Chapter 258: Some Good Feedback

Thalion loved his title. What had once felt like a curse was now his greatest advantage. The pull was subtle but persistent—a magnetic draw toward the pillar, as if he were a moth and the destination a beacon of blinding light. He didn’t bother masking his presence much, cutting through the deep water at a steady, confident pace. Between his bloodline ability and the danger-sense gifted by his title, he felt near-untouchable. No lurking predator could catch him unaware, not anymore.

Eventually, he reached a shadowed tunnel where a few fishfolk stood guard. They loitered casually, spears in hand but eyes unfocused. They clearly didn’t expect anyone to reach this far. Still, even inattentive guards posed a problem. Charging headlong would be suicide, especially with unknown numbers deeper within the chamber. Thalion crouched just out of sight in the corridor, weighing his options. Staying here meant being an easy target. In contrast, the open chamber would offer space to manouver.

With a flicker of resolve, Thalion activated his bloodline skill. One heartbeat later, he materialized in their midst like a living storm, manifesting as a spectral blur above the stone. His entrance was a declaration of war. A roaring Tsunami Breaker exploded from him, vaporizing all four guards and scattering their mangled bodies across the chamber. Blood and flesh drifted downward like macabre confetti. The chamber, likely a drowned palace, was vast and broken, its proud columns now weathered monuments of ruin.

Beneath him, over fifty fishfolk turned their attention toward the surface as crimson mist and body parts descended from above. They had seen the aftermath of his opening strike—and now, they knew war had come. But Thalion quickly realized the situation was far from ideal. Fifty opponents were too many. Dodging all their attacks while retaliating with lethal force would be nearly impossible. One lucky strike could end him.

Still, retreating immediately would make him look weak, and besides—this was a chance to test himself. With his bloodline skill in reserve, ready to reset both position and health, he could afford to push forward. He scanned the crowd and noticed several individuals adorned with strange, glimmering pearls. Pearls he very much intended to claim.

Wasting no time, Thalion fired a gleaming Aqua Lance at a cluster of slower fishfolk—those who had been sluggish to react to his arrival. A few agile ones tried to yank their comrades away with watery tendrils, but his lance was faster. Seven bodies dropped, their blood staining the water in murky streaks. The others retaliated instantly. Spears, sharp and precise, sliced through the current. Thalion twisted away, narrowly dodging their aim.

Blue, ethereal flames erupted in his wake—manifestations of the illusionary fire he'd carried into battle. They danced and flickered around him and along the lance's trail, shifting with eerie grace. He still didn’t fully understand what these flames did, but they seemed to both empower him and disorient his enemies. That was more than enough for now.

A chaotic cry rang out through the water.
"What the hell is happening?!" shouted one of the fishfolk, staring in horror at the blue fire coiling around his hand.
"I—I don’t know! Everything looks... warped!" another stammered, his voice muffled from below.

Thalion grinned. It was the first useful feedback he’d received in a long while. The Leviathan had screamed too loudly to understand anything the fishfolk said. But this—this was interesting. The flames didn’t just obscure; they distorted. They infected perception. Better yet, they couldn’t be extinguished with water. Some tried, using weak pulses and unfocused waves, but the fire clung to the very water itself. Their spells failed to smother it.

He noted that this group was different from the usual grunts. Among them were mages and healers, now casting from the rear lines. The mages created strange orbs of condensed water, encasing themselves in shimmering bubbles. Healers chanted and pointed, infusing nearby warriors with bursts of speed and agility. Those empowered fighters stopped throwing their spears. They dove toward him, intending to end the fight with blades and blood.

Their weapon retrieval reminded Thalion of something he had forgotten to investigate earlier—those curious amulets and spears that let them summon their weapons back to hand, even after a throw. He made a mental note to check the contents of his spatial ring later. He had taken a few of those items from previous fights. Perhaps they held the secret.

That was something Thalion couldn’t afford to forget—adding a weapon-recall enchantment to the Sword of the Blooded Templar would be invaluable. A tool like that could make all the difference in future battles. Right now, though, he had a more immediate concern: the enemy’s shields and healing mages made it unwise to rely on Water Slash. That spell was better suited for agile targets, but it lacked the raw force needed to finish them in one blow. Wounding an opponent meant little if they could simply retreat, be healed, and return to the fray. For now, it was better to stick with Aqua Lance or Tsunami Breaker.

