Tales of the Endless Empire

Chapter 370: Kaelir vs Thalion (3)

"Enough of this!" Kaelir roared, releasing a massive wave of fire that tore through much of Thalion’s domain. The elf spread his arms wide, and a fiery storm began to swirl around him, growing larger and more intense with each passing second.Thalion had already wondered how long it would take for the elf to finally unleash his own domain, or reveal other abilities he had been holding back. So far, Thalion had enjoyed himself quite a bit, firing lightning beam after lightning beam at the chosen below.

After Kaelir had been struck by several bolts when his barrier fell and Thalion managed to carve a deep wound into his back with a windblade, the elf finally decided to get serious. That left Thalion questioning just how much power Kaelir had been hiding so far.

Kaelir was a mage, meaning he likely possessed far more mana than most classes, yet he hadn’t even shown a hint of exhaustion. That suggested not only a powerful soul but also unique abilities that enhanced his mana regeneration. Then again, it wasn’t all that surprising—being a chosen probably came with more than a few unfair advantages.

The inferno swirling around Kaelir expanded, gradually consuming and weakening Thalion’s storm domain. The fiery domain was simply too dominant for Thalion to overpower directly, so he shifted tactics to infusing what remained of his domain with raw power. The raging winds couldn’t penetrate the blazing barrier, but the lightning still could. He redirected most of the mana he had used for Thunderous Eye into Stormcaller’s Fury, amplifying the lightning bolts raining down from the sky.

Kaelir frowned when he realized that his fiery realm hadn’t improved his situation as much as he’d hoped. The winds hadn’t been a problem before, but now he was being struck by lightning far more frequently. Still, it was clear that each bolt lost some of its strength as it passed through the flames. On the other hand, his domain seemed to empower his own spells to terrifying new levels.

He unleashed another sweeping firebeam, followed by a fresh barrage of flaming arrows, forcing Thalion into evasive maneuvers. It was getting harder and harder for him to fully charge his lightning beam, and without a full charge, it wasn’t strong enough to shatter Kaelir’s barrier.

Thalion had to admit—besides Ankhet and perhaps that vampiress—he had never faced anyone this resilient. The elf could simply endure his most destructive skills without breaking a sweat. It was impressive… and frustrating.

He began to consider whether this was even worth the effort. Kaelir didn’t rank that high on the leaderboard, and anyone watching the rankings would immediately know Thalion had killed a chosen. What did he really gain from this fight? Points, sure. Maybe some treasures. And it would stop Kaelir from spreading the secret that Thalion wielded a blood curse.

But treasures were easy enough to find, and the curse’s existence would come out sooner or later anyway. During this system event, the blessed couldn’t communicate with their gods—so the elves shouldn’t be able to craft an effective counter. Then again, Kaelir had already shown that he could burn the curse away without effort. That hadn’t happened before, which meant this one was special.

Maybe it was just his powerful healing flames or the strength of his soul, but Thalion doubted the curse would fare much better against other chosen. Still, he hoped Kaelir was among the stronger ones. If they were all this terrifying, Thalion needed a serious power-up—or a lot of luck finding a weakened one after a major battle.

An alliance might also be an option, though that came with its own set of problems. Who could he trust? And who would be strong enough to make it worth the risk?

Those were thoughts for later. For now, he needed to focus on surviving this fight. If things went south, he still had his escape token.

The clash was good practice, it showed him exactly what kind of enemies he might face in the tutorial.

Thalion unleashed another lightning beam after dodging a fiery arc aimed to sever his wings. He twisted in midair, countering with a charged bolt that shattered Kaelir’s barrier and struck his right shoulder. The impact knocked the elf backward, though the wound closed almost immediately.

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The flames of Kaelir’s domain not only burned everything they touched but also healed their master. That was… concerning.

Then Thalion’s danger sense spiked. He veered sharply to the side, barely dodging a fire arrow that had come from behind. He widened his flight path and scanned the battlefield, spotting a large group of elves approaching fast.

"Lord Kaelir, we’ve finally arrived! Let’s capture him!" one of the archers shouted, his voice filled with excitement. He conjured a blazing arrow, only to watch it turn blue midair, crackling with electricity.

