Doom Flurry!

The air rang with the sound of blood-forged steel ripping in to obsidian scales of incredible hardness. Perhaps not enough to kill, but certainly enough to send a small pack of Shadow Raptors lurching back as Eric’s eyes stinged and nostrils burned once more with the sharp acrid scents of brimstone and ammonia as his blade danced and spun through the air.

Though far from Mithril glowing with the promise of sanguine oblivion, it was instead the steel blade he had bonded to first in all the world, now stamped with the runes for Resilience and Dominion both.

Strong enough to resist being utterly shredded by obsidian scales embraced by hunters touching levels between 50 and 60, even if the wounds his weapon feat inflicted cut no more than a couple inches deep.

It was still enough.

Enough for a triple flurry of over twenty blindingly fast strikes to force even the incredibly quick and deadly pack of hunters back, Eric having to pay no more than a hair under 4 Soul Points for the privilege as multiple theropod ambushers became flatfooted, finally allowing him to seize the Vor.

“Sanguis Fulmen!” Eric roared, the air crackling with a crimson flash that tore the through the twilight realm.

One of the pair of cloaking Shadow Raptors crashed to the ground, momentarily stunned, while a smaller raptor behind it collapsed, no more than a desiccated smoking corpse, its crimson gift now Eric’s own. Four other Utahraptors screeched and charged, and Eric had to fight damn hard to remember that his flurry of Doom Slices had struck two, not one Shadow Raptor.

So Eric roared and charged just as his foes did, hand on the hilt of his resheathed saber, earning more than a few raptilian glares as his too clever saurian foes repositioned themselves to deal with another flurry of four inch deep shredding blows. Absolute death for a human, even one covered in enchanted dinosaur hide, but not so much for the massive, obsidian skinned dinoraptors angling to assure the thickest part of their bodies alone suffered the blow.

Before first one then a second monstrous predator crashed to the ground in wide-eyed surprise when Eric switched up both weapons and perks in the literal blink of an eye. His first summoned javelins tore right through one raptor’s eye socket and out the back of it’s skull. The second served as the piercing tip of a fully extended lunging blow that blasted through obsidian hide, shattered ribs, and wildly beating heart, Eric diving and rolling even as he struck, just barely avoiding the snapping jaws of the massive utahraptor now crashing to the ground.

Piercing Strike!

Piercing Strike!

Congratulations! You have chosen a perk evolution for Javelin Throwing! Void Piercer assures that your thrown javelins will never be hindered by wind or air resistance ever again as it pierces all gasses with the same ease as piercing the void itself!

A howling Eric spun around, lashing out with an instantly summoned Mithril Blade transformed with a surge of Qi and will into a 6-foot bar of crimson flame.

Tearing through the eye-crawling gloom he desperately wanted to flinch away from… as his blade abruptly jerked in his hands, then sheered right through the furious throat of the largest Shadow Raptor he had ever seen, that still managed to send him crashing to the ground with the agonizing CRACK of a shattered breast bone.

But not before collapsing itself in a shower of blood, Eric’s Bloodfire Strike having cleaved right through it’s chest, both of them collapsing with crippling blows.

It was all Eric could do to force his stinging eyes wide open, filled as they were with his enemyh’s blood, gasping for air as he demanded his own spraying blood obey him. He was in no position to lash out with his weapons as the remaining upright pair of Lesser Utahraptors raced forward, eager to rip out his entrails and make their kill.

Before the pair of hungry predators were blown off their feet by multiple bolts of forking lightning drinking down their vitality even as they spasmed and died.

“Sanguis Fulmen!” howled his familiar, Eric snarling and whispering the same exact spell, feeling no shame when his instantly summoned wand acted as a crutch, blown out of his hand by a fearsome claw a second later.

As a third Shadow Raptor that had hidden itself from the rest of the pack chose that very moment to strike.

You have been critically struck at the base of the skull by Stealthed Raptor!

