Dungeon Rift System Message

Condition met: 10 Levels Gained (Party Accumulative)

Dungeon Rift Access Status : Locked

New Condition: Slay All Dungeon Rift Elites

Reward: Dungeon Rift Status Unlocked, 1x Random Skill Book

I stayed in my seat and just glared at the notification box that had suddenly sprung up. I hoped it did not mean what I thought it meant. That there was an exit and I could just have walked away from this place? How unlucky can I be!

I swear under my breath keeping the noise to a low grumble. I would like to yell, but I decidedly do not want to attract any of the sorts of attention I have been getting lately from every living thing I have seen.

Thinking of the hidden dangers probably surrounding me I realize that it should be darker by now. Hell, it should have been pitch black some time ago. What are the odds that night fall does not completely fall in this place?

Well, that is both lucky and unlucky. On the one side I can still see while on the other it will make it really difficult to rest or catch any prey sleeping. That being said I have no idea if the creatures here actually sleep and I have actually been feeling pretty energetic since I invested those attribute points. Once the pain had faded away I felt like I could have run a marathon.

Getting off my seat, I walk over to the leech corpses and start inspecting them. Since there is still light I might as well make use of it. The bodies gave off no smell I could detect. They were slippery little devils though. I did not notice any really sticking out as far as their bodies. Really the thing that had struck me the most about them was their hive mind like movements when they were alive. Where they actually controlled by a hive mind or was the instinct that drove their actions just overwhelmingly the same? I spent a couple minutes sorting through the more intact bodies before a notification box sprang up.

Knowledge gained: Essence Leech

You have gained a basic understanding of Essence Leeches anatomy.

Knowledge rewards:

5% Bonus Damage to Leeches

Unique Requirement met: Knowledge: Essence Leech, Kill Leeches 400/400 

Unique Title: Sucker

Oh hell no! While the bonus damage was nothing to scoff at I was sure. That title. I would be a joke. What kind of bullshit is this! I don’t know whether anyone will be able to see my titles, but I do know if they are able to that this is one that will get me not only noticed but a hard time. With no small amount of irritation I focused on the title. The more I practiced with the boxes the easier it was getting to call up any status box at a moment notice and with no delay a box appeared with the notification I wanted.

Unique Title: Sucker: Bonus Status: Active 

Bonus: Talent: You drain target of their health and all forms of energy.

Talent Type: Rare

Talent Rank: Poor

Requirement: Teeth in target.  

You are what you eat.

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You are what you eat. Yep, someone somewhere was laughing at me. I knew it!

Well we will see who gets the last laugh.

Gripping my club. I cautiously start heading back to the edge of the pond. The disgusting leeches had all but left both my weapon and me in a disgusting state. The slime had caked onto us both and if anything I planned to at least get it off the club. There was no doubt in my mind what would happen to me if I lost my grip on it in the middle of a fight for my life.

Reaching the pond, I keep my eyes trained on the water and submerge both my club and my hands in the cool liquid. I suddenly felt exhausted. What kind of strain I wonder is all this putting on my mind and body? I wearily scrub my hands together quickly while making sure I don’t see any movement or anything else suspicious from the pond. There was nothing so far at least, I hope I killed all the stupid leeches. I for one am not above the desire for a mass leech extinction at this point.

Standing up, I figured it was time to go. Haste makes waste after all, but inaction leads nowhere. Recalling the level 5 Draco Rat from before I consider trying to find my way back there. Revenge is best served speedily and when they won’t see it coming after all.

Glancing around, I spotted the path across the pond that I had used to take my previous free swim in the pond. Eyeing the perimeter of the pond I decide it's probably a better idea to go around this time rather than back through the quagmire.

Turning around and starting to head away from the water, I suddenly felt a hard tug around my feet and when I say hard I mean it pulled my feet out from behind me and landed me smack on my face. I was seeing stars for a moment as I felt myself being slowly pulled back towards the water. I grabbed a low brush plant with my free hand to brace against the tugging at my legs and glanced down at my feet then back at the water. I could see some downright bizarre looking tentacles stretching from the water to my feet. My gaze flickering from the tentacles back to the water where slowly a monstrosity was appearing.

Elite Essence Leech

Level 15

Hauling itself from the water, I could barely read the box that sprang up before it gave another absurdly hard tug on my legs. With that tug the plant I held onto snapped apart as I slide closer to the monster. The tentacles dragging me with tenacity towards its gapping maw. It was a great deal like the leeches I had killed earlier except that it was ginormous and this Elite Essence Leech had two tentacle like arms wrapped around my feet with a mouth that looked large enough that it could probably swallow me whole.

Feeling exhausted, I swing my club into the tentacles as hard as I can. Luckily for me they were not armor plated or anything like that. Smacking the tentacles several times, I could tell I was damaging them. I was not sure by how much, but I was sure the club was doing something because I was not yet inside that mouth with its deadly looking teeth. With a snap one of the tentacles around my feet broke off. This would have been a good thing however as soon as I had caused one tentacle to break the other seemingly got a surge of strength. Letting my foot go suddenly it surged forward and wrapped around my waist pulling me off balance and causing me to stumble towards the abomination. The lack of struggle let monster slide its disgusting tentacle up my body and I could tell it was trying to get itself around my neck as I struggled with it. I had to be losing health fast. Not only was this asshole trying to choke the life from me. It was using its other broken tentacle to smack me while it held me in place and the tentacles where not exactly soft or something you would want to cuddle with as they kept cutting me. It didn't help that for some reason even though it had not gotten a tentacle all the way around my throat yet I was feeling so sapped of energy it was getting difficult to even struggle.

Deciding I had better change my strategy before I end up dead. I twisted in the monsters slimy grip and managed to gain some traction on the ground before throwing myself towards it. I think my actions surprised it after my previous struggles simply to attempt escape. I managed to smack it on the top of its mouth several times with my club. It thrashed back at me with both tentacles trying to ensnare me again with its good one, but I was having none of that. Bleeding from a dozen cuts I was under no pretenses that it could not sense me, yet I jumped backwards as far away from the elite leech as I could trying to create space between us. Immediately the tentacles followed, flying at me through the air.

I pivoted and turned nimbly starting to run straight back at the elite and with as much fury as I could I gripped my club in both hands and swung it down on top of the creature. Hammering it again and again, alternating between treating the monsters maw like it was a baseball and mole in a game of whack a mole

Blood running down my body from my numerous cuts. I swung away with abandon. It was swing or die and I would be damned if I was going to die. In my haze I slowly registered the Elite Essence Leech had stopped moving and I had gotten some notification boxes, but I didn't stop until the club slipped from my numb hands.