Tales of the Endless Empire

Chapter 341: Unwelcome Omens

The dark tendrils writhed hungrily through the incursion pillar, siphoning its essence and feeding both Thalion and the darkness elemental with raw darkness. The pillar itself pulsed with a strong rhythm, exhaling waves of power as if it had a beating heart. Every surge of energy made Thalion’s skin prickle, and with each breath he took, the darkness settled deeper into his bones. This was no small victory. The operation had been precise, calculated, almost elegant in its cruelty. He allowed himself a thin smile. The Mantis would have been proud.The elemental, too, revealed its frightening depths. Thalion had not fought alongside it so much as endured its presence, but its ability to draw strength from suffering bordered on obscene. Through his title, he had already sensed the emotions of others, their pain, their fear, but with the elemental bonded to him, it was as if he could feel every shiver of despair within eighty meters, every frantic heartbeat in the dark. It made targeting enemies effortless, even those he did not see could not hide from him. And the elemental’s pressure on single foes was suffocating, a force Thalion did not yet understand but knew he could weaponize.

The fort had been a crude construction, its defenders numerous but ultimately doomed. The sun had already sunk beneath the horizon when silence finally settled over the place. Many had fled, vanishing into the jungle and Thalion had not wasted time hunting them. This incursion was weak, its soldiers poorly matched against him. Their strikes dissolved against the gloom coiling around his body, leaving him nearly unscathed. Even his regenerative abilities had been hardly tested. When the last scream had faded, the elemental fed greedily on the corpses, and Thalion sat in quiet meditation, tempering his body with the harvested darkness.

For over an hour he remained there, the darkness flowing into him until his veins throbbed with power. Though the elemental and he were bound in symbiosis, he could not allow it to grow beyond him, to give it even the temptation of dominance. When at last he rose, he consumed the remaining corpses strewn beyond the fort walls before shifting into eagly.

With a beat of vast wings he soared into the night sky, choosing air over ground. The jungle was too treacherous to traverse and besides, he was weary of the day’s hunt. Unless a truly worthy beast crossed his path, it was time to return to Kaldrek and Maike, to share what he had learned and strengthen their defenses.

From three hundred meters above the canopy, the world unfolded beneath him in eerie beauty. The jungle glimmered faintly with bioluminescent flora, rivers of light flowing between shadowed trees. He circled higher, eyes scanning the horizon for signs of firelight, an outpost, a survivor’s camp. But the land remained dark and still. Perhaps they kept their fires quenched, wary of drawing predators in the night. Sensible. Even the weakest human could now see well enough in this unnatural gloom.

A sudden spike of dread shot through him. He twisted sharply right as black claws clamped shut on empty air where he had hovered moments before. The night split open with the shriek of a massive bat. Its wings spanned over five meters in length and its jagged teeth glistening like rows of knives ready to grind flesh to pulp.

Thalion cursed under his breath. His passive veil should have rendered him nearly invisible, yet the beast had marked him regardless. Worse, he was close to his base. A fight here would flare like a beacon for any watching faction. He angled his wings, drawing on the wind to accelerate. The bat pursued, each thunderous beat of its wings shaking the air as it closed the distance.

With a flare of will, Thalion invoked Tempest Glide. The air roared, currents bending to his command as his speed doubled, tripled, until the trees blurred below. The bat shrieked again, rage echoing through the night, but the gap widened. He would not waste time on this carrion scavenger unless forced, yet the itch to turn and burn it into cinders gnawed at him. For now, discretion won.

At last, the beast faltered, wheeling off into the higher currents where others of its kind circled like vultures. Thalion exhaled slowly, keeping his speed. The sky above was no safer than the jungle below. These creatures lingered high up in the sky, patient hunters waiting for anything foolish enough to rise from the safety of the trees.

This was rather curious. Thalion hadn’t seen bats flying or clinging to the treetops before, which meant there had to be a cave nearby. Perhaps one massive tree hollowed out and filled with them, but a cave seemed far more likely. He kept gliding, and soon the dark shimmer of the ocean stretched into sight, followed by the faint glow of his makeshift base.

Compared to the incursion’s fortress, it was pitiful, a scattering of small, crooked houses that looked as though they belonged in the slums of some forgotten city. Their roofs gaped with holes that promised misery should the rains come. Yet in the towering trees above, platforms and huts had been built. Structures far sturdier than those below. Thalion hadn’t noticed them before. They reminded him faintly of the Ewok village from old Star Wars tales. Not as grand as the incursion camp, but promising. If they kept this pace, it could work.

Watchfires flickered faintly, and several lookouts scanned the skies. One of them noticed him and gestured wildly. Thalion tucked his wings, accelerated, and swooped down, skimming barely seven meters above the ground before shooting upward to the nearest watchtower. With a ripple his form shifted, feathers folding into flesh, talons giving way to metal boots. He landed lightly before two startled archers. Their eyes went wide, one even drawing an arrow halfway before his trembling hand faltered.

“Good evening, friends,” Thalion said smoothly. “Where might I find Maike and Kaldrek?”

The archers stared as though he had materialized from legend. They hadn’t yet reached E-grade, their levels hovering around seventy-six. Too low to mask their fear. At last one of them managed to lift a shaking finger toward a modest wooden hut. Thalion inclined his head in thanks and moved past them. The camp was quiet; most lay asleep, and those awake spoke only in whispers. That had Maike and Kaldrek’s caution written all over it. Clever. Without them, Thalion doubted he would have thought of such discipline himself.

