Tales of the Endless Empire
Chapter 187: Council Meeting

Thalion’s mind raced as he moved through the crowded streets toward the council meeting. The atmosphere in the base was tense, with everyone scrambling to prepare for the coming war. Hunters were quickly restocking their supplies before heading out on another hunt. Smiths worked tirelessly to forge new ammunition for the defensive weapons, which had run dry during the last undead assault. Alchemists brewed potions and poisons in a frenzy of activity. The entire base was a hive of motion, and that was a good sign. It meant that everyone understood the gravity of the battle ahead.

As Thalion walked through the streets, he was like an unstoppable force, an icebreaker cutting through a frozen sea. People instinctively stepped aside as soon as they recognized him. No one else in the base wore armor even remotely similar to his. The black cloak and mask, adorned with intricate red runes that pulsed faintly with power, made him an unmistakable figure.

His true armor remained hidden beneath the cloak, with only metallic boots and gloves visible. It was a blend of medieval and futuristic design, something entirely unique within the base. A few people tried to address him, but he ignored them, his focus unwavering as he continued toward the council chamber. There was simply no time for distractions.

His thoughts remained locked on Amalia and Jim, but something else gnawed at the back of his mind. He had sent Jim on a mission, and the man had yet to return. According to Maike, he was expected back within a few hours. Jim’s arrival would be a turning point, and Thalion needed to play his cards carefully.

He doubted Jim had found anything of true value, and if he had, there was no guarantee he would hand it over. Thalion had tasked him with retrieving darkness-related treasures, though he no longer recalled the exact wording of his command. Regardless, he had no intention of killing Jim before the battle. Why waste a useful pawn when he could be thrown against the undead horde instead?

Amalia likely suspected as much. The real question was whether she would take the risk of letting Thalion dispose of their most valuable asset. Probably not, but there were never any guarantees. One thing was certain—no one would dare try to kill him today. His enemies were not strong enough yet, and he was confident that, if necessary, the guards would come to his aid. Not that he needed them. He was more than capable of handling an ambush on his own.

Whatever Jim brought back, Thalion would make things as difficult for him as possible. He needed a solid reason to send him straight to the front lines. Until now, the craftsmen and the witches had conveniently avoided combat, but that was about to change. While forcing the craftsmen to fight was unnecessary, pushing the witches onto the battlefield would make eliminating them significantly easier. It would also expose their true loyalties.

For now, they remained tucked away in their hidden circles, constantly surrounded by visitors, making it nearly impossible to track their movements. Thalion was convinced that the best place for them was the front lines. It would not be easy to arrange, but doing so would undeniably improve his own chances of survival.

He arrived at the council chamber and could already hear raised voices through the closed door. He had expected tension, but this level of shouting suggested something more. Something must have happened. He could only hope it involved Amalia or Jim.

Pushing open the tall door, he stepped inside. The shouting ceased instantly. All eyes turned toward him as he strode around the table and took his seat between Maike and Kaldrek.

"Don’t mind me. Please continue," Thalion said, crossing his arms over his chest as he leaned back in his chair.

He had no idea what they had been arguing about and was not about to reveal that fact so easily.

"As I said before, we are not ready to face the undead. We need to wait," Isolde declared, her voice rising once more as she turned on Maike.

"Oh, shut up, Jo! We’re getting teleported in a week anyway. Besides, we need to destroy the pillars to stop Ankhet’s return. How do you plan to do that if you arrive just as the catacombs open? We could end up on the other side of the tutorial!" Maike snapped, her frustration evident.

Thalion’s mind froze for a moment. We are getting teleported next week? He had not heard that before. Yet he gave no outward reaction, simply watching as the two women continued their heated exchange.

"We’re not trying to prevent anything. We’re all safe behind these walls. There’s no reason to risk our lives for some special quest!" Isolde shot back, her face flushed with anger.

Yeah, Isolde would not get her way. Thalion thought with amusement. He also found her assumption about their defenses holding back Ankhet laughable. If he had not fought the vampires during the last assault, they would have broken through with ease. Someone like Ankhet could likely do it alone, and he would have the added advantage of bringing his undead forces with him. In the end, there was no way they could defend the base if Ankhet was revived.

The only true escape would be to load everyone onto skyships and scatter in different directions without stopping. But that was not what Thalion had trained for. He wanted to destroy the pillars, feed the vampires to the Sanguine Thorn, and achieve a powerful evolution by the time the tutorial ended.

Before Maike had the chance to scream back, he intervened.

"We will all fight to destroy the pillars. This base can withstand the undead, but not Ankhet. Also, I do not appreciate your mindset. We have every tool necessary to succeed in this endeavor. Now, moving on—how many fighters do we have, and are the scout ships ready? We need to locate the catacombs as quickly as possible."

Isolde looked far from pleased. Thalion could almost see the internal battle she was waging, torn between speaking up or keeping silent. Not that he particularly cared. Her constant objections were little more than an irritation, and once he dealt with the witches, he would likely have to purge the council as well. He would not kill them, but removing them from their positions was long overdue.

"We have one hundred thirty-three scouting vessels and eleven warships," Maike reported, her tone more composed now. "Additionally, many scouts are just as fast as the vessels, so we should be able to cover the surrounding area quickly. I doubt the system will have spawned us too far from the catacombs. The fifth stage will be significantly larger than the fourth, though, so there is a chance we might not even reach the catacombs before the special event concludes."

