Reincarnated as a Vampire Who Acquires Skills Through Blood

Chapter 83: 83 - Verc vs The Giant [2]

BAM!

SWOOSH—!

Verc kicked off the ground again, the stone beneath his feet cracking from the sheer force of his movement.

He didn’t wait for the monster to make the first move; he rushed at the giant first. As he moved, the mana covering his sword began to swirl and condense. It grew thicker and darker, wrapping around the blade until the steel was almost hidden beneath a layer of pulsing, heavy energy.

He arrived in front of the massive monster in the blink of an eye, and with a casual, swift swing of his right hand—

SLASH!

He attacked horizontally, the blade whistling through the air as it aimed for the giant’s thick midsection.

The giant, however, was just as reactive as before. It didn’t flinch. Instead, it brought the massive tree branch it was using as a club down in a sharp, vertical block.

CLANG!

The collision of the mana-dense sword and the hardened wood sent a shockwave through the clearing, knocking loose leaves from the trees around them. But the giant wasn’t finished. As a counter to Verc’s strike—

WHOOSH!

It pulled back its massive left arm and sent a heavy hook flying straight toward Verc!

The fist was the size of a boulder, and it moved with such speed that it created a vacuum in its wake, the air screaming as it was displaced.

Verc saw the incoming attack perfectly. His [Danger Sense] was practically howling in the back of his mind, showing him the exact trajectory of the fist. He could have avoided it. With his insane balance, it was easy.

But instead of dodging... He looked straight at the incoming fist, his eyes cold and focused.

FWISH—!

Then suddenly, Verc’s whole body was suddenly covered with [Black Scales]. The scales were dark and matte, appearing on his skin like a suit of natural armor, and in the next moment—

T H U D—!!!

He was hit by the giant’s fist directly!

BOOM!!!

The impact was catastrophic. Verc was flung away with the kind of force that would have turned a carriage into splinters.

He flew backward like a projectile, his body slamming into a cluster of massive trees that had survived the fight so far. The trunks, as thick as buildings, shattered upon contact with his scaled form. He continued through the wreckage, finally crashing onto the ground dozens of meters away, carving a deep trench in the dark soil before finally coming to a stop.

And seeing that—

-KEKEKEKE!!!

The giant started laughing. The sound was deep and guttural, sounding like heavy stones grinding together in a deep pit.

It was delighted to see Verc flung away like a broken toy. To the giant, the fight was over; it had landed a clean, crushing blow on the annoying little bug that had been stinging it. The monster began to shift its weight, preparing to move across the clearing to finish him off for good.

But when the monster tried taking a step forward—

-GRR???

It stopped. Its leg wouldn’t lift. It tried to move its arms, but they felt like they were made of lead. Its whole body was suddenly refusing to obey its commands. The monster was confused, its yellow eyes darting around as it tried to understand why its muscles were locked in place.

Then, as it was in that situation—

”Ugh...”

It heard a groan.

The giant monster rolled its glowing eyes to look toward the source of the sound. And there, at the end of the long trench of destroyed wood and dirt... it saw Verc.

He was standing up. It was a gruesome sight. His bones were clearly broken in several weird, unnatural places, and his tattered clothes were soaked in red. Blood was dripping steadily from his mouth, eyes, nose, and ears.

But Verc stood up without minding those injuries. He didn’t even look like he was in pain. And as he slowly straightened his body, a wet, snapping sound filled the air.

His bones began to shift back into place on their own, and the deep gashes on his skin started knitting together. All of his injuries started healing at an absurd, terrifying speed.

-?!!

The giant was surprised, its eyes widening as it watched someone display a regeneration ability that rivaled its own.

Then in a matter of seconds... Verc was all patched up.

His skin was smooth and unblemished again, even if his clothes were now nothing more than tattered rags. He looked at the unmoving monster a few meters away from him and let out a small smile.

Opening his mouth, he spoke with a voice that was eerily calm.

”So it works on something like you as well, huh.”

Verc muttered that, looking down at his empty left hand. His hand was currently shifted into lethal claws, still covered with the hardened [Black Scales].

Actually, earlier, when the giant had attacked him, Verc had made a split-second gamble. He had decided not to avoid the hit.

