Tales of the Endless Empire
Chapter 157: What's up with those Termites?

"You might want to get ready to run," Thalion murmured, keeping an eye on the dense undergrowth of the jungle. His title’s premonition of doom had grown more intense by the second. The feeling was so overwhelming that he briefly considered flying away. On the other hand, this was an opportunity to test his skills, and whatever was coming would undoubtedly have no trouble slaughtering all the vinehorses. That, he couldn’t allow. If his opponent proved too strong, he could still flee, but the horses were worth the effort.

Seconds passed, and the sense of impending doom continued to rise, stronger than anything he had ever felt. What could it be? It couldn’t be termites. He doubted even a swarm of hundreds of termites could evoke such a feeling. It had to be something else—perhaps a wyvern or a similarly powerful creature.

He didn’t have much more time to think. The first termite burst through the jungle underbrush and stepped onto the grassland. This one looked different from the termites he had encountered before. It didn’t resemble a termite so much as a smaller version of the mantis-like Akridon. Yet, it was clearly distinct: smaller, with massive mandibles reminiscent of termites. Its body was compact, standing only about two meters tall and three meters long.

After emerging from the jungle, it stopped and waited. Thalion always found it unsettling how insects moved so quickly, and this one, standing just a hundred meters away, had moved alarmingly fast.

Three more termites followed, identical to the first.

Umbrachron Level 80

Umbrachron Level 80

Umbrachron Level 80

Umbrachron Level 80

Ha! So the queen had truly tried to recreate the umbral predator. She was getting close. This new race had to be incredibly strong. Thalion couldn’t help but wonder if they weren’t at least mythical rarity, if not legendary. All of them were level 80, and they stood there waiting for something.

His unspoken question was soon answered as two pixie-like figures emerged from the jungle, flying about two meters above the ground. Pixies might have been the wrong term; they were the size of small women and unmistakably female, which made sense since termite colonies were predominantly female.

Though they resembled women in shape, they weren’t fully human-like. They wore no clothing, nor did they have breasts. Instead, their entire skin was covered in delicate chitin armor adorned with runes. Their heads were distinctly termite-like, roughly the size of a human head. Their black, insectile eyes had no pupils—or at least, it seemed that way to Thalion.

What they did have was an overwhelming aura of power. Thalion had no doubt that one of these "murder pixies" could easily defeat Kaldrek in a one-on-one fight.

Acarith Level 80

Acarith Level 80

Damn. They were all at level 80, but not yet evolved. Were the insects deliberately postponing their evolution to gain a superior race? That had to be it. Thalion doubted these six had only recently reached level 80. At this stage, they should already have been ready to evolve—unless evolution occurred differently for E-grade insects.

No, that couldn’t be it. He had fought E-grade termites before. These must be a bit like the termite mages he had encountered, though their aura was far more intimidating. Their entire chitin armor was a deep, glossy black.

Thalion’s eyes flickered with greed. If they had the same skill he had stolen from the termite mages—only with a dark affinity—it would be perfect.

The termites stood relaxed, seemingly unthreatened, until one of the pixies spoke, her black eyes burning with anger as she stared at Thalion.

“You are the enemy of the hive,” she hissed.

“Our queen will be gracious if we bring you to her,” the other added, her tone brimming with menace.

Then, everything happened at once.

All four Umbrachrons shot toward him as if receiving a hidden order. The two pixies stayed back, channeling power into their hands.

Thalion transformed into the Umbral Predator, ready to tear the termites apart. Meanwhile, the horses panicked and scattered in different directions. The termites were incredibly fast, but so was Thalion—he had invested all his free points into agility which allowed him to easily keep up with the termites.

He slashed at the first termite with Shadow Claw, hoping the attack would either hit or at least disrupt the pixies hovering behind the termites. To his annoyance, the termite simply tanked the blow, empowering its chitin armor to absorb the attack. Though the impact threw the creature back, the deep cuts it suffered began mending almost immediately. That was new. Neither the pixies nor the termites were casting any healing spells—this regeneration appeared to be passive.

