Talia had ordered Keahi to follow from a large distance. She didn’t know what kind of creature the boss would be, but she knew that it would be extremely powerful, with levels above 50. She walked on solid wood that had by now coalesced into a fully-fledged platform that extended for miles. In fact, it had been half an hour since she’d walked on this platform and had yet to see another crevice between the wood that showed the dark waters beneath. The ruins had gathered into a massive tower at the center of the Forbidden Vessel’s dimensional dungeon, and Talia was eager to confront the strongest Abyssal Creature in there.
It wasn’t cocky for her to expect to be able to take the monster without having to activate Cursed Form. In fact, she hadn’t had to recur to Dark Water once since she had arrived. That’s how powerful the Soul Domain Skill was. She suspected that if Maleko had been smarter and more ruthless, he might have had a real shot at killing her by taking her by surprise before she could activate the First Form. And if he had unleashed all he had at once when they faced each other instead of being an arrogant prick, he might have burned her alive before she even realized it.
Thankfully, he had not been a ruthless killer but an arrogant fool. That was why Talia was ready to kill the boss in one swift surprise attack. She wouldn’t be arrogant now that she had gained power. No. She would be even more ruthless than before.
She turned to see Keahi as a small dot in the distance, nodding to herself. He could probably fight one Abyssal Creature on his own. So even if one of the sharks came, he should be able to take it on. Talia told him that all of this was for his safety. Even though Keahi hadn’t liked the idea much—she had seen it on his face—waiting around for her while she killed Abyssal Creature after Abyssal Creature had greatly frustrated him. She actually couldn’t blame him since she herself would have probably lost her mind by now if the roles had been reversed.
She circled the massive tower, somewhat akin to the spire of the Water Rider Academy, and found its entrance. The tower was hollow, and at its center, on a throne made of the same driftwood that consolidated the place, was a humanoid creature. It wasn’t large. It was roughly Talia’s size, maybe just a few inches taller. It rested with its arms crossed in front of its chest, its head hanging low and its eyes closed. A golden trident rested beside the throne.
And when Talia saw the tag of the creature, she took a sharp breath.
[King Ma’o - Level 62]
How is this possible? Talia thought. Bosses are usually 10, 15 levels at most stronger than the creatures in the dungeon. This thing is level 62? And what’s with that form? Why is it like a human?
The creature slowly opened its eyes and raised its head toward Talia. She felt a terrifying aura spread from the monster, making the driftwood all around them, including on the tower, splinter. The creature rose slowly from the throne and took the trident by its side. It approached Talia with calm intelligence shining in its eyes. When it was barely twenty feet from her, Talia could fully see through Eyes of the Abyss the terrifying amount of Mana that the monster contained.
Something unexpected happened. The humanoid shark opened its mouth and spoke.
“You are her daughter.” Its words were steady but slow and raspy. The head of the creature resembled more human than shark, but its dark eyes without an iris revealed the creature’s true nature. “I can feel the energy inside of you. Have you come to learn the secrets of the Cursed Crew?”
Talia trembled. She didn’t even know how to reply. “I have,” she finally said, keeping her defensive stance.
The monster nodded slowly. “Your mother was too weak to face me when she came here the first time,” the creature spoke slowly. “But she managed to trap me while she plundered the place. She promised, however, that someone as great as my old masters would one day come here and free me from this miserable existence.”
Talia looked at the creature with an open mouth. “You’ve been here since the Cursed Crew died?”
The creature nodded. “I was aboard their ship. I wasn’t a wielder of the great power, but I served however I could. When my masters died, they entrusted me to continue their legacy. My body was twisted from the dungeon I created on their instructions. I had to wait here until someone worthy, strong enough to learn their technique, could inherit their will.”
“What is their will?” Talia said.
The shark-like person shook his head, looking sad. “You can only know after you defeat me. I fear, however, little one, that you might have come too early, but I have no choice. I am bound by my oath to protect my masters’ legacy. And so one of us must die today. I suspect it will be you.”
The fact that this creature had been alive so long explained why it was unnaturally strong and its level so high for a dungeon of this level. As soon as the monster finished speaking, it swung the trident so fast, so strongly, that Talia barely had any time to raise her glaive. The impact threw her back with such strength that she rolled, feeling her bones crack from that one simple exchange.
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She circulated [Blood Confluence], feeling her body empowered and her wounds heal immediately. But even before she could stand up, she felt a voice behind her.
“Too slow,” the raspy voice of King Ma’o spoke.
She saw the creature with the corner of her eye, raising the trident and bringing down on her with a massive ball of Mana conjured atop it. Is he a caster too? She rolled and jumped away mid-roll, putting almost a yard of distance between them in a split second. But as the trident fell on the wood, a massive explosion blew her away once again.