You have saved versus stunning blow!

A thousand warning bells were screaming inside Eric’s cracked skull as he rolled over onto the flat of his back, raising both arms to guard throat and brutalized head, even as he knew what was coming.

Dreaded what was coming.

Seeing it in the pure malice of his enemy’s gaze.

And forced himself to endure.

You have suffered Emasculating blow!

You have choked back your own agony!

Spinal column intact!

You have wrapped your legs around Utahraptor!

You have clamped your arms around Utahraptor maw!

The white hot agony bleeding through Eric transcended all his previous conceptions of what it meant to suffer. It was a torment from which he could either fall into shrieking torment… or white hot bestial rage.

“Fragor!”

He made his choice when he screamed a single word that cracked obsidian scales and stunned his opponent for one precious second as he twisted around with a dying man’s fury before his teeth clamped upon the back of his foe’s throat and he began to feed.

Drinking deep of fiery blood as monstrous might was magnified by Burst of Strength and the shrieking fury of fiery pain that just wouldn’t end, somehow becoming jaws capable of tearing through obsidian scaled flesh in a shower of blood.

Blood that seemed to flow right in to Eric’s pale-white skin just as intently as his own did from femoral arteries ravished by theropodian malice that instead shown bone-white as Blood Mastery ascended to Elite Status and all Eric could think of as he RIPPED OPEN HIS FOE’S THROAT was that pain was endless and eternal, and all his foes had earned for their efforts was his eternal white-hot rage.

His screaming familiar filled the air with crimson flashes of death, ripping through previously stunned or injured raptors that quickly became dead raptors, slowly draining Eric’s Soul Reserves, but he cared not. He was a ravenous animal that wanted only to share his pain and consume his foes. So when the massive 70th level Shadow Raptor desperately began slamming itself against the nearby obsidian ledge, Eric happily let it, using the sudden shift of weight and balance to tighten his vice-like clamp against its jaws and tear out chunk after chunk of bloody flesh from its throat, reveling in the spray of foamy lifeblood as his jaw at last clamped upon its jugular and he tore it completely free.

Burst Of Strength has depleted 10% of remaining Soul Points!

You have reached Rank 30 in Blood Mastery!

Arcane Potential, Soul Reserves, and Spiritual Energy have each increased by 9 points as you embrace madness the equal of your inhumanly potent blood! For not even emasculation will stop you from making your kill!

Your previous exposure to vampires has been noted! Your previous feeding of vampires has been noted!

Elite Tier Blood Mastery Perk has become Vampiric Drain!

Feast upon the blood of your foes and grow STRONG!

Synergism detected! Life force absorbed from Blood Lightning & Bloodfire Strike is now twice as rejuvenating as before! (Elite Tier Perk evolution!)

You have successfully slain Shadow Raptor Boss!

Your familiar has slain 2 additional Utahraptors!

You sense no additional Utahraptors!

Iado (Fast-Draw) is now Rank 17!

Unarmed Combat is now Rank 15!

Psionic Rupture is now Rank 4!

Burst of Strength is now Rank 15!

Congratulations!

Primal Adventurer is now Level 50!

You have achieved Rank 26 as a Cultivator!

“Hell Vines,” Eric wheezed and snarled again and again as he writhed and screamed while Unified Restoration and the massive infusion of potency he had claimed from his kills repaired that which should never have been taken as Eric was forced to pay the price for a mithril mail hauberk that protected beautifully up to mid-thigh, but when bowled over by nightmarish abominations, it could be rolled up like a candy bar wrapper before his foes devoured the ripe pink flesh encased within.

Yet even as he cried out with agony while bones fused themselves back together and organs regenerated at monstrous speeds, he felt nothing but gratitude for the vampire who had accepted his friendship and set him on the Path of Blood. A single skill so intricately tied to life and death, two sides of a single coin of pristine power. A skill that had kept his life blood from spurting out from shredded femoral arteries. An evolved gift that had further allowed him to sup upon the sweet, sweet life force of his foes. By blade, spell, and now teeth.

