Kass’ pulse quickened in anticipation, adrenaline beginning to pump through her veins. She gripped Whisper in both hands as she slowly made her way through the tight corridor.

“Really hope this tunnel opens up...fighting in this is a death trap…” she whispered out of the corner of her mouth, but the sword didn’t reply. Still struggling to fight back his demon roommate I guess. “Hang in there Whisper, I need you with me.”

The tunnel ahead hooked to the left, and Kass slowed her pace even more, inching along the wall. A strange odor permeated her senses, and she fought back a cough. Chemicals? What is that? She peered around the bend as best she could as she moved, ready for anything. Nothing jumped out at her though as she rounded the corner, coming into another relatively straight corridor.

She immediately noticed the faint green glow illuminating the far end of the tunnel, still far enough away that the light from her orb didn’t drown it out. Well that’s not ominous at all… why do I feel like I’m always walking into something worse than what came before? She shook her head at the thought and pushed on.

The closer she got to it, the easier it was to make out what she was looking at. From what she could tell, it was coming through a crack on the left side wall, the light outlining the jagged stone opening. The tunnel continued on for only a few feet past the crack, ending abruptly with a solid wall. Before she reached it, Kass came across another tunnel that branched off, almost perpendicular to the one she was in.

Hmm, she paused at the mouth of the new tunnel leading away. I should probably take a peek at least at whatever is causing the green light. Just in case.

She moved past the other tunnel and reached the large crack in the wall, the chemical-like smell only increasing in potency. This can’t be good for my health… she thought as she carefully peered through the opening and into the room beyond. What the…

A large cavern greeted her, its floor pockmarked with pools of a bubbling green liquid that illuminated most of the large space. Acid? Why are there pools of acid? Bah. She let out a puff of air from her nose. Why am I even surprised? I can shoot bolts of shadow from my fingertips now, remember? She shook her head as she thought about all the crazy things she herself could do.

Movement to the side caught her eye, partially blocked by the jagged stone of the crack. Refocusing, she slowly poked her head further in to get a better look. What she saw made chills run down her spine.

The Balmorhea lazily swung its tail as it prowled back and forth in front of one of the larger green puddles, which was more of a pond now that she thought about it. The feline-like creature looked similar to the last one she had seen, but she spotted one major difference.

Wisps of darkness danced off its sleek coat, licking out like the flames of a bonfire, and disappearing into nothingness. A Wraithling… Her eyes flicked to Whisper momentarily, worried for the blade. She still hadn’t heard from him and could only imagine what he was going through. She looked back at the beast and used identify.

Balmorhea Wraithling

Level Unknown

Health Unknown

Weaknesses: Unknown

Abilities: Unknown

...

No information? Not even a small description this time...huh.

Well, if I can kill it, maybe that will free Whisper from the demon’s hold again, or at least make him stronger? She contemplated the risks involved. It doesn’t know I’m here, and there is a tunnel leading away from this place right behind me… I could easily just leave...well, as far as I know...and not put myself in any more danger…

She let out a silent breath. Getting far enough away might work as well...but this thing is part of the darkness. Whisper would want me to kill it, wouldn’t he? Maybe I could hit it with the slime...no, probably not… Ideas started popping up in her head as she thought of the best way to take this beast down. Most of them were terrible ideas, or ideas that she was sure would get her killed, but a few of them actually seemed like they could work.

“No, that would take too long…” she muttered, thinking of building some sort of trap. The cat would probably be long gone by then, or hear me and come to investigate. Can’t have that. Hmm. She looked through her inventory of stored items, searching for something she could use. Her eye caught on one of the listed items. What if… The idea began forming in her mind, sounding like something that might just work.

Alright, it’s worth a shot. Just don’t screw this up K. Don’t screw up. Before doing anything else, Kass checked to make sure her barrier was still active and that her resource levels were topped off. Both were, to her satisfaction, and she also noticed the buff from her skill still had three hours left. Is that even worth keeping at this point? Twenty-three percent increase to finding rare items sounds amazing...but that’s not going to help me if I die before getting to any loot…

She decided it was probably best to reroll another buff that gave combat specific bonuses while she had the time. Please give me something good. I’m gonna need all the help I can get to take this thing down… She cast the spell and the dice fell, tumbling silently on the ground around her.

