Straight away upon sighting the large group of tainted Fishkin, Talia knew that she could not defeat them face-to-face similarly to the Fishkin she had previously dealt with.

Pausing for a while to analyse plausible solutions in handling her problem, she began thinking of ways in how she was going to deal with such a force, it then took a while later before she came up with a plan that she was satisfied with.

Thinking inwardly, she said, ‘I hope this goes well, although a tad risky, I think it should work.’

Scuttling off, she wandered for a bit before she came across what she was searching for.

Standing across from her at a short distance away was a Sewer Rat of similar size to the Giant Rats she had hunted before and due to it being one of the most populous species within the sewers, it was a creature which was often preyed upon by the numerous denizens of the sewer.

That doesn’t make them weak, however, as the Rats were often accompanied by a horde of their own kind, and if they were to sniff out an enemy attacking them, they would attack in mass.

Luckily for her, the Rat before her was alone, yet she knew that she needed to disable the creature as quickly as possible in case of the worst scenario that it would attract the entire flock of rats, which to the current her would only spell a death sentence.

Therefore, from the get-go, she went all out and conjured a spear made of ice sending it flying directly at the rat.

Immediately, without even bothering to see if her attack landed, she charged at the rat to finish it off swiftly if the spear didn’t do the job.

The Sewer Rat was startled at the sudden attack, and could only barely react to the spear which impeded itself into its hind leg.

A shrieking sound was heard from the Rat, as it squealed in pain but before it continued to let out any further noises in an attempt to alert its brethren, it was silenced by the Frost Gecko which pounced upon it.

Finishing off the beasts final struggle, Talia wiped her bloodied claws on its fur as she dragged the corpse slowly towards the direction she came from.

Shortly, she arrived back at the scene, and as what she expected to happen, the Tainted Fishkin gathered around the altar began to stir.

Becoming a tainted creature was usually associated with many advantages, including a great strength boast, but the one thing it degraded greatly was the intelligence of a beast.

Although this does not apply to every tainted creature, as there are some special circumstances, generally it applies to most of the corrupted beasts.

Fishkin is a creature which is highly territorial and despite their grotesque features their sense of smell is by no means worse than most beasts, as, in fact, they could detect the scent of blood from a fairly large distance away.

The smell of a Sewer Rat would greatly agitate them, as they were a common rival for the Fishkin here, Talia’s idea by bringing the body within their territory was that it would unsettle and cause some of the gathered tainted Fish Kin to leave the area of the altar.

She knew that the Red Fishkin must have had a certain degree of intelligence by the appearance of things, but the extent of it shouldn’t be too much, so he should not overthink the emergence of a Sewer Rat within its territory.

Talia had the feeling that the Red Fishkin would definitely not leave the altar un-guarded and with the apparent possessiveness of the Red Fishkin, it will likely not dare to leave the orb to the protection of its subordinates.

So, she hoped that he would split some of the tainted fish kin away from the altar, sending them directly to her, which in the end did happen.

Suddenly, the Red Fishkin barked orders, causing the flustered Fishkin to settle down to silence, it then made some further noises, indicating for a group of the Tainted Fishkin to travel in the direction of the presumed location of the Sewer Rat.

Those Tainted Fishkin abruptly moved without any hesitation upon hearing the Red Fishkin's orders, sprinting speedily in the direction of the Sewer Rat, loud maddening howls erupted from the Tainted Fishkin as they charged to Talia’s direction.

Upon discovering the noise made by the Tainted Fishkin, she instantly knew they were coming, thus she hid behind the corner, awaiting the presence of the Fishkin.

Prepping an ‘Ice Barrier’ spell, she began the motion to summon an essence bolt as the spell could be continuously charged to exhibit more power, but this could only be further layered to become an even more powerful spell depending on both the energy capacity and skill level of the Mage themselves.

This is because you would need a great deal of control to prevent the increasing essence fluctuation from disrupting, which would lead to it becoming volatile and exploding onto the Mage themselves if they do not release it in time.

Talia knew that her ability to do such a thing, would further increase with the level of her skill, as she continued to further train the skill, by doing it now, it was a fairly big risk depending on how soon the Fishkin will arrive, as if she began to lose control of the spell before they came, then she would have to make the decision whether to release the spell straight away which would ruin her surprise element or to hold the spell which she may lose control over at any given moment.

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Evident strain soon appeared on Talia’s face as she had soon held the spell for a few minutes in wait for the fast-approaching Tainted Fishkin, she repeatedly began murmuring inwardly, ‘What’s taking them so damn long!’, as she encouraged herself to resist the urge to let go of the spell whilst being on the brink of mental collapse due to the long period of concentration in preventing the spell from exploding.

Finally much to Talia’s relief, the Tainted Fishkin arrived as each of them began tearing into the carcass of the dead Sewer Rat almost instantly, only realising a moment later that the creature was already dead, however, this was as much as their limited mental capacity allowed them to think about the strangeness of the situation, so they were not even able to react as a fast glowing projectile was sent flying directly at them.

*Boom!*

An explosion sounded as the Tainted Fishkin which was at the lead of the group burst into pieces straight upon impact.

The remaining Fishkin was not spared either, as they were sent staggering by the blast from the essence bolt.