And Eric was chilled to feel multiple very sharp teeth where absolutely none had been before, crying out when a hideously distended wolf-like maw snapped back into the shape that was his own.

“Fuck!” Eric wheezed, finally coming back to himself before crying out with pain, still injured, but rapidly recovering, blurry eyes catching sight of an entire swarm of Pterodactyls furiously attacking his massive tendril-whipping hell vines, forming a protective canopy like a miniature grove.

Fortunately, this latest murder of dactyls lacked any vorpal-beeked alpha predators that could right through his spells, and Eric was fiercely pleased to see his foes were not only being kept at bay, but were steadily losing members, until the pack abruptly broke off and fled with frustrating cries.

But not before he took out a few more with an instantly cast spell that required no medium save his will, a target, and wrath-fueled mental gifts the System itself refused to fully acknowledge.

“Fragor!” He cried, smirking hideously when a pterodactyl skull far more fragile than the monstrous beast he had just fought abruptly exploded in mid air, showering its squawking companions with blood and gore before two more skulls popped just seconds later.

Bunbun was gazing up at Eric with soft brown eyes when he grimaced with a sudden headache, wondering just how hard he was pushing himself, channeling his latest gift while still in the extremis of pain. “You’ve never been deadlier that you were the second we entered. And those fuckers had planned a multitiered ambush far deadlier than anything we ever faced before.”

Eric flashed a bloody smile, not surprised by his familiar’s flinch. “I know. Either this dungeon is a sentient vindictive fuck!” Eric roared, not giving a shit for the hostile rumble he sensed through his prone body, “Or there’s some sort of penalty for repeated delves before a dungeon resets.”

His rabbit nodded. “Either that, or those Shadow Raptors are just a hell of a lot smarter than any oversized predator has a right to be. Too bad you can’t safely sleep in the colony ship. That seems to be well within whatever rules are here, but, well...”

“I’m not really resting, because my brain is being pushed and squeezed in mildly inhuman directions, thanks to a psionic crew and a beautiful girl whose infatuation might be compelling my fragile little ape brain a bit more than I want to admit?”

“Pretty much.” Bunbun tilted her head curiously. “But at least banging that gold-skinned hottie’s leveled up your brain in all sorts of cool Desert Dune ways!”

Eric smirked. “Wow. You actually went there.”

Bunbun snorted. “Dude, YOU went there when you turned that merc’s eyes bone white before popping his head with a squeeze of your brain juice. And what do you know? Your eyes are already the perfect sapphire blue.”

Eric winced. “I’m just glad I had absolutely nothing to do with the remake.”

“Not from your mother’s lack of trying. And hey, you just hit the golden level 50! So, you decided to class evolve as a Vampire, then?” She flashed a toothy smile. “Undead streamer queen that I am, I heartily approve. I wonder what mommy dearest will say, however?”

Eric snorted. “ha ha. Yeah, I’m pretty sure I’m still among the living, I haven’t gone all ‘Grim,’ and no, I got absolutely no notification about any opportunity to evolve my class or condense my core…. Fuck that hurts! Anyway, I’m still what amounts to the lowest of all Master Classes on the boojie elite class tier scale, assuming there even is such a thing. But since my power is in my unorthodox hodgepodge of knacks and abilities that work pretty damn well together, and since my skill ranks are all over the place, I wouldn’t dare try to evolve into some broken half-assed class that would fuck up my future ascension. Not until I do a hell of a lot more skilling up and training.”

Eric continued to snark with his familiar through tightly clenched teeth, knowing she was doing her best to distract him while his body continued to regenerate from catastrophic wounds, before he finally shuddered with teary eyed relief when his Unified Restoration and natural regeneration healed up the last of his wounds.

