a door the size of a small gate opening to something that looked like an ascension chamber. Yet there was no trace of dryders or humans. What lay on the benches were gigantic lizards, looking like Komodo dragons on steroids.
To awaken one, ten of the red crystals were needed. Well, since Thalion could use a little help, he even gave them a small dose of his curse before waking them up. Each lizard also had its own blood pool.
It was dangerous—but so was the thing that was coming for Thalion, which was why he took the risk.
It seemed that those beasts weren’t sentient at all. What was missing in intellect they made up for with power.
The first awakening released an aura so strong that Thalion almost tumbled back. It rolled out like a red wave—but good for these creatures, Thalion wasn’t food. In fact, they just ignored him.
The curse made the lizards even stronger than before. The muscles bulged, and from their skin sharp bone spikes grew.
It was enough for Thalion, and he woke up the others.
When everyone was up, awake, and feeling good after drinking their pools of blood, it was time to leave.
In the corridor, Thalion already heard the sounds of fighting echoing from the main hall of the fifth level.
Thalion hurried down the corridor, getting faster and faster. The corridor was filled with so many ornaments, decorations, and statues that Thalion couldn’t snatch them all, even when using the vines.
The reptiles were right behind him, growing hungrier with every passing second. Right now, they were still following him like little ducklings following their mother. Hopefully, that wouldn’t change too soon.
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The corridor got wider and wider until it made a turn, and Thalion saw a red carpet before him. On the sides were large stone sockets, on each one of them a reptile sitting. There were eight in total, all looking at them. On the other end was a golden gate that was currently closed, which had to be the entrance to the king’s chamber.
Thalion’s buddies didn’t even hesitate and immediately rushed the ones on the stone sockets. Thalion didn’t even have the opportunity to do anything as the creatures began to rip each other apart.
Loud hisses, roars, and the ripping of armored skin as claws tore through it dominated the corridor. The cursed reptiles clearly had the upper hand. They weren’t much stronger, but far more reckless and brutal. Additionally, the other reptiles had the problem that the curse was blasted into their systems, which made it even harder to fight back.
Thalion didn’t dare to intervene and actually was quite lost in the current situation. He had come here to run from the danger chasing him, and now he was locked between the danger coming closer—likely already in the corridor—and the king on the other side.
The other reptiles fell quite quickly, and every time one died, the others opened their mouths, draining all their blood in mere seconds. To Thalion, it looked like the blood was just vacuumed away. It didn’t take long until only empty husks remained of the guardians here.
Yet the reptiles weren’t Thalion’s concern right now. He could hear the steps of the one who had tracked him down.
Saranya appeared in his hand and immediately began to complain.
“And AGAIN I am put in this peaceless dark place. The next time you—”
She didn’t get any further as Thalion cut her off, steel in his voice.
“If you don’t have something productive to say, be quiet. This will be a difficult one…”
The words stopped coming when he spotted who it was that had tracked him down here.
“Well, look who I sniffed out down here.” Prince Varathis of the Vorakai grinned widely.
<--
Explosion after explosion rocked the city as the Chosen were going all out to kill each other. No one in this city had ever seen such strong combatants before. Skills that missed their target nuked entire houses out of existence.
Felix was fighting an almost hopeless battle against Kaelir and Arelion. Kaelir blasted one immensely powerful and destructive fire skill after another at him while Arelion moved around Felix, looking for the perfect opening.
Kaelir shot out skill after skill without caring in the slightest about the commotion or running out of mana. Fighting him alone would have been very taxing for Felix, and he couldn’t even say for sure if he could win.
Arelion was fast and also the more dangerous one. His skills were so condensed that blocking them was almost impossible. This, combined with the high speed of the elf, made the fight far more dangerous.
Felix was strong, even by Chosen standards, but against two he wouldn’t hold on for much longer—even with Elaria empowering him to absurd levels.
He wasn’t the only one facing problems.