Axe, moon, fool’s hand.

Buff Gained: +3% Weapon Damage, +3% Spell Damage - Duration: 1 minute 42 seconds

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Not good enough...actually, that’s a terrible roll...less than two minutes?! She huffed and cast the spell again, but to her dismay, another worthless buff appeared. She had to try four more times before she got something anywhere near good enough, by her strict standards.

Axe, axe, crown.

Buff Gained: +12% Lifesteal, +4% Chance to Stun, +5% Critical Strike Chance - Duration: 18 minutes 19 seconds

Yeah, that’s better. Kass moved back to the opening to make sure the beast was still there, finding the right buff had taken longer than she had expected. Probably was a dumb idea to not be watching the damn thing this whole time...ugh K, be smarter. She silently berated herself.

Luckily the Balmorhea was still there, though it was now feasting on some sort of yellow glowing fish that was the length of her arm and the width of her thigh. Two scaly tails flipped and flopped as the dark beast sunk its maw into the soft flesh, one of its paws pinning the still living fish to the ground.

Where did that even come from? The acid? She tore her gaze from the feasting cat, reminding herself that the clock was now ticking and figured that now was her best chance to finish her preparations while the thing was busy.

“Okay okay,” she shook the nervousness out of her hands as she collected her thoughts. “One more buff, then set the bait.” Kass sheathed Whisper and pulled the barrel of blue juice from storage, carefully lifting it above her head. It was heavy, but with her strengthened body she easily managed to lift it with one hand, and, using the wall to help her balance it, she turned the lever and the blue liquid poured freely into her mouth.

She drank until the message popped up in the corner of her vision notifying her that she gained the desired buff. She looked at it.

Buff Gained: Energized*, +1 to all stats - Duration: 6 hours

*Energized: Increased Health and Stamina Regeneration by 30%, Decreases Stamina loss by 10%

Perfect. Now the bait. She returned the barrel and a second later, two slimy eels appeared in her hands. Her face scrunched up at the texture and smell of the things that instantly overwhelmed her senses. Disgusting… She held them as far away from herself as possible, trying not to get any more of the gelatinous goop that covered them on herself. Who would even eat one of those things? Yeah I’d like some pickled eel...ugh. I just hope they’re not magical eels that cure cancer or something...because right now...they’re bait.

She took one last look at the nasty things and then shrugged. Oh well, too late to worry about that now. She crouched and lightly tossed one of them into the crack, keeping her eye on the cat to make sure she hadn’t been discovered. One of its ears twitched, which scared her for a second, but other than that it seemed none the wiser.

She placed the second one just inside the tunnel, so the cat would have to enter in order to eat it. Double checking to make sure everything was ready, and wiping her hands off as best she could on the rough walls, she finally nodded, unable to think of anything else at the moment.

Kass pulled the jar of slime from storage and, taking in a deep breath, pointed it towards the dead end wall of the tunnel that was on the other side of the crack from her. I really hope this works… From her position, she could make out the front half of the Balmorhea’s body. She kept her eyes locked on it and then released her breath, pulling off the lid from the jar at the same time. A loud “pop” tore through the silence, reverberating off the tunnel walls, and the head of the beast instantly snapped up in her direction.

She instinctively hugged the wall even more as she watched the lithe cat quickly move towards her position. With her trap now set, Kass moved a couple yards back from the crack in the wall and drew Whisper from her back, quickly casting haste and readying herself.

She stole a quick glance at the slime that was now expanding at a rapid pace, already more than ten times its original size, and smiled. So far so good.

The Balmorhea stalked slowly into the tunnel, ignoring the eel on the ground and hissing menacingly at her, teeth bared. Its tail swayed side to side as its body prepared to pounce, its muscles bunching.

