This was the first dungeon where Talia had found quite a variety in monsters. To be precise, on top of the Titanic Sharks, there were apparently two more varieties. Unfortunately, she had met both varieties as soon as she started moving away from where they had landed and toward where the Mana felt denser through [Eyes of the Abyss]. They had only been on the move for ten minutes.
Talia had met two more types of monsters, which she suspected traveled in pairs. While the Titanic Shark had been an Abyssal Creature based on Constitution and Wisdom, making it a fortress who could unleash gigantic Mana attacks, the two monsters she was currently facing under the dark waters were based on, respectively, Agility and Intelligence, and Strength and Agility.
The one based on Strength and Agility was called a Shortfin Harpoon, and the other was a larger monster. Not even close to the Titanic Shark, but still three times as big as Talia—called the Hammerhead Bow. The Shortfin Harpoon was a smaller shark, roughly the size of Talia, but its body rippled with power, and it swam at insane speed, clearly empowered by a large number of attributes.
The Hammerhead Bow, even though not as fast as the Shortfin Harpoon, was perhaps even more dangerous. The Shortfin Harpoon's strategy was to try and impale Talia with a very sharp Mana harpoon that it generated in front of its head, becoming a living spear of death. But the Hammerhead Bow, perhaps fitting its name, could generate arrows of ultra-pressurized water. They were extremely small compared to the giant attacks of the Titanic Shark, but they were much faster and harder to dodge.
Talia had already been hit twice. The strategy of the two monsters was to pepper her with bullets from the Hammerhead Bow while the Shortfin Harpoon would try to catch her by surprise with its insane speed and poke a giant hole through her. If Talia hadn't had [Missile Swimming], she was sure she would have already died.
She looked at the two creatures' levels as she swung her glaive, deflecting the attack of the Shortfin Harpoon.
[Shortfin Harpoon Level 39]
[Hammerhead Bow Level 43]
Talia clenched her teeth. She should have activated [Soul Domain] immediately, but the problem was that both sharks, being Agility-based, could have easily dodged and run away out of the range of her Soul Domain. More importantly, if she wasn't consuming anything while the Soul Domain was active, she wasn't sure she would be able to keep it up for long.
She had just upgraded her Wisdom by a bit, but it was nothing compared to the insane reserves that Maleko had had. The descendant of the Kanaloa family had probably poured all his attributes into Wisdom and Intelligence. But she didn't have that luxury. She had to make sure to invest as much as she could into Charisma.
She had noticed that since she had been empowering that attribute, not only had she managed to finally master [Ravenous Wounds], not letting the Skill take control of her mind, but even her Skills now felt sharper, as if she could draw onto their powers more effectively, as if she could absorb more of the vitality of the monsters.
She had felt the effects of Charisma even while using [Soul Domain], and she suspected that the great effectiveness of the absorption from [Soul Domain] was also partially because of her Charisma. Now that it crossed the 50 mark, she could start distributing her attributes elsewhere. And perhaps she wouldn't even need to do that, considering how strong these monsters were—she would make incredible gains because of them, not only in terms of levels but most importantly in terms of attributes.
If she spent the same amount of time here that she had spent fighting the Abyssal Jaws, she might have gotten out of here with dozens of new attributes. But now her priority was to survive and kill the two foes that circled around her, tasting the blood that came from the wounds caused by the Hammerhead Bow.
The blood in the water wasn't just from her wounds—she had been deliberately releasing small amounts of Blood Water around her, watching how the two creatures reacted to it. The Shortfin Harpoon seemed almost mesmerized by the scent, while the Hammerhead Bow kept its distance, firing its pressurized water arrows from afar. Their behavior confirmed what she had suspected: the faster one was driven by instinct, while the Hammerhead Bow was calculating, patient.
Talia knew she couldn't match the Shortfin Harpoon's raw speed. Even with [Missile Swimming], the creature's Agility-based attributes were simply too high.
She cut herself with her glaive and released more blood into the dark ocean, but this time she infused it with her Mana, making it more alluring.
The Shortfin Harpoon's movements became more erratic, its circuits around her tightening. The Hammerhead Bow released another barrage of arrows, but Talia managed to evade.
Come on, she thought, her fingers tightening around her glaive. Come here.
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The Shortfin Harpoon, gone crazy with the scent of her blood in the water, took the bait. It charged, its Mana-formed spear leading the way, aiming straight for her heart. But Talia had been counting on this—the blood in the water wasn't just blood anymore. She activated [Blood Confluence] and [Hemomancy] at full-blast, and suddenly all the Blood Water she had released formed into thick, crimson ropes. Her high Charisma meant she could now output so much more Mana than before and she completely enveloped the monster, stopping it in its tracks with a slash from the glaive, and even though she hadn’t been able to kill it or damage it significantly, she went and used her own overwhelming Strength to clamp down on the slippery shark.
The Hammerhead Bow lost its composure as soon as she capture its companion and got closer, attacking Talia with all it had. But that had been exactly what she had wanted.
