Thalion put the spear and the crown in his spatial ring. The crown was a mythic item and still radiated power and a bit of that mental pressure. When he checked the spatial ring of the guy, he found something very interesting.

Scroll of Otherworldly Summoning

This ancient scroll is inscribed with runes and symbols from a forgotten dimension, radiating an eerie, otherworldly energy. When activated, the scroll opens a temporary rift between realms, allowing the summoner to call forth an Outsider—a being from a different plane of existence.

Was this Outsider something like a demon and had it possessed the man? That would at least explain where his power came from. The combination of strength, speed, spells, recovery, and the mental attacks couldn't be achieved in such a short time. Aside from that, he found nothing interesting in the spatial ring and turned to the black pillar with all the people in it.

"So, how do I get you out of there?" Thalion thought while walking closer.

It seemed they still couldn't answer, as most were shivering. Well, time to try something out. He grabbed the head of one of the people at his height and pulled. Yeah, this doesn't work, he thought as the woman didn't move at all. By accident, he touched the pillar and felt a pull on his mind, as all the others who were trapped did.

"Okay, so that's how it goes," Thalion murmured as he pushed against it, and all the people dropped out of the pillar, landing hard on the ground.

"Thank you, man," she said after slowly standing up.

"No problem. Hey, don't I know you from somewhere?" Thalion asked. Was that not the guy who got eaten by the scorpion?

"Yes, you saved us a few days ago from the scorpions and spiders," the man breathed out in pain.

Okay, so it was them. Loudly, he asked, "So do you have an orientation problem? Kael's base is the exact other way."

"No, they traveled with me to find you," Maike said, slowly getting back on her feet.

"Wait, you are the woman to whom I gave my token. Why would you even want to find me?" Thalion asked, now puzzled. What was going on here?

"I wanted to see if what Kael said was the truth," Maike said, still in pain. "He had sent scouts after you and put a bounty on your head."

"That was to be expected," Thalion said, deep in thought. "What did he say about me?"

"They are saying that you have sided with the undead," Kaldrek said after stepping around the pillar.

"And that you have killed some hunters at the gates," Maike added. "All the guards stationed there proclaimed that it was true."

"That was to be expected," Thalion said. What would he do now? He really wanted to know more about those outsiders.

"Wait, that is all?" Maike exclaimed. "You have nothing to say about it?"

"There is not much to say. Sylas wants my amulet, Kael wants an item in my body, and Zyra wants the rest of my body for experiments. Ah, and they wanted to give the other shapeshifters in the base the form of the umbral predator," Thalion explained. "It most likely has something to do with their patrons."

"Wait, so it's just greed?" Kaldrek said in surprise.

"Why are you not coming back and killing them, like you did with the shapeshifters?" Maike asked, interested.

"I am not strong enough," Thalion shrugged, "and we can't afford to lose so many strong fighters before the clash with the undead."

"How are you such a low level and why are you so strong?" Kaldrek exclaimed after identfying him.

"Well, mostly through body tempering," Thalion said, ignoring the first part.

"Anyway, what was with that man?" Kaldrek asked, still shivering.

"I have no idea," Thalion lied. He would keep the scroll a secret.

"Thank you for saving me and my family," Hioshi said with a bow.

"You're welcome," Thalion answered, not really caring.

So how many credits do I need to buy something like that scroll? As far as he understood, it was some kind of portal where an outsider would step through, but it didn't look like there was much space in the circle.

"What will happen now? Do we have to walk back?" Maike asked in fear.

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"To walk where? What are you people talking about?" one of the other people Thalion had freed spoke up.

"I triggered a signal. They are on the way to us," Kaldrek said holding his right arm.

"Who is on the way? Hey, stop ignoring us!" The man interjected again with anger.

"Don't worry. We will take care of you," Sachiko said with confidence.

"You know, maybe you can't go back now, but in one week every strong fighter will be gone," Kaldrek said while activating a sound barrier around them.

"Oh, and we can talk with many guards to secretly not move on to the next stage," Maike happily timed in.

"Wow, wow, calm down! I am not planning on making my own base," Thalion said. "I need to hunt and gather materials. I am way too busy to organize anything."

"You don't have to. We just need you to scare off the crazy people, like that man," Kaldrek said with confidence.

"Hm, okay, fine, I can come by in a week, but I won't be there all the time or invest too much into it," Thalion said after a while, mostly because of one reason.

"Can you tell Lucan that I have acquired two very interesting items he would very much like to see," Thalion said with a grin. That spear would make the old man go crazy.

"The smith? Sure, I can do that," Kaldrek said puzzled.

"On another note, why are you so keen on betraying Kael?" Thalion asked suspiciously.