A split second before it leaped, a bolt of shadow erupted from Kass’ fingertips, streaking towards the beast. It dove to the side, narrowly dodging the ball of dark energy that impacted the floor and exploded, sending bits of stone flying everywhere, ricocheting off the walls of the tight space, accompanied by the sound waves that made her ears ring.

The cat stalked towards her, more wary this time, but still aggressive. She waved her blade at it, warding it off as best she could. In the small corridor it seemed to work, and the beast took a few steps back, away from the sharp weapon. This was a mistake.

Kass watched as the slime leapt from the ground behind the unsuspecting cat, it’s movements almost completely silent. It soared towards the torso of the beast, directly on target.

At the last second, the hairs on the back of the cat stiffened and its tail whipped towards the slime, intercepting it. No!

The barbed tail slammed into the black slime, splitting it in two, straight down the middle. Kass’ heart dropped as her plan fell apart around her. But before she could do anything else, the body of the slime snapped back together like two attracting magnets, its form bouncing around from the impact.

The cat turned its head in what she imagined to be confusion as the slime landed on its body. In an instant the upper torso was full enveloped, and the beast wailed in pain, it’s coat sizzling beneath the gelatinous goo. Then it freaked out.

In a flurry of movement the cat spun in circles and smashed itself into the walls, trying to get the thing off. Even its own tail smashed into its back, trying to sever the hold that the slime had on it.

Suddenly, a cloud of darkness shot from the cat and plunged Kass into darkness, her orb of light unable to penetrate into the thick fog. She fought back her own panic and slowly continued backing away, trying not to draw any attention to herself as well as try not to get smacked by the stray swinging tail. She heard snarls and growls, yells and hisses coming from inside.

She held Whisper in front of herself with both hands, and after only a few seconds the darkness began to lighten, her orb weakly pushing away at the magical darkness.

When the cat came into view again, Kass could tell it wasn’t happy. It staggered about, still trying to beat the slime from off of itself with its tail, the barbed ends digging deep into its flesh. She smelled the burnt flesh she knew the slime was causing, and saw the splatters of yellow blood that covered the floor.

She hesitated for only a split second, then moved back into range to deal her own damage to the beast. She dodged and ducked the wildly swinging tail and managed to score a hit on the beast’s left flank, drawing blood. The cat hissed and focused its tail swings on Kass, but they came in slower now, the beast obviously weakened by the slime.

With a flick of her sword she severed the tail from the beast, who growled loudly in pain. Another quick swipe cut a deep gash across one side of its throat, and blood began pouring freely from the wound.

The dying cat tried to claw at her, but she easily dodged the attack and stabbed Whisper through the thing’s chest. It sagged, and then died.

Kass huffed in relief, more than happy with the outcome of the fight. The sudden slime flying at her face broke her out of her thoughts of victory and forced her to jump back. It slapped against the floor in front of her and then bunched up, ready to leap again.

She quickly pulled the jar from storage and opened it just as the slime dove at her again. Whatever magic was placed on the thing instantly took hold of it and it stopped midair. It slowly pulled apart into smaller globs of goo before being shoved back into the tiny jar that she held.

As the slime began filling the container, Kass took a quick look at the information waiting to be read.

*Sneak has reached level 2

*You have defeated Balmorhea Wraithling level 122. Bonus experience awarded.

*You have reached level 98. 7 stat points have been awarded.

*Dark Essence absorbed by Whisper. The Silent Blade.

Woah, not bad. I’m getting really close to level one hundred and that level cap or whatever. And good, Whisper got the essence. I wonder when he’ll level next.

The jar finished filling with the compact slime and Kass put the lid back on tight and stored it once more. Then she sighed in relief, releasing some of the built up stress she was feeling.

Well, that wasn’t so bad! The slime worked perfectly! She reached down carefully and retrieved the severed tail of the Balmorhea, storing it away. Ha, won’t lose the tail this time. She chuckled to herself.

Whisper’s voice suddenly cut in, loud and filled with pain. “More...coming… Run!”