Tales of the Endless Empire
Chapter 174: Finally Stage Four

Seraphina shot through the water like a torpedo, now only fifty meters away from her prey. She fired a jet stream of water at the fleeing group while following closely, leaping out of the ocean. The attack was too fast—one of the men who had managed to escape alongside Nerissa was cut in half, his body torn apart by the sheer force of her spell.

"What have you done?!" Nerissa shrieked in terror, gripping her staff with its snake-shaped head, her hands trembling.

"Something I should have done a long time ago," Seraphina laughed hysterically. With a lazy wave of her hand, she summoned sharp water spikes from the ocean and sent them flying toward Nerissa.

Nerissa knew she was outmatched, but she refused to give up. She retaliated, conjuring a four-meter-tall wave and sending it crashing toward Seraphina.

But Seraphina only laughed, effortlessly parting the wave with a flick of her wrist. Both masses of water merged into a rushing river, surging back toward Nerissa.

Yet, the girl was no longer there.

A new river had formed beneath Nerissa’s feet, lifting her into the sky as her lackeys followed.

Seraphina didn’t hesitate. She channeled her own river beneath her feet, rising to pursue them. As she ascended, she fired multiple ice spikes, aiming to intercept Nerissa before she gained too much altitude.

Clever, Seraphina thought with mild amusement. Taking the battle to the sky was a smart move—here, she wouldn’t have an endless supply of water to manipulate.

But what Nerissa didn’t know was that Seraphina’s mana was recovering faster than she could use it, even with her relentless attacks.

Even so, Seraphina was annoyed that the girl was still alive and trying to escape. With an irritated sigh, she drew her staff and fired a razor-sharp water blade at one of Nerissa’s stragglers. A woman lagging behind the rest.

The blade cut through both of the woman’s legs, sending a crimson shower of blood into the air.

Seraphina smirked.

This was no ordinary spell. It was a mythic-tier skill—lightning-fast, incredibly powerful, with minimal casting time and a low mana cost. Easily one of the top ten skills in her arsenal.

The woman’s agonized screams filled the air as she lost control of her magic, plummeting toward the ocean below.

Seraphina fired a second water blade, slicing the woman in half before she even hit the waves.

It would take time for her to truly die. If the head or neck remained intact, death wasn’t immediate.

But it didn’t matter.

The blood in the water would make the perfect bait for the creatures lurking in the depths.

The sun had almost completely set, and once she was done dealing with these pests, she planned to hunt and test her newfound power to its fullest.

Above, Nerissa still refused to surrender. She fired a high-pressure jet stream of water straight at Seraphina.

Seraphina’s staff began to glow, the crystal embedded within it pulsing with energy. The air around her vibrated as she drew upon her true strength.

When the jet stream came close enough, she took control of it.

With a flick of her wrist, she transformed the attack into twenty razor-sharp ice needles and sent them flying back at Nerissa.

Nerissa’s eyes widened in shock as she hastily summoned a water barrier.

"That’s right, you little wretch. You are nothing compared to me," Seraphina thought with satisfaction.

That had probably been one of Nerissa’s strongest attacks, and Seraphina had countered it effortlessly.

A wicked grin spread across her face as she saw that one or two of the ice needles had pierced Nerissa’s defense, leaving shallow cuts across her skin.

"This is how it should have been all along," Seraphina mused, pleased with how easily the girl was falling apart.

She struck again, killing one of Nerissa’s followers with a sudden surprise attack.

Now, the rest of the entourage retaliated, firing a barrage of ice and water-based spells in her direction.

Pathetic, Seraphina scoffed.

With a mere thought, she seized control of the incoming attacks and flung them back. Only far more powerful than before.

Even now, she had barely lost any mana.

Her soul was simply too strong.

Her resources replenished almost instantly.

With another wave of her staff, she fired another water blade, aiming directly at Nerissa. The girl barely managed to dodge, the razor-sharp edge missing her by inches.

By now, they had climbed over a hundred meters into the sky, still rising as the battle raged on.

Below, Seraphina caught sight of the struggling woman she had wounded earlier, just as an enormous bonefish devoured her whole.

Too early, Seraphina thought with mild disappointment.

She wasn’t done with that one yet.

But the bodies of the fighters in front of her would make excellent bait as well.

