Chương 437: Chapter 408: Hunters in the Halls of Stone

The tunnels were still fully intact, and Thalion pushed his body to the limit as he rushed toward the dwarven capital, his bloodslaves close behind him. Thalion knew the chances of arriving there without meeting chosen were extremely low. There were simply too many in this trial. He was quite certain that many had ignored the treasure hunt, which had led to elites from countless planets gathering here. Over a hundred chosen were far too many for a single world.

Maybe enough for one of those supermassive planets where multiple worlds had merged into one, but not just four like in New Earth. There was one fact that gave Thalion a bit of hope: the capital couldn't be accessed from the outside. There was the path through the lava, but besides Kaelir and the prince, no one would be able to take that route.

To be fair, Thalion didn't know the other chosen, but he was confident the chances of someone reaching the top of the volcano and suddenly deciding to dive into the lava were… unlikely. So maybe—just maybe—he had enough time to claim the grand treasure. Thalion and his bloodslaves travelled for hours until they finally reached the capital. With every passing minute, Thalion grew more nervous. If there was one person everyone wanted to kill, it was him. He didn't fear elite parties—even if they were annoying.

No, the real threat were the chosen, and they were far more eager to see him dead. In hindsight, it might have been smarter to just wait out the stage and leave the treasure for someone else. He had such a massive lead in leaderboard points that he doubted a single treasure could close the gap. It would narrow it, sure, but unless it was the First Daughter or the princeling, it wouldn't matter. The prince was already stupidly powerful, and Thalion had seen the termites in the tutorial.

This First Daughter must have abilities far beyond anything Thalion wanted to imagine—let alone deal with. No, this needed to be a sneaky mission: get in, grab the crystal without dying in lava, and get out. One problem became immediately apparent after arriving. The capital was enormous. Kilometers high and shaped almost like the inside of a giant beehive, with countless floors and openings carved into the stone.

Thalion even began to suspect Tolkien had been inspired by something, because the buildings here looked suspiciously similar—like a colossal version of the fortress Smaug had invaded. There was already a lot of noise coming from inside, which meant trialtakers were present—multiple groups, judging by the echoes. The corrupted dwarves weren't attacking them, so someone had to be deep inside already. The next problem: the map Thalion had stolen was nowhere near detailed enough.

It only showed major landmarks and ignored countless smaller structures—understandable, since it mapped the entire dwarven kingdom. Still annoying. He cursed himself for not finding a map that marked the safe zones. In these tunnels, he could easily get killed by the zone of nothingness. Maybe it would even be smarter to find a path to the surface before the stage ended so he didn't get screwed deep underground. Thalion also preferred not to share a safe zone with anyone.

On that note, the woman from the last stage was probably furious. First the poison stage, then the forest stage had been ruined by Thalion, and now fire—and after that, ice. Yep, she was definitely in for a rough time. Standing before the massive capital with all its buildings and corridors carved into the walls, Thalion had no idea where to start. He couldn't sense any aura strong enough to scream "chosen." If there was one, they were hiding their strength well—not surprising with these weird dwarves.

So far, the corrupted creatures hadn't offered much resistance. Thalion chose a calmer path on the left side. Hopefully, he could avoid the skirmishes happening near the center of the capital. He also needed to find the entrance to the corridor leading to the grand treasure—or more accurately, to the machine that should still be holding the crystal in place. In theory, he should be able to enter the volcano through an opening close to that machine. At least, that was his plan.

There was absolutely nothing to gain from engaging other trialtakers. He did consider sending one or two of his bloodslaves to attack them—maybe lure them in the wrong direction to buy himself more time. Losing them didn't matter. In fact, Thalion was already planning a few ways to get rid of them. They had been very useful until now, but he was starting to get a strange feeling when looking at them—especially when observing Veylana.

Thalion could swear she was just pretending to be the obedient slave, and his title gave him mixed signals. That alone was interesting. Could Veylana really obscure her true feelings even from his title? Well, at some point the time had to come when his title no longer worked as a flawless lie-detector, but that it was happening this soon was annoying. Thalion had believed it would take much longer, considering everything he'd gone through with that title.

Any other warrior would've died decades ago with such a slow leveling speed. Then again, someone else probably wouldn't have survived the power infusion that had knocked him unconscious either. The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. So one way or another, Thalion needed to keep an eye on them. They were E-grade and far above him in levels. They'd also had plenty of time to learn their new skills. In hindsight, they were much more powerful now than before.

The only difference was that Thalion could fight them more easily now. When it came to anything blood-related, he would win—simply due to his insane proficiency and the Sanguis Impera, which was basically created to kill other blood users. The real problem wasn't that Thalion might die, but that he might waste precious time. Even if their initial attack failed, what if they chose to strike when Thalion emerged from the lava after yoinking the grand treasure? He would definitely be in pain and likely weakened.

