The Curator

Chapter 243: Battle for the first Pillar (3)

Thalion stood still, waiting just long enough for the others to catch up. The barricade ahead loomed like a wall carved from the bones of the earth. It wasn’t just its size that was daunting, but the knowledge that they couldn’t summon the divine formations down here. Without open sky, the radiant rings of light were useless. That left them with steel, magic, and blood.

The wall itself stretched over fifty meters high. From this angle, it looked more like a mountainside than any ma...

Chapter 242: Battle for the first Pillar (2)

Thalion withdrew his domain, letting the crimson vines recede into the ground like slithering serpents returning to their den. He didn’t want to injure the weaker fighters trailing behind. Most were E-grade or late F-grade, and the passive energy of his domain would drain them quickly. Besides, the blood arrows served better at dispatching foes from a distance. There was no need to waste blood recklessly, especially with the Crimson Virethorn storing more than enough. In fact, by his count,...

Chapter 241: Battle for the first Pillar (1)

"Let’s fucking smash them all!" Kargul roared, his aura erupting like a volcanic blast, almost rivaling Thalion’s own as he surged forward, war mace gripped tightly in one massive hand.

A genuine smile curled beneath Thalion’s mask as he looked to his sides. Kaldrek, Kargul, Evelyn, Vorlok, Josh, Jack, even Maike stood beside him in a loose but unified line. The whole crew had assembled, shoulder to shoulder, ready to clash with the undead tide. For a moment, something warm flick...

WE MADE PROGRESS

HEAR ME, LOYAL CITIZENS OF THE ENDLESS EMPIRE!

I BRING YOU MOST GLORIOUS NEWS. THE WHEELS OF PROGRESS TURN STRONGLY IN OUR FAVOR, AND THE EMPIRE ADVANCES STEADILY TOWARD ITS DESTINY.

AND YET, THAT IS BUT THE BEGINNING OF WHAT I MUST SHARE.

IN MY IMPERIAL WISDOM, I MADE A MOST SHOCKING DISCOVERY. ONE THAT SHALL CHANGE THE COURSE OF OUR GREAT STORY FOREVER.

YOU SEE, OUR ENTIRE FATE RESTS IN THE HANDS OF THE CURATOR, THE SCRIBE WHO CHRONICLES OUR SAGA. TO...

Chapter 240: Standoff

“Come on, you can’t hold that against me. I merely heard of an incredibly powerful foe and nudged everyone slightly in your direction. Thought it could be a good hunt,” Evelyn said with a disarming smile, trying her best to sound innocent.

“Wait! So you can talk to spiders?” Jack interjected, eyes lighting up with mischievous amusement. “Josh, maybe we should find you a few grasshoppers. Imagine the possibilities—tiny, sneaky little infiltrators hopping t...

Chapter 239: Friendly Banter

Thalion had been seething with fury the entire night and thankfully, there had been more than enough witches for him to unleash his wrath upon. The battlefield served as both his stage and his laboratory, giving him a chance to further experiment with the enigmatic crimson flames now at his command. To the others, he must have seemed utterly deranged, methodically incinerating one witch after another—sometimes slowly, almost cruelly. But Thalion had a purpose behind the madness. He wanted t...

Chapter 238: Leftover Witches and Other Threats

Amalia couldn’t believe what had just happened.
How could she have misjudged that man so catastrophically? Never in her wildest schemes had she imagined Thalion would have the audacity to launch an all-out attack—so openly, so mercilessly.

She had worried briefly when she failed to dominate the captured vampiress, but why attack now? That had seemed unthinkable. At the moment she was paying the price for her complacency and it was steep.

If she could manage to land a f...

Chapter 237: Fifty Shades of Slay

Thalion's relentless pursuit carved a path of devastation through the obsidian corridors of the Black Fortress. Emerging from the dungeon's depths, he ascended into one of the towering spires connected to the inner fortress wall. The air was thick with the scent of blood and charred flesh, remnants of the witches and their thralls who had fallen before his blade. Though many he encountered had not yet committed atrocities, Thalion showed no mercy. The time for leniency had passed; the ...

Chapter 236: Its Witchhunting Season

Thalion relished how the world dimmed around him, the shadows deepening with every step. Even though he had sealed most of his aura, the darkness still coiled around him like a living thing—eager, hungry. It was time to kill some witches. A small part of him regretted not doing it sooner, but better late than never. Trust was a rare commodity, and Thalion intended to move like a phantom—unseen, unheard.

Thankfully, the corridors were vast, their ceilings towering high above—at le...

