Part 4 of 8
A peninsula that protrudes from the continent, it is bordered by the Mystic Mountains, separating it from the inland territories.
The only way to reach this land is by traversing the Mystic Mountains or crossing the ocean.
But since the mountains are guarded by Nia and the other ice dragons, and the ocean guarded by the water dragons, it is virtually impossible to get here.
The only people who live in this isolated area are those who I bring here myself.
They are all people whose souls are reaching the end of their life span.
The system exploits the souls of those who live in this world, sapping their energy.
That in itself is inevitable. It is, in part, atonement for the sins the people of this world committed, after all, and a necessary sacrifice to extend the life of said world that was on the brink of destruction.
But there was a miscalculation: Because of that exploitation, some people’s souls began to reach their limits.
Perhaps D did not anticipate that restoring the world would take this long.
If the soul reaches its limits, all that awaits is destruction of the soul itself.
A nothingness that is a fate beyond death.
If that happens, then the soul can no longer be reincarnated.
In order to avoid that fate, the people whose souls have deteriorated too severely are sheltered here under my protection.
There are no monsters in this place.
It is because of the easily identifiable enemy known as monsters that people hone their skills to grow stronger.
But for the soul, skills are a heavy load.
The only way to guide souls to peace is to avoid acquiring or using skills as much as possible and live a peaceful life.
Most of the people here have only the bare minimum of skills.
Reigar, on the other hand, had far too many skills, so in his case, his soul deteriorated far too rapidly.
Because he developed a distaste for fighting, however, he was able to live his remaining years in peace, thus preventing any more strengthening of his skills and saving his soul from deteriorating any further.
It is not a fundamental solution, only a way of extending the soul’s life span somewhat, but it is certainly better than doing nothing at all.
Since all the people here have been gathered for that purpose, I cannot allow them to be killed by the oni.
If they die, they will reincarnate.
And in this world, once they are reincarnated, they will begin to put a load upon their souls.
This is the first reason that I must stop the oni reincarnation here.
The second reason is more of a personal wish.
I simply do not want to let this place be spoiled.
The people who live here are all individuals whose souls have severely decayed—humans and demons alike.
These two races, normally thought to be fated enemies, live here together in peace.
There are no monsters and no fights between people.
It is a miniature paradise, isolated from the outside world.
This paradise is the ideal world that Sariel once wished for.
And here in this place, that ideal is a reality.
Even if it is a temporary paradise, possible only because of my own maneuvering.
I know that the people here are able to live in peace only because they are aware that to do otherwise would be dangerous to their own souls.
But transient though it may be, this place is still a small realization of Sariel’s goal.
And I do not want it to be destroyed.
A terribly personal, foolish reason, to be sure.
But a part of me refuses to yield precisely because of that.
Perhaps I, too, am a prideful god who cares for my own wishes, if not to the same extent as D.
As that thought causes me to sink into a light spell of self-loathing, I oversee Nia’s battle.
ARRIVAL IN HEAVEN
Sleep, wake up, eat, make thread, eat, laze around, sleep.
Is this place heaven?
’Cause it’s everything I ever wanted!
“And what exactly have you been up to while I’ve been studying my fangs off?”
Ah. Vampy has come, a vein bulging on her forehead, to ruin my perfect paradise.
“Why don’t you study etiquette and such with me, since you clearly have nothing better to do?”
Vampy smiles as she forcibly drags me out of the room.
Nooo!
I don’t wanna go to school!
This is kinda sad, though. I’m not even strong enough to pull myself away from Vampy anymore.
Grrr! Will the loss of my stats ever stop ruining my life?!
Thus, I am forced to go along with Vampy.
By the way, if you’re wondering why the baby bloodsucker was able to enter my room in the first place, it’s because right after that hooligan attacked my room, she came and attacked me, too.
Yeah, I said it. She didn’t comfort me. She attacked me.
Sure, she came running when she heard the commotion, but her first response was to smile like an evil executive and say, “Oh, good. Now I can come in.”
Then she barged right into my room as if she’d been waiting for this moment, stared me down, and told me, “I hope you’ve learned your lesson. Don’t you dare block that door again.”
I guess this little girl wasn’t too happy about us holing up in my room.
I have to obey her, or she’ll kill me!
Riel and Fiel apparently feel the same way, since they’re clinging to my arms and trembling.
A little girl who paralyzes the other little girls with fear.
Talk about terrifying…
Wait, aren’t Riel and Fiel stronger than Vampy?!
Why are YOU guys scared?!
But in that moment, our terror made us give in to Vampy’s threat.
Dammit! This wasn’t supposed to happen!
And now that our room is open to visitors, Vampy has started coming to attack us whenever she has a chance.
Yeah, I said it. Not visit. Attack.
