Chapter 349: Curses, Curses (2/2)

[Shit. I fell for it.]

With the same kind of blood-like tendrils as before, she reconnected the two halves of her body, and in less than a second was standing whole and undamaged. Glancing down at the shredded remains of her dress, she frowned for a moment, and then the bloodied rags began sewing themselves back together, albeit in a much rougher form than they were previously.

”I liked this dress, but I suppose it is a small price to pay to lure you into letting your guard down. Now that my ability has activated, any chance you had of surviving this fight has come to an end.”

Mike tried using Appraise on the aura, just in case it had some effect, but unfortunately it wasn't recognized as a legitimate target. That being said, besides the visual aspect, there didn't appear to be any actual effects.

”So, is this supposed to be some kind of delayed death curse, or something?” He asked nonchalantly.

The vampire tilted her head slightly. ”Hm, you don't seem to be worried yet. Very well, let me demonstrate.”

She raised one hand and without any further explanation, stabbed herself in the stomach. Almost immediately afterwards, Mike felt an intense pain in his abdomen, like someone had impaled him with a red-hot poker. Looking down he saw a fist-sized hole had appeared just above his navel.

Caught by surprise, he staggered and nearly fell to one knee at the sudden agony.

”HAHAHA! How's that for a poser?!” Esmerelda mocked while pulling her hand free. ”Do you see now how it is all hopeless?”

Spitting a bit of blood out, he took a ragged breath and replied. ”So your ability is basically linking our injuries? And because you can heal so easily, that means you can inflict whatever kind of damage you want on your enemy without them having any chance to defend themselves. Is that it?”

”That's right, and because I have the power of vampiric regeneration on my side, I can recover from practically any injury. Can you say the same for yourself?”

[What the hell? Why do I feel like I'm going to be sued for copyright infringement?]

Mike straightened and scratched the back of his head with his free hand. ”Well, to be honest. I can.”

To prove his point, he lifted his shirt and showed her the site of his previous wound. Clean, freshly healed skin was the only thing left to see.

”Wha…How?” She started, before repeating the process with a stab to her heart.

This time Mike did go down to one knee for a few seconds, but quickly stood up once his healing had finished.

”Eh?”

A few more holes were made, to little effect.

[Looks like Aberth's gift was pretty effective. I'm healing roughly three times as quickly as before, and there is virtually no burden on my mana. So long as I am not forced to regenerate any body parts, I could conceivably keep this going indefinitely.]

”No way!” Esmerelda exclaimed as she continued to stab vital locations as she talked. ”How in the hells are you doing this? My ability is in effect, but you aren't dying. There's no magic activation, no skill usage, no mana absorption. You aren't borrowing the lifeforce of nearby living beings, nor using a scapegoat substitute to avoid the injuries in the first place. And I can tell by the smell of your blood, you are just a human, so how?”

Gritting his teeth against the unpleasant wave of injuries, Mike did his best to appear unfazed by the assault. Based on what he knew about the magic systems of this world, he had to assume that her ability must be consuming mana in some capacity. It was unclear exactly how much, but he figured that it's ability to essentially overwrite reality must be very draining. As such, the longer he kept this going, the better.

However, he also didn't really have the luxury of waiting on her to gradually run out of power. Selene was holding off the other one for now, but there was no guarantee that she could continue to do so for long. Not to mention the fact that there was a very real possibility that they had allies that could come reinforce them at some point.

So, he decided he needed to egg her on further. Or at least that was what he was planning.

”Ahhh, this sucks!” The vampire suddenly exclaimed. ”This is the best way to kill someone. It's so satisfying to see their faces once the realization of their own hopelessness sets in. Now I have to deal with this freak who doesn't even have the decency to be actually scared...Hmm. Now that I think about it, I bet you don't have a means of reattaching your head if you get decapitated, do you?”

[...Eh?]

Esmerelda evidently noticed his consternation before he had a chance to school his features, because she immediately gave a satisfied grin while placing one hand against her own neck.

”Shit.” Mike grunted while trying to launch himself forward in an effort to stop her before she made her move. However, he could clearly tell that he wasn't going to make it.

For one brief moment, he thought for sure that he was done for, but then he felt the old familiar sensation of one of his skills leveling up. As it did so, the aura surrounding him wavered and then disappeared, leaving him standing awkwardly a few paces away from his enemy.

They stared at each other for a full second while both parties tried to figure out what just happened. Finally, Mike took a moment to investigate and learned the truth.

”Ah...my Curse Resistance leveled up.”