Chapter 562: The Birth of an Alliance

"Officially, I can say that our gods would be happy to support you. There do have to be some regulations, though. For example, we have one elven Chosen who really doesn't like it when her plants get eaten," Maike said in a formal tone, though a big smile remained on her face.

"Whoa, whoa. Before we get there, who managed to destroy your hive, and how did you find us?" Thalion quickly cut in before anyone else could speak. There were far too many unanswered questions before he could even begin to trust those termites.

Especially the eleventh daughter seemed very unhappy with the decision to join his base. The termites had now switched into a more human-like form, with only a few distinct insect features remaining. Thalion guessed it had to be a side effect of their special shapeshifting skill. The second daughter had also been able to shift between the centipede and the more humanoid form. Upon reaching D grade, the skill must have received an upgrade.

"Our hive was unlucky enough to spawn beside what turned out to be one of our greatest enemies," one of the women hissed with an accent that reminded Thalion of France. "Vampires."

"Vampires?" Maike, Kaldrek, Thalion, Josh, and Jack all spoke at the same time. None of them could believe that vampires were the bane of insects and responsible for the destruction of the termite hive.

"Even I, as the third daughter of the hive, stood little chance against the vampires. They weren't ordinary vampires, but a sect from the Undead Heartlands. They knew exactly how to exploit our weaknesses, and we never had a real chance of defeating them," the third daughter said, sounding slightly annoyed. Talking about those who had slaughtered all of her siblings probably wasn't very pleasant.

"Okay, but I don't understand why vampires would pose such a big problem for you," Kaldrek asked, now genuinely interested.

"It's the eyes," Thalion said, suddenly remembering how he had killed the mantis. "They can't close them, and they have an incredibly wide field of vision. That makes it easy for the vampires to use their special sight skills on them. Hives commonly sacrifice the weak and overwhelm their enemies with sheer numbers. Against blood cultivators, all that does is give them more ammunition."

"Yes, that is correct," the third daughter said, now sounding a little surprised. "They always stationed multiple vampires with the strongest eyes on top of their walls, making it impossible for us to attack them. Our weaker sisters only became fuel for their blood skills, and after endless fighting, we eventually ran out of resources. No longer capable of defending the hive, our mother gave birth to what, after hatching, will become the most powerful queen our hive has ever seen. Our mother never managed to rid herself of her curse, but our new sister will no longer be shackled."

"Eh... what shackles exactly?" Maike asked, now looking slightly worried as she stared at the round object one of the women was carrying.

For Thalion, this was great news. Should the termites suddenly turn against them, he only needed to get his hands on that egg.

"Our dear mother came from the planet Earth, where she was only good for one thing: mass-producing offspring. She could defend herself with a few mental skills, but besides that little trick, she was helpless," the third daughter replied, seemingly taking on the role of spokesperson for the termites.

"Maybe one reason for her loose tongue was that she had already finished her glass of whatever Kaldrek had given her.

"So your new sister..." Maike's eyes quickly shifted toward the egg. "Isn't able to mass-produce children?"

"Yes. Her focus will be on quality rather than quantity. Furthermore, she will be able to fight on her own and won't require any protection. Given enough time, she is destined to surpass even us."

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Kaldrek and Maike exchanged worried glances.

"Eh... are we still sure it's a good idea to accept such a monster into our base?" Maike whispered to Kaldrek, though everyone heard her.

"Nah, we don't need to worry about the little princess in her egg. We've got Thalion. The man's way too crazy for anyone to stand up to. I mean, just look at how insane his aura is despite only being E grade," Josh proclaimed loudly.

That was, of course, something one of the insects in particular couldn't handle very well.

"The last time we met, he had to run from me. Why should it be any different this time?" the eleven daughter snorted.

"Please, there's no need to fight between allies. And we are allies, aren't we?" Maike tried to calm everyone down.

Thalion had remained quiet until now, but there were still a few questions that needed answering.

"I still want to know how you found us. Also, if you want to join us, you need to share every piece of information you have about the outsiders you experimented on," Thalion said.

The fact that he knew about the outsiders greatly surprised the termites, and all of their heads immediately turned toward him.

"Oh, come on. Don't look so surprised. I even have a rough idea of which dimensions they came from," Thalion said, leaning slightly forward.

The termites looked at one another, unsure whether they should explain, but then the first daughter began to speak.

"We captured a human who kept talking to himself while radiating an incredibly powerful and evil aura. Our mother wanted to take advantage of him. At first, we exposed our younglings to the evil aura to make them more aggressive, but then our mother used her mental powers to invade the human's mind. That was when she discovered that nothing remained of the man's original spirit. He was merely a vessel for whatever lived inside him.

"After countless experiments, she managed to force the outsider to open portals and let our sisters become infected by the outsiders. It took many more experiments before she finally gave birth to the right sister, one whose mind was so twisted that the outsider wouldn't destroy her soul. Now how did you learn of the outsider?" the first daughter asked, sounding more than a little curious. She wasn't the only one.

"Whoa, whoa, wait a moment. What are outsiders?" Jack blurted out, mirroring the expressions of all the other humans.

"Outsiders exist in dimensions beyond the System. Everything concerning them is forbidden, and you cannot mention them to anyone outside this room. Not even the gods," Thalion said as he looked at each of his friends to make sure the message got through.

They couldn't afford to make a mistake in that regard, or it could mean their end. He had no idea whether Solan and Nyssa would expose them, but it definitely wasn't worth the risk of telling them.

"Ookay... yep, yes. Okie-dokie." His four buddies quickly nodded once they realized he was absolutely serious about the subject.

"How is it that you know so much about outsiders? Even more than our mother," the first daughter asked, now equally curious.

"I encountered one of your escaped subjects and paid for the information in the System Shop," Thalion replied. He wanted to redirect the conversation before anyone could dwell on it, but he wasn't fast enough.

For Maike and Kaldrek, the penny finally dropped, and they both blurted out at the same time.

"Wait, that evil guy who pushed us into that pillar was taken over by an outsider?"

"Exactly. Now, to my second question, which still hasn't been answered. How did you find us?" Thalion asked the first daughter. If they could track them down, then maybe others could as well. Now, with the first daughter on their side, they might actually have a chance of defending themselves against Chosen, but Thalion would still prefer to stay away from them for as long as possible.

"Josh got marked for mating," Jack burst out laughing.

Josh didn't find it nearly as funny and looked down at the ground in embarrassment. His face was even beginning to turn a little red. The termites showed no reaction whatsoever to Jack's remark, while Thalion was momentarily at a loss for words.

"So, I assume none of the other factions can locate us through the mark?" Thalion finally asked once the silence had stretched on for several seconds.

"No. No one will find this place through the mark," the first daughter answered after a brief pause.

That was good enough for Thalion, at least for the moment. The termites would be a great addition to their faction, and once he got rid of the System's mark and evolved to D grade, he should once again become the strongest fighter in the faction. Right now, however, the first daughter definitely surpassed him.

"Good. You are welcome to join our faction. Now, let's talk about the future," Thalion said as a slight smile spread across his face.

He liked where this was heading. After all the effort Eric and Ethan had gone through to brand him, they had unintentionally delivered him the strongest ally he could have hoped for.