Seraphina picked up the pace, launching spell after spell at Nerissa. The air crackled with power as magic clashed between them.

Her prey was getting desperate. They must have thought they could exhaust her.

How foolish.

That plan might have worked before the ritual.

"Our patron will hear of this! And then you’ll be finished!" Nerissa shrieked.

Seraphina just laughed in response.

But then....

Something changed.

A few of Nerissa’s lackeys simply vanished.

Seraphina froze mid-attack.

How?

Had they escaped?

They shouldn’t have been able to teleport away.

Were they too far from the palace’s influence?

No matter.

She still had two water mages left.

Two who hadn’t been able to afford the credits to escape.

Slowly, Seraphina turned her gaze toward them, her lips curling into a cruel smile.

"Hello, you two," she cooed in a sugary-sweet voice. "Why don’t you tell me what just happened? And I promise I’ll kill you just a little faster than the others."

<--

"Holy shit, what is this?" Kaldrek exclaimed in shock after arriving at the fourth stage.

Thalion, Maike, and Kaldrek had been sitting atop his tower, waiting to see where they would emerge.

Thalion and Maike only nodded in agreement.

They found themselves in a vast savanna, resembling Africa, except for the massive beasts roaming the land.

"Is that a dino?" Maike asked in surprise, pointing at a towering figure in the distance.

"It definitely looks like one," Thalion said, switching to his eagle form for enhanced perception.

"It almost looks like one of those plant-eaters with the long necks and tails," he mused aloud. "Ah, scratch that. It just ate one of those smaller birds on the ground."

Actually, now that he thought about it, the bird wasn’t that small. It was probably an ostrich rather than a chicken, as he had first assumed.

"Any signs of the undead?" Kaldrek asked, scanning the area around their base.

"I see none," Maike replied after a short pause. "What do you think happened to the grass and beasts that were under our spawn? Did they get crushed?"

"Maybe they were teleported away before we arrived?" Thalion guessed. Otherwise, that would be pretty unfair, right?

"Alright, so spread out and start farming and searching for the undead?" Kaldrek asked, waiting for Thalion’s go-ahead.

"Sure, let's get started. Send out the scout vessels too," Thalion nodded before taking to the air. He wanted to get a high-altitude view of the surrounding terrain.

Upon reaching a height of a kilometer, he began circling, the warm wind brushing through his feathers and the sun shining on his back. The climate here was definitely hotter than on the third stage, but not by much—it felt like a warm summer, whereas the third stage had been more like late spring.

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In the distance, he spotted a jungle, though it didn’t seem as lively as the ones in the earlier stages. The trees were also noticeably smaller. Other than that, it was just flat savanna stretching as far as he could see. The only exception was a crystal-clear blue river winding through the landscape. It appeared wider and much deeper than the one on the third stage—at least from his current vantage point.

That would be his first area of interest.

The savanna was teeming with beasts of all kinds—including actual dinosaurs. The flora consisted mostly of tall grass, scattered bushes, and the occasional lone tree. The trees themselves looked rather unhealthy, their leaves sparse.

As Thalion flew toward the river, he noticed scout vessels swarming out from the base, searching for farming grounds and, most importantly, the undead. The battleships remained stationed at the base, along with the two strongest ships that housed the teleportation portals.

Unseen by anyone—thanks to his legendary passive skill, which cloaked him in the sky—Thalion continued his descent.

One of the biggest differences on this stage, compared to the previous one, was the abundance of birds. On the third stage, they had only been found above the mountains, where all the wind crystals floated. The only exception had been the griffins, but those were rare—he had only seen them once or twice from a distance.

As he neared the river, he realized just how deep it actually was.

It didn’t even look like a river.

It was more like an ocean trench.

Hovering directly above, he peered down to the bottom.

A kilometer-deep canyon, filled with water.

There was only a narrow strip of beach before the land plunged straight down into the depths. Coral formations, sea plants, and algae covered the underwater landscape. Schools of fish and massive marine beasts roamed the depths—giant crocodiles, sharks, and even something resembling those prehistoric marine reptiles with four flippers and enormous jaws.

What was it called again in that documentary? Thalion thought. Predator X?

He continued circling lower, trying to get a better look.

The beast was too deep for identification, or at least his skill wasn’t working at this range.