Talia felt scorching heat lick her skin and burn it, Blood Confluence barely keeping at bay all the damage she had already taken. She looked up shakily, seeing a gigantic hole where the trident had impacted the wood.
King Ma’o, the humanoid shark, the Level 62 boss of the Forbidden Vessel Dimensional Dungeon, just looked at her. Its shark-like visage didn’t transmit any emotion, but his voice was pleasantly surprised. “You have good reflexes. If only you had waited a year or two before coming here, you might have won.”
“I don’t have a year or two,” Talia snarled. And this time, she went on the offensive. She lunged forward, but the boss pointed the trident at her, and another giant ball of destruction was summoned on it. This time, as she looked at it, she recognized the terrifying powers conjured atop it. It was red and black, a mix of Blood Water and Dark Water.
“How?” Talia screamed as she lunged to the side, trying to avoid the meteor-like impact that followed as the ball hit the spot where she’d just been standing.
“I do not own the technique my masters developed, but I have their affinities. It was their gift to me to protect this place.”
Talia couldn’t understand how Dark Water wasn’t consuming the Blood Water, but she had no time to think about it. She tried activating Tailwind, but the boost it gave to her speed didn’t make that much of a difference against this terrifying creature. And so she did the only thing she could think of before immediately activating Cursed Form—she jumped into the water.
“You think you can win there?” the creature spoke, almost disappointed by Talia’s choice. “You just signed your own death, little one. What a shame. My masters’ inheritance shall go unclaimed once again.”
King Ma'o plunged into the dark waters. The moment he did, he felt a devastating blow incoming, aimed right at his head. He raised the trident, but now the girl in the water had summoned her strongest power. A crescent of Dark Water impacted the trident, sending Ma'o several yards back until he dispelled the blow.
"You seem more at home in the waters. Fascinating."
Empowered by [Ika Tai - Tide Surge], Talia, with a dead serious expression on her face, squared against the monster. She didn't understand how the thing could talk and wished she could talk smack back. She knew that the longer she drew out this fight, the higher her chances of dying were.
Next, the boss disappeared momentarily from her sight, moving so fast it was onto her in a split second. But Talia's eyes narrowed, sensing that the beast was underestimating her. It was clearly stronger than her and faster when on land, but Talia had a Skill beyond level 50 and had toyed with the Shortfin Harpoons despite how fast they were. More importantly, she had gained so much Agility.
She narrowly avoided being speared by the trident and then tried swinging back. However, the other side of the trident came crashing into the glaive, making her shoot backward. She used the power of the swing to put more distance between them and decided to make a quick judgment call.
Talia had 24 Free Attributes, and her Agility was currently at 29. She dumped 1 point into Constitution, earning her the Constitution Perk.
[You have unlocked a new Constitution Perk for reaching a total of 25 Constitution.]
[You have unlocked Perk - Feats of Constitution]
Perk: Feats of Constitution
Unlocked when reaching 25 Constitution Attributes.
The effect of Constitution increases by 30%.
She could feel her body getting stronger on the spot. But most importantly, as soon as she dumped the rest of her points into Agility, bringing it from 29 to 52, she heard another more important notification.
[You have unlocked a new Agility Perk for reaching a total of 50 Agility.]
[You have unlocked Perk - Hyper Twitch]
Perk: Hyper Twitch
Unlocked when reaching 50 Agility Attributes.
The effect of Agility increases by a further 30% on top of your Feats of Agility Perk.
Your muscles are now able to perform movements twice as accurately and twice as responsive.
Talia saw King Ma'o come at her again, and this time, she felt that the boss didn't have the advantage when it came to speed anymore. And so before it could even complete a swing, Talia jabbed with her glaive right into its abdomen, leaving a deep wound and immediately following up with a punch to its sternum empowered by Burst Impact, the Perk she had unlocked at 50 Strength.
The blow rocked the creature, which coughed blood and looked with incredulity at the wound below its rib cage.
"You had Free Attributes to distribute," King Ma'o said, impressed. "You are stronger than your mother when she came here."
Talia knew that her mother had come to this dungeon before graduating, meaning she hadn't been at her strongest, but she was still proud of hearing such a powerful creature say that she was stronger than her mother. Whether Yalena had been a real hero or not, there was no doubt that she had been the strongest warrior in the Deep.
However, King Ma'o's wound quickly knit itself together. Talia wasn't surprised. She knew it would take much more than that to kill this terrifying monster. The beast clutched the golden trident with one hand and pointed it toward her. This time, not one, but dozens of giant projectiles shot toward Talia, who immediately ran from that barrage. She had seen the devastation that one of those had caused on the wooden platform and knew that even just one of them would injure her so badly that it would give the boss the opening it needed to kill her.
She fled, feeling the impact from the explosions even from the distance.
But then, when the monster tried closing the distance again, Talia let a wicked smile appear on her face.
You’re dead, she thought, as she rushed the Boss and activated [Soul Domain].