The other termites circled him, with one attempting to strike from behind. Thalion countered by charging at the termite in front of him. They were fast, but a grin spread across his face as he realized he was still just a bit faster. Tendrils of his Abyssal Devourer ability lashed out to attack the termites pursuing him.

The good news was that the termites’ only means of attack seemed to be their mandibles. The bad news? Those mandibles were terrifying. Being bitten by one was like shoving your arm into a crocodile’s mouth.

At the same time, the two pixies at the back continued channeling something ominous. Thalion grabbed the termite in front of him and hurled it toward the pixies, instantly spinning around to launch another Shadow Claw at the approaching trio of termites.

One termite was caught off guard and lost two legs, tumbling backward several meters. Another leapt back to dodge, while the third lunged forward, its massive pincers closing in on Thalion’s chest. He caught the pincers and, with all his strength, pried them open. It took everything he had, but he managed to snap one of the pincers, eliciting a screech of pain from the termite. As it tried to retreat, Thalion bit into its head with Abyssal Bite, his empowered jaws tearing through the chitin.

The termite convulsed violently, unleashing a burst of dark power. A black spike shot out, piercing Thalion’s right leg and partially fracturing the bone. Ignoring the pain, he twisted the termite’s head further and bit deeper, finally killing it as his teeth crushed its skull.

But the other termites were closing in fast. The one he had thrown at the pixies was also charging back toward him, while the pixies themselves had apparently dodged his throw by flying upward. They were still channeling their spell, and the growing sense of danger behind him was palpable.

Desperate for a reprieve, Thalion shifted back into his human form and unleashed a Mana Wave, buying himself a precious moment as the blast forced the termites to halt their advance.

Taking the opportunity, he transformed into Eagly and shot into the sky with Sky Dive, his injured leg already beginning to heal. From above, he activated all his Domain abilities at once, summoning fierce winds that howled across the grassland.

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Reaching a height of 100 meters, Thalion began charging a massive Lightning Beam. Once it was fully charged, he turned and aimed at one of the pixies, who hovered 20 meters above the ground, still channeling her spell.

Meanwhile, the termites had shifted targets and were now chasing the vinehorses. Thalion couldn’t do anything about that for now.

The two pixies hissed in annoyance, ceasing their channeling to dodge his attack. Their wings glowed with dark energy as they darted aside, easily evading the beam.

One of them raised her hand, summoning a dark green orb. Moments later, a snake-like stream of dark green mist shot toward Thalion. The other pixie hurled a dark green spear at him.

Thalion empowered his Domain abilities with his crystal and instantly began charging another Lightning Beam. The pixies were cautious now. One stopped her attack to evade the beam, while the other narrowly dodged as well.

Despite their evasive maneuvers, the pixies were on the defensive. The strong winds from his Domain dispersed the lingering dark green mist almost immediately. Thalion noticed how the branches of nearby trees dissolved into mush wherever the mist had touched them. Poisonous pixies, he thought grimly.

Could he incorporate poison into the Umbral Predator? His darkness already acted like acid, dissolving most materials and mana-based defenses. Maybe he could adapt it further.

The battle turned when a lightning bolt struck one of the pixies, sending her plummeting to the ground, twitching as electricity coursed through her body. More lightning bolts rained down, striking the pixies and nearby trees.

The remaining pixie summoned a dark green shield to block the next bolt, but the shield cracked under the impact. The storm continued, and Thalion watched carefully, ready to strike again.

The winds and lightning grew stronger by the second as Thalion and the crystal funneled immense amounts of energy into his skills. Using the crystal, Thalion instantly charged a Lightning Beam and fired at the pixie on the ground, who was recovering surprisingly fast. The pixie managed to summon one of those dark green shields, but it barely slowed the attack. The beam pierced her body, burning her from the inside out and cracking her chitin armor in multiple places.