Unlike the third stage, there were no floating reefs or glowing blue crystals here—but there were some pearls scattered among the coral.

The only problem?

All the creatures lurking down there were early E-grade.

Thalion wasn’t willing to risk his people’s lives for a handful of pearls.

They were slightly better than the ones on the last stage—but not by much. And the danger here was significantly higher.

Thalion decided against diving into the water—there simply wasn’t enough room to escape from those massive predators. That was probably why most of them were either enormous, with the smallest measuring over fifteen meters long, or incredibly small, like the fish that barely reached half a meter in length.

This was fascinating. The entire ecosystem here was different. In Africa, most animals gathered at waterholes to drink, where crocodiles lay in wait. But here, the creatures didn’t seem to need to drink at all. That was likely the reason why the crocodiles had slimmer bodies and longer tails—better adapted for hunting underwater.

Leaving the river behind, Thalion shot across the savanna.

The underwater world here looked incredible, but he was more interested in hunting some dinosaurs first.

As he soared over the vast grasslands, he noticed that even the lions had grown massive. The dinosaurs might not even be the strongest creatures here.

All in all, their starting point was excellent. The open landscape provided a clear view for miles, and having a river nearby meant an easy escape route in case of an ambush. At least he didn’t have to worry about those ridiculously powerful termites that had been experimenting on outsiders. Thankfully, the earliest he would see them again would be on New Earth. That planet should be enormous, and the chances of spawning near each other were very slim.

Thinking back to everything that had happened during the tutorial, he had quite a few enemies.

There was Kael and his former friends, Thorwald, maybe that Steven guy too, and finally, the termites.

Yep. A lot of people he needed to avoid—or maybe get rid of, one way or another.

The termites could be particularly problematic in the future.

What if their experiments on outsiders were discovered? At some point, everyone from the same tutorial might be investigated, and that was definitely not in his best interest.

But those were thoughts for after surviving the special quest and the war with the undead.

It didn’t take him long to find his first target.

Thalion dove toward a dinosaur that looked a bit like a T. rex—except it was yellow, and acid dripped from its skin and mouth.

Venmorax – Level 82

Venom?

That wasn’t what Thalion had expected.

At the very least, it should have had something related to acid in its name—especially considering that the ground started smoking when a drop of the yellow liquid landed on it.

For melee fighters, this thing would be an absolute nightmare.

The acid covered every inch of its skin, making physical attacks a death sentence. And then there was its terrifying maw, filled with giant teeth. Thalion was certain that a single bite could finish off most creatures.

Luckily for him, he didn’t need to get anywhere near the Venmorax.

He could just blast it with lightning.

But before he could fire, a sudden sense of danger made him abort his attack.

Instead, he made a sharp turn to the right.

Glancing back, he saw a lion soaring through the air behind him.

Well, soaring wasn’t quite the right word—it was gliding, using a membrane of skin stretched between its body and front legs. But it had been fast—fast enough that, without the warning from his title, he would have been dead.

Gliderfang Lion – Level 80

Its level wasn’t that high, and overall, the beast wasn’t that powerful.

But the fact that it had noticed Thalion despite his passive skill? That was impressive.

Keeping his distance, he fired a wind blade at the lion.

The beast didn’t want to take the attack head-on and dived beneath it—only to be drenched in a stream of yellow acid.

With a loud, agonized scream, the lion plummeted the last fifty meters to the ground.

Thalion’s Identify skill must have alerted the Venmorax, and it had some kind of breath or spit attack.

Well, whatever it was, it was effective.

By the time the lion hit the ground, it was already half dissolved.

Its life ended in the Venmorax’s massive jaws.

The sickening crunch of bones being crushed made Thalion grimace.

He wasted no time.

His Lightning Beam was already fully charged.

As the fifteen-meter-long, ten-meter-tall dinosaur lifted its gaze toward him, Thalion unleashed the attack.

The beam struck its head, carving a straight path down to its neck.

The force was enough to make the beast stumble sideways and yelp in pain—but that was it.

No kill notification.

No limbs twitching violently from electrocution.

No deep, smoking wound where the beam had landed.

What the hell?

Did all the beasts here have lightning resistance?

Thalion frowned, puzzled.

He could only hope the monsters on the fifth stage weren’t much stronger.