Talia released [Soul Domain] and, in an instant, a large stain of bloody water went out from her feet in a one hundred feet diameter.
This time, distracted by its captured companion, the Hammerhead Harpoon didn’t make the most rational choice to flee.
The moment both creatures were caught within her [Soul Domain], Talia felt their vitality singing to her. The Shortfin Harpoon tried to break free from her Blood Water bindings, but the [Soul Domain] had already begun its work. Just as it had with the Titanic Shark, crimson tendrils manifested throughout the floating plain of blood, reaching for both creatures.
The Hammerhead Bow, displaying its intelligence even in the face of certain death, tried one last desperate maneuver. It fired a concentrated burst of pressurized water arrows, not at Talia, but at the tendrils, destroying some, but unable to flee once the rest of them clamped down on it.
The [Soul Domain]’s tendrils became sharp nails that penetrated the skin of the Hammerhead Bow and of the Shortfin Harpoon she had released, drawing on their vitality and slowly bringing them to touch the floor of the domain.
Unlike the gigantic Titanic Shark, both monsters were ground into paste by her new Skill in a matter of seconds.
Soon, she heard more notifications ringing in her head.
[You have defeated Level 39 Shortfin Harpoon!]
[You have absorbed Lv. 39 Shortfin Harpoon Life Force.]
[+45 to your Primary Mana Channel (358/3000 to Level Seven)]
[+15.2 to your Agility (19/39 to 1 Agility)]
[+15 to your Strength (1/1 to 1 Strength)]
[You gained 1 Strength!]
[(2/2 to 1 Strength)]
[You gained 1 Strength!]
[(3/3 to 1 Strength)]
[You gained 1 Strength!]
[(6/6 to 1 Strength)]
[You gained 1 Strength!]
[(1/9 to 1 Strength)]
Similarly with Wisdom, Talia had never killed monsters that gave her Strength Attributes. Which meant she had a plethora of low hanging fruits to reap.
[You have defeated Level 43 Hammerhead Bow!]
[You have absorbed Lv. 43 Hammerhead Bow Life Force.]
[+82 to your Primary Mana Channel (440/3000 to Level Seven)]
[+20 to your Intelligence (1/1 to 1 Intelligence)]
[You gained 1 Intelligence!]
[(2/2 to 1 Intelligence)]
[You gained 1 Intelligence!]
[(3/3 to 1 Intelligence)]
[You gained 1 Intelligence!]
[(6/6 to 1 Intelligence)]
[You gained 1 Intelligence!]
[(6/9 to 1 Intelligence)]
[+10 to your Agility (29/39 to 1 Agility)]
[Hemomancy reaches Level 31!]
[Eyes of the Abyss reaches Level 22!]
[Missile Swimming reaches Level 31!]
[Missile Swimming reaches Level 17!]
[Soul Domain reaches Level 8!]
[Soul Domain reaches Level 9!]
[Name: Talia]
[Age: 17]
[Class: Lifestealer Lv. 35]
[Rank: Adept]
[Primary Mana Channel (Water): Level 6 {Flowing}]
[Secondary Mana Channel (Blood): Level 7 {Surging}]
[Secondary Mana Channel (Dark Water): Level 3 {Awakened}]
[Core Skill #1: Blood Siphon Lv. 27]
[Core Skill #2: Hemomancy Lv. 31]
[Core Skill #3: Eyes of the Abyss Lv. 22]
[Auxiliary Skill #1: Missile Swimming Lv. 31]
[Auxiliary Skill #2: Crimson Wisdom Lv. 17]
[Auxiliary Skill #3: Blood Confluence Lv. 18]
[Auxiliary Skill #4: Tailwind Lv. 5]
[Auxiliary Skill #5: Ika Toto - Blood Tide Lv. 19]
[Auxiliary Skill #6: Magic Funnel Lv. 13]
[Auxiliary Skill #7: Soul Domain Lv. 9]
[Form Skill #1: Cursed Form Lv. 5]
[Strength: 44]
[Agility: 7]
[Constitution: 10]
[Intelligence: 14]
[Wisdom: 12]
[Charisma: 51]
[Free Attributes: 0]
[Talent Trees:
Bloodborne Warrior (1)
Carmine Thunder (1)
Sanguine Guardian (1)
Hemomantic Artisan (1)
Crimson Sage (1)
Life Thief (1)
]
[Free Talent Points: 14]
And just like that, Talia had earned herself four more points in both Strength and Intelligence.
If she kept this up, she would be unstoppable by the time she left the Dungeon, perhaps as strong as a full graduate from the Water Rider Academy.
She felt the vitality of the monsters finish being processed and a notification ringing in her head later than usual.
[Soul Domain has completed the absorption of the monsters.]
[You have absorbed a Skill from Titanic Shark.]
[You have absorbed a Skill from Hammerhead Bow.]
[You have absorbed a Skill from Shortfin Harpoon.]