The archer was hit by such a shock that he was flung to the side, his bow and arrow falling from his hands. So, only Kaelir could maintain his flames—good to know. Thalion had already suspected that the chosen possessed something similar to his divine skill, likely overlapping it and rendering his own ability useless. Too bad that this effect didn’t extend to Kaelir’s allies. Maybe the situation wasn’t as bad as it had seemed. He wondered how well those elves would handle his curse.

The group split up, trying to surround him and attack from different directions, an effective move that kept Thalion from changing forms and charging them directly with Mistform. Most of them remained on the ground, except for a few archers who took to the sky. One stood on a floating cloud beneath his feet, while another had wings sprouting from her back. A third elf tried to ascend as well, conjuring wings made of fire, but the flames instantly turned blue and zapped him so violently that he crashed to the ground, twitching.

“Don’t use fire skills! He has something that interferes with the affinity!” Kaelir shouted, his voice sharp and commanding.

He clearly cared about his group, Thalion noted. They were far from weak, probably the strongest opponents he had faced so far, besides Kaelir himself. Still, that didn’t mean he couldn’t kill them. The real issue was that if he slaughtered them all, he wouldn’t be able to test his curse on them. For now, he decided to ignore those on the ground—their attacks were too slow and too far away to pose a real threat.

He, on the other hand, had no trouble firing back. The elves below were forced to defend themselves against the lightning raining from his domain. The mages on the ground created large mana bubbles, allowing their comrades to shoot spells and arrows upward without being fried by the bolts. That was a luxury the two flying archers didn’t have. Without shields, they were forced to dodge constantly as lightning descended around them, barely managing to fire the occasional shot toward Thalion.

Flying high above within the storm, Thalion was difficult to spot, his form flickering between flashes of light and swirling clouds. He stayed well clear of Kaelir’s fiery domain, which would have burned any of the elves to ash in an instant. Using their distraction to his advantage, Thalion released several windblades. The winged elf managed to dodge, but the one on the cloud wasn’t so lucky—both of his feet were sliced clean off, and he plummeted from the sky, screaming. The elves on the ground tried to catch him, but Thalion followed up with a lightning beam, killing all three in one strike.

“Stay safe and charge your skills! I’ll put more pressure on him!” Kaelir commanded his group before his aura flared once more. His fiery domain condensed tightly around him as he shot upward like a blazing comet. Flames burst from his feet, propelling him forward with explosive speed. The condensed domain around him completely nullified the residual effects of Thalion’s storm. Even the lightning bolts no longer reached him.

Thalion had no intention of letting the furious chosen get any closer. He activated Skydive and shot away, Tempest Glide still boosting his speed. At the same time, he stopped feeding mana into his domain, letting it fizzle out—a process that would still take a few minutes because of all the raw electricity lingering in the air.

Kaelir launched a barrage of fire spells after him—flaming lances, orbs, and arcs—forcing Thalion to weave through the sky to avoid being hit. He considered retaliating with a lightning beam but decided against it. The chosen would likely counter with one of his jetstreams of fire, which were far stronger than Thalion’s own beams.

As Kaelir closed the distance, the situation became more dangerous by the second. It was time to switch tactics.

Thalion shifted back into his human form mid-flight and hurled the Blade of the Blooded Templar at Kaelir. The sudden transformation caught the elf completely off guard. He failed to dodge the weapon entirely, and it sliced open his arm, inflicting him with the blood curse. The blade was tough enough to withstand Kaelir’s fiery domain without melting.

Thalion used the moment of confusion to dive down toward the elves on the ground, activating Mistform mid-descent. The group below were all formidable fighters—each one could easily match Kargul, Jack, or Josh in raw strength. But none of them had seen this ability before, and they were still distracted by the storm’s lightning.

They were far too slow to react.

Thalion reappeared just above the shimmering mana barrier of the largest cluster of elves and slammed down with his right hand, his Blood Claws flaring to life. The shield nearly exploded under the impact of his downward strike. He crashed into the ground a heartbeat later, activating Tectonic Slam.

The entire courtyard shook as though struck by an earthquake, and most of the elves were thrown off their feet. Without hesitation, Thalion unleashed his full power. Dark red thorns burst in every direction as crimson flames erupted all around him.

Let’s see how these elves handle the curse now.