Chương 540: Chapter 509: The Wild Hunt Approaches

Ricarda only needed a few moments before she began to run by herself instead of being carried by Pikar. The experience must have been incredibly embarrassing for an elf and her face had turned completely red. Thalion didn't bother with it as his thoughts were racing. Maybe there was some mechanism that could lock the gates? Could he destroy them as an Eclipsari? It should be possible, but with the control panel destroyed they also wouldn't be able to open the gates anymore, which wouldn't help either.

Running for the rest of the trial also couldn't be the solution. How were they supposed to gain enough points to reach first place? The only other option Thalion could think of was fighting his way out. That was far too risky since none of them had seen one of the hunters before and, given the general power level of the enemies in this trial, it was probably a terrible idea. Definitely too much of a gamble. Thalion had already won the first trial and he wouldn't risk his life recklessly like that.

The feeling of danger was his only indicator and according to it running was definitely the better option.

"I hate this trial," Pikar said out of nowhere.

"This is all so random and you have no chance of anticipating anything. It's just luck and pure strength. Everyone else never had the slightest chance of making it out alive. The trial takers are dying like flies and there is nothing they can do about it." There Pikar had a point and Thalion had to admit that he also wasn't the biggest fan of this trial. It really was random. Well the randomness would have been fine if you got more information about the Wild Hunt or the strength of the bosses you needed to defeat.

For every normal E grade diving into the depths could already be considered a fatal mistake. From there on they traveled for over ten hours until surprisingly a system message hit them.

Congratulations You are in the last fifty thousand From now on you will gain leaderboard points for every minute you survive The total number of points earned per second depends on how many hunters have revealed your location And the whole new world is random and decided by strength Some should better learn that lesson fast Good luck Thalion had to hold back a smile when reading those last two sentences. Lyrian must have felt rather offended to respond to Pikar like that.

Thalion guessed that the two other gods were constantly laughing while watching the live feed of the system event. This was relatively close to the one Thalion himself had witnessed before.

"What the fuck!" Pikar and Ricarda exclaimed after reading the message. While the two began a lively discussion about the trial and its creator, Thalion had completely different thoughts. He hadn't been pinged that often and it had mostly been Ricarda. He didn't like losing out on points, but this system was once again horribly random. The hunters could also view the leaderboard, which meant that they would now see how quickly the points were increasing and realize they were getting closer to their target.

Besides that they could already reveal their prey's location, so this really wasn't helping at all. The question now was whether they should abandon trying to reach the fifth floor and instead focus entirely on escaping the hunters. It was another coin flip, something Thalion absolutely despised. He didn't want to fight another absurdly powerful D grade without some sort of trump card, but constantly running from the Wild Hunt wasn't appealing either. It was simply a completely messed up situation.

Thalion decided that, theoretically, the best approach would be to do both. He placed the black crystal into his spatial ring, which immediately catapulted him into first place with one million points. Below him were the two elven chosen, both sitting at four hundred thousand points. Hopefully that would put a bit more pressure on them which, in the best case, would lead to a deadly mistake. Half a day of travel brought them to the next control room with tablets, wall paintings, and multiple gates to choose from.

This time there were already orcs present who were celebrating their victory over the D grade below. There were over forty of them and they were jumping happily around a fire in the middle of the chamber. The first thing that happened was that the fire turned blood red before hell broke loose. Thalion felt a bit bad about outright attacking the orcs, but on the other hand no one would be alive to tell the tale and he needed every advantage he could get.

The first ten orcs died instantly through blood thorns and an empowered slash with Saranya. Their reaction was quick and a bit different from what Thalion had expected. They didn't care in the slightest about their fallen comrades and instantly attacked without fear. Ricarda released multiple larger plants with massive maws while activating her boosting skill and diving straight into the middle of the orcs. They were all only middle E grade, which clearly wasn't enough to deal with either her or Thalion.

Heavy attacks rained down on them and spear-long arrows were fired, but none of it was quick enough to injure either of them. Orcs were simply too clumsy and too slow to catch Thalion off guard. Normally their thick hides would help block attacks or at least mitigate the damage, but Thalion cut through them like butter and even Ricarda's plants had little trouble devouring them, though they had to chew a few more times than normal.

There were two shamans in the back, but they were quickly immobilized by Thalion's curse the moment they tried to conjure their flames. It had almost become second nature for Thalion to take control of fire and redirect it back at its caster. Only moments later they were the only two left alive while all the other orcs lay dead on the ground. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

All the killing granted Thalion another level, pushing him to level 118. Not bad. Well, compared to the first system event it was bad, but in general it was still a fine reward for slaughtering a few orcs. One of the orcs had a green crystal in the form of a tear in his pocket which clearly had been the reward for killing the D grade below. It granted Thalion another hundred thousand leaderboard points when he stored it in his spatial ring.

"Ey not those two," Thalion shouted at Ricarda when she was about to grab one with a vine and throw him into the maw of one of her giant venus flytraps. She immediately stopped what she was doing and bowed four times in rapid succession, which Thalion thought was a bit odd, especially for an elven chosen.