He surged forward, slipping through the flickering wall of his own flames. A well-aimed Aqua Lance speared through the skull of a mage in the rear, silencing him before he could even react. The warriors attempting to snipe him from afar were rendered useless. They couldn’t track his movements through the swirling flames and missed every shot. Thalion didn’t even need to dodge anymore—his focus narrowed on the real threat: the melee fighters closing in behind him.

“Quickly! Corner it!” one of them barked.

That was a situation Thalion couldn’t allow. The problem was the increasing proximity—they weren’t just fast, they were tethered to something below by mana-infused strands, accelerating their movement. His current form made it impossible to strike behind while fleeing. The moment he turned to attack, one of the others would reach striking range. A single hit could be fatal. His slim, serpentine body and fragile scales offered little protection.

He could, of course, use his bloodline ability to heal himself, but it came with a cost. A drain on his mana pool he couldn’t afford this early in the fight. Tsunami Breaker was still an option, but its killing potential was limited due to the shimmering barriers the warriors wore. For now, his best bet was retreat—retreat and burn.

He twisted through the chamber like a living ribbon of flame, pouring power into the ethereal fires. The flames responded, growing brighter, hotter, more violent. The snipers became more erratic, their aim distorted by mirages and warped vision. Even those in pursuit seemed affected. One particularly reckless warrior tried to cut him off, only to veer suddenly off-course and slam headfirst into a ruined pillar.

Thalion was starting to really like these flames.

The synergy was perfect. The flickering blue fire melded seamlessly with his Tidecaller Serpent form and its passive tracking resistance. Gaining distance with a sudden feint, he spun mid-swim and loosed a charged Aqua Lance at the closest pursuer. As expected, the warrior was yanked aside by some unseen force. But Thalion hadn’t truly been aiming for him. The lance veered downward—striking true.

Two mages and two healers near the chamber floor never saw it coming. The empowered spell pierced all four in a single, devastating line, leaving them lifeless in its wake. With their deaths, two of the protective mana bubbles shielding the frontline warriors instantly collapsed.

There were still plenty of fishfolk in the chamber. Many hurled their weapons with blind aggression, while six mages near the floor began channeling a high-tier incantation together. Whatever they were planning, Thalion didn’t want to see it finished. But the warriors had closed the gap. One came at him in a sweeping arc, aiming to bisect him with a curved blade. Thalion twisted, his sinuous body bending like liquid through the water. Another warrior struck from the opposite side, blade flashing toward his skull.

Time to make space.

Thalion released a pulse of raw power—Tsunami Breaker. The fishfolk likely assumed he couldn’t use the skill again so soon, or perhaps that he had run out of mana. They were wrong. His current form had no trouble sustaining his standard arsenal while feeding the bloodline flames. Only his bloodline skill posed a risk to his mana reserves—and even then, only the more taxing aspects like healing or unleashing an enhanced strike.

He’d learned during his battle with the Leviathan that the bloodline skill was far more flexible than he’d believed. He no longer had to manifest it as a weapon. He could shape it freely—perhaps even launch an empowered variant of Tsunami Breaker using its force. It was, in a word, overpowered—and welcome. It let him pour every ounce of spellcasting experience into a single burst of destruction. No other spell allowed such scaling.

Thalion suspected this had something to do with remaining in his flameform while channeling the bloodline. One day, he might even be able to fight inside that form—wielding it like a permanent power-up. But that was a dream for another time. For now, restraint was the key. Overusing the skill could leave him drained and defenseless.

But in this moment, everything was going better than expected.

The shockwave tore through the chamber. Eight fishfolk died instantly, their bodies shredded by the spell’s sheer force. Five others were yanked back in time, barely escaping the blast. Thalion didn’t waste a heartbeat. He shot upward through the center of the room, trailing a wake of crackling fire. As he ascended, he intensified the flames between himself and the pursuing fishfolk, severing line of sight and drowning the battlefield in ghostly, translucent blue fire.

He realized now he had been too cautious. But to his credit, he hadn't known what the flames would truly do, or if they would even affect the fishfolk. Now, though?

Now they were screaming in confusion—and burning.

During the battle with the Leviathan, Thalion hadn’t gotten the impression that the flames had hindered anyone much. Now things were different. Now, he would exploit that advantage to its fullest. Another Aqua Lance blasted forward, a glowing jetstream of water slicing through the chamber. It struck home, tearing into a trio of mages just as they were about to release a charged spell. Their bodies were split apart in a spray of blood and viscera, offering no resistance against the merciless strike. The Aqua Lance was proving perfect for these engagements—its range and speed made it ideal for precision eliminations.