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From the hut came the muffled rumble of voices. If not for his sharpened senses, Thalion might have missed it entirely. He rapped once against the warped wood before pushing the creaking door open. It groaned in protest, louder with every inch, until he finally lost patience and shoved it shut behind him with a resounding slam. Four heads snapped toward him, eyes wide. Inside sat Kaldrek, Maike, Josh, and Jack, gathered in sagging armchairs, mid-discussion.

“Good to see you. We were worried for a moment,” Maike said, her tone light, though her brow remained tight with thought.

“The scouts found two incursions close by,” Jack added with a cheeky grin. “But Maike won’t let us pay them a visit.” He leaned back, smug. Maike and Kaldrek both sighed heavily, which sounded like they had repeated themselves for the hundredth time.

“Ha. If you mean the one with the screeching voices and swollen heads, already dealt with it,” Thalion said casually, brushing dust from his cloak. The door’s echo still rattled faintly in the small space as stunned silence fell.

“Is something wrong?” he asked, brow furrowed behind his mask as all four of them gaped at him with open mouths.

“You just said you… closed an incursion,” Kaldrek stated flatly, his voice caught between disbelief and awe.

“Yes,” Thalion replied slowly. “What did you expect? That I’d leave it standing?” It was almost comical, their shock. He had slain Ankhet. Why was the idea of shutting down an incursion so unthinkable to them?

“Maybe his was weaker?” Josh ventured, shrugging helplessly.

“Maybe,” Maike cut in, sharp as a blade. It was obvious that she had been under a lot of pressure. “The ones we’ve scouted are anything but weak. Their generals auras burn strong. Most of them are level ninety-four or ninety-five. Strong enough that we believe they’ve already leveled up since their arrival.” She pushed away from her chair and paced the cramped room, frustration radiating from every step.

“I can’t believe the system allows incursions this strong. What is even the point of this so-called ‘tutorial’? We aren’t taught to build proper defenses. Weeks before it ends, the glorious system demands we surrender everything, dangling the promise of better evolutions as reward. That’s why everyone waits until the last moment, to squeeze the best class out of E-grade. And then? Incursions appear, filled with seasoned warriors who’ve fought wars for decades already. To top it off, the system hands out rings. Rings every one of them covets, turning the whole thing into a blood hunt. Every incursion chasing us down, while we can’t even erect half-decent walls to protect ourselves!”

By the end of her tirade, Maike dropped back into her chair, arms crossed tightly across her chest, eyes burning with defiance.

Thalion studied her in silence. Put that way, yes it did sound unfair. But he also knew the system was still crude, unfinished, its gears grinding without polish. Brooding on it solved nothing. With a small sigh, he folded his arms and leaned against the wall, the shadows coiling at his back like smoke.

There were still two more incursions to be closed, and Thalion had no plans for the following day. What vexed him was the thought of revealing too much of his strength in front of the others. If he needed to clash with some true powerhouse in the coming weeks, he preferred that any information circulating about him remained outdated and misleading. Yet if these incursions demanded his hand, his secrets might unravel far sooner than he intended.

“How do their fighters look?” Thalion asked at last, his tone measured but sharp. Better to gather knowledge now than regret later.

“Oh, one group looks like Batman,” Jack blurted out eagerly. His eyes gleamed as he leaned forward, practically bouncing in his chair. “They’ve got webbed skin stretched between arms and torso, huge eyes, teeth like knives, and ears long as daggers. The other group looks more human, but with three eyes and wild hair that sticks straight up, like Son Goku.” His grin widened as though he could hardly wait to face them himself.

Thalion tapped a finger against his armrest, his thoughts churning. A detail struck him like a bolt of lightning. Bats. They looked like bats. He had just been wondering about the massive shapes circling high above the treetops. Could they be more than beasts? Shapeshifters perhaps? If that were true, the danger escalated tenfold. They could assume harmless forms, infiltrating camps unnoticed, spying without risk.

“On my flight back,” Thalion said, his voice low and contemplative, “I was attacked by giant bats. They vanished into the dark above the jungle, but if they belong to this incursion, then they may well be shapeshifters. I’m not certain. The resemblance could be coincidence, but if they are beast tamers, I should have seen riders. I didn’t.”

“Shit!” Maike spat, the word tearing through the air. She was on her feet in a blink, shoving the door open so hard the wood cracked against the frame. The night swallowed her in an instant, leaving only the faint echo of her boots hammering against the planks outside.

Jack, Josh, and Thalion sat staring at the swinging door as it creaked slowly shut, wood groaning in protest until silence reclaimed the room. Then, as if on cue, their eyes turned to Kaldrek. He hadn’t moved, save for the lazy curl of a smirk tugging at his lips.

Catching their unspoken question, he lifted one hand dismissively. “We split the work, you see. I handle the buildings and resources. She handles safety. So, not my concern.” With that, Kaldrek reached behind his chair and produced a clay-brown bottle. He worked the stopper free with practiced ease and grinned. “Besides, with her busy, I can finally take a sip. Gods, I’m as dry as the Gobi Desert.” He tipped the bottle back, the smell of sour ale filling the cramped hut.