If she comes in the morning while we’re making thread, she interrupts our work and gets in the way, and if she comes during our elegant afternoon teatime, she steals all our snacks and cakes.
Without her guardian, Mera, around, she’s becoming a tyrant!
And now it’s come to this: forcibly abducting me.
Even my famously gentle personality can’t take much more of this, y’know?
But I’m keeping that to myself.
I’m sure Vampy is lonely, too.
She’s been separated from her beloved emotional support, Mera, not to mention her mentor figure, the Demon Lord.
Our life together on the road was pretty lively, so I’m sure the stark contrast of life here has made her lonely, which is why she’s lashing out like this.
Yep, that’s gotta be it.
But don’t worry. Your big sister here is super-kind and super-patient.
I can go along with a child’s selfish whims just fine!
Man, I’m so damn nice.
And thus, my and Vampy’s study-buddy adventure begins.
…Um, excuse me. Can I quit now? What? I can’t?
C’mooon! This suuuucks!
The regular lessons are one thing. The Demon Lord told us all kinds of things on the journey, and sometimes we read books and studied and stuff, so I understand most of what’s going on.
But the etiquette seminar? That’s no good!
What do you mean, the proper way to walk and eat and stuff?
Um, this is super-hard!
This must use different muscles from walking normally, ’cause I’m sore all over the place!
And for table manners, you have to be careful about all kinds of crap while you eat, so you can’t even enjoy the food properly! I don’t get to stuff myself to my heart’s content like I used to!
If I’m not gonna get to eat that much during the day, I wanna at least savor the flavors while I eat, but now I can’t even do that!
How do you ruin EATING?!
And then comes the horrible cherry on top—dance lessons!
Do I look like I can handle this level of intense exercise?
Are you trying to kill me?!
So by the time Vampy drags me back to my room, I’m a shell of my former self.
If I had to do combat training and stuff on top of that, I might seriously die.
Luckily, Vampy’s private tutor gives up on me before the combat stuff gets too far.
I wonder if I can convince the other teachers to give up on me, too?
Especially for the manners seminars.
By the way! If you ask me, manners are definitely what Vampy needs the most.
Like me, Vampy has learned a lot of stuff from the Demon Lord already, so she does all right with regular lessons, too.
There’s also the matter of our bonus knowledge from our prior lives, which means Vampy’s brain is leaps and bounds ahead of the other kiddos her age.
The teacher was even raving that she’s a child prodigy.
But etiquette? Not so much.
We obviously never had to learn fancy-pants manners in our old world, and the Demon Lord never bothered teaching us, since she’s not technically a noble, either.
Mera occasionally gave the baby bloodsucker simple lectures about it when he had the time, but that wasn’t super-in-depth. If anything, that vampire duo was always more focused on combat training than etiquette.
Talk about violent.
So Vampy’s manners are age appropriate, or maybe even a little higher.
Noble kids get etiquette drilled into them from birth, I guess. Is that scary or what?
Although I think it’s impressive that Vampy’s manners are almost as good as the real noble kids who grew up with this stuff.
Me?
Well, I already look like I’m high school age!
The etiquette teacher took one look at me and said “Oh, dear me!” all right?!
She must’ve been thinking that it would be a treat to teach a student who somehow hasn’t learned manners at this age!
Um, ’scuse me? I know I don’t look it, but I’m about the same age as Vampy, y’know?
Don’t let my appearance fool you.
I’m just a cute little girl!
So go a little easier on me, please, and thank you.
But on top of these horrible daily etiquette lessons that leave me sore to the bone, there are two other things that have been driving me up the wall.
One is that I’m not getting anywhere with my efforts to restore my power.
The other… Well, I guess it’s a person, not a thing.
“Yo.”
“Go away.”
It’s our old pal Hooligan, who gets a cold reception from Vampy every time he arrives.
Yeah, that’s right.
For some reason, this stupid pyromaniac who I thought I’d never have to see again has been showing up all the damn time.
Uh, Mr. Head Butler?
Didn’t you say you wouldn’t let this guy near me again?
But getting mad at the head butler would be barking up the wrong tree.
This damn hooligan is craftier than he looks, ’cause he’s been making a point of showing up only whenever the head butler’s not around.
Since the head butler serves the head of the house, Balto, he has to go to the Demon Lord’s castle from time to time.
Between being Balto’s assistant and running this place, the head butler is extremely busy.
Hooligan takes advantage of that to come attack when we’re unprotected.
The rest of the staff doesn’t seem to be able to stop him, since he’s the master of the house’s little brother and all, so the maids end up bringing him here with apologetic looks on their faces.
See, this is exactly why you can’t give problem children any authority!
“Beat it. Brats should mind their own damn business.”
“Then perhaps you should mind your own business, too. Since you clearly have the mind of a brat yourself.”