“No! How dare you!” a female voice shrieked from below.

Thalion glanced down to see a fishwoman cradling the severed head of one of the fallen, her voice trembling with rage. Her aura flared violently, laced with hate, and it spread like a current through the others. One by one, the fishfolk shimmered with similar surges of violent energy. It reminded Thalion of the Leviathan battle—how their auras seemed linked, as if they shared emotions through some mental bond. Perhaps once enraged, they couldn’t stop until the enemy was dead. A dangerous trait, certainly—but right now, it worked in Thalion’s favor.

More than ten fishfolk launched themselves upward toward him, reckless with rage. The rest continued to hurl projectiles, but the flames obscured their vision so thoroughly that their shots veered wildly into the shadows. Thalion, meanwhile, moved like a wraith between fire and water, dancing through the haze with effortless grace. He picked off his enemies one by one—Aqua Lance, Water Slash, again and again. Now that their shields were gone, it was simply a matter of methodical execution.

Still, a thought burned at the edge of his mind: He needed to upgrade the rest of his skills. The raw power he had squeezed out of Aqua Lance since evolving it was tremendous. If he pushed every one of his spells to legendary rarity—or beyond—his strength would skyrocket. That would be his goal after the special quest. Two weeks would remain, plenty of time to begin evolving and experimenting. He couldn’t wait to dive back into testing and refining.

But for now, discipline prevailed. Thalion held himself back, resisting the urge to play with his prey. Instead, he moved with efficiency—always at range, always in motion—methodically thinning the enemy ranks until only one fishfolk remained.

For that one, Thalion took his time.

He closed the gap with a deadly glide, his body wreathed in flickering blue flame. With surgical precision, he severed both of the warrior’s hands. The fishman howled in agony, spiraling downward as blood spilled into the water in twisting red clouds. Thalion had also clipped a chunk of the shoulder, but even with the damage, it was difficult to land clean hits on such fast-moving foes. Either way, he had to act quickly—the fishman was bleeding out fast, and reinforcements could already be en route.

He descended alongside the sinking body, his eyes glowing faintly. “How many of you are left?” Thalion asked, his voice calm but edged with menace. “And what traps have you prepared to guard the pillar?”

The fishman’s eyes widened in disbelief. He had expected a beast—something mindless and primal. But Thalion’s words betrayed intellect, control, purpose. Fear crept in beneath the pain.

“I’ll tell you nothing,” the fishman spat, blood pouring from his mouth. Hatred twisted his features, but there was something more behind it—recognition.

Thalion’s expression remained neutral. With a flick of his tail, another Water Slash ripped through the water, severing one of the fishman’s legs. The scream echoed through the chamber, muffled by the thickening sea.

“Pain doesn’t frighten me,” the fishman growled through gritted teeth. “And you won’t have much time anyway. You’ll be hunted. My kin shows no mercy. No exceptions.”

Well, Thalion thought, that was more information than expected.

Not the kind he had hoped for, but useful nonetheless. And thanks to his title, he knew the fishman spoke the truth. That alone was worth the effort. He considered pressing further—cutting deeper, probing for more—but he doubted there was anything else to gain. And now, he could feel it: movement. Many signatures. Closing in.

With a swift, merciful motion, he severed the fishman’s head.

Thalion took a moment to gather the fallen warrior’s rings, pearls, and weapons, storing them in his spatial ring. No time for ceremony. Just as he began to ascend—toward the exit and the corridor he had entered from—the water shifted below him. From a darkened passage, more fishfolk poured in.

Weapons gleamed in their hands. Their killing intent was palpable.

They were coming for blood.



<author note>

Man i really would like to write some upgarde chapter and iam over ten chapters ahead of patreon.

Can you believe how montone it can be to write battle after battle after battle? I have gotten so many ideas for upgrades and stuff but cant do it right away. Thats kinda annoying.

Anyway not only did Thalion kill the Leviathan but I also beat the final nightlord.

Both huge accomplishments.

While i have to still fight that drift knight Thalion has to destroy the pillar and maybe clash with the one or other faction.

So far all those who cant get enough of war, killing and the pressure rising... well the next weeks are for you ;)

Cheers

<author note>