Thalion sped up the mont he entered the side corridor that acted as a staircase upward—perfect, since he needed a way around the combatants. They could fight to their heart’s content; in the anti, he would take the grand treasure. They probably wouldn’t mind.
There was no room for mistakes or hesitation, and Thalion shot upward like a rocket until he erged onto a bridge roughly fifty ters above the fighters.
The first thing he noticed was the massive apparatus connected to the ceiling—this had to be the chanism leading into the volcano and the grand treasure. Below it sat a workshop with its entrance on the far end of the bridge.
Those were the positives.
The negative was that several rangers were already inside.
The door wasn’t translucent, but with his bloodvision he could still make out outlines. The stone here interfered with his skill far more than usual, and he could only identify rough shapes. Why was Thalion certain they were rangers?
Well, because one stood guard in front of the door—staring directly at him.
Which was horrible… but also a boon.
He had been discovered, but the fellow didn’t seem to carry any treasure that protected him from Crimson Gaze. The skill showed its true power as the man’s eyes rolled back and he simply fell backward. Thalion sprinted over and caught him before he made any noise that could alert the fighters below. If they discovered him now, things would beco very unpleasant.
Standing before the door, Thalion still couldn’t hear anything from inside, which ant the sound isolation was excellent. The ranger wore the typical green cloak that reminded Thalion a bit of Robin Hood. The problem was just that he couldn’t take the man’s clothes while he was still alive.
Thalion had considered letting him live so Kael and Ethan would get super furious later… but best to take this seriously. A vine killed the knocked-out ranger, whose soul was already heavily damaged. The body vanished into Thalion’s spatial ring.
A mont later, after unequipping and equipping gear, Thalion wore the ranger outfit, the green hood pulled as low over his face as possible. He hoped it would buy him enough ti to open and close the door without anyone making noise and alerting the others.
His bloodslaves waited on the other side of the bridge for his signal. If everything went well, he would call them over.
Now Thalion stood before the door, contemplating whether he should open it slowly to avoid noise, or rush in as fast as possible. Either could work. Rangers all had high perception, and the disguise would only fool them for a mont.
After a few seconds of pointless strategizing, Thalion concluded he didn’t know shit and simply opened the door, walking in casually with his face hidden under the hood—hoping his eyes wouldn’t stand out too much.
The mont he entered and the archers looked up, Thalion realized all the thinking and costu work hadn't made the slightest difference.
Maybe because of their high perception—whatever the reason, they didn’t hesitate.
Thalion slamd the door shut behind him, hoping no one would notice the clang, then unleashed multiple vines and bloodthorns as the claws of the Blooded Templar ford around his hands.
The rangers were well-trained, and the tal consoles inside gave them good cover. Thankfully, so reacted too slowly and were hit in the chest or shoulder. Even though they had instantly seen through Thalion’s disguise, it still took them a mont too long to act.
Seven of the eleven rangers died instantly as bloodthorns struck vital areas—heart, face, throat. Normally, a heart strike wasn’t an instant kill anymore, but bloodthorns were different. The Sanguis Impera imdiately took control of the thorns, letting them absorb blood and burst through the victims’ bodies within seconds. Against high-vitality targets, it could take longer—but rangers were bred for agility, not endurance.
Sadly, Thalion couldn’t hit everyone. Two rangers were incredibly fast. Instead of ducking behind the tal panels, they darted between the bloodthorns, short swords appearing in their hands. That was a feat Thalion wasn’t sure he would have been able to pull off himself.
Luckily, both made the mistake of locking eyes with him.
Neither carried charms against ntal attacks.
The first ranger went completely limp, slamming his head into a tal panel at the speed he’d been moving. The second was luckier—he only crashed to the ground before a bloodclaw slash carved into him.
The final ranger had ducked behind a console, but even he didn’t spot the vine coming for him in ti.
Thalion had to admit that everything had worked out quite nicely. After the rangers finished donating their blood, he opened the door and motioned for his bloodslaves to co over.
Once everyone had assembled in the room, he needed to figure out how to open the pathway. If he wasn’t mistaken, the mont he started moving the massive machinery on the ceiling that opened the path, everyone nearby would notice. How the system worked without lava pouring down on them, Thalion didn’t have the slightest idea.
But now, standing so close to a very hot and very dangerous bath, he had to address another issue.
He knew the stages up to the islands—where he was supposed to find a grand treasure—but what ca after that? Was this the last one before the final stage… or were there multiple stages afterward? Either way, he needed answers before randomly pressing buttons on the many panels in front of him. There were a lot of them. They looked like a keyboard made from solid tal.
But first—questions.
His suspicious feelings toward his bloodslaves had only intensified, and Thalion began to worry that Veylana might have found a way to fool his title.
“Before we snatch the grand treasure, I need to know if there are more stages after the ninth. What information do you have about the tenth stage?”
The mont he finished speaking, Thalion already knew he wouldn’t get a reliable answer. Just the way the bloodslaves glanced at Veylana told him sothing had been brewing for quite a while.
“There are two more stages after the ninth. The tenth stage is—” Veylana began, but Thalion had already stopped listening to her fabricated explanation.
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The most intriguing—and worrying—part was that his title wasn’t reacting.
He had a bad feeling just standing in front of her, yet the title didn’t flag the obvious lie. The way she avoided his gaze, looking down or off to the side. The way she tried to explain what was supposedly coming next. Combined with the knowledge that there had to be ways to trick his title…
Thalion didn’t show that he knew. He simply nodded along, feigning interest.
This was bad.
It was clear now that the bloodslaves were planning mutiny.
And the punishnt for mutiny?
Well, letting them live wasn’t an option—but Thalion had one edge. He watched as Veylana already struggled to stand still, the hunger creeping back slowly but steadily. Since they were no longer useful to him, they could at least buy him so ti.
There was blood right beneath them, and Thalion was confident his bloodslaves were greatly overestimating themselves.
They wouldn’t be able to resist the call.
No—this would likely be the last ti he saw them.
Hopefully Ethan wouldn’t realize they were connected to him, or that Thalion had cultivated an extrely dangerous and powerful curse. It had its downsides—like bloodslaves eventually turning against him—but those were problems he might be able to fix in the future. It didn’t affect weaker bloodslaves, but Thalion wasn’t interested in a weak army anyway.
No—he wanted to bend elites to his will.
Maybe even a chosen.
But before any of that, he still had to press a few buttons and find a way into that volcano.
God, that was going to hurt.
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