“Oh fucking god, that hurt!” He groaned, before whispering the runic chants his foes had, of course, given him absolutely no time to cast.

“Debilito gravitas unus dies!”

“Venus incurvo dies!”

“Mollet roboro sanguis herbam unus dies!

His bunny looked critically at his summoned shield as Eric stood upright once more, savoring normal Earth gravity and no more caustic rain drizzling into his constantly regenerating and tearing up eyes.

“The shield looks different. Blood rune in play?”

Eric nodded. “We already know it mitigates arcane and physical attacks. And we know that Blood Lightning tears through even soul wards, according to the description… so I can’t hope but think that linking a bit of my blood to this spell will...”

His bunny snorted. “Keep your soul from being sucked out by some vicious soul sucker we have yet to encounter, but probably does live in this hell-hole? Or are you hoping for a hit-point burst with a good shield charge, like in Exile’s Path?”

Eric had the cheek to grin. “Who the fuck says it can’t be both? And since it’s a chant needing 30 seconds in its evolved form, I sure as hell want it ready to go right now. I won’t have time to fuck around with it in combat later.”

“Makes sense to me,” Said the husky bemused voice of his favorite former streamer as she hopped on to his shoulder. “Now let’s go kill things!”

You have successfully slain 15 pterodactyls!

You have successfully obliterated 22 Vampire Bats!

You have successfully decapitated 5 Fire Pumas!

You have successfully cut down 2 additional Carnivorous plants!

Psionic Rupture is now Rank 4!

Psionic Rupture is now Rank 5!

Blood Lightning is now Rank 7!

Sling is now Rank 17!

Congratulations! You have successfully cleared Dungeon Periphery!

You have returned to the entrance to the Inner Sanctum, where you fled like a coward once before!

Bunbun tisked as Eric glared past the ice-cold mists of the swamp separating the rest of the pocket realm from the true heart of this domain, the massive obsidian tower, guarded by the same trio of Ice Walkers he’d had no chance of handling before.

“Kinda harsh, but it is accurate. I mean, no game would ever taunt an actual player, at least not with a subscription model, but since this System has sort of a captive audience, I guess it gets to be as sassy as it likes.”

“Pretty much,” Eric agreed with a fierce smile, arm whirling with his sling in hand once more. “Here’s the plan. Hell Vines and sling shrapnel to get the fucker’s attention. Then you circle left, popping lightning at it, I circle right, doing the same, then we race for the entrance. If it’s anything like any game ever, the fuckers won’t be able to follow.”

His rabbit looked at him like he was an idiot. “And what if the fuckers can follow?”

Eric flashed a too bright smile. “Then I guess were on something of a fucking tight time clock to kill the boss monster, get that gravitational unit, and end this thing, 100% clear or no. Either that, or we double back as soon as we’re able to. The advantage of a tactical map I can always refer to in the corner of my mind means we never get confused or lost. Which is good, since before my map my sense of direction was shit.”

“Great. So our lives are in the hands of a geographically impaired goofball who plans on throwing cannon balls at ghosts.”

“Yeah, pretty much.”

“Yay. Can’t wait. Can we get this over with and retreat back to mommy dearest in one piece? Plenty of time left in the day for her to laugh at her level 50 generalist goofball son, and no need to feel an ounce of jealousy that you can wipe the floor with your sister any day of the week… because you’re such a goofy goof that your idiotic unorthodox plan without a single Primal Power or carefully calibrated and multi-tier enhanced obliteration spell might actually pull off a win here.”

Eric frowned. “First of all… ouch. Secondly, my Hell Vines spells are totally legit. You know this. And you know how fast I can sprint now. And most importantly...” he shrugged. “No way to know if any of this will work unless we try, hey?”

His bunny snorted. “Sure. Go summon some vines. Try not to freeze your arm off this time. Or your balls.”

“That was fucking uncalled for!” Eric snapped, but his snickering bunny was already off.