A cold breeze blows through the room out of nowhere.
And I don’t mean metaphorically. There’s seriously wind blowing in this room.
The magic power seeping out of Vampy and Hooligan, who have Ice and Fire attributes respectively, clash against each other and form wind because of the drastic temperature difference.
Since it’s so cold, that means Vampy’s power is probably beating Hooligan’s. Cool.
By the way, it’s freezing in here, so could you cut it out?
Why has my precious teatime turned into a battlefield?
I don’t get it. I just don’t get it…
Well, if you don’t understand something, best to just leave it alone, right?
With that in mind, I sip my tea, which has gotten a little cold thanks to the freezing air.
Riel and Fiel stuff their faces with tea cakes, ignoring Hooligan completely.
These guys are supposed to be my bodyguards, but Hooligan barges in so damn often that they don’t even pay him any attention anymore.
Thanks a lot, guys.
And you, Hooligan. How does it feel to be glaring daggers at a little girl like Vampy?
She definitely seems to hate his guts.
But from a neutral perspective, the sight of this tough guy and a tiny girl staring each other down is pretty surreal.
Uh-oh. Now they’re cursing each other out?
I’ll leave the contents of their insults to your imagination.
Although frankly, it’s only because they’re being so juvenile, it doesn’t seem worth relaying the details to you.
I guess they say fights break out only between people of around the same level…
“Sael.” Getting heated, Vampy snaps Sael’s name.
Sael, who’s been sitting frozen with her cup in hand, stands up immediately.
Okay, stop! Time-out!
I order Sael to sit back down by way of a hand gesture.
Obediently, she sits back down.
Whew.
Listen, Vampy. I don’t care how worked up you are; you can’t use Sael for this.
She doesn’t understand jokes, okay?
If you tell her to attack, she really will kill him on the spot.
Whatever insane orders you give her in the heat of the moment, Sael will act on them no matter what.
This is a handle-with-care warning, all right? You have to be super-careful when you give Sael orders or else!
…And no, I’m not secretly thinking that it wouldn’t be so bad if she really did kill Hooligan, since he’s super-annoying.
There is no part of me that thinks I could totally blame it on Vampy if it happened like that.
Nope. Not even a little.
“Seriously, what did you even come here for?! Just leave already!”
“Shut up, dammit! I ain’t here to talk to you, that’s for sure! Besides, this is my damn house!”
Ahhh, so peaceful.
Looking away from Vampy and Hooligan, I take a bite of a cake.
“And, you! Quit ignoring me, dammit!”
Geh! Now he’s turning on me?!
I don’t wanna deal with that, so I’ll just stare off into next week and pretend not to hear him.
“Pffft! She doesn’t even want to look at your face, you see? How sad.”
“Urgh!”
Vampy grins triumphantly, which just makes Hooligan even angrier.
Why would Vampy be triumphant about that anyway?
More importantly, can’t Hooligan just go away already?
Seriously, he’s such a pain.
“I just came today to drop this crap off! See ya!”
Hooligan practically slams some kind of bottle down on the table, then stomps away.
I guess he finally picked up on the fact that I really don’t want him here.
If he knows that, I wish he’d stop getting into it with Vampy every time.
Or more importantly, just don’t come here at all.
Unlike my private irritation, Vampy watches him go and huffs loudly.
Honestly, I wish you would stop picking fights with him, too.
It’s cold, literally.
“What is this anyway? Hmm? Liquor?”
Vampy’s attention quickly shifts from Hooligan to the bottle he left on the table. She picks it up and squints at it suspiciously.
“Doesn’t seem to be poisoned. It’s just regular liquor.”
She must have investigated with Appraisal.
Why liquor, though?
C’mon, Hooligan, my dude. What kind of gift for a lady is that?
Oh, maybe it’s because my pal the Demon Lord is probably boozing it up all the time in the Demon Lord’s castle?
Well, I don’t know if that’s true. But why else would he pick liquor as a gift?
He wouldn’t…right?
An alcoholic might be happy about a gift like this, but I’m a healthy, wholesome child.
I’m healthy, okay? I just have a teeny bit of a weak constitution.
Well, I guess this probably just means that Hooligan is running out of gift ideas.
At first, he brought bouquets of flowers.
Although Vampy froze those in ice and smashed them on the floor right away.
He’s brought a bunch of different presents after that, but it seems like all his research has led him to conclude that food and drink are our favorites.
I mean, he’s not wrong.
Although I still think liquor is kind of a weird move.
“…Maybe just a little.”
For some reason, Vampy takes the lid off the bottle and sniffs the contents.
“Oof!”
That alone is enough to send her reeling.
Ah, right. Vampy really can’t handle her liquor.
During our travels, the Demon Lord bought alcohol by the barrel and drank it on the regular.
