Chapter 349: Curses, Curses (1/2)
Acting quickly, Mike released the mana he'd been holding, infusing his mind and enhancing his willpower. With the resulting clarity, he did three things simultaneously, straining his concentration to the utmost to do so.
First, he sent a quick mental impulse to Selene, indicating that she should begin her own attack. Second, he activated the magical traps he'd placed in the vicinity of the tunnel entrance, causing the area to erupt in a virtual hellstorm of fire. The twelve runic symbols he'd carved into the ground and charged with his mana each created fireballs that exploded with the force of an anti-tank missile.
Finally, since he knew that those traps probably wouldn't do any lasting damage to the vampires, he took two steps back and conjured a sword with Earth Magic.
It was good that he did, since a claw-like hand encased in a red, glowing aura swept through the space he'd been occupying mere heartbeats ago. Esmerelda's face followed soon after, mouth twisted in another grin. Mike could see a few burned patches of her skin regenerating even as she moved closer, arm held threateningly.
He wasn't sure what kind of attack that might be, but he quickly decided that he wanted no part of it. Falling into a Flowing River stance, he swept his created blade under the girl's arm, deflecting it away while carving into a section of her torso in a spray of blood.
Unsurprisingly, the ancient vampire was unphased by the injury, and continued attacking with her other arm. As she did so, she started laughing. ”HAHAHA! That's more like it! I heard you were a warrior as well as a mage! It's been so long since I've had a good fight. Try not to disappoint me!”
[Why do all of my enemies want to banter in the middle of fights?] He thought while infusing Water Magic into his sword style. A swirling nimbus of clear liquid surrounded the blade of his sword as he stepped into the vampire's range.
With a slow and effortless movement, he slipped past his enemy. A metallic ring filled the air as he did so. For a moment there did not appear to be any cause for such a sound, but soon Esmerelda's left arm fell to the ground neatly severed at the shoulder.
The vampire looked down at it for a second, still grinning and muttered. ”It's been awhile since I've seen someone use Almiran swordsmanship. Not bad, but I hope you don't think that will be enough to stop me.”
Tendrils of blood extended from the stump of her arm and attached themselves to the rest of her limb, before quickly retracting with a slurping noise that was the most disturbing part of the entire process.
Sighing, he raised his sword again, preparing for the next attack. ”I assumed that it would have little effect on you, but I was interested in testing the limits of your regeneration. Tell me, did you simply reattach your arm as a means of more fully demonstrating your healing capacity to demoralize me, or are the mana requirements for a complete regrowth too draining for you to use it while still playing around?”
For the first time since the start of the fight, the girl showed a flicker of disconcertion, little more than a momentary tightening of the eyes, but Mike had been watching for it.
[Alright, that confirms it. Her regeneration works like mine. She can heal from pretty much anything so long as she has the mana for it, but once that's exhausted…]
Meanwhile, Selene was chasing the other vampire who was retreating while firing his rifle. The former Vargulf had so far managed to dodge the worst of these volleys, and deflect the rest with her staff, but Mike could see a few grazes had left their mark. She was taking a dangerous course of action, but he suspected that she had no other choice.
[I'm not sure how strong she is, but I doubt she's going to be able to do much more than buy time against an enemy like that.]
”Clever, but don't think that will be enough to beat me.” Esmerelda replied, stealing back Mike's attention. ”I've read the reports on your fights up to this point. Hells, I've even seen a few of them, and you've never faced anyone as powerful as me. As soon as I get serious, this little match of ours will be over.”
[She seems a bit unstable. Almost as if her physical immaturity was having an effect on her personality...Or maybe she just has a screw loose after living for more than a thousand years. Either way, I can use this to my advantage. I don't have the mana to get into a battle of attrition, so I need to kick this into high gear.]
Mike gave her a level look. ”I've only known you for a few minutes, and I can already tell that you are a certain type of person.”
The vampire narrowed her eyes in displeasure. ”Oh?”
”In my homeland, we would call you a poser.”
”Poser? Is that supposed to be an insult?”
He smirked. ”Only if you think being called a jumped-up weakling with no real skill to back up your claims is an insult.”
Esmerelda's face became emotionless as a wave of unseen pressure filled the area. So intense was her sudden presence, that it even caused the other two combatants to stagger, briefly bringing a halt to the dangerous game of cat and mouse they'd been engaging in.
A dark and ominous red aura surrounded the girl, and she raised one hand in his direction before growling. ”I was planning on taking my time with you, but I think I'm going to kill you now.”
As soon as she'd finished speaking, the aura surged forward and attempted to latch onto him. Feeling a deep sense of foreboding about the whole thing, he quickly leapt back while creating a mana shield. The tendril of dark energy passed through the wall of mana like it wasn't there, and continued chasing him, forcing him to continuously evade.
”That won't help you.” The vampire announced while he was still moving around quickly. ”Once my ability has been activated, you cannot escape it. So long as I retain my consciousness, it will continue to seek you out until it has reached you.”
[Some kind of sure-kill technique? But that seems contrary to the nature of the System. For every method of attack, there is at least some means of defending yourself from it. Maybe this ability has some kind of activation requirement?]
Deciding that offense was the best defense, Mike dodged the tendril one last time before launching himself in Esmerelda's direction, sword clad in a sheet of flames. He trailed the tip of the blade along the ground and, once he got close, swept it up diagonally to both sever her outstretched arm and cleave into her torso.
At first, it looked like he'd succeeded in cutting her in half, and he felt a cautious optimism. However, it was quickly dashed when he saw a smile on the vampire's lips. A sudden chill swept through him as a dark red aura began crawling up his body. It took a moment to realize that her ability must have activated.
He leapt back to create some distance, and as he was doing so, he noticed that Esmerelda's left hand, which had been originally hanging at her side was raised, a similar dark aura surrounding it.