I draw both my daggers and ready for my preemptive strike. I rush into the clearing running as fast as I can; the acute hearing of the monstrosity I am facing alerts the wolf to my presence a moment before I get to it. Unfortunately, there is not enough time for it to react and I land a solid slice across its hind leg, severing muscles and rendering the wolfs left hind leg debilitated.
When it noticed me and reacted, it made another mistake by turning toward the left to engage me. By that point I had already sliced its hind leg and I was a few feet from its head turning toward me. My blade finds home in the left side of its neck and blood pulses foreword from the massive new gash in its neck. The blood pours over me as I pass under its neck, my bloodlust ramping up as blood coats my face with a large amount of that life essence filling my mouth. My senses are overpowered and driven into frenzy by the taste and smell of fresh, warm blood.
The sudden taste of blood causes my pulse to race bringing more oxygen rich blood to my muscles and organs. My eyes widen, my pupils dilate letting in more light to reach my retinas and heightening my vision. My lungs expand, increasing oxygen capacity and letting in more of that delicious iron smell of fresh blood. My hearing is highly accentuated allowing me to hear the wolf's heartbeat and the blood flowing through the beast's veins. My muscles tighten allowing for quickened reactions and increased strength and speed. My whole body bursts to life with a scorching fire burning within me.
Skill Acquired: Bloodlust
The skill flashes in my vision and my smile takes on a wicked bloody grin. This is true bloodlust. My attack continues as I pass under the wolf's head, and I slash its right front leg severing it in half. Its large bones are no longer a match for even my small 10-inch daggers in my new heightened state. The beast falls to the dirt as the leg snaps in half unable to hold its weight. The poor animal laying on its left side, it's back facing me as I lunge forward planting a dagger between its shoulder blades. I rip the dagger along the length of its spine, using its spine as a guide as I filet the massive wolf from neck to tail. The massive wolf that almost made me his dinner not too long ago can do absolutely nothing against me now.
The mortally injured wolf let's out an ear-piercing howl, causing me to momentarily close my eyes and wince as it caused pain to my extra sensitive ears. I open my eyes as I hear lots of things running toward the clearing. I turn toward the edges of the clearing and about 6 smaller wolves rush into the clearing. This wolf called out for reinforcements. I don't care as this is just more blood for me. A wicked smile creeps onto my face as I welcome the fresh blood.
"What the fuck do you think you are going to do?!" I yell as I charge the wolves.
In my heightened bloodlust state, they are no match for me. The first wolf I slice nearly in half from its mouth straight to its ass, its lungs erupting from its chest, its organs spilling out onto the dirt. The second wolf I grab by the fur on the top of its head, and it gets its head cleanly lopped off.
New Level Acquired!
I throw the severed head at the third wolf smacking it hard in its face, the blow momentarily disorienting it as I sever its front right and hind right legs completely off. I turn just in time to see the fourth wolf jump at me. I slam my dagger into the side of its head piercing its brain, the wolf perishing immediately.
The fifth and sixth wolf reached me last as they came from the opposite side of the clearing. Each wolf received the same treatment as the first. They both leap toward me side by side and I split them right down their sides as I rush between them, slicing down their bodies as I pass between them. Organs fall into the dirt, and so do the bodies of the now hollow animals.
I look at the clearing, enjoying the carnage everywhere. I walk over to wolves who remain alive, and I unalive them with swift slices to their throats. Meanwhile the dungeon is already claiming the first which I killed instantly. My main prey, the massive Dire Wolf, is still alive, but barely as its bleeding out.
New Level Acquired!
New Level Acquired!
I walk up to the hulking beast and grab its massive head. I begin slicing through its neck until I get to its spine. I then twist the head violently, snapping its spine and fully severing its head. I stand before the lifeless body and raise the massive head up high. I let out a primal scream as blood continues to drip on me from the severed head.
New Level Acquired!
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New Level Acquired!
New Level Acquired!
New Level Acquired!
New Level Acquired!
I throw the head as hard as I can and stand there, still in a ramped-up state of bloodlust. I don't come down until the body of the wolf begins to sink into the ground. Once bloodlust fades from me, extreme exhaustion sets in and I collapse to the ground, breathing heavily. I guess the true bloodlust skill has a price, but fuck is it worth it!