We joined her sometimes, but Vampy wasn’t allowed to drink, since she was an infant and all.
Although she still stole a few sips on occasion when the Demon Lord was distracted.
But whenever she did manage to drink, she always passed out immediately.
I guess being extremely weak to alcohol might be in her genes.
According to Mera, Vampy’s mom also fell asleep whenever she had even the smallest amount of alcohol, so she must have passed that down to her kid.
Judging by Vampy’s current reaction, she can’t even smell it safely.
Talk about wimpy.
Evidently realizing she can’t drink it, Vampy looks dissatisfied as she puts it back on the table.
…Hmmmm.
Come to think of it, I guess I haven’t had any alcohol since my deification.
When I was an arachne, I used to drink along with the Demon Lord from time to time, but after the deification stuff happened, she forbade me from drinking because of my feeble state.
I believe she said something like, “Yeah, no, I don’t think White should drink anymore.”
And yeah, I guess she wasn’t wrong.
The only reason I was able to handle my liquor so well as an arachne is because I had those stats and resistance skills and stuff.
Without all that, my body is super-weak and unprotected.
So it makes sense to conclude that I shouldn’t be drinking in a state like that.
To be honest, even I’m sure that drinking now would totally make me sick!
But wait!
Doesn’t that mean I should rise to the challenge?!
If I live my life in fear forever, how will I ever move forward?!
Now is the time to take the first step!
In other words, what I’m saying is that I wanna drink alcohol again.
It’s human nature to want to try something when you’re told that you can’t. Although I’m a spider, not a human.
My memories around drinking are kinda vague for some reason, but I do remember being pretty happy when I did it.
And since the Demon Lord isn’t around to keep an eye on me, this is the perfect chance to recapture that happiness buried deep in memories past, right?
So c’mon—let’s give it a try!
Since I’ve finished the tea in my cup, I pour some liquor into it instead.
“You’re going to drink it? Take it slow, all right?”
Vampy stares at me reproachfully.
Those puppy-dog eyes aren’t going to stop me, little girl!
Fortunately, it appears that Riel and Fiel aren’t going to try, either.
In fact, they’re holding out their cups like they’re waiting for their turn.
All right, then. You guys can be my accomplices.
Yesss, come to the dark side. Heh-heh-heh.
I pour some liquor into Riel’s and Fiel’s cups.
Sael’s, too, although I don’t know if she’s actually gonna drink it.
The liquid in our cups looks like a dark red wine.
The aroma is definitely pretty strong, too.
Oh yeah. You could almost get drunk off the smell alone.
If you’re going to give a woman alcohol, shouldn’t you at least pick something a little more drinkable?
That stupid Hooligan just doesn’t get it.
Well, whatever. Bottoms up!
We clink our cups together, then gulp them down.
Whew! That’s strong!
The taste and the alcohol content are both crazy intense!
Is it just me, or is this stuff meant for fancy connoisseurs?
My throat feels kinda weird, and my head is all spinny, and… Huh?
Hrmmm? Why’s Vampy moving back and forth like a metronome?
Huh?
Now THAT’s weird.
When did Vampy learn how to make the entire world wobble around like that?
I didn’t even know that skill existed.
To cause a natural disaster like this, it must be some kinda super-advanced earth magic or something!
“Stooop! Quit shaking it! You’re gonna break the world!”
“Huh? What are you talking about?”
“Waaaah! Stop iiiit!”
“What do you mean?! H-hey, are you all right?”
Obviously not! That’s why I’m telling you to stop!
I guess I have no choice but to stop you myself!
Hiyah!
“…?! I don’t know what’s going on, but this seems dangerous! Sael!”
For some reason, Sael comes flying at me.
I must admit, it’s impressive that she can move so freely in this wobbly space.
But no! I won’t let a tackle like that stop me!
Repulsion, activate!
“Huh?!”
My Repellent Evil Eye power blows Sael away as she tries to leap toward me.
At the same time, I stretch out my hands toward Riel and Fiel, who have been trying to sneak up on me from either side.
Eat my Black Wave Motion Gun!
Waves of darkness pulse out of my hands, slamming Riel and Fiel into the walls.
Bwa-ha-ha!
You’re a hundred years too early to defeat me!
Now that the three puppet spiders are incapacitated, I tie them up in thread and hang them upside down from the ceiling.
While I’m at it, let’s get Vampy up there, too, since this is all her fault in the first place!
“What the—?!”
Vampy dangles upside down in midair, her skirt flipped all the way upward.
She’s trying to hold it in place, but I can totally see her cutesy undies.
“Put me down! Put me down!”
Bwa-ha-ha!
Don’t even bother trying to freeze my thread with your magic.
My Antimagic Evil Eye will mess up your power before you can make a single spell.
