Chương 542: Chapter 511: The King of Plagues

Well, what do we have here, Thalion thought with excitement. The fox was of Ascendant rarity, which was incredibly high. There were also a bunch of promising passive skills tied to the form, but right now Thalion didn't have the time to properly inspect them because the king was already on his trail with that cursed blade. Telekinetic Dash blasted Thalion backward to evade the king's downward slash. Instead of continuing to chase him, the king began furiously stabbing the corpse of the Sirokkar over and over again.

"You will bring us to the surface," the king grunted angrily while continuing to mutilate the body. The effect of the blade was immediate as multiple tumors began to sprout across the dead fox. Its blood also changed from golden to dark green, and the altar itself began to hum with power.

"Haha. Finally, nothing will stand in my way," the king laughed loudly, completely forgetting about Thalion. Runes began to light up all across the chamber, and Thalion simply stood there dumbfounded. Since it looked like he had gained a bit more time, he gave the fox form another look, and he had honestly never seen such a lopsided creature before. It had almost all its points invested into Agility and Perception, with only a few in Endurance. The rest of the stats weren't even worth mentioning.

One passive skill increased its speed even further, while another accelerated stamina recovery to absurd levels. Two active skills temporarily boosted the fox's movement speed, and there was another that sounded like a specialized running enhancement. The next strength of the form was camouflage, which Thalion guessed had something to do with Perception, even if it didn't entirely make sense. There were two passive skills and one active skill tied to stealth.

One passive made him almost invisible while standing still, while the other granted a similar effect while moving at high speed. The active skill created a mirage around him that reflected the surroundings and distorted sight. All in all, the form was only truly good at two things: hiding and running. Honestly, not that bad. There was also a biting skill that looked almost useless, plus a light-based ability that enhanced claw and bite attacks.

The final passive skill allowed him to run through the air as if it were solid ground. Since the form was so specialized, Thalion considered trying it out soon because, judging by the current situation, he would need to run from the wild hunt very soon. The king seemed to have completely lost interest in his surroundings and was now talking to the ceiling. Unlike the king, however, his subordinates grew far more aggressive.

Two of the massive four-armed apes lunged at Thalion, their giant fists glowing with green light. Explosions tore apart the ground where their fists landed, and Thalion was very happy that he had dodged backward in time. The enraged monkeys weren't the only ones after Thalion's life as his danger sense suddenly exploded when the wild hunt appeared at the entrance of the great hall. The aura of the clearly D-grade hunters washed through the chamber, and even the king stopped celebrating.

"What a disgrace to see our ancestors like this," the hunter in the middle commented dismissively, but then a grin split across his lips when his eyes landed on Thalion, who had just killed the two stunned monkeys with a quick slash.

"At least we finally found you." The leader turned toward the other hunters who were beginning to spread out.

"Quickly kill the target before the others arrive and take it right under our noses." That, of course, wasn't particularly nice in Thalion's opinion, but right at that moment the king spoke up again.

"Haha, you stupid fledglings have lost your way. I will return, and I will show you true power." The king pointed his sword at the leader, and a green bolt of lightning shot forward, striking the surprised hunter and throwing him off his feet. For some reason the hunters found that funny and began to chuckle.

"You cannot hurt us. Our armor protects us from all attacks, and our weapons exceed everything you know. All thanks to this system event." The hunter quickly fired an arrow at the king. The arrow carried so much force that the air around it vibrated, and it almost looked as if the arrowhead itself was splitting the atmosphere apart. With a lazy swipe, the king deflected the arrow with his sword. The jaws of the hunters dropped instantly, and their eyes widened in disbelief.

Then the leader slowly stood back up with a groan as green tumors began to spread across his face. The hunters stared at their leader in shock while the king laughed loudly, and even Thalion couldn't stop a slight smile from forming on his lips. Wasn't this fortunate? The plague affected the hunters, and now he had learned that the king was capable of bypassing their defenses.

It seemed like Lyrian had given the hunters enough tools to ensure that they remained the hunters, but those tools clearly didn't help against their own kind, which made the king the perfect weapon against them. On top of that, Thalion's points were now skyrocketing. Since the hunters had arrived, he had already gained over five thousand points. The days inside the system event were much shorter, but even then, three days was a very long time to constantly fight against the wild hunt.

"What the fuck!" one of the humans exclaimed in shock.

"How are there so many hunters? Our location wasn't revealed even once." Thalion almost felt bad for them, especially as more and more hunters flooded into the chamber. It was chaos at its finest. The king's joy rose in equal measure to the despair spreading among the humans. Meanwhile, Thalion remained at the opposite side of the chamber, keeping as much distance from the hunters as possible. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Between the laughing king, the confused hunters, and the horrified humans, the green lines continued spreading across the chamber while the altar hummed louder and louder with power, though none of the hunters seemed to notice. Thalion simply stood in the back and waited to see what would happen once the altar was fully charged. Would it truly beam them all back to the surface? If that really happened, he could simply fly away in his wyvern form or outrun everyone with his newly acquired fox form.

"Why is he turning green?" one of the newly arrived hunters asked in confusion while pointing at the leader. The other new arrivals continued spreading throughout the chamber, which only caused even more infections. They trusted completely in the immunity their armor had granted them during this trial, and because of that, even the simplest attacks from the infected Unari were enough to contaminate them. Thalion honestly couldn't believe his luck.

This was undoubtedly the best fifth floor he could possibly have hoped for. Sure, the fox's death was tragic, but aside from that, this situation was perfect. The infection was absolutely devastating for the hunters, and most importantly, it bought Thalion time. Time was what he needed most. Well, time and points. With this many hunters in the area, his leaderboard score was climbing at an absurd speed.