What I was feeling in my past battles was nothing like this true bloodlust skill. Sure, I felt great, and it ramped up my desire to slaughter, but this true bloodlust... it was like I was a wild animal. All my senses heightened, and my desire for needless slaughter reaching terrifying heights. My body seemed to act on its own, knowing exactly where my enemies were, how they were going to attack, and how to place a decisive counterattack. It must cost a lot of endurance to maintain, but the end more than justified the means.
After a light rest, I pick myself up off the floor, holster my daggers and survey the clearing. Over by the large mana stone from the Dire Wolf sits a small pouch covered with black fur. I examine it and scratch my head wondering what it's used for. It's only about the size of a small purse, and it doesn't even look like the Dire Wolf's mana stone would fit inside of it, as it's much larger than this pouch.
I try to find straps or strings I can use to tie it to my gear somehow, but I don't see any. When I touch the pouch to my lower gear behind my left dagger harness, it seems to attach itself to my waist. That was very odd, but convenient as I assume it would keep itself attached somehow. I pick up the Dire Wolf's mana stone, which is the size of a melon, and I bring it to the bag. The opening of the bag opens wide by itself, and I drop the stone into it, the stone seemingly disappearing into the blackness within the bag. The bag's opening closed on its own and the whole thing returned to its original size, as though nothing was in it at all.
My eyes are wide watching this thing work, but it appears I got a magical bag of some sort. I place my empty hand at the opening to the bag and it opened wide enough for my hand to fit through. I reach into the bag, and I can feel the massive mana stone right there, even though the bag is currently MUCH smaller than the stone is.
"Fascinating!" I say at this revelation.
I wander around the clearing picking up all the wolf mana stones and placing them into the bag. The bag seemed to have no problem fitting them all inside. I take off my daggers and the bag open wide to accept them, then closes as they pass into it, returning to its previous size.
"Nice I can store weapons in this thing too!"
I open up my status screen and see a new tab named "Items". I select that tab.
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[https://i.imgur.com/IJutHWq.png]
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It seems this bag has a storage capacity of 16 items, but it looks like items stack as the small wolf mana stones all stacked taking up only one slot. The daggers took up one slot each. I guess equipment cannot be stacked. This in good to know so I can maximize the number of things I can store in the bag. I withdraw my daggers from the bag and place them back in their holsters.
I'm exhausted and need to rest, so it's time to head back to my cave for a nice rest. As I reach the cave, I take a glace over toward the pond toward the Grotto down deep. I enter the cave behind the waterfall, and I roll up my leaf mat and place it into my new bag. I then leave the cave and walk over to the water's edge and dive into the pond. I swim down to the Grotto entrance, washing off all the caked and drying blood on me on the way. I love this amulet. No need to hold my breath and I can move however I like. It still amazes me.
I enter the grotto through the shimmering barrier and begin walking back toward the arena. The same shark comes around the corner, and I ready a dagger, but it doesn't charge at me like before. I just watch it swim by as it patrols the corridor. Several groups of fish do the same. I assume it is either because I massively out-level them or if it is possibly because of the Sea King's Amulet I am wearing. I didn't notice when I left after that battle as I was busy eating my sushi at the time to really notice if these monsters became docile then. Killing fish while eating sushi seemed highly entertaining and ironic at the time.
I chose to ignore all the flying fishies of death since they weren't attacking me anyway, and I continued on my way toward the arena door. Once I arrived at the door, the aquamarine gemstone on the amulet on my neck pulsed with a bright light and the door began to open. I apparently have the key to this place. I enter the arena and it was just as I left it. The throne was still there, but the gold chest was gone. I surveyed the arena again admiring its construction. I then went behind the throne and removed my leaf mat from my bag and laid it out on the floor directly behind the throne. I lay down on my mat with my head toward the throne. This gave me a fantastic view of the massive aquarium wall. It is absolutely stunning. I open my skills screen to take a look at what Bloodlust skill is about.
Bloodlust
Activating this skill increases all physical combat stats (Str, Agi, and Spd) by 50%. This skill comes at a cost, draining the user's HP and Endurance at a steady rate. The rate that HP and endurance are drained can be mitigated by Determination stat level, though diminishing returns are perpetually in effect.
[https://i.imgur.com/Msv1U2J.png]
Wow, I'm level 90 now. Looks like that Bloodlust skill really drained my HP and Endurance quite a bit. I am going to have to be careful when using it from now on. My stomach grumbles loudly as I haven't had anything to eat since the sushi. I don't even know how long ago that was. Half a day? Maybe more? I haven't seen the artificial sky on this floor turn to night, so who knows how long I have actually been here. My eyes get heavy as I allow sleep to claim me.