Chapter 235: Bloody Thoughts

It was the blackest night yet when they finally seized control of the Black Fortress. The operation had gone so smoothly that Jack and Josh were already bickering over who had slain the most vampires—a difficult tally to keep, given that the bloodsuckers had fled in chaos, desperate to escape with their lives. Thalion had engaged in a brief skirmish at the entrance with a cluster of straggling vampires, but the fight was short-lived. Their blood, as always, was hungrily consumed by the Crim...

Chapter 234: Black Fortress (2)

"We're ready to fire. Should we begin?" Kaldrek shouted up toward the highest deck, where Thalion remained seated in quiet meditation.

While the others had ventured deep into the jungle to hunt vampires—Maike leading the hunters like a bloodhound —Thalion had focused on refining his essence blood, steadily enhancing his inner power. Kaldrek had stayed behind to oversee the preparations. Now, eight vast magical circles hummed across the clearing, each teeming with fifty robed figure...

Chapter 233: Black Fortress (1)

Thalion stood atop the largest skyship in their fleet, its sleek, obsidian hull humming with arcane energy. Kaldrek had named the vessel Judgment after it had once leveled an entire mosquito hive with a single blast. From this high vantage, the jagged horizon of the tutorial stretched endlessly beneath a churning sky, and the silhouette of the Black Fortress loomed in the distance like a scar carved into the earth.

Earlier, Thalion had briefed the top combatants on the strateg...

Chapter 232: Backlash

Thalion soared through the night sky, utterly unseen thanks to his passive skill that rendered him nearly invisible high up in the sky. The wind whispered past him, cool and steady, and for a brief while, he allowed himself to enjoy the sensation. Flying was like gliding through a dream, a soft detachment from the weight of the world. Up here, above the clouds and concerns, nothing else mattered. The half-hour journey back to base passed in a blur of moonlight and shadow.

Soon, faint l...

Chapter 231: Nathaniel (2)

Nathaniel instinctively recoiled as the creature’s aura flared—monstrous, suffocating, absolute. Even the moonlight above seemed to dim under its weight. But he would not back down. Around him, five colossal elementals loomed, their forms sculpted from ancient sands, each radiating power. Smaller elementals followed in their wake, drawn by his call. His own aura surged in response, the dark orange runes on his bandaged arm flaring to life as he invoked his curse magic. One touch would be ...

Chapter 230: Nathaniel (1)

Nathaniel channeled the energy around his unbandaged left hand, a brilliant swirl of elemental power coiling down to his knuckles. With a sharp forward motion, he unleashed a blast of force as he manipulated the sand beneath his feet to keep a controlled distance. Yet, something gnawed at the edge of his thoughts—the unsettling sense that the creature before him was merely testing him. It could move faster... if it wanted to.

A wall of compressed air roared forth, s...

Chapter 229: The Battle Begins

Moonlight spilled across the dunes, painting the desert in shades of silver and shadow. Nathaniel had refused to remain within the Black Fortress, preferring the solitude of the open sands over the ceaseless screams of imprisoned humans echoing through the stone corridors. Usually, the fortress housed no living mortals—only the dead and the damned. But ever since the fifth stage’s mass teleportation, times had changed.

He wasn’t far from the fortress, close enough to return quick...

Chapter 228: Sand Elementals

The plans were finalized, and the elves had been informed that the march would begin at dawn. Naturally, they weren’t told the entire truth—specifically, that Thalion’s faction intended to wait out the others’ assaults before making their move. But he doubted the elves had shared their full intentions either. Officially, all forces were to strike just before nightfall, and the elves would signal the attack. They carried a token—an enchanted shard that would cease glowing on...

Chapter 227: Oh, a Bloodline Skill! Yoink

In a secluded cultivation chamber dominated by a towering black pillar, a man sat cross-legged within a sprawling ritual circle, more than twenty meters wide, cursing under his breath. The very air thrummed with dense power, vibrating with an unseen force that made the vampires and the lone elf watching shiver with unease. For nearly an entire day, the human had painstakingly drawn the intricate formation — using nothing but his own burning blood — and now the first major hurdle had appea...

Chapter 226: Bringing the assault to a standstill for a full day

Thalion decided to wait until Maike, Kaldrek, and the army had returned before making any decisions. He intended to use the opportunity to brief them about Kael and the other threats looming on the horizon. More importantly, they needed a coherent strategy for approaching the battle within the catacombs—a challenge he found himself increasingly uncertain about. Initially, after upgrading the Crimson Virethorn, he had been eager to plunge into the catacombs' depths.

After being gifte...