The perfect opportunity for an attack. Thalion wasn't angry at them—he had already planned to kill them in the next stage. Still, the uncertainty was annoying, but also good practice and experience. Now he knew he couldn't command his bloodslaves forever. It also meant he could never fully trust those he turned once enough time had passed. They would eventually become like any other person—with an eternal hunger for blood added on top.

Since Thalion knew exactly how they felt when they looked at him, he decided to stay in his human form. Hopefully, that would buy him more time before they attempted something. Thalion hushed through the empty streets like a silent assassin. From time to time, they encountered a few dwarves, but Thalion killed each of them quietly. He wouldn't take any risks here. In this giant city, every sound echoed through the enormous cave.

There were surely scouts positioned somewhere, watching for enemies trying to ambush the fighters closer to the middle—and the last thing Thalion wanted was to alert them. No one needed to know another hunter had entered town. The capital was built wide open, and the dwarves had used surprisingly few walls—something Thalion considered a huge design flaw. If a dragon like Smaug came here, it could maneuver easily through the massive buildings. To be fair, this was System space, and almost everyone could fly.

So dwarves here could likely do much more against a dragon than the ones in The Hobbit. Even if Thalion didn't think the design was optimal, he was a big fan of it. The hall he entered was so vast his eyes struggled to take it in all at once. Balconies and stone bridges crisscrossed above like a web of ancient craft, connecting workshops, armories, and forgotten chambers. Crystal lanterns—dark now—hung from chains thicker than his arm, waiting for dwarven fire to reignite them.

"Hmm… there's probably no other way than straight up…" Thalion murmured while observing the place. There was nothing giving him direction—no hall widening into a throne room, no obvious path. Without another thought, Thalion flew upward using Mistform, shooting into the air. He dodged multiple bridges before reforming a few hundred meters above his previous position, the bloodslaves on his trail.

Thalion was now slightly lost—the ceiling was still far above, and the sounds of steel clashing echoed down from somewhere higher. It wasn't the rhythmic hammering of a blacksmith. To Thalion, this entire damn capital was some kind of open labyrinth. In hindsight, he also wondered who even used all these bridges. In the System, almost anyone could fly, and if not, they could jump incredibly high. The bridges seemed… wasted. It could be that the dwarves had been very low level when their kingdom collapsed.

Thalion spun theory after theory as he continued ascending. He couldn't travel too fast—he wanted to check his surroundings constantly. If he got spotted and word got out that the first position on the leaderboard was here—and only level eighty—he might get himself killed. The clashes above grew louder and louder as Thalion ascended, until he finally spotted the fighting parties—and his blood froze. First, it was immediately clear by the intensity of the fight that this had to involve chosen. At least one of them.

The two combatants were a man with two curved swords, wearing light leather armor and a brown coat that screamed ranger. Thalion couldn't see his face—it was hidden in the hood's shadow—but he recognized a few of the figures standing behind him. Kael, Kai, and Sylas—plus a bunch of other rangers whose auras were all terrifyingly strong. Thalion had to admit that they all had made massive progress in terms of power, and it was out of the question that he could pummel them like the last time in the tutorial.

As for who the chosen was fighting—it appeared to be some kind of centipede woman who constantly shifted between a long centipede form and the shape of a humanoid woman with insect features: light chitin armor, dark eyes without eyelids, sharp teeth, claws, and so on. Thalion, of course, didn't dare to identify either of the combatants. The last thing he wanted was for them to know he was there. Both the ranger and the centipede woman could easily catch up to him, judging by how fast they were moving.

Kael and the others were trying to find an angle to shoot at her when the moment was right. It also seemed there was some unspoken agreement in place—the centipede woman didn't try to kill them, and in return, they stayed out of the fight. The battle was quite intense, and Thalion was surprised at how well the ranger kept up with the insectoid, who clearly overpowered him in strength and durability.

Thalion wasn't sure how it looked in terms of speed, since the ranger always seemed to know where the centipede woman would move before it happened. Still, he was unable to truly damage her, and his blades left only small cuts in her armor at best. Thalion slowly motioned for his followers to come closer as he began to move as silently as possible toward one of the entrances connected to the bridge.

He hoped there would be some kind of tunnel or staircase that led upward, allowing him to move around the combatants without drawing attention. Thalion could feel their auras intensifying, and it wouldn't take much longer before both went all out—which meant the fight would end sooner or later. Thalion wanted a good head start before that happened. That Kael and the others were now close to his strength—if not stronger in pure power output—didn't deter Thalion in the slightest.

This treasure hunt would be the crucial period in which he would be at his weakest. He had gone through so many hurdles already: the leveling restriction from his title, and postponing his evolution to reach divine rarity. But once this treasure hunt was over? Nothing would hold him back.