And Eric was already twirling his sling and savoring the sound of cracking air as he released white-hot crimson shrapnel tearing through an Ice Walker as fast as anything released from a 24-pounder long gun. Yet even that power shot was little more than a distraction as Eric finished shouting the trio of spells that summoned three massive hell vine bushes just in time to wrap all three misty figures in fiery hot vines before Eric immediately pulled his will free and began racing the other way. It was in-your-face assault that sent all three misty harbingers of death chasing after him and his familiar both.

Just as he had intended.

Eric flashed a fierce, happy smile as they lured all three targets further and further away from the tower, before unleashing a blinding series of crimson lightning blasts, hoping to buy at least a handful of seconds they could use to double back and slip right past their foes, racing with mad pounding feet to the massive tower entrance, when Eric received a message he totally wasn’t expecting.

Blood Lightning has successfully ruptured Soul Ward! Ice Walker integrity has been compromised!

Ice Walkers have suffered Catastrophic Injuries!

Your familiar has critically struck Ice Walker with Blood Lightning!

Level 70 Ice Walker has perished!

Level 70 Ice Walker has perished!

Level 70 Ice Walker has perished!

Blood Lightning is now Rank 8!

Congratulations, you have leveled up!

You are now a 51st Level Primal Adventurer! (You have declined all class evolutions at this time. You currently sense no limits to your eventual potential… no matter how weak your White Tier Master Class actually is!)

Eric gazed down at his clenched fist, now crackling with crimson death, then back up to the Ice Walker racing toward him with a silent scream upon its warped misty features… before fading to scattered mist.

“No fucking shit.”

He shivered in the frigid air that stunk of sulfur, peat moss, and death for long seconds before bursting out in laughter. “Are you kidding me? Are you fucking kidding me? After fighting for my goddamn life against a sneaky bitch of an ambushing fucking raptor that tore off my groin before I tore out it’s goddamned throat with force-evolved fangs… knowing I should probably be dead and insane Willpower is the only reason why I’m not curled up like a screaming baby right now… and one volley of lightning between me and Bunbun equals 3 sweet seventy level kills and a level up?”

He shook his head, laughing so hard he could barely breathe as tears began streaming from his eyes, and not just from the vile stench of the mist covered pond they had skirted. And maybe they were closer to sobs after a full minute, before he felt warm paws against his cheek.

“It’s okay, Eric. We did it. We’re alive. At the end of the day, that’s all that matters.”

Eric choked back a sob he swore was mirth, doing all he could to forget the exquisite agony that was his mangled groin… fully healed, so why was he flinching?

“Yeah, I know. Still, the whole thing? Fucking insane.”

Bunbun nodded. “Just like my old builds. My Necro-skelly build was great for all the cavern V-16s… but sure, in a completely open field with long ranged dark-elves… it could get a bit dicey.”

Eric snorted. “You think?”

His favorite former streamer rolled her eyes. “The point, king noob, is that certain builds are absolutely epic for clearing certain areas. And your Blood Lightning is the perfect counter for soul warded creatures that are basically only souls. So of course they’re going to slaughter anyone and everyone that doesn’t have your eclectic collection of Tier 1 powers you’re only able to magnify because you hit the essence and stat-boon lottery.”

Eric smirked. “if it works...”

“I know. And that’s the point! With a flexible arcane art you’re basically building from nothing, you have the opportunity to link any number of runic chants to handle any situation… as long as you have like 20 or 30 seconds of prep time. What’s important is you’re also diversifying into a handful of runic spells. So you deciding not to double down on the power of your basic lightning bolts, and instead branch them along new path that requires even more juice to cast might seem damn stupid from a specialization perspective… but is absolutely awesome from a ‘I got a counter for every trick’ perspective.”

His rabbit shook her cute floppy ears. “Hell, Eric, you actually evolved what amounts to a Psionic attack, even if the System refuses to ever call it that.”