So why hasn’t the world stopped wobbling yet?
I can’t believe she just casually used a spell so powerful that it doesn’t stop even if the caster is incapacitated!
“Stay up there for a while and think about what you’ve done!” I yell.
“What do you mean?! Why are you doing this to me?!”
Vampy’s shrieks of despair are music to my ears.
Something about her teary-eyed expression puts a grin on my face.
I kinda want to make her cry some more.
So I spin some thread around into a little feather-like shape.
“Huh? Wait! What are you going to do with that?! Stop! Nooo!”
Aaaand up the nose it goes.
“Eep! A-a-achoo! Achoo! Waaah…”
Okay, now it’s tickling time.
Coochie coochie coo.
“Eeeeek! Noooooo!”
Ah-ha-ha-ha-haaaa!
…Oof.
Ouch. Uuurgh…
Good morning.
Hoo, boy, my head hurts.
Water…
I make some thread to pull the pitcher of water over to my hand.
Ah, I don’t have a cup.
Oh well.
I pour some water out of the pitcher, then manipulate it in midair to carry it to my mouth.
Whew. Muuuch better.
…Huh?
Hmm? Hmm? HMMMM?!
Excuse me?! What did I just do?!
I pulled the pitcher over with thread and moved water around in midair?
I try to do it again but then realize there’s no more water in the pitcher.
But that’s not important right now.
I turn my hand over.
As I stare into my palm, I can see what I’ve been trying to see all this time but couldn’t until now: the movement of energy.
I manipulate it and form a rune.
Like the kind my magic skills used to make.
Once it’s fully formed, the rune summons a ball of darkness, just like I pictured.
A floating mass of energy, around the size of a tennis ball.
I close my hand and crush it in my fingers.
A tiny explosion occurs inside my clenched fist.
But when I open my hand again, there’s not a single scratch.
Because I enhanced my defensive power and guarded against it.
“I’m back.”
Without thinking, I mutter aloud.
I’m finally back.
I don’t know what caused it exactly, but I can finally use my powers again!
I don’t think I can do things as freely as I was able to at the height of my power, but it’s still a whole lot better than not being able to do anything at all.
Aaaaah! I did it!
Woo-hoo! Woo-hoo-hoooo!
I’m back! I’m baaaack!
I can feel it. I can feel the energy overflowing inside me!
And I can see it. I can use my Evil Eyes again, and I can see what I wasn’t able to…see…before?
As I’m doing all this seeing, I notice the unconscious bodies all around me.
Vampy is hanging upside down with a very unladylike expression, and Sael, Riel, and Fiel are dangling from the ceiling, too.
Huh? What the heck are you guys doing up there?
THE VAMPIRE PRINCESS’S MIDNIGHT LESSON
“Aaaaargh! It just doesn’t make sense!”
I scream into my pillow in my guest room.
That alone isn’t enough to cure my irritation, so I grab the pillow and start smacking it violently against the bed.
“Why was it so impossible to fight back against her?! She was drunk! Drunk!”
As I continue to smack the pillow, the cloth tears open, sending the feathers inside scattering through the air.
Finding them annoying as they swirl around the room, I freeze all of them in an instant and shatter them to tiny pieces.
That’s become easy for me after all the sleepless nights I’ve spent training.
Ever since I lost to that horrid oni in the Mystic Mountains, I’ve been training in secret late at night. I haven’t been able to do anything too big lest I wake anyone, but thanks to that, I’ve gotten very good at precise manipulation.
At this point, my control is such that I can use even a fairly powerful spell indoors without causing any damage to the room around me.
It might not be flashy, but I definitely feel like I’ve been steadily gaining strength.
So why?!
I couldn’t even lay a hand on that lush!
Literally! She tied up my arms and legs with that damn thread!
It doesn’t make sense!
I mean, yes, White has always been incredibly powerful, so it makes sense that she’d be stronger than I am if she got her powers back. I know that, all right?
But how could she get her powers back by going on a drunken rampage like that?!
It could’ve at least been something a little more dramatic!
Like when she managed to produce thread again to save me when my life was in danger—now that was a pretty good scenario!
I was actually a little moved by that, you know?!
Give me those feelings back!
Whew.
The glittering particles of ice on the floor are rather pretty in their own way, I suppose.
I feel a bit calmer now.
Sael looks flustered in her corner of the room, but that’s her default state of being, so I’ll just ignore her.
As difficult as it is to swallow, I have to recognize that this is the reality of things.
I should be happy that White got her powers back.
If she stayed that frail forever, she wouldn’t be able to defend herself. And we don’t know when the elves might attack, so it’s best for all of us if she has power.
But if she’s back to her full strength, that puts me lower on the power hierarchy again.
She’s already proven that I’m powerless against her.