"Pikar which way next?" Thalion shouted to the insect master who was only now stepping into the room after all the fighting was already over. He wasn't a chosen and his insects were too precious to risk in a direct fight like that. Pikar studied the platforms and tablets before advising them to take the gate in the middle. Thalion had also checked the tablets just to make sure that Pikar hadn't missed anything and it really did seem to be the fastest route toward the next fifth floor.

"You two. Grab one of your former companions and move on. You to the right gate and you to the left," Thalion ordered the turned orcs around who were cowering on the ground with glowing red eyes. Thalion opened the gates for them and both orc shamans walked through without hesitation, each dragging a bloody corpse in one hand. The bodies left bloody trails behind them and Thalion hoped that it might confuse the hunters at least a little.

If that was even possible considering how often his location kept getting pinged. The amount of points he gained every minute was also increasing and, if it continued like this, he should earn around another hundred thousand before the end of the system event.

"That is a neat ability," Pikar commented in astonishment as the gates closed behind the shamans.

"Doesn't matter. Let's move on," Thalion insisted while a quick pull drained all the corpses of blood, which moved in crimson rivers toward him. The Primordial Bloodseed had been on quite a diet lately, something it clearly didn't appreciate. The gate in the middle opened slowly and the three shot through it as fast as their movement skills allowed. They were approaching the final five days and it was unknown how many treasures those elves still carried in their pockets.

Chances were high they still had at least one more massive treasure since Thalion himself had consumed one. He also had no clear idea how he was supposed to gain more points. Fighting another D grade wasn't safe and with the Hunt on his trail it was an even worse idea. The last two D grades had only been manageable because of the absolutely insane resistance the Eclipsari possessed against its own element. Getting that lucky a third time was completely out of the question.

If he had another fighter with powers similar to his own he might have been able to farm the D grades, but Ricarda currently was too weak to fulfill that role, which was admittedly Thalion's fault since he had killed her plants when they first met. It was honestly crazy that you could store five items inside the ring considering how little loot you usually got. The sense of danger was also closing in slowly but steadily, which wasn't good.

The two orcs must have failed as a distraction otherwise it should have slowed down at least a little bit. The only positive aspect was that he was gaining more points per second than the chosen elves below him. He guessed that being in first place also made a difference even if it hadn't been openly stated. The tunnels now had skeletons and malformed statues lining the sides. It was a bit annoying not to stumble over them, especially while moving this fast.

Cold air howled past his face and it was obvious that the stress was getting to the other two. They still hadn't heard anything behind them, but Thalion could practically feel how the sense of danger steadily intensified. Those hunters were likely D grade, which meant that with enough time they would inevitably catch up. The next control room was filled with corpses and it seemed that someone had already defeated the D grade boss below.

Most of the bodies belonged to humans, though there were also a few elven corpses scattered among them. The conclusion was relatively simple given the deep hatred between both races. Well, it wasn't as if humans had much of a choice when the elves either enslaved or exterminated every other race they encountered. It looked like the human party had been completely wiped out while the elves had traveled onward through the gate in the middle.

You didn't need a tracker to figure that out considering how many drops of blood led in that direction. There wasn't even a need to discuss where to go next. Thalion simply opened the gate and off they went again. In these narrow tunnels he really wished he had Eagly back. He would have been so much faster and the journey far more comfortable. With all his evolutions being Divine rarity anyway, gaining a few additional forms shouldn't have been a bad idea.

Besides his human form he still had six available slots, so why not fill them before reaching D grade? Even if he didn't intend to keep the forms permanently they still could have been useful because the evolutions granted absurd Divine skills which he could later shift to his other forms. Until now that hadn't been an option because he always needed the Divine rarity evolution first, but now there were simply too many possible paths for improvement. It was just unfortunate that he was running out of time.

The others were all about to evolve into D grade and he wanted to establish his own faction, which meant he at least needed to be capable of defeating most chosen in a one versus one fight. There simply wasn't enough time left for experimentation. While dashing through the tunnels Thalion thought more about what would happen next on New Earth. First he would need to immediately convince his friends to join his new faction. He felt somewhat bad about stealing them away from Eric, but such was life.

If the human chosen had been more friendly it wouldn't have mattered, but from what Thalion had seen so far it was probably best if Eric never discovered where they went. To be fair they were likely under immense pressure from the elves, but that didn't automatically make them trustworthy allies. Thalion also simply didn't want to form an alliance with them. If it had only been Eric that would have been acceptable, but Eric likely couldn't abandon the human faction anyway.

Once his friends reached the new base it would all be about securing the teleportation circles and building fortresses around them so that no one would dare attack. To construct those fortresses they would need massive amounts of crystals otherwise the shields wouldn't hold. After that Thalion should focus on trials taking place in integrated space in order to gain more levels and rewards.

Since his lifespan was already endless he had no issue paying the entrance fees, which most of the time required sacrificing a portion of your lifespan. Everything depended on when the large E grade system events inside integrated space would begin. Only there did Thalion have any hope of finding information about outsiders and he desperately needed that knowledge because otherwise the system might eventually claim his soul like everyone else's. Thalion's focus hardened as he dove deeper through the tunnel.

He needed more points because not taking first place simply wasn't acceptable.