Eric nodded. “Yup, and I almost depleted that pool already, leveling that spell to Rank 5. And it won’t recover until after I sleep. Because what I’m doing really isn’t something I should even be able to do at all as, well, a half-blooded elven mutt. No secret telepathic bloodlines, no clan of mind witches breeding me into some sort of psionic superman. Still, it’s great for flexibility. Even if I never have anything like Elonia’s army-melting tornado...”

“Except for your army of the undead...”

“Which does me absolutely no good in rifts.”

“True.”

Eric smirked. “But I’m still pretty good tearing shit up, especially after developing some health-steal abilities.”

Bunbun nodded. “Health Transfer is an excellent grinding tank in Exile’s Path. You don’t clear floors fast… but you do clear tough floors, and who the fuck cares how long it takes, as long as you can survive Iron Man mode?”

Eric winced. “Yeah… I kept dying a lot, didn’t I?”

His familiar nodded. “That you did, hero. Your sister kinda blew you away whenever you guys livestreamed.”

Eric smirked. “I’d love to see how well we PvP on Bluecorp toys today.”

This earned a snort. “Sure. Goad your sister into wiping Freetown completely off the map, why don’t you?”

Eric rolled his eyes. “Whatever. You ready to take out whatever fucker’s chilling in this tower of brooding bullshit?”

“Damn right! You got your shield with all the cute runes up?”

Eric smirked. “You know it.”

Eric frowned as they approached a massive pair of iron doors fronting the obsidian slab before them, peering carefully at the exquisitely crafted sculptures molded onto the metal. The left panel showed a gold skinned man with copper eyes and silvery hair wearing a uniform strikingly familiar to those he had seen worn among a certain crew of interplanetary settlers. He was depicted standing proudly before an audience hidden in shadow, but the display screen he was pointing to, showcasing a fiery world transformed to a lush green paradise, was one Eric instantly understood by some miracle of artistry and intuition, so much conveyed with just a handful of carefully carved lines.

Eric felt chills racing down his spine as he forced himself to look at the second panel, showcasing what Eric was sure was the same scientist, as well as a handful of others armed like Ingrid, Kerstin, and the others had been, becoming helplessly overwhelmed and tangled up in vicious sentient vines covered in thorns, eyes, and far too many mouths.

Eric stumbled back with a cry, heart racing. He blinked back bitter hot tears, hating, absolutely hating what these effigies were effectively telling him.

Bunbun’s sad gaze, however, made it clear she understood just as well as he.

“Eric… you know what this means, right?”

“No!” He hissed. “No I don’t!”

His rabbit tilted her head sympathetically. “Eric, you’re not stupid.” She raised her paw. “Tell me this isn’t a magical tower holding the boss monster.”

Eric swallowed and looked away.

“Eric?”

“I know.”

“I’m sorry.”

Eric clenched his fist. “Why the hell can’t they be real?”

Bunbun sighed. “Because this tower is depicting the folly of our psionic friends. Telling the story of their attempt to terraform this world, clearly with disastrous results. And since it’s a magical tower recording their exploits...”

Eric furiously wiped the sting from his eyes. “It means that they’re a part of the story.”

Bunny nodded. “They’re not chance-met fellow explorers who somehow slipped into this pocket realm. For them to be on display like this...”

“They’re part of the dream, not fellow dreamers.”

Bunbun patted his shoulder. “I’m sorry, Eric. But I think you already knew that yourself. On some level.”

Eric gave an angry shake of his head. “No, Bunbun. There has to be more to it than that!” Haunted eyes locked with Bunbun’s own. “When Ingrid and I… when my mind fused with all those happy souls, it was like I had awakened a part of myself that had always been asleep before. Even if it was killing me and I had to break free, for a few seconds or minutes or hours... it was like I was the simplest of creaturs who had suddenly gained awareness. An awakened spirit beast in all my favorite isekai adventures.”