Shrill shrieks sounded from their mouths, as they angrily searched for the culprit of the attack, usually upon seeing their comrade die so pathetically, a Fishkin may feel fear or apprehension at the unknown enemy who could cause such a thing, but a Tainted Fishkin holds no such thoughts.

Talia was already preparing her next strike, which was an ‘Ice Spear’, and she managed to conjure the spell just before the Tainted Fishkin eventually spotted her location.

*Whoosh!*

The spear pierced into one of the Tainted Fishkin, this time her aim struck true, and she gave the Tainted Fishkin no such opportunity to survive, by directly penetrating the creature heart, she instantly ended its life.

Another member of the Tainted Fishkin fell, but it did not make the last two Fishkin pause at all as they lunged towards her.

However, now Talia was less of a greenhorn in dealing with such opponents as she had now experienced multiple battles with the Fishkin, so instead of brawling with the creatures, she swiftly dodged out of the way and used her superior speed to tear into the Fishkin’s flesh before jumping out of the way yet again to avoid the other Tainted Fishkin which dived at her from the other side.

Talia continued to use similar tactics, dancing around the Tainted Fishkin, not allowing them to use their strengths at close combat to deal with them as efficiently as possible without allowing them to pose a threat to herself.

As a result of having superior attributes all around, Talia found a much easier way in dealing with the Tainted Fishkin, who had no feeling of pain and were relentless in their attacks.

The best way was to simply avoid them, as individually they were inferior to her anyways and the only real threat they possess is when she traded blows with them.

Therefore, Talia felt there was no need to put herself in such danger if there was no need to, although this wouldn’t work against opponents faster than her, and if the group she was facing were too large, it proved effective towards a smaller number of Tainted Fishkin.

Shortly, after Talia continued to pepper the Tainted Fishkin with strikes until finally, even the non-feeling Fishkin could no longer stand as a result of a great deal of blood loss, the two collapsed breathlessly, their pants growing shallow until at long last they laid there lifelessly.

Yet, the battle she was facing was far from over, as Talia already could hear the steps of incoming Tainted Fishkin travelling to her direction.

‘Reinforcements’, Talia thought as an eerie grin appeared on her lizard-like features.

Feeling a wave of bloodlust, as she once again felt her beast instincts emerge with an indication of excitement at the incoming battle, she quickly suppressed the feeling as she reigned in this feeling, as she knew that she needed to ensure that she remained in control over herself.

‘Damn I really need to get a grip over this thing’, she thought, as she stared at the emerging Tainted Fishkin.

‘But first, let’s deal with these guys’, she said inwardly as she straight away jumped onto a Tainted Fishkin ripping a chunk of flesh from its body.

The Tainted Fishkin roared in anger as it went to grasp her body in an attempt to capture her, but she easily manoeuvred herself out of the way of the Fishkin reach, once again leaving an additional wound on the fishkin as she skilfully escaped.

Another Tainted Fishkin then swung its weapon towards her in an attempt to cleave her in half, but it only managed to hit the air, as Talia nimbly got out of the way of its attack.

Before long, Talia had managed to land dozen of strikes at the three newly arrived Tainted Fishkin, although she didn’t emerge unscathed as they managed to land a few lucky hits here and there, each of those strikes was deflected by her ‘Ice Barrier’ spell allowing Talia to not take any damage.

Eventually, she managed to land a killing blow on one of the Tainted Fishkin, and then the battle was a foregone conclusion afterwards, as the two Fishkin left were already barely standing, so shortly afterwards all seven Tainted Fishkin which had set out to investigate the scent of the Sewer Rat were now dead.

Talia decided to wait a while to see if any further Fishkin were lured out, but she soon noticed that it seemed that there was no longer any Tainted Fishkin remaining.

Thus, it was now time for her to confront the Red Fishkin at the altar, as the longer she drew it out, then the higher the increased likelihood of further problems arising, after all, what if the Red Fishkin brings even more Tainted Fishkin to guard the altar?

Then there would be no chance for Talia to finish the quest any time soon anyway, so she decided to strike right away.

Heading towards the altar, she soon found herself in the previous location she was in with a direct line of sight at the altar.

Now, that she had dealt with a great deal of the Tainted Fishkin within the room, there was now only two remaining alongside the leader.

Yet, before she can come up with any further decisions on how to deal with the Red Fishkin, an unexpected sound emerged.

A nasally, high pitched voice sounded as the Red Fishkin spoke, as its eerie bright yellow eyes focused upon her and said, “Aren't you going to show yourself now? They said you were going to come and we have been waiting for it!”

Talia felt a sudden jolt of shock at being called out by the Red Fish-kin but before she can make any further movements, she realised that the room seemed to be shaking as the entrance which she had used to enter the building had suddenly closed leaving her with no were to escape to.

“Yes! Your scent is delicious, they said I had to leave you alive, but that doesn’t mean you will have to be in one piece!” The Red Fish-kin announced as it hungrily stared at her, drool dripping out of its maw as it licked its lips eagerly.

Finding herself in such a predicament, she thought depressingly, ‘I really should stop referencing the game by now!’, as she knew that she had found herself once again in a troubling situation.