Remembering the ungainly way she hung me upside down and tormented me, I feel my face flush with humiliation and anger.
Aaargh!
What in the world is that thread made out of anyway?!
Why wouldn’t it budge or freeze no matter what I did to it?! It’s unbelievable!
I’m actually pretty strong myself, you know.
Of all the private combat instructors who work in the mansion, not one of them is stronger than I am.
And these are employees of a high-ranking royal demon family, so surely they’re exceptional even for their race.
Frankly, they were so weak that they couldn’t teach me a thing.
From a normal perspective, that means I’m quite strong, doesn’t it?
So why couldn’t I lay a finger on her?!
During our journey, I was never once able to beat Ael in a mock battle, either.
If I couldn’t beat Ael, that probably means I can’t beat Sael, Riel, or Fiel, either, doesn’t it?
And of course, Miss Ariel goes without saying.
But now I couldn’t even defend myself against White?
Why am I surrounded by such freakishly strong people?
I started to suspect this while we were traveling, but now I’m sure: It’s not that I’m weak; it’s just that the people around me are way too strong.
So it’s not my fault I can never beat them!
Even if it is frustrating to lose all the time!
Is it just me, or have I spent my whole life losing?
I lost against that oni last time, too.
Aaaah! Just thinking about it again makes me so angry!
Next time I see him, I’m going to beat him to a pulp!
That’s right. I’m not weak at all.
It’s just bad luck that I’m never able to win in spite of that.
My specs are definitely high, so if I just keep honing myself like I have been, then I should get stronger. Maybe I’ll start spending more time raising my skills, too.
…But is that really going to be good enough?
Not to brag, but I think I’ve been training quite intently all this time.
And yet, I still wasn’t able to beat White.
If I keep going at this rate, I don’t see how that’s going to change.
I need some kind of weapon.
Next time I fight that oni, I do think I can win.
I was at a major disadvantage because I didn’t have my weapon last time.
I glance over at my personal weapon, which I keep in my room: a huge broadsword that’s currently taller than I am.
Miss Ariel picked it up at a secret auction, among other fine items.
I fell in love with it at first sight, and she agreed to give it to me as my personal weapon.
It’s a sword made from the claw of a legendary-class monster, Fenrir. I’m sure it could fend off any attacks from that oni’s katana.
I was able to hold my own pretty well against him even without a weapon, and I’ve gotten even stronger since then.
There’s no reason I would lose.
But if I just stop there, then I’ll never get anywhere.
For now, my present goal will be winning against Ael.
My stats should catch up to hers soon enough, and if I train the skills I already have, I think they’ll serve me quite well.
From there, I can see myself attaining perfection.
Close combat with my broadsword, long-distance attacks with water and ice, plus some special tricks with my vampire abilities.
If I combine a solid magic-knight style with my vampire abilities like Kin Summoning and Mist Form, I honestly think I could become quite a troublesome opponent, especially when encountering someone for the first time.
See? I am strong after all, no?
And yet, even if I was to achieve that perfect form, I seriously doubt I could beat White or Miss Ariel. Even against Ael, I think it would be a narrow victory.
It’s hopeless.
Utterly hopeless.
Yes, I definitely need more weapons.
I think I already have quite a few good cards in my hand, but I can’t just settle for that.
Appraising myself, I take a look over my skill list.
Are there any skills I could acquire that would synergize well with my fighting style?
Pacing around the room, I go back and forth between the list of my skills and of skills I haven’t acquired over and over.
Fortunately, I still have plenty of skill points.
White’s brutal training method prioritized acquiring skills naturally through training instead of spending skill points.
If I wanted to, I could acquire tons of skills all at once.
But a bunch of level-1 skills won’t help me in the least.
Perhaps they would expand my options, but considering the time it would take to level up all those new skills, most of them would probably go to waste.
And even if I did have that many, I might not be able to use them all to their fullest potential in battle. Even Miss Ariel says that she has plenty of skills that she barely ever uses.
So the best approach would be to find one or two skills that suit my style well and focus on those.
I already have just about every close combat–related skill that could help me with my broadsword.
And as far as magic goes, I’ve been working hard at Water and Ice Magic, since I’m best suited to those, and I have Dark Magic as a fallback, so I don’t think I need any others.
Which means the ideal addition would be something to strengthen my vampire abilities.
Hmm.
Nothing really jumps out at me, though.
The special abilities of vampires can be broken down into three broad categories: bloodsucking, blood control, and kin.
Bloodsucking, as the name implies, allows me to suck someone’s blood and receive various boons.
For example, I can sap the victim’s stats and skills and temporarily make them my own.
The ability to turn the victim into a vampire, which makes them subservient to me, falls into this category.
Fang-related skills, like Poison Fang and Paralyzing Fang, would probably be the best pairing for that.