Chapter 225: Shopping time

"What—you seriously want to pick one of those bloodlines? One of the trash-tier ones?" The voice sounded genuinely baffled, a note of incredulous amusement threading through its tone. "Alright, sure. One divine skill and one of those questionable bloodlines—it should be fine."

"I'll take the Ashblood Lineage... and Flamebound Essence," Thalion said, his voice calm and resolute. He had thought long and hard about it, weighing every risk, every reward. Time was running short...

Chapter 224: Divine Skills

After a brief exchange with the ever-enthusiastic voice, the animated golden statue sent over a curated list of skills it believed would suit Thalion’s style. It was still sorting through them, which perhaps explained the lackluster quality of some of the bloodlines from before.

Still, Thalion couldn’t hide his anticipation. Divine-rarity skills weren’t just rare—they were spoken of in whispers, wrapped in myth. And now, they were laid bare before him.

The first entry gl...

Chapter 223: Bloodlines

“Ah, wait — give me a moment. I want to read through these properly. Some of them look downright hilarious.”

A simple gesture summoned his portable massage seat from his inventory. The soft hum of the machine filled the room as it adjusted to his frame. With a comfortable sigh, Thalion settled in, leaned back, idly scrolling through the list of bloodlines as the system’s voice crackled with laughter.

“Haha, sure. If you want to see more of these ridiculous ones, just s...

Chapter 222: New Stuff Available

"Hey, good to see you again," Thalion greeted, his voice calm but laced with a quiet urgency. "This time, I have a special request. By any chance, do you have information—or better yet, an item—that would allow me to steal a bloodline skill? Or even an entire bloodline outright?"

The moment he finished speaking, the familiar golden statue in front of him—the manifestation of the System’s voice—seemed to stir. The answer that followed, however, was far from what he had expecte...

Chapter 221: Divine Meetings

“What has happened? Why have so many of my Blessed perished?”

Tenebrice’s voice rumbled through the void, the sound warping space itself, like thunder trapped inside an endless cavern. His words were calm — but beneath the calmness, an ancient fury stirred, dark and boundless.

Valeira stood alone within that void, her body dwarfed by the looming, endless structure behind the throne — the Red Temple, its spires spiraling infinitely into the abyss of space. At the heart ...

Chapter 220: You have what Skill???

“I won’t tell you anything, human. You and your little base are finished the moment my mother hears of this!”

The elf, Sandor, snarled through clenched teeth, his face flushed red with rage as he glared up at Thalion. He lay tangled on the cold stone floor of the tower, fully ensnared by coils of crimson Virethorn, the enchanted vines tightening with every minor struggle.

Thalion, unfazed, busied himself with unlocking the hidden passage embedded in the floor — a conceal...

Chapter 219: Predator’s Patience

Thalion stood at a crossroads, caught between instinct and strategy. The battle unfolding around him was one meant for blood, but he had no desire to kill the elf. No — he wanted something far more valuable than a corpse.

The system shop hovered only a thought away, and there had to be a way, some loophole, to steal that skill. He had claimed the eyes of the vampiress before, so why not this as well? The only problem was simple but urgent: how to knock the elf unconscious without kil...

Chapter 218: A Duel of Life and Death

Thalion burned with barely contained fury. Why, without fail, did something always interfere with his work? All he had wanted was a moment to study the vampire’s bow — an artifact that had piqued his curiosity — but fate, as usual, had other plans. A message from Kaldrek had arrived, casually informing him that Josh was dueling an elf just outside the base. Kaldrek’s note had ended with a lazy reassurance: "No need to hurry, we’ve got everything under control."

Yet, when Thal...

Chapter 217: A Dangerous Duel

Both fighters lunged at each other in a blur of motion, the ground beneath them cracking under the force of their charge. Josh wasted no time, instantly shifting into his insect form, his exoskeleton glistening like polished obsidian under the dim, distorted light of the arena.

A moment later, both opponents unleashed their auras — two clashing storms of raw presence. Each tried to overwhelm the other, to force a mistake, a hesitation. The elf's aura hit first, sharp and suffocating,...

Its getting better

This is almost it.

One arms need to go from the elbow down and the weird spikes on the back.

The head does also need more work. The feeler need to go. I dont like the eye yet and the mouth need some rework but its getting close.

Cheers

Chapter 216: New Visitors

“God, Jack, I really don’t want to ask him if he’ll take us as his disciples,” Josh muttered, clearly annoyed.

Ever since the war, Jack had become almost obsessed with preaching the supposed ‘benefits’ of becoming Thalion’s disciple. The worst part was how the others would burst into laughter every time Josh tried to list reasons against the idea. The thought of pledging himself to someone just felt wrong.

“No, no,” Chloe chimed in, her lips curling into a play...