Being this close to the hunt continuously flooded him with points, especially as more and more hunters entered the chamber. The king giggled louder and louder, and Thalion had a hard time not joining in. He had already surpassed 1. 5 million points, and if this continued much longer, he would gain an enormous lead. The best part was that none of the hunters had even tried to attack him so far.

Merely surviving in this situation was a massive treasure in itself, and attacking the king right now would be incredibly stupid. Something the other humans clearly hadn't realized.

"Hey! Are you stupid?" Thalion shouted toward one of them who was fighting against one of the monkeys.

"Ehhh… what?!?!" the human yelled back in confusion, nearly getting smashed by one of the ape's massive fists.

"They can kill the hunters, which makes them our allies. Just get over here. They're almost as dumb as zombies," Thalion explained while blasting the monkey away with a crimson mana wave. Realization immediately dawned on the human, and he quickly spread the information to the others. A few of his comrades had already been killed by the hunters, and so far it looked like a single arrow was enough to instantly kill an E-grade.

Thalion wasn't sure if that was because of Lyrian's interference, similar to the armor, or simply due to the overwhelming strength difference between E and D grade. Luckily, the humans adapted quickly, and Thalion helped them reposition toward the edges of the chamber so the infected Unari remained between them and the hunters. For the king, the hunters had become far more important, and the humans were already forgotten.

Meanwhile, the hunters had started a heated discussion about what they should do next, but every new hunting party that entered the chamber only made things worse. At this point there had to be over a hundred hunters gathered near the entrance of the hall.

"What now?" the same human from before asked while standing beside Thalion. Thalion intentionally remained as far from the hunters as possible to make it difficult for them to identify which human carried the massive bounty.

"Just wait for the altar to activate and enjoy the points you're earning," Thalion replied calmly. The human's eyes widened when he finally noticed the altar charging up.

"How many are you?" the king suddenly asked the hunters in surprise, as though he couldn't believe his luck. The hunters ignored him completely as their discussion shifted toward another matter: how to divide the loot. And in their eyes, there was only one piece of loot. The human currently sitting in first place on the leaderboard. Unfortunately for them, that wasn't exactly the kind of treasure you could split evenly.

That realization alone caused arguments to erupt among the hunters, and every new hunting party that arrived only pushed the situation closer toward complete chaos.

"I don't want to sound annoying, but what are we supposed to do if they kill the king or simply ignore the infected like we did?" one of the human mages asked nervously.

"Ignoring them won't work. This infection is extremely effective against the hunters, and the king won't die easily even if he looks insane. Trust me, I already killed two of the fifth-floor monsters, and those weren't normal either," Thalion replied, and he meant every word. This king was definitely far from ordinary and clearly much stronger than the hunters. They were fast and relied heavily on the advantages Lyrian had granted them, but those advantages didn't work against the king.

On top of that, the king possessed an absurdly effective plague—or infection, or whatever this horror actually was—that transformed the hunters with a single hit. At least the leader of the first hunting party already looked terrible. A group of hunters stood around him while he rolled across the floor, desperately trying to cut the green tumors out of his body with a knife. Some argued that they should kill him outright, while others tried to help with the "operation."

Unfortunately, two hunters stabbing wildly at a thrashing man with daggers looked far more like an execution than medical treatment.

"Wait… what? You're the one in first place?" the human suddenly shouted in disbelief, snapping Thalion out of his thoughts.

"How do you even have that many points?" Thalion immediately realized this could become a problem. The last thing he needed was for the humans to decide killing him would be more profitable than surviving beside him.

"Just keep doing what I'm doing and you'll earn plenty of points too. I already have a plan," Thalion answered smoothly. That was, of course, a complete lie. Thalion had absolutely no plan beyond waiting to see what the altar would do once it finished charging. More and more hunters flooded into the chamber until the first rows no longer wanted to advance toward the infected while the newcomers behind them kept pushing forward. To distract himself, Thalion focused on watching his points climb higher and higher.

What were the other trial takers thinking when they looked at the leaderboard right now? Honestly, Thalion felt the system should have displayed it visually. A giant ranking board with moving columns would have been hilarious.

"Attack!" one of the hunters suddenly roared. Apparently they had finally agreed to kill the king first and only afterward argue about who got to slaughter the humans. The king had been giggling the entire time, but now the hunters finally gained his full attention. Still laughing like a delighted child, he swung the cursed blade again and again, unleashing wave after wave of green energy that strengthened his followers while infecting every hunter it touched.

The hunters all seemed to belong to some kind of ranger class, and a single hit was enough for the infection to take root. Very unfortunate for them. Thalion would actually have liked to assist the king, but every single one of his abilities harmlessly bounced off the invisible barrier surrounding the hunters' armor while the runes on it glowed faintly. That left him with only one job: staying in the back and avoiding stray arrows. To be fair, many of those arrows weren't stray at all.

Some hunters intentionally tried to sneak shots at the humans hiding in the rear. Since none of them knew which human actually carried the enormous bounty, several unfortunate humans died simply because they weren't fast enough. Ironically, whenever one hunter made their betrayal too obvious, the other hunters immediately turned on them, which only created even more chaos and gave the king additional opportunities to infect them. And the king truly was terrifying in combat.

Even in his maddened state, he teleported constantly throughout the chamber while unleashing devastating large-scale attacks and laughing nonstop the entire time. Several arrows already protruded from his chest, yet he didn't seem to register the pain at all. Some of the archers in the rear charged their arrows to absurd levels of power, but somehow the king always sensed where the attack would come from and teleported away at the last possible moment.

While the king fought to his heart's content, the altar continued to charge faster and faster. It wouldn't take much longer before it activated. And Thalion was becoming very curious about what exactly would happen next.