But it would probably be more effective to pick up the superior versions of those, like Paralysis Attack and Poison Attack.
Besides, it’s not like I actually bite people in battle all that often.
I did bite the oni when I fought him, but that was only because I had no other weapons.
Blood control is the ability to manipulate my own blood.
It has various uses, like improving my healing abilities or producing blood bullets, spears, and so on just like Water Magic.
In recent training, I’ve learned that I can combine it with Water Magic to improve its maneuverability and ease of use. If I mix some of my own blood into water produced by Water Magic, I can manipulate it completely freely.
I think I’ll be able to use that even better than regular blood control.
Kin abilities allow me to summon familiar-like creatures, separate from those who become my kin when I suck their blood.
The summoned kin exist only for a temporary amount of time, and I can control them to my will.
True to the traditional image of vampires, the kin I can summon are creatures like bats and wolves.
I can also transform myself into the shape of these creatures.
Skills like Cooperation and Leadership might work well with these kin-related abilities, improving my use of these summons.
But there’s one problem: Those summons are pretty weak.
On average, each one has stats around 1,000.
If I train some more, they’ll probably get stronger, but I’d like them to be closer to the 10,000 range.
Since they’re only around a tenth of that strength, I don’t think improving my skills in that department would be very helpful.
Whenever I tried summoning them against Ael, she crushed them immediately. If they’re fighting anything stronger than themselves, I don’t know if they would even be able to serve as a diversion.
In that case, Kin Summoning isn’t very cost-effective.
It might be useful against a weaker opponent to overwhelm them with numbers, but if it doesn’t work on any really strong opponents, that’s not terribly enticing.
Still, there can’t be any harm in gaining skills like Cooperation and Leadership, so I suppose I’ll keep them on the list of possibilities.
So if bloodsucking and kin control aren’t all that useful, I suppose that means enhancing blood control is my best bet.
But what new skills would improve my blood control?
I already have any skills that would help with Water Magic, which works in tandem with blood control.
Hmm. Blood…blood…
The first thought that comes to mind is Merazophis’s blood.
The sensation of biting into his neck and drinking up his blood.
Immediately, my face grows hot.
Oh dear. Now is not the time to be imagining that kind of thing.
Don’t I have any other memories related to blood?
Then something hits me—and unlike that memory of Merazophis, it’s far less pleasant.
Ah, I don’t want to think about that.
I believe that was when I was young in my previous life.
It was an old movie I saw on TV, with blood-related imagery that left an intense impression on me.
The movie was part of a famous series, in which alien monsters attack humanity…creepy monsters covered in sticky liquid, with a second set of jaws inside their mouths.
My father in that life loved those movies and often rented them to watch at home.
I was very young when I saw them, so they were a bit traumatic for me.
The monsters were terrifying, and most of the human characters were brutally murdered by them.
That definitely wasn’t anything a little kid should’ve been watching.
I don’t remember the details of the story, but I definitely couldn’t forget those creepy monsters, no matter how much I tried.
And there was one particular feature of those monsters that had to do with blood.
If I remember correctly, their blood was highly acidic.
I distinctly recall being on the verge of tears when a character finally defeated a monster, only to be mortally wounded by the spray of its blood.
Acidic blood.
I don’t want to have anything in common with those awful creatures, but it wouldn’t be a terrible way to increase my offensive power, would it?
In fact, it doesn’t even need to be blood. I specialize in Water Magic, so couldn’t I just make that water acidic somehow?
Sure enough, when I look over the list of skills I haven’t acquired, I find the Acid Attack skill.
It’s only a mere 100 points to acquire it, so I do so without hesitation.
While I’m at it, I pick up Acid Enhancement for another 100 points, too.
To test it out, I produce a sphere of water with Water Magic, add acid to it, and throw the remains of the pillow inside.
Bit by bit, the pillow slowly melts inside the sphere.
Well, I suppose that’s about all you can expect from a level-1 skill.
It seems like it’ll combine well enough with Water Magic, though.
That means I can enhance my attack power without having to change my usual battle style.
Not a bad purchase, if I do say so myself.
Hmmmm.
Well, now that I’ve upped my offense a bit, what can I do about defense?
I suppose my defense is already pretty high to begin with, though.
Thanks to the Undying Body skill I was born with, I can survive my HP being reduced to 0, albeit only once a day. Undying Body also enhances my resistances, and I’ve already acquired every resistance skill available.
I haven’t reached the nullification stage for any of them yet, of course, but it takes long and tireless training to level up a resistance skill, so that’s one thing I can’t really rush along.
I still remember the early days when I thought it was crazy to deliberately hurt yourself for that purpose.
So I won’t be able to enhance my defense right away.