He had covered his whole body with [Black Scales] to lessen the damage as much as possible, knowing his regeneration could handle the rest. And when the attack of the monster connected to him, Verc had moved his left hand with lightning speed, digging his claws deep into the flesh of the giant’s fist.

Because of that momentary contact, his passive skill, [Paralysis Touch], had activated. The skill had sent a jolt of paralyzing energy through the giant’s massive frame, effectively immobilizing the lump of muscle.

Verc had been unsure at first if it would work. He wasn’t sure if something with such a crazy regeneration ability would simply purge the paralysis immediately. But he had figured he wouldn’t die in a single hit anyway, and since the seven kids were nearby to rescue him if things went south, he decided to take the risk to end the fight.

”I guess insane regeneration doesn’t equal to immunities.”

Verc said, his grin widening.

His voice was steady, showing no hint of fear at all. He had been like this since the beginning of the fight.

After all... he always believed he would win against the giant. He had simply gambled a little to end the fight faster.

TAP—

Verc stepped forward.

The monster’s eyes widened with a creepy, frantic look. It was still unable to move, and it would remain in that state for a few more minutes.

Though, Verc intended to make sure the monster didn’t last that long.

TAP— TAP— TAP—

Verc continued walking forward, his eyes fixed on the giant. The creature tried to roar, to let out one last sound of intimidation to drive Verc away, but by this time, even moving its mouth was impossible. It could only stand there and watch.

”...”

As he approached, Verc used one of his skills, [Vital Mapping]. He wanted to find the ultimate weakness of the monster— the one spot that would end its life for good. He scanned the gray, muscular form, looking for a core or a heart.

But the skill gave him nothing. There were no glowing red zones, no structural flaws. It was just a solid wall of meat and life force.

’Hmm, is it immortal?’

He asked in his head. He knew that no one would answer him, so he just decided to figure it out himself. He would test the limits of its immortality.

TAP—

Verc stopped directly in front of the giant monster. Up close, the creature was like a massive statue made of lumpy, gray flesh. It was hideous, smelling of old stone and stale blood, but Verc ignored such details.

Instead—

FWIP.

He raised his sword in front of him, the blade glowing with a dark, concentrated mana. He looked straight ahead at the creature’s midsection, and then—

PHUCK!

Verc stabbed the round stomach of the monster, plunging the blade as deep as it could go!

The monster didn’t react. This type of injury was normal for it, something it had healed from a dozen times already during their skirmish.

The monster actually felt a flicker of relief in its mind. It saw what Verc was doing and came to the conclusion that the little guy didn’t have a way to actually kill it. In its head, it decided that as soon as it could move again, it would pulverize Verc and eat him slowly.

It was laughing and smiling internally because he can’t do it with his body.

But then... Verc’s expression shifted. He didn’t pull the sword out.

And after that— SWOOOOOOOOSH!!!

Verc flared up his mana!

He didn’t just release it; he poured a huge, concentrated amount of it into his weapon!

He forced the energy to travel through the blade and begin scattering inside the monster’s upper body. He kept pouring it in, more and more, until the giant’s torso began to bloat and hum with the sheer volume of invading mana.

-?!!

The Giant felt unease with what he was doing, it can’t feel its body expanding, but it can sense that something is wrong!

SWOOOSH—!

The Giant’s body kept getting bigger and bigger as Verc poured more mana in its body!

Until eventually...

B O O O O O M—!!!

The giant monster exploded from the stomach upward!

It was a violent, messy detonation. Flesh, bone, and gray skin were blown apart, scattering across the clearing in every direction. The force was so great that it left only the giant’s lower half— its thick, tree-like legs— standing alone for a few seconds before they toppled over.

And because all of its important organs had been destroyed at the exact same time... the giant didn’t survive.

Its life force was extinguished in a single burst. It didn’t regenerate anymore. The lower body fell heavily onto the ground with a wet, echoing THUD.

Blood splattered everywhere because of the explosion, coating the stone floor and the nearby trees. For a moment, it was raining blood.

And as the blood was falling down... seeing that the monster wasn’t knitting itself back together—

”I guess it’s not immortal.”

Verc muttered that, swinging his sword to remove the blood on its blade before sheathing it back to its scabbard.