The other pixie hissed something at him, but the howling winds drowned out her words. Despite her fury, she seemed to realize she couldn’t pursue him in the sky. Impressively, she managed to hover steadily in the fierce wind. Instead of retaliating, she dove down to the dead pixie, and moments later, the corpse simply vanished.

"What?" Thalion exclaimed in surprise as he charged another Lightning Beam. Did the pixie have a spatial ring? Could she actually use it? That was something new—and terrifying. How quickly were these insects evolving? This realization sent a chill through him. If they could already use spatial rings, it wouldn’t be long before they started using armor or weapons.

Yeah, there was no way he could let that pixie escape.

Thalion dove toward her, firing another Lightning Beam. The pixie, however, had no interest in continuing the fight and fled into the jungle. Without hesitation, Thalion followed, though he had to slow down significantly to navigate the dense trees. He was still faster than any of his other forms, but the pixie was also incredibly quick, occasionally dissolving into dark green mist to dash forward.

The ability reminded him of his Mistform, except everything the green mist touched withered and died within seconds.

"I need to learn those skills," Thalion thought, his eyes gleaming with greed as he pushed his body to the limit to catch the pixie. Then she dissolved into mist again and darted into a tunnel.

Thalion hovered above the tunnel's entrance and sighed in frustration. He had failed. There was no way he could pursue her in the tunnels. Not that he couldn’t catch up, but he wasn’t about to risk whatever horrors might be waiting for him inside the hive. If the termites sent hunters like this, he didn’t want to imagine what guarded the queen.

With a heavy sigh, Thalion turned back toward the grassland, determined to kill the remaining termites and save as many vinehorses as possible.

By the time he returned, more than half of the herd had been slaughtered. Thalion flew over the grassland at incredible speed, scanning the chaos. The horses were scattered, their numbers dwindling as the termites tore through them.

He deactivated his Domain skill to avoid accidentally harming the vinehorses and focused on the task at hand. Corpses of vinehorses littered the ground, their heads cleanly bitten off. In some cases, a leg or two was missing as well.

Thalion spotted a termite about to finish off another vinehorse. Charging a Lightning Beam, he fired at the creature, slicing it cleanly in half. The beam narrowly missed the vinehorse, saving it by a hair’s breadth.

Thalion continued pursuing the remaining herd and the two termites still chasing them. These creatures had no apparent skills, but their speed and strength were on an entirely different level. The vinehorses tried to defend themselves, summoning vines from the ground to ensnare the termites, but the attackers were unstoppable.

Now that he thought about it, these termites didn’t resemble typical termites at all. But, of course, the system made anything possible.

The termites were too close to the herd for him to risk another Lightning Beam—the chance of hitting a vinehorse was too high. Instead, Thalion dove to the ground, transforming into the Umbral Predator just a meter above the earth. He rushed at the nearest termite, catching it off guard and tearing through its body with his claws.

The second termite, seeing its companion fall, immediately turned and bolted toward the forest. It took Thalion some time to catch up, but when he did, the beast met the same fate.

Afterward, Thalion examined the creature’s status screen, but it had no skills. That was odd. Did he not inherit all the abilities of the original creatures, or did this termite really have none?

He gathered the corpses and flew back to the vinehorses in his Eagly form. Luckily, the female who could speak had survived. She explained that the herd would continue downstream, and Thalion promised to send one of his skyships to pick them up. Otherwise, they’d be forced to pass through jungle areas still infested with termites—something none of the vinehorses wanted to risk.

As he flew back to his base, Thalion’s mind raced.

The termite queen was already a significant problem. His only hope was that she was trapped in this stage of the tutorial and couldn’t follow them to the next stage.

Would these beasts also migrate to New Earth after the tutorial? That was a question he’d need to ask the system’s voice.

One thing was clear: he needed to level up as quickly as possible. Killing the termites might have to wait—he couldn’t afford to trust his guards fully yet and didn’t want to give them an opening too soon.

The day had been long, but it was a complete success in testing Eagly's capabilities.

Now, what was next? The mountains—or the ocean?