Bunbun nodded. “Maybe it is more than just a System dream. I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if all those souls you saved really were alive and, well, real. At one point. On one world. And maybe this is just a template based on them.”

Eric clenched his fist and shivered, blinking back the hot sting of tears that he knew had no place on a delve. “If there’s any chance I can… any chance at all...”

His bunny quickly nodded her agreement. “If you can actually pull another miracle out of your hat, damn right you will. No matter what it might cost you in terms of sweet, sweet power. I know you that well already. But for now, let’s focus on the task at hand.”

“We have a dungeon to clear and an antigrav unit to find for a very, very real ship full of colonists.”

His bunny nodded. “Sure, Eric. Now take a deep breath and focus. Our enemies don’t care about our bleeding hearts. If you’re distracted, you’re dead.”

Eric nodded, quickly pushing aside all distractions as he focused on the matter at hand, rapidly thinking up the most destructive sequence of runes he could when the left-hand door slowly creaked open of it’s own accord.

Eric smirked, smoothly withdrawing his mithril blade, now blazing with crimson flame, and cleaved through the massive hinges of the rightmost door, leaping back as the iron slab fell to the ground, revealing a shadow mass of tendrils and furiously blinking eyes that would have been positioned perfectly to pounce on him as he entered.

Unified Perception Check made.

You sense your foe’s weakness!

“Sanguis Fulmen!” Eric roared, covering the shadowy mass of tendrils in crackling crimson death his familiar doubled down on, until with a silent screech the creature burst into the ether, a glimmer of faded shadow, then nothing at all.

Congratulations! You have fatally struck Nether-Stalker!

Level 67 Nether-Stalker has perished.

Experience Earned!

Bunbun gazed at Eric thoughtfully, before giving him a tiny thumbs up.

“Nice kill!”

Eric grinned. “Fucker had a lot in common with the Ice Walker. So why not give it a taste of what took out its friends? Shadow or Ice, both were used as the vessels for a double-warded soul.”

“So all we had to do was flash some crimson bright to pop that fucker like a water balloon!”

“Pretty much,” Eric said, deciding not to comment on his rabbit’s opposable digits.

Instead, he took a deep breath of air rich in wild magic and killing intent, realizing that he had never felt so alive as he did at that moment. Truly one with his body, his environment, the blade he was ready to draw and strike with, in the blink of an eye. He could all but taste the creatures of shadow, twisted plant life, and sheer, unmitigated malice waiting for him in the chambers beyond.

And much to his fierce, manic delight, it was everything he could have hoped for, and so much more.

You have successfully slain Seven Lesser Nether-Beasts!

You have successfully slain Twelve Lesser Mist Walkers!

Fourteen Blood Serpents have fallen to your blade!

Primal Adventurer is now Level 52!

You have survived Extreme Toxicity and multiple Perforating Wounds!

You have saved versus Fear from Eldritch Shamblers!

Eldritch Shamblers are racing towards you!

A panting Eric flashed his latest opponents a madcap grin, as time seemed to stretch and slow once more, his crimson blade dipping and weaving past massive limbs covered in glowing white grubs, each and every one opening tiny mouths, as if eager to taste Eric’s royal blood.

A gift he was more than happy to give as his silver-white blade lit up a brilliant crimson hue, caressing the writhing flesh of the closest abomination, dozens of gaping maws opening wide and spewing a constant stream of squirming maggots that would have meant death, had they touched naked flesh, but met only a shield covered in crimson runes and white hot flame.

And how odd it was that the worms were so loud, while the human face upon the abomination was utterly silent, for all that it’s lips were stretched wide in an endless scream, Eric thought in the lucid hyper-awareness that was battle-trance as he whipped his head back just in time to avoid bone white claws that could so easily rip his face off, just a heartbeat before his blade cleaved through rotting tendons that sent the abomination crashing to the floor.

Duck!

Right before diving into a roll as the second abomination filled the space between them with a caustic brew of smoking bile that instantly cratered the floor.

