Sworded Affair

[The Leech King - Level 8]

It's maw facing in Emma's direction, the Leech King inhaled sharply; treating her to the wonderful symphony of a jet engine ready for takeoff.

Sever external sounds. Emma commanded immediately, the System cutting her artificial sense of hearing and returning her perception to blissful silence.

Then, she immediately threw herself to the side as the faintest glimmer of light sparked in her opponent's jaw; not a moment too soon, as it turned out.

"Dangerous," Emma whistled, as a beam of compressed air - or perhaps plasma - struck her starting position, carrying on beyond the boundaries of the arena and far into the distance.

She'd already been wary of the massive maw, but that display only reinforced Emma's decision to stick to the sidelines as she closed the distance to the boss. As she came within arm's length, the Leech King shuddered, expelling a cloud of purple mist into the air; deadly for many but luckily harmless against her.

[Poison resisted.]

"Ew," Emma grimaced as Epitaph appeared, digging a furrow across her foe's abdomen.

His body immediately began to glow red in response to the injury, and soon Emma began to glow in tandem.

[-5 Anima

-5 Anima

-5 Anima]

"A persistent drain?" Emma frowned as she continued to hack and slash, literally taking the Anima she lost out of her target's hide.

Those wounds closed up just as quickly as she herself recovered; reaching the logical end result of two self-healing tanks with limited damage potential fighting; that is to say, amounting to nothing at all except a waste of time. The Leech King had already rolled over at this point, seemingly asleep from boredom even as his drain attack continued.

"Um, is there a time limit for this?" Emma asked, whilst mentally requesting her hearing back from the System.

"No, feel free to stay in that stalemate forever, for all we care."

"Wonderful," Emma grumbled, searching for a solution as she absently dodged the latest spray of boiling blood to spurt from wounds that were already beginning to close.

"Wait, boiling?" Realizing she had a solution at hand, Emma switched to a one-handed grip, this time cutting a shallower scar across the Leech King's belly.

Before it could heal again, Emma withdrew a handful of holy tea leaves from her Inventory, shoving them into the open wound. She had to back flip immediately after to avoid a furious tail swipe, but the damage was already done. The Leech King was up and moving again, looking significantly angrier somehow, whilst the wound in its abdomen remained in place, pulsing with golden light. Turning its maw to the ceiling, the over-sized leech gurgled before spewing forth a tide of toxic green, a follow-up burst of compressed air scattering it in a perfect circle around the edges of the arena. Even as Emma looked on, the deadly substance settled into the floor, eating away at wood and paper alike. The four corners of the arena quickly crumbled and fell, leaving a cross shaped segment of twelve sections remaining.

"There's the timer," Emma snorted as she charged back into the fray, not surprised that the Dungeon's overseer had been misleading in her reply.

"There was no timer during your stalemate, so I never actually lied." Came the swift response to Emma's unspoken question.

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Putting that byplay out of her mind, Emma began a campaign of hit and run; darting forth for quick stabs to the side before retreating once more beyond the reach of bulk and maw. The wounds she inflicted in the process were far shallower than during their earlier melee, but every little counted, now that her foe could no longer heal. Moving forward diagonally, Emma dodged the second beam attack of the battle, taking the time for a proper two-handed slash as the Leech King left itself overextended as its breath weapon gradually tapered to a stop. He was bleeding from over two dozen cuts now, all bleeding gold as the holy attribute did its work against the creature of darkness. Then, evidently deciding that his current approach was a losing one, the Leech King tucked his head and tail into his abdomen, taking on the form of a misshapen rugby ball.

Then, as Emma came charging in, thinking he was hunkering down to try and heal somehow, he suddenly began to roll.

[-100 Anima]

Blindsided, Emma took his bulk full to the face, sending her flying clear of the platform entirely. Annoyed more than anything else at being caught off guard, Epitaph was summoned beneath her feet; the single second of solidity as it manifested enough for Emma to kick off against, propelling her back towards the arena. A second summon let Emma angle her descent, ensuring she landed behind the trajectory of the living boulder, and a third returned her weapon to hand.

[Anima: 63]

Despite the significant cost involved, this repositioning meant Emma quickly retook the advantage; as whilst rolling around granted the Leech King significant speed, it also made it impossible to adjust his direction on the fly, allowing Emma to simply follow behind him at a sprint and rain blows down continually on his back. Taking half a dozen serious wounds in as many seconds, the boss began to slow before coming to a halt, just as the last of his earlier acidic outburst ate away the outer edges of the cross-shaped arena, leaving only a square of four bookshelves remaining. Now in a much condensed version of the original platform, the Leech King staggered forward, trying to land a telling below with time not on his side. His wounds worked against him though, leaving him too sluggish to truly compete against Emma, whose undead state left her focus untouched so long as she had even a single point of Anima remaining.

In desperation, the Leech King inhaled one final time, contorting to point his maw straight down as power began to build. Wanting nothing to do with his final, suicidal attack, Emma plunged Epitaph into him to the hilt, using the blade as leverage to give an almighty push as she used the Leech King's smooth body against it. She didn't manage to move him much, given the weight involved, but only a little was needed for the tiny arena that remained. At long last, the Leech King fell into the mists below, Epitaph still lodged inside him as his final beam arced harmlessly through the air, a round of fireworks to close out the fight.

[The Leech King - Level 8 defeated!

200 EXP gained!]

Satisfied, Emma heaved a breath of relief, letting the adrenaline leave her limbs as she took the time to examine her status.

[Emma Knight - Level 6 Revenant

Race: Undead {LOCKED}

Alignment: True Neutral

Anima: 350

EXP: 1065/1100

Abilities

Summon Unholy Sword {Epitaph} (Cost: 50% current Anima)

No Pal of Mine: Capture the soul of enemies slain, creating a simulacrum identical in strength and fully obedient. 1 stored simulacrum per 10 levels, rounding up.

1/1 The Leech King - Level 8

Oversoul: Become intangible and possess the body of a living target. Only works on those with a lower level than the user, with effectiveness varying based on willpower.

Traits

Arcanivore: Enemies restore Anima when wounded or slain.

Wolf, Ram and Heart: All attacks imbued with Death magic, significantly increasing damage dealt.

Circle of Life: Increased affinity with animals. Decreased affinity with humans.

Inventory

Tea Kit (4/5th Bundle of Holy Tea Leaves, Kettle, Teacups, Matches)

Sir Bearington in a Box (Sealed - Level 4)

Add-Ons

Music Player: Most of YouTube's hits, all in your head.

Fast Travel

Academia Mortalis

Main Quests

404 - Answers Not Found

Objective: Discover the cause of the mana surge that brought about the Apocalypse

Reward: ???

Blood Borne

Objective: Find your Mother

Reward: ???

Cum Laude

Objective: Reach the 10th floor of Scholomance

Reward: ???, Save Point, Quest: Magna Cum Laude]

"Great, it worked!" Emma cheered, happy to see that leaving Epitaph embedded as the boss fell had satisfied the prerequisites of her blade's new ability.

Now, she had a formidable foe on call should the situation demand it, and that didn't even take into account her substantial gains in experience, having risen one level and made good progress to another; all that, and only halfway through the first floor of ten.

"Truly, the Dungeons are the best place to grow in power."

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