Eric was stuck in a jungle in which the plants seemed to absorb his light to grow even more, while a ranger and a broad-shouldered elf tried to kill him. Ethan was still fighting Liareth and the Chosen elf using the shadows, but he had managed to injure both, and by how it looked, both Chosen were infected by some poison.
Elaria was holding her own against two elves, one using ice blades and the other gravitational skills.
Eric had also managed to slam one elf using earth magic into the ground, but so far neither side had managed to land a killing blow—which could happen very easily with one small mistake or moment of carelessness.
More and more of the elves were joining the battle now, their group much bigger, which led to the humans getting into far more trouble than before.
“I think we should consider retreat. This was a bad idea,” Ethan said mentally through the token everyone was wearing.
“We cannot run. Otherwise they will get the grand prize. If we go somewhere, it will be to the ziggurat,” Eric shouted telepathically back, and a moment later you could hear a massive slam that made the ground tremble and felled one of the predatory plants.
“Fine, then let’s move in that direction—and watch out, the wind elf is very fast and lethal while having some sort of failsafe, with the wind always guiding her away when I want to stab her heart,” Ethan sent.
“Are you even sure the ziggurat is the area where the final fight will happen? The massive gate is already open, and I see figures moving behind the windows which aren’t soldiers of the city,” Elaria sent.
The situation was tense for the human Chosen, and they also couldn’t fight forever. Much longer than a normal E-grade, sure—but the power they had used in the fight until now was more than most E-grades even had, while their pools hadn’t been drained that noticeably.
“Good point. I just got a look, and there are definitely vampires around—but it is the biggest building and where the king should reside. Maybe he is underground by how badly it is defended?” Ethan sent back a few seconds later.
“So or so, we need to move now. There are multiple fights breaking out in the city already, and when we gain enough distance, the elves won’t go all out to get us right now.”
“Good point, Ethan. I will create a little distraction, then we sprint over there. J-u-s-t give me a moment,” Eric added, his telepathic message strained.
His broadsword began to glow brighter and brighter before he slashed forward. A detonation rocked the forest, with multiple plants being cut apart. Yet the plant elf didn’t let off that easily, and the jungle regrew almost instantly with a flood of additional vines—only to find the place where Eric had been before empty.
Eric was already a few hundred meters away, flying with his light wings. Ethan was shooting over the rooftops in rapid succession. Felix turned into a gust of wind that traveled there with even more speed, while Elaria had turned into mist, also flying in that direction.
A few of Elaria’s illusions were still standing behind to distract the other Chosen elves, who really did have a hard time dealing with her unique abilities.
It took a moment for the elves to notice that the aggressors were now running from them.
“After them!” Kaelir roared, forgetting about the telepathic connection, only to be stopped by Liareth.
“No, wait. Look, there are fights breaking out everywhere. All the other trialtakers are in the city. To just chase them down would be unwise.”
“We need to find the king before the others do,” Arelion added.
This was a very exciting moment for the elves. It was the first time they had actually faced enemies who had the capabilities to kill them in a moment’s notice. It didn’t mean that every elf had high toughness, but even when a normal assassin had enough power to deal the killing strike, they were far too weak to even create such an opportunity against them.
“Is the king underground?” Kaelir asked, a bit confused. He had flown up higher and was now watching the surroundings with heat vision. He couldn’t see through some of the tunnels below, but it was clear that the defense of the city had failed—besides one spot.
Kaelir could clearly see how the trialtakers were fighting soldiers and some kind of dryders, all of them looking like they had gone insane. He only now realized what had happened in the meantime while they had fought the human Chosen.
With those powerful parties distracted, the smaller parties had also started to fight each other. The whole city was partly lying in ruins where the trialtakers clashed. It had already looked like it had gone through tough times, but now some parts looked like someone had dropped a bomb.
“Likely. Let’s go to the right tower. It looks like a lot of fighters are surfacing from below, which means we get the most points there,” Liareth said, killing intent still leaking from her.
Their healer fixed their injuries, and off they were.