“Fragor!” Eric shouted as he forced his foe back with a furious flurry of cleaving blows, making full use of Strength and Quickness, and dismayed to find that his latest spell had absolutely no effect on this near mindless and most definitely magical abomination at all.

So he didn’t hesitate to backpedal for all he was worth, gaining the precious two seconds he needed to cast an alternative spell.

“Sanguis Fulmen!” Eric roared as the abomination rushed him.

But not before he filled the growing space between them with crimson lightning piercing wards both arcane and spiritual as countless thousand of worms burst in crackling flame, before shriveling a heartbeat later, their power now his own.

Where two eldritch worm-covered horrors had been were now two clumps of seemingly lifeless vegetable matter covered in shriveled creepers and blackened leaves. Clearly, they were no longer any threat to him.

Not being stupid, however, and having faced multiple opponents with feign death skills before, Eric immediately put them both to the flame.

Congratulations! You have successfully eliminated Two Level 73 Eldritch Horrors!

Swordsmanship is now Rank 29!

Blood Lightning is now Rank 9!

Primal Adventurer is now Level 53!

_____________________________________

Eric Silver Level 53 Primal Adventurer

Rank 26 Cultivator (Death’s Disciple)

Level 31 Master Necromancer

Physical Characteristics

Strength – 233

Vitality – 253

Finesse – 178

Quickness – 318.5

Appearance – 24

Mental Characteristics

Scholarship – 23

Perception – 176

Willpower – 76

Charisma – 13

Potency Pools

Arcane Potential – 159

(Mana Pool = 1908)

Spiritual Energy – 226.4

(Qi Pool = 2712.8)

Psionic Potency – 10

(Psion Pool = 120)

Soul Reserves – 103 (95)

Stamina – 2570 Points

Health – 3553 Points.

Resistances & Recovery

Physical Resistance – 47

Physical Regeneration – 25.3 health per second

Elemental Resistance – 27

Qi Resistance – 42

Mental Resistance – 27

_____________________________________

Eric flashed a fierce smile and a quick high five with his bunny as he allowed his points to flow where he knew they must, taking a quick look at his abbreviated stat page before entering the final door of the keep, the true sanctum sanctorum, glowing with countless eldritch runes flashing before Eric’s eyes. Runes which he studied for long moments, hoping for flashes of insight and illumination, before finally putting the key he had found on the remains of the final Ice Walker to fall to his crimson lightning within the very depths of the keep.

Eric felt an odd shudder through the door and immediately sprung back, eyes going desperately wide, fearing he had played the fool after all, when the countless dozen glyphs upon the door faded one by one as the massive obsidian portal creaked open to reveal the final chamber within.

Eric took a steadying breath as he gazed upon the shimmering portal just beyond the doorway, turning to his bunny.

“Tell me that doesn’t say epic tier boss fight, just ahead.”

His bunny shrugged. “I mean, we do have 100% clear on everything else, and we haven’t popped this cherry yet so… yeah. It pretty much has to be. Because if it was a trap, it would be breaking the entire delve framework our System enjoys manifesting in deliberately controlled spurts of chaos, just tamable enough that it can be harnessed, harvested, and doesn’t spell instant doom for like, everyone.”

Eric smirked. “In other words, as long as my Danger Sense isn’t ringing like a gong in my head as I approach...”

“It sure as fuck will be, once we get to the final room.”

Eric laughed. “Yeah, that’s what I’m afraid of. But hell, let’s give it a shot! What’s the worse that could happen?”

“We die horribly?”

“And we get a 100% clear!”

His bunny snorted. “Sure, boss, ready when yo—“

You have been gated to Sector 7378Q4A-Alpha1.

All Potency Pools and fatigue levels have been reset to Optimal State.

NOTE as you were unaware of the nature of this jump (being as you are the leap-before-you-look type of Contender) you will NOT be penalized for leaving Terra!