Scarlet

The battle proves to be harder than any other battle I’ve done before since I can’t use any of my blood magic skills that directly target the opponent’s blood, leaving me significantly handicapped in this battle. But thanks to Blood Regeneration I manage to hang on even as I slaughter thousands upon thousands of demons, taking who knows how many hits from them.

Fortunately my armor holds out and doesn’t take more than a scratch from any demon beneath Class IV with a level at least in the middle of Class IV. And those scratches it heals right away. The attacks end up doing more damage to me than my armor, not that they’re doing much to me either.

On the other hand, the attacks from the demons closer to the peak of Class IV deal a lot more damage to both me and my armor, making me occasionally repair my armor manually through the higher rarity version of Repair meant for magical equipment.

It helps that none of the demons are currently sane that are attacking me. Assuming they’re even ‘alive’ in the first place.

So they aren’t using any martial arts or any sort of strategy. They’re just going at me like berserkers. Like a swarm of zombies. Quite possibly literally.

It’s hard to tell what they are now though since their identify hasn’t changed.

I continue fighting for hours upon hours, the battle seemingly never ending just like the lunatic’s cackling. And over time I begin to build up some levels, bringing me above level 900 finally. But I also find it a lot harder to last since I don’t have my blood magic skills affecting their blood, making Sanguine Effect almost useless in this fight. A skill that has become a major part of my fighting style.

And Blood Thirst reached its unspecified cap on stacks long ago, making me no longer gaining any more mana from it.

Gradually my advantage decreases and I find myself panting in exhaustion, using one of my last mana potions that I’d brought along with me at Amelia’s insistence. Something I’m very thankful for now.

“Scarlet…” Tar mutters, sounding a little desperate but not saying more.

I know.

Their numbers have been reduced by around half by now, so I think it’s time.

“Be careful,” he says, more than a little worry in his voice now. But also confidence. Like he knows I’ll pull through somehow.

My pride flares as I glare up at the undead kitsune still laughing his ass off in the sky.

Then I use Blood of Ruin, making the usual orbs and lines of blood appear all around the area filling up the entire closed off section that the undead kitsune made. But unsurprisingly, the undead kitsune just laughs even harder as some of the lines straight up break after coming into contact with him, proving that he’s too powerful for me to touch even with Blood of Ruin.

I grit my teeth at the sight, but I didn’t expect it to do anything to him anyways.

The other demons all around us though, they immediately begin dropping like flies to Blood of Ruin before it even finishes. And when it does finish, flooding the area with Blood of Ruin in a massive wave, almost every last remaining demon is turned to glowing red ash.

I drop to my knees before pulling out another potion and downing it as well, only to cough out a mouthful of blood.

“You used too many pooootioooons!” the annoying lunatic says in a singsong voice, but I ignore him as I feel my mana restoring to about halfway full.

“Scarlet…” Tar mutters, sounding even more worried now than before.

I’m sorry. I know that if you use too many potions back to back it’ll lead to some backlash on your body. But with him still here and Gramps not, I don’t have much of a choice.

Without caring about the blood I’m coughing out or the wave of System Messages flashing at the back of my mind, I climb back to my feet, my quadrupedal transformation reversing out of nowhere, leaving me standing in my lycan form again. Probably as part of my backlash.

By now my armor is in tatters, so I repair it once more, feeling a flash of pain from the use of mana while under backlash. But I ignore that too while quickly finishing off the last of the demons attacking me.

Then I turn all of my focus back on the lunatic, who is still laughing, not having stopped even once throughout the entire time.

Which is why when he finally stops laughing and focuses all of his attention on me, dead eyes meeting mine in the process, I feel a major chill run down my spine.

“I think I’ve had enough fun watching,” he says, his voice echoing eerily throughout the closed off area surrounded by walls of death magic. “How about I join in on the fun now?”

Without warning, the man vanishes from his place, a massive wave of miasma filling the entire area and making my coughing fit grow even worse than it already was. Then I feel a flash of pain from my side, making me cry out. Something that hasn’t happened in a long time thanks to Pain Diffusion.

But for some reason the pain of this wound is so bad it’s like I feel it deep down in my soul.

Tar actually appears around me, making my eyes widen in fear for his life, only for him to fearfully mutter, “He’s attacking your reality. Your soul.”

My eyes widen even more at that, but to my surprise, Tar suddenly vanishes and his voice leaves as well, leaving me all alone in the darkness of the miasma.

“One, two,” the man’s voice echoes through the darkness, following which I feel another flash of pain from my right arm near my elbow that has me crying out again while dropping to one knee. “Death comes for you.”