"I don't want to follow someone who betrays friends like that. Why shouldn't he just do the same to me as he did to you?" Kaldrek said angrily.

"That's a good argument," Thalion had to agree. "Be careful; if they find out, they will kill you."

"Evelyn, Kargul, and Jakob were not part of the plot against me," Thalion continued. "Oh, but the alchemist Zyra was."

"I will only speak to very few people, and that only close to the arrival of the system shop," Kaldrek nodded. "Many will stay behind because of their low levels anyway."

"Fine, I will try to be there after the system shop," Thalion said, deep in thought. "That should be close enough."

"That's perfect," Kaldrek said with excitement.

"We will also help," Sachiko said, with the others nodding.

"Good, then see you in a few days," Thalion said while moving over to the black pillar.

He had tried before to put it in his spatial ring, but maybe it would work with the rune Zyra had made for him to transport the wind crystals. Thalion attached the piece of leather where the rune was engraved to the tall pillar. The next moment, it was in his spatial ring. This was just perfect. He wondered what Lucan would say when he saw the black pillar.

"When they pick you up, don't tell them a story where I was the savior," Thalion said before he transformed into eagly and shot into the sky.

"Okay, what story do we make up?" Kaldrek asked the small group.

"How about we say that we defeated the man who held those prisoners hostage?" Hanako tried.

"Nah, that will never work. How about we say he held the prisoners hostage and then ran from us?" Hioshi interjected.

"No, the others were all held hostage by the man," Maike said and they definitely won't forget him.

"What about if Thalion had defeated the man but was in turn badly injured and ran when we found him here?" Maike said deep in thought.

"This could actually work, but remember, no word to anyone until the system shop," Kaldrek reminded them, while looking upward. This was getting very dangerous.

<--

"I want every single crystal," Zyra said, with greed shining in her eyes.

"They have been busy collecting the crystals and defeating the beast that guarded them for the last few hours."

"We can't go faster; when the strong ones above us get interested, we are done for," Kael said while killing a two-meter-long frog with wings on its back.

Kai and Sylas were out, fighting for crystals, while the rest stayed on the ships. Sylas could fly and had no trouble killing the birds. Kai, on the other hand, was doing multiple air jumps with one of his movement skills and chased down the birds. This took him way longer because if those birds were good at anything, it was being annoying and fast.

They had three fifty-meter-long battle ships with multiple magic circles on board, which empowered any skill of the fighter using it. Currently, there were over eighty men on board, killing every beast that dared to come too close.

"Kael, we got a message from a scout team; they have found Thalion," Lyara the pyromancer reported after walking up to him.

"What? Where?" Kael exclaimed; he had never expected that they would find him this fast.

"From our current position, it would probably take ten hours of travel," Lyara said.

"Call the others back; we are leaving right now," Kael shouted.

"What about the other two ships? They could get overrun if one of the bigger swarms attacks them," Lyara exclaimed.

Kael pulled out one of his many tokens and sent a telepathic message to his friends: "Kael, Kai, Sylas, come back. We have found Thalion's location and will travel there with one of the smaller boats while the others continue to harvest those crystals."

A few minutes later, they both were back on the ship, and Kael took out one of the smaller and faster ships he had bought for himself.

"Farm as many crystals as you can; we will be back tomorrow evening at the latest," Kael said to Lyara as he and the others jumped on board.

"Okay, we will do our best. Good hunt!" Lyara waved as they shot away with incredible speed in the direction of the signal.

<--

Cathrin exited her magic circle. She had spent the last three weeks using her blood curse on every beast she could find. That's why she needed the magic circle. She had begun with a pack of wolves and directed them to new prey. The goal was not to defeat but to spread the blood curse. After days, she had hundreds of beasts with her blood curse roaming the wilds.

"Are you finished?" Lucius Valendris asked her.

The vampire was also working hard, turning as many beasts into bloodbeasts, as the vampire called them. They were more aggressive and simplified—just a stronger beast variant.

"Yes, I am ready to join the liches at the fifth stage," Cathrin said with a smile.

The price to get to the fifth stage was 150,000 credits, but it would be worth it. In the end, they only prepared this stage to slow the humans down. The real fight would happen in the fifth stage.

With all the curses, they had left many elite fighters with some cannon fodder. The elite fighters could always save themselves with the teleport to the fifth stage. It was important that they had warriors to command the mindless undead roaming the fourth stage.

"Good, then let's go," Lucius said. "I will leave most vampires behind. They can use the blood of the humans for cultivation."

"Perfect! That will make it difficult for the living to progress," she said with a wide smile. "I wonder what the lich has planned for the fifth stage."

With that, they both disappeared from the fourth stage.