Thalion shared that thought. It would make no sense for a special quest to start in a location so distant that no one could reach it in time. He suspected that the sheer size of the fifth stage was meant to give weaker players, who were forcibly teleported there, a chance to survive. They would likely spend most of their time evading the local beasts, which had to be incredibly powerful. Anything else would have been illogical.

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"I understand that we need to attack the undead and destroy the pillars in the catacombs, but what about the second special quest in two weeks?" Elise, the alchemist, asked.

"The what?" Thalion nearly blurted out but managed to hold his tongue. He quickly glanced at the others, who all seemed aware of it. Checking his notifications, his eyes widened in surprise. Another special quest, just three weeks after the catacombs?

He wondered what it could be. Most likely, it involved claiming a treasure or controlling a specific area. Any other objective would be difficult to achieve within the tutorial unless they were teleported somewhere else for the quest. He doubted that would happen. In two weeks, they would receive more details about the quest, and at the same time, the remaining survivors would be transported to the fifth stage. Too many events were unfolding at once, leaving them with little time to prepare.

"We will wait until we receive full details on the special quest before making any decisions," Thalion said calmly after reading through the information. "Everything will depend on how the first special quest plays out."

That was his honest opinion, but even if the base chose not to participate, he might still go after it. The second special quest could be his last opportunity to eliminate Kael and the others, and that was a chance he did not want to miss. If there was any possibility of claiming the quest’s reward, he would take it. Thalion remained confident in his ability to win any one-on-one fight, and if an opponent proved too strong, he had no doubt he could escape. On top of that, he now possessed an escape token that could teleport him several kilometers in an instant.

Yes, no matter what, he would likely have to pursue the second special quest. But before that, there were more pressing matters. First, he needed to lure the vampires into attacking him. He hoped their greed for the Sanguine Thorn would overpower their caution, leading them to launch an all-out assault the moment they located his base. That would be disastrous for them.

But what if he did not show up for the special quest? With Ankhet by their side, the vampires could easily conquer the base. However, would Ankhet allow them to keep the Thorn? And what if Thalion simply ran away?

Finding him in this vast and chaotic tutorial must be nearly impossible. That was something Thalion had pondered for quite some time. The blessed often claimed that Ankhet would slaughter everyone in the tutorial, and if Thalion recalled correctly, the vampire god himself had mentioned something similar. But the real question was how an F-grade entity could possibly accomplish such a feat.

Thalion understood that they stood no chance in a direct confrontation, but what if they all fled in different directions? They had yet to even locate the boundaries of the third or fourth stage, and the fifth was supposed to be even larger. Unless Ankhet possessed the power to obliterate the entire tutorial in one catastrophic strike, Thalion saw no conceivable way for him to achieve total extermination.

Perhaps it was nothing more than a carefully woven lie, spun by the gods to ensure their chosen fought relentlessly, believing that death awaited them either way. It was a plausible theory. After all, people were far more willing to push themselves to the limit if they believed survival depended on it.

And it was undoubtedly easier to kill others when convinced they were already doomed should they fail the quest. If Thalion’s assumption was correct, it meant they could, in theory, run from Ankhet—a reassuring thought. Whether it was true or not, he found his version far more likely than the idea of Ankhet wiping out every living being in the tutorial with a single blow.

Besides, why would Ankhet be so fixated on killing everyone? And how could the gods claim to know his intentions? Ankhet had been dead for longer than the gods themselves had existed, which made it highly likely that much of what they said was mere speculation. Regardless, none of this changed Thalion’s approach.

He needed experience, and he had no doubt that the tutorial would become even more treacherous with Ankhet roaming freely. More than that, he wanted to kill as many of the blessed as possible. Those people provided absurd amounts of experience, which he desperately needed. Slaughtering hordes of undead barely granted him half a level.

That aligned with what many had reported before reaching E-grade—leveling slowed to a crawl, with only meager rewards for each kill. For Thalion, this was a nightmare, but the blessed were his way out. If the voice had spoken the truth, leveling in E-grade would be far more efficient.

But if reaching D-grade required him to engage in endless mass slaughter, he wasn’t sure if his resolve would hold. He had already done things he once believed unthinkable—executing the slaves in the second stage, for instance. But to kill ceaselessly for years on end? That was something he doubted he could endure. Well, unless his targets were insufferable bastards who deserved death.

Lost in his thoughts, Thalion was pulled back to reality when Kaldrek broke the silence.

"Does anyone know what’s going on with Jim? He hasn’t returned even once this entire week."

"He should be back later today, before we leave for the fifth stage, from what I heard," Maike answered quickly, repeating what he had already told Thalion earlier.

"How much would he need to give you to spare his life? I still think sending him away for a whole week was excessive," Isolde said, concern evident in her voice.

Oh, right. Jim was coming back. Thalion had almost forgotten about that rat. No matter what Jim brought, he would make sure to be dissatisfied. He planned to humiliate him, threaten him, and, of course, put both Jim and Amalia in the most precarious position possible—right at the front lines, where they would have the distinct honor of being the first to engage the enemy.

Keeping them occupied in battle would also prevent them from scouting, which would hopefully limit their chances of making contact with other bases or aligning with any human powerhouses. That was Thalion’s plan for them, but he saw no need to share it outright.

Instead, he said, "That all depends on the materials and items he brings. If they are not good enough, I will kill him on the spot."

He strongly suspected that Isolde was one of the council members Amalia had corrupted and that she would immediately report his words back to her. That suited him just fine. Keeping the tension high was in his best interest. He relished the thought of Amalia and her coven sweating nervously for the remainder of the day. After all, he had great plans for them.