Other than that, I already have just about every buff skill available, though I suppose I could still work on debuffs—skills that weaken the enemy’s abilities.
I already have two debuff methods so far: Cursed Evil Eye and Paralyzing Evil Eye.
Cursed Evil Eye lowers the stats and reduces the HP, MP, and SP of any target within view.
And as the name implies, Paralyzing Evil Eye paralyzes the target.
The Evil Eye skills are said to be quite rare, available only to certain races or those with a gift for that kind of technique. Merazophis and I can acquire them because we’re vampires.
I’m told that White once had many advanced versions of the Evil Eye skills, which have even more powerful effects, but evidently she couldn’t use them without Perseverance, one of the Seven Heavenly Virtues skills.
But even if the limited Evil Eye skills I could acquire are inferior versions, they’re still quite powerful.
However, each eye can use only one Evil Eye skill at a time, so since I already have two different kinds, acquiring more wouldn’t do me much good.
Although if I really wanted to strengthen them, I could always sink a bunch of skill points into the Evil Eye skills I already have.
In addition to acquiring new ones, skill points can also be used to raise the skill level of skills you already have.
However, since you can raise skill levels with training, it does seem like a bit of a waste.
Besides, if I was going to raise a skill level like that, I’d rather do it for a different skill.
I glance at the skill in question.
Jealousy LV 9.
The lesser form of the Seven Deadly Sins skill Envy, it’s already quite high-level.
Miss Ariel and White told me in no uncertain terms that I should never raise that skill’s level.
The Seven Deadly Sins skills are powerful, but they also have negative effects on your mind, they said. Their advantages are great, but the disadvantages are great as well.
The way the Wrath skill reduced that oni to little more than a rampaging beast is proof enough of that.
If my Jealousy skill evolves into Envy, then I might go on a rampage, too, albeit in a different way than that oni.
That frightens me.
But at the same time, I can’t help thinking…since it’s already level 9, I’m sure it will evolve into Envy eventually, even if I try to leave it alone.
If it’s going to happen anyway, shouldn’t I just get it out of the way sooner?
The Seven Deadly Sins all seem to be extremely strong, and if I’m going to acquire it whether I like it or not, maybe I should just do it right now.
It’s a tempting thought.
Thus far, I’ve been able to hold myself back, constantly reminding myself that I mustn’t do such a thing.
But now, the memory of being tormented by White overcomes that self-restraint.
<Proficiency has reached the required level.
Skill [Jealousy LV 9] has become [Jealousy LV 10].>
<Condition satisfied.
Skill [Jealousy LV 10] has evolved into skill [Envy].>
<Proficiency has reached the required level.
Acquired skill [Taboo LV 1].>
<Proficiency has reached the required level.
Skill [Taboo LV 1] has become [Taboo LV 2].>
<Condition satisfied.
Acquired title [Ruler of Envy].>
<Acquired skills [Divine Scales LV 10] [Root of Evil] as a result of Title [Ruler of Envy].>
Hmm? How very strange.
For some reason, I’ve lost some skill points, and my Jealousy skill turned into Envy.
Oh dear. I suppose these things do happen.
…All right, I did it.
No, it’s not like that! It was just a little whim, that’s all!
I wonder what White and Miss Ariel would do if they knew I disobeyed their instructions…
No, it’ll be fine.
Right now, I’m the only one who knows.
Then I remember that there’s someone else in the room.
Whirling around, I see Sael still crouching in the corner, staring at me with a curious expression.
I-it’s fine.
Sael doesn’t know that I just acquired a skill, I’m sure.
It’s fine. It’ll be fine!
I don’t feel any of the mind-corrupting effects just yet that Miss Ariel mentioned.
It might be the sort of thing that happens over time without one noticing, but as long as I don’t overuse the Envy skill, I imagine nothing too terrible will happen.
The effect of Jealousy is to disable a target’s skills.
And it can’t be blocked by resistance skills, either.
In other words, if I use Envy, I can make it so that my opponent can’t use their skills.
Jealousy did the same thing, but now it can’t be resisted, and the limit on how many skills I can disable appears to have been lifted.
Yes, this could definitely be a good trump card against that oni.
Its only really threatening skill was Wrath, so if I disable that skill, I’ll be able to win for sure.
Besides, by gaining the Ruler of Envy title, I’ve gained two more skills, and my stats have even increased a bit.
It doesn’t look like I can activate the Root of Evil skill, but the Divine Scales skill is amazing!
When I try it out, it produces peculiar scales over my skin.
They’re incredibly hard to the touch.
And on top of enhancing my pure defensive skill, they even dampen the effects of magic.
Now my physical and magical defense have both gone up at once.
Acid Attack for offense.
Divine Scales for defense.
Envy for debuffing.
They’ve all improved at once.
Part 4 of 8